The Sun.
London, England, 1806-06-21 00:00:00

POLICE,

PICK-J'OcKETS.

Bow-STRRET.----Yesterday Bill &mines,
d,. and Bill White, alias Conkeybecp, were brought
before NICI-10.LAS BOND, Eiq. and Sir W. PARSONS,
charged :on suspicion of having picked the pockets
of several of the company, as - they were going into
the Marquis of Lansdowne's house, to the Masque-
rade; on Thursday night se'Emight.
Capt. Horatio Townsenk,, and several other -per-
sons of distinction, attended, who were robbed on
the above occasion, but could not positively identify
any of their persons. , _
The Magistrates then observed, that 'the town
called upon them, and expe6ted, that they should'
-proceed 'against the Prisoners under the Police A&.
Mr. BOND and Sir Wm. PARSONS asked Mr. REIN-
TER and'Mr. BALDWIN, the Magistrates who were
present, whether they agreed with them in . such a
proceeding. , Mr. 13ALnwiN declined giving any
opinion. Mr. HUNTER observed, that he knew the
Prisoners to be reputed thieves, as did all the Offi-
cers, and he had no doubt but almost every perScrn
in the Office knew -them as such, but he had some
difficulty in
„giving his opinion whether the Mar-
quis of Lansdowne's house couldbe considered a place
of public resort, merely because the Noble Marquis
chose to haVe a Masquerade there.
Mr.. Box"); in consequence of these observations,
direcled Mr. MILLER, the Clerk, to read the Bth clause
of the Police AT&;which authorises the apprehending of
persons answering the description of the Prisoners as
reputed thieves, who are found in the streets, or even
the highways. Mr. HUNTER being now convinced
that the Prisoners were liable, under the AO of
Parliament, from the evidence given by the, fficers,
on their first examination, gave his support to pro-
ceecling against them in this way.
Perry, the
,conduaar of the Patrole, repeated his
former evidence, and:said he .apprehended Soanes
and Hilliard in consequence of knowing them to be
reputed-pickpockets, • and Soanes
.having been con-
victed at the WBtrninster Sessions some time „since,
was imprisoned six months in Tothill-fields Bride 7
well for it. Soanes acknowledged this, and said it
was for being found in the Pantheon, at the time the
balloon; was shewn there. When Perry was convey-
ing
Soanes and Hilliard to -St. "George's watch-Li-case,
they urged him to let them escape, as nobody hall
seen hini apprehend them. The Officer steadily re-,
fused. One of the patrole 'stated, that after Peri-y
had taken Soanes and -Hilliard to the watch-house,
he, went in pursuit of other pick-pockets, and ob-
served White, alias Conkeybeau, following a Gentle-
man; dressed in a domino, under the gatden wall of
Lansdowne House, and endeavouring' to pick his
pocket; he did not seize him immediately, expeaing
he should see him do the a&, to make the charge
complete ; but it haprened he did not.
Mr: GURNEY and Mr. KNAPP attended, the former
for Conkey beau .and the latter for. Soanes.. iThe
Learned Gentleman observed, they had been silent
till the evidence of the Officers had been' taken, to
prove their belief that the Prisoners were reputed
thieves; if the Magistrates had proceeded to convic
Lion, the want of this evidence fnust have proved
fatal.

. Mr. GURNEY said, that if proving,,•White kept a
house, and let out horses for hisiiving, would influ-
ence the judgment of the Magistrate, he was prepar-
ed to prove it.
Mr. BOND, in reply, said, it would notin the least
weigh in his mind, as he had heard the tale so often
when White was brought before him that he was
tired of it.

