The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, 'WEDNESDAY EVENING,

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.-MAIDSTONE, DEC. 7.

The commission for the county of Kent was
opened in this town on Monday, by Mr. Justice
Wightman, and to-day business was proceeded
with at 10 o'clock. The calendar contains the names
of 34 prisoners, and. there is one charge of murder
and several other serious cases to be disposed of.
William Chalklin, 35, pleaded guilty to an in-
dictment which charged him with uttering a forged
certificate, with intent to defraud. _

Mr. Bodkin, who appeared for the prosecution,
informed the court that the prisoner was the secre-
tary to a benefit society itt Tunbridge, and that he
had taken advantage of the fact that it was neces-
sary to have the certificate of Mr. Tidd Pratt that
every such institution was framed according to law,
to represent that a fee of 30s. was required for
such certificate, and he produced a receipt for that
amount, which he represented he had paid. No fee
at all was required for a certificate of this descrip-
tion, and the prisoner, by the representation he had
made, had defrauded the society of the amount.

•
• Sentence was deferred.
William Preston, 21, was charged with stealing
a post letter containing a 20 franc piece, the pro-
perty of the Postmaster-General.
Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Hurrah conducted the pro-
secution ; the prisoner was defended by Mr. Ribton.
The prisoner was engaged as a letter carrier at
Sheerness, and it seemed that in consequence of
complaints that had been made of letters being lost
Mr. Jeffrey, a gentleman connected with the head
office, was sent down to make inquiries, and on the
7th Sept. a test letter containing some lace and a 20
franc piece, addressed to a Miss Lee, at Miletown,
Sheerness, was handed to Mr. Rigg the postmaster, to
be posted, and he placed it in the letter-box, and
then went into the office and took it out and kept
it in his pocket until the following morning, when
the letter was stamped and placed among aquantity
of other letters for the prisoner to deliver. The
prisoner, it appeared, did not deliver the letter in
due course, and when he handed it to Miss Lee he
said that he had forgotten it, and had brought it
back from Victory-street, which was another por-
tion of his delivery. Upon the letter being opened
the coin was found to have been abstracted, and the
prisoner was taken into custody immediately and
searched, but the missing money was not found.
Mr. Rigg, the postmaster, was very severely
cross-examined by Mr. Ribton, who elicited from
him that there had been previous complaints of
irregularities in reference to the manner in which
the business of the Post-office at Sheerness was
performed, and that upon one occasion the prisoner
had brought back a shilling which he said he had
found in his bag, and which had slipped out of a
letter that had by some means or otherbecome open.
Mr. Rigg also stated that upon another occasion a
money order had been paid without being signed
by the party who was entitledto receive the money,
and the Post-office authorities disallowedthe amount
in his accounts in consequence of the omission.
Mr. Ribton made a very earnest appeal to the
jury on behalf of the prisoner, and he contended
that after the admission of the postmaster as to the
careless manner in which the business was con-
ducted, it was extremely probable the coin had got
out of the letter by accident, and that at all events
there was an utter absence of evidence that it had
been stolen by the prisoner. He also took an ob-
jection in point of law that under the circumstances
in which this letter came into the possession of the
prisoner, and it having been merely put into the
letter box, and then taken out again, and kept in
the postmaster's pocket until the following morn-
ing, that it did not constitute a post letter within
the meaning of the statute. •
Mr. Justice Wightman said that, if it should be-
come necessary he thought the question of law
raised by Mr. Ribton was worthy of further con-
sideration. He then proceeded to call the atten-
tion of the jury to the facts of the case ; and, after
a short deliberation, they returned a verdict of not
guilty.
The prisoner was then charged upon a second in-
dictment with stealing a lettr containing a half-
crown.
The same learned counsel were engaged for the
prosecution and the defence.
