booty, the ruffians felled him to the ground and ran off.
He lay for a minute or two in a half-insensible state,
but at last some of the persons living in the street,
attracted by his groans, came to his assistance. So
quietly had the whole transaction been managed that
they had heard no sound either of the scuffle or of the
thieves running off. The constable on the beat also
came up soon afterwards, and it appeared that on going
his rounds ten minutes previously, he observed four
men standing near Little Cannon-street, though the
earliness of the hour prevented his having any suspicion
of their intentions. The value of the watches was
£174, and notes and gold to the amount of £30
unfortunately accompanied them. Information having
been given in the course of the night to Inspector
Glossop, he and his detectives at once set inquiries on
foot, which resulted in the apprehension at an early
hour in the morning of five desperate fellows, three of
whom were returned convicts and ticket-of-leave men.
Their names are William Hodgens, Samuel Walker,
John Wood, Joseph Lee, and Thomas Wootton.
Inspector Glossop was prepared to prove that they were
from home during the night; that they were in company
on Tuesday evening in the centre of the town; that
they resembled the men the constable saw near the spot;
and one or two other circumstances which would have
been important in case Mr. Brown could have identified
them. This he was unable to do, however, and
consequently they had to be discharged by the magistrate,
when brought up, on remand, on Friday last. As Mr.
Brown has since heard nothing of his customer, the
presumption is that the whole was a cleverly planned
scheme for robbing him. He had doubtless been
watched and followed about during the whole evening.

A poor woman applied to the Southwark police
magistrate, on the 7th inst., to complain of the conduct
of the Land Transport Office. She stated that about
nine months ago her husband joined the Land Transport
Corps in London, and prior to his enlistment the captain
told him his wife would be provided for out of his pay.
Shortly afterwards he was sent to the Crimea, and although
she was told that she was to receive a guinea a-week from
her husband, she had never received a farthing. She had
been to the recruiting office and to the pay-office, but
could get no money at either place, and now she was
starving. She added that she wrote to her husband
every month, but he never received her letters
complaining of the want of money. She received his letters
regularly, and he believed she was living in comparative
comfort. Mr. Combe said he was very sorry for her,
but it was not in his power to assist her. He should
advise her to apply by letter to the Secretary at War,
who, no doubt, would investigate the matter. The
applicant thanked his Worship for his advice, and assured
him that she would immediately write to the Secretary
at War; but she expected that her condition would not
be much improved, as she had frequently applied to the
other authorities connected with the Land Transport
Corps.

Robert Martinson, the cashier of the Newcastle-on-
Tyne Bank, who absconded after Stealing nearly £5000,
was apprehended on the 7th inst., at Southampton, on
board the United States mail-steamer Washington, just
as she was about to leave that port for New York. He
had been advertised for, and 100 guineas reward offered
for his apprehension, and a detective officer had been in
Southampton for some time on the look-out for him.
Mr. Hillier, a clerk to Messrs. Croskey and Co., agents
for the Washington steamer, recognised him amongst
the other passengers onboard the Washington, and gave
him into custody of the detective. The delinquent cashier
had been living at an inn in the town pretty freely. In
the morning, two or three hours before the Washington
sailed, he gave the landlord of the inn two £100 Bank
of England notes to get changed. The latter took them
to a bank in the town, where some demur was made as
to giving change for them. The presenter of the notes
stated that they belonged to a gentleman who had put
up at his house. This caused the banker to decline
changing them, unless that gentleman could give a
reference. When the landlord returned to his house,
he found that the owner of the notes had gone on board
the Washington to arrange about his berth, and he
then thought that he would take the notes to Messrs.
Croskey and Co., to endeavour to obtain change for
them there. Mr. Hillier, the clerk in the office, hearing
the landlord mention the circumstance about the notes,
and having read the advertisement about Martinson,
went on board, saw him, and also saw that he answered
the description given in the advertisement, and he then
very quietly put himself in communication with the
detective, and gave the delinquent into custody. In
less than an hour afterwards the latter was on his way
to London instead of to New York.

A Murderous Agrarian Outrage has taken place in the
King's County. Mr. Ramsbottom, of Moorock Lodge,
near Ballycumber, acting as agent for Captain
Humphrey, had been compelled to eject a tenant from a bit
of land by process of law. Mr. Ramsbottom was
returning home in the afternoon after obtaining possession
of the land, his clerk, Mr. Beecham, walking by his
side: two villains fired at them from behind a hedge;
Mr. Beecham was nearest to the assailants, and received
both the charges of their guns—a bullet passed through
his neck, and a number of slugs lodged in his mouth,
arm, and other parts of his body. The constabulary
arrested five men on suspicion the same evening; but
the magistrates felt bound to liberate them the next
day. Mr. Beecham is stated to be recovering.

A most daring Burglary was committed on the
morning of the 9th instant in the house of Mr.
Hampshire, a respectable tradesman, residing at Tingle
Bridge, near Barnsley. The robbers, five in number,
effected an entrance at the kitchen door, with an instrument
which cut a hole in the door, by means of which
the door was unbolted. The robbers proceeded to the
bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. Hampshire, and threatened
to murder them if they made any alarm. Mr.
Hampshire was covered with the clothes, and almost
smothered; while an instrument was placed round
Mrs. Hampshire's neck, resembling, as she thought, a
piece of hoop iron, which a man held at both ends, almost
strangling her. Mrs. Hampshire presented a very
disfigured appearance, her neck being very black, and her
eyes protruding from the fearful injury she had received.
Meantime the other villains were ransacking the house
for money, and about £30 fell into their hands. They
all had their faces covered with black crape, or marks
of some description, so that their features could not be
discerned. The entrance was effected about half-past
one o'clock, and they departed about two, saying they
would go down stairs and have some refreshment, telling
Mr. and Mrs. Hampshire that it would be at the peril
of their lives if they made any alarm. However, the
burglars did not make any long stay, but hastened
away. Mr. Hampshire is a grocer and flour-dealer,
and the thieves, in addition to the money, took a quantity
of tobacco, cheese, sugar, and other articles. The
door of a cottage house, under the same roof, was
securely fastened by the robbers before entering Mr.
Hampshire's, so that he might not receive any assistance
from his neighbour.

A curious case of Mistaken Identity has occurred in
the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh. Alexander
Watt, a young man, clerk to a solicitor, was placed at
the bar charged with forgery of a check for £35 upon
the Edinburgh Commercial Bank, and with uttering
it and receiving payment from the Clydesdale Bank
there. His employer, Mr. John Murray, whose name
was endorsed on the check as the payee, declared his
signature a forgery, and the name of the granter,
William Robb, appeared to be a fictitious one, the
Commercial Bank having no account with any person
of that name. The check-clerk and the teller at the
Clydesdale Bank spoke positively to Watt having
presented and forged the check about one o'clock on the
14th of September, and received payment. Witnesses
for the defence, however, testified to Watt being
engaged in business in another part of the town at that
time; and two gentlemen who knew Watt intimately,
deposed to having seen a person pass them in the street
while Watt was understood to be in gaol, but whom
they erroneously took to be him. One of these gentlemen,
Mr. Clark, a member of the Scottish bar, had
employed Watt as his clerk for a year, and had a high
opinion of him. One day early in October, he saw two