The National Register. — London, England, 1815-10-01 00:00:00

658 OLD BAILEY. Tuesday, Daniel Hill, George Sweting, and Charles Taylor. were indicted for stealing bai.k notes to the value of 401. out of the office of :An Bell, proprietor of Bell's Weekly Messenger, at the corner ut Clare -court, Drury-lane, on the night ()lac Mb of June last. Thomas Holland, a clerk of the prosecutor, proved, that the office or CiAinting-house in Clare-tuurt, was leettd on the evening b e ti,re the robbery, and that there was in the desk, wltieb was also locked, ■ ten pound note, two notes of five pounds each, :aid a number of one pound notes. lie wa nut certain of the number of the our bound notes bat believes there were twenty or twenty one of them. Thel,rst morning, the desk was found broken open and the notes gone. There were marks of violence on the counting-house door, which was, however, not broken open, but a pane of glass had been removed from the window. Thomas Delany, a pritotr, in the employment of the prosecutor, Coll- Armed the evidence or the last witness, as to the house being locked in the evening, and the marks of violence which appealed on the desk and the claw of the counting-house The house was used merely as nn office, and nobody resided in it. Ile had strong suspicions of prisoner Sweting, who was a fly-buy in the employment of the prose cutor ; and, in consequence of those suspicions, Sweting was appre• hended the next night at a public-house in Drury-lane. He received aY message the next morning trom Sweting, who was in the watch•hoase, and upon his going there, Sweting told rola, " that bad company had been the ruin of " that he had n o t been present at the robbery, inif that be had given information to the prisoner Hill, and to another ; person Ot the name of Charles (whose surname he did not know) of the !moiler in ►vLiclt it might be done. They afterwards gave him a 'OM pound note and Iwo three shilling tokens l'r the information they tad given them, The other two prisoners were afterwards appre tended. John Bean, one of the patrolg belonging to St. Clement's parish, saw, On the morning in wl.ich the robbery took place, the primmer Taylor (whom he knew belore), the prisoner Hill, whom be observed most attentively, together with another man (who has not been appre hended), awl two women -of the town, opposite Exeter Change, Strand. Knowing Taylor, and suspecting that they were about some thing improper, he hollowed them, but lust sight of them, for some time, in Drury-lane. A little before 3, however, he sAw them again and the prisoner Sweting was then in their company. He watched them, Awl saw the pri•ou tr, Taylor, dividing something like hank notes amongst them. To one man, he saw him give a note which he took out .'f his side pocket and a 3s. token. One of the party, however, recog nising him, said, ( with an expression too gross to be repeated) there ►s .hack Ikea. They immediately separated, and he saw no more of them that night ; he had known Taylor before, and he had observed Hill eery attentively for near ten minutes. He had stated before the Ma gistrates the dubs which Hill wore, and a dress of 'needy that descrip tion was found at lodgings when lie was apprehended. There was also found there a large slater's hammer, which being brought to _the counting house, which had been robbed, was found to correspond , exactly to all marks of violet:cc that had been used', and there could be lie doubt but I h tt the desk had been broken open with that hammer. Another officer corroborated this statement. The prisoners were then called on for their defence. Sweting pr , ltested his innocence, and said, that all he had said before was false, and that lie had been made to say so. Taylor and Hill also declared their innocence, and Hill undertook to prove an alibi. Two journeymen printers spoke to the character of Sweting. and one of them said that if he was discharged, he should nut hesitate to give him employment as a fly-boy. Mr. Hunt, the keeper of the billiard rooms over Exeter Change, spoke to the character of Taylor. He said that he had received a very good character with km, and he had been in his service for the last .six months. Ile employed him to take care of a horse mod chaise, and occasionally to attend ut the billiard rooms. He never knew any thing .against his character. This witness, on his cross-examination, 'admitted That he had himself been confined fur six months in Horsenionger Gaol ; upon which the Common Serkeaot told I , that instead of coining I;rward to give chalacters to others, he should rather get somebody to give him a cha •racier. Hill attempted to prove his alibi by the testimony of a com mon prostitute, of the name of Louisa Bolton, with alma' he