The National Register. — London, England, 1823-03-02 00:00:00

LAW NTELL,GEi 'CE. COURT . OF KING'S BENCH. MONDAY. FED. 21. INDICTMENT FOR PERJURY. ?Tint MING a. THOMAS BIG MOLD, SEN., ESQ. Mr. Searlett stated, that this was an indictment for perjury against tile defendant, who was the original founder of SS insti tution called the Norwich Union Insurance Society. In this be acted fur several years as Secretary. Ile afterwards, having been removed from his situation in the Norwich Association, became the hounder and projector of a new society, called the National Union, cm ried on in lkidge-atteet, Dlaclariars, is opprtaition to the Norwich Union. This indictment fur perjury arose oat of a bill filed by his Co-Trustees end Directors of the Nationsl Union, under the deed of association, by which it was agreed defendant should invest 10,0001. cannel on the pat of him, the said Thomas DignoW, to be invested in Government Securities. The seve ral Directors and Trustees lending their names and responsibi lity, this bill was tiled in Chancery, calling on the said Thomas Digiiold to make good these conditions; to which defendant put in his answer, deny•ng that he had ever annulated to ad vance such SUM of 10,0001., and that if any such clause Lad been introduced into the deed, it was that the said defendant bad been deceived end imposed on by the introduction of such clause. The bill further averred that the defendant having been repeatedly called upon to invest the said 10,0401. or to give the prosecutors an indemnity fur such their responsibility, repeatedly promised to invest, or to give such indemnity to theist his Cu-Directure and 'Trustees. The defendant, iu his answer, denied these applications to Lim, and also that he had ever made such promises. Upon these averments of defen dsnt the several assigotucets of perjury were laid iu this in dictment. Mr. Scarlett proceeded.—if the Jury thought the defendant had laboured ender any mistake or misconception, it was far from the wish of the prosecutora that they should find him ; ou the other hand, they could not do otherwise, if upon his showing that these averments were utterly false, and that de fendant woe and corruptly perjured, they would say so by (heir verdict. The bill and answer being produced by the proper officer were read ; some variations were remarked by the Solicitot aieueral, for (he defendant. The case then went into the evi• deuce of Mr. John Bonier, solicitor to the association, a ma tetisl witness, being absent in France ; that lie was seen 10 London two days before the indictment was last celled on for trial, but hail returned, and was now living at a plane called Saint Sau sant. The evidence of Mr. Wilkinson, clerk to Hunter, -as sub stituted to prove that defendent wer. present when the ceverel clauses of (e deed were separately discussed, tbat defending proposed several alteratiows and interlinuotions, ~Lich were introduced preparatory to the eseculion : end that in witness's olriniou defendant could not be otherwise than cognizant of the clause respecting the 10,0001. to be itiveeed by him to form the fund* or the society. The SolicitorCeneral addressed the Jury for the d7fYodant. The Jury must feel the painful sensation which he e‘perienood from the apprehension that the :Mei ems cf hit client in so im portant a case should suffer 4 - CM any inetlequac7 on hie marl; but be had no choice left ; and, as he accepted of his lie should to the utmost of his '. - aculties, defend the cause which he was retained to advocate. The learned Solieitur-Deneral, in answer to ea allusion Ic the Norwich Union Society, made by Mr. Scailett ir•. opening the case, said, it was very true that the defendant had been the originator of that lustitution, and night boast that be had pro jected an Estsblishment, which, or account ails eselelness, its extent, and prosperity, had, al the present day, no equal—an establishment, with which no other, either in this kingdom er in the world, could vie.-11e contended that ar. Dignohl might lionestli believe that the agreement wax not to 'Oversee but to guarnntee, and in this case Ire slaternert would be Loncelly made. He read a minute of the Directory, in which dye term guarantee" was applied to the trinisacritm, and which be in tended to prove. With respect to the denial of applications being made, the fury would end, if they competed the bill with the answer, that the qiiestion put was denied in 111 mi. propel ty, and that the datieulty arose from confounding a technical point with the eubstantisi merits of the answer. There was nothing in the world more distressing than to be compelled to answer a hill in Chauce:y ; hardly anything should compel C im to du it ; for there was a great number•of technical niceties or which a Juan might be innocently entrapped into seeming r eljury by were reliance on his legal adviser. Oa the whole, he put it 'o the Jury ,whether it waxy& meat improbable that I