The Sun.
London, England, 1804-01-14 00:00:00

NA 1121 L NEWS

PLYMObTFI, JAN. 11.—Arrived. the Patch Ship
jobantra, Car: ScHurr, laden with a. very yah..
ble cargo of coffee and other goods, to .the arnowit
. .
of
80,0001. from Batavia, lbound to Amsterdam..
captured'on the rst inst. in endeavouring to after the.
Harbour of L'orient, by the,llTajirwei- Curre\r"
. ,
vateer, of Jersey, -mounting 4. guns. On the 25th
inst. the Johanna passed through Sir EDWARD PELe,
LE W's Squadron off Ferrol) but 'it blowing 2a., tee.
mendous gale of wind) none of the Ships ;.i,7ere ab.'e
to take possession of her.

Arrived the'Saii Josef, of 113 guns,' Vice.:Adw
miral Sir C, COTTON, from the Channel Fleet:

PoIttSMOUTH, JAN. I3.—Arriygd His Majesty's
Friglres Attlkzscgde and Charon, from the
,Mediter-
ranean, with several- Sail of Transports and Mer.
'chant ships; Hemrley, HeMILE Y, Acorn, GAR ETT•
and Argo, SMITH, from Sunderland.
Sailed His Majesty's Ship Diomede, fOr Guernsey,
with several Sail of Transports and Traders under.
Convoy ; and. the Jane, HYNDMAN: for West
Florida,

Dovna, JAN. z3.---"The firing heard -here, as
mentioned in -my Letter of yesterday, was occa-
sioned by some of our'Cruizers, who, fearing the
Enemy would escape them in the night, \the wind
being fair, and the night dark, had gone in very
close, and in the morning 'found themselves be-
calmed under die Enem'y's Batteries, when the
Enemy perceiving them, opened a heavy fire upon
them from the Batteries, but we are happy to add)
• did no other damage to them than a few shots
going through their sails and rigging. ,

Arrived here this :forenoon, Le Pierre, French
Sloop Transporz, taken by :the Cow:tett of Elgin
tired Armed Cutter, Lieuv. and two
.Gun-brip in company. She• was boarded, by. the
leutter's.Boat off•Etaples. She carne from Dieppe,
briund to Boulogne.; kid on board five men and'a
boy, and tvas going, by The Prencli boy's, account()
to fetch.tirober, &c.' for building.

YARMOUTH; JAN. I ---AdMirßl RUSSEL' Ilan
shifted his Flag to the ileto, the 'don. Capt. CARD

NER.

Arrived yesterday, the:Pew/1,4e, Capt.l3RotroFt_
TON ; also theScO:pioit,a`finenew Beig,Froin the'Nore ;
the Defence, capt: HOP e, and Adder GUQ-i'eS5Cl,
are also in the, Roadi. Instead of, no ice having
made its appearallce. in Holland, a vessel sent in,
detained by the Princess of Orange on the Ist inst.
says, they were eight days froze up at Amsterdam,
and at breaking up of the frost, perhaps so vessels
Caine down with them, some of them large light
Transports, making 40 or 50 of that description now
at the Helder. 'No. 51 was perceived in one of their
topsails (rather a novel place to "number then)) ;•tonsi.
detable bustle has lately been observed in the Text',
but ottr..Squadron, under Admiral THORNBOROU6R,
are much more than a match for any thing that ran
possibly be tliere., From an influx of 'froops, at the
Fielder, provisions are mike and dear. Our Pilots
have brought on shore from a vessel lately leaving
the Texel, some black Or. Conlrnon bread it is in
form, and I had almost
.said in substance, like, our
common building bricks—it, has been thesubjeo of
Much curiosity, and some .cOnsolation---Lton'g may
the good sense of Englishinen keep it so.
The Prince of IVnles Packet, Capt., HEARN,
from Gottenburgh, with Mail,, arrived here yes_
terday afternoon.

DEAL, JAN. I3.—Carne in, the Immortah:te,
.from a Cruize off Boulogne ; and the Alonzo Sloop
from Sheerness. •
In the,bowns,—Motrarch, Utrecht, Irnmortalit, Perseus,
Alokuo, Basilisk.

_ By the latest .aceounts from Sir EowARD PEI-7
LE Ws Sqq dron,-the French.
havo,;p.kkferrol foot
Sail of th,e Line and one .Frigare, anA at Coruona.
one Ship. of the Line and two Frigates. The vi-
gilance and aftivity of our, Squadron, which. con-
ststs of five Sail of the Line, a Frigate, a Brig,
and a cutter, have never been surpassed.
Dispatches were,on Thursday received Itorn Lord
GARDNER, on then4ish station.
Sir THONIAs TRouBRIDGE goes to the East
Indies to relieve Adthiral RAINIER in the Clic':
Command in, those seat!. Sir Thomas will !wilt his
broad pendant on board the CulL-dett, now lying at
Plymouth fitted fur a Flag.

The PRINCE Of WALES is said to. have tlken
Col. Go arSoN's house at Guildford, for afe months,
in consequence of his Regirrient being ord,:ted to
that town.

Fray cis Smith, who Was corcv.V,led
the murder of the bricklayer at Hothth;..rsmith, has
been reprieved.
Yesterday a Court of Diretors wag held at the
East India House, when the following Cutmnanders
were sworn into the command of their resne&ive
ships :Captain J,kmas. TINIBMILL, United Ki.ig-
doirr, vice Captain RICHARbsoN CLARKE ; HENR
HUGHES, True Briha ; GEORGE RICLIARDSO.II.,
,Daver Castle. The Court acijourn,:,l at 5 o'clock,
till Tuesday next,

OLD BAILEY.

THI r.D DAY-FR IDAV, JAN. 13.

