The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-08-04 00:00:00

110.11 E CIRCUIT.

HPATFORD, TIPIPSDAY, ADO. 11.
CROWN TIDE-JEFORE THE CHIEF BARON.

George dud Thomas Shepherd: and Wor:Treeeloo.--•
were indicted for ►tesliog, on the 11,41 of Jeer.
three Wher tea-spoons, a solver punch Ladle,' • glass
pepper castor, and a wine glass, from' the Pledge's
Arai 4 Pul.lic-house, on Hertford Cowmen.

CVRWOOD, as Counsel for the Proeeentor,
called for the serious attendee of the Jary, ans•
much as tiii, ease was attended with 'dossier cit.
cloostances, and it would be a of their.
erotica of the Prisonore, for the fed of their
tak:..g the articles alleged user* could be no doubt.
01 the three Prisoners at the her, Freeman was the
son of a toast reepectobto tradesman—the two
others were brothers, the eldest of whom was
not more then to, and the other 16 Trani of
age; they were the sons of a gentleman of greet
respectability and of large kinetic. and were
nearly Killed to persons who had held roost as.
silted rank in the ountry. In pity to the agonized
•feelings of their he could set be expeet•
ed to state more esq.licii iy their counections thew
were, under their fatiwr's will, though neither of
them was the eldest son, to a kotalla of
40,0001. each on coming of :1••••.:. de did not state
this with any view of pre.r.“' ...g tie Jury in their
favour—British Justice we •pertial to all, sod
shone with equal na• . ou tt :1:11 and co the poor,
nor would the Le. ..:d Jo* suffer ally arch at-
tempt to pass vier, .:sureel. But it .was important
to state it upon • • .s e.-ceiion, inasmuch as it re-
pelled the presea.ptioe of th•:se motives which in-
(lnce men to il.•• perpetration of crime, such as was
imputed by the present indictment. The facts of
tue ruse were very short.—On the _oth of July the
three pri.oners !eft London, as early as five o'clock
to the miscuing, on horseback, and took the reed

- They culled at several put:die-110nm.
st each. The abide of their coaduct.
. •••Isig Nod-drinking, was not that of persona
•"'itto7.. I.nrstkioK their pleasures, in a manner
Chet! stations it, life, but rather that of
••• way to the eurettriaced pifrsuit of
•r afar caprices They arrived at the house
i'..osecutor *nine time in the forenoon, a here
;tal seine ale and bread and cheese, and soou
per departed. Immediately after they sere gone.
the landlady missal the articles stated an the ill-
4ictusent ; she gave the alarm to her hushic I, aho
pursue 4 them, and they wire almteheaded iii Wel-
(lain Abbey Mat.hes. They were aearched, and the
ortieles found upon them. With respect -therefore to
the fact, there coold he no doubt, but the question
would be, with !aim intention they took the articles'
The Learned Counsel said, it was not every taking
molar' she wall of the owner was a felony, but it
must be done with a felonious intention—with an
iatenisop of secretly taking from the owner, with a
view to convert it to the use of the taker. with no
Jahiga of• ever accounting with the owner. if the
Jury believed they acted with that intention, they
muss find them uilty ; but if, fortunately for the
they should think they did it as a mud
(rode. in the trtitillear of momentary whim, witjt
eu intention of retwuing the articles, it would be
.uo felony. But it would be a lesson of dreadful
severity to theta, to guard their future conduct,
and would require al life of undeviating rectitude
to wipe awn) tin slaty wh4ch this act most east
upoo their coa.acter. The landlord of the Pin-
dar's Arias proved the List as scat 4. When he
pursued the prisoner,. in 'company with a con-
stable, they were found tat Waltham-Abbey-
Marshes ; they were there shaking their horses
backward and forward. He addressed them, and
said they were the persons who had talteu his
spoon...T.oe)- re,rited. they did not know that they
had them. He said he would be certain, for lie
would search. them. They did search them, when
they got to Vl'a,tlia.o, and he found his three
spoons, a glass pepper-Ito 11 a wine glaSs, and a
punch ladle, all of which were his property. He
told Cieiu at first that he did not believe them to
be thieves, but if, they world give up his goods,
ba would take ao further notice of them. They
1444 they had often heard of persons who had made
such promises, but who were the more severe after-
wards. After the articles were found upon them,
they were carried before a blagistrate, and com-
mitted for trial. •