Sr. Digruld— a gentleman advanced io yew's, and a fair end 'mmourable cha racter—would commit* great crime when he :ne•. Om means of certain detection were in the hands of his enemies? lit consequence of the St'icitqr-i.:caeral haling, in his ad dress to the Jury, stated facts of which he did not of proof, Mr. Scarlett insisted opon his right to reply, ;which was op posed by the Solicitor-General; but his Lordship decided that Mr. 8. lisif that right. Mr. Searlett haring replied, . . . . . . Ilia Lordship recapitulated *be vw:dence leery mi:intely. and Raid, if the Jury were of opinion that the defendant did' now- Maly and tomniit pe6ory, their strdiet wits. be guilty —hut if they should be of opinion that the averments in the de fendant's answer were untrue, but that he, at the time be swore to them, did not think them untrue, their acrdict must be for the defendant. The Jury immediately found a verdict of—Grikp OIisCFNE LIBELS.--THE KING r. BENBOW. This was an indictment against the defendant for publishing obscene and filthy pas.ages, in a work called the Rambler Magasbie. Mr. Gurney was Counsel for the prosecution, and Mr. Phil lips for the defendant. The publication was proved by a witness named Regnoltl. Mr. Phillips contended, on the part of the defcntlank, that the prosecution would only give more publicity to the work. The Jury found the defendant Guilty of publishing obscene language in the book produced before them. trEtkuAr, rt:n. 23. THE KING v. II oON AND ANOTHER. This was an indictment against the Her. WiMar 'lobed Brown, late Hector of Little Clackion, in Essex, end Mr. George I futchinson Whitehead, Solicitor, of Little Cork-street, Burlington-gardens, fur having in 1819, entered into a con spiracy to chest and defraud Sir Colin Campbell of 60001. II appeared, from a great mars of evidence, that Mr. Brown applied to Whitehead to raise money for him by the isle of a freehold catote, which he pretended to possess in the manor of Great llolland, in Essex." The necessary inquiries were made Le Whitelield, nod upon the assurance of the latter, that a conveyance could he made of the property, Mr. VVat- I. , Lincoln's lon, as the, Solicitor of Sir Cohn Campbell, a puich:is..r for ,ix thousand pouuds. The deed of THE NATIONAL REGISTER conveyance was executed in November, 1819. A part of Ike money was applied to the redemption of annuities to which Brown way liable, and with the rest of the money, amoutiting to VAL the rev. defendant absconded. It was then disco vered that the estate conveyed in the deed never belonged to Brown, but was the proptity of his father-in-law, Mr. Cole, a gentleman of large fortune, in the county of Essex. The Sidicilor-Ceaseral, as Counsel for Mr. Whitehead. con tended that NVlsiiehead was not a criminal participator in it. A great number of witnesses gave the defendant, White head, an excellent character. The Lord Chief Justice summed up the evidence, and tbo Jury, at bale-pant nine o'clock, without any htailation, found the defendaats Guilty. FRIDAY, FEB. 25. DI: DEI:ENGI:It T. 101tITNE. This was an action by the well-known Mr. De Beringer, to recover compensation for his services in respect of a house in Cornhill, of which the defendant bought a lease and sold it again. The !plaintiff alleged that he had considerable skill in planning and improving houses, and that the defendant, who bought them to sell again, had agreed to give him a third of any profit cn the house in question, the interest in which he had purchased for 2501. and sold it am. D. did not, however, appear that Mr. De licrengcr bad rendered any efficient ser vice on amount of the house, and the memorandum and letters relied on seemed rather to relate to some sclimne of partnarship in a business to be 'moiled on upon the premises, than to any. purchase of the house for sale. The Jury found a verdict for the defendant. OLD Lt4ILI Y SI.NSIUAVS. ROBBERY CIF THE EXETER COACH. WilliannTlloh;;; res})cetall.L.ltokiiig — t - ttan dressed in black) and John Baker were indicted for stealing a parcel, containing Imo promissory notes of 'II. each, 40 51. notes, and 3'28 ii. notes, the property of Messrs. Spathes and Co. hankers, ci Exeter. The evidence for the ptosectition has already appeared in the Police Reports. The prisoners, when called on for their defence, both declared their innocence. Ba ker, the gtiattl, pot in a written defence, in which he alluded to the fact, that he was the first to give itifornia lion to the London bankers of the robbery, and adverted to the anxiety e•ritiels he had loon the first evinced lor the driecuoa of tilt offenders. He admitted that lie was culpable iti taking the ;larcel front his coat in which it was sewn, and potting is in the seat ol the coech.