The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-04 00:00:00

CROYDON.

SINGULAR CHARGE or FELONY AGAINST A DA.UGLI-
Iza-ui-law 07 THE LAU NA. COBBETT. -- 8.

Blaney Blanch Cobbett, the wife of Mr. W. Cobbett, the
eldest son of the late well known Mr. Cobbett, was
brought betore Messrs. Lucas and Wilkinsom, the pre-
siding magistrates, charged, together with a lad named
Alfred Sims, with stealing an iron shutter-bar, the
property of Mr. Jesse Oldfield, the landlord of the Red
Lion Inn, Smithana Bottom.

It may be necessary to explain that Mr. Oldfield was
one of the executors of the late Mr. Cobbett, and for
several years proceedings have been going on in Chan-
cery between him and Mr. W. Cobbt-tt, the husband of
the lady now under charge.
From the evidence of Mr. Oldfield it appeared that on
Friday evening, about seven o'clock, the boy Sims came
to his house and asked if Mr. Oldfield was at home.
He suspected that he had come to serve him with some
process, and he therefore inquired his name, and what
business he had with Mr. Oldfield ; and, upon his re-
fusing to tell him, he went into the parlour and shut the
door. He then heard a voice, which he believed to be
that of Mrs. Cobbett, say, " She would not be done,"
and that he had gone into the parlour, and an attempt
was made to force open the door, which he resisted. He
shortly afterwards heard a cry of " Murder I' and
" Police !" and on his coming out he found that Mrs.
Cobbett and the young man were gone, and he was in-
formed they had taken away" the iron shutter-bar. He
immediately went after them, first to the railway station
at Stoat's-nest, where he found that they had left the bar,
and he afterwards proceeded to the Croydon police sta-
tion, where he found them ; and it appeared that Mrs.
Cobbett had been making some complaint against him,
and he gave them both into cu,tody upon the charge of
stealing the iron bar. _ _

Mrs: Cobbett, in answer to the charge, said, that the
lad accompanied her to Mr. Oldfield's for the purpose of
serving a copy of a writ upon him, and she went to point
him out. When they went to the hou,e, Mrs. Oldtield
came out with the iron bar in question, which she at
first thought was a 'gun, and made a rush at them with
it, and the bar fell between them, and struck her on the
heel, and if it had fallen upon her head it would in' all
probability have killed her. She took away the bar
solely for the purpose of having it produced before the
magistrate, to whom she intended to apply for redress
for the assault that had been committed upon her.
Inspector Bilson, who took the charge at the station,
deposed that Mr. Oldfield first came to him and com-
plained that two persons had stolen a shutter-bar,
and he wished to have the assistance of a policeman ;
and a constable was accordingly sent out with
him to look for the parties. While they were gone, Mrs.
Cobbett and the lad came to the station-house, and the
former asked his advice how she was to act, saying that
she had been to serve the copy of a writ upon Mr. Old-
field, and that Mrs. Oldfield had thrown an iron bar at
her, which she had taken away, and left in the charge of
the clerk at the railway station. Mr. Oldfield at this
moment returned, and he charged the parties with
felony, witness telling him that if he made such a charge
he was beund to entertain it, but he must understand
that it would be upon his own responsibility, and Mr.
Oldfield accordingly gave them in charge for stealing
the iron bar.

Mr. LUCAS—And have they been in custody ever
since ? Inspector—They have, sir. As Mr. Oldfield
made the charge, I had no alternative but to detain
them, although certainly, if bail had been offered, I
should have taken it, under the circumstances.
The MAGISTRATES, after a short consultation, said
they were of opinion that, as regarded Mrs. Cobbett,
there was not the slightest ground for the charge, and
they should, therefore, dismiss it as against her, and
allow her to be sworn and make a statement upon oath
in reference to the charge against the other defendant.
Mrs. Cobbett was accordingly sworn, and she re-
peated the statement she had made with respect to her
being attacked by Mrs. Oldfield with the iron bar, and
its being thrown at them ; and she stated that the lad
took the bar away by her direction, solely with a view
to its being produced before the magistrates.
The MAGISTRATES then dismissed the charge against
the boy, and the parties retired.