The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-08-27 00:00:00

" A
_NARROW INUKAK."

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I.t t..- .r n:11 t.!art I,,terdaY (Moa4a7) befer.
T• r Aldri,l4.), Alderman Come. Mr. 11.
II V Vi Mr. t; J. G. Grrgory.
Yr. PA:I?.).. Gre..4sd• farywr etinaer farm. Back-
hut N• t.m. %Ka c.,..rg..1 with ste.l.tne a 6P...it coat
:tal a: La :Le pruperty el Mr. Ciarlas Meech Motentalt.
,!

j Mr. Wrotn troseoite i and Hr. Howard defended.
Mr. We-t,.n. in opening the Caee. said although the facts
w re remarkably simple. it tuight enable the Beach the
I. tier to follow him if be cave them • short account of It.
Ne 1.111411 on Saturday the drat day of December lot
came into Dorcheeter market in a bores and trap. and he
rut no his coveyance at the Royal Usk. and in Rae trap
he lel t his groat .at, and upon going away in the evening
he missed it and made every enquiry but no Winos of It
c ol I be Defendant on the same do was at
the II Tat Usk also, and from what subsequently trees-
p:te.l a..-eord:tut to his ,an statements be found the coat
in las trap. iiOIV,VeT that might be he continued to Omit
and never made any enquiries a. 4. the owner. He had it
alt-red to lit himself and went at us with it until quit..
r. cently. When taxed with the alrair be .aid "oh if you'd
eause and aidse-1 IL. I 42011141 Lave airen it uy. hut as you
kept it. Those were the (sots ho did know what
the defetwe sroull 1.• but he thaudit they cold had very
little theild as to defend ales conduct in the matter.
then lawless otme foe the defendant than
for • roar MAIL Ile carried on the business of a farmer
nod iambi I, have I:nown better, and simply 1K,51160 he
mowed it a hytter sphere of life than ordinary defendants
woo .0. nue hy lee halo 4,1 in the way he did.
übwies !leech Newman. brewer of Nulling, mid he
attended Dorelsemer market .os the let of December last
and drove In. He had with km an Ulster overcoat, and
the ono produced be Identhled as the one ha gosetion. ES

put up at the Royal Osk and left his coat in the trite.
Thir WAS atwut one o'clock bin usual time and he started
a,,atis shout nix when h. missed his coat. Be at
one, ursde enquiries of Mr. Read, the landlord and
eeareh Laving been made, be leit the matter in his
Lands, that if the coat was n..t found it should be tic
in the lunie.s of tb. relict. Ile wee about the counta two
or three. days is week, and be made constant enquiries,
coup quently it wooextensively known. Ha heard n..thinil
of it until loot Tue.alay, then be received a communication '
front Mr. Supt. Coward. On the followir.6 Fri•lay the
defendant called upon hini at his Lou. at Syeline. U.
said he had cow. about the coot, and was very sorry 10t
what had taken place, and he hoped he would do the st •
be could for Lim. He had found the eoatinhl.tn.pon;
Lir arrival home, and he told his friends of it. Witness I
asked bins if be hs.l made any enquiry to know if anyone !
hal loot a coat, and he said he had unt, as he thought the
owner would very likely call for it. Witness: told bin. it
was not his wish to press the case, and be had tried to
settle it on the Wednesday—that was when the sessions
WIN taken out. He told the Mayor if it need not go
; further he di I not wish it to.
, Mr. Weston: Now it the coat in the NM* states. when
, you boat it I—No, the sleeved have been lengthened!
; Greenslade told me his wife bad done se.
Mr. Weston: And at teat iliao he knew the coat was in
I the hands of the polies I—Yee.
Witness continued : Defendant also said some time ago
he • greed him some &beep for male, and he much regretted
he did not go over and buy them, as if be had done so he
would have NMI the coat tonging in his µwave, and then
he might bays recognised it, and it would bare be-on siren
up. Re oleo said Its would rather have lost every tiling he
Lad Orin it should have happened, and further that if he
Lad known it had been hi. lie would have been pleased to
hove given it uP but Indins 1.0 one Came ter it, he told
Li. wife to lenxthen the nieces.
Crors-exandped: The Royal Oak yard icon open one.
and a good number of traps aro placed there. There was
tioinark in the coat.

