The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-12-03 00:00:00

31URDER NEAR CROYDON.

UNION-BALL.—Yesterdav Richard Poole and
John Clarke, two active officers of this establish-
ment, armed in town from Godatone, in Surrey,
where they had beet, for the last two or thiee days,
in pursuit of a daring gang of robbers that have
been carrying on their work of plunder to a consi-
derable extent at Titsey, Limpsfield, Bode), Hill,
Addington, Croydon, and other places adjacent.
On the officers arriving et Addingtuo, on Sunday
night, they received information that a horrid
murder had beets committed the preceding night
on Thornton Heath, between Streatham and Croy-
don, on the body of a mail named Joseph Mali-
iiiii g, snit that his body was then lying at the
Wheatsheaf public-house, Hear Croydon. They
immediately set off to make inquiries into the
affair. On arriving at the Wheatsheaf, they learnt
of Wallet, the landlord, that the deceased mail was
brought to his house about eight o'clock on Sunday
morning, by some persons who found him about six
o'clock, lying in a ditch on the road side near the
Pied Bull, on the Common. They iropected the
body, and found many severe contusions on hie
head; his ears were dreadfully swelled, and very
black, as if tremendous blows bad been inflicted
on them ; his neck and shoulders were also much
bruised. On making further inquiries, they ascer-
tained that Manning lived at Mitcham, anti was
a bricklayer, working fur Mr. Parrott, of Streat-
ham. He was paid his wages 'Kt the Greyhound,
11:35.61., out of which he paid 10s. sd. his week'.
scare. He left these about half-pest ten o'clock,
with the remainder of his wages in his pocket ; he
went then to the Pied Bull, where he fell in corn.
alp] with sn Irishman, named Michael Dogherty,
ilrri whom he had something to drink at the bar oil
leaving the house; previous to their going out of
the house they hid a quarrel respecting working
at a low price. The deceased mail and Dogliertayei
left the house together, and nothing more w
heard of him till lie was found as above de-
scribed ; a shilling was lying near him, and nine- 1,
pence in his placket; a basket, which he had
.with him, was undernes'h him. Michael Dogherty
being the only person last with him, was suspected
of the murder, and in consequence was apprehend.
ed and conveyed before the Rev. Mr. Cole, at
Thomann Heath, when he underwent a strict inves-
tigation, but nothing being elucidated to crimiuste
him in the affair, he was discharged,•pon an under-
standing that he was to be forthcoming when called
upon.
" in virtues nothing earthly could ORMRIO kr,
Sore thine incomparable al, !Wiegman
One of ibe must admired and elegant 'Poets of the sr,
La,d BYRON, li,. been pleased, in the first Canto of Dots
Juan, to honour the Macamartat Oti, of Rowtroto rid, his
notice in language of proud eulogium t highly flatimiug
Irs-
timunials as io the distiuguisbed merits thus 4 glipitable
and unrivalled production.
SLtoo ELECTION.—We regret to hear .that some
serious personal altercations have taken place at the
election for the county of Sligo. Some duels have,
it is said, taken place, and one person has been ,
killed. These are some of the glories of our much-
lauded Constitution !—(Dsiblin Morning Post.)
• SHOWfilt os GOI.D.—The depreciation of the
orecious metals is not arrived at its lowest ebb, if
the account we have received from Italy may be
relied on. It appears that 1001 b. of the ashes lately
emitted from Vesuvius in such overwhelming quan-
tity, yield no lets than three ounces of gold.
—( Edinburgh Star.)

