The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1883-01-09 00:00:00

HOUK fsTRALING.

Simeon Taylnr, on bail, who appeared in the dr..'
of an "tailleryman, was cheesed w.th, he beion
she bailee of a m ,re es,lt. the property of G -ores
Kni,cht, did fratplulent'y take and convert the aatne
I. hid own nee, and di I thereby steal the IMMO at
1311pot.t.nn Oct. llth,.

Mr. lVille. ap.peartil for the prowsrutlon.
George Knight, living at Unickerell, said on Oct.
10th he heel a mars for sale, and as the prisoner told
him he was ging to eiri :p_.rt Fair he a-ka.l him to
H tske ths colt with him. e sai I he wantwl 11?-'3 for
t. Wimess gave the prisoner. 44. to pay his expenses.
and told him if he cont.l not sell it, ant if he ha.l a
chance of making a go id " swap " for hi. (wit..awus's)
benefit he WM to .M it. Primuer t..eik the colt with
h•se. Withers sent his daughter to Brii port Fair. He
ha.l not 'lnc. seen the coil nor the money. On this
Fri ley following he went to Bri.lpoit himself, and
in c .n.equence of c..rtain enquiries he went to the
Pe' ice%
. . . .

Busily Knight, den :herr of the prosecntor, mail on
the morning of Oct .bvr 11th she went to ltridp .Ft
Fair. She took a message from her father to the prisoner.
he looked for the prisoner at Briiport, and found
bins at the 'row Key's. He said " Here's the colt
in here, you had better coins and see it." She went
in and saw it. Afterwards she went to prisoner's
father's house, and came back to Bridport with his
sister. Fri/toner then said " I have not sold the
colt yet, bat I will see what I can do." She then
left him, an 4 in the If/et-noon when she saw him
again, he said " I don't think I shall get the money
for the colt." Witness sal I " Never mind about
that, here's 2s. to keep the col; for the night,
and you can bring it back in the morning, and
we will break It in f .1. our own use." He said "All
right, I'll dolt." The utessege her father gave her
for prisoner if the coit was not sold in the after-
noon was she wad to have It put in, give him 2s. to
keep it for the night, and bring it beck next morn-
ing. When she gave him the 2i. be said "I doo't
want that." but be s .i/I nothing about the colt then.
At four o'clock she saw hint again, and he said be
would bring the clt hackie the morning. She after-
wards heard the colt had been dealt with, and she
taxed the prisoner with it, aud he replied "The colt's
all right."
Prisoner said the witness knew the colt was chopped
away, for he bad told her so.
Wiwi,s., denied this.

P.S. Hazzard. stationed at Bri iport, went to
Gisport with a warrant, and found prisoner at Fort
Rowner. He told prisoner he had a warrant for
Simeon Taylor; he replied "My name is George
Stone, of Axmineter." In reply to the charge he said
" I know nothing ab int It. Witness told him be
should take him to Bridport, and he then said "I
know you—you are Sergeant Hazzard." Witness
replied " I am, and you are Simeon Taylor." Prisoner
said he was afraid every p ilicernan he met would lay
his hands on him, and added " If I could have wrote
I would have written to George Knight, and offered
him money as I c iuld." lie admitted he chopped the
colt, and drew 1;5, but what bee sue of the thing
be didn't know. The Sergeant- Is s told witness
prisoner enlisted at Dorchester on October 18th in
the name of George Stone, of Axminster. Oath/ way
to Bridport pria icor said "I ought to hare taken
back the bores, as I told Knight's daughter—that was
where I made a fool's job of it."
Charles Bigler, ostler at the Cross Keys Inn, said
on Bridport Fair Day prisoner came there, between
seven and eight in the morning, with a roast col:,
which he said he bad for sale. It was taken out of the
stable during the m siring and brought back by the
prisoner after dinner. It was taken away again by
the prisoner about tour o'clock. He told him he had
sold It, but he wee going to take it out again to see
what he could do. He said he would tine back again,
when he would satisfy him for standing the borer,.
He did not come back, and Mr. Knight paid him two
or three days afterwards. Prisoner appeared to be
sober when he took tha c ilt away.
For the defence prisoner called John Houneell, who
said Mies Knight knew the horse was sold, but the
Chairmen remarked this did not improve his came, nor
did it exonerate him.

