The Sun.
London, England, 1812-02-24 00:00:00

OLD BAILEY, FEB. 22.

• Benjamin Hitchcock was iadialed for feloniously
stealii:g a letter containing a Bank of England note
for the payment of 21. be tieing at the time he com-
mitted the offence a letter carrier in ihe.employmeot
of the Post Office.

It appeared in. evidence that a letter containing a
21. Bulk 00l e, was sent on the' 27th ot January last,
6y a lady named Lonburne, residing at Camel bury,
diretied to Mrs. Barrington, 67, gid Bailey* The
prisoner, who was a letter carrier for the West
Smithfield distri6t, received the letter in question to
deliver it as, diretited. About that mime some suspi-
chins arose as to the 'correctness of the prisoner's
conduit, and a warrant. Was obtained to ..search his
'house, and apprehend his person. At his house; in
Edward-street, Blackfrmars Road, a bundle of letters
was found, and a considerable quantity of money.
Some of the letters (which purporied to have con-
tain'ed money) were found open, but no money
'within. During the -art.li of time house,-the priso-
ner came in, acrd was apprehended. Upon st•iirch-
ina, him, the'identical letter' uhich was aid subject
ofr this prosecution, was found in his pocket, the seal
broken, and the 2i. note gone.
The prisoner, when called on for his defence,
stated, that he had been driven from the path of
tettitude by the ernbarrasment of his affairs, in con-
sequence of a long protracted illness, and the expence
of a large family. He expressed his willingness to do
every thing in his power to make restitution ; and
as a proot of sincerit), handed into Court a bundle
of Bank notes, Which were dr:lvered to the Solicitor
for the prosecution. He .threw himself upon the
mercy of the Court, and uttered a fervent prayer
that his:life might be saved.
Several respeaable people gave hint a -good cha-
raeter. The Jury found him Guilty, but reccan-
mended him to mercy.

After the above case had been disposed of—a
Lady, named Frances Lissa'', who hal been.out on
bail, was placed at the bar, tO take her trial on a
charge of--Larceny. Her appearance .seemed at
once to surprise, and interest the spe&ators ; •her
dress was tasteful, though plain her figure,
gant, though emaciated ; her
.manners • highly po-
lished, and her countenance, which had once been
handsome, bearing the deepest impression of anxiety
ind.grief, the result...probably of that menaced in-
.lathy which, in spite, of natute and education, acci-
dem had placed before her eyes. So- powerfui was ;
the sympathy:which she (Ached merely by her ap
pt arance, that almost indiv:dud of tin_ more
gentle sex, in Court,. wept ; its a scarcely.
audible voice -she- pleaded not guilts, t he fountains
of her oa•t: tr-.ars appeared to have been exhausted..
• Mr; 43OLLA.ND; Couns,l tor the prosec•_:l:fin, pro-
, ceeded to state„ that a person of the name of un-
del about four years since, come front Glou-
cestershire, ,o reside in London, whemi lie, eon-red
into the ser%:ice of Hankin Ad Co.- EIS an accountant, •
and having ',eenoblige.d to. give up the employment
9n account of ill health, -had sometime since set up
in business, with his wife, who, was a worker,. 01.
muslins. • Mrs.•Lisson called on- hiM -Ow the 24tti rtf
Lust January, which was on Friday, and.having
in-
formed him that she had been recommended to deal
with him, desired he would bring good.: of-a certain
description to her house in Ashby-street, Northamp-
ton-square; on the following morning. He assent-
ed, and called with a box of goods according to ap-
pointment ; he was shewn into a room without a
fire, and shortly afterwarda Mrs. Lisson came to
him, she looked at some articles, and achn'red them,
but observed that the room wad cold,•and taking up
a parcel of the goods in her hands, desired him to
follow her into another room where there was a
fire. This he did; but- observing, when he got 1,
into the room, which she had reached a little tope
before him, -that she was employed porting sonic
articles into a chest of drawers, in- a hurried roan- 1
ner, his suspicions were excited by this circum-
stance. -He did not however say. any :thing, but
proceeded to display his muslins, &c. and Mrs. Lis-
son bought articles from him to the amount of
31. ss. 6d. When . this'purchase was completed,
he proposed, to shew her aruff, similar to one which
she had .bought ; but ou searching for this, he per-
ceived that it was missing, as wen as some other ar-
ticles he, thought Ile had brought with him. He
siren mentioned his supposed loss, and Mrs. Lisson
desired a-young lady who had come into the room, to
search for them in that where they ha,! been. The
Search however proving ineffeetual, Mr. A. left the
house,and returned to fits own,when heagalu searched
•for the articles, on the idea that he bad not taken froru
it, but not finding them there either, he home-
r diately proceeded to the Police-Office, I-Tatton-
: garden, when he got two warrants,- one to search the
prisoner% house, and another for :her apprehension.
The search for the properly proved. ineffectual ; but
the Lady, who though absent from home, made no
attempt to conceal herself, was taken ; but after an
examina,;on before the Magistrates, was held to bail,-
her sureties entering tato very heavy recognizances.
Her now coming forward, though it was in her
power to abscOnd, Mr. Rolland admitted was a cir-
cumstance, much in her favour. He understood
moreover, he said, that a number of persons of high
rank were now in attendance, who would give her
an excellent charaatnr; but, notwithstanding air
this, if the case were duly made out, it appealing
that the prosecutor could ,iot be actqate,i by any
-sinister .moiive, .the Jury wculd, however disagree-
able it might be to their feelings, perform their duty,
and bring in a verdict of guilty. ,
Mr. Arundel was then exatnined, and gave evi-
denceto the above effect.
. Ia cross-examination by Mr. ALLEY, be said,

