The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

LON 10. N SA FUR II .AV F, V. "-,S'ey-, SE P '-'-'::: EM RER

POLICE INTELLIORNCB,Sept. 4.

MANSION HOUSE.

ROBBING EMPLOYERS.—Edward Goodchild, a
workman in the service of Messrs. Davis and Co.,
leather-cutters, Leadenhall-street, was b.-ought be-
fore the LDrd Mayor and Mr. Alderman Wire upon
the charge of having robbed his employers of six
pieces of leather, of the value of I.s. 9d.
The prisoner, who pleaded gniPy, and said it
was his first offence, was sentenced to three months'
imprisonment with hard labour.

r,
of Wednesday, last be was at the Belvidere public-
house, where he saw the defendant, and a conver-
sation—took -place about the robbery: Witness
asked the defendant if he really thought a robbery
had been committed ? and he replied, " Oh, yes ;
1,-am positibe there vas. You recollect when you
were there on Stiturday, the landlord called me
on one side and showed me a hundred sovereigns
that he had put in a small cloth bag, and then he
counted out a hundred more, and placed them in
a small box • and if he had the case to look of ex,
as he thought he should, and, not Sergeant Bond,
he could have found the money and the persc ns
who took it, as be knew who they were."
Mr. Norton—Are you sure he said he could find
the patties who committed the robbery?
Witness—Yes, sir ; he said BO ; and that he
knew where they were.
Some further evidence having been given,
Mrs. Coleman, the wife of the prosecutor, said
that onljthe night of the robbery, at about Lal -past
nine o'clock, the defendant came to the bar and
had a glass of gin ; and while doing so another
constable came in in a great hurry and had a
glass of porter, and hurried out again. The de-
fendant also left after taking his glass of gin, and
went out at the side door ; but whether he went
towards the street or the yard she could not say.
On the evening before the defendant came to the
bar, and having heard him say that he could find
the money and the thieves, she asked him why he
did not look after them. He replied, that he had
neither money nor clothes, but said he had given
the necessary information to Police-constable Shah-
brook, 120 P, who was acting on it. The witness
denied that she had ever tild the defendan', a; he
had stated, the amount of money lost, or th it it
had been in a box and a bag, as she was not awa• e
of the fact.
Shabbrock, 120, who is engaged in endeavour-
ing to detect the thieves, was called, and denied
having received any information from the de-
fendant.

Mr. Lund here informed the magistrate that
there was another witness he had ordered to be in
attendance, and that was a female who lived op-
posite the house of Mr. Coleman, and who on the
Light of the robbery saw a young man in Mr.
Coleman's bed-room with a lighted candle and a
cap on, but not being able to identify that person
she did not at' end. Mr. Lund further said that the
beat of the defendant was a considerable distance
from the residence of the prosecutor, and he (de-
fendant) had no right to expect that he should be
employed to trace the thieves. In reply to the
magistra.e, he said that the defendant had been in
the force about seven months, and entered with a
good character.
The defendant admitted that what lie said was
from mere bravado, and he was sorry for it.
Mr. Norton admitted that this was his own opi-
nion, and that he had nothing to do with the rob-
bery, but still ha conduct was exceedingly im-
proper. He was then discharged.

ALLEGED MURDER AT BRADLEY, NEAR
BILSTON, STAFFORDSHIRE.

