The Sun.
London, England, 1809-11-14 00:00:00

LIR Nov. gp

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0,2 Sunda), last a .Ge.ntlernad travelling in his
gig from Cork to Dublin, alighted at the foot of
a bill near Littleton; in • the Connty of Tipre-
. 'pry, in order to relieVe his horses; whom h.
~/,..ft
to the dire&ion of his servant ; he had s( atc.-ttv
began to walk tip the hill, when he saw a rnitiati
level a horse pistol at him from behind the hedge
which bounded the road; on this he stepped
quickly across, so as to get the gig between him
and the assailant; but here again he was received
by another ruffian, posted als6 With d•pist6l On the
Opposite hedge; he then thought of eScapiUg by the
front of the gig, and pushing forward, but itritn&li-
' ately observed a third villain posted at'the Ilead of
his horses, and holding the reins. As he-lnid in his
possession a very large sum of money in bank
notes, the traveller was determined to make 'every
effort to avoid being -robbed and accordingly by
one desperate plunge, burst. by the robbers, and'ran
with all speed back towards the stage he had just
left; as well in order to avoid :being plundered, as
to alarm the neighbourhood. - In 'the mearrtime hiS'
servant amused the banditti into an opinion that the
money (of which they seemed to-have had -infOrrna-.;
tion) was contained-in a travelling-box attached to
the carriage, and kept them employed •in searching
it, until his master, with a 'party of the' country
people appeared at a distance, when the miscreants
fled with .precipitation, without taking any article
whatever. Unfortunately the knowledge they pus-
sessed of the neighbouring morasses rendered even
_.. this immediate pursuit unavailing. •
Our 'Readers may recolie& that at the late Con
mission of Oyer and Terminer, a conviEtion for
murder took place under very uneommoncircurn-
stances. Four fellows went out with an avowed
intention to rob ; they met a jaunting-car, which
they commanded to stop—on the driver alight-
ing, he was recognised by the gang as an old-
acquaintance and friend, and while a general
greeting was going on, a pistol. in the hand
of one of the party went off and: killed one of
hig - companions ; upon Which another of . them,
exclaimed with ctirse, that he• had often warned
him (the person in whose hand the pistol was) thati
it would do mischief some time or other, as it was .
apt to go off at half-co Ck.. . .
Upon this evidence the Jury, according to the
) old. principle of law, which makes an homicide Carn;.-
. mined in the prosecution of a felony--1111;rder,"
found-the prisoners guilty, and they were. sentenced.
to p._qxecklted on Thursday last. -
It is said; With what truth we knoi, not, that his
Grace the Lord Lieutenant, on reading a News Paper
report of this trial, was so struck with the singularity
of the case, that he sent for Chief Justice aiwnes,
with Whom he communicated On.the subjeCt. The
isien were for the present .respited, -and the. Chief
Justice on Thursday last laid the matter before the
,other Judges, who upon debate, as we understand,
agreed by- .a
-majority of seven td-four, •that as it was
• probable that upon reeogniZirig• Weir friend, th'e-in-,
tention of the party to commit robbery had ceased;
the subsequent accidental homicide could not be said
.to amount to murder; and they haVe therefore re-
cOminended 14 It the convicts should" be pardoned, on,
condition of being tran4yotted for' life.
•

LAW REPORT.

EXCHEQUER CHAIVIBER,./4i;v:

THE KING V. HOLDEN.

Mr; YATES argued this case for the Prisoner vvit
great learning
and ability.' It was an indi6iment
whit.% had been tried at the Landaster Assizes; and
by which the prisoner was charged. with disposing
of, or putting off, at a late less than their,inominal
value, certain' forged notes of the' Bank of England.
It appeared on the trial, that the witnesses by whom
the'case on the part of the prosecution was made
out, had applied to the prisoner, suspeaing him to
be a dealer in forged notes, to dispose of some of.
these notes to them. The prisoner had not any in
his possession at the time, but afterwards procured
some for the witnesses, who. appeared on the trial.,
against him, being two persons of the ,names of
Slaw and Whitehead, who, it also . appeared, had
been employed in this lransaaion by tfie Bank,with
intent to defraud Which—Corporation, the prisoner
having disposed of .or put oft the
twtoatsesciiinargqeudeswtilotill).

An objeaton was taken for the prisoner, at the
trial, that
,the 4et of theSe witnesses.was..to be held
in this instance the ad of the Bank, which could
not be. allowed to procure a crime to be committed
against itself, for the mere sake of punishing the
prisoner. This point, and also an objeCtion Collie
form of the judietment, the Learned Judge. who
tried the case. had reserved for tile opinion of :the
Judges.
.The Learned Counsel snow contended,
that the policy of the law of :England was not to
• procure the commission of a crime, fbr the purpose
of infliaing punishment, but rather to prevent the
perpetration of crime. Qn this principle he argued,.
that the Bank of England :haying by their Agents,
whose ad must be supposed, to this effed, .-to be
that of the Bank, procured, with their own consent,
an imaginary fraud to be committed against them;-
selves, could never be permitted to punish the pri-
souer for an offence to which they themselves had
been the instigators. He instanced. a case in point,
where a number. rof persons, and, among others;
the person to be robbed, having entered into a con-
spiracy to induce another person to commit a rob:-
bery ; the robber, though he willingly committed
the.offenee, and was ignoriutt that the person whom
he had robbed was a party tb the: instigation of ithe
robbery committed on himself, was, on a reverence
to the Judges, acquitted. He did no-t.go the length
of contending that in such a case it was necessary
that the party, against whom the .intent to defraud
was charged, should a&uaily be defrauded ; but this
he did contend, that it was necessary that the pro-
bability, at least, of the fraud being effected should
appear. This was not here the case, the Bank
being the only party as to whom the intent to de-
fraud was charged, and being, at the same times
thrOtigh its own at and deed, the only instrument
through whom the fraud could be perfeded. • As
to the point of form, he contended that the indid-
meat was defedive, in as far as it did not particu-
larise the persons by whom the notes were disposed