The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-14 00:00:00

PAGE V. HATCHELL

This case was tried during the sittings of last term,
when the facts were published at full length; a short
summary, therefore, is all that is now necessary.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL stated that the plaintiff got
a verdict in the case last term, and he now moved to
have that verdict set aside, and a new trial granted.
The case went to a jury upon two issues ; one issue
was that of not being possessed, and the other, not
guilty. The declaration contained two counts, the first
of which alleged that the river Thames was a navigable
river at the place in question, and that the plaintiff had
a whart upon the river near Battersea bridge, where he
carried on business as a coal-merchant, and as such had
certain barges, &c. corning up to their wharf, but that
his trade had been obstructed by reason of the defendant
having placed certain posts in the river in front of the
wharf. The second count was a count in trover, for
certain barges, carts, waggons, &c. The first plea was
to the allegation of not being possessed of the wharf ;
and the second, that of not guilty, to the count in
trover. The Solicitor-General then proceeded to describe
the locality of the wharf, and the premises connected
with it. It appeared from the statement ahat a family
named Long held certain other premises near to those
of the plaintiff, under a lease from Lord Cadogan ; that
a son of Mr. Long's was also a coal-merchant, and used
the wharf in question in conducting his business ; that
Mr. Long, sen., had let the wharf to plaintiff, but the
defendant, who had a private house near to the wharf,
conceived that the wharf had become his private pro-
perty, and that it should not be used by the
public, and therefore he had put up the posts
complaine I of. It had been given in evidence
that the family of Mr. Long had been in possession of
his premises for forty or fifty years, and that during
that time the wharf hail been used by the public ; but
the plaintiff did no. produce any lease to Mr. Long ; he
relied entirely on the fact of user. But the defendant
put in she last lease granted by Lord Cadogan to Mr.
Long, by which it appeared that Lord Cadogan had
' demised to Mr. Long the premises he held ; but as to
the wharf, there did not appear to have been any demise
. of that, other than the use of it heretofore. The Learned
Solicitor-General, having stated a number of extraneous
facts, then proceeded to read the lease he had mentioned,
which was a most voluminous document.
Judgment deferred.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.

A young fellow, named V"
occasionally" William Poston,
who ha.: been some time one of the leaders of the Westminster
gang of tad-money utterers, was brought up for final exa-
mination upon the charge of having exhibited two of his
manoeuvres in the shop of Mr. Baker, 110, Cheapside, tobac-
conist

The cs;o1 self-possession of the prisoner caused some sur-
prise in the justice-room, for he not only questioned the right
of the Lord Mayor to send him for trial, but he denied the
application of the law, as quoted by Mr. Goodman, to his
particular case.
Fredenck Breach, shops an to Mr. Baker, said on Tuesday
last, beween two and three o'clock in the afternoon, the pri-
soner cs.,ne into the shop, and asking for three ch,-roo's, laid
down a sovereign. I gave him half-a-sovereign in change.
He the' asked me to change it, as he thought it was light. I
accordingly took from him what I then believed to be the
coin I had just given him, and gave him another half-
sovereigr. He then requested me to give him silver in-
stead of the half-sovereign I had just handed to him ;
but, upon taking up the half-sovereign, I perceived that
it was d counterfeit, and not the second one which I had
just gi•ren to him. I laid down the counterfeit piece,
and go:ng round, I shut the door, and demanded from
the prisoner the good half-sovereign which I had that mo-
ment given to him, when he said,—" Here it is ; here is the
good hat; -sovereign which you gave me ;" and I took it
from him. When I looked for the counterfeit which he had
last given me, it was gone from the counter, and could not
be found. I then determined to examine the first half-
sovereign which I had taken from him, in the belief
that I had given it to bins in the first instance in change,
and I :fiscovered it to be the counterfeit which I now pro-
duce. and which I swear I received from him on his first
application to have the one I had given him changed.
Edward Roberts (City policeman, 472) stated that he had
searched the prisoner upon apprehending him, but found
upon his person nothing but three cheroots.
The LORD MAYOR asked whether it was not the intention
of the Mint to prosecute in this case ? The policeman
said he rather expected that the solicitor to the Mint would
be in attendance, but he supposed that gentleman's avoca-.
tions detained him in other Courts.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, I shall commit the prisoner for
trial. ro you wish to say anything, prisoner ? The pri-
soner—Yes, my Lord. I wish to know whether you can
commit me without knowing that the Mint will prosecute ?
The 'Loup MAYOR—No doubt of it ; I intend to commit
you now, and Mr. Goodman will make out your commitment.
The prisoner—l wish to know whether Mr. Goodman has
got the authority of the solicitor to the Mint to send this case
to the Cantral Criminal Court. You'll excuse me, my Lord,
but I dc,,'t think he has. The law requires that two offences
must be ,!ommitted by the same party, and one within 14
days of the other. Now, where is the second piece of bad
money I.;‘ show against me ?—(Laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR—Your calculation upon the Act of Par-
liament is construed by you too partially in your own case.
We have a section that will meet your case.
Mr. Cp,odman said, it happened that the sanction of the
Mint war by no means necessary to the prosecution for the
offence with which the prisoner was charged, if the magis-
trate cons.i.dered it to be his duty to commit ; and there was
a sectiot 1.71 the Act which stated that if any person should
tender, utter, or put off any false or counterfeit coin, knowing
the same to be false or counterfeit, the crime was, in England,
a misdemeanour, and the party convicted was punishable by