In this case it appeared that a letter had been
sent by P, Miss Barnes, who resided in London, to
her mother, at Sheerness, which letter contained a
half-crown. The letter was posted in London on
Sept. 7, and in due course should have been de-
livered by the prisoner at Sheerness on the follow-
ing morning, and it appeared that he did deliver
two other letters that were addressed to Mrs.
Barnes, but the third that contained the half-crown
lie kept back, and it was found in his possession
when he was taken into custody upon the former
charge. He accounted for having the letter in his
possession by saying that he had forgotten it, and
that lie intended to deliver it as he returned.
Mr. Ribton, in his address to the jury for the
prisoner, said he believed there could be no doubt
that but for the former case the Post-office autho-
rities would never have, thought of bringing such a
charge as this before a jury, and that there really
was no evidence whatever to support the accusation
that was made against the prisoner. He then ar-
gued that there was nothini, to show that the pri-
soner had not really forgotten to deliver this letter,
and that if he had intended to steal it, nothing, he
said, would have been easier than for him to have
torn it up and put the half-crown in his pocket,
and that the fact of his not having done so showed
clearly that he had no dishonest intention.
The jury retired to consider their verdict, and
in about half an hour they returned into court and
gave a verdict of not guilty.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LIVERPOOL, DEC. 7.
CROWN SlDE.—(BefOre Mr. Justice Hill.)
MANSLAUGHTER AT MANCHESTER.
Jonathan Brompton, aged 41, was indicted for
the manslaughter of Henry Mellor, at Manchester,
in September last.
Mr. Torr appeared for the prosecution; Mr.
Wheeler and Mr. Roberts defended the prisoner.
From the evidence of a number of witnesses, it
appeared that about one o'clock on the morning of
the 28th of September last, a drunken quarrel took
place in a public-house in Deansgate, Manchester,
in which the prisoner took part. The prisoner, who
had been:suffering from rheumatism, carried a large
walking stick in his hand, which, during the
quarrel, he threatened to run through the head of
the deceased, and suiting the action to the word,
darted it at the face of Mellor. The point of the
stick entered the deceased's left eye, and wounded
the brain. Mellor was conveyed on a stretcher to
the Royal Infirmary, but expired before he arrived
there.
Mr. Wheeler, for the defence, admitted that the
deceased had come by his death at the hands of the
prisoner, but urged that he had fallen accidentally
against the point of the stick, which the prisoner
had raised in his own defence.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the
prisoner was sentenced to imprisonment for six
calendar months, with hard labour.
EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF SHOOTING AT LIVER-
POOL.
A coloured man, named Nathaniel Hitchin, aged
49, was charged with having feloniously. shot
Francis Cowes, another coloured man, with intent
to do him grievous bodily- harm.
Mr. Tindal Atkinson appeared for the prosecu-
tion ; Mr. Little for the defence.
Mr. Atkinson said the prosecutor was steward of
a vesssel trading to Liverpool, and the prisoner
was also a seafaring man, being the cousin of the
prosecutor's wife. On the 9th- of September last,
about half-past 10 o'clock at night, the prisoner
went to the prosecutor's lodgings in Regent-road,
Liverpool, and sat moodily down on the sofa. After
threatening the prosecutor with a sword, he seized
a pistol belonging to Cowes, which was lying on the
table, and although cautioned that it was loaded,
and that it was on cock, he fired it, the two slug
shots with which it was loaded entering the pro-
secutor's thigh, causing two wounds, each four
inches in depth.
Francis Cowes, the-prosecutor, stated in his evi-
dence that after the prisoner had fired the pistol,
he said " It was lucky that he did not get his brains
blown out."
The prosecutor, in •cross-examination, admitted
that he was willing to compromise the charge if
the prisoner would pay him 25 dollars.
Mr. Little, for the defence, contended that the
prisoner had no intention of shooting the prose-
cutor, the pistol having accidentally gone off.
The jury found the prisoner guilty of unlawfully
wounding, and he was sentenced to three months'
imprisonment with hard labour.

