The Express.
London, England, 1851-10-16 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 16, 1851.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.—YzaniwAy.
Bann ELI/65MM? ADAMS. AMBITANT JOWL
EMBEZZLEMENT.
George Hamlet Gritton and James George Spencer were
indicted, the latter for having feloniously embessled the
sums of M. 45., 61. 125., and 4f. 195., the moneys of
Visiham
Samuel Burton, his master, and the former as an accessory
before and after the fact.
The main features of this case were precisely similar to
those of that which was fully investigated on Tuesday, but
in point of detail there were several minor but important
distinctions between the two cases, which tended clearly to
show that the prisoners bad combined, and had together
concocted a scheme to put into their own pockets money
received by Spencer, in his capacity of till cashier to the pl.!,
secutor. The sums mentioned in the indictment were paid
over to the porters by customers to whom they had d
vered goods ; they accounted to Grimm as to the goods for
which they had received payment, and paid the money to
Spencer, who, instead of handing it to the chief cashier,
appropriated it to himself. Oritten, whose duty it was to
keep a check account on the moneys paid by the porters to
Spencer, instead of doing so properly, made it appear that
when the various sums had been pocketed by Spencer, he
lind fully accounted for all he had received.
The learned counsel addressed the jury for their respec-
tive clients, urging that the present ease was in reality a
new trial of the case of the preceding day—it was sup-
ported by the same evidence, the same witnesses, the same
book, and rested on the same facts t and calling upon them
not to reverse on light grounds the solemn derision given
after long deliberation, a patient trial, and a lucid statement
of the facts from the learned judge, by the jury who tried
the former case.
The learned judge, in summing up, went through the
case with great minuteness, and pointed out to the jury the
respects in which it differed from that tried on Tuesday,
and commented on thou circumstances which now for the
first time appeared, and which more strongly indicated the
guilt of the prisoners.
The jury, after a deliberation of a few minutes, found
both prisoners Guilty, but recommended Spencer, the
younger of the prisoners, to mercy.
Mr. Noel, the chief cashier to Mr. Burton, said the total
amount at present known to have been appropriated in this
way was 1201., sad his opinion was, that of the two prisoners
Spencer was the worst; he had been in the establishment a
much longerperied than Gritton; he was intimately acquaint-
ed with the general routine of business, and no doubt it was
he who suggested the method by which the plunder could be
carried on. Within, of himself, could not have purloined
the monies, and Spencer had grossly abused the confidence
reposed in him as till cashier, by participating in the frauds.
fhe learned Judge said he thought the court would only
be strictly performing its duty by sentencing each of the
prisoners to be transported, but in consideration of their
years and the character they hail borne up to the time they
entered Mr. Burton's employment, the court would not
take that course. It was quite clear that this system of
robbery had been carried on by them for some considerable
time, and that the scheme they had acted upon was an art-
ful and deep laid one, and the case altogether was one
which the court must punish with severity. He hoped the
result of this case would be talked of in every commercial
house in London; for whilst the court inflicted severe
punishment in the most ordinary case of theft, it would
punish with still greater severity those who were convicted
of robbing their employers. Such persons were in situa-
tions of great confidence and trust, looking forward to ad-
vancement and promotion. In the case of this lad Spencer,
he was only 16 years of age; his father had earnestly
entreated that he might be taken into Mr. Burton's estab-
lishment at what had been termed a miserably low remune-
ration; but remuneration was not the object---it was
the acquisition of character and experience that was looked
to, and the breach of trust in such cases was a very serious
thing. lie then said that a man whom he knew, and than
whom none stood higher in the great commercial world, and
who at the present time was worth, if a penny, 200,0001., in
his youth entered a business establishment in the way
Spencer had Mr. Burton's, where he soon acquired a know-
ledge of the manner in which the business was conducted,
and he soon saw means by which irregularities might be
carried on without detection being a consequence. Instead
of availing himself of the knowledge he thus d, he
called the attention of the principal to it, an it was with
regret that the principal could not reward him by malting him
a partner; but that was the first step on the road to his present
position and affluence. The present was a gross case of a
knowledge of an empluycr's business being converted into a
means of plunder, and the sentence upon each of the
prisoners was that they be imprisoned and kept to hard
labour for one year.
Thomas Stroason was Indicted for having unlawfully
sold indecent and obscene prints.
Mr. Sleigh prosecuted for the Society for the Suppres-
sion of Vice ; Mr. Ballantine appeared for the defendant.
The defendant resided in Minerva-street, Hackney-
road, where ostensibly he carried on the business of a sur-
gical bandage maker. From information received by the
Society for the Suppression of 'Vice, they directed one of
their officers to go to his house, which he did, and after
some conversation relative to surgical bandages, the officer
introduced the subject of the prints which the defendant
was in the habit of selling, and the defendant sold him a
pack of cards upon which were certain representations
which formed the matter of this prosecution. 'f he defend-
ant was subsequently apprehended by Sergeant Chad-
wick, of the F division, who found in his house a quan-
tity of filth of the same character, and to him the defend-
ant said he merely had such things to sell when anybody
asked for them. The cards, &c., were produced and sub-
mitted to the court.
Mr. Ballantine admitted that the things produced were
properly styled in the indictment obscene and indecent, and
that the defendant was guilty of having sold them.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty.
Mr. Ballantine then appealed to the court for mercy foe
the prisoner, urging that he had never before been known
as a dealer in such disgusting matters, and that lie had en-
deavoured, but unsuccessfully, to bring to justice the parties
by whom he had been supplied.
Mr. Sleigh said it appeared that the defendant had been
in the habit of selling cards and prints of this description at
chemists' and druggists' shops, and the Society for the Sup-
pression of Vice had received information that, at such
shops, articles of that description were now to be ob-
tained—so many of the parties who kept shops exclusively
for the sale of such things having been prosecuted and visited
with the severity of the law. it was from a chemist of
highly respectable character that the society derived the in
formation which led to the apprehension of the defendant,
and it was very desirable that it should be known that the
society knew this, in order that those chemists who engaged
in the traffic might be aware of the consequences that would
in all probability follow.
The learned Judge said, chemists' shops were the places
where poisons were sold, but it appeared then that they
were selling poisons for the mind, as well as the body. The
present was not a case in which the court felt it was neces-
sary to inflict the punishment awarded to those who recently
had been convicted of this offence, and the sentence upon
the defendant was, that he be imprisoned, and kept to bard
labour for six calendar months.
The court then adjourned.