The Sun.
London, England, 1825-12-13 00:00:00

uviJRCY IRELAND.

Yesterday the Court was excessively crowded,.in consequence
of the trial of the Gloucester-place swindlers being expected at
12 o'clock.

Stanley de Corrcy Ireland and Elizabeth Gravett were put
to the bar, charged upon a very long indictment, with having
in the months ofSeptember and October last past, in the parish
of St. Marylebone, fraudulently conspired with two persons of
the names of Frederick Ponsonby and John Grizvett, alias
Gordon, to defraud and cheat filters tradesmen therein named.
The counts vi.ried the offence, and charged it upon individual
persons. . .

3lr. AnoLPltus opened the prosecution; and
Mr. ALLEY stated it• to the Jury, observing that it far ex-
ceeded in importance any that had. been before the Court for a
considerable period ; and said it was not necessary to prove that
the conspirators were acting at any one time together, but it
would be s?en from the .evidence that the prisoners were all
acting in concert. The Learned Counsel_ called

William Alderson, clerk to Mr. harsh, house-agent, who
deposed thotin the month of September, the prisoner Ireland
called on him, and said he wanted to take a large house for a
family of rank, and selected the house, No. 91, Gloucester-
place, and gave a reference to Mr. Martin, ALP., for Galway,
and took possession or the house on the 26th September. Ile
held possession until the middle of October, when the witness
was sent for to the house, where he saw Captain Burton, Mr.
Martin, Mrs. Marsh, and the prisoner, to whom Mr. Martin
sak "Do you -agree to give up corporal .possession of the
house?" lie consented, and asked leave to remain a day or
two in the house, but Capt. BUrton refused.. The witness then
received from him some duplicates of the articles belonging to
the house Which were missing.

Cross-examined by Mr. C. PHILLIPS—Had not seen Mr.
Martin, hut had received a letter from that/Hon. Gentleman.
Mrs. Mary Marsh proved having received the reference
which enabled Ireland to get into thehouse. When he first
saw her, he gave the name of Lady Stanley, but said she was
out of town, and then gave Mr. Martin. He represented him-
self to be a gentleman; and man of property. .
Mr. R. Martin, examined by Mr. ALLEY-1 am member
for Galway, and have received letters addressed to me under
cover for the prisoner Ireland; whose family are highly respect-
able. I knew him in the town of Galway, and always thought
him to be a man of substance. He, I knew, was proprietor by
lease of some stone and marble quarries in Galway, which are
very lucrative. He came to my lodgings in Manchester-
buildings, and said he was about taking a house in Gloucester-
place. I, in some surprise, asked him what he wanted with so
large a house, knowing that he resided in Galway. He then
mentioned that he was about to take the house for a Mr. Pon-.
sonby, and if he would not take it, Mr. Ellice, the Master in.
Chancery, would ; and knowing those were good names, I con-
sidered he might have intended t 9 make money by letting
the house; and although I really thought it a little extra-
ordinary at first, my suspicions were removed, particularly as he
afterwards said he would make 1001. by the letting. I say,
Sir, that he owened marble quarries, which he could raise for
Zs. a ton; and which he could get 91. per ton for in London ;
and that, in my opinion, was a very good reason for supposing
him to be a man of substance.

Mr. ALLEY—What is your opinion of him now, Sir ?
Mr. Martin—My opinion of him now is, that, he is not worth
a shilling, and that he is a bad and infamous character..

illr. now this kind of thing cannot be
allowed.

Mr. Martin (in 'continuation)—Well, when I heard of hit
practices, I went to Glocester-place with the house-agent. We
were told by the female prisoner that he was not at home. 1,
seeing her a decent woman, and having a 3:onviction that lie
was carrying on a:system of fraud, was sorry to see her, and
asked her how she could lend herself to such a system of ;Inner.
She expressed great surprise, and said she believed Mr. Ire-
land was a gentleman, and a man of property, and if he was
not so, she was a very unfortunate. woman to have been en-
gaged by him ; she also said she had lived in the family of
Lord Camden, I then said to Mrs. Marsh, that I had no doubt
from her manner, she was a confederate, and of course could
not be depended upon.. I also advised Mrs. Marsh to desire
him to give up possession, and if he refused, to threaten to take
.him to the police office and charge him with-swindling; and
it' that would not do, I said twould, whether legal or not, come
and thrust bins out of the-house. I, at another time, upon the
entreaty of Mr. Marsh, went to the house- and saw Itelaad. I
said " You scoundrel and robber, you hare by impositions
caused me to give you a character. Why are you in the house?"
He said, "by permission-of Mrs. Marsh.", I used some other
opprobrious language to him, and made him agree to give up
all corporeal-possession, and told Captain Burton to take pos-
session, which he did, and I went away.
Mr. PIM. L IPS—Now, Mr. Martin, I will ask-you a ques-
ion or two. You know the family of this unfortunate gen-
leman ?

