CHRONICLE. 



OCTOBER. 



1st. A curious, fraud was put in 

 practice at the Stock-Exchange by 

 Benjair.in Lara, a stock-jobber, who ' 

 pii rchasedSOO Irish lottei-y tickets of 

 Mr. Dacosta, and gave him a draft 

 for the amount on Lac'.broke and 

 CO. who said that Mr. Lara never 

 I Jcept cash with them. ' It was soon 

 r'^terwards discovered that he had 

 >rrowed 2,6(X)!. of a friend, for 

 which he had lef-t the tickets as a 

 colhiteral security, and then got tlie 

 . tank notes he received from him 

 . changed into smaller ones. The af- 

 , fair being in^mcdiately discovered, 

 ■- the injured party went to his house 

 ^itPeckham, where apost-chaiseand 

 four was waiting at t!ie door; but 

 Lara some short tin e before having 

 been seen and spol ; to concerning 

 the business, by Mi Dacosta's son, 

 wlio was not then apprized of its 

 being a fraud, he had taken an opr 

 .portunity of escaping by the back 

 ■way of his house. One of the notes 

 of 501. was found in the liouse. Ke 

 ■was afterwards apprehended by Mil- 

 ler and Kennedy, belonging to the 

 Public-Office, Bow-street, owing to 

 the following circumstance: — '^Ihe 

 aboveofficers,thinkingthat some in- 

 formation might be gained by going 

 to Mrs. Lara's ]iouse,in AhfF-street, 

 Goodman's fields.(the mother of the 

 prisoner), set out for that purpose. 

 When they had got near the house, 

 .<hey met a person whom they sup- 

 posed, from a description they had 

 previously received of him, to be 

 the offender's brother, and took him 

 intoCustody. On searching hispock- 

 rts, they found a letter, which, 

 though signed with the name of 

 Christopher Jennings, from its con- 

 tents and direction, conyinced them 

 that it came from jBcnjamin Lara ; 

 Vol. XXXVI. 



on which Miller immediately wen, 

 to the Golden-Cross, Charing-cross 

 the place mentioned in the letter, 

 where,oninquiringior Mr. Jennings, 

 he was introduced to the prisoner, 

 on v.'honi he found bank notes and 

 inoney for the whole of the sum re- 

 ceived for the tickets, except about 

 401. which he liad expended since 

 the affair took place. Some other 

 letters were also found on his bro- 

 ther; by which it appeared, that, 

 when Lara left his hou^c, nesr Ken- 

 sington,heproceededtoPortsmouth, 

 bat, being disappointed in getting 

 an immediate conveyancetothecon- 

 tinent, returned, by cross roads, to 

 London, and put up at the Golden- 

 cross, from whence he sent the letter 

 that caused his apprehension. Hev/as 

 taken before Mr. justice Addington, 

 for examination, who, on learning 

 that the offence had been coraniitted 

 in the city, ordered the officers to 

 conduct him to the lord-mayor. 



Brigkthelmstone. A dreadful acci- 

 dent happened yesterday at Hove, ,. 

 in consequence of .the inadvertency i^ 

 of a boy who was attempting to 

 blow up flies with gunpowder, at a 

 pubUc-hoiise. He had formed a 

 train, for this purpose, acrossthe side 

 of the room, at the end of which 

 stood a closet containing a great 

 quantity of powder. Asparkofthe 

 former unfortunately got among the 

 latter, and such were the dreadful 

 consequences of the explosion, that 

 the boy had one of his eyes blowr« 

 out, and his face most shockingly 

 jiiangled. Tv/o toldiers have like- 

 wise suffered so much by the same, 

 that their lives are despaired of- 

 There were several more in the a- 

 partmentwhoescapedunhurt. That 

 part of the room, however, where 

 the gunpowder stood, v;as intirely 

 knocked dpwn by the violence of 

 D the 





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