The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-12 00:00:00

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT

OLD COURT.
(Before •Mr. Justice TALFOURD,)
FORGERY.—Charles Clifford, aged 45, described as a
labourer, was indicted for feloniously uttering a forged
receipt for the sum of 601., with intent to defraud George
Holgate Foster, and others. The prisoner pleaded not

guilty.
Mr. Clarkson conducted the prosecution, and the
prisoner defended himself.
It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner, up to
1850, bad been in the habit of banking with the London
Joint Stock Bank, but at the commencement of that
year the balance standing in his favour was only ss. sd.
Nevertheles a cheque which he sent in for 121 was duly
honoured, and he afterwards sent in another which was
stopped. The prisoner then sent in his pass-book to be
examined with his aceount, and it was discovered by the
bank authorities that an entry of 601. appeared in the
pass-book, but there was no corresponding entry in the
ledger of the bank, which circumstance led to the ap-
prehension of the prisoner on the present charge, as the
entry of the CO/. was not in the handwriting of
any clerk attached to the bank. The prisoner
had no settled residence or occupation, but
had some indirect connexion with the Stock
Exchange, and generally gave his address as at the Hall
of Commerce, or Garraway'a Coffee-house; but last
month his wife called at the bank with a cheque, and
she was asked where she got it from. She at once de-
clared that her husband gave it her, and she was then
asked where he lived, but she refused to say, and she
was detaine-d while an officer went in search of him.
He was found waiting in the neighbourhood, and he was
immediately told that his pass-book, which had been
sent in a few days previously, contained a forged entry
for 601., which purported to have been paid into the
bank towards the close of 1850, since which time the
prisoner's account had been balanced. He denied that
it was a forgery, but his denial was not satisfactory;
and ho was, therefore, given into the custody of the
police. _ _

On being called upon for his defence,
The prisoner denied the accuracy of the charge, and
solemnly declared to God that he paid 601. into the bank
either on the 30th Sept. or the Ist of Oct. He further
said that if proper inquiries had been instituted no
doubt the fabrication of the entry would have been traced
to some of the employ ens in the Bank.
The Learned JUDGE having summed up,
The jury found a verdict of Guilty, but strongly re-
commended him to mercy on account of his poverty.
He was sentenced to transportation for seven years.
mi'ehruary Arnold Garber, William Wagner, and Philip Kessler
placed et, the barwer toe croencvelievtee
di uaot the judgment. nt
wereT hes These prisoners
ses-
sion, principally upon the evidence of an accomplice,
named Solomon Krebcour, of endeavouring to pass a
forged cheque at the London and Westminster Bank.
Sentence upon them was respited in the expectation
that they might make some disclosures with regard to
an alleged system of forgery of which the bankers of
this country and the continent were the intended
victims.
Mr. CLARKSON, who appeared for the proeecution,
said that the prisoners had made no such disclosures,
and ho therefore prayed the judgment of the Court.
The Learned JUDGE said he was directed by Mr.
Justice Williams, who tried the case, to order them to
be transported for ton years.
The prisoner Gerber, as he was leaving the bar, ad-
dressed the Court in an excited manner, and declared
that he was innocent, and that the charge had been
trumped up against him by the witness referred to, iu
order that be might himself get out of trouble.
William Jackson pleaded guilty to a charge of wilful
and corrupt perjury.
Mr. CLARKSON, who was instructed for the prosecu-
tion, said that this charge bad been preferred by the
Commissioners of Inland Revenue, in consequence of
evidence given by the prisoner in favour of certain par-
ties charged with working an illicit still. There was no
doubt that the prisoner had upon oath deposed to cer-
tain facts which he knew to be false; but it appeared
that he was very young, and that he was to some extent
under the influence of other pa
ourtrtieswould , and possibly, undeto
r
these circumstances, he C be inclined
take a lenient view of the case.
The Learned JUDGE sentenced the prisoner to be kept
to hard labour for nine months.
Isaac Cooper, 24, fisherman; Thomas Knott„3o, fisher-
man; and Richard Painter, 27, fisherman, were indicted
for piratically taking possession of a fishing-vessel upon
the high teas, within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty

of England.
In another count the prisoners were charged with
the offence of simple larceny in stealing the same