7 1"
imprison cent, not exceeding one year.
The pi isoner—l do not consider that you can legally com-
mit me without producing bad money passed by me within 14
days. h fact, I know it.—(A laugh.)
The Lnito MAYOR—You will find yourself mistaken, I
think, by the result of this experiment, although you so
adroitly wallowed the good and bad money. You have,
with ail your legal acquirements upon the branch of trade
you folk-n stumbled upon a section under which you will
not be pi -:pecuted, and you have overlooked that under which
you certainly shall be prosecuted. You supposed that we
would ge against you for a heavier punishment, and indict
you for an offence the proof of which would require additional
evidence. We shall do nothing of the kind. As we can't
get any rr.pre for you, we shall be satisfied with the one year's
imprison -.!ent.
The prisoner—l don't think I shall get it.—(Laughter,)
The LcxD MAYOR—I do; and if the Mint should hesitate
upon the subject I shall direct the City solicitor to prosecute.
The primer was then committed for trial; but he con-
tinued, while he remained at the bar, to reason upon the
legal propriety of committing him, without however for one
moment denying that lie was an experienced hand at the
game, which, in this instance, has thus received a temporary
check.
John Michleburgh, messenger to the United Mexican
Mining Association, of which Sir John Easthope, Bart., was
represented to be the chairman and trustee, was brought up
' in the custody of Daniel Forrester, the officer, charged with
having sto'!.en a cash-box, containing property owned by the
company,
Mr. James Smith, a gentleman employed by the company,
stated that it was the duty of the prisoner to fetch the cash-
box, whicil was left at t'.e banker's in the evening, home to
the office every morning. On the evening of the 12th of
December, there were in the cash-box four cheque-books, a
will, a set, iad security, of which witness did not know the
contents, and 531. in cash and bank-notes, of the numbers of
of which witness did not know the particulars. The box
was on that evening taken to Messrs. Bosanquet's banking-
house, but it was returned to the office, as was customary,
next morning. On the evening of the 23d of December wit-
ness received the box wrapped up in a piece of brown paper,
directed to him as belonging to the office, in the hand-writing
of the prisoner. It contained all the property with the ex-
ception of. 391. The prisoner, who had been sent for the
box on th-:, 13th of December, never made his appearance af-
terwards.
Mr. William M. Brown, clerk in the offices of the, United
Mexican Mining Association, stated that on the evening of
the 12th Gf December he received the box from Mr. Smith,
and took it to Messrs. Bosanquet's, and left it there in the
condition in which he had received it.
`William Robert Bushnell, cashier at Messrs. Bosanquet
and Co.'s, Lombard-street, bankers, stated that on the morn-
ing of the 13th December he delivered the cash-box to the
prisoner, ir the usual way of business.
Daniel l'orrester stated that he had in December received
informatiox that the primer had disappeared with property
belonging to the association, and a few mornings ago the
prisoner cased upon him, gave himself up, and said he was
greatly distressed in his mind, and had been wandering
about.

The pesaner said he had nothing whatever to say, and
was committed for trial.
BOW-STREET.
Mr. Jos pi Bowers Gray, a surgeon, who was charged last
week with forging a post-office order receipt for 1/. (which
had been forwarded for his predecessor in the business, 114,
Holborn, was placed at the bar for further examination.
The prilioner„ it may be remembered, after purchasing the
business ir. High Holborn of Mr. G. L. Hillas, disposed of it
to his brother, and succeeded, himself, to achemist's business,
in St. James's-street, for which he bad paid, or was about to
pay, 2,000/. During his residence in Holborn, a post-office
order for 1:, was sent to the house, for Mr. Hillas, from a
former patent of that gentleman, then residing at Southwell,
near Newark. Mr. Hillas had written to his patient (the
Rev. A. Tatham) respecting the sum due to him, and was
informed that a post-office order had been forwarded to him.
On inquiry at the General Post-office, in St. Martin's-le-
Grand, it woo ascertained that the amount had been received,
and the signature of Mr. G. L. Hillas regularly signed upon
the order, which the clerk in that department produced in
court, althczgh unable to identify the party who signed the
name. Tie. however, was declared by several wit-
nesses to be that of the prisoner, and this constituted the
evidence in iupport of the charge against him.
The 'pris::•!_er was not admitted to bail.
At the present examination the Rev. A. Tatham, who sent
the order, the clerks at the post-office, Newark, who entered
it upon the hooks, the letter-carrier who delivered it in llol-
born, and ens or two other witnesses, who identified the sig-
nature upon the order as being in the prisoner's handwriting,
added their depositions to those taken last week. The exa-
mination being conducted by Mr. Peacock, on behalf of the
Post-office, and by Dir. Ballantine, for the prisoner.
The Learned Counsel for the prisoner urged upon his Wor•
ship's consideration the slight nature of the evidence, as con-
trasted with the serious character of the charge, and also the
apparent absurdity of supposing that a man in such a sta-
tion of life, and with so much property at his command,
would risk his reputation and his liberty for so paltry a sum
as 1/., the amount of the post-office order.
The prisoner's brother, a fellow-assistant of the prisoner
when the later lived with Mr. Fowler, a surgeon, of Devizes,
and some oti.er witnesses, were called to prove that the hand-
writing in w!•ich the signature was written did not resemble
that of the prisoner's. "
Mr. Janr.7.-NE determined on sending the prisoner for trial,
but on this LK-casion consented to take bail, himself in 100/.,
and two sureties in 5001. each, for his appearence to answer
the charge.