that after he had left Hanldn and Co. he had been
employed in a 'those, 30, aheapside, which had
failed while he was there ; lie had been for the last
three weeks employed by the Earl of Warwick to
aclitit the accounts of a soap-manufaCtory, in v.'hich
his Lordship was concerned ; he did not, kit,v his
,Lordship personally, he was employed by his agent,
Mr. Beverage. Mrs. Li,sson haJ come to .is shop
in- consequehce of her having received from a Miss
Bewick one of a number of cards winch he Lad COM.
missioned that person-to distribute. He had never
said on his examination at Hattoli-garden, that his
wife had helped him ta" pack the' box he took to
Mrs. Lisson's t he night before be went there; he had.
packed it himself., the mottling he went.' me
names of the officers who had assisted him in his
search for his property, were ntit'on the back of-the
bill whiCh had been found by the Grand- Jtary,,he
had not brought them before the Grand Jury. His
wife was not in Court. He could have brought her
forward as an evidence.
Mr.' ALLEY -Why did you not ?—A. I did not
think it necessary.

Mr. ALLEY—What ; you imagine the story you
have told would be believed upon your own asser-
tion ?—A. I don't expect you to believe me. •
Mr. ALLEY-71 dare say my faith is as great on
thi4 occasion as that of any other person here. Is
this the first time you had a criminal prosecution in
hand ?—A. Yes.

Mr, ALLEY—And you never complained of any
one having robbed you, at a Police-office ?—A. No.
Mr. ALLEY--You never complained of your wile
or mother hating robbed you ?—A.' No.
To other questions put by Mr. ALILEY, he an-
swered, that he had not taken an inventory of the
things he had brought to Mrs. Lisson's, although it
was his usual praC-tice to take an:inventory when he
carried out goods. Mrs. Lisson had not, told him
that the reason she did not like to stay is the room
without the fire, was, that she had had a cold and
sore breast.

Mr. ALLEY—Of all the persons
,by whom you
have been employed you have not brought forward
one to vouch for the corre6tntss of your cpndufit
while in their service i—A.. I saw_.a respetiable
'person in Court just now who would ,do so, but he
is gone, _

Mr. Joseph King, the prisoner's solicitor, deposedA
.that he had heard the prOsectitor, in his exaniina-.
lion at Hatton-garden, positlyely and repeatedly
affirm that his i,vitc.l had ;,ssisted liim to pack up the
atticles,he carried to Ashby-street the night before
be went there.

•
Mr. John Lukin, partner to Mr. king, deposed
to the saute effe6t.'

Mr. Justice HEATH.—" Gentlemen of the Jury,
it appears to me that this business need proceed no
farther. There are other witnesses ready ,to appear
for the prisoner, among thertrniany noble perspns,
who would state her charader to be perte6tiy pure;
but the procecutor, whose testimony is in itself ex-
tremely weak, has been contraditrcd by two re-
speetable and unbilssed witnesses. I think you can
have no hesitat'on in acquitting the prisone'r.''
Tire Jury accordrw:k acquitted the prisoner,

. .
A few days since, as wb wen who %ere confined
in li,ecknock prison, one for horse-stealing and the
other for safety, ,not being Composed in his mind,
were sitting together, a disonte arose bAwcen them,
when the nym 'who ti .:s a little deranged very sud-
denly took an iron 'ln- and struck the other ;a vie,
lent blow on the Lead, which cut his scull open,
and he expired in a sew minutes.
On Wednesday, the . 1 2th instant, a battle was
fougnt at Wickwar, Gloucestershire, ween White,
a coal-carrier, and a labouring servant (A Mr. Whi-
tcomb, of that place, tOr a wager,of 3s.—They con-
tinued fighting more than an hour, when the turner
gave in, and returned to his 1101.Wi a distance of
'more than three miles ; during the, same night,
however, he was seized with convulsions, be; acne
insensible, and died on Saturday follo.king: Upon
opening the head it was found that a blood' ve,s.l
,'ad given way upon the brain, and which appeared
to have been occasioned by external injury.-Ver:-
did, Manslaughter.
Wednesday evening the laundry belonging to Mr.
Hill, "Warden of Sheerness Dock-yard, was tot cibly
broken open, and stripped of its 'contents, consisting
of wet linen of every description., with which the
depredators effected their escape. The . Zealand
conviCt ship is moored close to the dock-yard, with
near five, hundred concuss on board, and it is sus-
pe,iited that this robbery, and vaiio.:s depredations
which have been recently committed at that place,
have been etfeiited by th&'former Associa,es of these.
persons.

FATAL DgEL...-.01-1 Friday morning I,lst, a meet-
ing took place at Castle Connor, near -811lina, in the
enmity of Roscommon, between Mr. O. Joynt, and
Mr. p. Mqcitit,attenk.led by their ropeaive seconds
and a 171-1,1, number of spe&l, ators, when, on the first
fire, the latter was wruck on the forehead, and
shindy expired. The origin of this unfortunate affair
we have not learnt.---illajuJ Paper.

SMITIIFIE,LD MARKET, FEB. 24.

This day's Market was w,f.11 supplied with ptinie
beasts, and the show of cattle in other respeEts was
tolenibly good ; Pork is cheaper; Beef is dearer;
Minton and Veal sold at last prices, and the tra;le in
geaetal was pretty brisk. The idles in C'e Hay-
market were rather considerable ; Hdy fetched ißst
price,; Straw and Clore r obtained better prices. We
annex an accurate statement of the prices and :rum-
burs

To sink the Olizi per St^11(1 of sib.
Beef, 4s. Sd. to 6s. 4d. Mutton, ss. ad. to 6s. 2d. Veal,
ss. od. to Bs. cd. Pork, Ss. d. to 6s. Sd.
Beasts, 24t0. Slicep, 11,500. Calves, logs, 300.