The Sun.
London, England, 1806-07-23 00:00:00

HOME CIRCUIT.

HERTFORD, MONDAY, JULY 2 t.—This morning
the LORD CHIEF BARON and Mr. Justice HEATH
arrived in this town, and read their CommissiOn for
holding the Assizes for this County. After bearing
Divine Service they proceeded to discuss in their
. respe&ive Courts. Mr. Justice HEATH sat on the
Crown Side, and the LORD CHIEF BARON on the
pivil Side: There were but two Causes tried on
the Civil Side, one of which was a question—whe-
ther an Orchard was demised to the Plaintur or
'Defendant ? and the other—whether a Drain had
a right to run through the Plaintiff's grounds ? Both
Were uninteresting in the extreme.

CROWN SIDE.
Iliain ,thiscoe and John Dane were inditied for
burglary in the house of Susannah Motile, in the
Parish of Much Haddan, in this County, on the ,7th
of February last.
, Mr. CURWOOD, as Counsel for the Prosecution.,
stated, that the Prosecutrix was a ,poor widow wo-
man, who lived at a place called Tye Green, in a
lonely cottage: she was so poor that she received
relief 'from the Parish ; yet, notwithstanding that
circumstance, she had, by economy, saved what she
considered a little fortune—she had, in her store of
wealth, a Spanish dollar, a King William and Queen
Mary's crown piece, a Queen Anne's half guinea,
and it had also happened that a day or two before
the robbery she hag sold her only pig to a neigh-
bouring Farmer, by which she had Increased her
•store with a ;pound note and another half, guinea.
The whole of her fortune she kept most carefully
tied-up in her pocket. On the night of the 7th of
February she went to bed a: the usual hour, when
about twelve o'clock she heard. a noise in the
kitchen of her cottage, which adjoined the room hi
which she slept. As there was a man of the name
of Fisher who slept up stairs, she thought it was
him, until she heard herbed-room door burst open.
She called out, " Who is there ? and, what do you
want ?" A man replied, ina hollow voice, " I want
your '
money.'' She said she had none ;, but the
man approached, the bed, and put his hand under
her pillow, as she supposed to take her pocket.,, and
in fa& he did find them and tore • them from, her.
While she was struggling with this man, to endea-
vour to save her: pockets, she heard another voice
at the door, talking to the man near the bed, telling
him to take her pockets-or knock her brains out ;
and this man then went round the yard, and broke
open the door which opened from her bed;room
into the yard. When the door was broke open, the
moon shone brightly into the room, and she dis-
tin&ly saw the persons of the two men, whom she
linew 'very well, and she was sure they were the
two Prisoners at the Bar. One of them, Dane, was
her great nephew, and the other, Briscoe, she had
known all her life. After they had thus rifled her
they both went away, but she was positive as to their ,
persons.

The Prosecutrix proved these facts very distindly ;
but beim:, cross-examined by the Common Serjeant,
she said she was 84 years of age, and admitted she
did not tell the Magistrate until the Ith of April,
the reason for which delay. she said was because she
was afraid of being murdered if she had said she
knew who committed the fad.

Mr. Justice HEATH told the Jury he thought it
was too much to find the Prisoners guilty on the un-
confirmed testimony of a Witness, who, from ad-
vanced age, might most probably mistake the pet-
sons of
the Prisoners.

The Jury found them • Nbt
They, were tried on a second indi&ment, for a
burglary in the house of Thomas Clarke, farmer, at
Great Hadham, on the igth of March.
Mr. CURWOOD stated to the Jury the circum-
stances of this case, which was proved by Mrs.
Clarke, as follows :—she stated that-they lived in a
small farm-house at East Hadham, and•on the 20th
Of March, about two in the morning, she was
awakened by a crash of breaking open the outer •
door. She awoke her '.husband, and immediately
jumped out of bed, and hid herself in a corner of
the room ; direetly two men rushed into their bed-
room, and one of them coming up to the bed-side,
asked where her husband was ? she told him that
he had gone down stairs she believed. They then
went to the drawers, which they rifled and went
away. While they were in the room she thought
she knew the person of Briscoe, and.she believed
Dane to be the other man. There was no light in the
room, and it was rather a gloomy night, but yet she
believed the two Prisoners were the persons Who com-
mitted the robbery.
On crass-examination by the Common Serjeant,
it appeared that before the'Magistrate she had, said
she only knew them by their voices,
The Learned Judge thought this evidence too
slight to convift the Prisoners, and dire6ted the Jury-
to acquit them:
Verdid;•—•Not Guilty. ,