CIVIL SlDE.—(Before Baron Bramwell and a
Special Jury.)
HARTLEY V. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY COMPANY.
This was an action to recover the value of 869
cubic feet of timber, which it was alleged the de-
/ ,fendants had wrongfully detained and converted to
fLeir own use. The defendants denied that they
h. ill either detained or converted, and they also
deoied that the timber was the property of tLe
plai,
Mr. Hartley is au innkeeper at CAnc, and has a
timber. -yard at Skipton, in Yorkshire. In the spring
of 1855 ,he purchased at a sale _in the country a
large quklmtitY of round English timber, and very
scon after yards he sold the whole of this timber to
a gentlema 1. named Nuttall, whose 'places of busi-
ness are at
xlanehester and Bolton. Mr. Nuttall
stipulated th
Qt the timber should be delivered
within a speei.iied. time, in default of which the
bat gain was to be null and void. Mr. Hartley
seat the timber to Elsback, where the defendants
have a station, .ith ipstructions that it was to be

delivered to Mr. Nuttall, but that they did not de-
liver the whole of it in time, and some 2,800 cubic
feet were left upon tho plaintiff's hands. He al-
lowed it to remain, however, at the station until
April, 1856, when he sold it all, except 869 cubic
feet, which he directed should be sent to the Rib-
chester station of the Lancashire and' Yorkshire
Railway, consigned to himself. The station mas-
ter at the Riblester station said the timber was
delivered to a person named Halliwell, to whom
the invoice was made out; but some days after
Halliwell had taken it away, another invoice was
received, in which his name was struck out, and
that of the plaintiff inserted. It was too late, how-
ever, the timber having been previously taken
away by Halliwell, and no notice of the fact was
given to the plaintiff, who remained in ignorance
of it until some six months afterwards, by which
time Halliwell was in prison. After a good deal
of correspondence, an action was brought by the
plaintiff in the county court, which was removed to
the superior courts, and has since 1857 been in
abeyance. The plaintiff swore positively that he
directed the station master at Elsback to make out
the invoice in his own name, and that he never
authorised its being delivered to Halliwell. The
station master has since died; and Halliwell,
having taken advantage of the Insolvent Debtors'
Act, had absconded. In his schedule he included
the value of the timber in the amount of his debt
to the plaintiff, and Mr. Hartley, although he had
been appointed assignee, had taken no formal
steps to get the amount of his !debt as scheduled
reduced. The defendants relied a good deal upon
this fact, but the plaintiff stated that he had never
noticed the amount mentioned in the schedule,
although he told. the judge who heard the insol-
vent's case that his claim was £7O, and not £l2O.
The jury, after a very short deliberation out of
court, found a verdict for the plaintiff—damages,
£4B. ss.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.—Dec. 7.

Before, Mr. Pashley, Q.C., Assistant-Judge, at
Clerkenwell.)
THE QUEEN V. CAPRON.

This was a case in which an indictment had been
found against the defendant, Mr. Thomas Wm.
Capron, for an assault upon Mr. Morris.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine, on the part of the pro-
secution, came down specially to apply to the court
to fix a day for the trial.
The Assistant-Judge said he thought it was a ease
for exhibition of articles of the peace, not indictment.
Mr. Metcalfe, on the part of the defendant, asked
that the case might be postponed until the next
session. Mr. Capron had been held to bail to answer
any charge that might be preferred against him at
the sessions, not any specific charge, and this indict.
ment having been preferred and found, he was not
yet prepared for the defence.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine opposed the application
on the ground that the defendant perfectly Well
knew the nature of the charge. He assaulted Mr.
Morris, and the magistrate bound him over in two
sureties of £5OO each, and his own recognisance of
£l,OOO to appear here. He asked that Thursday
should be named for the trial. _ _

Mr. Metcalfe handed in an affidavit sworn by the
defendant, stating that he had not had sufficient
time to prepare his defence, and ultimately it was
arranged, on the suggestion of the learned judge,
that the case should stand over until next session,
on the first day of which a time for the trial would
be fixed, if necessary. •
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine said h;s client desired to
be placed iri the witness-box, and his wishes in that
respect perfectly and entirely coincided With his
(Sergeant Ballantine's) own opinion.
Mr. Metcalfe said there was no intention of ar-
ranging the matter.
The case was then ordered to stand over.