.',DER

Francis Smitb was indieted for -wilfully, jeloni-

ously, and cf in,tlice aforethought, shooting Thomas
Niulnewcod ire the head, atal killing him on the 3d
of January int. whereby he of his malke'afore-
thought, the said Thomas Nluinewood did kill and

i.vrder.
This is the case in which the deceased was mis.
taken fur a ghost at Hamtnersmith, or rather for
the person who has wickedly stalked about in tile
night covered with white, in the charaCter
,of a
_tlpposed ghost. The case is to very extraordinary,
that we shall enter more at large upon it than is
done in ordinary cases, even of murder.
There was vo Counsel for the prosecution, but
three Learned Gentlemen, Mr. CONST, Mr. Ge
evr r, and Mr. KNAPP?, were concerned for the
Defendant, who, upon being arraigned, pleaded Not
Guilty.
The CHIEF BARON called the Witnesses, as they
appeared from the Coroner's Irquisition.
John Lock—" I live at Hammersmith ; I am a
wine_merchant—On the 33 of this month, at half

vast ten at night I met Francis Smith, the Prisoner
at the bar : he told me that he had shot a man, who
he believed to nave been the pretended
.ghost.of
Hammersmith, (for there- had been a rumour of a
ghost in that neighbourhdod for a-length.,of time].
The watchman was in company with the Prisoner.

I went with him and the watchman : w went up to
- a Lane which we call Lime Kiln-lane, all three of us,
and also Mr. Stowe in company with us ; we went
to a lane which goes throuo another lane,. through
Lime Kiln-lane and Beaver Lane : we saw the de-
ceased lying apparently dead—we consulted what
was to be done with the body—Mr. Stowe and my-
self consulted, and I sent for the Constable to see
what was to be done. The body then had no ap..
pearance of life—it had the appearance of having
been shot at the upper part of the jaw. The Pri-
soner was then very much agitated. I told him what
I thought were the consequences ; he said he did
not know - it was Mulnewood was the individual
who had been killed. He seemed very much agi-
tated : he said that he had spoken to him twice,
and that he had received no answer."
Cross.examined—this Gentleman said,
.‘ There had been some talk of a ghost for
about five weeks previous to this, about HaMmer.
smith—T. had never 5e...; the person who was the
supposed ghost. I believe that several other par-
ties had gone out in the evenings before this to at-
tack this pretended ghost, and it was publicly
known and talked of. The dress (as described) of
this ghost, corresponded very much with that of
the unfortunate man who was shot-; it was that of
linen trowsers, and very clean white dress up.
wards, with a clean white apron. He was all
white, for the white trowsers came down ,uto his
feet ; he was a bricklayer by trade, as I have been
informed. The reputed appearance of the mis-
chievous person who pretended to be-the ghost, was
white._ The prisoner was in a wonderful trepida-
tion, so much so, that he could not speak for a while.
He afterwards said he had advanced to him; that
he called twice, and the figure, as he thought, ad-
vanced towards him, which raised his fear very
much. This is a very dark lane, and this was an ex.
tremely dark night—lt is dark in that spot even on
a light night, but that night was a remarkably dark
night, so that it was impossible to see any body at
the distance of a few yards The Prisoner is, in the
Excise—l have known him some time—he lives just
by me. I advised him to go to his lodgings—he
was very ready and• willing to surrender himself---
Ie
himself wished it in the first instancehe said
that to me, the moment he saw me—he.said I wish
to be taken into custody, and he .wishedme.to send
for some body. I have known him some timehis
disposition is a very mild one—he is a, man of hu-
manitypd generosity. I do not know.any body
who has any reason to say any thing against him—
he is generally beloved.—The watchman's name is
Girdler.".

Girdler, the watchman.—" I am a watchman at
Hammersmith : I was in company with Mr. Lock
on the 3J of this month, about half past ten :. I saw
the deceased lie on his back in the line ; he was
quite dead. I observed the wound on. his jaw, on.
the left side :it was by a shot. It was at Mr.
Honocr's I was called first, and that wis the occa_
sion of my going to Mr. Smith. They came to me •
at the White Hart at Hammersihith : this was after
the man was shot. I met ..Mr. Lock .and Mr.
Stowe at the corner of the lane. Mr. smith, the
Prisoner, said to me, he had hurt' a man. *I
said
to him " I hope you have not hurt him much." 'He
said " he Was afraid he had hurt him very
Mr. Smith and I went first, and Mr. Lock and Mr.
• Stowe came after'. Mr. SMith desired the to go.—
When we got to the place where the deceased was,
vie took him up and carried him to the Black Lion.
I Met the-Prisoner at the corner of Benier-lane that.
and he said to the-he was going to search for
this ghost, and that was about half ;in hour after
ten. I told him I should come too, as soon as I
had cried the hour, and as fast as possible. We
agreed on the watchword wl4n we -met in the lane,
it was to call out " Who comes there'?" thf: answer
was,'" a man ;" the reply was, "advance man;"
and then I went on my •business. just before I
came _to the Black Lion I heard a gun fired : I rook
no notice of it, because I had heard guns fired fre-
quently in the nighttime, almost every hour. The.
Prisoner had got the gun in his hand when I met
him at the corner of Beaver-lanc. The Prisoner
told Mr. Lock and Mr. Stowe that he would deliver
himself up immediately."
Crosi-examined—the Witness said, " at the time
I mei the Prisoner, he told me he was going after
the ghost : I had my arms as a watchman : it was
a very dark night indeed. I heard the rumour of
this ghost, and had seen it myself on the Thursday
before, and this was on th.e Tuesday. It was
covered over either with a white'sheet or a large
table cloth, as it appeared to me; it was near Bea-
ver-lane, just opposite the four mile stone : I pur-
sued it : he took the sheet or table cloth off and ran