The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-01 00:00:00

THAMES POLICE.

ATTEMPT TO DROWN ♦ BOY.—Yesterday a waterman
named Richard Harwood, of Woolwich, was brought be-
fore Mr. BRODERIP and Mr. COlf BE, charged with com-
mitting a violent assault on a youth named Robert Hen-
drick Goddard, the son of a respectable tradesman, and at-
tempting to drown him.

Th• prisoner was convicted on Saturday in the penalty
of 51. by Mr. BRODERIP and Mr. GREENWOOD for the
assault in question, but the latter gentleman not having
been able to qualify for Kent since the death of his late
Majesty, the judgment was suspended until yesterday, and
the case was again heard. It appeared from the evidence
that th• complainant possessed a boat, a small dingy, twelve
feet long, which he kept alongside Mr. Koff's wharf, at
Woolwich. On Tuesday last the complainant saw the pri-
soner in his boat, towing his own, and supposing it to be
in danger, he asked Harwood to get out of it, which he
refused to do. Young Goddard then engaged a waterman,
named Crout, to put him on board, which was done, and
the prisoner was again requested to leave the dingy. The
prisoner refused, and knocked down the lad against the
thwart of his own boat. Goddard soon recovered himself,
and the prisoner seized him by the collar, and using dread-
ful imprecations swore he would drown him. A scuffle en-
sued between them, and the prisoner laid hold of the pro-
secutor, and forced him over the side of the boat into the
water, swearing he would drown him like a dog, The boy
held on by the prisoner's collar, and saved himself. He
recovered himself again, and the prisoner repeated his at-
tempt to drown the lad, exclaiming, " You --, sink
you like a dog." Goddard held on by the gunwale of the
boat, with one leg in the water and the other out, and he
must have inevitably perished had not another waterman
hauled him away, and dragged him into his boat in a most
exhausted state,

Mr. R. M. Goddard, sen., confirmed the evidence of his
son, and stated that some persons came to his house and
told him that Harwood was drowning his son. He re-
paired to the spot, and saw Harwood forcing the lad into
tl-e water, and swearing he would drown him like a dog.
There were fourteen feet of water at the place, and his son
was nearly gone. The defendant afterwards came upon
the wharf to which the witness belonged, and swore he
would drown the boy some day or other, and used language
of the most horrible description. Mr. Goddard added that
Harwood was a most determined ruffian, and had used such
threats that he was really afraid of his life.
Crout, the waterman who took young Goddard into his
boat, said the lad was knocked down in the most brutal
manner, and that Harwood made a deliberate attempt to
drown him by forcing him into the water.

The prisoner in defence said that his own boat, by some
accident, was sunk, and he got into a boat to tow it ashore,
but his own boat being too heavy for the pram he was ob-
liged to jump into Goddard's boat to save his life. Young
Goddard came into the boat and ordered him to go out. He
asked him where he was to go, and they had a scuffle. The
lad attempted to shove him overboard, on which he said,
" If you want to drown me I'll drown you first ;" and he
then forced him into the river.

Mr. BRODERIP asked if it was necessary for the salvation
of Harwood's life to jump into the other boat? Crout said

certainly was not.

Mr. ComaE, in confirming the original decision of Mr.
Broderip and Mr. Greenwood, said that it was very lucky
for the prisoner he had not drowned the boy, or he would
have been tried for murder. He sentenced him, in de-
fault of paying 51., to two months' imprisonment in Maid-
stone gaol.