The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-24 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, April 23

The April adjourned Quarter Sessions com-
menced this morning at the Guildhall, Westmin-
ster, before Mr. Bodkin, assistant-judge; Mr.
Payne, deputy; and the following magistrates :
Baron de Bliss, Mr. Goodhazt, Mr. Burslem, Mr.
Gould, Mr. Rankine, Mr. Bavlis,Mr. Hogarth,
Mr. Beetham, Mr. H. H. Harwood, and Mr. Healey.
The calendar contains the names of 66 prisoners,
69 of whom are charged with felony and 7 with
misdemeanour.

The Assistant-Judge delivered the charge to the
grand jury.

Mar-tin Schmidt, 33, a Prussian,who availed him-
self of his right of being tried by a mixed jury,, was
indicted for stealing ten i 5 notes, £8 in cash, and a
coat, the property and money of William How, his
master. The case stood over from last session.
Mr. Sleigh and Mr. Orridge were counsel for the
prosecution. Mr. Ribton defended the prisoner.
This case lasted the greater part of the day, but
the facts relative to the charge lay in a very small
compass. The prosecutor was a gentleman, living
at 52, Queen's-gardens, Hyde Park, and the pri-
soner was taken into his service as in-door servant
and butler. He absconded from his situation a
few days after he had entered upon it in Feb-
ruary, and the money, notes, and property, men-
tioned in the indictment, were missed, the notes
having been abstracted from a despatch-box kept in
Mr. How's library. Four of them were traced to
the prisoner, he having changed them, and when he
was taken he was wearing a coat which had been
stolen from his master's wardrobe. One of the
notes was changed by the prisoner's wife, who was
subpoenaed for the prosecution, but she was not ex-
amined on her proving that she was his wife. She
had given a different name, Egener, and ex-
plained that that was the real name of the prisoner,
but that he had adopted that of-Schmidt because he
was a political refugee and a deserter from the Prus-
sian service, and could not, therefore, follow his
ordinary avocation, which was that of a Conti-
nental courier, in his own name, through fear of
arrest. The result of the trial was a verdict of
guilty, and the jury recommended the prisoner to
mercy, on the ground of a good character he had
received, but they very soon withdrew that recom-
mendation on hearing what the police-constable in
the case, Gordon, 336 A, had to say of him. He
had, it appeared, obtained many situations by means
of false characters ; he had committed robberies at
every one of them; in one case he stole over £lOO
worth of plate; and had robbed and plundered
about 12 servant girls of their savings, by showing
them a sham bank-book, in which a tolerably good
round sum appeared entered to his credit, and pro-
mising to marry them. He had seduced several
under that promise, and one of his victims proved
pregnant, and was now on the streets.
The Assistant-Judge said this was a case in
which the public interests wet edeeply involved, and
the court would not be doing its duty if it did not
pass a sentence which would remove so dangerous a
person as the prisoner from society for a lengthened
period. Persons who got confidential situations by
false characters were of the very worst class of
offenders, their only object being to rob and plun-
der, and the sentence upon the prisoner was that he
be kept in penal servitude five years.
Frederick Fraser, convicted last session of steal-
ing two coats, under circumstances fully reported
at the time, was brought up and sentenced to 12
months' hard labour.
Mr. M'llonnell was for the pro:ecution ; Mr.
Diekie for the prisoner.
John William Ratcliff, 40, a clerk, was indicted
for feloniously embezzling various sums of money
which he had 'collected as rents for and on account
of Henry Vincent Wing and another, of , Gray's
Inn-square, his employers.
He pleaded guilty.
The total amount of his defalcations exceeded

£lOO, and he had been in the receipt of 255. per
week, and had been in his situation, with an un-
suspected character, for seven years. He had made
every reparation in his power, by admitting all the
wrong he had done, and giving every information
to his employers.
Mr. Francis was counsel for the prisoner, and
addressed the Court in mitigation of punishment.
Mr. F. If. Lewis was for the prosecution.
The Court sentenced the prisoner to 12 months'
hard labour.

John Cotter, 58, and Charles Roleda (alias
Brummy), 45, were indicted for stealing two rolls
of cloth, value £B, the property of Philip Leveson,
a clothier in Prescott-street, Whitechapel, from his
shop-window, by taking out a square of glass, and
William Barnett., 22, and Jacob Belasco, 57, dealers,
in Petticoat-lane, now Middlesex-street, were in-
dicted for feloniously receiving the same.
Mr. Metcalfe prosecuted, Mr. M4Donnell defended
Cotter and Barnett, Mr. Best defended Roleda, and
Mr. Daly defended Belasco.
The jury acquitted all the prisoners except Roleda,
who was found guilty, and upon whom sentence
was deferred, in order that a series of convictions
might be put in against him, as he Is its well known
in the prisons, and also to the police.