The Sun.
London, England, 1805-10-26 00:00:00

11- zo) Az. 1; LS67
ArS.

. .
Yesterday E4ord. Brrig was indeed for steal-
in,_; a pair of boets; value and 'several pieces of
leather, in the shop of Mr. Richard Ashfield, boot
and shoemaker, No. 4, Greek-street, Soho, on the.
Lst of August last. •
. .
.The fads proved by, the Prosecutor were, that
on the day stated in the indictment the Prisoner
eanieinto: his shop, and looked about him, as if
seeking for something; and the' Prosecutor, finding,
he had no business .there, bade him depart. After
some little time he returned again, and urine into
the shop as if looking tbr somebody. The Prose-
cutor, who was then engaged with some Gentle-
men, did not at first observe him, but as soon as
he did, he turned him out the Second tiMe.
did not miss any thing at the moment, nor for an
hour afterwards, when the Prisoner was brought
back to his shop by. :a Mr. Johnson,- of St. ,Martin s-
ewn, Leicester Fields, wit;l the goods in his pos-
session, which the Prosecutor immediately knew to
be his (they were now produced and identified).
The Prisoner had also ,one into Mr.. Johnsen's
shop, most probably a view to steal some-
thing (for he was a general dealer in every thing
tangible) but a Gentleman who bad seen him at-
tempting to steal umbrellas, from a shop in the
neighbeurhood, called
.on Mr. Johnson, and cau-
tioned him against the person wkom he observed to
enter his shop. ' Mr. Johnson seized and searched
him, and found the boots and pieces of leather in
his possession,' with the Proseetitor's marks upon
them, and'brought the Prisoner, with the articles,
to his house on suspicion.
. The Prisoeer,heing called on for lais defence, of-
fered none.

Mr. ArIAINTWARING, the Chairman, a3ked him if
he could recollea, or nearly. gues.i, how often lie
had hew tried for various thelti ?

The Prisoner kins‘,vered, thAt he believed about
Sweaty time'.

Mr: MAIN WA it No, howeeer, aided his memory,
by„retninding him, that this was the 4121 y-third time
he had been tried in the different Crnuinal Courts
Of the Metropolis, far various felonies and lareenies.
The Prisoner did not deny the truth of this
chronology; he said he was now a very old man,
and had served his time to a sawyer, and had been
fellow-apprentice with Sir Wm. STAPLES ; that he
had been confined in Newgate, at one
.time three
years, and at another Imp ; that he was now heartily
sick of confinement, and if he was once more set at
liberty, could be very handy ; and that even Mr.
Icirby, the late keeper of -Newgate, shad given him
a good diameter for honesty, and said he would trust
him with any, thing.
?di. MAI N WARING expressed his estonishmentiat
the.etreeitery with which this hardened and incur-
rieible teileinal could now talk of his honesty,, es
th%ugh he had been ae innocent and injured man ;
when, in fact, he had been- at One time under sen-
tence of death ie,Newgate thr 'a capital felony, and
pardoned in Jtopt:s 0f- his amendment'. Instead of
which he persevered in 0110 incessant system of
thieving as long as he was at large,':. Nan' for the
sixty-third time he was tried for a crineoal (entice,
which, owing toehe Immanity of the leosecutor.
who, in consideration of his ced ago, had laid the
value of the ertieles so low as only to constitute the
theft a petty hircency, •instead of a 6100 offence.
The. Jury found the ;Priseeer Ouilty, and the. Court
senteeced him to Si): months imprisonment.
IThe u dominate wretch tottered beneath • the
weight of his years, and his silvered hair bore me-
lancholy testimony of his ificerrieible depravity.
'Etizeard Divine' was indiaed7 for stealing three'
qilartem loaves from a baker's basket, near Boltori-
street, Piccadilly, on the 114th September. •
:The journeyman who carried the, basket stated,
that he laid it down at the comerof a street while he
went to serve a castomet at a few doors' distance ;
and while away he saw the Prisoner take the loaves
out. .He followed bin, iteed cried out stop thief r
but the Prisoner, fieding he was pursued, instantly
catne back, and• threw, tue loayesfrito the basket. .He
was, however, seieed by the Prosecutor, who, by ad-
vice of the surrounding crowd, took him before a
Maeistrate, and he was committed.

The Jury ibund the Prisoner Gzzilty and the
Court, in consideration of his having been already
a month in prison, only sentenced him to seven
days further confinement.