' %Ir. Martin-To be sure I do; they reside in Galway.
Mr. PHILLITS—He is connected with some distinguished
families in the kingdom of Ireland, and is a nephew of Sir Ed-
ward Stanley, one of the Judges of India.
Mr. Martin—He is, Sir.
Mr. PHILLIPS—From what you know of him in Galway,
you supposed him to be apan of substance ;

.51r. iMartin—l have said so.
31r. PHILLIPS—What was the lease worth ?

111r.'Martin--.llaving large property myself in marble, I
considered him worth above 5,000/. He said to me that he
had marble in Liverpool and in'London, and 'when I gave the
reference, I considered him perfectly capable of paying any
debt.

Mr. PRILLIPS—Now, Sir, a word or two about this wo-
man. When you called Ireland a swindler, she appeared much
astonished ? •
_ _ _

Mr. Martin—She did, indeed, very much, and she looked
like a servant. "-

Re-examined by Mr. ALLEY—I did not reside in alehouse.
She said she was a servant, and acted the part very well.
PuILLIPS—\Vhat do you mean by " acted the part
very well ?"
Mr. Martin—Why, my impression was, that she was a con-
federate.

Mr. PHILLIPS—So you suspected this woman, who was
merely a servant to be a confederate ?
Mr. Martin—Upon my word I did.
Mr. PHILLIPS—WeII, Sir, if Ireland had the cleverness to
humbug yon, don't you consider' he might have had the saga-
city to humbug a poor woman ?
-Mr. Martin—Upon my word, I think she was not so easily
humbugged ; and I am of opinion, any persons living in the
house four or five days, must have known that the fellow was
swindling the public, and consequently, if they winked at such
practices, must have been.confederates.
Mr. LT,ET then called Mrs. Daniell, Mr, Vickery, Mr.
Saxby, Mr. Miller, Mr. Harding, and others, from whom
Ponsonby and the prisoner obtained goods, and as the evidence
has been so publicly detailed at the Police-office so lately, a
repetition of it is unnecessary, particularly as the counts chang-
ing the offences of Messrs. Saxby, Miller, and Mr. Marsh were
done away with by the Court, on the account of misnomers in
the Christian names. •

The objections gave rise to an immensity of legal discussion
of a very desultory and uninteresting kind.
Thomas Gresney deposed;,that he was engaged as groom to
Mr. Ponsonby in the house, and occasionally. rode up and
down Pall-Mall, with a led horse, by his master's desire.
Mr. ALLEY—Ay, a branck of an honourable family of that
name lived in that. vicinity.

Gresney said, he never was paid his wages, and was deceived
most grossly.
By the COURT.—The woman Gravett acted as house-
keeper, and lived in the house. 'She did not dine at the same
table with Ireland and Ponsonby.
The CHAIRMAN said there was no evidence against the
female, and directed her acquittal. '
A letter from Ponsonby to Ireland, dated Belmont, Kil-
kenny, Ireland, was put in. It was, that begging him to hire
a house for him in London.

This was the case for the prosecution.
Mr. PHILLIPS then rose to address the Jury for the pri-
soner; and contended that there was no proof of a conspiracy,
or his having been a confederate with Ponsonby. On the con-
trary, the evidence; he considered, totally disproved that. The
Learned Gentleman urged, at very considerable length, this
point, and dwelt with much force on the fact stated by Mr.
Martin, that the prisoner possessed considerable property in
Galway, and was at the time the Hon. Member gave the re-
ference, in solvent circumstances.
, The CHAIRMAN, in, summing up, declared he thought
the conspiracy clearly proved, and brought home to the
prisoner.
The Jury consulted for ten minutes, and found him Guilty.
The CHAIRMAN observed, in passing sentence, that
,the
prisoner's acts had placed him at the head of swindlers.—
The sentence of the Court was, that he be imprisoned and
kept to hard labour in the House of Correction for twelve
mon tits.