rezuGaNct •.
COURT OP MG'S BENCH, Westisteizze,
MONDAY, DICEMOIR 2.
Before the LORD Cuter JIATICII mad a Cannon Jury.
A caimiLti V. PA intime.
Mr. a opened the pleadings.
Mr. Scaitt.arr stated the Plejni ire cal* to the
story. He said the Plaintiff in this ease sought to
recover a compensation in Damages from the De-
fendant, lately Sheriff of Leindon. Of the Plaits-
tar' himself, he (Mr. Scarlet') knew nothing; and
be wished the Jury, in the discharge of their duty,
would place out of their recullectrou eve, thing
which they had heard of him for the last !Vs; years.
He wished the cause to be tried upon eriricifile; for it
appeared to him that if the Plaintiff did not have a
Verdict in this case, • precedent Moat dangerous le
the liberty of the snhject would Be established.
The inii.ritionment of any individual for life writ a
punishment daiknottn teethe laws of this' 4ouotry ;
yet the Sheriff, by an abuse of the powers of his
office, might cause an individual to softer such a
punishment. He staied•this to 'hew the imPortince
of the ea, which the Jury were how celled upon
tedecid . he usual coorsellte believed, had been,
er
where a efetolarit was puntahed„.. partly by im-
prisonment, and partly hy.ftite,lolet hint stilrer the
imprisonment, and then leave him to manage his
own resources for the payment of the fine ; but in
this case the Plaintiff having been convicted
of a libel, . was sentenced by this Court to
imprisonment for ihire years, and to pay a fine
of 1,0001. A writ of /mai focios was immediately
issued. The writ issued in Michaelmas Term, the
same Term in which Mr. Curlile's imprisonment
commenced. It was the duty of the Sheriff to have
laid hold of the oroperty, arid to have converted it
into .money. Whether, in departing from that
duty, they had any other purpose in view. he knew
not; but of this he was assured, that no Jury would
sanction them in such a deviation. It was the duly
of the Sheriff merely to ohey the law. On the
16th November, 1819, the Sheriff took possession
of every thing in the Pleintiff'a shop, and the shop
also, of which they kept possession till the 24th
December, the day before the rent became due,
when they quitted the possession, leaving him to
pay the rent. The return which the Sheriff after-
wards made to the writ of levari ferias, was
founded upon a prejudice that the Plaintiff sold
nothing but libels; therefore, instead of returning
what was sold. they made a return. stating that
they had levied 541. on the Plaintiff's goods, out of
*loth they had paid 241. for assessed taxes, and 3/.
for the expense of the levy, and that they had also
seized • quantity of books and pamphlets, as in the
schedule annexed, which they held subject to the
order of the Court. But the Court had not or-
dered them to make a schedule, but to sell the
property. He (Mr. Scarleit) would not fatigue
the Jury by going over the schedule, but they
would see that it contained a great number of works
of the most unexceptionable description. Amongst
others, there were 25 copier of the Bishop of Llaii-
illsff's Apology for the Bible. The Sheriff, perhaps,
looking to the title only, had imagined it to be a
conceuled satire, instead of being a work of the
greatest learning and research. and which had done
more service to the cause of Christianity than any
other weak, and for which the Learned Prelate was
reworded with the poorestilishoprick in the Church.
If the Sheriffs hod thous proper to exercise a die-
cretion in selling the works which they thought un-
objectionable, they might Perhaps have exercised
it rightly; but they had locked up the whole with-
out discrimination, and kept them in their p ion
down to this very day. The consequence was, that
ns nobody would give the same money fur a paper
two years old as when it was recently published,
the whole was considerably diminished in value.
To return to the subject of what the Sheriff ought
to have done : According to the interpretation of the
word libel. he would undertake to say, in every
bookseller's shop in London, five books out of tie
might be included in that denomination. Thee
was no volume of Hume's History but what ride
on some deceased King; there was no poem
satire but what might prejudice some Minister.
What then would be the consequence? The Sheriff
might say, ~ I will lock up your shop. and for your
fine you may be imprisoned for life." Was that, he
would ask, the law of this country? The sale by the
Sheriff was not such a publiation as would make
him criminal ; he might have sold all the works,
cautioning the buyers that some of them were such
as they would not be able to sell again, except as
waste paper or for exportation. He contended,
therefore, that the Sheriff was bound to sell ; but
if that point should be disputed, at least he was
booed to bring to sale that which was innocent.
He repeated Lis wish, that this case should be tried
vgif the-game of Curiae had never been known to
e Jury. The question to be tried was, whether
the Sheriff could keep the property without bring-
ing it tomsle at all. He (Mr. Scrolett) contended
that he cosld not. On the question of damages he
should be able to prove, that of works which had
not been prosecuted there was more in value than
the amount of the fine, if they had been sold at the
proper time. He would say nothing of the person
or principles of Mr. Carlde ; but if this might be
done to him to-day, it might be done to Mr. Stock-
dale, or any other eminent bookseller to-morrow ;
and be trusted that no British Jury would ever ask,
what is the man ? but, what is the law?
The Learned Counsel then called the following
witnesses :-
411 d. Wm. Hayward examined.—Fle produced
the writ, and return of the Sheriffs thereto.
Cross-examined by Mr. H. COOPBlL—Witness
knows Mr. Cedar's shop; there was au inscription
of VrThe Temple of Reason" within the shop ;
there might be •• Dire fur sale of Deistical Pub-
lications" also, but he does not remember seeing
it. ie letter put in his hand, he believes, is of
Car a hand-writing.
NipA ICH BOLD, for the Defendant, objected that
as theocrat(' of conviction had not been put in eat-
dence,She sterna !marl facia, founded on it could
not be teceived.
' The CHIEF JUSTICE, after referring to the plead-
ings, overruled the objection.
Charles Brown, examined by Mr, SC A ZLETT
I was placed in the Plaintiff's house at the time he
was brought up for judgment on the 16th Novern.
. bez, 1819. Hopwood, the Sheriff's officer, came in

