The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-02 00:00:00

JULY 2, 1846.

P RICE SD.

husband. The witness added that he had received the sum

of 12s. weekly_ from Mrs. Roscoe, as hush-money for the
space of ten weeks, and had no doubt he should have con-
tinued to do so, had not his employer gained information of
his being implicated in the system of robbery which had
been carried on, and discharged him from his service.
George Capstick, foreman to a furniture-dealer named
Dawson, 'in Skelton-street, Greenwich, stated, that about
Christmas last the male prisoner, in company of a young
man named Blenman called at his master's house, and,

representing themselves as bedstead and mattrass-makers in
the habit of supplying small brokers in the country, pro-
duced several pieces of Brussels carpet and bed-ticken,
which were disposed of to his employer, who on subsequent
occasions also purchased numerous other articles, comprising
Persian carpeting, a quantity of haircloth, mattresses, and
other goods, the whole of which the prosecutor had since
identified as his property.
John Blenman, the young man above referred to, and who
had formerly been in the service of the female prisoner's
husband, stated that the whole of the carpeting and other
property produced had been intrusted to him and the younger
Roscoe by the latter person's mother, with directions to sell
them for whatever they could get, and that having disposed
of them in the manner sworn to by the preceding witness,
the whole of the proceeds had been handed over to the female
prisoner.
Police-constables Day and Smith, of the K division, pro-
duced in court an-immense quantity of property, amongst
which were 33 pieces of chintz furniture, 17 bedticks, a
package of Irish linen, and several rolls of carpeting, which
they had discovered upon searching the prisoners' lodgings,
and all of which the prosecutor likewise identified as his.
The prisoners, by the advice of Mr. Pelham, expressed their
intention to reserve their defence, and were fully committed

for trial upon this charge.
Mr. Wakeling then stated that he had another charge,
almost as serious as that just taken, to prefer against the
prisoners, at the instance of Mr. Jackson, a furniture dealer,
in Shoreditch, by whom also the prisoners- had been em-
ployed, and who had been robbed of property to the extent
of nearly 2001., a considerable portion of which had been
found in the possession of the accused; but in ccnsequence of
the absence of a cab-driver who had been employed by the
prisoners to remove the goods, and who purposely kept out
of the way, although he had been summoned to give evidence,
he was unable to proceed with it, and must request the
magistrate to order the accused to be brought up again upon
a future occasion.

Mr. BuouGuToN said he had no hesitation in acceding to
such an application, and intimated his intention to issue a
warrant against the cab-driver to compel his attendance.
The prisoners, who made no observation upon this state-
ment, were accordingly removed in the van.
SOUTHWARK.
George William Draper, late clerk in a Government office,
was placed at the bar before Mr. Seeker, for final examina-
tion, charged with uttering forged cheques at the banking-
house of Messrs. Currie and Co., Cornhill.

.
The circumstances attending' the uttering of two cheques
drawn on the above banking firm by the prisoner have al-
ready appeared. A clerk from Messrs. Currie now attended,
and produced the cheques, one of which for 51. 75., with the
signature " Rapley and Son," was given by the prisoner to
a Mr. Wills to get cashed, which he procured from a neigh-
bour, and handed over the proceeds to the prisoner. The
transaction took place on the 4th ult., on which day it was
given in evidence the prisoner surreptitiously obtained pos-
session of a blank cheque-book belonging to a stockbroker,
and cut out several of the leaves, and having deposited the
book in the place he found it, then filled some of them up, and
by that means obtained cash on the assurance of their being
genuine. The bank clerk stated that when the cheque given
to Mr. Wills to get cashed was presented, it bore the signa-
ture of " Rapley and Son," and it was refused payment on
the ground that no persons of that name had any account
with the firm. Another cheque for 8!. 145., given by the
prisoner to a Mr. Christmas in liquidation of a debt of 21.,
the former receiving the difference, was also produced,
bearing the signature of " S. R. Parsons," and made payable
at Messrs. Currie's. This cheque, as well as the former,
was found to be a forgery, the assumed drawer having no
effects there.

In the course of the examination, it was stated that two
other cheques were presented at Messrs. Currie's, and refused
payment on the same grounds as those in the former cases.
The blank cheques were evidently taken from the stock-
broker's book, as the numbers followed those still remaining
in the book.

When the prisoner was asked if he wished to say anything
in answer to the charges preferred against him, he replied in
the negative, saying that he should place himself in the
hands of his solicitor, Mr. Roberts. . .

Mr. SECKEZ said, that he should commit the prisoner on
the two cases brought forward against him, and that if any
other parties had charges of a similar description to prefer,
they might do so, and have them included in the bill of in-
dictment at the Central Criminal Court.
At the conclusion of tho examination Mr. Roberts made
an application to have a set of gold studs and a silver-headed
walking-stick, taken from the prisoner on his apprehension
by the policeman, now delivered up to him.
Mr. SECKER, in reply, said, that he saw no reason to
refuse the application if they did not relate to the charges
brought against him and were not purchased with part of
the money it was alleged he had obtained by means of the
forged cheques.
Mr. Roberts said he was instructed that the articles spe-
cified were presents from friends to the prisoner, and had
no relation whatever to the alleged charges. On these grounds,
therefore, the gold studs and walking-stick were delivered
over by the policeman.
THAMES.

CRUELTY AT SEA.—Captain William Graham, the master
of the barque Grange, of Greenock, lying in the West India
Deck, appeared before Mr. Ballantine to answer a charge of
committing a series of cruel assaults on William Francis
Singleton, the steward, and William Baine, the cook of the
same vessel, on the high seas, on her homeward voyage from
the Mauritius.

