The Sun. — London, England, 1801-09-18 00:00:00

4I OLD BAILEY. THURSDAY, SEPT. 17. George Beach and James Phillips• were indided for making an assault in the King's Highway, on the 9th of June last, on Thomas Otherly, putting him in fear and danger of his life, and taking from his person, against his will, a red leather pocket. book, his property. Thomas Otherly the Prosecutor, swore that The is employed in the hoop binding line ; that on the 9th of June last, as he ryas coming from Stepney towards his own house, through the fields, about half-past two o'clock, as near as he could recollea, or about a quarter before three, in the fields of Stepney, he was robbed by three men : it was light enough for him to see a man .boo or coo yards off : he discover ed the persons of the three men clearly : when he came up to them, the one of them stopt him, and demanded his money. The man who demanded the money had A velveteen jacket on. The Prosecutor told them he had no money. The same ,man who demanded it, said, with an oath, " we will have money, or something else." The Prosecutor told them " to do as they pleased ;" upon which one of them knock'd j..irn down, and took his pocket-book out of his right hand pocket—it contained nothing but a few memorandums, and some receipts for rent. He never recovered his pocket-book again. He was sure it" was the same man who demanded his money, knocked him down and took out his pocket-book. The man who stood by when this was done, had a brown coat and a blue jacket under it, and that man said, " It is of no use to beat him any more, for he has got nothing to beat him for." They then left him and he came towards home, and made tue best of his way. The man with the velveteen jacket he described to be the Prisoner Beach. He said he knew the Prisoner Phillips, and he said it was he made use of the expression " do not beat him any more, it is of no use, he has got , nothing to beat him for." The Prosecutor said, I was then pettedly sober as I am now ; I had been drinking in the evening, but I had slept afterwards. After I left these men I met Haynes, one of the Shadwell Police Officers, just as I came out of the fields near Rat cliffe Highway ; I told him I had been robbed, and if he would go into the field with me I would en. deavour to take the thieves. He said, he could not go with me because he was going with Lawn he bad the charge of, but he told me, if you will relate it to my brother Officer he will help you. Between seven and eight in the same morning, I went to the White Lion, where I knew the Police Officers used to go, and I saw Brown and Holdsworth there.— , I communicated to them that I had been robbed; I described the persons of the men who robbed me, as I did to Haynes, and as I describe them to.day. I heard nothing afterward till they were appre hended, and I saw them at the Office, which I sup_ pose might be a month afterwards, and then I knew them ; I had never seen the Prisoners. before, to know them ; there were three of them brought to the Office, but I knew only two of them. As to them, when I saw them, I had not the least doubt they were two of the men who robbed me ; I have not the least doubt now, but I am positively sure they are the two men. On his cross-examination he said, among ,many other things, that he had been drinking at the Ship, public-house, at Stepney, with some bell-ringers, who had a rejoicing on the evening of the Bth of June, the night before he was robbed; that he haci been the worse for liquor, but had recovered by sleep, befbre he came out of the house, which was about two • o'clock : but that he had not had any quarrel with any body in the public house :—that he saw, on the following day, one of the men 'he had been drinking with, but did not mention the . circumstance of his lqaving been robbed ; he thought it better to leave that to the Officer to whom he had communicated the whole. 