The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-25 00:00:00

SEIZURE OF ROCKETS AT ROTHERHITHE

BOW STREET-APRIL 23.

At half-past one o'clock this afternoon Robert Hale
and Willians Hale, father and son, appeared before Mr.
Henry. the magistrate at Bow-street, to answer a sum-
mons charging them with having, in a house in their
occupation, a certain large quantity of gunpowder,
greater than was allowed by the law to be in the pos-
session of one person.
There were several foreigners present in the body of
the court, but in consequence of it not being publicly
known that the case was to be brought on, the court
was by no means crowded.
Mr. Bodkin, barrister, attended on the part of the
Crown, and Mr. Clarkson appeared for the defendants.
Mr. Bodkin said he was instructed by the Govern-
ment to submit to Mr. Henry certain circumstances
which appeared to them to justify their interference with
respect to premises in the occupation of the elder defen-
dant, if not in the joint occupation of both. He should
show that they had brought themselves under the ope-
ration of a penal act of Parliament, which provided
that no dealer in gunpowder should be possessed of more
than 200 lbs. of gunpowder at one time and in one place,
and that no person who was not a dealer should be pos-
sessed of more than 50 lbs. under similar circumstances,
and this act imposed a penalty of 2s. on every pound
above those amounts. Mr. Bodkin then detailed the cir-
cumstances under which the present seizure had taken
place, and stated that the Government had other rea-
sons than obtaining penalties for instituting the present
proceedings. He then called the following witnesses :
James C. Evans, a superintendent of the Thames po-
lice, deposed that he executed, on the 13th April, a war-
rant, granted by Mr. Henry. The premises were situ-
ated at the back of the Grand Surrey Canal, in Rother-
hithe. He got there about three o'clock in the afternoon.
He was7accompanied by Sergeant Sanders of the detec-
tive police. He found a man, who gave the name of
James Boylen. He saw him sitting before a machine,
ramming in rockets. Witness inquired for Mr. Hale,
and he said he was not there. He then asked if Mr.
Robert Hale was there, and he said not since Monday.
I told him we were officers of the police, and asked him
if he kept any gunpowder on the premises. He said they
kept no gunpowder—only a rocket composition. I then
produced the warrant, and after reading it over to
him, proceeded to search the premises. He first
showed us a small cask of composition, which he
said he was using. There were a number of shells and
rockets lying about. There was a shed about thirty feet
from the work house. I asked for the key of it.
He called it the magazine. He said he had not got the
key, which was kept by Mr. Robert Hale. I then said
I would break it open. On my threat to break in he
produced the key, and opened the door. Among other
things in the magazine there was a quantity of gun-
powder. I took possession of all I found there, and
carried it away from the premises. It was weighed at
the arsenal, where it was taken. I took possession
of 79 cases, containing altogether 1,759 rockets. The
witness then stated that on seeing the defendants they
denied that the composition was gunpowder, and they
offered to refer him to Sir Tnomas Hastings, and otherel
in order to show that they were not carrying on a manu-
facture for illegal purposes. He took a portion of the ma-
terial to several chemists for analisation. He also made an
experiment himself by loading two pistols, one with the
composition, and the other with ordinary granulated
gunpowder, and on firing them off he found that the
balls placed in each made an equal indentation upon a
board.

Cross-examined by Mr. Clarkson--I found no granu-
lated gunpowder. When I made the experiment with
the pistols I could not distinguish any difference between
the reports of the two. I will undertake to say
that the one with the composition made no
hissing noise when it was let off. I know nothing of
making rockets. I never was employed in any other
proceedings against a party for making rockets or for
having gunpowder. (The witness here produced two
rockets, one was very small, being about an inch
in thickness and four inches in length, but the
other, which was charged, and rather startled the counsel
and spectators had a formidable appearance, being at least
a foot in length, 3 or 4 inches in thickness, and pointed
at the ends. It appeared to be encased in iron.) Sir
Richard Mayne directed me to remove the rockets and
composition to the arsenal at Greenwich. I did not see
on.the premises 500 lbs. of what is ordinarily called gun-
powder.

