The Sun.
London, England, 1802-02-26 00:00:00

OLD 'BAIL -

EIGHTH DAY--THURSDAY, lan. 23.

THE Court proceeded to pass Sentence of Death
upon the following Prisoners, who had been capi-
tally convieted in the course of the Session, viz.
William Mason, John ;ones, William Bean; John
Henry Cashman, lames Parity, Primerez Serde-
field, Samuel Smith, Thomas Brown, Walter Dug-
gan, James Condon,' William Ogle, Mark Den.
ham, John Heals, William Richardson, and Ann
Watson.
Judgment upon Michael Michael was postponed.
Robert Clarke was then tried upon a charge of a
misdemep.nour, for having purchased a quantity of
check cotton, the property of Mr.
linen draper, from whoin it was stolen by some per-
sons unknown. . .
The leading circumstances of the case were briefly
these : The Prosecutor, a linen.draper, in Rat.
cliff Highway, had missed, particularly on the 16th
of December last, some pieces of check cotton from
his shop. In consequence of some information he
had received, he went to the shop of Mr. Clarke, a
wholesale salesman, in Union row, Rosemary-lane,
accompanied by. a friend, one of the witnesses. He
inquired for the master of the shop, on which the
Prisoner was pointed out to him as the person.—.
They begged to look at some checked cottons ; sc.
veral kinds were shewn, which the Prosecutor.'said

would not suit. At length, after some hesitation,
some other pieces were shewn; one of which
Mr. Drake suspeeting to be his- own, more
narrowly inspeaed, and found hii private mark
upon it. There were also some other pieces pro-
duced at the same time, which the Prosecutor knew
to be his property. He then, inquired of the Pri-
soner how they came into his possession ? At-first
he seemed to hesitate, but afterwards asserted he
had got them of a Jew clothesman, whose name and
residence he did not know, but who often fre-
quented- that neighbourhood, He said he gave
r6d. and 16-Id. per yard for them ;, however, the
Prosecutor stated the wholesale price to be at least
add. After some farther conversation, an Officer
was sent for, and a. closer investigation of the:
Friscmer. took place, who farther stated, that no
entries were made in their books of such mnsac-
dons ; they
.were all ready money businesses, and:
they, bouglit, articles from numbers of itinerant
Salesmen in 'the course of the day. The result
was, that the Prisoner was taken before a Magi-
strate, where the affair was duly canvassed, on
which some further matter transpired, tending to
skew the transadion unjustifiable, and the Prisoner
was consigned over to take his trial. •

The aGove statement appeared principally upon
:he deposition of the Prosecutor, his friend alluded
:o,_ and the Police Officer .abovementioned.

In defence of the Prisoner, the principal consi-
deration advanced was, that he was not the master
of the shop, but his brother, the master, being then
ill, and since deceased, (this fad transpired during the
examination of the Prisoner, at the Police Office) and
that, therefore, he had no interest in the transac.
tion; &c.

4n support of this defence, several witnesses were
brought forward. The wife of the deceaSed•bro,•
titer of the Prisoner was one; the others were per-,
sons either concerned in the shop, or who knew the
family : from their account it transpired, that the
business transa4ed by Mr. Clarke, was on a very
large scale; and from the widow's testimony, that.
they bought of, perhaps, too different persons in a
day, remnants, and other pieces of cloth, &c. of
which no particular accounts were kept ; a general.
balance only being struck with regard to these con-
cerns, and that no inquiry had been made by them
after the Jew. •

The general custom of Mr. Clarke's shop was al-
so stated by some of the other Witnesses.

The Court did not hold that the Prisoner being a
'Servant, was an adequate plea' in his defence, as such
persons were clearly amenable for an illegal tran.
saaion : a great opportunity would otherwise be aG
forded for, the grossest frauds. The criminal conduct of
a servant could not implicate a master. Therefore,,
as in the 'present Case the servant was amenable,
neither was the plea of his having no dired interest
in the transaction, any excuse. The point, under
all the circumstances of the Case, for the considera-
tion of the Jury, was, 'Whether or not the Prisoner,
at the time he purchased it, really believed the pro-
perty was honestly come by, when Such a quantity
of cotton, as that produced, was offered at a rate so
much under the wholesale price ? This they would
decide from a strict investigation of what had ap-
peared in evidence.

The Jury, after conferring some time, brought in
a Verdi& of Guilty—and the Court adjudged him
to pay a fine of tool. and to six months imprison-
ment in Newgate.

Judgment was then passed upon the inferior con-
.vitts a 4 follows :

James Smith, Mary Ward, Mary Moore, Susanna
Smith, J. B. Fell, . Thomas Fitzgerald, Thomas
Jones, Francis Shipman, Richard Meredrew, Daniel
MacKelian, Ann Spooner, John Harrison, Thomas
Dunworth, William Thompson, James Byrns, Ro-
bert Raymond, Joseph Williams, Richard Crouch,
Maria Elliot, W. George Harrison, and Peter
Dealy, were severally - sentenced to Seven Years
Transportation.

Israel Davis and James Jones, were sentenced to
Fourteen Years Transportation.

The remaining Convias were then adjudged to
lesser• punishments, which concluded the business
of the Session.

STATE LOTTERY OFFICE, N0..i6, CORNHILL.
Mr.NLcuoLsox resiieffully acquaints his Friends
and the, Public, that the State Lottery begins draw-
ing on- Monday next, the First. of March ; the
Tickets in the greatest variety of Numbers are sold,
and divided' -into Halves, Quarters, Eighths, and
Sixteenth • Shares, which are duly stamps, purstvint.
to Al of 'Parliament. Scheme's at large gratis,•and
money for fhe prizes as soon as drawn.