The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-09-13 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SiiiSi-O'll7S—,Seri. 12.

Throws Standby and ilaroiTMT, a linen-draper's shopmena
Wale j,.iutly indicted for a wan:on and indecent assault on Mari'
Ankers, on die Orb of June.
One of the defendants is the son, the other the shopmnn of Mr.
isuodby, linen-draper, No. 3117. Holborn. The prosecutrix is a
Portuguese by birth, and a married woman.
Mr. PHILLIPS opened the ease-If the facts were truly stated,
it was a case of the greatett aggravation of any time he had met
with during the .short eaperience he Lail had in that Court; and
he thought the Jury would be of the mane opinion with himself.
The two young men at the bar welt: accused of assaulting the
plosecutria, the wife of a respectable tradesman. at 29, Skinner-
street, Soiner's.town. Saundby was the son, and Kent the shop.
ream of a linen-draper in Holborn. The prosecutria was at-
triteted by-a pattern that hum:, at the door, and wilt asked by one
of them to walk In. After looking at several. there were none
that took her fancy, and she was about to leave the shop, when
Kent placed himself before her, and said, " Surely you are not
going to leave Lhe shop in that shabby way, witbout buying."
She begged that he would let liar go, as thee was nothing
she approved of. Mr. Phillips supposed it was a new system
liven-drapers had adopted, that no ore was 13 leave a shop
without purchasing ; the women, besides, war in that alma-
talon which claimed protection rather titan insult. When
again about to depart, Kent put his bands round her waist,
flung her on her back on the counter, and behaved to her in a most
indecent manner, for nothing but he-ause sae would not purchase;
and this to a married woman ! She nararallygave him a slap on
the aree_to Door, it," said one of them. " cut it, cut it; she must
-,!"utes It," She thought he meant treat the article for her, whether
she would or not ; but no-what! you think they wanted ?
to cut the shawl off her back-and cut it they did. They also tore
her veil, a new one. Alto that they sent for a constable, telling
list she was a prostitute, ~rd not married. Greatly to the credit of
the constable, he refutoal the charge and glad he wits of the (la-
lowrootty of payiaa a tribute to the respectable behaviour of the
.wion, for he was sometimes in the situation of being strongly op-
posed to coop:aides. After leaving the whop she went to a friend,
who accompanied her to a police office, and obtoined a. warrant.
or any denial is attempted of the fact, he had that of the cut gar-
ment'; let them not presume to deny it ; that was evidence they
avoid not get rid of, unless they were atrocious enough to say she
cut her own shawl. There was a third young man in the shop,
• weer took no more active part than to keep off the mob collected at
the door; him she had also charged at the pohce-office, in her
dairy ; and It was not to be wondered at, inexperienced as she was.
She was a foreigner-a Portuguese. l'he next morning she was
token ill in consequence of her treatment, and was under the care
to' a surgeon for a tor:night. Ile should not occupy more of the
tone of the Jury, but leave them to hear the evideace ; after which
they would have little hesitation in finding the prisoners guilty:
Maria Ankers then deposed to the facts. as stated by Mr.
PIAUI pt.
Cease-examined by Mr. A HoLotto s-lfas been in this country
twelve years. Was married in Portugal fourteen years ago. It
was between one and two o'clock in the day when this business
happened. Was near an hour in the shop before the constable
came. Only that one woman crane in ; she gate her address, but
whams was so agitated she forgot it. Was at Ilatton-garden before
-three o'clock.
Jonathan Nicholson, the constable, examined-Lives next door
to No. 307. Was told that Mr. Saundby wanted him. When he
went the prosecutriz was sitting in a chair crying. Kent and
Saundby told him to take charge of the phisccutrts for an assault.
ihe owned to having beat then with a yard Measure ; because, she
:Aid, they had used her ill. He took hey address. It was a true one,
and he let her go. She went away quietly. Air. Saundby, sen.
naked iiiro what be should do, as Jlrs. Ankers had got a %anent.
lAritnera told him he bad hatter Otte 19!. to settle the business, as it
would cost him more to defend the action in this Court. lie ap-
plied to the protecutrix anti her husband. on the part of Mr.
itundhy, Fen. and would have paid the ICI. trite wife was will.
tog. but the Insband would not consent.
