The Sun.
London, England, 1807-04-13 00:00:00

POVRTII DAY.-APRIL I I.

Mr. Williams,. late proprietor of the Swan. with
Two Necks, in Lad-lane, was put to the bar before
10 o'clock in- the morning, and arraigned on an in-
didment; charging hirit' with having, on the 29th
ofDecember, 1 8 po, wilfully, feloniously and
liciously
.set fire to his premises, with intent to de-
fraud the proprietors of the Globe and Sun Firein-
surance 'Offices.

Messrs. Gurney, Pitcairn and Bolland were coun-
sel for the proecution. The case, on the part of
the Priioner, was condu&ed by 'Mr. Serjeant Best,-
Mr. Dancey, Mr. Alley and Mr.. Gleed.
After a short opening..by Ir. BoLt..ANn, -Mr.
GURNEY, in a speech which lasted upwards of an
hour and a half, stated the. faas Of the ease,. 'as he
was instrufled they would be sUbstantiated by evi-
dence that-would be adduced to the Court. and Jury:
According to the praefice that hath of late prevailed in
our Courts of Criminal Judicature, a model of the
premises was produced, with upwards of one hun-
dred different apartments marked by the names or
numbers by which they were distinguished, so that
the Jury might be the more strongly impressed with
the idea of the different situations in which fire was
found to have taken place. The Learned Counsel,
however, most candidly observed, that the princi.:
pal fa6ts would be sworn to by a man of the.name of
Trigge, who had been a servant to the Prisoner.—
The evidence of this man was to be received with
caution, as if he were an accomplice, though .the
Learned Counsel had no reason to believe that it was
so. This was on account of the certainly blameable
conduct of the witness, in having fora considerable
length of time concealed his knowledge of the most
suspicious part of the fire. However, in the most
lenient point of view, as far as his testimony was
borne out by,other circumstances, he would be en-
titled to full credit with the Court and Jury.
Mr. James B. Hall, Sutveyor to the Sun Fire-
Office, was then • called.. He proved, that in th 9
month of August, 1 805, the Prisoner was insured at
the Sup Fire-Office for WOOL In 'the December
following he applied to have his policy made out for
gOOOl.-; but that was not sent home to the Prisoner.
The witness received a- third policy from the hands
of the Prisoner. This was done at the Globe Office
for the sum of 4000].

'A good deal of argument then took place between
the Counsel on both sides, as to the powerolthe
Dire&ors to prosecute, without :naming all the Prd-
prietors. But Lord ELLENBOROUGIi observed, that
they who subscribed the policy were personally
liable in the first instance. Sit- Thomas Theo**
Metcalfe, JaMes , Richard Ridley, and Sir- Walter
Stirling, had signed the policy ; they were therefoie
answerable on the one hand, and had a right to prose-
cnie on the other. If an a&lon were to be brought
under this policy against any others but those three,
he should dire& the Plaintiff to be non-suited.

Thotnas Trigge, who was chamberlain at' the
Swan with Two Necks, Lad-lane, in December 1805,
stated, that -about six in the evening a fire was dis-
cOvered in. a p lace called the wood-room, which wa4,
agarret that was foriumber. This fire vas not ex- -
ting,tiished until between ten and:eleven at night.
In about an hour aftetthat another tire was discover-
ed in the room No. 27. Here, he said, the fireman
of the
_Sun Fire Office pulled out a candlestick from
under the bed. This-fire -was soon extinguished.—
When all appeared to•be safe, Mr. Williams went
to bed, at about half-past one C.olock; but between
two and three in the morning a thirdfire broke out;
thiS was•at No. 163 the firetrien chopped down 'the
door, played their engines, and it was soon exti -
~isi~c.l.
There was also a fire in No.l ,t but it
very little damage, and went out without any
thin ; bt!ing done to extinguish it. •"
_ _ _ _ _