John Centerdon, 20, and George Jones, 23, were
indicted for feloniously breaking and entering the
dwelling-house of Mary Passey, and stealing therein
six silver spoons and other articles, her property.
The prosecutrix was a widow, living at 27,Eagle-
street, City-road. On the night of the Ist Nov.,
before she retired to rest, she secured all the doors
and windows in the ordinary way; but during the
night the panel of the shutter of the front parlour
window was taken out with a chisel, and an en-
trance effected by a thin knife being inserted
between the sashes, and the catch slipped back.
The contents of the cupboard, a time-piece, and
some money were carried off by the thieves. The
prisoners endeavoured to sell some spoons to Mr.
Lewis, refiner, of Old-street, but he would not
purchase: The police, from information, received,
took Centerdon into custody, and after being cau-
tioned, he said, "Nell, I may as well tell you all I
know about it. I did not break into the house, but
me and Blowy (the other prisoner) went with the
stug to Lewis's in the morning ; we left it there,
and were told to call again in an hour. When we
went back he would not buy it. Blewy then
said, ' We have another market for it,' and took me
into Golden-lane. He carried the silver into a
shop—a wardrobe shop, on the left-hand side, and
I waited at the door. He got 17s. for the spoons,
and showed me the money when he came out. The
policeman then apprehended Jones, in whose pos-
session they found a knife, with which the window
could have been opened. Centerdon's boots corre-
sponded with some mortar marks on the premises.
The prosecutrix said the spoons she lost were
marked " W.M.P.” Mr. Lewis stated that those
offered by Jones to him for sale were plain. Jones
assured the jury that he merely went to sell the
spoons for the other prisoner, who when his turn
came made an ingenious address„contending that
the discrepancy in the description of the spoons
offered to Mr. Lewis and those stolen was fatal to
the charge against them, or at least infused so
much doubt into the case that they ought to have
the benefit of it, and be acquitted. As to the boot
marks, he submitted that there were hundreds of
thousands of boots of the same size and description
in wear ; and the spoons which Jones sold for him
were in his possession the day before the robbery
took place.
An alibi was pressed in favour of Jones.
The Assistant-Judge summed up, and the jury,
after some deliberation, found the prisoners Not
Guilty, giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Jones said the policeman had stated that he
(Jones) had been convicted at this court in January
1856. That was a lie ; and it was very important
to him, as he had his living to get, that such a
statement should be contradicted.
The Assistant-Judge said that was a matter
between the prisoner and the constable.

(Before Mr. Creasy.)
William Arnold, 37, carman,• was indicted for
stealing nine bushels of mixed corn, the property
of William Sturge and another, his masters, and
James Bean, 56, and Thomas Bean, 27 (father and
son), were indicted for feloniously receiving the
same, knowing it to have been stolen.

Mr. Cooper prosecuted. Mr. Metcalfe appeared
for the receivers.

The prosecutors are coal merchants in the City-
road, and the prisoner Arnold, as one of their car-
men, had been entrusted with food for the horses
when he was sent out with coal. This, it appeared,
he had sold, or disposed of in some other way, in-
stead of feeding the horses with it, and he was
watched. The other prisoners were seen to drive
after him in a cart, and he handed them three
sacks, containing nine bushels of mixed provender,
with which they drove off. The younger Bean
was a carman in Macclesfield-street South, and
his father worked for hini.

The jury retired to consider their verdict. Ulti-
mately they found all three Guilty, and recom-
mended the younger Bean to mercy. Arnold was
sentenced to- six, Bean the younger to five, and
Bean senior to ten months' hard labour.

A great number of ordinary cases of simple lar-
ceny and larceny from the person were disposed of
in the two courts. They were of no interest.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—Dec. 7.

