The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-23 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Oct. 22.

(Before Mr. Sergeant ADAMS, Assistant-Judge, and
a Bench of Magistrates, at Clerkenwell.)
The Court sat this morning to take what are deno-
minated " bail cases," of which there were eight in
the paper of the day.
Charles Falkner, a merino store dealer, with a shop,
on Eyre-street-hill, and W. Thomas Jackson, also a
marine storekeeper in Turnmill-street, Clerkenwell,
were indicted, charged with having stolen, and also
for having feloniously received, forty pounds weight
of tinfoil, of the value of 21., the property of Messrs.
Simpson and Emsley, of Union-buildings, Gray's
Inn-lane.
Mr. Huddleston and Mr. O'Brien conducted the
case for the prosecution; Mr. Parry and Mr, Met-
calfe defended the prisoner Falkner; and Mr. Ballan-
tine appeared for Jackson.
It appeared from the evidence that on the 9th of
June last two detective officers of the G division, of
the names of Fisher and Archer, were on duty in
Gray's Inn-lane, when their attention was arrested by
a cart which belonged to a man named Usher, a
dealer and collector of cld metal. A quantity of old
lead and brass were apparently in the cart. They
made a search in the cart, when they discovered about
40 pounds of tinfoil covered over, which was in an
unfinished state. Having some anspicion that all was
not right as to the way in which Usher had obtained
possession of the foil, they informed him that he must
consider himself in their custody. After a little in-
quiry it was ascertained that the foil was the pro-
perty of the present prosecutors, from whose premiss
those gentlemen suspected it had been stolen. Al-
though they were not able to fix upon any particular
date at which the robbery had been committed, yet
they were of opinion that it must have been between
the 7th and 9th of June. Upon Usher being taken
before the magistrate, he stated that he had purchased
the foil from a person named Falkner, at his shop,
in the regular way of business, and that the price
he had paid for it had been 7d. per pound, and
then he called Falkner forwards as a witness in sup-
port of this statement, but that person totally denied
having had anything to do with the foil, and there-
fore that he had ever sold it to him. Usher, having
heard this denial with astonishment, asserted that he
could prove the fact by witnesses if the magistrate
would adjourn the inquiry. A remand of the case was
therefore accorded. Usher was liberated on biil, and
Falkner ordered to be in attendance on the day ap -
pointed for the second hearing. Falkner, however,
failed to perform his promise, and when his name was
called there was no reply. From that period, not-
withstanding the officers, as well as Usher himself,
were in search of him, he was not heard anything of
until the 22d of the month, when he was discovered
living at Ivy Cottage, Camberwell, where it was
stated he was residing on account of his health. The
police having obtained a clue to the locality where he
was residing, set a watch upon the movements of
Falkner's wife, and on Saturday night, the 3d of
July, followed her in a chaise to the cottage at Cam-
berwell. Having traced his wife to this cottege, the
two officers entered it, and found Falkner, his wife
and family, and a Jew, at supper. Falkner, on
being told that he was to consider himself in custody, and
that it was their intention to convey him to the sta-
tion in Lock's-fields, requested that they would per-
mit him to go there in his own chaise. This request
the officers assented to, and as Archer was in the act
of conducting him out of the cottage by the front
door Falkner managed to give him the slip ; and
then, when'Fisher tried to intercept him, he was
attacked by Mrs. Falkner and the Jew, whereupon
Falkner effected his escape. Mrs. Falkner and the
Jew were subsequently committed to Kingston gaol
for this assault, the latter for a fortnight and the wife
for a month. Falkner contrived to evade the vigi-
lance of the police until the 15th of September, on
which day he gave notice, through his attorney, Mr.
Wontner, that it was his intention to surrender and
meet the charge. Before that act of surrender, how-
ever, had been accomplished Falkner was apprehended
by a sergeaat of the G division, when walking in
Holborn. ‘V hen the prisoner was afterwards brought
before the magistrate he stated that he had purchased
the foil in question of a person of the name of
Jackson, and that he had paid as much as 61d.
a pound for it. He then called upon Jack •
son to corroborate his statement. That person
refused to do anything of the sort, or even to be
sworn ; but a man of the name of Bright having been
then called up he declared that he had been a witness
to the sale of the foil by Jackson and to the purchase i
of it by Falkner. This witness added, that this
transaction had taken place in the open shop of
Falkner, whither the foil bad been taken by Jackson.
With reference to Jackson, the chief points against
him were, his having stated that he knew the person
from whom he had received the foil, and that it could
not be identified, as the goods were in an unfinished
state ; and then the fact of his having refused to give
up the name of that individual. The stolen property
was unquestionably identified as belonging to the
prosecutors, and it was proved that its value in its
present unfinished state was not less than ls. ld. per lb.
Usher, on being now called, stated that upon the
day on which he had made the purchase of this foil of
Falkner, the latter had been sent for by the former to
fetch away some metal from his shop in Eyre-street-
hill. He went at dusk, and among the articles he
bought of him on that occasion was this tinfoil, for
which he paid lid. per lb. He bought the articles in
the customary way over the counter while two other
persons were present.

Cross-examined—He had bad dealings with Falk-
ner for about 10 months prior to this particular trans-
action. He bought some pewter pots as well as the
tinfoil, and he considered that he had given a fair
market price for all the articles. The tinfoil he had
considered not to be at all superior in quality to the
best pewter. He had been a dealer m old metal for
10 or 12 years. It was the custom of the trade for
one dealer in old metals to sell to another, even
though it were only at a profit of ls. per cwt. The
amount of the purchase he made of Falkner on this
occasion was 61. 18s. 11d. He was in the company
of the officers when they followed Mrs. Falkcer in
the horse and chaise from Eyre-street-hill to Ivy
Cottage, Camberwell. The wife was also in a
chaise. It was about midnight on the 3d of July.
At the time he was before the magistrate in the month
of September Falkner confessed that he had bought
the foil of Jackson, and that he had sold it to him-
self. Falkner also called upon Jackson to corrobo-
rate his statement as to this fact, but that person re-
fused to be sworn. He had used every effort to ob-
tain the apprehension of Falkner with a view to the
clearance of his own character.

W. Eyares, lately the proprietor of the Red Lion-
yard Ale NS, Clerkenwell, proved having been present
when Falkner purchased the foil of Jackson ; and
further, that after Usher had been apprehended he had
accompanied Falkner to Jackson's, to whom, when
they saw the former, he communicated the fact of the
person having been taken into custody to whom he had
sold the metal, and he then requested that Jackson
would tell him the name of the party of whom he had
bought it, for if he were himself to be called upon
he would be obliged to say whom he had purchased it
from. Jackson said, "If you do I shall deny it, and
you will only get yourself into trouble. The foil was
in an unfinished state, and they cannot tell where it
came from, or identify it." Jackson in the conversa-
tion also added that he knew whom he had got it of—
the person who had had the metal to finish—but as it
was not in a finished state it could not be sworn to.