The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-07 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 7, 1863.

ASSIZE INTELLIGBNCE.

HOME CIRCIIIT.—H =Troia) Die. 5.
(Wore Mr. Justice Wil
&mai Soggee. 48, a very revealable-looking man,
scribed se a butler, was charged with stealing alarms quan-
tity of plate, valued at &WI., the property of the Roo. and
Rev. William Chetwynd Talbot, his muter, and also with
burglariouly breaking out of the premises of the prose-
cutor.
- - - • - - - -

This case occupied the court for more than eight hours.
and waa not brought to • cooclusion until Dearly nine o'clock
os Saturday night, land from the magnitude of the robbery
and the position of the prisoner, it appeared to create • great
deal of local interest. The circumetaticies also were some

whatpecediar. lieprosecu toe, who is brother to the Tad of
Shrewsbury and Tahoe, is the rector of Hatfield, sad resides
at the rectory house in that town, and the prisoner at the time
of the robbery had been fn his service for about two
years se butler. The prosecutor mused to have • very
cousiderable stock at plate, which was not only of greet
Intrinsic value, but also derived additional worth from
the fact that some of it bad been presented to him by
the late Queen Dowager, and some by her present Majesty,
=occasion of her steadies' pas:Aber to one of his
t• and the whole of thiIIPIDDI TM, of course, plead
is the charge of the prismear in his capacity of butler.
The place of deposit of this valuable property was, how-
ever, undoubtedly, a very insecure one, for it was kept in •
closet in the pantry, which was on the ground-floor with a
window opening on • lawn ; so that nothing more
was required than to lift up this window, sad at oft*
swam was obtained to the pantry and to the plate
cupboard. The property seemed to have bees safe
on the evening of the 9th of November, and the
family all retired at an early hour, and it was conjedused
that the robbery, by whomsoever it was effected, was com-
mitted about 11 o'clock at night, as at that time a noise was
beard in the pantry, which was so doubt calmed by the
removal of the plate, The prisoner appeared to be the
first person who gave information of the robbery, for about
half.past seven o clock on the following 0101113iti he went to
his master and informed him that thieves had been in the
house during the night, and that the whole of the plate was
gone except a silver breed-basket, which he represented be
had himself pinked up in the grounds, and which had been
&opt,. d by the thieves in making their retreat. Thneleirioner,
it appeared, at the same time Mated that he had slept in
the pantry, as it was his duty to have done, but in the
housekeeper s room, and be admitted that the robbery
had beam committed through his negligence in this respect.
Immediately up= the robbery being discovered, Inspector
English, and Hunt, two of the comity' constabulan. were
sent for, and they examined the premises, and from the
•that presented themselves, it appeared that
tegra conese came to the conclusion that the robbery was
what is termed, in slang phraseology, • " put up" on. that
is to say that it was committed with the connivance and
usistance of some person within the house, and that no
burglary was committed from the exterior, and suspicion
fell epee the prisoner, and ha was taken into custody, and
eventually committed for trial epos the present oberge.
The evidence against him was, of coarse, entirely of a cir-
cumstantial character. It was urged in the first
place that he had purposely abstained from sleeping
in the pantry. where the plate was kept, in order
to give his confederates an opportunity of entering the
plasm and obtaining possession of the property undisturbed,
sad it was also said, that although he was not in the room
at the time the burglary was committed, still the place
where he was sleepiog was close by, and he must have
heard the noise that was heard by some of the other
servants, who slept at a distant part of the house. Besides
this, evidence was given that the gardener had occasion at
as early hour on the morning of the 10th of November to
pies by the spot where the prisoner represented that he
bed picked up the silver bread-basket, which he mid the
thieves had dropped, and at this time no such article was
lying there, and it was also stated that, when the bread-
basket was produced, it was perfectly dry and clean, and did
mat preasat any of the appearances that would have
bola expected if it had lain out on the ground
in the riper, air during a winter's night. In addition
to this, there was evidence that certain footsteps
wrest's) in a part of the grounds, very deeply marked, and
as though they were made by • heavy man, or • person
carrying some weighty subetanoe, and it appeared that these
footsteps corresponded with the shoes worn by the pi:sober.
There were several other minor facts proved in evidence, but
the priori* potato that seemed to be relied upon in sup-
port of the charge against the prisoner were, that the
robbery must have been committed with the assistance and
connivance of acme pence upon the premises, and that he
was the guilty party.
A great many witnesses were examined on behalf of the
prosecution, and they proved nearly the whole of the facts
as above narrated. It transpired, however, in the course
of crosemssminatioe, that two other servants had been
discharged by the prosecutor ally a short time before the
robbery, and that one of these servants was in the habit of
leaving the house at night by means of this pantry window
unkuowa to the family. It also appeared that, although
the prisoner had undoubtedly bees guilty of a breach el
duty M sleeping in what was called the holeekespet's room
instead of the pantry, he had dove so for • considerable
period before the robbery, and most of the persons connected
with the household of the prosecutor were aware of the fact.
It was likewise proved that shortly after the robbery a bag,
containing • jemmy, • centre-bit, a dark leathern, and •
chisel, was picked up near the rectory house, which had evi-
dently been thrown away by the thieves in their flight, as
a quantity of the wooden handles of the plate apprised
to have been wrenched off and thrown away near the same
spot. Another important fact in favour of the prissier ego
came out in the course of the inquiry, which was that •
quantity of plate, valued at 2001., which was not in regakr
use. and which was packed up in boxes in the same cupboard,
had been left behind by the thieves.
Mr. Woollett made a most able address to the jury in
behalf of the prisoner, and he contended that • number of
trivial circumstances, some of which had bran fully ex-
plained in the course of themes, bed teen strained to throw
suspicion upon him, but be eortanded, that there was, I.
reality , not a tittle of widows to support the charge
that was made against him. He then proceeded to
=that if the primmer was an accomplice in the
Ey the parties who came down to effect it would
have had no necessity to run the risk of Ibriuging house-
breaking tools with them, and that this fact showed that
they were experienced thieves who, having by some mews
or other obtained a knowledge of the unprotected cos&
tion of the property, possessed themselves of it by opening
the pantry window, and that there was nothing to show
that the poisoner had anything whatever to do with the
tranasetion. Hs also strongly urged upon the attention of
the jury the fact of so large • quantity of plate being left
behind, which, he conteeded, clearly showed the robbery
had been effected by strangers.
Mr. Justice Williams having summed up the whole case
with great care and mianiene,, thelluy, after a very short
deliberation, found the prisoner Not Guilty.
There was some slight applause in court when the verdict
was delivered.