The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-01 00:00:00

the Court, and asking what he was to do about the
I 0 U. This letter was taken to the prisoner by
Mrs. Foottit, and having read it, he made a memo-
randum in pencil, saying nothing about the I 0 U
or the Lo due, and requested her to take back the
letter to her husband, saying that he should send
the money next day, but this he failed to do. In
another letter the prisoner spoke of the balance due
to Foottit upon the I'o U, stating why he had not
been able to pay it. _ _ .

Mr. O'Brien, in addressing the jury on behalf of
the prisoner, remarked upon the account drawn up
by Foottit, and his receipt for £l9 in cash in dis-
charge of the whole debt, given after the prisoner
had told him that he was about to go to York Castle
to take the benefit of the Insolvent Debtors' Act,
and called upon the jury to consider whether the
prisoner might not have intended to give the true
version of what passed on the 6th of January, the
letters not being in his possession, but only the ac-
count and the receipt in full.
Mr. Bristowe having replied.
The learned Judge summed up, telling the jury
that if the question depended upon the oath of
Foottit alone they could not find the prisoner
guilty, but that, looking at the letters which had
been put in evidence, and in which the prisoner had
never denied owing the I 0 U when applied to for
payment by Foottit, it would be for them to say
whether the prisoner could have been giving a true
account upon the trial in the County Court.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the
prisoner was sentenced to two months' imprison-
ment.

Joseph Calver was indicted for stealing a purse
containing £1 7s. 6d. The case presented no feature
of public interest, but in the course of it it appeared
that one of the witnesses had been committed to
prison and confined there up to- the time of the
assizes (three weeks), by order of the magistrates
for want of sureties who would be responsible for
her appearance as a witness. The prisoner having
been acquitted, the learned judge expressed his sur-
prise at the course taken by the justices, and inti-
mated his opinion that except in extreme cases the
magistrates ought to be satisfied with binding over
witnesses in their own recognizances.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—EXETER, JULY 30.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron Bramwell.)
John Bolt, aged 14, and William Hellings, aged
13, were convicted of setting fire to stacks of hay.
Mr. Baron Bramwell said this was a very bad
offence, and the prisoners were very bad boys and
he would endeavour to make them better. He
should give them such a punishment as they would
never forget, for if they were going again to set a
rick on fire they might remember how their backs
tingled; he should sentence them to be imprisoned
for one month, and to be kept to bard labour and
to be twice well whipped, once-at the beginning of
the term and once at the end of the term, and at
the expiration of the month Bolt to be sent to a
reformatory for two years, and Hellings for five
years; and he made this distinction because Hel
lings was a younger boy and had no parents or
friends to take care of him.
The idea of the whipping made young Hellings
cry most terribly, A turnkey interfered to stop
him, but the Judge said he might cry now, but he
would soon have something more to cry for.
Daniel Bowles was convicted of setting fire to a
stack of barley, and sentenced to eight years' penal
servitude.
John Pady and John flooding were indicted for
uttering a counterfeit half-crown, on the 9th of
July, at Broad Clyst.
Mr. Coleridge prosecuted and Mr. Cole defended
the prisoners.
The question raised in the case was rather
curious. The coin was a pennypiece, which had
been coloured or silvered in some way to pass for a
half-crown, although the pennypiece had on it
" Britannia," and the halfcrown had on it the shield.
Therefore the contention was that this was not a
counterfeit coin. By the 2d of William IV., chap.
34, sec. 21, it was said that any of the Queen's cur-
rent coin which should been gilt, silvered, washed,
coloured or cased over, or in any manner altered so
as to resemble, or be apparently intended to resem-
ble or pass for any of the Queen's current coin of a
higher denomination, should be deemed and taken
to be counterfeit coin within the meaning of this
Act. It was urged that this could not be said to re-
semble a coin as to bring the case within the
statute.
Mr. Baron Bramwell said he would consult his
learned brother, and, if it should become necessary,
he would reserve the point.
It appeared that the prisoners, who had lived in
the neighbourhood, when at a publichouse, were
showing how they could colour copper coin so-as to
look like silver, and. they did it for two or three
people ; and they said they would have a lark, and
in the course of the evening they passed two of
these coins. The prosecutor at first thought it had
been done for a lark.
Mr. Colo contended that the prisoners had no
idea of committing a felonious act. Persons who
did these things always washed the coin in private,
they did not do it before a number of persons. The
prisoners had done a most foolish act, which they
now much regretted.
Most excellent characters were given to the pri-