By Mr. Aoot.Pstus-!kite did not tell him they had taken lode-
fedi 'Malice with her. She male 1.0 charge against them, except
being used ill. ?Maks it not Itkely what she had stated could
happen in such a place at such an hour. Ten nr fifteen people
might come in during an hour. Gave advice to Saundby, sea. to
moth. it. Saundby, ten. blamed him for not taking charge of Ler.
Thought ids staff did not atithoise hint to take a person under such
eiretimstancas. as be did not see the assralt, aid had no warrant.
31. AVakefteld, surgeon, Judd,plare. New-road, has attended site
family of the prosecutris some years; was sent for to her on the 14th
of June; found tier in a serious state of hemorrhage. waich would
be troautiorted by flurry ; attended her tot days or a fortnight ; her
samba of the treatment she had received would induce him W be.
lierre that to be the cause; hum the symptoms, he had every reason
to suppose that the emote of the effect; she told hint she t ail nits-
coated ; there were appearances aidlicient to justify his belie f of the
fact.
hits ADOLTHItre-This case bas been introdured as an extraor.
(gooey one, and certainly it is as extraordinary on one side as the
ether. His Learned Fritrd opposite bad talked cf the respectable
hot of the attorney who brought it fontanel ; he trusted every aunt.
ace r was respectable; he knew the attutney far the defendants to be
rahreetable ; but that was not the question ; the question was, as to
the peohabillty of the case; and according to his instructions the
probability was all oa his side, and the improbability on the other.
Wee It net natural, when a furious woman mete into a shop. that
they should send for a constable to remove her ? If die facts rotted
by her were true, hundreds of witnesses might have been produced.
Was her stray at all to he credited, happening in the middle of the
der, in an open shop, in a crowded street, in the middle of Hot-
beam, and that ton in the month of June, a time of the year when
the sweet' were crowded? Good God ! gentlemen, it requires not
merely English or Irish. but foreign invention, to give a colouring
to such a statemeot. If the story of the ormerutrie war likely,
when the strange woman who was spoken of, but not brought for.
ward, came in, would the not have clamoured and ranted a mob,
tam hundreds could have come to tell the tale? No, she brought
tiCthridy tr she could not recollect even the address of the woman
who came into the shop. The fact was, there was no woman to
%ring; she could hying her Essexoareet friend, and John Carpen-
ter, who saw nothing ; but he should produce the third person who
was io the sho, and who would state the contrary of what she had
done, and the July would see on which side the probability lay.
He should call
Abraham Pairbank ; was prevent on the9ll of June; is in the
employ of Mr. Saundby the shop is open to the street; the doors
are taken off the hinges in the morning, and remain off till night;
both- the prisooen were in the shop when the proseeutrix came in ;
she - a print at the door marked Is. per yea, aud asked to have
retry yards eat off; when it was brought WI she said she did nut
like it, and would rather balk at WW11( whets. Mr. Saundby show.
od her others, after which the lied se the first pattern again, and
told him Men off seves yards ; whin the serea yards were mita-
stated she refused to take them, drew the print out of his hands on
Melte loot, and said abs would be d— if she would buy IL.-.
!Lint was ;waft by., sett handed her a chair, desiring her to sit
down, and be gospt, Jed he would eadesvour to serve her ; she
mirt . was est *Aged te peeshoes. and would not t he told her
if felts did not le hey lilt had Imessrleare the shop she re.
pU4 albs woilfilettjeeve the shy he him. Mr. Bisedby said,
'" Veers a 4:44. fen eestareer.r She retorted, a Whet &yea
by that, Ise P11(.111.14 the yard ateasete, etrnek
Asian
the hod, mad. e d--villain sod al— thief.