At fintr in the i-norninillirs. §impson, the head

chambermaid, and the Witness found. that a Empii
closet of No. GG, was onsfire ; the lower shelf was
all of a &laic. " There was a bottle,' with three or
four, .or perhaps five glasses of brandy in it—the
bottle was hot, and the Witness tasted the brandy.
This fire appeared to have been occasioned, by sinall
bits ofpaper, the cinders of which were-then on the
shelf. The Witness extinguished this fire with a piece
of green baiZe that he found in the cupboard. He af-
terwards told his Master that if the people at the
Insurance Office were to know of this fire. his in-
surance would not be worth a farthing. At his Mas.-
ter's request he secreted the boards that had been,
partly burlied, and did not make the people who
came from the Fire Offices acquainted With either
of these circumstances until after he was discharged.
He owed no enmity to his Master, and had never
threatened or hinted that he would accdse him of
any other capital offence.
Mary Simpson, -the head chambermaid, cormbo,.;
rated some of the fads related by, the la:t witness ;
but she stated that in the closet of No. 66, the wood
was black ,andsmoaking, it was not in a blaze. She
did not see Trigge taste the brandy, nor was there
anything but draining in the bottle; it was: quite
cold when-it was taken off the shelf. About :the
months of May or June following, Mr. Williams de;
termined on uniting the places of chamberlain and
cliambertriaid-tOgetrier, so as to make one person do
the duty,of both.; he offered the double situation to
the witness; she told Trigge of this, and he was
very angry. The same evening he got a line and
rule. and appeared to be measuring distances about
various parts- of the house.; he had a pen and ink,
and wrote something occasionally as he went on.
Mr. Hall was again_ examined ; Le swore, That at
No. 21, the place where the fourth fire was stated to
have taken place, the bed curtains had the appear-
ance of having been burned, and the glass of the
window was cracked as if by fire. The lines in a
crack which was occasioned by fire was of a
ent form from those that were occasioned by any
pressure against the glasS. He examined the Pri-
soner; and took down his words, on the morning
after the fire. At that 'examination the .Prisoner
omitted giving him any account of the fire that 'had
taken place in the closet of No. 66. . •
John Fletcher, who was, at the time of the fire,
head-waiter in the Prisoner's Louse, deposed that
hi's -master appeared to be extremely anxious about
his property; he gave directions to all the servants,
about 16 in numb:2r, sonic to secure the moat valua-
ble of his own property and the lurgag-e of the Gen-
tlemen who 4Odged in the house; and on the first
disCovery of the fire he ordered ail the assistance
that could possibly be procured to eudeavour to ex-
tinguish the flames, whilst a servant was sent off to
acquaint :the of the accident.

Luke Bark, an under-waiter, saw furniture re-
moved'frOm places that were on fire towards No.
27. He`heard his master say, " For God's sake do
what you can to get a supply of water."
Miss Mather, a young lady who visited the famk
ly of Mr. Williams, heard Trigge insinuate, a short
time before he was discharged, that his master had
been guilty of a most heinous crime of a different
nature from that for which he was now tried. This
testimony was corroborated by one of the servants is
the house. ,

-----_.
Mr: Moore, a clerk at the Bank of England, beard
Trigge say, the day after-the fire, that he believed
the second fire had been o:casioned by the removal
offurniture that was partly on fire to N0.'27.
Mr. Frisby, wine-merchant, who is an Assignee
to the Prisoner, -under a Commission of Bankruptcy
that has been issued aginst him since the time of tie
fire, gave him a most, excellent charaaer. 'Mr. Lewip,
of the New York Coffee-house,whOm the Prisoner had
served three or four years as waiter, also bore testi-
mony to the Prisoner's honesty and good concluet•
Mr. Thomas Hart had such an excellent opinion
with
the. Prisoner's honesty that he took his premises with
the friendly view of giving them up to him when-
ever he might be enabled to resume his business.--
Mr: Waterhouse, coach- master, also appeared oil
behalf of the Prisoner, both as to his characler and
the exertions which he made at the time -of the fire
to get it extinguished:
After a minute and impartial charge from Lord
ELLENBOROUGH, the Jury withdrew fur about the
spade of twenty minutes ; and, at half-past eight at
night, pronounced the Prisoner—Not GO/y.
He was genteelly dressed in black,, and appea,cd
to listen to every thing that was said against bins
'with great-attention, and Uncommon firmness.
Elizabeth Maddox and Isabella Lamb were CaPi-
tally•convicCted for stealing a quantity of coals and a
quantity of potatoes, the property of John Higgins.