The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-06-19 00:00:00

ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.

The new burlesque " Dido " was produced at this
theatre last night. It would be-difficult to describe,'
and perhaps -scarcely fair if we could. Mr. Charles
:Young's make up as the Carthaginian Queen was as
wonderful as in "Lucrezia ~Borgia." Miss Wyndham
was an excellent ./Eneas. Mrs. Power and Mr. Hunter,
•Miss Goodall and Miss Annie }Lime, with .Mis M'Ginty
and the corps de ballet; aided' the performance most
effectively, and the whole was admirably put upon the
stage.

in a, drawer in the bedroom of this house.

THE BOROUGH SESSIONS.

THE ROBBERY OF THE £11,P00.---TRIAL OF
THE PRISONERS, YESTERDAY.
At•the Borough Sessions, yesterday, James Joy and
Thomas Lee were charged with stealing, on the 12th of
May, five bills of exchange for the'sum of £11,264 8s 10d.
Mi. Deighton conducted the proseeution, and the prisoner
Joy was defended by Mr. Pearce and Mr. Russell ; Lee
was undefended by counsel.
Mr. Deighton, in opening the case, said that though
the amount stolen was ranch larger that was usual in
the generality of the cases which came before that court,
there was nothing beyond that • fact to 'distinguish it
from an ordinary case of larceny. It appeared that Mr.
Reginald Haigh, who is a broker in this town, received
on the 12th of May, at the bank of Messrs: Heywood,
five bills of exchange, which for safety he placed in his
hinder pocket, covering them with one hand, whilst with
the other be held the umbrella. From Messrs. Heywood's
Bank he walked towards the Exchange. When at the,
Exchange he.went under the piazzas, and ,removed his
hand from his pocket for the purpose, of, shifting his
umbrella. • On returning his hand to his pocket he
found that the notes had been removed. As soon as he
missed the property he looked about, but there appeared
to be no one in the neighbourhood, and he saw no more
'of the notes until a future occasion. This took 'Race at
'about a quarter to one o'clock. At half-past three the same
afternoon, the prisoners were seen in the neighbourhood
of the Post-office. Joy seemed to be coming from' the
office in which letters are registered, and he had in his.
hand a piece of paper which was seen by a person who
would be brought forward. This person would also tell
the jury the position in which Joy stood at the time, and
that the piece of paper which he held in his hand
resembled a receipt for a registered letter. The clerk
who registers letters would likewise be called, and he
would say that a person similar in appearance to the
prisoner Joy registered a letter in the register °CT, and
received the usual receipt. The prisoners were watched
by the persons to whom he alluded (Detective-officers
Scott and Spittle). After some conversation they separated
and subsequently ran away. They were followed by the de-
tectives and taken into custody. The address of the letter
was taken by Spittle, who immediately went to London,
to the house to which the letter was' addressed. He
was in the house when the letter was brought by the
postman ; it was received by a female who was after-
wards taken into custody and discharged. The officer
took possession of the letter as soon as it came, and,-the
outer envelope was found to contain a letter and part of
the: property ;which had been stolen from Mr. Haigh!
The direction on the , envelope, and the seal, would be
proved to be those of the prisoner Lee. The impreision
on the envelope corresponded with a seal which was found
in the possession of Joy.
Reginald Haigh was the first witness called. He
'said that on the 12th of May last he wept to HeYwi)od'S
Bank and left it at about a quarter to one o'clock with the
bills.mentioned in the indictment—the value of which was
upwards of £ll,OOO. On leaving the bank 'he put the
bills' into his coat tail pocket and kept his hand on
them until he got to the Exchange where he removed
his hand for three or four seconds to- shift his umbrella.
On putting his hand into his pocket again he found the
bills were gone. He immediately gave information at
the different banks and at the police station.
Cross-examined by Mr. Pearce—Witness went to the
police station, and under the advice of the officer there
drew up a placard offering £2O reward. The placard
was headed " Lost or Stolen." Witness had no doubt
when he wrote that that the bills had been stolen ; but
they put " lost" as the thief might be more likely to
come forward and give up the bills for the reward on
finding that it was supposed that they were lost.
Mr. Spittle, a London detective, was then called. lie
knew both the prisoners. On the 12th May be saw Joy
coming from the direction of the register office of the
Post-office. The, prisoner had a piece of paper in his
hand; this was at about half-past three. Lee and Joy
were walking together towards Customhouse-lane. The
Liverpool 'detective (Scott) was with witness at the
time. Before the prisoners were taken into custody
they walked away very fast. Witness .walked After
them, and Scott took, them into custody, and searched
them. 'BOrne papers and a' pocket-book, and a gold
watch and chain, were all that were found. Witness
afterwards -went to > No. 7, Friendly-place, Mile-end-
road, London. He was there on Monday, the 14th of
May, when the postman brought a letter from Liver-
pool. It was taken in by a female,' who told witness
she was Lee's wife. In the ,envelope there was a parcel
and...a letter, and while the woman was reading the letter
witness took the parcel, and found that it contained, a
bill' of exchange. On -the back of the inner , envelope
was written, " Keep this secreted until I return home.