'Haynes, one of the Officers of the- Police, con firmed every thing the Prosecutor had sworn to, as to the description he gave of the persons of the men who robbed him, of their being apprehended, and of the Prosecutor pointing the two Prisoners out when they were brought to the Public-Office, be fore the Magistrates; and also said, the Prosecutor was perfectly sober when the witness met him after the robbery. Another Officer of the Police, to whom the. Pro secutor also related the circumstance of his being robbed, aild to whom he had described the persons of the Prisoners,. gave an account which agreed ex anly with the description he had given of their per. sons to Haynes, adding some things as to the stature of the Prisoners, &c. On the part Of the Prisoners two witnesses were examined. They said, they were - two ringers of bells, who had been ringing a peal to their new Ream-, on ,the Bth of June : that they had a meet. ing in the evening of that day, at the Ship, public. house, at which they all drank . very freely : that the Prosecutor' came there !MI6 in liquor : that be sat clown. wish one Caley, who, it appeared by their conversation, was known to him, they aid a wager which of them could chalk the furthest on the floor, from' the same spot. This man beat the Prosecutor considerably in chalk ing, but the prosecutor quarrelled with him,-instead Of paying the wager, and this man knocked the Pro secutor down, gave him a blow that occasioned a swelling as large as a pidgeon's egg. in 'a few minutes. The Prosecutor was very much in liquor ; they all drank very fi'eely, but the Prosecutor was, by much the drunkest man in -the company-; he. had. drank a great deal of gin as well:as beer. He went off f?om the Ship . Public-house, about two o'clock, and it is about 'a quarter ,of a mile from the field .where the Prosecutor said he was robbed.— One of these two Ringert of bells met the Prosecu tor on the evening of the 9th. of June, and asked him, How he got home on the night before ? He said, Very well, but that he fell in field, and rolled very much in some cow dung ; btu -s % 'd not one word about his being robbed. - - • _ _ ' Phillips, the father of one of the Prisoners, was then called.—He swore that he- is a Wheelwright ; LONDON : Printed b At tite Suri3OFFIcE, that his son was isrought up with him, anu lived with him up to the time of his being apprehended upon this charge. He lived at Mile end ; that his son at that time worked over the water; that in his work he received so violent a blow on, his head, the be ginning of the month of June last, that he was unable to work ; that he was for several days, only in and out of bed, and would not stir from home ; that the Witness was sure his son was nor out any night during the whole of the month of June. He would undertake to say that he was not out of his bed after eleven o'clock in any one night in the month of June ; it was impossible, for he slept in the garret, and always went up to bed about nine, and could not come down again without the know ledge of his father, who slept in a room below. The Mother was called also, and she gave the same evidence as the Father did, as to the son being at home—She added, that she nursed him for a great part of the month of June ; for three days he could not come out of bed, without help; a Dolor whom she named, but whose name we could not hear, attended him„,for the greater part of the month of June, during which he was only able to come down to the yard, &c. Mr. Baron HOTHANf summed up the whole of the Evidence, and observed on the most material parts of it, first as to the Evidence that the Prosecutor had given himself—He admitted that the day after the robbery took place, he saw a person with whom he had been drinking the over night, and did not. tell that person, that he, the Prosecutor, had been robbed, and one of the Witnesses swore. " that he saw the Prosecutor on the evening of the 9th," when the robbery had happened in the morning of that day, asked him, " How he got home ?" He said, " very well, but that he fell down and rolled himself in some cow dung," without a word of the robbery. Now, said the Learned Judge, Gentlemen, that is a very singular circumstance, and weighs on my mind very much. You are to say what weight it has on yours. I think that, if any man was robbed over night, knocked down and rifled by three foot pads, and on the following day, met one of his own companions with whom he had been drinking, but a few minutes before he was robbed, he would have, told that companion of the rubbery, and that the more especially as that very companion had asked him, how, he got home that night ?