The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-16 00:00:00

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with the bay ;hare, and Via,l without money. Ttic animal was
used daily and publicly, on the road; the prisoner carted hay
and straw, and nand the mare for that purpose._ He used her
till she fell lame. lie went to London with hay and straw.
The prosecutor being recalled, stated the . animal was lame
when she was brought back to him, and a great deal weaker.
The Learned BARON summed up, ana the Jury found the
prisoner Guilty.

WINCHESTER, Juinr'' 14.
CIVIL SIDE. . •.
(Before Mr. Justice LtvenEDant and a Special JUry.)
nine v. DAVID WOLF.
Mr: ERSKrKE opened the pleadings, rind said, the present
was an information which had been fil nd in the Court ot'
Bench against the defendant, who was accused of having as-
saulted and obstructed, in the execution of their duty, two Of-
ficer's of his Majesty's Revenue.
Mr. Sergeant WLDE felt, that in. stating the particulars of
-the transaction out of which the preseacase had grown, he had
a.painful duty. to discharge, but one from' the fulfilment of
which it was impossible foe hirn to shrink or turn aside. The
charge against-the defendant in this action was, that in conjunc,
:tiOn with some other individuals he had assisted in an attack-
uPon the Officers of his Majesty's Revenue, and rescued some
casks supposed to contain contraband spirits, which had ,i)ee.n
seized by the Offiders in the ordinary discharge of their duty.
If the defendant were guilty of the offence imputed to him, it:
was one of a very serious nature, and he must be content to
undergo the punishment attendant upon his
.crime. The
transaction that gave rise to the present prosecutiOn occurred on
the night of the 18th of January, in the present year. On that
night he was instructed, •it would appear from the evidence
shortly to be laid before the Jury, that John Cheethain, Re-
venue Officer, accompanied by Clarke, were put on duty in a
place called Fozley, near Southampton, with a view of seizing
some contraband articles which they had been informed were
secreted in that neighbourhood. They had not been long on
the watch, when they perceived a man on horseback, who passed
near them, looking round in every direction, and appearing to
take every precaution to prevent a surprise. Shortly after he
was followed by several carts loaded with what the officers con-
ceived to be articles of contraband traffic.. Each cart was at-
tended by men, but the officers, unintimidated by the apparent
danger of the attempt, seized on the goods in despite 'of the
exertions of the smugglers to'prevent them • and having ob-
tained possession of the cargo, were proceeding to deposit it
in the revenue stores, when they were assailed by a superior
force, treated with the utmost violence, and the spirits forcibly
rescued from their possession. The offence with which the
defendant was charged was for assisting in. the attack to which.
he had adverted, and the particulars of which would be, de-
tailed to the Jury in evidence. To prove that the defendant
took an active part in the outrage, the two officers-would be
called, and he understood that one of them could positively
identify the defendant as having assisted in the attack and
subsequent rescue. He understood the .defendant intended to
contest the fact, and meet ,the evidence of Cheetham by an at-
tempt to eatablish.an alibi. If he had justice on his side, no
man was more desirous of his success than himself, but he
must say,.from all that he had been able to collect, the evi.
dence was oC too conclusive a nature to admit of any refuta
tion
.other than that which would carry along with it the
,highest degree of moral and legal certainty. 'With regard_ to
the peculiar defence upon which he understood the defendant to
rely, he must say say there existed no species of evidence that
required greater attention than that upon which alibis were
usually grounded, and that no kind of defence should be exa-
mined .with more caution, or received with a greater. degree of
Suspicion. It usually happened, however, that those defences,
when insincere, carried their own refutation along with them;
for it was a matter of no unfrequent occurrence, that they de-
feated their own object by an over-anxiety to accomplish it:
An individual who had been really engaged in his lawful call-
ing or occupation might, and generally did, find considerable
difficulty in establishing an alibi if accused of the commission
of a crime. This was perheps the reason why this species of
defence, fell to the lot of the experienced offender, and was sel-
dom adopted by the innocent, or at least in a much less degree
than might be inconsiderately supposed upon the first view of
the case. It was easy enough to imagine an alibi, .but hard to
make one out in a satisfactory manner. An honest individual
might very readily encounter great difficulty in bringing any
one to prove where he was on a particular day; nay, a man who
had not turned his attention to such matters night not be at once
able to say himself where he was on a giien time, and in what
