The Sun.
London, England, 1809-07-28 00:00:00

THE KING V. JANES PATTER.

i• The ATTORNEY-GENERAL moved the judgment'
of the Court on the Defendant, who had been tried
and conviCled before Mr. Baron Thompson, at the
last Assizes at Exeter; upon an inditiment,,charging
'him with the offence of aiding, abetting, and assist-
ingthree French prisbners of war, upon parole of
honour, to-escape. It-appeared from the report of
the trial, that the Defendant had first taken the mo-
ney•of these French prisoners ,of war, under pre7
-tence of effeaing their escape, had taken them
up and down Devonshire under .pretenco of ac-
complishing that purpose, but 'in Irality to
cheat them out of all their. money, which he did
most effeEtnally ; after whiCh tht'y were appre-
hended at a farm-house, and brought back, again to"
• •
The ATTORNEY-CENERAL said he hardly knew
how to address the Court •on this subjeti. The
baseness of the conduct of the Defendant aroused as
much indignation in the mind as was consistent with
the contempt which must be entertained of the crea-
ture who had been guilty of ir. Here were enemies
of this country, taken at the ex pence of our own blood,
andsupported out of fr own treasure,aided in tl;eires-
cape, or rather taken away from the place in which
they were prisoners of war, With a view,. as they
hought,-to be enabled to fight
"u 4 again but with a
view, on the part of the Defendant, only-tO make
them commit a crime, in order that he' might . rob
them of all their. money. He could not conceive
any thing "that could be at once so atrocious., so
base,• and so conteruptible. This Defendant had
contrived to be as treacherous to, the Frenehmen as
he had to his own country. The Court would un-
derstand that this miscreant had already been in cus-
tody six monos.-
Mr. Justice GROSE expatiated on the offence of
which the Defendant had been found guilty,- observ-
ing, that although it was not high treason, it came
as near to it as any misdemeanour could-do. Tfie
sentence of the Court was, that the
_Defendant be
_imprisoned in'Exeter jail for two years\and thou dis-
charged.

wll ieh had been mocli, cenAltk4„in
wasit possible teat they might, through ini,inforrna-
soni6times have instituted sore frivolous, or,
possibly, vexatious prosecutions ; although be was by
no means to be understood to say that they did so.—'
But however much 'that Society may,be traduced for
some of its prosecutions, for the present they were
entitled to great praise,l)ecause this offence Was one
of
,the most -atrocibus and abominable that could
ever be committed against- the general interests,
of human society ; tor it tended -to the pro-
pagation of vices that diappointed the otili-rot na-
ture, and - which made Many lrutro,..n &Op
into their graves in youth, who alight ctfierwise
live to be orey 'headed. The vice of which the De-
fendant 14-rd beenconVided was most detestable ; and
yet, detestable as it was, his prosecutors would not
have prayed judgment against him (for wicked as he
was,there were ot hers still more NV icked,atid t here was
a nest of them who dealt in those detes-table prints,
by- wholesale (if he had disclosed ' the mime of his
employers ; but that, although repeatedly request
ed, and upon promise of immunity,' he had pt-r-
-versely refukd to do. Here; therefore, justice to
an ithulted pUblic demanded on him-a 'severe pu-
nishinent. .

Mr. -Justice GROSE expatiated on the horrible de-
pravity of the human heart, that could assent to the
commission of a crime so atrocious as that ‘chich
was now before the Cdurt, and on the dteadlul'ef,
feCtsto be expeEted in society, if the hands Of -jus-
tice were not sttong enough to I;revent it ; for it at-
tacked youth before reason was armed with hstrength,
sufficient to control or ,to dire& its a6tions; or to
.foresee the. dreadful
.effects of such vices as were by
such exhibitiOtis exclted, Which struck at the root of
'every virtue in
_the human chargler, by rendering
fannliar_the most depraved vices which the human
iMagination could invent, for purposes the most dia-
bolical. It such pradices as these of which this de-
fendant had be iuund guilty 'were not effectually
checked, ;parents could not, in safety, suffer their
children to pass along the streets of this mighty me;
tropolis -in their daily pursuits of industry. For,
these reasons the Cuuri approved highly, in this
instance, of the conduct of those wha instituted this
pro-ecution, The sentence of- the Court upon this
Defendant was—That for this offence he be impri-
soned in the House of Cotrection in' the' County of
Middlesex, and there be kept to hard labour for
two years; and that during that time, he, do' stand
in and upon the pillory at Charing-cross for one hour,
between the hours uf t welve at noon and two in the
afternoon.-

oflkiecordibg to the rulet of law, however severe:;;
they tnitsht press upon the individual_ against•wl:use
interest they were decided..—gule discharged.