soners.
The learned Judge having summed up.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty, but most
strongly recommended them to mercy.
The Judge said he would consult Mr. Justice
Crompton, and he would have them bailed till
Monday morning.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, July 30.
CROWN SIDE.
(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn.)
Wm. Weir, 39, late a warder in the convict pH-
eon at Chatham, was charged upon five indictments
with burglary.
Mr. F. J. Smith prosecuted; the prisoner was
defended by Mr. Doyle.
The circumstances of this case were of a peculiar
and unusual character. It appeared that the prisoner
had been for 13 months employed as a warder at
the convict prison at Chatham, and he had con •
ducted himself in such an exemplary manner as to
gain the entire confidence of his superiors,andat
the time of his apprehension he had been promoted
to the rank of barrack-sergeant on foreign service,
and was about to proceed to Plymouth to receive
instruction in his duties. The prisoner had for-
merly been in the 95th Regiment, and received
clasps for the battles of the Alma, Inkerman, and
Balaklava. His conduct as a soldier was most ex-
cellent, and upon the return of the regiment to
England he was invalided, and was subsequently
appointed to the L division of police, and received
a high testimonial of character from Sir R. Mayne
upon his leaving the force to take the situation of
Warder at the Chatham prison. It 'appeared that
during the last few weeks several burglaries had
taken place at Chatham, and the inquiries made by
Mr. Everest, the superintendent of police stationed
at Chatham, who is an officer of great experience,
led him to suspect the prisoner, but his position
and the estimation in which he appeared to be held
by those acquainted with him, deterred him at first
from taking active proceedings. On the night of
the.l2th of July the premises of a beershop-keeper
at Gillingham were broken into and a workbox
and other articles stolen, and it appeared that on
the 15th the prisoner and his wife were about to
leave Chatham to proceed to Plymouth, Just as the.
the train was about to start, Everest went on to the
platform at Strood and asked the prisoner if he had
any objection to his luggage being examined, he said
he had not, and Everest examined some boxes that
were pointed out to him, but found nothing that
would justify him in detaining the prisoner, and he
consequently allowed him and his wife to proceed
on their journey. Immediately after the train had
started, the officer ascertained that on the previous
day several packages had been sent to the
station addressed to the prisoner, which were
to have been sent on to London by the goo
train, and upon Everest examining these pack-
ages he found a portion of the produce of no less
than five different burglaries that had been re-
cently committed. He also found a double-barrelled
pistol loaded with slugs, some chisels that corre-
sponded in size with the marks upon sonic of the
premises that had been broken open, a centrebit,
and a dark-lantern. A telegraphic message was im-
mediately sent to stop the prisoner at Woolwich,
and Everest proceeded by the next train and took
him into custody, One of the singular facts in this
case was, that the property taken by the prisoner
appeared to be of the most trumpery description
and of small value, and he did not appear to have
sold any portion of the articles that had been stolen.
Mr. Doyle, in the course of a very able address
to the jury on behalf of the prisoner, called their
attention to the remarkable nature of the case, and
he urged the extreme improbability that a man
who had beet proved to have all his life borne a
?lost extraordinary good character, should have
committed such offences as those that were now im-
puted to him. lie said he solemnly asserted his in-.
nocence, and the way in which he was instructed
to account for the possession of the property was
that he had exchanged some of his furniture for it
with a man who travelled about the country.
The jury, after a very short deliberation, returned
a:verdict of guilty.
The learned judge, in passing sentence, said ho
regretted to have to do so upon a man who no doubt
hail for a considerable time borne a most excellent
chiracter, and to have enjoyed the confidence of
those who employed them. It was clear, however,
that he had committed all these burglaries, and it
was perfectly absurd to suppose that he could have
purchased the produce of five different burglaries