.
upentr nn onT Coward on Tneaday lad went to the
defendant's. house, in consequence of information he had
ca•eived. He wee in the fieleb, and he went to him and
asked him if be was Mr. Greenslade. Ho trolled yea ;and
he then told bicu be was the superint ndent of police from
D3rehreterould he had come respecting the coat taken
out of Mr. I% Qrman'a trap !roma months ago leolll the Oak
public.house—an Uistor overcoat, the one that you're been
wearily:, and hod the sleeves let down -a coat like this, at
the same time showing him the band. The band b d been
furnished by Mr. Newman. He he had a coat which
he bud found at the Is titan of his trap; his partner, Hr.
Duuford, was with hisu at the time. They then went to the
defendant's house, and on their going in he laid to his wife
"Here's a toll .eulan come about that coat I brought in ;
co °pismire and fetch it." She did se, and handed it to
him in .lefereLuses presence. She said she had let the
FlCele. down herself, and ho bad worn it once or twice.
He al.oo said that if anyone had enquired for it they could
lave I alit. Ile to'd hint be had made enquiries through-
' out the county and also at Salisbury. and did not expect
to hare had to conn out there to Sind it. He said he had
no cost it Dorchester that in, and be then told him if
that were so he ought to hay. returned it at the first
°P unity to the Oak.
rrOtes-examisced : The loss of the coat was not advertired
in the local papers. nor " aTed." He did not stay longer
than a quarter of an hour at def ndant's house. He was
certain defendant did not say he had his own coat at
market that day.
. . . . .

lis hul seen the defendant in the
market percral times since the Stod of December.
P.C. Gould (3) proved receinna the band of the coat
Iron Mr. NeWIIIRO.