The very important cause of BA/LLIi, Esq. v.
COCK, .Esq. for a Libel, which has excited the
greatest interest in the commercial world, was to
have been tried on Monday, in the Court. of King's
Bench, and witnesses, from various parts, 'were
brought to town. Lord .ELLENBOROUGH being
der the necessity of setting out on hit Circuit this
morning, intimated, that if the parties urged it, he
would try the cause, asyesterday-, after the other cau,:cs
were disposed of, and would sit up all night- if ne-
cessary. Upon this, the Conusel on both sides
foreseeing much inconvelience, agreed to its heir,
postponed till next Michaelmas Terth, to which
time it NW stands- over.—The Datnages are laid
at 50,0001.

We, have heard that a man was killed by the light-
ning last Friday night, at' TetTcnt ; bin have not
learned his name, or any, other particular.

We yesterday gave an account°, a young woman,
late servant in the family of Mrs. 'HoOKHANi, of
Argyle-street, who was found ilia singulariiimion
with her throat
,cut. After, the untbriunate 'wo-
man had been conveyed to the Hospnal, a seav:h
was made for the instrument with Nvhich the wound
was inflided, and in '9O doing, a dead child w:ls
found concealed near the spot where, the wrotchtsti
woman was taketh from, as ,was also a knife. The
child was taken to the Hospital, where the sup-
posed mother lies, and, an inquest will sit on the
body this day, The woman is still alive.

LeilY REPORT.

coußr OF CHANCERY, LlNcoLtes INn, TULY 22.

THRLLITSSON V. WOODFORD.
The SOLICITOR GENERAL and Mr. PERCIVAL
had, on a former day,, advocated the cause of the
Plaintiff in this case ; and Mr. BELL and Mr. MAR-
TIN were this day heard in' reply. It was an appli-
cation to set aside the Will of the Plaintiff's father,
as far as regarded the bequest to the Defendant -of
certain landed estates, on the ground that the tes-
lator had not the power to alienate them from the
heir,at law.. For the Defendant, it was contended
that it was consonant to agreement between '.the
Testator and the Plaintiff, that the estate shonld be
bequeathed to the Defendant, on consideration of
-personal, and other property, to the value_ of
20,0001. being left to the Plaintiff; and that the-
Plaintiff could not, at once, invalidate the as
far as -regarded the interest ,of others, and himself
take the benefit he had been intended to have under
it: he must take his ele&ion either to relinquish
what accrued to him under the instrument; as- it
or. to allow its validity as it affeded the other
Legatees.
• The LORD CHANCELLOR thought, such cases as
this' were involved. in
maturely
unnecessary snbtle,ty ;
but said he Should • consider, before he
overturned the doctrine of Lord Hardwicke;'a it at
'present stood on the subjea.
The LORD CHANCELLOR then sat upon Petitions
In Bankruptey.. ,
IN THE MATTER OF ANTHONY DAFFY SWINTON, A

