The Sun.
London, England, 1809-08-17 00:00:00

NAVAL NEW.

SUMMER ASSIZES.

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• PORTSMOUTH; AUG. 16:—Arrived this day his TRIAL OF CAPTAIN DAVISON'.
The Assizes for the County of Somerset Cdrti.
Majesty's ship -Jason, of 32 guns, flom the West menced on Monday last, when Captain John Dav 6
Indies; also the Tzive Gesusters, DuED, from Guern- , son, of the Royal Marines, was, indiEfed before Sir
SOULDEN LAWRENCE, Knt. for stealing a piece of
musn,.of the value of 30s. the property of James
Bunter, mercer of Taunton.
Mr. GAZELEE opened the indiEtment.
Mr. JEKYLL then stated the 'circumstances' of the
case to the Jury, and observed, he had seldtnn, in
the discharge of his professional duty, a more pain-
ful task to perform than to detail the evidence which
he should have to adduce, in order to substentiate
the charge-in the inditament, which charged the
prisoner. with .the.crime of felony.; the facts were
few, short, but cogent, and he feared, irresistible ;
'they would come better from the witnesses than
from any statement of his—he would proceed -to '
Call them- The first witness was
Alexander Bailer, who said—l am an apprentice
to Mr. James Bunter, of Taunton.. I know Capt.
Davison'; he came to my master's house on the
25th of July, at half past seven in the .morning ;
there was no one in the shop but myself; lie asked if
Mr. Bunter was up ? I told him he was, and on
that he went away. Mr. Bunter 'came into the
shop in about five minutes, and 'on seeing "some orie
go by with whom he wished to speak, he walked
out towards the Parade, and Capt. Davison cause
itt irnmediitely after. I was cleaning the tvindows
on the outside of the shop; on Capain Davisons
again going into the shop I followed him-----he asked
to look at the muslins he had seen the night before,
and walked to the lower end of the shop to the
counter on the right- hand, and I carried to him
or 12 pieces, as he was sitting on the counter—he
took the first I sheaved him in his hand, and very
carelessly laid it by his side, and he did the same to
some other pieces. After looking at them some
time he went towards the door, but before that, he
bad }brown his banderchief upon fcnr or five of the
pieces, which he had folded tip. When at the door
_he asked me how the handkerchief he had on looked,
and whether we had any of the satne ?—I told him
we had none 'df, them. - He asked me then for g
looking glass. I 'told hint we had none but what
Were fixed, but if he would walk into the pinion;
he Might see there to this he made no reply. He
then sat down in a chair rather 'below where the
muslin. was, and asked to look at some stockings at
about Ss. a pair, for his brother,:--before this,; I had
taken away the pieces of muslin that were not co 4
vered over; there was at this time a piece under his
handkerchief, which I could plainly per:eive. I
took him out some stockings 'from the opposite side
of :the shop, but kept my eyes on him, and I ob-,
served him draw his handkerchief from the counter
into his lap with Loth his hands—l observed the
muslin was still under the handkerchief as' he drew
it towards him. He then asked for some fashion-
able waistcoat patterns ; I went across to the other
Counter to get him some—my face was towards him,
and I observed him take up the handkerchief and
soneeie ittogether, and put it under the left lapel of
his coat; he took the patterns of -the waistcoat, as
be said he wished to shew them first to Yandell, his
taylon At this. time his arm was over his coat' to-
wards his lapel where he had put his handkerchief,
and ,walked gut of the shop, Mr. Bunter came into
the shop whilst Captain Davison as there, but
stayed but two or three minutes. I missed the first
piece of muslin I had shewn him immediately after
his going Out—it was marked with 01G Slit—
the S had been altered, it had been an I. When I
missed the muslin, I rung the bell, and Mr. Bunter
came ; I described to him what had happened, and
the particular piece which was missing, and that
Capt. atviton was gone to Yandell's. Mr. Bunter
left the shop to go to Yandell's, through Hammet-
street. I then went out and saw Captain Davison
standing at Mr. 13lueft's shop door. When I per-
ceived Capt. Davison was gone to Yandell's, I called
to Mr. Bunter aloud; and Davison walked by the
Market-house towards his own lodgings.. At the
time I sheaved Capt. Davison the first piece I tnok -
notice of the mark.

Sailed his Majesty's ship charizpion, of '724 gun's,
Capt. R. HENDERSON,• with a convoy of about: 21
sail of transports, for the 'Baltic, with Russian sea-
=en on board Venus, LAWRENCE, and Delight,
JOHNSTON, for Guernsey.
The outward-bound Meditefranean and Oporto
convoys, which sailed froin hence yesterday, are still
remaining in Cowes roads, wind-bound.

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PLYMOUTH, AUGUST 15.—Arrived his Majesty's
ship Druid, from Madeira ; the Betsey, BLKKER,
from Sunderland; and Ann, VITTERY,from Neath.
Sailed, the schooner Conjurer, BOCKETT, for Gib-
raltar;
.and the Gleaner, Kractr, to the westward.
Arrived the Duke of Kent, EDDINGTON, from
Quebec, laden with timber and masts, fix- the Dock-
yard, at this port.

DEAL, AUG. 16.—Came down from the River,
the Mars, FALCONER, for Dominica, and Sophia,
Surit-r, for 'Malta.

Arrived the . William, HURST, from Trinidad-
SpOke the Rertnione, 35 days from Liverpool, going
into Ttinidttd.

Cross-examined ,by Mr. Serjeant had
seen the piece of muslin lost the preCeding evening.
Capt. Davison had purchased a yard of ribbon the
day before. On my calling to Mr. Bunter, Captain
Davison retired from Mr. liluett's shop.
Charles Sutton, Constable of Taunton.-.4 went
in company with another Constable, to search the
house - ot, Mr. Owen ; we first went into a bed-
chamber, and then into a drawing-room. apt.
Davison was 'not there : when before the Justice,
he desired to sleep in his bed-room, at Mr. Owen's.
In the chamber there was a trunk With Captain
Davison's name on it, on a brass plate ; we bloke it
open, and found in it a piece of muslin (produces it).
Capt. Davison desired of me to have the things found
in the trunk, which were not owned, returned to
him, particularly a pocket-book, containing-papers;
when he came back from the Justice, he, asked for
his trunk—l told him I had taken it to my house—
the muslin was out of my hand, but never out of
my house.
Alexander Bailer identified the piece of muslin to
be the same lost, and that it was Mr. Bunter's pro-
perty.

Mr. Bunter.—The marks on the. muslin are my
writing, the muslin is my property,' and worth more
than 30s. In ten minutes after the search, the mus-
lin was brought to me, and .1 knew it.—l am cer-
tain I had a piece of this, quantity, six yards and a
quarter, on the 25th of March, when I took stock,
and no other piece of that price and quantity, and I
have never sold that piece.
Alexander Bailer called again.—Said he had never
sold that. piece.
Here the evidence for the prosecution closed.
Colonel Mears, T. Woodford, Esq. Surgeon,
Bryant, Esq. R. Morgan, Esq. Rev. Mi.
Townsend, Rev: F. H. Clapp, H, C. Standart, Esq.
and the Rev. D. Webber, all of whom are persons of
the first respeaability, and who had known the pri-
soner nearly two years, severally gave hiin a most
excellent chardaer.
The Judge then 'summed up the evidence, and
told the Jury, however. they might lament that
a Gentleman of the Prisoner's condition in life,
holding the rank of a Captain in the Royal Ma-
rines, and w.ho had borne so high and honourable
a chavader till the present time, should on this
occasion have forfeited that chSrader, and have
orgotten his situation ; that it was their duty, if