The Sun.
London, England, 1801-11-02 00:00:00

OLD BAILEY.

rOVRTH DAY-•*SATURDAY, OCT. 31.
William Keep, a lad„of the age of 14. years, was
indided. for that he being employed in sorting 4!,,et-
ters at the Post-office, London, feloniously
steal and take out of a certain Letter, sent by Edw.
Stithson by the Post, and direded to Tho. Gregory,
Flamstead, in the County of Herts, and which Let.
tar came to the hands and po,session of the Prisoner;
by virtue of his employment in the Post-office, a
Bank.note for the payment of sal. the property of
the said Edward Stimson.
The case against the Prisoner was clearly made
out ,in evidence,. and therefore the Jury found him
Goilty—Dearb, hut recommended him to mercy on
account of his youth.

Elizabeth Hervey was indided for the murder of
her bastard child.
The circumstances which appeared in evidence on
this trial amounted at most to no more chars suspicion,
and therefore the Learned Judge obser4ed, 'that he
need not' tell the Jury what course was-proper to be
taken,
_their own humanity would lead them to the
side of mercy. The Indiament stated the child to
be a bastard child. He laid an emphasis on the
word " Bastard," for that made a
,considerable dif-
ference in the case, on accotint of an At of Parlia-
ment past in the Reign ofKing, j,sts.uss, by which it
was enaded, " That if any woman being delivered of
any. issue of her body, male or female, which, being
born alive, should by the Law of this Realm be a
bastard, and she endeavour privately, either by
drowning or secret burying thereof, or any other
way, either by herself or the pro Curing of others so
to conceal the death-thereof, as that it may not come
to light whether it was born alive or not, hut be
concealed, she shall suffer death as' in case of mur-
der, except she prove, by. one witness at least, that
the child was born dead."This.was undoubtedly-
a severe Law, since a child might be concealed,
without being murdered. However, it- was the
Law, and therefore binding on the Subjects of this
Realm ; but the Jury would be . relieved from any
consideration of this case with reference to that
Statute, ,because there was no evidence laid before.
them that if she was delivered of a child, and did
secrete it, that that child_ was born a bastard. That
was averred in the Indiament, and therefore ought
to be proved before the Prisoner could besubjeded
to the provisions of that At. Such being the case,
the Prisoner at the Bar must be tried as at Common
Law before the passing of the -above Statute ; and,
according to that, the. Learned Judge was of opi-
nion there was not sufficient evidente to convict her,
with that anxious regard to human life which dis-
tinguished the Law of England in the case of Homi.
cide, the Prisoner was therefore found,—Not Guilty.
Mary Evans was charged with a capital offence
in feloniously stealing, on the loth of Odober,
seven guineas, and two shillings, the monies of
EManuel Jo`sada, in the dwelling-house of lizabeth
Almond.
The Case was stated, by- Mr, KNOWLYS, Coun.
set for the Prosecution, to the following effed:—
Josada, a Portuguese Mariher, being out to see the
general illuminations, in celebration of the Peace,
was accosted by, the Prisoner near the end of Chan.
eery-lane, in Fleet-street. She soon made him sen-
sible of what description of females- she was; and
of her wishes, for his company at that time. He
unfortunately suffered himself to be concluded by
her to a house of reception in Chancery-lane, called
the Salisbury Coffee-house, where they were shewn
into a bed-chamber, and for which she Prosecutor,
as is usually the custom on • such occasions, pre-
viously paid. In abOut an hour after they had 're.
tired, the Prisoner came down, and said, that the
Gentleman with what slit came to the house, had
determined to stay all night, but which she did not
wish to do e she then had a glass of liquor, and went
away ; which the people of the house, not having
any grounds for suspeding her of ill condua, did
not prevent. Shortly after the retreat of the Pri-
soner, her temporary paramour awoke, (it appear-
ing they undressed and went to bed) missed his
partner, and what was worse, his jacket, in which
his money was kept, and which, ors going to bed,
'be had deposited under the' pillow. He instantly
put on his clothes, ran downstairs, and by means
of signs and expressive gesticulations, soon gave
the people of the house to understand his late com-
panion had robbed him :—the waiter was induced to
accompany _the unfortunate man in a search for the
Prisoner, who they shortly found near the end of
Fetter-lane. She was immediately charged to the
watch, and on her being interrogated, said, she
had only a few halfpence about her : on being
searched,- however, three guineas were fbund in her
possession, which, the Counsel observed, was a
strong circumstance against her.
The Learned Counsel also observed, that the of-
fence charged against the Prisoner in the indidment,
was certainly a capital one, being for stealing above
forty shillings in a dwelling house : whether the
house was well laid in the indidment, as the dwel-
ling-house of Elizabeth Almond, would appear by
the evidence ; which would- also best enable the
Jury to consider, whether the charge was in general
fully brought home to the Prisoner t with resped
to this, there may possibly exist some- difficulty,
particular& with regard to the amount of what the
Prosecutor had been robbed. On this latter point,
they may probably have :in opportunity, of exercis-
ing their discretion, which doubtless they would be
induced to do with as great a degree of humanity as
was consistent with the duty they owed to' the justice
of the Country.
Emanuel josaa'a was then called.—He delivered
his testimony through the medium of an Interpreter,
who was duly sworn to translate faithfully the 'ac-
count of the Prosecutor : this,- as far as respeded
himself, was similar to what the Counsel described
in his opening. In addition, it appeared from his
account, that he was certain he had the entire sum
charged in the indiament, having felt it in his
pocket, when he paid for a pot of porter,. which they
had just before goirtg to bed. He denied his having
beerrin the least intoxicated, though he. hid been
drinking before he met the Prisoner.