rft •

On am (lily, and took posiesl4 of it, and locked
up the shhp. The door coming out of the parlour
was sealed. It remained six or seven weeks in that
• slate. The officer sold the household goods and
removed the books; •
Cross-examined b Mr. ARCH6OLD-I do not
recollect the i
and Deist."
Hang; Oil: Office of iiep
hop.iabtifnieneik
there was such is ng. I remained in the parlour
with Mrs, Cathie, ind not as a servant, to sell the
works. The officer came in about four or Ave
o'clock. Ido not know that the /least was pub-
lished at Corlile's shop.
James Griffin. examined by Mr. Exxxsor-Wit
wess had seen the books in lire schedule of the She-
riff's return, nod valued them at 1,4401. With a
few exceptions, they would now only be of the va-
lue of waste paper.
Crass-exisinined by Mr. H. COorow.r.He calcu-
lated them at the retail price, but he does not know
What they would have fetched in the mass. lie
could nos tall how long they would have been bell-
ing is retail. He knows that Carlde is in prism'.
He °unified to valve The Age of treason and the
Principles of Nature, as they had been prosecuted.
Ho,siiii, value The of the Jews, and the Cop of
LOW/. He dl lculate what would have
bets the cool sof bug, but merely took the
retail price. He sit ' nut read any of the works,
and .do e• not know how they wild. lie has read
Was ryler.-and thinks it a very beautiful poem, but
knows net who has the copyright. He valued that
aloof/ with the others. Ile read some numbers of
The Deist, and those which he read were harmless.
He hod read Diderot's Thoughts, but had forgotten
theft. He valued the Philosophical Library, but
did got read 1:. Witness is a bookseller, residing
iii Middle-row, Holhorm
Re-eitomiord by Mr. SCAR.Lere.—All the works
prosecuted to conviction be excluded from his fa.
Inatioo. He bas heard that Miller's Physical and
Metaphysical Inquiries is a work of considerable
lea g and research. Diderot's 1 hough(' is a
book of general sale. He believe. Wet Tyler has
never been prosecuted ; the author is Mr. Southey,
the Poet Laureat. The ..epubticart was not a
newspaper, it was a weekly pamphlet. He valued
the bust of the statue of Paine, brit not the pedes-
tal. He hai read the Bishop of Llandati's Apology ;
it never was prosecuted. There were a great num-
ber of unexceptunsable works, such as are sold
openly and publicly- in °thereto:rim.
Mr. COOPER" Are you a friend of Mr.
Carlilt's ?"
Witness--" I never saw him but once in my
life."
The Plaintiff's case being closed—
Mr. COOPER submitted to his Lordship, that
this action could not be maintained. He contend-
ed that the Plauft.ff might have applied for a writ
of Venditioni Lxponas to have forced the Sheriff
to make a sale, Hod that having laid by sod taken
no kepi) whatever, he ought now to be oonsuited.
He submitted also, that as this was an action on
the case, and no malice had been proved, this form
of action could not be ansiotained.
..

•
juelice; and equity, would be, that the builder lAA
the right. Ou the queo ton of damages he felt %ma
willing to by • word, as it impited a doubt, which he
did not entertain, that a verdict would not be lot his
cli-nt. It appeared that much of this stock consisted
of periodical publications, the value of whale were
only temporary, like guess; they were born the
snore*, fluttered through the day, and deed in
the evening. Many of these were numbers of the
pUblished weeks and mouths before
the Plaintiff was imprisoned, and lying on his funds
Unsaleable. Woe Tyler had not been prosecuird
the witness thought it a Lie poem, but he $Mr.
Cooper) was not afraid to risk big critical reputation,
by expressing his descent from that opinion. .fie
thought it the weakest thing that ever was publish-
ed, and lie was only astonished at the importance
that had been made of it. Bo there was the #ge
of Keeton, which had bun prosecuted over .si d
, over again. What -then could the Sheriffsistio,
bet come to the Coati for directions? .1-114
Learned Fris-od Op. Scariest) had thrown out
the possibility of . this conduct of the Sheriffs
haying the effect of impri.oning the Delisdont
for life. He (.%ir.,Coopec) was lolly aware that the
likir of England anffered no man to be imprisoned
fp life, and. God forbid that 'should ever be done
indirectly which could not be done directly ! No
Court at present bad the power. and God forbid
that any Court ever should possess it. But if the
Any should be couviamed that the Plaintiff had
brouglitAis lose upon himself,- which he might
haysifftnented, they would be acting on the pan-
..ciplf!,,,tuorality, justice. mid law, by finding a
verdict fur Ibe Defendant. _