—Yet the Pro secutor tells you he did not say any thing about it, thinking it was fitter to leave that to the Officer.— This may be so, but -I own, to my mind, it is most extraordinary condua, if lie was robbed. So ex traordinary as to make me doubt whether what he says is true. I feel this very strongly on my mind, but it is for you to weigh it in yours. Another contradietiOn of• - .the Prosecutor is this, he swears he had no dispute on that night, at the public-house in question; whereas it turns out that he had a quar rel with a person who gave him' a blow, which it was extraordinary if he forgot it, for it brought him to the ground, and caused an immediate swell ing as large as a pigeon's egg. The identity of the persons of the Prisoners, the Learned Judge said, depended entirely upon the evidence of the Prosecutor himelf, for he was not corroborated in that particular by any body. The only point in which his evidence was confirmed, was that of the description he gave of the persons of the Prisoners, and upon that it was observable, that he certainly gave the very same description of these men to both the Officers of the Police, and this was very strong, for it appeared that he did go into these fields at the time he stated ; and that almost on the instant he made the alarm to the Officer of the Police, whom he wanted to go with him at that moment in search of the robbers. If this was a tale made out by the Prosecutor, he must have contrived the whole of it in one moment ; but it was possible that lie was robbed, and that he was mistaken in the persons oftthe robbers ; if so, the Prisoners were of ' course entitled to their acquittal. Now upon that I lubjeCt, the Learned Judge observed, -that the Jury would consider the evidence of the father and mo ther of the Prisoner Phillips. If they were :to be be lieved, the Prosecutor was wrong as to one of the Prisoners, at all events. If he was wrong as to Phillips, it was but fair to conclude that lie was wrong as to Beach, for he swore with equal posi tiveness as to both, and he had no better means of knowing the one than the other of them. On the whole of the case, the Learned judge said, it de pended very much on the credit the Jury gave to the evidence of the Prosecutor. If they thought that the robbery took place at a time of the morning when the light was clear enough, and the Prosecutor's head clear enough, to distinguish the persons of the Prisoners, so that he could not mistake them, then they would find the Prisoners guilty. • If the Evidence was not satisfactory to them, that he was not wrong, but that he was, as he said lie was, perfeOly sober, and that he had . light enough to enable him to distinguish the coun tenances of these men (who, by.the bye, he never saw before), and if they thought that the extraor dinary circumstance of his not telling his companion he was robbed, was not enough to introduce a doubt into the ease, they would find the Prisoners guilty ; but if, on the contrary, they .thought it was very strange that he did not tell his companion he was robbed, and if they thought he was not recovered from his drinking (since he did not remember the blow by which he was knocked down), so that the case was doubtful at least, then they would give the Prisoners the benefit of that doubt, and acquit them.—All these observations were made on the case Oithout the evidence of the father and mother oldie Prisoner Phillips ;—if the Jury believed their evidence, the point would hardly admit of any doubt, but the Prisoners would be acquitted. The Jury deliberated for about half a minute, and found both the Defendants—Not Guilty. Beach was tried with' two Others, upon an in dietment. for a robbery, near Nightingale_ lane,. and taking'away 'the watch of a person of the name of Richard Groom, on,the 7 di of July last. The Prosecutor proved iliat he was robbed about eleven o'clock at night, by three men, but he swore he could not undertake ; to identify one of the Pri soners. He said he could not swear positively to RU CHANAN 11' MI LLA N,.(of Bow-street, Covent-Carden) ; an(I• PubUshed by Wli.Li Abi ARIA I Q filt,SC IP'S (of Hca;,e-f ; No. : .2 Z, Strand .; where 441T,ertisenrents Orders for the Paper, Letters for - the - Aditor, .