Mr. ki4APP addressed the Magistrates, at consi-
derable length, for Soanes. He adduced a variety of
•arguments'against the principle ofa man once being
convi&ed as a thief, being apprehended wherever he
was found by the Officer#. . .
Mr. 'Born replied to Mr. KNAPP. With respe&
to the complaint of Soave's being repeatedly.appre-
hended by the Officers, he thought they aated .very
properly, and. they .votild not be doing their duty
except they did, .as he was determined to rid the
public of this description of, robbers,, as far 'as Was in
his power.. Instead of treating Soanes harshly, they
were treating him with lenity ; for, if they had sent
for a copy of his first conviction, they should now
proceed against him under the 17th of George IL
and convici him as an incorrigible rogue, which
ig-nakes him liable to two'years nnpri§onment.
Mr. BOND then, in the name of liirnself and the
other Magistrates, pronounced all the Prisoners con-
. vietedas rogueS and vagabonds, under the Police Aet,
and sentenced them 46 be itnPrisoned in the Hcuse
1)1 Correaion till the next 'General
.Sessions for the
County of Middlesex. Before the Prisoners were
taken from the Bar, Mr'. BoND
.told 'them,. if they
did not take to a new course of life, he Would' give
directions for them to be,brought before him again,
as he was deteraiined to suppress them. • ,
Mr. GwtNEY and Mr: KNAPP gave notice; that
their Clients would appeal against the convi&ion. •
MARLBOROUGH-.STREET.—Ye,sterclay James Al-
gar, a well-dressed notorious character, was charged.
with picking. a Gentleman's pocket of his pock°et-
book, on Thursday, in Bond-street. The prisoner is
a principal in one of the gangs which perambulfite the
fashionable streets at. the west end of the town. The
Prosecutor, J. AnAms,ESq. was walking along Bond-
street, when he was, surrounded by•four thieves, one
whom was the Prisoner. A wine-Merchant_ in St.
James's, who was on the oppoSite side of the way,
percei,ed Lite prisoner, surrounded by his accom-
plices, take the pocket-book, which was found 'On
him, as was also a silk net-purse, and another pocket
book containing some country and
,Bank' of Engrand
Dotes. kie was fully committed for trial.
Pantalias Hallet, who stood charged With various
as of swindling, was brought up and remanded to
a full examination, on Tuesday next.

- .
"On. Monday was committed to St. Dustan's gaol,
l'homas Derr4ck, a private in the .r.4ith Regiment of
Foot, chared with. feloniously killing Divers Lee, at
Ashford, in Kent. The prisoner and the &ceded
(who was a-travelling scissors grinder) having'a dis-
pnte, 'they adjourned to a field to fight, when the
deceased falling; the prisoner hit him a yiolenfblow,
and jumping on him, hfoke.several.of his ribs, and
'otherwise bruised him, whicli, it is-supposed, occa-
pioned hiS death.

LAW REPORT.

COURT OF KING's BENCH, 1 JUN- 19.
HIND V NV tIITEHOUSE AND ANOTHER.

This was an a6tion brought to recover the price.
of some sugars, sold to the Defendants, under the
following circumstances :
A considerable quantity-of Jamaica sugars, lying
in the King's Stores, and-belonging to the Plaintiff,
were advertised. for sale by pudic auetion, at Liver-
pool, and the Defendants, on the day,of sale, be-
came bidders, when one lot was knocked down to
them by theAu6tioneer, who immediately wrote their
names against the lot, as specified in the catalogue.
It was,understood at the time, that the duly was to
,be paid by the seller, and samples were then 'deli-
vered. Subsequent to this, and before the delivery
Of the lot of' sugars, a fire broke out in the ware-
house, when the sugars were all consumedi; in con-
sequence of which the present aEtion was brought,
and a verdict for the Plaintiff was agreed.to be en-
tered, subject to, the Opinion of the Court.
This cause now came on upon a Rule •to shew
cause why there should not.be_a new trial or a non=
suit entered..

Messrs. PARKE, TOPPING, and SCARLETT, on the
apart of the Plaintiff, contended that there was an
a6lual sale of the property by the .auaioneer, who,
having set the names of the Defendants against the
lot purchased by them/thereby made a contiaa,
•as their agent, by which they became bound, and
therefore this as look the case out of the Statute of
Fraud ; but if this was-not sufficient to take it out
of that statute, there yeas still a delivery of the thing
sold, by the sample Which the Defendant had re-
ceived. The whole bulk had been weighed, in the
King's beam, previous to extraaiug the sample; the
purchaser was to take it by that weight, which in-
cluded that sample; and therefore it was contended'
that the sample was ,a part delivery, of the whole,
and the Defendants hecam.6

On the other hand, it. was urged by Sir AT. GIBBS;
Serjeant MARSHALL, and Messrs. tiotatoYD and
LITTLEDALES, that this case came within the-mean-
ing of the Statute of Frauds, in as much as the
Au&ioneer, by that Ad, was not legally authorised
tu Make a contra& binding on a party, unless that
authority was given in writing. And, as to the sam-
ple, it could by no means be considered as 'a part
delivery of the whole, it being the constant and uni-
form pradice among merchants to give a sample
merely for the purpose' of examining and ascertain-
ing the'quality of the thing, but never as a delivery
of the whole. •

The Court considering it a case of very- considei-
able importance in a mercantile, as well as legal
point of -yiew, deferred their judgment till to-mor-
row.