He MA ItteLeedy. She
The thee attacked Kent, and struck him
ea tits her the heck elf heed with her Sat; she had thee
pit the psi • Sersserf was stealing on ills till aide el the

counter, and Kent on the customers' side. She called him a 8---
b-- thief, and said she would knock his --. eye out. Sanndby
told witness to go fora constable; but as witness could not leave
the shop. he refused, anti a lad went. When the officer came she
was pacified, and went away. She was not thrown on the counter.
Kent only held her arin ; there were no indecent liberties. Titan
was no cutting -instrument introduced; their scissors were nut
taken out of their pockete; linen-drapers always keep their scissors
In their waistcoat or coat pockets. No indecency could have taken
place without his seeing it. Not any person came Into the Atop—
no woman ; she was not in the shop longer than a quarter of an
hour at the outside. Witness was present from first to last.
Mr. ADOLPHUS to Mr. have done with him; do
you wish to ask him any questions?
Mr. Pitt ttirs.—Vuu may go home, young man.
Ann Butterfield was in the service of Mr. Situndby in June.
Hearing a noise while in the kitchen, site came up to the parlour,
and saw 31ra. Ankers striking Saundby. She did not see the be-
ginning, and did not atop. That was 411 she did see.
Mr. Pitt ttars-3ly ditty compels me to follow up my intent-
perate opening by an equally intemperate reply. I had reason to
believe the statement not exaggerated, and I have so found ft.
When I cease to feel for the cause of the softer sex of our nature, I
hope my heart will cease its functions. The prosteutrix was one
defenceless woman againstthrec heroes—heroes of the yard, at least.
Mr. Adolphos talked of the improbability of the facts ; but they
are proved. What was the evldence.uf Fairbank ?—that they bore
it patiently. Poor lambs ! they bore it patiently ; that a mans
that two men, were pummelled with their own yard. and.
bore it patiently ! They were struck, and bore it patiently ! Poor
lambs ! What objects of pity ! and bore it patiently ! It had
been objected she did not complain to the constable how she
had Wen used ill : she could not go into the particulars to a man.
She owned to striking them, but that she was ill-used first. He
wou'd appeal to the beset and mind divested of artifice if there
was any imprkabllity in her story? lie gave the prisoners credit,
aftr r their wanton, cruel, and atrocious conduct, that they had a
reintumt of conscience to prevent their appealing to their God as te
the truth of a charge of assault, which they wisely thought fit not
to persist in. There would have been three to swear to it—Fair-
bank and therr.selves, besides the young lady who last gave evi-
dence; she sees the mischief, and walks away ; he believed she was
the first woman that ever did escape from mischief. The prisoners
would not venture to screw their consciences like the man buttoned
11 tip to the throat (Fairbank). 'What does he say ? Why, she threw
the print on the floor and damned herself. Throws the print on the
floor and damns herself ! Then she is dest-ed to sit down. What
was the probability of the conduct of Kent? If you don't buy I
beg you'll walkout; be patient and I'll serve you. Mr. Adolphus
said it was possible the garment might have been Own ; the gar-
ment shall go into the jury-box ; the garment shall speak for itself.
He asked the Jury, on the oath they had taken, whether a cutting
instrument had not been applied to the shawl. As to the veil, Mrs.
Walker saw that whole at eleven o'clock. His Learned Friend op-
posite had talked of Irish invention; lie could say of the people of
that country, that at the meanest hovel the stranger and the foreigner
would always find protection and a friend, and he asked no more
for this ill-treated foreigner, who sought protection from the hands
of the Jury that day.
Mr. COteST said he had little to remark on the case ; either Mrs.
Ankers had perjured herself or the yoang man had. The Jury
would look at the probability of the two stories, and balance them.
If they believed the statement of the proseeutrix, they would find
their verdict for her ; if they believed what the young man had
sworn, they were bound by their tech to find a verdict for the pri.
soners. He put to the Jury the probability of such a circumstance
happening in such a street as Holborn, in the middle of the day.
Mrs. Ankers or Mr. Fairbank have sworn falsely ; he contradicted
her in almost every particular.
The Jury examined the shawl, and found the defendants Guilty.