— His defence alm represeincd that he (Baker) had WO :rt many opp orttinniet. w escape, and yet had not attempt ea it. k'e had matte a second journey to Exeter before he was Upprtileltileti on this charge. A great variety of witnesses for Baker were called to .character and to fact. It was proved that Biker ex pressed great anxiety when it was known that the parcel was lost. That same night he went to Batike; ,- N, and acicanned 'ltem of the rpubery; the lie;:". mot iiing he went again. and '0•:15 not alyrehended until long manse. (pettily. Tite whitener to character spoke extremely favourably of hint. The master ref the coach had Ira-• yelled twice limn Eteter to give the prisoner a character. 'rhe prisoner Thomas called no witnesses either to chracter.or fact. Tile Jury acaoiucd later, at:d found Thomas g illy. I . IIIISDA YE 12. .h« :.tiling of the Court 15 females, and u pst anis of (ill trilles were arraigned at the bar. Errs.usive EMSEi'l.LE:AEN7.—Sartuel Ditichin, a man of colour, was pot to liar, on a:11 it'd cuuect charritig huts with natirg felonioas!y ciieveriiro to his own use the sum of !„:0231. the property of his employers, Messrs. Perkins and Heath, enaravers, of Fleetoureet, uu the 31st of unary last. *Fite prisoner hail beet' brought to this country by the family of the prosecotors, who hail entertained 541Cilan idea of his integrity that he *.V:IS employed as their confidential messenger, in which sittiatiou he obtained ',mansion M the money in ques tion, having been sent with a check 119 the banking imisse of iNlessrs. Cu_ and iliddulph Inc the amount.— On his return 4e pretended la: have lost the moner, and was very imptitlent, in consacmence of which be was discharged, and sobsecinentiy puistied to Liverptxil, when he as length confessed the crime, and produced a consislerable part of the preoerty. The case was clearly preved, and the Joey foottii the p:isaotter Guilty. Richard Chute was intkcieil fur stealinr, a lart.e guar.- thy ef property. belonging to his employer, Mr. rhousas Flint, haberdasher, on Filtsstreet-hell. The prisoner and his brother had been for a king time in the set vice* confidentially. of Mr. Flint, who having solaced frequent and severe losses without being able to detect the offenders, was at length induced to suspect the prisoner. lie went to his Lodgings, No. 63, Cur tain-road, is company with a friend, and Tuttipenny the Officer, and found there sdk shawls, lace, &armlet, silk handkerchief., Irish liners, and many to the amount of The goods were all identified by Mi. Flint as his property. Several witnesses spoke highly of the prisoner's previ ous character, but the Jury found him Guilty, and the Court sentenced him to transportation for 14 years. WEDNEDRAT, FED. vb.—James 'Hackle. an elderly matt, was indicted for stealing a pair of diamond ear drops, the property of W. ilaydoti. 111 r. ilaydon is a jeweller in Compton-stret, Soho, and sonic time ;ago he met the prisoner, whom he had formerly known in better circumstances, in a state of extreme distress in the street. lie took him home, and employed him to keep his accoutos for some time, and at length took hint regularly into his service as his coo hdential clerk. in Attgost last, a lady named Rowe, ordered a pair of ear-ring drops, the price of which, whet' finished, was 1171. These were sent home by the prisoner, but Mrs. Rowe, hi a few days expressed a desire to hate anotherrpair inaile,as those were too large. 'Phis Mr. Haydou agreed to do, and sent the prisoner to fetch the others from Mrs. R. but when he returned he said, Mrs. Rowe knew a lady who would take them from her, and Mr. H. was to make a similar pair, as agreed upon, by Christmas. When Christmas arrived Mr. Haydon discovered that the prisoner had received the large drops from Mrs. Rowe, a nd had pledged them at the shop of Mr. IMAM 3 pawnbroker in Charlotte. .4& street, Fitzroy-square. When taxed with the fact, he admitted it, but said he had 4001. coming to him in a few days, and would make every thing right. Upon this representation Mr. Haydon suffered him to go at large, but he never returned until he was apprehended. The defence of the pi isoner consisted in attacks upon the character of his master, for Hindi there did not ap peLir the smallest foundation. He was found guilty, and the Court, in order to mark its sense of the crime, and the conduct of the prisoner, both before and at his trial, immediately sentenced hint to transportation for 14 years. THURSDAY, FEB. 27.