FRIDAY, JUNE 20.
HABEAS CORPUS.

Mr. GAR ow applied for a Writ of Habeas Cor-
pus, to be direaed to a woman of the name of Hop-
kins, to compel her to produce in Court an infant
child. It will be recolle6led, that a violent con-
test had taken place before the Magistrates at Union
Hall, and other Police Offices, between two females,
who each of them claimed to be the mother of a
child. This child had been stolen from its mother,
Sarah. Knott, by the contrivance of-her sister and
Mrs. Hopkins, in order to eweauate the marriagb
of the latter. At a subsequent period the infant had
been restored, and again taken away by Mrs. Hop-
ins. The objea of the Learned Counsel's motion
was to place thechild, although illegitimate, undeK
the prote&ion of its mother.
The Court was of opinion, that they could not in-
terfere, because the law could not recognize the
title, of the mother to an illegitimate child. If they
granted the motion, they must take upon themselves
to decide upon the rights of, each party. They de
sired Mr. GtRROW to mention the case to-morrow.

lIINPE V. WHITEHOUSE AND ANOTHER.

This cause Bad been tried at the Lancaster As-
sizes, before Mr. Justice ROOKE, and a verdi& had
gone against the Defendants, in the sum of 11101.
Mr. Serjeant CO6KELL bad Obtained a rule to slew
cause for a 'new trial, or for a nonsuit, in,behalf of
the Defendants ; and it was argued, on the same.
side, by Mr. Serjeant MARSHALL, Sir VIOA.RY
Gthigs, and Mr. LIT'iLEDALE and for the Plaintiffs,
by Messrs. PARK, TOPPING, and SOARLETT. ' Tile
cause arose on a quantity of sugars, which were sold
by au&ion on 'the 20th of Septemberlast; on the
2cl they *were burnt in the King's WarehoUses;
arid the doubt was, whether, under the peculiar cir-
cumstances of the sale, the property go destroyed
vested in the Defendants ? If the property was trans=
ferred to them by the-au&ion, then the verdid was
corre& ; if it Yet' remained with the Plaintiffs, it Was'
otherwise.

Mr. PA R KJ: now said, that some difficulty arose .0.11
the trial, on account of the religious professions of a
Mr. Sill, who was a'Quaker, and it was not alwaYs
Very easy to extraa information from persons of that
persuasion. From this gentleman, bq.wevcr, on-the
present occasion, little assistance was wanted; for
the Learned Cbunsel rested the validity of this Sale'
on the case of Simon v. Montevois .(Sir. William
Blackstone's Reports, 1. 599) ; and he contended,
that, the case of Hanson v. Mayor -(6 lEast,
did not overturn that authority. He said, that the
note of the name of the Defendants on the cata-
logue, was a memorandum in writing, required by
the Statute of Frauds, (29 Car. 11. st. 3.).the Auc
tioneer being an authorised agent. Next, that the
buyer, having taken tike sample, had accepted a part
of the thing sold, -which, under another clause,
brought the contra& withinthe Statuie.

Sir- VICART Guns relied on the case of Stans-
field and Johnson (Espinasse 1. 101.), tried before
Lord Chief Justice ETRE": also on a case in Equity,
in the 7 Vesey, Inst. 34.5 ; and yet,more confidently
on the plain and obvious meaning of the Statute of
Frauds. .He said, that the memorandum of the
Au&ioneer was nothing, because he was not an au-
thorised agent between the parties, and that the de-
livery of the small sample could never be considered
the delivery of a part of the bulk within the construc,
tion of the Statute.

The CHIEF JUSTICE, in giving judgmerit, observed,
that two questions arose on the 17 th section of the
Statute of Frauds; Ist, Whethet what passed between
the parties, at the time of the sale and the writing of
the AuEtioneer upon the catalogue, was such a memo_