TheClitis JUSTICE sUESIIIMMI up,tbie evidence to
.4114. Hie Lordship told thew, that if the
half Oct foreburne to sell the goods, whereby
an injury had accrued to the Plaintiff, without
some reasonable grounds were shewn for the delay,
lie was undoubtedly liable. It was difficult, on
looking as some of the works in the schedule, to say
that they tbig,!it not have been sold. It certainly
was not reasonable to infer malice in the Sheriff,
bur of that the Jury were to decide.
The Jury retired fur an hour, when they return-
ed into Court.
The CHIEF JUSTICE said (in answer to a nate
addressed to his Lordship by the Foreman), that in
this case any damages would carry coats; but if
under 40s. there was a power in the Judge to cer-
tify as to there being reasonable cause of action ;
but he would recommend the Jury in this, as in all
other cases, to give such damages as They thought
the Plaintiff had really socialised, without taking
into their consideration any ulterior consequences.
The Jury again retired, sod soon after returned
with a wrdict fur the Plaintiff—Damages, one shil-
ling ; crosts, forty 'hilltop.

SANDERSON AND WIEN N. BARRER.

Mr. ScaaLETT stated, that this was an action
brought by the Plaintiffs to recover a compensation •
for • very grievous injury which Mrs. Sanderson
had sustained by the conduct of the Defendant,
by whom she had been detained and imprisoned on
an unfounded charge of felony. Mr. Sanderson was
formerly • respectable wine-merchant, but at the
time the occurrence in question brimmed, was tuns
fortunately • prisoner tor debt. The Defendant
was • shopkeeper, residing at No. 296, Holborn.
On the gth of May lest Mrs. Sanderson went to the
Defendant's shop to purchase some articles, when
Mr. Barker followed her out of the shop and
charged her with stealing a cap, and detained her
for several hours. The Learned Counsel proceed-
ed to state the circumstances of the case, which
were supported by the following witnesses
Thomas Stringfield, father of Mrs. Sanderson,
stated that mi the gth of May last he received a
note from Lis daughter. desiring to see him at 296,
Holborn, the shop of the Defendant. Witness
found her up cans in a beck room in great appa-
rent distress, with her infant with her. Ou seeing
witness, she exclaimed, " Father. father, Mr.
Barker has accused me of stealing a cap." Mr.
Barker said he missed • cap, and was certain she
had taken it. Witness observed be hoped not,
but the best way would be to search her. Barker
said lie would go and get an officer. The witness
suggested that this was unnecessary, as Mrs. Bat.
ker might search her; to which Barker positively
objected, saying he would get a constable, he
knew her well ; h. was a common shoplifter and
prostitute ; and, though young, she war an old
practitioner, and he would send her where she
would not like to go, he would send her beyond
sea. Witness was kept by the Defendant above
two hours on pretence that he could not Bad the
officer he wanted. Witness objected to befog
thus detained, and to the cruelty of thus detainiut
a female and young child without food or refresh-
ment for the space of four or five hours, and de-
sired a coach might be pent for, and thrit they
should go to Bow-street. This he refused, and
went out again for a constable, as he said. •He
was gone • long time, and witness told Mrs. Barker
that as her husband did not come back he was dr. no
Mrs. Sanderson should remain there o
longer, desiring Mrs. Barker would search her, as
he would take bee away. Mrs. Barker did so, but
found nothing in her possession, and said she was
fully convinced Mrs. Sandman' had taken nothing ;
witness then took her away. Witness's dangler
was in very indifferent health at the time, and 1•,..t
a child four months old with her. Barker lint 4-
terwards come to witness and wanted to make it up, •
but witness referred hiss to Mrs. Sauderstnt't
solicitor.

Cross•examined..—.The Defendant's ;torte,.
brought the note to witness. Mr. Barker tint not
leave witness alone with his dsughter. Wittieti
went to Mr. Wheel-r arid Mr. Cribb, persons lie..
log in the neighbourhood, to whom he war knowu,
and they came to the Defendant's, end uid It was
pity to detain Mrs. Sanderson, but she nos kept
hour after that time. Witt:teas did not offer to pay
for the cap, or propose to let the matter drop
Mrs. Seudersou was permitted to go away.

Strinefield. son of the former %tinrcs, and
brother to Mrs. Sanderson. went with his father to
the Defendant's house, and corroborated the state-
ment of the former witness as to the violent con-
duct of the Defendant. Defendant coiled Mrs.
Sanderson a strumpet, and raid Mrs. Barker was
not to he employed to search a common 'prosti-
tute. IVitness said he coceislerrd Mr. BerkeA.,
wife as nn better than his slat*, on which the Dr-
timdslit took witness by the colsr to turn him oat

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