The National Register.
London, England, 1819-03-22 00:00:00

CROWN SIDE.

Joseph Knipe, Thomas Smart, John Ward, and
Benjamin Birintughant, were indicted for burglarionsly
breaking and entering the dwelling•house of John
Spriintate, in the night time, between the 27th and 28th
of October, in the parish of !anion, and st :aling therein
2't pieces of Irish linen, a lams.• quantity of tea and to-
bacco, worth iii the whole about 1601.
The prosecution was eondutied by Mr. Pcrens and
Mr. I). Pollock, and Mr. Andrews appeared fur the
prisoner Smart.
The facts of the case apveared to he these :—The pos.
;tremor was a country dealer, anti kept a shop at Lottoo,
anti out the it gut of the 27th of October he and his fa-
mily went to lied, after haring taken Cafe to fasten ali
the doors and windows of the banse. In the inurnito,t
our of bi• shopmen got up at the wital hour, n hen he
discos tied that 1 hole hall tern eiside in the roof of the
lame entity,' to admit the hotly of a man,
and that the property abort. lie

alcip oibcovered tioxt Cie tvarelomme 4lorbr
Ile alarm WAS 1111111/0:tillely glVt.ll, Jtlll 111 the course oi
the ildv circumstances uere pliNco‘etetl, which lett to a

suspicion ill ii tii.. prisoners.hair accomplice Stlial-
. nicra %erre the this asst .In 3 in i'.e t
apprvit,nded al 5.1.,041. rite .ICCOIIII/11er S .... 11014 al
terWardb turutJ trit,s6's o idence, and lions Ins statement

MARCH' ft.

it appeared, that on the 28th of October he met the pri-
scoters at the Red Lion and Star public-house at &rood,
when it was proposed by Knipe that they should that
evening rter the warehouse of the prosicutor, and the
witness was invited to meet them at a place called Sher.
nold Pond, in the road leading front Nlaidsume ►o Lin-
ton. where the prosecutor resided, but he refused to go.
s eying that hi would have nothing to do with the busi-
ness. The following day they persuaded hi to to assist in
the idati that night. The evening before they set out
upon the expedition they met at his house at Strand. On
that occasion Smart asked him if he had any firearms,
and he replied that he had a pistol, but that was not his
own. Surirt said, that that was tio matter; opon which
the pistol WAS ',minced. A woman, named Lydia
Turner, who lived with Summers, said, "For God's
sake, what are you going in do with that?' The pri-
soner Ward answered, "To shoot a man sooner than a
man should shoot me." About eight o'clock the parties
severally went out on their road towards Maidstone,
Sunnier. taking with him a horse and cart, and they all
joined on the mad before they got to the first pike,
gate. %Viten they arrived near Kitt's Cony House, the
prisoner Smart took a pistol out of the hedge. They
then proceeded towards the prosecutor's house, and at
about nine rods from his residence they took the horse
from the cart, leaving one of the prisoners to mind hint.
while he grazed. The others proceeded to put on each
others clothes, and has in, bided the pistols with powder
and shot they proceeded to the back of the prosecutor's
premises, Ise-11614 which was Linton church-yaw, and
having jumped over the church-yard wail, they got into
a small garden next to the prosecutor's warehouse, the
ouslof winch was only about three feet front theground.
The prisoner Smart then took some tiles from off the
roof, and having cut away the laths got into the ware-
house, and was followed by Sommers and the rest of his
companions. They remained in the presiti,es about an
hour, during which time they carried off 2 pieces of
Irish linen, three chests of tea, and a laree quantity of
shag tobacco. They afterwards concealed their plunder
in a hedee.row on the farm of a Jr.N Matson, on ths
road leading from Maidsome to Rochester. Suspicion
afterwards fell upon the prisoners in consequence of one
of them having sold some of the tea, and in the course
of the day the report of the robbery having spread to the
neighbourhood of Strand, the prisoners were all appre-
hended.