Emily Taylor, sister of the prisoner, was also called,
but her evidence wee quite irrelevant.
The jury I,.und the prisoner guilty, and he was
senterioed.

Mr. Willem consulted with the prisoner, and
addre.sing the Bonet said be (prisoner) had assured
Lim he first bargained with • man who at the first was
called as a witness for the proeecution, but whom he
would say nothing about. Prisoner wes worse for
liquor at the time, and • horse wes put on him and
£3. Afterwards being in the came state he happened
to ran against somebitly else, who got the bore, out of
him again and El out of the LI so that all he had wa..
El out of the wh 1. transaction. Whether he tell
amongst thieves or not he did not know, but prisoner
assured him these were the facto.
_ _ .

The Chairman gave the prioooer a few wholesome
words of caution. sod sen,eoced him to two months'
imprisoumeLt with hard labour.
A BAD FAMILY!

John Merchant (19), painter, Richard Merchant
(22), painter, Merrill. Merchant (ZS), and Daniel
Murphy, (19), soldier, were indicted for stealing_lo..
in silver, of the monies of Alban Watch, of Wey-
mouth, on Dsc. 11th.
From the evidenos, which, it will be remembered,
was given in full a week or two ago, it appeared
Albert Watch keeps a shop in High-street. On the
day in Tendon Mrs. Watch came downidoirs and
found the ill about half-open, and 10r. or Us. missing.
One of the coins was a threepenny-piece, which was
peculiarly defaced, and Mrs. Watch had been unable
to peas it. The prisoner Richard came into the
shop on that day for • faggot, and ooe of
the other prisoners was seen looking into the
window several times. P.'s Carter and Barrett
apprehended the prisoner John and the woman at
the Nelson. The man said he had only IL in his
poseetion, but on being searched at the station it war
found he had inside the waistband f his trottaers
El lit in silver. Murphy hal been in company
with the Merchants, the female having eroded be
was her brother. All the prisoners hal been seen
drinking together At the Nelson. P., Carter appre-
heosied Murphy and Richard Merchant at the Nelson,
Merchant had on Murphy's military tunic and cep.
Carter charged Merchant with robbing the till, and
he said "You are • smart detective, you ought to
be somewhere else." He found, among other money
on him, the peculiar threepermy-piece.
Th. jury found the Merchants guilty, and Murphy
not guilty.
Sergeant Howlett, Detective of the Metropolitan
Police, was called to give evidence as to character,
and it was • distressing list of crimes that he imputed
I, the Marchaate, lie knew the Merchants well.
The father is a respectable hard-working ship's painter,
but his son Richard appears to be an in rrisible
criminal. He, too, is a ship's painter, and capable of
earning good wages, but he toref.rs stealing. His fork
Seem, to be robbing Lille In 1875 be bed six w.eka
for till robbery; in the same year three years in •
reformatory for a similar theft; in 1880 three months
at Ilford for a till robbery; and he had been convicted
at Windsor in conjunction with other prisoners, but
of which there were no details. As to John Mer-
chant, the list was not so black; he had in 1842 three
months for attempted till robbery, and previous to
that hal ben in a Reformatory. The gergeant
remarked he had lost sight of the Merchants for some
time. When they had "finished this," he should
" want " them for stealing watches from • jeweller's
shop at Greenwich. Two other brothers were also
undergoing penal servitude at the present time.
Mr. Wiliest remarked there had been several till
robberies in Weymouth lately. At the Military Arms
one of the prisoners had been found with his hand
almost in the till, and another was found under the
table at the Black Bear.
Richard hiarchant was sentenced to 15 months'
imis
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The Culla then rose.