BANKRAITT,
"Mr. PEncivm, sated,. that this wasa.Petition to
' the Lord Chancellor 1)11-the part of Anthony Daffy
Swinton, the Proprietor of a Medicine called Daff)='s
Elixir, praying, that the Commission ef-Banktuptcy
a&ainst Jilin might be superseded. The Commission
hali3sded upon the testimony of one Gorge Hall,'
the Bankrupt's servant, who had sworn that his mas-
ter had ordered him to deny him to his ereditors.--;--
This same George Hall had been lately confined in
GiltSpur-Street Compter for felony, and had there
confessed to Mr. Swinton, that he had been it-Kb:wed ;
to swear he had denied him,' by one.Leidier Cham-,
berlayne, who had bribed him with ad offer of six
guineas. He had made an affidavit of the fact, and
had positively sworn that Mr. Swinton never did in-
struct him to deny him .to his creditors:.: •
'Lone CHA.:ZCELLOR-.—"--Why do you not bring
‘ a
action against thesAssil,nees, and let them prove
the'a& of bnikruptcy ? I shall not decide on affi-
dl4vits, especially where a man swears that he ba's
before sworn falsely."
The SoLtciro - G ER AL: observed, that the only
question Was, whet7ner any aLt of bankruptcy• had
been committee) ? It was quite a common -thing to
'support acts bf bankruptcy upon faas which were
Lever stated' to the Commissioners. As to Mr.
Swinton, he had4Rommitted aas of .bankfulitey in
every possible way. He could present to his Lord-.
ship's view a very curious piaure of him.
Mr. PERCIVAL went on to state, that Hall had
been tried for felony; and acquitted.
Loan Cn.,t-scEiLoa.—".Who indi&ed him ?"
SOLICITOR. GE SIERAL.—" Mr. incliaed
him. I shall sheW your Lordship that it was a most
Infamous conspiracy." •
- Mr. PEactvm, repeated the contents_of Hall's se-
Cond'affidavit, In denial of the first.. He then stated
the affidavit of the Bankrupt, as to-a conversation'
with-Hall in prison, when he aoknoWledged that he
had been, bribed to, swev'be had been instruCted.to
deny him to his Creditors-; and lastly, the affida'Ot
'of a Mr. FLdges, confirming the truth of that.cen-
versation. Such were the grounds'upon which II e,
desired his Lordship to-set aside the Commission. It
was evident., .he said, .that it had' issued upon "We
oath of a man who, by his own account, was un-;
-Worthy of credit; and, therefore -he trusted his Lord-
ship would not' suffer such a prdceeding as a Com-
mission of Bankruptcy to, be adopted upon \his evi-

dence. ,
Load CitANcELLoa.—fic This is the worst place in
the world to try .a man's cmdit in., I shall. never
think of it. ,You have iridieled the person on whose
affidavit the,Commission issued, and Row you want
to avail yourself of his confession in gaol. These
are'things I, should have treated lightly in another
Court, . where I have long attended, Upon any ques-
tion .as to setting aside an a6t of bankruptcy."
Mr. AGAR, on the same side,. submitted that the
Commission ouSht not to proceed.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL observed, that his Lord-
ship was required to supersede this commission at the
expence of an honest petitioning creditor, because the
servant employed by Swinton turned out to be a Per-
son to whom credit ought not to be given. Before that
was dore,he was perstracad his Lordship would be sa-
tisfied that there had not been any aft of bankruptcy
committed. It was rather too much for'Mr. Swinton
to desire that Hall should be -declared unworthy of
credit, merely beccause he, had .lieen indiCied for a
felony, Considering- the circumstances of the charge
against him. He was accused by Swinton With having
stolen a 21. note—he denied ie. The next morning he
returned to the hotse 'of
.his employer, and a Con-
stable was sent for to take him into custody—his
pockets' were searched,. and the, Constable looked
into his hat, but--found not!:ing. , Swinton soon after
direaed the Constable to e-,omine his' hat agai,n—
the ,Officer did so, and a 21. note was -discovered.
lipon this Hall. was cOminittect to Giltspur-'street
Compter. - Swinton .called upon- him there, and,
promised not to prosecute, if .he. wouhl sign a paptri
confessing 014 lie bad nevcibt:en iI)SIITLICicd to lieu
him to his creditors.
LORD CHANCELLOR.—f‘ Did Swinton appear .is a
witness against him ?" • 7ry
SOLICiTOR:GENERAL'.-", He_ did, but Hall was
acquitted."
LORD CLIA,NCELLOR.—" I think Mr. Swinton will
sear of
_this."
• SOLICITDR,GENERAL.—" t 1 second charge- Was
preferred:Against Hall, for feloniously removing S w in-
tOnlkiodds. SWintOn appeared as.a witne-ss against
him, but the -Yy disbelieved him, and Hall was
again acquitted. As to the allegation of Hall's half=
- ing received a bribe to make the affidavit on which
the Cortitnissid issued, it . was nothing more
•,
than this. :Mr..:Leidler.Caamberlayne, one of Switi-
ton's creditors, 'had beer long., in -pursuit of :him
without .success. Swinton, to prevent his -.being