—Daniel Griffiths was indicted fur feloniously receking bank times to the amount of if. 91., the property of Thomas M'Kennon, knowing the saute to have been stolen. • Mr. Nl'Kention stated, that he is an oil and colour manufacturer. On the 20th of November he received 1:41-14s., among which were a 1001., a 201., and a .51. note. Returning home about seven o'clock in the evening, a little the worse for the wine he had taken, he met a woman, and accompanied her to her lodgings in Chapman-street, Commercial-road ; he had been there but a few moments when the woman suddenly lefillitina, and he then missed the whole of his money. He give in the numbers of the notes the next morning at the Bank of England, and in iilsout a month afterwards the 1001. flute was paid in. The prisoner was apprehended on the tOth of January. Mr. Robertson, landlord of the King and Queen ' public house, in Chapman -street, deposed, that on the evening in question, about eight o'clock, the prisoner and a womanot the town, wearing a red whittle, came to his house, and the prisoner said to a man who was there, " Come along Jack, it is all right." They went away together. The woman exactly answered the deseriptiout of the one who robbed Mr. M'Kennon. Howard Lewis, a clothes salesman, in Cable-street deposed, that on the evening of the Voth of November, the prisoner came to his shop with a girl in a red whittle. The prisoner produced a tool., a 201., and a 51. note, and having asked witness the value of them, for he said he could not read himself, he offered to lay out the 51. note if witness would change the other two—this the witness refused to do, and they left the shop. Witness suspectinv all was not right, he followed them, but lost them all at once in Rosemary-lane. He then gave in formation to the police. The tohl. note bad an indorse ment upon it very much blotted. and a red ink mark. Mr. Dyer, front the Bank of England, produced the MI. note stolen from the prosecutor. !'here was a 'blotted indorsement upon it. This note was identified by the prosecutor, and the witness, Lewis, swore it was the same the prisoner had offered to him. The prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to be transported for 14 years. He returned from transporta lion only ten months ago. piisoner was the last on the list for trial, and the Recorder, alter a short adjournment, proceeded to pass sentence on those prisoners convicted during the Ses sions, who :tail nut already received judgment.—Three weer sentenced to traiisp,rtalioll for life ; 2 lirr fourteen veass; 15 for seven years; 5 to be imprisoned for one year, and kept to hard labour; and 12 for six mouths.— Several were ordered to lesser terms of imprisonment, Cntie to be privately whipped, and others fined a shel.ing and dischan,rd ; and in the cases of two, judgment was reanited mail next sessions. - The following unhappy persons (17 in number) were then placed at the bar to receive the awful sentence of death :—Robett Ilatchman, for house breaking in the (lay time; Mary Anne Sloat, Kenny Daley, and John Btu's?, fur stealing in dwelling-houses; %Valiant Hale, fur horse stealing; James Farrier, William Harding. John Walker, James Aldridge, Thomas Gibson, alias Blacken, Henry Seeton, John Davis, and Joseph Froonte, for burglaries; Henry Cocks and Isaac Davis, for highway robbery; and Charles Cleft, for uttering forged 51. notes of the Bank of England.—The learned Recorder, in his exhortation to the prisoners, remarked that there was one whose fate was sealed beyond the possibility of a doubt. Heavy as was the oflence im puted to him, and numerous as were the instances in which he was said to have committed it, and, notwith standing repeated warnings from the learned and humane individuals who then sat upon the bench, he had not chosen to abide a trial, lint, by a plea of guilty, had confessed his guilt to the fullest extent. He must not, therefore, indulge in the slightest hope of mercy.—Cleft vas, of course, the person alluded to by the learned Judge. lie shed tears during the address. TUE PEN yrs DITIA It Y.—Olt ' Tuesday night a Coroner's jury was empanelled at the Penitentiary, Millbank, before Mr. Gell,Coroner for the city and liberty of West minster, to inquire into the cause of the death of Hum phrey Adams, a prisoner, 34 years of age, who came into the Penitentiary in June.lB2l, and Wm. C.mwell, who was received in June, legit, both of whom had been convicted oFerintea. The Jury returned the lid lowing verdict :—" We are of opinion that the deceased died natural deaths ; but it is our opinion so filmy pri., loners would not die if they were allowed a small portion of meat; and it is our wish and desire that this our opt- Mon should be cominunicated to the Directors of the Penitentiary, in hopes they will take sonic steps to ob milt it." This verily.: was sanctioned by the Coroner, who agreed so facilitate it as lunch as pos..ible. Ft a k.--At 4 o'clock on Saturday morning, an alarm ing fire broke out in the house of Mr. Willis, a proctor, in Bell Court, Carter Lane, Doctors' Commons; and before any assistance could be afforded, his house and property was reduced In ashes. The fire then commu nicated to the house of Messrs. Adtlerley and Box, proctors; and as no water for some time could be oh tat net!, their premises shared the fate of the other house. —Some part of the furniture, and sonic papers (rota Messrs. Adderley and Box's were preserved, and carried tu the houre of M r . Cl ar k son, of Great Carter Lane.— The fire, at hall.past three, WO got malt r, and all the adjonitiq huu.rs salt.