The evidence of Summers, the accomplice, was cor.
roborated by the testimony of several witiieses, who
spoke to many particulars which he mentioned in the
course of his evidence. _

The case went to the Jury under the learned Judge's
direction. and they round all the prisoners Uuilty—
Death.

YORK. TUZSDAT MARCH 9.

Thomas Robinson was charged with stealing, on the
30th of January last, at Wetherby, the mail-bags, con-
taining the letters for Knareshorough, Harrogate, and
Ripley; such bags being in the possession of a person
tniployed by the Post.ofFsec for the conveyance of die
mad from kl'etherby to those places.

The trial occupied the Court from nine o'clock in the
mor..ing until about two in the afternoon ; but all that
is material or interesting in the case mat he compressed
into a narrow compa3s. At the time this robbery was
com,uitted, the Mail from Wetheiby, containi.ig the
letters fir the above-named places, was conveyed by a
person of the name of Ben) Dobson. These bags
contained both the London and country letters. On
Saturday. the 30th of January, about half-past five
o'clock in the morning, Dobson received front Mr.
Hunsley, the Post-master of NVetherby, four bags con-
taining the letters, which he put into the portmanteau
used for that purpose, and fastened it open his horse,
which was moiling at the stable door, about thirty yards
from Mr. Hunsley's house; being lame in his arm, he
kft the horse to get Mr. Hunsley s servaot to assist him
to put on his great coat. Ott his return, although he had
not been absent more than two or three minutes, lie
found that the straps had been cut, anti the portniameau.
containing the mail, taken away. An alarm was in-
stantly given, and search alter the robber commenced.
In the course of the same day, the bags, with the whole
of the letters and newspapers. were found in a wood
about two miles and a half from ‘Vetherhy, called
Noble Wood. The letters had been opened. and the
clowns taken am. The person who Mond them took
them the same es-cuing to the Post-office, where they
were sealed with the office seal, and forwarded to their
resivective destinations. About three hours after the rob-
bery had been committed, the prisoner was seen coining
out of Noble Wood. and eolig in a direct on towards
IVagbill, where he was seen at a public-house, in com-
pany with a person of the name of Rhodes, who again
saw bun at a public-house at A..t. ham Bryan, near this
city. The prisoner. upon this occasion, exhibited to
Rhodes a 20n1. Bank post-bill, and the half of 501.
Batik-note, which he said were the fruits of a Chancery
snit, its which he had been successful. lie was then
traced to slits city, and I in a ',oldie-lonise, front
whence he escaped, and endeavoured to coon al himself
in a hay-eha.liber, in all adjoinin.: yard, but etas Mime-
diatel) discovered ; in the same place was 1. mud a pocket-
book, contaillimt a 2001. Bank post-lidl, four 5/. notes.
the half ilia 50/ B itik-nute, and a weal variety of other
hulls and notes, to the a f sf/0/. Tire Ritik post-
! oil' had liven transmitted from the house of Ni
Smith, Eitalish, and Co. of I:1111mi, or Nit. Henry
Iz:slier, of lin trestoirough; and tile Inn c mil try notes
had h. eti sent fmni N.orilvillerion to the house of %Val.
too, Oats, and Co. of Kuare=bormigh. These were
primed to have been put into their rrspectite laces at
London awl Northallerion ; and tne letters putportieg

MARCH 22.

to con•a n these mites were received a day laser (11411
They 0112 h. io have been, and without their ClleiflNtlfeS.
Tilt; made a circtitnomitial confession of the
manner in which the robbery had been effected. and in
which he implicated three other persons. After thi,
confes.ion, lie wasvi,ited in the Castle liv the Stave% in
of the Post office, who w 111!1:11111finin hint soitiv
disclosures respecting some 0111(1 transactions, the 11.111111•
111 which tV.IS tint explaitted on tat. occasion. Tile
prisoner said, lie most hate been either drunk or mad,
or hate tae d-1 in him, when he charged the Iter•ons
named in his confes,iiiit with having been concerned in
ear ‘Vethei by robuvr).---Guiliy.