The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-29 00:00:00

counsel, or that he was a lawyer, came up, and
having ascertained the nature of her business there,
said that she should have Mr. Horry as counsel for
her son ' • that gentleman was at the Old Bailey (the
Central Criminal Court), and if she would give him
the fee he would run and fetch him. She gave him
four half crowns, and agreed to pay him half-a-crown
a week until the sum of 1/. 2s. 6d. had been made
up ; the man also made her " stand " a pint of half-
and-half. The man went away, and presently a gen-
tleman came with him, and, having gone into a room,
again came out with a wig and gown on. Of course
she supposed this was Mr. Horry, and that when her
son's case came on, he would appear as his counsel.
No such thing, however, for her son was tried, con-
victed, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment,
without any advocate appearing on his behalf. She
now wanted to know what she should do to get back
her money.
The Learned JUDGE said, that if the woman's story
were true, there could be no doubt but that an in-
dictment would lie for false pretences. However, he
hoped that she would speak to Mr. Horry about the
matter, and ascertain whether this person of whom
she had spoken as having received the money, was his
clerk, or who and what he was, and how it was that
he had dared to do this act. If he then found that
her account was fully borne out, he would take care
that the proper steps shad(' be adopted so as to bring
him to proper punishment.
Mr MELLER, of the bar, wished to call the atten-
tion of the Learned Judge to the fact that 10s. 6d.
was only half the proper fee.
The Learned JUDGE—Yes ; the respectability and
the position of the bar make it necessary that that
position and respectability should be maintained. But
what did this poor ignorant woman know about either
the customary fees of counsel or the regular mode of
a counsel's practice ? She did not know whether the
fee was 10s. 6d. or U. Is. Here, however, was a man
who, representing himself as the clerk to a barrister,
had taken 10s. 6d. from this poor woman, for which
sum and the subsequent arrangement a learned
counsel was to defend her son. No learned counsel
had appeared in the case, but the money had been
drawn from the mother. Now, all he could say in
the outset was, that if this man was really clerk to a
barrister, he ought not to remain in that position for
one moment longer; but, if he was not, then he
ought at once to be made the subject of an indict-
ment for obtaining money under false pretences.
These poor people had as much parental feeling
towards their offspring as those who were in a much
higher station in the world, and their feelings and their
anxieties for the release of their children from any dif-
ficulty in which they might chance to be placed, were
as warm and as vigorous as those of any other class.
But they were in a comparative state of ignorance,
and therefore were the more easily made the dupes
and the prey of designing men. Their condition,
under these circumstances, demanded that they should
have a degree of protection thrown around them as a
guard against these impositions. That was not re-
quired by persons in a better sphere of life. This
matter he saw would be made public enough, as it
ought to be made; and as this accusation had been
made in the public court, there could be no doubt but
that it would meet with a public contradiction, if the
facts were not true, by lilr. Horry, so far as he was
concerned, at all events.
Mr. MELLER said, that it was highly necessary,
with a view to the honour and dignity of the bar,
that any of these frauds should be exposed. There
was a system carried on which in such cases as those
where the liberty as well as the character of an indi-
vidual were concerned, amounted to absolute wicked-
ness. If the Court were to take up this matter so far
as to lead to an abolition of the system,. it was im-
possible to say what extent of good would be accom-
plished, not merely as respected the public, but of the
bar itself.
The Learned JUDGE then said, that with reference
to the necessity of employment of attorneys for pri-
soners where they were to be defended by counsel,
he did not see the existence of any such necessity.
He had often seen instances where a judge had di
rected, in the case of a poor person, that a learned
counsel should be engaged without any intervention
of an attorney, and really he scarcely knew an in-
stance where, in the case of a prisoner, there was any
absolute occasion for an attorney to be retained on
his behalf. Of course, in the cases of the superior
courts, or for a prosecution, an attorney was required.
Here, however, it was a very different thing. With
regard to the present case, he entertained no doubt
Out that Mr. Horry would make an early statement
in answer to the accusation respecting ulanaghan.
George Holmes, Charles Hardy, and George
Tekell were indicted for having committed an assault
upon a person of the name of Thomas E. Evershed.
Mr. O'Brien conducted the case for the prosecu-
tion, and Mr. Hawkins appeared for the defarel--,e•
It appeared from the evident-- that the defendant
Holmes noaapies a house to which the prosecutor
lays claim in the character of landlord, in Phcenix-
street, Spitalfields, and having, on the 16th of August
last, put a broker in possession for an arrear of rent,
the defendant Holmes denied the right and title of
the prosecutor, and said he should replevy. On the
21st of this month the prosecutor with his son, the
broker West, and his man, proceeded to the premises,
and there they found the three defendants, of
whom the first named is a gun maker, the second
his journeyman, and the third his apprentice. On
their entering the room wherein the defendants were,
Holmes, seizing a gun-barrel, at once struck the
prosecutor across the shoulder with such violence as
to fell him to the ground. Hardy, when he was on
the floor, struck him a severe blow upon the hand
with a chisel, or some such instrument, which cut it
to the bone. Holmes also struck the son of
the prosecutor across the forehead with a gun-
barrel, the effect of which was, that upon his
appearing subsequently at the Worship-street
Police - court, the magistrate had desired him
at once to go 'to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. This
blow knocked him down. When he got up again
Hardy struck him with another gun-barrel, or gun-
stock, which led to the same result. The defendant
Tekell was in the room, and when he had once more
got up, Tekell, with another gun-barrel, beat him
about the body. They then endeavoured to effect
their escape from the house, but found that the door
had been fastened. A dog, too, had been let loose,
which fixed itself upon the leg of the broker's man,
who, in the course of his examination on the present
occasion, said that he had considered himself to have
been in a most unpleasant position. Eventually,
after a general scuffle, the prosecutor and his party
effected their ese`,l4Pet and for some time both the pro-
secutor and his man were suffering severely, and even
now the hand Of the former was in a bandage.
On behalf of the defence, it was urged that the
prosecutoOad leo title to the premises, and therefore,
even supiestrig the defendant Holmes had been the
firs't'-•' ce, -peinnience the scuffle, still he would
haie---,*ei:Oiti3tified. But the truth was, that as
sokri•tay-,413.6• ;prosecutor had entered the room, he
had4on'seticollared Holmes, and thereby corn-
menoa`y.':the scuffle. There was also some
mOstAWgfisiing language said to have been
used 'on the occasion. The fact of the prosecutor
having been the first to use this language, and to be
the first to commit an assault, was deposed to by the
broker, West, who was called for that purpose on the
part of the defence. He admitted, however, on cross.
examination, that he had gone up to the police-cour
in support of the prosecutor's case, but was not ere
mined, and that he now appeared in support of that
of the defendants.