POLICE.

t ,
rrIATTOU-Gtik nEN .---Y eSierday _Vary "Preston. g
'pregnant young . woman, calling herself the v. ife-ul•
abobletnan's butler, was charged by Mr. Williamson.;
of Hampstead, with coming to his bowie (where
she lodged a day and a night), saying that she was
employed by Lady Somers and Lady A.Campliell to'
pttemre loci i,rig.s for them. In the course of the..
day she Contrived to Dive the house privately,-tak,7l
tug with her Sheets; counterpane, pieces ti m.us7,,
lin, which she wrapped round her body. She was,
overtaken 'in one- of the Ilantojtead stages, ak:.
Kentish Town, and t back. BeiligTsearched
Read, the' officer, a -number of room keys were. tomtd,
coi:cealed in the sleeve of her gown,. for the purPos,t)
of opening room, in any house_ where She inignz
pretend hire lodgings for otalted cliir.a.ters.. The -
goods of Mr. Williamson were` found tied ima,blw.,..
die in the seat of the coach where she sat, which
being sworn to, she was 'fully Columned tor trial;
but is to be brought up again upon fresh evidence.
Margaret Herring, servant to Mr.Gascoigne, pub-
lican in King's-stiee..t, Bloomsbury, was dialled with
continually robbing. him Of wearing apparel, spit it,,
money, &c. She likewise stands:committed for tri
but will be brought up again upon -further evidence.
NY. Wells, C. Miller, and Andrew Walkinshaw,
drovers, were charged on/ saspiCion of divers robbe-
ries about Islington fields. They Were -Committed ,
for re-examination.

The neighbOurhOod of Christ Church, Black. friars.,
was, nearly the whole .6( yesterday, kept in a state
of tumult, in consequenw'of the following circutu;
, stance:--4n old woman,-.who had attended the in-
'. neral of a man who died of a cowag,ious f/ever, and
who'was buried on Sunday last, in passing the grave_
yesterday Morning; imagined she heard a-groaning;
and calling out for assistance,: iisuitig from • it, and
the impression was so strong thatsshe,abitally
ed away on the spot. When she recovered, she
dared what she imagined she had heard ; Whith
coming to the koot.vledge of the Parish Officers, she
was sent to the watch-house; m-being the occasion
of creating •a" mob. The 'Clergyii:an, Sexton, and
whets, attended on the spot, aZid assured the pi!
pie that it Was impossible the man could• hare bet;
buried alive, and that it was nothing more than,au
iclls tale ; but_notwithstand;pg all stiO exhortations,,
the crowd continued the whole of the day; TIA
people mach wished im'llave the-grave opened ; _hoc,
this was represented as extremely dangerous, otviog
to 4be-tmin having died Of a contagious fever.

• account for the noise by••stippo,ing it proceeded trotn
a man confinedin the: contignons-wafch-howie ; while -
others suppoSe it to have' been the unlucky exploit. of
some ventriloquist passing that way.
EFFEI":TS OF THE LI&HTNING.-011 TlieSday night
as one of the liatheoiches was travelling nee Coin-
brook, the leaders took fright at the vivid lightning,
beCatne onminegeable, and started off at full speed,
I in- spite o 4 the endeavours of the coachman. alio,
vehicle was upset, And literally sitatte'red in pieces...
Nine persons were seriOubly burl, and a female pas-
senger died Of. her bruises, on bring conveye4 -to
HounsloN.4;. About tv.y:rnits from the4iatnct spot a
-rot- m w*kii•leki in-alitue;by a cart turning ovcr,
the animals having,also plimeed out of the road, Sonic'
other accidents happened on, 'Wednesday evening, its'
and about he, Melt-01)(1ns a poor laiLourer of the,7
name of FurniSS,'waS 'struck blind at ten o'clock, in,_
the King's--road; Chelsea; *hil4t going. home With
his two children. A house belonging to Mr. Tame,