ThiTwas the case for the prosecution.
Mr. Howard, for the defence, said he could not help
saying, after considerable experience in such cow, that
the prosecuti in had 'dread it before them, through his
fro not Mr. Weston, fairly arel without bamboos., and
chile not a &Ingle point of importance had been omitted
ither way, nothing had been unduly pressed His
thought also the Superintendent of Police had given hie
,vilence in a very straightforward way—not in the
manner of a inan nlohing to obtain a conviction. but who
.lesired faithfully to discharge his duties. He could not
forbear mentioning this, es it presented so great a
cootrast to the efforts mode in bOalo (aka to WWI borne
guilt, and he knew the Bench would appreciate it, for it
was not the desire of magistrates t lank. criminals, and
it was always a greater pleasure to tines adminiatering
justice that a man should he found not guilty of any
criminal intentions, rather than that he should have been
found guilty. He agrosql that whether • man was high
in ;society or eery low down, the moue guilt attached to
both, and he quite coincided with Mr. Werton's remarks
that the smiths' of the mai. who now stood before them
would make it the lea, excumblo. But he would ask
them also to remember that although this premed in one
way it did also in the other. Where a Man of extremely
ossl character and aood position in society had anything
bot found upon him, in order to declare it an unlawful
act they would have very carefully to *onetime the
int mtion. Mr. Howard then reviewed the facts, and
argued the evidence tended to show the coat had, in the
log about of traps, fallen out of Mr. Newnian's and
I,ut placed I y some person in the defendant's". It wee a
mistake which bad often arisen, and the defendant's
e,isloct. he c.otended, had been that of an honed man.
No doubt it was thoughtless on his put lint to hare
to ntiened it when he came In again to Doody ster, and
1,, that th, ughtle,iness lie owed hi, ;Tomtit position, but
it was nothing floe,. Referring to the law of the case
M. Howard qiut-il that of Rey. v. Therein, and also that
of Reg. v. CAri.topher. • Don-heeter case, in which Mr.
Weston himself wag c.numnied. A woman left her house
at Stinsford, and on the road ti Dorchester dropped her
purse. Five Ipews after it was "cued," and a man
1.1-01.1 wh was drinking at the Bull'. Head, took
a purse awl paid a sovereign to treat another man.
II was afterwards taken into custody, and he said he
knew be bad picked it up and had done wrong. He was
c quieted at the Quarter Selliii4ll. Mr. Weston appealed
and the conviction sem emasheal, the judges ruling that
tha rat must he a felunbuis intention et the tints the prisoner
fouoil the article. The evidence iv the present case corn.
ph Jody stultified ant negatived that.
The Clerk to the Magistrates intimated be should advise
tho Bench it was a cage for a jury.
Mr. Howard then called
Richard Dunford, who was cautioned that as he went
home with the defendant in the cart and was present
when it was found he might insoles himself In the come-
tmences, said he was • partner with thedefendant who was
bi brothersin•law, and went home with him on the Ist!
La.:ember. On their arrival • young woman took the
yogas out of the trot, and shortly afterwards brought in,
from the kitchen, the cost in question with the other
articles they had bought. She asked them if they had
taught the coat and th y both said they knew nothing
al..mt it It was hung op in the omaage for some months
aml no secrecy wm made of it, He and defendant had a
great coat each that evening—witness directly added be
cooldn't le quite certain about Greenalade.
Cross-examined : They came into Dorchester about
a •riontli or six weeks after and put up at the Royal Oak,
bet, he did not mention it. They told their neighbours—
that woo their work people. What did you tell them
That we had got • cord we found in the trap Saturday
ni.ht. No conversation occurred between him and
Greenslade about taking it back. It hung nyr in the
Paysage four or live months, and he heard his slater say
she hasl taken it up stairs out of the way sf the rest
Mary Gooddon noire of the defendant, corroborated the
evidence of the previous witness as to , her taking the
parcels out u tint cart. Richard Eni, handed them to her
and amongd Mom was the coat, and when she asked her
uncle about it he said Led not bought it and lie thought
some ..ne had put it there by mistake; some inquiry would
be in .de about it, and she was to hang it up in the passage.
It was afterwards planed us arosm which was set apart
fir zueat..

-1t1;1171174 Ellis, groom in the employ of the defendant,
al,' spoke to takins Use coat out of the trap. His master
told him if he heard anyone enquire about it he was to tell
thou be (Ow ii.deudani) had it.
.• - •

Elit..b.:th Eli knew the ciat was hnnu up in the
plunge fur.m..nths where any 006 Could 660 it.
. . .

The Bench having retired for about a q oarter. of-an. hour,
on theit return the Mayor said they had very anxiously
o nsidered the case, and there was a great division of
inion as to Lis cenduct in not taking bark the coat,
therefore they bad decided to dismiss it. It is open to
Mr. Newman if he like, at any future occasion to indict
you.
Defendant said be was sorry he did not take it back.
Mr. Weston, on behalf of Mr. Newman, slid he brought
forward the case as he thought he ought; but, at the
saw° time, he was glad it was dismissed.
Robert Co.*, shoemaker, of Charminster, who had
intimated to the police his intention if not appearing.
iris summoned for having been drunk and disorderly.
P.C. Ilsrtley (7), moved the service of the summon; and
also that on the 17th of August he heard cursing and
swearing on the Charminster-road, and he there saw the
il fendant who was drunk and fell down. He asked him
his Illane. which he refused to give, and as he was incap-
able of taking care of himself be took him to the police-
station. Ilia language was anything but what it ouFht to
have been. The Bench said as the defendant did not
appear he would be fined more heavily than otherwise-
10a. and costs, 6... or 11 days.
Emily Sprealin, prostitute, of Fordington, pleaded
guilty to having been found drunk on the highway. The
s,iperintendent said she was about all hours of the night,
drunk. Fined ss. and costa, se. W. As she could not pay
she was sent for seven days.