The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-27 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

At the Ashbourn (Derbyshire) Petty Sessions, on Satur-
day last, before Sir Wm. Fitzhubert, Bart., Hon. E. W.
K. Coke, Mr. F. Wright, and other magistrates, a most ex-
traordinary charge was preferred against Mr. James Clif-
ford, of Shardlow, for that he, the said James Clifford, of
Broughton House, Shardlow, in the county of Derby, gen-
tleman, in and about the year 1804, at the parish church of
Longford, did feloniously steal, take, and carry away one
leaf from the parish register of the parish of Longford, con-
taining thereon the entry of the baptism of William, son of
Mary Tatlow, of Bentley, dated Bth November, 1827, tho
goods and chattels of the then incumbent and churchwardens
of the said parish of Longford, against the peace of the late
King George 111., his crown and dignity. Mr. Clifford is a
gentleman of independent means, having with others be-
come possessed of a large fortune, amounting to £40,000.
The case, from its extraordinary nature, excited great into..
rest. Mr. Quarles, solicitor, Nottingham, appeared for the
prosecution; and Mr. Bristowe, barrister, instructed by Mr.
Whiston, solicitor, Derby, fur the defence, Mr. Clifford sat
beside his solicitor in court. Mr. Quarles addressed the bench
at considerable length, and called the following important
evidence:—James Lipscomb, parish clerk of Longford, said
—I produce the register book of births, deaths, and bap-
tisms for the parish of Longford. The entries in it are front
1538 to 1812. There is a leaf extracted containing a register
of baptisms from the year 1724 to 1729. Mr. Quarles here
put in a duplicate copy of the Longford registry obtained
from the court at Lichfield. In it was the entry of the bap-
tism of William, son of Mary Tatlow, on Nov. 8, 1727.
When the Archdeacon of Derby made his visitation, dupli-
cates of all registers were handed to him, and thus they
were enabled to obtain a copy of the original that was stolen
from Longford Church.--Wm. E wart of Derby,out of busi-
ness, said—l knew the late Mr. Thos. Sutton, of Shard-
low, and have seen him write his name. The certificate pro-
duced is in the handwriting of Thos. Sutton. I saw him
sign it. I was the attesting witness. I lodged with him at
the time." The certificate ran as follows :—" I hereby cer-
tify that James Clifford, at the request of my brother, James
Sutton, of Shardlow, Derbyshire, did about, or in the year
ISOS, search the registry of Longford, Derby, for the bap-
tism of my late uncle, Wm. Tatlow, which he found there
duly registered, and in my presence extracted the leaf con-
taining tne same from the book. After obtaining this docu-
ment ho, in company with the late James Minton, of Shard-
low, conveyed it to my late brother in London, making
claim for the parties interested to the property left unto
them by Wm. Tatlow. Witness my hand this 19th day of
August, 1837, THOMAS SUTTON. Witness of the signa-
ture of Thomas Sutton.—WlLLitm EWART."

John Brassington said—ln 1816 I was 18 years of age,
I knew Elizabeth Swindell. She was daughter of Thomas
and Mary Swindell. In 1816 I accompanied Elizabeth.
Swindell to James Sutton's, Broughton House, Shardlow.
We were shown into the hall. There was a mail-coach at
the door. Mr. Clifford and Mrs. Sutton were there. I said
to Clifford, " Are you Mr, Clifford ?" He said, " I am." I
said, " You are the man that went to Longford Church to
obtain the register of Wm. Tatlow, which register you and
Mr. Minton took to London the next day in order that Mr.
Sutton might prove his relationship." My remark caused
great consternation to Mr. Clifford, and he sank down in a
chair, and Mrs. Sutton was so alarmed that she did not
speak for a minute or two.
Thomas Bowen said—l am a bobbin-netter. I live at
Derby..ln 1851 I went to Shardlow along with Mr Gaskill
and Mr, Hill. We went to Mr. Sutton's, Shardlow Hall,
and afterwards called at Mr. Clifford's, Broughton House.
I asked Mr. Clifford whether he went with Mr. Sutton to
find Wm. Tatlow's register. Ho answered, "We went to
Cubley, but I could not find it." I said, " You are the gen-
tleman that cut the leaf out." He replied, "It was a trick
of youth," and asked us to have something to drink. Mr.
Clifford also added that Mr. Sutton, of Shardlow Hall, was
a nice gentleman, that he had done a deal of good in the
village, had given the ground for the church, and had also
got up a bazaar for the church clock.
The Hon. E. Coke—What Mr. Sutton do you refer to ?
Witness—The present Mr. Jas. Sutton, of Shardlow Hall,
Wm. Gaskill, coal agent, Belper, corroborated last wit-
ness.
Heard Bowen say to Mr. Clifford "You are the gen-
tleman that cut the leaf out of the registsr," to which ha
replied "I did, it was only a trick of youth."
Anthony Stone—l live at Derby. I saw Mr. Clifford at
Shardlow about a year ago. John Brassington was with
me, and he said to Mr. Clifford, " Mr Clifford, did you not
go to Longford to cut a leaf out of the book ?" He replied
"No, I did not ; I only went to Cubley." Mr. Brassington
then said "You went forward to Longford." Mr. Clifford
made no reply and walked into his office.
Mr. Bristowe made an able defence to the bench.

Mr. Wright said—lt is my duty, as chairman of the bench,
to give our decision ; and, in the first place, I must say that
it has been very painful to us to hear the case, involving a:s
it does so much on both sides. We feel, however. that the
evidence has been straightforward, and that there has beers
no attempt to upset it, and although it was a long time ago
we cannot help feeling that a leaf was extracted from flys
Longford register. From the evidence before us, Mr. Clifford
was the person who extracted it, and ace commit him for
that offence. We will take bail, Mr. Clifford in £5OO, an
two others in £250 each.

The decision caused the greatest excitement in court, Mr,
Clifford and his solicitor being taken quite aback at it.
The bail was entered into, and the witnesses bound over
to prosecute.