MANSION-HOUSE.—John Freeman was
charged with having been drunk, and wholly
unable to drive his cab.

A policeman said—About one o'clock in the
morning I saw a cab and horse standing near the
London Tavern, unattended, and soon after the de-
endant, who said he was the driver, came up, and
was so much in liquor that I considered it necessary
to take him to the station-house. We had a great
deal of trouble with him.
The defendant said he was no more drunk at the
time he was taken into custody than he was at the
moment- he appeared before the magistrate. He
thought it too bad that he should be dragged away
from his cab, which he had only left for a moment
in order to go into the London Tavern, where he
had a fare waiting, so that he not only had to pa
the expenses of the Green-yard in which his cab
was detained, but he lost his fare.

Sir R. W. Cardensaiiiieconsidered the punish•
ment already suffered was sufficient, and discharged
the defendant, after having admonished him against
the disgraceful habit which led to his punishment.
The defendant—l shall never expose myself
again, my lord.
Ellen Smith w :s examined charged with having
stolen a purse containing £6 Bs., the property of a
gentleman unknown.
The police heard a cry of " Police," and upon
going up to the spot saw the woman with a gen-
tleman who gave her into custody on a charge of
robbery. The woman denied that she had stolen

DECEMBER 8, 1858.

anything, but the officer found the purse- in her-
hand when she was taken to the station-house.
The prisoner was remanded.

BOW-STREET.—George Philp, a letter carrier,
who had been twenty-three years in the service of
the Post-office, appeared before Mr. Jardine, on a
summons cnarging him with having removed two
postage stamps from a letter, substituting other
stamps which had been previously used, andthereby
defrauding the Post-office.
He pleaded guilty.
Mr. Peacock stated that the defendant had for
some time been employed to take letters from the
box at the Borough branch office,:and to obliterate
the stamps in the usual manner. It had been for
some time suspected that he was in the habit of
removing and appropriating the stamps, for which
old ones that had been used on other letters, and
already obliterated, were substituted. In order to
test him five letters were prepared and posted at

that office, one with two penny stamp; and the
others with one stamp each, all of which were
marked. He was then watched and was seen to
substitute old stamps in the manner suspected, and
on being searched. the stamps which had been
taken from the letters were found on him. The
summons related to the letter from which the two
stamps were taken, as it was not thought neees-
sary to proceed in every case. The Post-office
authorities much regretted to see a man, who had
been so many years in their servico, placed in such
a position, but they had reason tobelieve that this
practice was carried to a very great extent, and
they felt it their duty to make an example.
Mr. Jardine (to the defendant)—You are liable to
a penalty of £2O, but you have punished yourself
to an extent far beyond any penalty that I could
inflict. You lose your character, your situation,
and your superannuation, because you chose to
steal a trumpery twopence or threepence. I can-
not conceive how a man's understanding can be so
deficient—even if he had no sense of right and
wrong—that he can be fool enough to do such a
thing. Ido not make these remarks to add to the
pain you must suffer with the prospect of starvation
or the workhouse before you and your wife and
family, but in the hope that they may possibly in-
duce others who may be about to commit some simi-

lar act to pause, and consider the serious conse-
quences of such paltry dishonesty. You are liable
to a fine of £2O. I know you cannot pay that, but
I cannot mitigate the penalty lower than 405., for
it is right that others, in mercy to themselves,
should be deterred from such offences.

Charles Field, the cabman, on whose behalf nume -
rous charitable persons have lately forwarded sub-
scriptions, waited on Mr. Jardine, who paid him
the balance of the money received on his account.
Previous advances had been made to him according
to his requirements, and he had been enabled to
establish himself in a small business, from which he

hopes to derive a comfortable subsistence. He de-
sired to express in the newspapers his heartfelt
gratitude for the bounty of the public. The total
amount received for him was £l4 16s. sd.
Mr. Jardine has received for the poor box one
half of a £5 note from. Lord C., who requested an
acknowledgment.