T. W." Witness did not know whose was the hand-
writing on the letters. He found a photograph of Lee

John Middleton, a clerk in the Register Letter-office
of the Post-office, was also called. He had no distinct
recollection of the letter now produced being registered;
but from the marks on the envelope he could tell that
it had been registered on the .12th May. A receipt for
a registered letter was a small piece of pater torn from
their book. [The witness here produced' the book in
Which the counter-receipts are kept, and which are
marked with a red pencil].
Detective-officer' Scott, who was next called, corrobo-
rated Spittle's statement, The witness was nearer the
prisoners than Spittle, and saw one of them reading a
small piece of paper, which was marked with red pencil.
When he took the prisoners into custody he searched
them, and found on Joy one £lO note and six sovereigns,
a gold watch and guard, and some other small articles ;
also a seal 'which corresponded with the impression on
the envelope. received in London.
Mr. Middleton was here recalled by Mr. Pearce, and
said that although the counter. receipts in his book were
marked with red pencil, there could have been no red
about the receipt these men would have had. Those
receipts would have contained nothing but the marks
of the stamp and-of a black lead pencil.
This being the. case for the prosecution, Mr. Pearce
submitted to the Deputy-Recorder (Mr. Temple) that
there was nothing affecting his client, the prisoner Joy.
In the indictment there was a charge of stealing from
the person of Mr. Haigh pieces of paper. The counts
undonbtedly varied ; but he submitted that there. was
no count for receiving stolen goods, nor any count for
simple larceny. He apprehended that, according to the
evidence which had been produced that day, the prose-
cution had been attempting to connect Joy with the rob.
bery, by showing that he had in his hand a piece of
paper like a receipt for a registered letter. That piece
of paper was expressly stated by the witness who was
nearest the prisoners to be marked red ; but according
to the registering clerk those receipts were never marked
with red, but simply with a blacklead pencil. He
would, therefore, submit that the piece of paper could
not have been a receipt for a registered letter ; and if
this were so,,the evidence against Joy fell to the ground.
Mr. Temple said there was also the likeness of the
seal found on J.oy to the seal of the letter. This he
would leave entirely to the jury.

The prisoner Lee then made his statement. He said
that on the 12th of May last, between the hours of 12
and 1, he was standing between the piazzas of the Ex-
change. He saw a parcel of papers lying at his feet ;
he picked them up and put them into his pocket. On
finding what they were he went to one of the luncheon
houses in the neighbourhood, and wrote to his wife,
enclosing the bills, and asking her to take care of them
until he tame to London. He took the letter to the
post-office, not exactly for the purpose of registering it,
but to'post it. While in the post-office he did register
it, and got a receipt. Outside the post-office he met
the prisoner Joy, who passed the compliments of the
day. He had the receipt for his letter in his hand, and
showed it to Joy. Soon after this the officers
,carne Up
and apprehended.them., He had no felonious intent in
sending these bills to his wife, but he thought they
would be advertised, and he should get the reward. It
had been his intention to make this statement at the
time he was committed, but he received instructions
from his solicitor to reserve it until the trial.

Mr. Pearce then addressed the jury at some length
on behalf of Joy. He commented chiefly on the absence
of all evidence against that prisoner, and explained the
correspondence of the seals by saying that he had a
ring on his finger which would have produced exactly
the same impression.

Mr. Temple having summed up, the jury found both
prisoners guilty.
Mr. Pearce applied for a case for appeal, but the
application was refused.
A previous conviction for felony having been proved
against Lee, he was sentenced to 10 years' penal
servitude. •

In passing sentence upon Joy, Mr. Temple remarked

that there were sufficient • local thieves in Liverpool
without foreign ones. He considered it most important
that such
,a class of men should be suppressed. They
were both well-known thieves ; but, as Joy had not
been previously convicted, he should sentence' him to
only seven years' penal servitude.