vessel.
Mr. PAYNE, who appeared for the prosecution, said
that this indictment was framed under the statute of
the 11th and 12th William the Third, which enacted
" that if any person having the charge of a
British vessel, and being a British subject, should
unlawfully take possession of such a vessel it should
be deemed an act of piracy," and subjected the
party convicted of the offence to a certain punishment
prescribed by the Act of Parliament. The Learned
Counsel then proceeded to state the facts of the case,
and it appeared that the vessel in question was named
the Experiment, and she had formerly been a revenue
cutter, but had been purchased by a gentleman named
Howard, who was the owner of a number of fishing-
vessels, to be emplsyed for tho same purpose at Groat
Grimsby. She sailed from that place on a fishing
voyage on the 4th of January, and at that time the
prisoner Cooper acted al master, and there wore alio nn
board a man named Denny, who was the mate, and a
seaman named Smales, and two boys. Th© ordinary
course of proceeding on such occasions was for the vessel
to remain at sea fishing three or four days, and then to
return to the port with the fish that was taken, which
was then sent up to London. It appeared that instead of
doing this the prisoner Cooper, in the first instance, after
they had obtained a quantity of fish, proceeded to Scar-
borough, where he sold the fish, and then wrote a letter
to the agent at Grimsby, stating that the vessel was in
a bad state, and required repairs, and he requested that
some money should be sent to him for that purpose.
The agent, in consequence of this, dispatched a person
to Scarborough, under whose directions some repairs
were done to the vessel, and she proceeded to sea again,
and the prisoner Cooper continued fishin;:e until they
had got a cargo, when, instead of returning to Grimsby,
as it was his duty to have done, ho sailed to Sunder-
land, where he sold the fish that had been caught, and
also some of the tackle belonging to the vessel. He
than proposed to Smales and Denny that they should go
across to Holland, and get a freight and smuggle it
home; but they both retused to have anything to do
with such a proceeding. While they were at Sunder-
land, the prisoner Palmer, who went by the name of
" Dover Dick," came on board, and ho also pressed them
to join in the smuggling trip, and said that he had fre-
quently been across before. The; still, however, re-
fused to join them, and Smales proceeded immediately
to Grimsby and stated what had occurred. At length
it appeared the three prisoners took the vessel away
from Sunderland, and after fishing about the coast a
short time, they sailed across the Channel, to a port
called New Dieppe, on the Dutch coast, and upon
their arrival they sold all the fish they had taken
for a bottle of gin and some tobacco, and very shortly
afterwards they sold a large quantity of chain cable,
three anchors, a compass, and other articles belonging
to the vessel, and, in fact, almost dismantled her. The
of air subsequently came to the knowledge of the British
consul, who ordered the prisoners into custody, and they
were soon afterwards brought over to England with the
vessel to answer the present charge. •
The prisoners said nothing in their defence.
The jury acquitted Knott, who appeared to have
merely obeyed the orders ho received, and found the
other two prisoners guilty.
➢lr. Justice TALFOURD observed that the offence of
which the prisoners had been convicted was a very seri-
ous one, and he sentenced Cooper to be transported for
ten, and the others for seven years. The Learned Judge
at the same time observed that the man Smales appeared
to have acted very well in the matter, and that his con-
duct deserved some consideration at the hands of the
prosecutor.
Mr. Howard said it was his intention to make him
a present for the very proper manner in which he
had acted.

F UOSSUERLLT HGURC
NOEU;RET.
(Before R E 3
4., Q.C.
In the course of the afternoon a jury were em-
pane
G leloe
rdg ien
Shit iliacr
lgerya, nld6 j, u rpyo-ur
lotoe
rarer, was indicted for
killing and slaying Ann Shirley.
Mr. Platt prosecuted, and Mr. Parry defended
It appeared that the prisoner and his father reside
in Vincent-court, Westminster, and the woman co-
habited with his father. The prisoner had always
been very kind to her, contributing to her support.
She was a woman of most drunken and abusive
habits. On the sth of March the prisoner came home
while she was cutting some bread, and she imme-
diately began to abuse him, taxing him with having
stolen a penny, which he denied, and was much
frightened at her violence. She continued for some
time to abuse him, and at last threw the knife at him,
which fortunately fell at his feet. She then struck at
him, until at last he seized the poker and struck her
a blow on ON side of the head, but not a very severe
one. She, becoming ill, was taken to the West-
where she died the next night.
minster Hospital,
The surgeon who attended her and made a post-
mortem examination of the body, said he never saw a
body 50 fearfully diseased, and it seemed difficult for
him to
r Several witnesses gave the boy an excellent cha-
racter
explain the exact cause of death.
ac 4,7 for kindness and humanity.
ha_ jury Acquitted him.
unzel Killington, 2S labourer,
was indicted for
The pro Cooper prosecuted.
steMbbri.eiV. Ellen Sweeny, With intet to kill her.
that likeness to the murderer Good goes by
and likeness
and prisoner (who from his savage
with an nickname)old cohabited together, sleeping in a room
Baker's-all Irishwoman, in a lodging-house in
22d of Aurec3i,i Rosemary-lane.,_ On the night of the
been stabbed in threese
and the Irit,h""Y came home, and were quarrelling,
" Murder !" and she was awoke by the cries of
and close in the regione
hospital, where one
then found that the woman had
places. She was taken to the
life had been saved! and
versed the abdomen, of the kidneys; another tra-
versed found to be two inches deep,
it was a miracle that her

The poor creature, who
seem©d ver ill, could not
be prevailed upon by the Court to sayy who did the
injury to her; but the evidence of the woman who
was in the room was quite conclusive.
The jury found him Guilty.