The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-05-12 00:00:00

ROBBING A JUDGE.

At Marlborough-street Police-court, on Monday.
before Mr. iNewton, Win. roLlac, dcacillied tits a chim-
ney sweep, was charged with stealing from the
person of Sir James Fitz James Stephen, a gold watch,
valued at £2o.—Mr. Bernard Abrahams defended.—
The prosecutor deposed that he was one of her
Majesty's judges of the High Court of Justice.
Between four and half-past four on Saturday after-
noon he was in Oxford-street, abeut midway between
the Marble Arch and Bond-street. A procession was
moving along from the eastward, and about half a
dozen or more persons came on to the footway, close
to him, jostled against him, and more or less pushed
him from the position he occupied. He tried to keep
his place, and whilst endeavouring to do so felt a tug
at his watch-chain. He glanced down and saw that the
swivel was broken and the chain was hanging loose. He
looked round, and some one pointed out a man to him
as being the thief. He saw a struggle between two
men, one of whom appeared to escape from the other.
but he could hardly say that the prisoner was one of
them, as he (witness) was somewhat confused. He
tried to follow the man who was pointed out to him,
but he got away. He (witness) and the man who had
spoken to him then walked into the park and men-
tioned the circumstance to a policeman some distance
from the Marble Arch, and requested him to arrest
the man if he could be quite positive about him. He
afterwards went to the police-station and gave in-
formation. He could not recognise the prisoner as
the thief. The watch was a present which he had had
in his possession ever since 1855. He believed that it
cost £35, but he would not have taken MO for it.
Robt. Pitt, an insurance agent, deposed to seeing
a number of men surround the prosecutor between
Duke-street and Park-street, and the prisoner, who
was one of them, snatch his watch. The gentleman
spoke to him in a hurried way, and rushed off amongst
the crowd. He (witness) followed the accused and the
other men into the park, where the Wheel Tax
meeting was being held, and spoke to a plain-clothes
constable. One of the men afterwards addressed him,
asking why he did not come out as a detective, and
threatening to punch him. Eventually he lost sight
of them, and coming to Marlborough-mews Police-
station, was sent in company of a policeman to
look for the thief, and found Pottle in a public-
house in Oxford-street, about ten o'clock at night.
Police-constable Darby having given evidence as
to the prisoner's arrest, and as to his being apparently
a respectable man, Mr. Abrahams, for the defence,
said that the whole affair was a most unfortunate
mistake on the part of a private person who
had undertaken the duties of a detective. He
had in court ten witnesses who would prove that
his client was at a funeral at Finchley at the
time Sir James Stephen was robbed, and therefore
could not possibly be the guilty person. Several
witnesses then gave evidence as to Pottle taking
a prominent part in the funeral of a master chimney-
sweep at Finchley between the hours of two and
seven o'clock on Saturday. Pottle, it was said, was
one of the bearers who carried the corpse into the
chapel, and would have helped to carry it out, but
that the " BliffaloaQ," of which club the deceased was
a member, claimed the right to do so. Mr. Newton
observed that although the witness Pitt watf 50 poei
tive, it was clear that he had made a mistake, but he
had at any rate acted as a good citizen should. The
prisoner would be discharged, and would leave the
court without a stain on his character. Mr. Justice
Stephen (who in the course of the case had passed a
note to Mr. Abrahams) said that he wished to state
publicly what it contained. It was to the effect that
the person who spoke to him described the thief as a
totally different person to the prisoner. He was des-
cribed as a high coloured man with a great deal of
hair on his face, whereas the prisoner was dark and
clean-shaven.