THE EXTENSIVE ROBBERY AT MESSRS.
ELKINGTON'S, AND THE PAWNBROKERS.
Yesterday, Sarah Twist and Sarah Perkins, the two
females recently committed on a charge of having
stolen a very large quantity of electro-plated articles
from the establishment of Messrs. Elkington, where they
were employed as polishers were tried. The prisoners were
in, the employ of the prosecutors, from whom they pur-
loined a large quantity of articles, and afterwards
pledged them at several pawnshops in the town,
but the larger portion was deposited with Mr. Syred,
pawnbroker, of Park-lane. Other portions were pledged
at , the shops Of Messrs. Littler, Kitson, &c. What
rendered this trial of more than usual interest was the
fact, that on Saturday last, the grand jury had, in this
elite, made the following presentment, which elicited the
subjoined remarks :—" The grand jury cannot separate
without expressing their reprehension of, and astonish-
ment at,. the circumstance of a pawnbroker taking in
pledge a large quantity of new plate from persons so
unlikely to be the owners of it, as was done in the case
of Sarah Twist and. Sarah Perkins, against whom a true
bill has been, found for stealing plate from Messrs.
Elkington, particUlarly when the crest of the Castle
Mona Hotel was on a portion of the plate."—The
Deputy-Recorder said that the prisoners, in the case
referred had not been committed when the Ses-
sions opened, or he should probably have made to
them observations similar to those in the presentment.
If the facts came out as stated in' the depositions, the
conduct of the pawnbroker seemed most extraordinary.
He would take care that the pawnbroker should be pre-
sent in person at the trial, so that he might offer any
explanation in his power ; and if that did not turn out
satisfactory, such steps should be taken to call him to
account for his Conduct as might hereafter seem
desirable.
At the trial yesterday, Mr. Syred was present in
court. The two prisoners were placed upon their trial,
and on the first indictment were found guilty, the
evidence being exceedingly conclusive ,as to their guilt.
In the second case, Sarah Twist was indicted 4kiparately
on a charge of having stolen a large portion of the pro-
perty. The evidence for the prosecution having been
concluded in this case, in the course of which a very
large amount of property was produced, as having been
pledged by the prisoners at the pawnshop of Mr. Syred,
Park-lane ; that gentleman,who was in attendance, stated
.that he had never seen the prisoner until just before she was
apprehended, and was not at all aware tha his assist-
ants or manager had taken in such a large amount of
property from her. He knew nothing whatever of the
transaction until the assistant had told him that she was
in Messrs.Elkington's employ; and then he had directed,
when she next came to the shop, that he should be
informed of it, which was done, and she was given into
custody. In answer to the Deputy-Recorder, Mr. Syred
said he himself had never received any article in pledge from
the prisoner ; and added, that he could not see that any
blame was,to be attached to the assistant for taking such
a large quantity of such property, being pledged by one
person, as the woman had represented that her husband
was in the trade, and had brought parcels of the pro-
perty on the Saturday
.night (not an unusual thing in
other trades), and had redeemed them, or a portion of
them, on the ,Monday. morning. These parcels, which
had from time to time been left over, had accumu-
lated to the quantity then produced. From the
extent of the transactions, and the long space of time
over which they had extended, it was utterly impossible
for the manager to know the quantity of articles that
had been leftover. But while he exceedingly regretted
the amount of property that had been taken in his
establishment, he must exonerate the manager under
the circumstances from any blame in the matter. The
Deputy-Recorder then summed up the case, and in
addressing the jury he exonerated Mr. Syred personally
from any blame, as he was unconscious of the amount
of property that had been taken in; but there did
appear to be some neglect, to say. the-least of it, on the
part of the assistants. But when Mr. Syred had been
informed of 'the fact he had adopted the most proper
steps to put a stop to such practices ; and he would
be the greatest sufferer, as he would lose all the money
that had been advanced on the property. He had acted
very properly. The jury found the prisoner guilty.
Mr. Ronaldson recommended the prisoner Twist who
had been for some time in the prosecutor's employ, and
had borne a good character, to the mercy of the court.
The other prisoner was also recommended to mercy by
her late efnployer, Mr. Quick. The Deputy-Recorder
sentenced Twist to twelve and Perkins to eight months'
imprisonment. All the property pledged was handed
over tb the prosecutors.

TfIE DAILY TIMES, TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1860.