Thos. Clark said he took a quantity of powder from the
premises of the defendants, and conveyed it to Mr. Way's
chemist in Holles-street, and delivered it to his assistant.
John Sanders said—l was present at the firing of the
pistols in Scotland-yard. I loaded them myself, one
with the composition and the other with a ea rtridge of
granulated gunpowder. I put the same quantity in
each. I fired at a board, and in both instances

the ball went through the board into the wall. —They
both went off instantaneously.
Mr. J. T. Way, examined, said—l am a professional
chemist. I have been engaged in that department of
science 12 or 14 years. I received from my assistant a
quantity of gunpowder for analisation. I found it to
consist of nitre, sulphur, and charcoal. Those are _the
ingredients used iu the manufacture of gunpowder. The
proportions of these substances vary in different kinds.
In 100 parts of this composition there were 70 parts of
nitre, 121 of sulphur, 16/ of charcoal, and 1 per cent.
of moisture. It does not present the appearance of
granulated gunpowder. Powder is granulated by being
passed through a sieve, but it can be reduced in a pulp
by the application of water. The composition is in my
opinion gunpowder.
Cross-examined by Mr. Clarkson—l never saw any
gunpowder manufactured. My knowledge of the manu-
facture is obtained from reading. This composition
had the appearance and character of gunpowder.
Mr. Augustus Hoffman, professor of the Government
School of Mines, in Jermyn-street, St. James's, and also
a professor of the Royal College of Chemistry, gave evi-
dence as to the materials of which the composition con-
sisted. _ _

Mr. Toser, belonging to the laboratory at Woolwich,
stated that the composition was in the same state pre.
cisely as the gunpowder used at Woolwich for charging
fusees for the explosion of shells.
Colonel Wilson, also connected with the same esta-
blishment, said he had examined the composition, and he
considered that it was decidedly gunpowder.
Other evidence was adduced to prove the occupancy of
the premises by the younger Hale.
This concluded the case on the part of the Crown.
Mr. Clarkson then replied on behalf of the defendants,
observing that he would not enter into the mystery which
surrounded the moving cause in this miserable prosecution,
for that would probably be the subject of inquiry else-
where, but would confine his attention to the only ques-
tion in the case, namely, whether this composition was
or was not gunpowder under the meaning of the act.
The learned counsel then complained that the premises
of Mr. Hale, which were well known to the Government
as a place for the manufacture of war-rockets, he
having supplied them with quantities of these articles,
being entered in such a surreptitious way by the
police, especially as he carried on his business not only
without any secresy, but in the most open manner.
After alluding to the scientific evidence, he stated that
the composition in question was purchased from Messrs.
Curtis and Hervey, who marked the barrels in which it
was contained " Composition," in contradistinction of
gunpowder, and that he should be able to prove that its
manufacture differed in some important respects from
gunpowder. He then called
Mr. Charles William Curtis, of the firm of Curtis and
Hervey, manufacturers of gunpowder, said, Mr. Hale
was a customer of theirs. The material with which they
supplied him was a composition—they did not call it
gunpowder, nor did he think it was termed so by
the trade. It only went through the process
of making gunpowder to some extent. It had
not gone through the granulating mill a pro-
cess through which gunpowder always went. They
were in the habit of supplying the same composition to
firework makers. It would not go off like gunpowder
he did not think it would fire a gun, but he had never
tried that.

Dr. Ure, the chemist, gave it as his opinion that the
composition was not gunpowder.
Mr. Bodkin having replied,
•
Mr. Henry said he would take time to consider his
decision.
The hearing of other summonses was fixed for Thurs-
day next, at two o'clock.

EMIGRATION FROM GERMANY TO AUSTRALIA.-it ap-
pears from the shipping list of the Hanse
Mere intile
Gazette that not less than 19 vessels are now loading at
Haniburgh for our Australian co onies. Of these ves-
sels two are to sail before the expiration of the present
month, four will sail in May, two in June, four in July,
three in August, two in September, and two in October.
The joint tonnage of the vessels amounts to 8, 620 tons.