TiL:l4c:;,:ters being called upon for their de-
&ace. Freeman 'rut in a written paper, in which he
stated, that he had no intention of committing any
illegal act ; that, on the wonting of the 411th of
July, the other two l'iiscriers came to his lodgiags
sad knocked him up. telling him they had hind a
horse for ham, and he must go and ride with them.
They acconlinly all set off together. Thee break-
fasted at Kingsland, and afterwards drank at se-
veral 'public-houses. until they came to the Prose-
cutor's, at Hertford Heath ; that when they were
there, they saw the articles in the cupboard, and
they proposed to take them away to frighten the
landlady, and to send them back by the stage the
neat day, with a note to her, to beware of strangers
in future. lie concluded by solemnly denying any
design of stealing the articles.
Several 'IV dowses were called, who gale the Pri-
soners eat excel:eut character for honesty. •
Mu. Alexander, an eminent Solicitozht London,
stated, that be was the trustee fsr the two young
melt 'ticketed by the name of Shepherd, and that
their fortune, on coming bf age, would be at least
10,000 i. each. He further added, that their father
was remedy dead, and, since his death, being petit
without proper confront, they had behaved with
gnat irregularity, and coinutatted many wild ex-
cesses.

Another Gentleman. their father's late agent.
stated, that their father, daring his life-time, al-
lowed them 4 Os. a week for locket-money. and he
continued the slime allowance. until the Lord
Cioncellur should make an order us to what was
the proper impend to be paid them daring their
alumntr.
Tile Loan Cates Hawse, in summing ais, said
that their rank and fortune ought not. cud would
not, with the Jury. place them is a bettersitua-
ton than the poorest culprit they had tried. On
the enntrary, if the Jury thought they had an in-
tentiou of stealing the articles they had taken, it
was an isizgravation of their case, that they were
not tempted by want. which frequently occasioned
these of the lower tro:ers to err. It was a sings'.
tar came, and therefore they would attend tuilisitey
to the evidence. His Lordsbip here summed it up,
and oheerved, that maay parts of it 'ire.e very hard
against them. He chietir cumMented no their
i;ottelliet *hen they were apprehcinled, which he
thought itiii;kei rather guilt than a youthful frolic,
but it was for the Jury to deride with what iiiteu-
bon they wok the goods. If, at the monierit of
taking, they inteuileid to coovert them to their 0,113
use, they were guilty of, felony, and any after-in-
tention of restontig could not wipe away the origi-
nal offence.

'foe Jury deliberated a considerable tine, anti
then ifflaild a verdict of Not Galley.

The Judge did cot leave one criminal for evecn-
t.ll.l at the late Winchester Assizes, a eitcuoistauce
'Gat has ant 4.ccurred during umuy
*sudsy afternoon Lewes was visited by a storm
of thunder, lightning and rain, that hum* over the
town for several hours, anal the greatest part of the
time with ucalaired violence. The lightning was
iiiitrenitly strong stud vivid. and the thunder tre-
anodisede loud and awful. A eambrlongiog to
Jactiox, Eaq. was killed he a flash of the attu-
ning, whilst geniis'' in a ti. Icy, within a short dis-
tant-ea the Printing-Office of The Lewes Joensol.
"herpes the Compositors were an alarmed by the
thunder-clap whist onstantaneetsly followed, that
they fancied their frames before them ogre shaken
by the vioi.u, e of the 'Mork which it produced.
oaly farther damage we babe as yet heard of
is the demolitsso of a wall i.t the Cliff; but we
an• fearful that the egrets of the storm have proved
mischievous 4 places to which tans sin not permit
1,11. to et:tend ear present in.to yr:.
Tulkish frigate' Cri *mar, Ca,t. C; awn'.
sod (Hi Nomeri. Copt—How t.t . winch were taken
at Ateaandria, are on their par,age to Eaglaad„
sits the Thom frigate, Hocourablit Capt. Nabs