The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-23 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT—GUILDFORD, AUG. 21.
SIIIM/NAL SIDE.
(Refire Afr. Justice Dußnotrott.)
Andrew Leslie was indicted for maliciously setting fire to the
house of Alexander Walker, at Bermondsey.
The Jury having heard evidence, after a few minutes consi-
deration, returned a verdict of " Not Guilty ;" The Foreman
adding, that the Jury did not consider the man to. have been in
his right mind at the time of the transaction.
John Filch was indicted for stealing a pocket-book, and' two
sovereigns, from the person of John Henry Frederick de Dom-
pierre, on the 30th June
The prosecutor stated, that on the day mentioned in the in-
dictment, he and a party of a doien, after dining at Cumber-
land Gardens, proceeded to 'Vauxhall Gardens, where he lost
his pocket-book. He did not exactly know the time when he
lost it, but his pocket had been cut, and the book gone. He
immediately spoke to hall, the officer. The pocket-book con-
tained two sovereigns, and a blank cheque, with other memo-
randums.
Robert Hall is an officer; he heard of several robberies hav-
ing been committed in the Gardens, and was on the look out;
Mr. Dompierre came to him at the time that the prisoner was
in custody ; the witness desired the prisoner to walk into a
little room called the Treasury, which he did, Mr. Dompierre
' accompanying them: He then searched him, and found upon
him three or four sovereigns and a guinea and silver ; and
CaVe, a fellow officer, produced a blank cheque from his coat
pocket ; upon which M r. Dompierre said," That is my cheque;
don't chew it me, for I can tell you the number,"and the num-
ber that he stated (066) he believed was the number of the
cheque. The prosecutor then exclaimed, that he had taken a
valuable purse, which he would give five guineas fbr. The
prisoner said that he knew nothing about it, and that with re-
spect to the checque he would explain it some other time.
The Prisoner was then called upon for his defence. He ad-
dresed the Court nearly as follows :—My Lord, and Gentlemen
of the .Jury, this is a charge of which I am as innocent as the
child unborn. I had been going to another part'of the gardens,
when found the checque, which I picked up, as any person
might have done. Ile had very little to say as to Mr. de
Dempierre's evidence, except as to the mistake that that Gen-
tleman had.made with respect to the number of the cheque.—
Ile had been reared, as he might say, in the lap of affluence,
and after serving for twenty years in an honourable profession,
was it to be supposed that be could be so mean, so despicable,
so low as to descend to pick pockets, more (especially in so pub-
lic a place, where every eye was upon him, and where it was
impossible to escape? It made his blood run cold. Again
he would ask if he had been guilty would he have kept
the cheque, a piece of paper quite valueless ? Would
he not rather have instantly thrown it away, if, as had been
represented, he was a burdened offender ? To their verdict he
looked ; it would either enable him once more' to hold up his
head before all the world, or blast hitu for ever.
Mr. Justice Bu 'motion. sununed up at some length,; and
the Jury, after consulting together for a quarter of an hour, re-
turned a verdict of Guilty ; but they nevertheless expressed
some doubts on the subject, and therefore recommended him
to mercy.
His Lounstitr, in passing sentence upon the prisoner, said
he had no doubt as to the propriety of the verdict. Ile per-
ftetly knew who 1w was, and he thought he could not do better,
in order to.remeve him from his present companions, than trans-
port him for 14 years.