•risost- the penon of any one of the#l, and therefore they were all acquitted. William Roberts was indiEted foi stealing thirty. six yards 'of ticking, value 41. the property of James Henley, his dwelling house. It appeared that the ticking in question was put out at the door of the Prosecutor for sale, as many pieces are, half o►it and half within doors, -and'tied within.— The Prisoner had contrived to snatch it away, and, being pursued, dropt it. Mr. Baron HOTHAM told the Jury thift the meaning of the At of Parliament, making the stealing in the dwelling-house to the amount of 4.05. a capital offence, was, not that this sort of property, put out for sale half in and half out of the-house, should ba. protetcd by this penalty of Death. That •was not, in common sense, stealing in a dwelling_house. The meaning of that AI of Parliament was, to proted a man from those who really come into a house and steal property out of it, no.t against stealing that which was out at the door, as this was.—Guilty of stealing the goods, but not in the dwelling-IL,use. John IT/Wilson was indieted for stealing three rol. three 51. four il. Bank of England Notes, two 7s. pieces, two half crowns, and four shillings, the property of Catherine Pugh, in her dwelling-house. Catherine Pugh, the Prosecutrix, swore, that she lives at a place called Great Gar ' aen, Seven-step_ s alley, St. 'Catherine's, and keeps a house there; that the Prisoner lodged with her for five weeks; that on the 24-th of July she lost her money and Bank notes ; the money and the notes were packed up in a drawer in a chest Of drawers in my• bed_ room, said she, where I slept ; I saw the money about half-past five in the morning; there were three tol. notes, three 51. four 11. two seven shilling pieces, two half-crowns, and four shil- - flogs, all my own money ; before eight in the morning, I discovered that I had been robbed. I went to the drawer, and missed tie pocket-bookin . which the Notes and money were, my watch also was gone. The drawer was locked, but. I left the key in it ; I then gave information for the Pri soner to be taken. -The reason for it, that he was the only person who slept in the house ; he slept above me, and he could not go down stairs without going through my bed-room. I had seen him at six in the morning.; be was then in my bedroom. I asked him, what he got up so soon for ? He said he did not know, but be could not sleep. He went down and he came back again in about half an hour, and he drank with me in bed ; he fetched me some liquor, and he gave me.some while another man was with' me in bed. The man who gave me the money, he is a sailor gone to the Indies, he always gave me all his money when he came to my,house, the same as• if I had been his wife. '[She proceeded with More details of the same kind.] Another woman swore that the Prisoner had some conversation with her, and told her the watch was with a person near Deptford Turnpike, but was not so.—As to the - money, he Said le would give Mrs. Pugh a note of hand for the Whole of it if he was cleared. The Priconer said, the home was a house of : fame, that he had lodged In it 7 a away, but knew nothing of the monerpcnotes— None were found on him. The Jury did not think it safe to convi& a man and forfeit his life upon such Evidence; anci, there fore, found the Prisoner—Not. Guilty. William ,Ber ry was charged with a capital 'of fence, in violently assaulting . Ann Holman, and forcibly taking from her person a 21. Bank Note and 1.4.5. her property. It appeared that the Prosecutrix, a Negress, was a common creature of the town, and by the ace9unts of one or two of the Witnesses, one of the lowest and most abandoned of her kind. She.told, a long, and certainly a rather improbable story, with re spe6t to the charge. She stared, that between one .and two o'clock in the morning of the first inst. she went into the house of the Prosecutor (who keeps one of those low receptacles in Hedge-lane), accompanied by two men ; that she had at the time a 21. Bank Note, which she received from a Gentle man in Pall-Mall, and that she had also r4s.