COMMITTAL OF PHILIP CLARE FOR MURDER.
It will be in the rec dlection of our readers that
early in the morning of the 30th of April last the
body of a female named Elizabeth Hopley, and who
was employed as a banks woman at a colliery, was
found in a canal at Bileton. An inquest was held
on the following Friday, and adjourne I until Tues-
day, the sth of May, to give opportunity for a
post mortem examination. On the sth of May
there was a further aijournment until the 24th.
In the meantimea man of the name ofPhilip Clare,
a butty miner, in whose employment the girl Hop-
ley bad some time been, and who was believed to
harbour ill feelings against her, was apprehended
as her murderer, on the information of George
Powell, a watchman, who declared that he had wit-
nessed the whole transaction. Clare was taken be-
fore the stipendiary the next Tuesday, when
Powell repeated the statement he bad made to the
police. An adjourned inquest was fixed for the
following Tuesday, but before that day Powell ab-
sconded. The inquest was then further adjourned
in the first instance to the, 19th of Juue, and then
to the sth of October, whilst a warrant was issued
for the apprehension of Powell. Nothing was
heard of this person, however, until Monday last,
when he was taken to War wick Gaol, having broken
the workhouse windows on being refused relief.
Powell, who has lost a leg, had disused his wooden
substitute and taken a crutch. On being asked his
name by the warder at the prison, he gave that of
Powell, and then, recollecting himself, that of
Powis. This caused suspicion, and he was even-
tually identified and handed over to the authorities
at Bibton, where he arrived on Tuesday last. On
the evening of that day, Clare was again taken into
,custody, and yesterday morning an adjourned in-
quest was held at the White Lion, Bradley, kefore
W. P. Philips, Esq., deputy coroner. Mr. Water-
house, solicitor, Bilston, watched the proceedings
on behalf of Clare.
The first witness examined was the man Powell,
who deposed as fel'ows :—My name i 3 Samuel
Wall. lam a labourer, and have chiefly gone by
the name of George Powell. I have had no fixed
place of residence since my father's death. I did
not know the deceased. In February, March,
April, and May, I was employed as watchman for
Mr. David Rose. When I went to be watchman
at Mr. Roseia,l first became acquainted with Clare,
who introduced himself to. me. My duty was to
look after the fields and the engine during the
night. On the night that this happened I was out
on my beat. I thought it was then about half-past
twelve o'clock, but when I came into the main road
r heard the Moxley clock strike twelve. On corn-
ing to the railway bridge (Bradley Brdge), I saw
the shadows of two parsona on the bridge. I
could'se.e it was a man and a woman. This would
be about a quarter past twelve. On getting below
the bridge I heard a woman say, " Philip, don't
kill me ; you said you would kill ma before." I
then saw the man lift his hand and strike the -wo-
man. I think the blow was upon the head. It
knocked her down. I did not hear a word after
that. I then recognised the man as Philip-Clare,
who is now present. I went up t 3 him and said,
" Philip, you will have to suffer for this. He said,
" If you tell any one, kill you ; I'll serve you
the same.", I did not see the woman's face ; I
could not. She had like a red frock on, and was
quite a stout body. Clare then took the woman
on his shoulder ; she then remained insensible. I
followed Clare to the end of the wharf. He then
rope atml, "If you tell anybody, I will kill you ; I
will serve you the same, and I will set some,
body on to watch," He (Clare) then carried the
woman a little way further, and put the woman
into the water. There was only ohe blow struck
by Clare, a^d the woman never strug-
gled from that time till she was put into the water.
From first to last these things oempiel from a
quarter of an hour to twenty minutes. Wall con-
tinued that he then went away along the new rail-
road, and af,er having gone about a quarter of a
mile towards the "Mile engine" Clare overtook
him, again threatened him in the event of his in-
forming, and ultimately went off in the direction a
Moxley. Witness then went and *locked himself
up in the little engine, being in fear of his life He
was several times afterwards threatened by Clare,
and at lot went and gave information to the police.
On being asked bythe coroner why he had after-
wards absconded, Ee said it was because he was
afraid Clare would kill him.

On the deposition being read over, Wall
:"It's quite nght. sir ; that's the truth." In
answer to a juryman, he repeated that the night
was .a nice mo )nlight one; and to Mr. Whitehou3-,
who asked him why he had changed his name, he
replied that it was because he was the last of the
Walls.

Samuel Hall, Lea Brook, a watchman- on the
Great Western Railway,- was next called, and his
former evidence read over to him. Oa being askel
if he had any additional matter to communicatp,
he said that about 11 o'clock on the night in ques-
tion he was watching the Bradley Bri•lge for
another watchman, when he heard a man and
a woman talking on the bridge in a common way.
He went to sleep afterwards, but was awoke by a
loud screaming noise, as of a woman. The first
words he heard were " Don't hit me." Imme-
diately afterwards he heard her say," You said you
'would, but don't—don't." lie then went ou:side,
and heard Some people hiking, but could not
say whether they were men or women. He sat
down again for about twenty minutes, after which
lie heard somebody on the line, and shor ly after-
wards a goods train came up. The! train arrived,
as appeared by the emnpauy's books, at 11.45 =ha',
night. Hall said he had not made this sta‘ement
(3/40 his first exalainatioo, b cause he had no busi-
ness at the bridge at that Iran-, and he did nut
want it to be known that he had been th re. At
the time he thought that the voices were those of
people quarrelling in same adjoining hou;es; and
in answer to Mr. Whlehouse, he said that the
loud screaming occurred before he heard the words
he had repeated.
Samuel Whitmore, -an engineer, was examined
on the part of Clare, He slid t' at he was at work
at Bradley Field on the day of the alleged miirde-.
He heard afttrwardi that old George knew of it.
Directly afterwardi he met George, and told him
what he had heard, and recommended him to go
at once and speak the truth. He replied that ho
did not know Clare, never saw him in his lile, and
had only passed the bridge on the night of the
murder at half-past 10.
The jury returned a verdict of " Wilful mur-
der" against Clare, who was committed for trial on
the coroner's warrant. When the reporters were
leaving the room, the prisoner said, "Gentlemen, 1