26 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



noon, and was convicted under the 

 Game Acts of 39 and 40 of Geo. 

 3rd.; and detained for the assault 

 on the gamekeeper. 



5. On Saturday morning the 

 curiosity of the inhabitants of 

 Brighton was attracted by the ap- 

 pearance of nearjy one hundred 

 men, attired in yellow jackets and 

 trowsers, walking about the streets 

 smoking their pipes, who, after 

 much inquiry, were found to be 

 Spanish and German deserters, and 

 prisoners from tlie French armies 

 in Spain and Portugal, tiiat had 

 volunteered into the British ser- 

 vice. Twenty of them Iiave been 

 received by the 10th hussars, and 

 the rest are to be incorporated with 

 the German Legion. 



6. A most daring gang of 

 thieves and receivers of stolen 

 goods has been discovered and 

 broken up, in the neighbourhood 

 of Abergavenny and Crickhowell. 

 They consisted principally of men 

 employed at the iron- works in that 

 district, of whom five liave been 

 committed to Brecon gaol, and 

 two to Monmouth, charged with 

 offences in the resj)ective counties. 

 A constable at Crickhowell had 

 very minutely examined the house 

 of one of the parties suspected of 

 receiving tiie goods, when, upon 

 sitting down in the lower apart- 

 ment, he thought one of the flag- 

 stones moved. This induced a 

 further search, and on, removing 

 some of the stones, he found con- 

 cealed, in a place curiously con- 

 structed for the purpose, a large 

 quantity of shop-goods of every 

 description. 



Early this morning, some vil- 

 lains entered the house ot John 

 Johnston, esq. of Danson-hill, 

 near Welling, in Kent, (late the 



seat of sir John Boyd, bart.) The 

 butler, who slept on the ground 

 floor, was awakened about three 

 o'clock by the noise of som.e- 

 thing falling in the housekeeper's 

 room adjoining. Conceiving it 

 might be some of the servants, he 

 got up, and for a frolic, took a 

 blunderbuss and advanced to the 

 door, calling out, " now for your 

 brains:'' all was dark; at that 

 moment a person pushed him, and 

 another knocked him down ; they 

 then trampled upon him, and one 

 of them made a cut at his throat 

 with a sharp instrument, hut with- 

 out injuring him materially. The 

 butler, who is a strong man, held 

 the blunderbuss fast, and contrived 

 to discharge it, though without 

 effect. By this time the family 

 were alarmed ; Mr. Johnston 

 sprung a rattle, and arming him- 

 self, and one of his sons, proceed- 

 ed down stairs; they found the 

 hall door open ; and on descend- 

 ing to the range on the ground- 

 floor,the butler had just recovered 

 himself, the villains having fled 

 but a few minutes; the other ser- 

 vants collected together, and the 

 house was searched. It appeared 

 that a boy had been let down into the 

 coal-cellar, through the aperture 

 outside the house, and had found 

 means to make his way so as to 

 open the outer doors for the rob- 

 bers, who proceeded to the library, 

 opened an escritoire where the 

 keys of others were deposited, 

 which they took, and by this means 

 rummaged all the drawers com- 

 pletely. Mrs. Johnston kept some 

 valuables there, the whole of which 

 were afterwards found below stairs 

 in the pockets of a great coat, that 

 they had pressed into the service; 

 they then proceeded to the house- 

 keeper's 



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