—all whioh she held in her hand ; and that she told her companions she had the money. She -then stated that one of the men gave her half a guinea to change, and buy some gin this, she said; she put into her mouth ; she went down accordingly to purchase the liquor, and.at the foot of the stairs was met by the Prisoner, who' she supposed must have over-heard her tell the men above stairs of the money she had in her possession. lie came up to her, and said, " How came you by that money ? give it me ; what business has such a black b—Lh with so much money ?" He then, she iaid, knocked her and putting his knee upon her stomach, forced the money and note out of her hand; that she then went out, bought. the gin at a public-house, and returned with it ; that all that time she made no mention of her being robbed, to any person. Soon after she returned, the Prisoner came with two watchmen, and forced into the room ; on which the men ran out, and afterwards that she was beat and abused very much by the Prisoner and the watchmen. This was the substance of her story as applying - to the charge against the-Prisoner; the remaining evidence On the part of the'proseCution respeded the conduit of the Prisoner .when the -Prosectitrix hit subsequently made the charge 'against him. • Two Witnesses vi/ere brought forward in this view,- whO were not apparently of the most - respeCtable -descrip tion : the jet, however; of what they advanced was, that the Prisoner, while in custody •it a pub- liC-house, before he was taken to the Marlborough street Office, had said, in their hearing, that he had • sent home for a zl. note, and 14s. in-order to •satisfy that infamous black woman, who had charged him . with robbing her. Kennedy, the officer, who was brought forward on the same side, •-stated, that he heard the Prisoner say - he bad sent for a -0,1. note, to give that black b—h, - sooner than go before a Os t ice. . The Prisoner, iri his defence,. solemnly d e nied the charge, and brought forward two Watchmen, who stated that he had applied to assist him in turn,. ing two 'men and a black woman out of his house, who he was afraid would rob him ; ttiley went up, on which the men.went away at once ; the- woman remained, ,and had some words . with Berry, who she abused very much, and said she had paid him a shilling-tbr.the use of the room ;- that she was not struck by any of them ; and that they never heard her make a charge of robbery. On evidence to this and, and under an appro priate charge from Mr. Justice LE Br ANC, the„ - Jury had no hesitation in acquitting the Prisoner. -Thomas Dennis was indided for stealing a metat watch with a gold seal, the property of Henry Rey nolds Hinde, Esq.- . The Prisoner, it .appeared, had lived as set vane to the Prosecutor, a Lieutenant. in the rst Regi ment of Foot Guards. lie missed the watch so long since as jali'.:ary, when in Barracks. at Knights bridge. Vs he saw it last, it was in a writing desk. In the course of some months ,after, having occasion to susped the Prisoner, he had him taken into custody and searched, when a number of dupli cates were found in his possession ; one of these was for the watch in question, which a Pawnbroker U . Jermyn-street p►oved he had - pawned under tlio name of Polhill. The watch was duly identified by Mr. Hinde : indeed, when the duplicate was taken from him, he ickercwledged the watch to have been: his master's. His defence consisted of a written address to the Court, it was of great length, and contained the part;ci!?:.lr3 ts:f his situation at the time, and assert ing that hiS master was considerably in arrears with him for board wages—He acknowledged he took the articles, but with the intention of replacing them when he had received ; that he lived cre ditably with Lords Barrymore, l'etersham, &c. and finally threw himself on the mercy of the Court. The Prosecutor declared, that that part of the defence which respected the non-payment of board wages, was untrue, these he always paid him regu larly.; and that he understood the distresses of the Prisoner arose from-his having gambled in the Lot tery. The Court observed, that allowing the allegations of the Prisoner to be true, it could be no justification of his condutt ; and .he Jury holding the charge fully