had co habited for the list six mouths It appeared that she had taken the name of Bolton from the 111d11 who was shot ill attempting to rob a linen draper's shop in Piccadilly. This witness was a handsome late -sting looking pang, girl, nut above lg. She swore positively to OCT. 1. Dill being in bad with her the whole of that night oil which the robbe ry WUS tommitted. On her cross-examination, however, she prevaricated rreativ in her testimony, and Bean, the patrole, swore positively that •he was one of the two women of the town, whom he lad seen with the gang at two o'clock in the morning that the robbery was ctmunitted. Hill also brought one or two more witnesses to his character : but they appeared to know little cr nothing about him. The Common Serjeant then recapitulated the evidence to the jury if they believed the voluntary, confession, which it might be supposed that Sweting first made in a moment of contrition, and that he stuls not piesent at the actual Stealing, they should find him net guilty of the present charge. He might be tried on a separate indictment an an ac cessary before the fact, but he could not be found guilty as a principal. His story appeared somewhat confirmed toy the patrole taut having seen hi m w i t h the cang at a littl e pa s t two, when they were probably con certing the robbery, and having seen him with them afterwards when the money was dividing. lie then pointed out to them the evidence applying to the other two prisoners. The Jury then found Taylor and Hill Guilty; Switing—Not Guilty. The Common Serieant immediately passed sentence of trensportativn fir seven years on Taylor and Hill; and observed to them that it nes iiirtunate for them there was no one dwelling in the house at the time. fl that had been the case, the conviction would have been capital, and they might be assured that they would have incurred the sentence of the law. The Common Serjeant then addrettsed himself to Sweting, and ex pressed a hope that the fate of his companions would be a warning to him, through lite, to avoid bad.compatiy, and, to walk in the paths of honesty. bolisa Bolton, after a very severe reproof from the Learned Judge. was or d ere d to b e committed to Newgate, until the Court should deter mine whether it would order her to be prosecuted fur perjury. On Thursday, the unusually long Sessions at the Old Bailey ended, when, in addition to the sentences passed the pi evions evening on via-ions offenders, the following were brought up, and received judg ment, viz. Sentence of death on J. Draper, J. Skipps, and J. Streamer, for sheep-stealing; J. Binstead and J. Elms. for forgery; J. Bayley. S. Halliday, J. Fisher W. Clarke. and H. Daniel, alias Edward Pratt, for burglary; T. Wilson and J. Curtis, for house breaking; J. Ma homy, for a robbery on C. M'Dovatt ; J. Morris and F. Weaeroff, for highway robberies; Wm. Menzies, for coining; J. Wilson, J. Hunt, T. Thompson, P. Bend, J. Halliday, and .1. Francis, for steal ing in dwelling-houses; and J. Parnell, for privately stealing in a shop. W. Jackson, T. Pope, and W. Freeman, for 14 years; Mary Ann Phillips, J. Pennon, Eliz. Parsons, Mary Carter., Jane Duggin, 1). Hill, Chas. Taylor, R. Richards, Elizabeth Skinner, Eliz. Blac'A, H. Paxton, B. Noblri, Maria and Eliza Page, J. lisyson, J. Thomas, J. Roberts, and J. Farren, for seven years ; '2%! to be imprisoned in the House of Correction, Clerkenwell ; 11 tor imprisonment in Newgate for various periods ; five to be publicly, and 14 privately whipped ; 10 were tined 14. each, and discharged; two judgments respited ; and discharged by proclamation.—The sentence ut H. Lawrence, lot returning from transpoi tat ion, is respited. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES. Oa Monday, an inquisition was taken at the Bedford Hotel, in Southampton-row, Bedford-square, on the body of John Proctor, who pot a period to his existence on Siourday morning, by first cutting his throat. and then hanging himse!f. Ile was coachman to Mr. North, of East Acton. Ile had for some time been in a bad state of mind; and sometimes dressed himself in women's clothes. Ile was a single man, about 25 years of age, and in his coat pocket was found a letter, in which was written the following lines, addresstd to a servant•maidin a fitfully where he formerly had lived : I am young and in my prime, And ,I am going just in titiie, So come to aee the crud wretch And let my girl have my watch. - The Jury, after a 'mature deliberation, returned their verdict—That the deceased met his death' by his uw•n act, but was nut in a sound state of mind at the time. • Tuesday, a young woman, of very genteel appearance, walking in St. Jaines'a Park, wus taken suddenly ill, and sat down to rest herself