randum, as,-within the- provi4iotts of (lie A&, would
constitute a valid sale? And, 2d, if the buyer could be
said to have accepted part of the goods sold, by taking
a sample of half a ppund of the sugars, so As tb com-
plete the contract ? In the case of SiMon v. Monte-
voiS, inloroUghs and Sir Win. Bliekstone's 4eParts,
Lord Mansfield had laid down the law, that auctions
iu general were not within the Statute of Frauds
but,independently Of these high authorities, he was of
opinion, that they Were included within its provisions,
although a memorandum in writing was ,absolutelynecessary, in order to make the contract binding be-
tween the parties. It would be:dangerous to break
in' upon a rule which would affect all sales among
Brokers for their principals. , It appeared to his
Lordship, that the writing in this case was not such
a memorandum as would make the contra& bind-
ing; it was a mere statement of the Auaioneer, of
,the quantity, which could, iru.na degree, affeet the
,case, and in which no terms were mentioned. - As
to the next point, whether any part-delive7 had
taken place, hi's Lordship could not but consider it
as a portion of the goods sold; it might be a sample
of quality, but it was delivered as,a part of the pur-
chase. In the Arguments, another. point lead been
likewi,se made„ whether the sale,
.under any of the
circumstances, were Valid, as the goods were not
a situation to be given to the • buyer ? In- opposition
to this difficulty, the CHIEF JUSTIC cited the .ease
of Tyler v. Robins (Salkeld 113), where.it was_ laid
doWn by Lord HoLy, that in a ease, circumstanced'
like the present, there could be no pretence for as-
serting that the sale was incomplete. :In conse-
quence of this determination, the rule for a new. trial
Was made absolute. •

We mentioned the arrival of the -Aurora, Par.
titian, Nile, and Plitebe, four of the. homeward-,
bound Jamaica Fleet, at Cork. • The following par-
ticulars respeEting the Fleet are copied irom a Cork
Paper of the 13th instant :
" The Fleet, consisting of eighty-seven Sail of
Merchantmen, under convoy of the Atlas, of 74
guns • Malabar, of 50; and Edw Sloop of War:
sailed from Jamaica on the sth April last. Eleven
Sail of Vessels left the''Convoy on tife 17th. On
the ?oth they fell in with a Frencio Privateer,
which ,made an attempt at capturing some of _the
Ships, bill she, after being roughly handled; was
beat off. She, notwithstanding, stood on in the
track of the Ships,.and on the night of the 22d. re-
newed:her attempt,: but_ her reception was worse
thati before, and her success similar.

. "On the 24th they fell in with three French Priva-
teers, but having been apprised of their approach,
the different Ships contributed Volunteers from their
Crews, which they put on board the Surprise, of
Glasgow, D M'FARLAND Master, bound to Liver-
pool, the stoutest Ship in company, and appointed
her Commodore. Thus prepare&they met the at-
tack of the Privateers, and after an ht ur's warin
fighting, in which the Steprise.susta3iled her2neW•
charaar most gallantly—they beat .them or and
so effeaually drubbed them, as to make a renewal
-of t4e, action on the part of the , Enemy, although
they followed the Ships for several'days, an at not
only of imprudence; but of temerity. The Privateers
were 2 Schooners ao.a Felucca, mounting two 12-r
pounders, and from Go to 70 men each; and capable
of using, •when becalmed, or in
_,Very light winds,
thirty-two sweeps. The apparent state of the Pri-
-vateers, when they relinquished the a&ion, made it
probable that their loss in men must have been
heavy. The Surpiise, notwithstanding the length.
and sharpness of the ,cOnflia, ,had only one man
wounded ; the Nile, one of the Ships in company,
bad
_a_man killed.. • The
__Ships which parted front
the Convoy were, the Sin-prise, Parthian, Nile, .da-
iora,' J'ltcete, Elizabeth; Harry, Beilona, Chard,
and Defiance.' The whole Fleet, it was hoped,
would effe6t their passage securely." . .
• A MAIVAC..— Yesterday the. 'passengers near
Qough-square and East Harding-.street were placed
in danger of their liVes 4 the condna of an Unhap-
py lunatic of the name of Austin, whb ran-out of.
his house, in. Goldsmith-street, with a..knite in his*
hand, threatening de4tration_ to all he-met. By
the efforts of the neighbours he was prevented from
doing,any serious injury ; but his ektravdgant be-
haviour, kept the neighbourhood in continual uproar
until the afternoon, when- theßeadle of the Parish
and others conveyed him in- a coach with great aif-
fidulty' to the mad-honse Itixton.'''The,'Unfor-
tunate lunatic vas married on Wednesday morning,
and. it is supposed his wife was ignorant. of the, de-
ranged state of his intelle6.ls. lie has lived several.
years in tlie---A6Vir7rieighbdurbo6d,'
considered insane. His son and wife, who appear-
ed- couch affe6ted by his situation,Were
le t ill :pos-
session of his property.