Mr: CoasT said, taking the facts ea the Jury had adopted them
put the statement beyond a contradiction. He would defer the
judgment of the Court till Saturday, to give the parties an oppor.
tuoity for an adjustment.
Mr. Phillips had left the Court; AIL Butler, who attended for
Mr. Blamer, was consulted as to whether he would permit the pl.
inners out of custody on their own bail till Saturday at ten o'clock.
He sent for Mr. Phillips.
Mr. Putt rPS said the prisoners were in the hands of public jun.
tier, and he should not consent to their liberation. It was x case in
which every female of the metropolis was concerned.
111 r. CONsT —They say it is a publleprinecution, which throws an
unpleasant duty on me to pronounce the judgment of the Court. I
say unpleasant, because I hoped that some adjustment would have
been come to by Saturday. The judgment of the Court is that I
you, Aaron Kent, be imprisoned for one month, and that you,
Thomas Saunby, be imprisoned also one, month, in the House of
Correction.
Rirlanrd Smith and Edward froward were indicted for assault.
ing Shsannah Geskin, a poor creature with the ague, and who bad
five children.
Smith is a broker, end Howard a constable; they went to die-
train her goods while site was out. Smith had a large piece of tim-
ber on his shoulder, which .he called his weapon. The woman at-
templed to get in at the window, when Smith pushed her back by
a blow on her bosom, by which her hand was act; and Howard
threw a washing.tub at her.
Mr. Coxier —lieu have been in the habit of having the upper
hand over the poor creatures you seize on, and think to have it
lure, but you shall not. If you choose to oppress poor people yes
must take the consequences. This desolate sick woman deserves
the same protection as any other. The judgment of the Court is,
that you pay a tine of 5!. each, with liberty to speak to the pro-
secutrix..
Smith said he had not a shilling ; however be afterwards pro-
duced ar. which was given to the poor woman.
Mr. PHILLIPS, having been retained in a cause for her In the
April Sessions, conducted her carte this time gratis.
James Newsome was Indicted for assaulting Elizabeth, the wife
of John Richaeds, on the 18th of May last.
Mr. PRENDERGAST stated, for the prosecution, that this was an
assault of a very aggravated nature. The husband of the com-
plainant is unfortunately confined for debt in White Crowe-street
Prison. On the day before mentioned the complainant had, by a
warrant, taken the defendant to Worship-street Police-office, but
charge was dismissed, on the defendant .promising to keep the
peace towards her in future. On leaving the office, however, he
met with her in the passage, and immediately struck her violently
on the back. •
The facts were fuUy moved, and the prisoner was fined lie. ed.
to the King, sad bound in his own recognizance of 2W. to keep Ohs
peace in future.
.51r,Johs Day. a person of respectable appearance, was indicted
for trawl and corrupt perjury.
Mr. ALLEY stated the case. The defendant had been employed
to collect rents fur a Mr. John Dixon. who had been appointed
receiver by the Court of Chancery ; he had been so employed for
three years. In the course of that transaction he had occasion to
levy a distress for rent, respecting which there was a dispute, which j
eventually led to an action in the Court of Common Pleas, where'
the defendant was examined, and the evidence given was the al.
leged perjury ; and, as the indictment charged, lie swore that he
had never been employed by Mr. Dixon to receive rents for him,
nor had he given any receipts for such rent. He then called a wits
nees to produce the record, but it was not to Court.
The defendant was therefore acquitted. •
Mr. IlitonEarex, who was Counted for the defendant, stated,
that the pmeeettion sass most malicious one; the averments in the
indictment were, in fact, the very reverse to what the defendant
had sworn. The whole matter was got up by a man named Sharp,
who *mod in the pillory a short time since (as we understood) in
Suffolk.
Shurp was in Court, and sorely felt the remark of the Learned
Counsel, and hinted something about bringing an action for libel.
lily. BRODERICK—Bring your action ; the feet is eel have
stated. and I have eleven witnesses to prove it. A more respects.
ble man than the defendant does not exist.