substantiated, immediately found him Guilty. Joseph Ha/ford was indieted for stealing, on the zoth of August, a pocket-book, value as. contain ing twelve Bank Notes amounting to z6l. the pro petty of Riehao Hadrill. • . The ProseCutor, a resident of Canterbury, andr we believe, an Officer of the M etro p o li tan Ch ur ch, stated, that on the above-mentioned day, about two o'clock, :he was looking at the pidures in the shop window at the corner of Cock-court, Ludgale.: : hi r l u l t s hawt i t t i e felt lepr a iso i n ) e ti r ll n a e t a l r ii l s u i:o n, cke lv e, ith and his p tu o r c nin ket g. _ book in his hand. To this fad he swore positively, and had no doubt of its being his pocket-book.. — He instantly charged the Prisoner with the theft,: which he stoutly denied, and a crowd colleding about the spot, the pocket.l3Ook disappeared.-- - 'Confident that the Prisoner gave the -pocket-N.)OTC t ° ' Smile accomplice, he charged an Officer with hin He was taken to thy Compeer, and searched, but to •no purpose: • A respedabie person stated, that !lc had paid the Prosecutor the Notes which he deseribcti himself to have been robbed of, but an hour before/ -The Prisoner, in his defence . , denied the faa, and protested his innocence ; spoke of his brother, an of some friends- of respetiability, who, however , were not forth --coming.—Two lads appeared to 1 - 05 charaaer, but the Jury implicitly confiding in the Prosecutor, found -the Prisoner Guilty. WIP NEWS. 'CRAY SEND, SEPT. S. Passed b7—the Hope and Anchor, Fryer, Neptnne, Jacob . ' son, and Harmony, Williams, from Norway ; Margarctl a r Smith, from Quebec; Jonge Peter, , and Britann.3, Cowlson, from Dantzick ; Jonge Maria, Smith, fromlz°t terdam ; Fidelity, Edwards, Danx, Batty, Britannia, Carr/ Hector, Prin.gle,.and Nancy, Pearson, from Petersburgh.,, ii , Sailed—the _lane, Gardner, tbr Hamburg-It ; Portland , u,: r lar, Rotterdam ; VroW Alida, —, and Drie Gesusters, for Amsterdam, MARRIED, On the 3 oth of July, at tiv: Island tf Tortola, in the Wcst Indies, I. Tov,• - nsend Nsea, Esq. to Miss Monro , 44uglitor, of the late Major James Nlonro. On Monday last, George Blackshavv, Esq. of Donning ton, Ecrkshirz, to Miss Bruinmell. Yesterday, w,rarne a r t , oStt., St.Nl varyinlec-ebnotn,se.Church, Mr. N. Tayntr.r., to Mrs. DIED. On Monday the 7th inst. aged 47, after a short illness, at his house in Chelsea, Thomas Hammond, Esq. Clerk in the Teller's Office of His Majesty's Exchequer, and for maw/ years Deputy Agent to the Out-Penioners of Chelsea Hos- pital. On Monday last, Mrs. Smith, wife of Mr. Robert Peter Smith, of Whitechapel-road. On the 53iit inst. at her house, at Knightsbridge, Mrs. Elizabeth Morris, widow of Capt. John Morris, late of the Royal Navy. • •On Moi,day, Mrs. Millington, widow of the late Thomas Millington, Esq. or St. James's-parade, Bath. On Tuesday, after a long and paint - ill illness, Mr. S. Ha zard, of Swansea. At Inverinoriston, on the Bth inst. J o h n Grant„ Esq. of Glenntoriston, late Captain in the 42d Regiment, and Lieu" tenant Colonel of the Argyllshire Militia. At York, on Thursday se'nnight, aged 53, Francis Alas/ li a 13aptist Pre.v.er, and the founder of the Baptist SocictY that city. • On Saturday last, at Hastings, Mrs. Scott, wife of Jo" . Scott, Esq. of Beautert-builctings, in the. Strand. On Tuesday last, Mrs. Lauren2e, of Church -street, Soho 4 widoCk of the late Mr. Montague Laurence, of the Strand. PRICS 0 I'EST Bank Stock shut ' Navy s per. Cent, stsik 5 per Lei.t.. 1797, sin. 4. Irish 5 per Ce , t. shut 4 per Cent . . Cap. shut 3. per but 3 per• Cent. eon. 59Zif. D:tt:, Scrip 3-ink .f.411g . 7 . ,1111. shut )4to-hoii Ann. shut )itto Scrip .try: reA, Westminster) ; aid)jmust -, be 4ddre3sed. r STOCKS, R DAY. India Stock Exchequer Bills New ditto Lottery Tickets 'lrish ditto rininit:in 8 7i • Impet. 3 per Cent. Ditto Ann. xi 11-161 ilank for for Consols for sail( N. MI ~- . ON In A, End of TO viii The An Chin] p foxes, D(AO atlce On th e M Afr: his ti r , ir ilcoirstr sior,cd and G Willa taable ()PE , st:i ( - 3 e r ' r; 0: 4t Ti l eglie , Rliod lespc' • " 1 ".4.t. 13,11iti the liusil 2,501. Le -ton, wen ICC cow; CHI illost Cc flay to E five, I• Z r ,' i ti F5Aw hip ] to St sons 214 Vier MO;