The Learned JUDGE, in leaving the case to the
jury, told them the question of title was not one which
they were called upon to try ; the point for their con-
sideration would be the matter of assault.

The jury retired to consider their verdict, but, after
an absence ofsome hours were sent for, when
The foreman said there was no chance of their
agreeing; there were seven one way and five another.
There was not the least probability of their coming to
a verdict.

The Learned JUDGE said that that being so, and as
they had been consulting for some hours, he would
discharge them without their coining to any verdict
in the case.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
GUILDHALL.
A young man named James Russell, who formerly
lived as a porter at Mr. Clark's, a draper in the
Blackfriars-road, was charged with uttering a forged
request for the delivery of a piece of silk value 371.,
with intent to defraud Messrs. Thompson, wholesale
mercers, 27, Wood-street.
Thomas Brewin, a warehouseman, stated that the
prisoner came in on Wednesday afternoon, and pre-
sented a note, purporting to be written by Mr. Clark,
of 62, Blackfriars-road, requesting a piece of black
silk according to pattern to be sent by the bearer.
Tr

He suspected it was a trick, because Mr:Clark would
not require so much as sixty yards of one pattern at
the same time, nor was the order in his usual hand-
writing ; and he knew Mr. Clark either came and
selected his goods or purchased of their travellers.
He asked the prisoner who gave him that note ? He
replied, a stranger at the top of the street, who spoke
to him while he was looking in at the music-shop,
and was to meet him there twain in a quarter of an
hour. He immediately called in a policeman and
gave him into custody.
Skews, City policeman, 141, stated that he searched
the prisoner, and found an order in the same hand-
writing for some cloth, according to pattern, ad-
dressed to Messrs. Cash and Ledyard, woollen drapers
in Wood-street.

Mr. Alderman MUSGROVE asked what was the
value of the cloth sought to be obtained by this forged
order ? The witness said about 45 yards, at 6s. 6d.
a yard. Prisoner gave his address in Maiden-lane,
King's Cross. He went there, and, finding the pri-
soner's wife had been confined only a week, he
thought it prudent to make as light of it as he could,
told her her husband had got into a little trouble,,and
came away.