Mr. Pelham appeared for the defence.
Baine's case was first taken. He stated that on the 10th
of April last he was engaged with the rest of the crew in
tacking the ship, when the captain, without any provo-
cation, shoved him from one side of the ship to the other,
and knocked him down among the spars on deck. He
got up, and told the captain he did not come on board
to be used in that way. The captain immediately seized
him by the throat, kicked him, knocked him down among
the spars again, and struck him several times about the
head and face, and blackened his eyes. The captain then
dragged him forward, and knocked him down in the fore-
castle head, and after putting his knees on his breast, held
him by the throat till he was quite black in the face, and
could scarcely breathe. He got up, and on looking round
him saw William Minor, a ;seaman, standing further aft.
He appealed to Minor, who said he saw the whole of the
ill-usage. The chief mate then came forward by the cap-
tain's orders, and held witness by the arms while the captain
again seized him by the throat and dragged him aft to the
quarter-deck. He laid hold of the mizen rigging, and the
captain, after a little struggling, ordered him down into the
cabin. He refused to go, and requested the captain to make
him fast on deck if he wanted to do it. The captain then
made fast a rope to his legs, and, with the assistance of the
first and second mates, dragged him to the companion, where
he jumped on him with his feet until he jumped him down
the hatchway. He was then put in irons in one of the state
rooms, where b.e was compelled to remain for two days and
three nights, 'Without bed or bedding, his only allowance of
provisions during that time being two biscuits per day and a
little cold water. The ship was then off the Cape of Good
Hope. The weather was very cold, and he suffered a good
deal. All the clothing he had on was a blue flannel shirt and
a pair of canvass trousers while he was in irons. On the
second night he asked the captain for some bedclothes, and he
refused to give him any, but sent the steward below to
shake his nose, ;pull his ears, and ascertain if he was tamer.
On the morning he was released he went to his duty as
usual, and continued to work until the 26th of May, when
the chief mate ordered him to draw off water from the tank
below and fill a cask above. While he was engaged upon
this duty the captain, who was sitting on the quarter-deck,
amused himself by calling him a brute, a beast, and a d—d
brute, every time he passed him. He answered that he was
neither brute nor beast, which so enragei the captain that
he seized him by the throat, and after compressing it in a
manner which gave him much pain, he shook him, and
pushed him up against the mizen rigging. After passing
the captain with two or three more buckets of water, he
was again called a beast, and upon making the same
reply he had done before the captain pushed him off the
quarter-deck on to the main deck. He fell from the violence
of the shove, and a bucket of water was capsized alongside
of him. He got up and was going forward, when the captain
followed him, and overtook him abreast of the longboat, .and
shoved him down again. He rose once more, and went right
forward close to the windlass, where the captain forced him
upon the chain cable, and then peremptorily ordered him
into the forcastle. He was descending the hatchway, when
the second mate called him aft, and he was met by the cap-
tain, who ordered him to return to his duty. He went down
the cabin stairs with a bucket, to fetch more water, and had
not got more than half way, when the captain jumped
upon him with. the whole weight of his body, and severely
bruised him about the head and shoulders. He called out
" murder," and was ordered upon deck. As he was coming
up, the captain repeated his violence. Ho was sent up and
down four times, the captain each time jumping upon him as
hard as he was able. On reaching the cabin, and calling
out " murder," the captain struck him several times on the
face with his clenched fists, and then ordered him to return
to his duty. He was very weak and disabled from the,
in irons
brutal treatment he received, and said he could not do any.
more work. He was again put below, and
for thirty days, and was not released lint,' the slip cape
: resth Feriwd
oal
f)s7t ohyl nast.
e adllowed a
i n t o
fourteenth e
ddnoycsk ,0
of
andhis
time a half
was
ast
confinement moored
biscuit and a half per day, and the
pound per day only. The captain,. as a further punishment,
disfigured him by cutting hair very short.
In cross-examination by Mr. Pelham, the cook said, he
never offered to fight the captain ; he never called him
names, and he never gave him the slightest provocation.
He was asked repeatedly to return to his duty during the
first eight days of his confinement, and said he could not, on
account of the usage he had received. Ile was brought upon
deck several times, and the captain said, let the brute beast
down to his den again.
Mr. BRODERIP said, it was impossible for him to tell what
answer there might be, but there was a prima facie case of
a series of aggravated assaults, and it was his duty to send
it to the Central Criminal Court. He called upon the de-
fendant to find bail, himself in 1001., and two sureties of 50/.
each, to appear at the next sessions.
The case of Singleton, the steward, was next gone into.
He is an intelligent man of colour, and stated that he had
been treated very cruelly indeed. On the 4th of May he
was knocked down by the captain, who drew a good deal of
blood from him. Four or five days after that the captain
horse-whipped him with his riding-whip.
Mr. BRODERIP—Were your clothes off or on at that time?
Witness—l had my jacket off, and my shirt sleeves were
tucked up. The same day I was compelled to stow myself
away in the hold, to prevent his beating me. Three Sundays
before I got in here he knocked me down en the cabin floor,
just after dinner, and stunned me, I don't know how long ;
and then he called upon the chief mate to feel my pulse, and
ascertain if anything ailed me. That was after I recovered
my senses and got into the pantry. While doubling the
Cape, and while the weather was very cold, he threw four
buckets of water over me. It was raining at the time, and
he deprived me of my bed, and obliged me to sit up in the
pantry, and I was shivering with cold. The witness then
produced the shirt lie wore when the first assault was com-
mitted. It was covered with marks of blood.
Mr. BRODERIP said the defendant must find bail in this
case also, himself in 1001. and two sureties of 501. each, to
appear at the next sessions of the Central Criminal Court.