occupation he was then engaged. But the practised offender
had to struggle with none othose difficulties, and were it not for
the circumstance of his over-scrupulousness, and a certain sus-,
picions accuracy of proof, always an invariable attendant upon
artificial alibis, he might more frequently escape. He came
prepared with minutiae of which an honest man would have
never dreamed, or at least never have noted ; and in that
manner frequently convicted himself in the apprehensions ofi
all thinking men. How far the Jury would feel inclined to
credit the defendant's representations' if they partook of this.
character, it was not for him to say a but he entreated them to
look narrowly into the circumstances of the case, and examine
the manner of the witnesses, to weigh the probability of the
facts, and, in a word, to make use, of all those necessary pre-
cautions so requisite in order to enable them to come to a satis-
factory conclusion. If they shoald be disposed to entertain any
doubts on the case he would now submit to their consideration,
or if they thought the identity of the defendant, or the part he
was alleged to-have'acted in those transactions, not sufficiently
established, let them give the defendant the benefit of their '
doubts; but if it were otherwise, then let the Jury recollect
the duty they owed to the country and themselves, and by their
verdict take the best means of discountenancing and preventing
the illegal proceedings that had given rise to the present action.
John Cheethain sworn examined—He was coast-guard at
Southampton on Jan. 18 ; was called out at one o'clock in the
morning of that day on duty. Ile was accompanied by Clarke.
They proceeded about two miles on the Bewley road inland in
the direction of the forest, and concealed themselves in a bush,
where they remained for a short time on the watch for
smugglers ; this was in a lane off the road. They had not re-
mained very long, when, as near as he could conjecture about
three o'clock, they observed a man coming towards them in the
direction of Bewley, mounted on a pony. The man looked
about him in a suspicious manner ; he could see that, for it was
a fine clear night, though not moon-light. In:aboait 5 minutes
afterwards they heard carts coming, and pulled Off th,ek coais.in
order that they might be ready to meet then.'" Directly they
saw three carts, laden with small casks, comiinealong.the lane,.
The casks were capable of containing about three gallons and a
half each. Ten or fifteen persons accompanied the carts. Wit-
ness anti his comrade stopped the first that came up,' and backed
it into the ditch. They then passed by the second cart and pro-
ceeded to the third, which they also backed into the ditch in the.
same manner as the first.- The road was of such • &width that
two carts could pass, but it would. br with some 'difficulty.—
Tile men. made off, and he and Clarke got the two carts out of
the ditch, the men succeeding in carrying off the'third. There
were two horses to each cart. Witness took one, and Clarke
the other, and they were proceeding towards Forley, when
having gotten about a mile from • the place. where they had
taken the carts, near a narrow lane, he heard Clarke, who was
behind, calling out for help. Immediately he stopped the cart
he was driving, and went back towards Clarke.' On arriving at
the, spot, he found Clarke surrounded by a nutnber of men, who
were holding him' and witness called out to:themn to let him go.
He had his pistols and cutlass, and with the latter succeded in
driving one of the assailants away; but he was seized in turn
himself, he could not tell by whom, a man having caaght hine
behind and pinioned his arms ; others of the party took his
pistols and cutlass, and threw them over the hedge. They kept
him in that situation until the carts were taken away. Mean-
time witness received one blow on his head, and another on his
hand. Wolfe was one of the party, and drove away a' cart
himself n he was sure of it, because tie' knew Wolfe,. who was
a painter, residing at Harleigh, in Fozley parish.' The smug-
glers offered witness a bribe, several men holding him at the
time. They first offered to give him five, and -afterwards ten
pounds, which he refused. When they found him persist, they
took his hat ()frills head, and put notes into
,it, which he re-
turned. At the same time they were holding Clarke, and offer-
ing him money also; and finding him persist in refusing to ac-
cept it, they forced the money into his neckcloth, One of the
men who was holding the carts, called out lo the others, and de-
sired them to drive away the carts. They' then took his hat
away, and carried it up the road and left him. He afterwards
got his hat, and found five 11. notes inside it. Next day, be
discovered a tub on the road, and took it to Sbuthampton with
him.

Cross-examined—Has been in the service of the revenue five
years. Went to Mr. Carter after this business. _Mr. Carter. is
principal, boatman. He never took money. Clarke'was abOut 10
vards distant from him during the conversation with Mr. Carter.
-Y r, Carter was at that time living at the !...,use of Peter Wes'.