The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-03 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.—May 1.

(Before Mr. Serjeant Adams, Assistant-Judge, at Guild.
ball, Westminster.)

The adjourned April session of the peace for the
county of Middlesex was resumed this day at the Guild-
hall, Westminster. There were 112 prisoners for trial.
THE EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES ON THE LONDON AND NORTH-
WESTERN RAILWAY.

John Kirby, 58, convicted at the last session of this
court of having received a quantity of ribbons that had
been stolen from the London and North-Western Rail-
way, was brought up for judgment.

Mr. Ballantine said no disclosures or communica-
tions had been made by the prisoner, for whom he ap-
peared, and therefore he did not stand at the bar with
any imputation of treachery upon him.
The Assistant-Judge said, it would be better for him
if he did not stand there with the imputation of having
previously received stolen goods.
Mr. Ballantine was quite taken by surprise by that
observation. If the court knew it, he hoped the fact
would be stated. (To the prisoner)—Have you ever
been tried before for receiving ?
The prisoner—No, never, or for stealing.
Mr. Ballantine said he believed that ten years ago the
prisoner was in custody on a charge, but wag discharged,
after a detention of two days.
Mr. Poland (who in the absence of Mr. Bodkin repre-
sented the company) said there was every reason to be-
lieve that the produce of other robberies had been in the
possession of the prisoner, and had been disposed of by
him ; but they had not been successful in tracing out
the parties with whom he was connected in the robberies.

Mr. Baliantine hoped the Court would require proof
of such assertions before they were acted upon.
The Assistant Judge said the case was a most serious
one, and nothing could be more clear than that the
prisoner had been acting in league and in concert with
some of the company's servants, and the part he played
was by far the worst, for he was the person who disposed
of the plunder.
Mr. Ballantine remarked that no money was found
upon the prisoner, nor were any of the goods found at
his lodgings.
The Assistant Judge could easily believe that if the
prisoner received stolen property from the railway he
would not keep it at his own lodgings. Re was not
quite satisfied with the buyers of the articles from the
prisoner. It had been in the power of the prisoner to
stop those robberies by telling who his accomplices were,
and an opportunity has been afforded him to do so, but
he had made no communication. It was a very serious
case, and he questioned whether the Court would be
doing right in not transporting him altogether.
The prisoner said he was anxious to tell all he knew.
He had sold the goods on a small commission.

The Assistant Judge said anything the prisoner now
wished to say must be said to the Secretary of State.
He had had the opportunity of a remand to make dig.
closures, and he had not done so. The sentence upon
him was, that he be kept in the penal servitude for six
years.

- Mr. Ballantine—l do not know, my lord, whether
you will reconsider that sentence and transport him, as
that may not kill him so soon.
The Assistant Judge—That is a matter for medical
consideration.
The prisoner was then removed.

/vlay 2.

The Court was occupied the greater part of the day in
trying cases of indecent assaults, the details of which
were quite unfit for publication.

Samuel Morris Popjoy, 23, John George Gregg, 20,
Edward Collins, 18, James Williams, 16, John Peary,
18, and George Edwin, 21, were indicted for unlawfully
attempting feloniously to steal from the person of a wo-
man whose name is unknown.

The prisoners, who formed part of a notorious gang
of thieves who infest Westminster and the Surrey side
of the water, mustered in great numbers on the 10th of
April last in Vauxhali-bridge-road, on the occasion of the
removal of a body of a soldier from an hospital in that
neighbourhood for interment in the West London Ceme-
tery at Brompton. A military procession was formed, and
of course a large body of persons were collected,. and dur-
ing its progress the prisoners and their companions made
the most of it in the exercise of their vocation, by dipping
their hands into the pockets of all who came in their way.
About twenty of them hustled a gentleman, and made a
desperate attempt to plunder him of his watch, but they
were not successful in obtaining it ; and afterwards Wil-
liams was seen by several persons to put his hand into the
pocket of a female, the other prisoners and companions
" covering " or screening him from observation whilst so
doing. A policeman's assistance was ultimately called,
and six of the gang (the prisoners) were captured.
The jury found them all guilty.
Several police-officers then came forward to speak to
former convictions of Williams and Peary, and the others
were the well-known associates of thieves.

Inspector Cumming, of the B division, said that one
of the gang was in the habit of going about Pimlico,
pretending to show a model of the flag-ship of Sir Charles
Napier (the Duke of Wellington), now in the Baltic,
and whilst the attention of the chosen victims was en-
gaged in examining it, ethers of the gang were more
profitably employed in abstracting their money or other
valuables from their pockets. One of the companions of
the prisoners was convicted in this court last session.
He pretended to be taken suddenly ill with a fit in the
street, and while a lady who was passing at the time
was rendering assistance, he contrived to rob her of her
watch for her pains.

The Assistant Judgo sentenced Williams and Peary
to hard labour for nine months each ; Gregg, Collins,
and Edwin, for six months, and Popjoy for four months.
The other cases tried were of no public interest.