The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-07 00:00:00

'II

ton, in this county, and stealing therefrom a quantity of plate
and other articles, the property of the said Alexander Sterling.
Mr. HILDVARD (the prisoner being defended by Mr. Will-
more) shortly stated the case on the part of the prosecution.
The evidence against the prisoner, as was considered by his
Lordship and the jury, was.very conclusive. On the night of
the 4th of June, the family of Mr. Sterling (Mr. Sterling is
since dead) retired to rest between ten and eleven o'clock,
leaving all the fastenings secure, but about half-past one o'clock,
er from that to two o'clock, on the morning of the sth, some of
the inmates were alarmed by hearing the noise of men in the
hall and lower rooms of the house. One of them was heard to
exclaim to the other, " come on ;" but whether more than two
men had entered the dwelling, the inmates could not determine.
A young woman screamed out of the front window, and by a
cry of" Murder," alarmed the whole neighbourhood. The in-
truders then made their escape, but not without taking with
them five silver teaspoons, three tablespoons, a pair of saltspoons.
a towel, and a mouselin-de-laine gown piece. Upon examining
the premises it was found that the thieves had taken out a
pane of glass, and had by that means been enabled to unbolt a
shutter and obtain admittance into the house. The next point
was to discover the depredators, and amongst the earliest at
the house of Sir. Sterling was Mr. Newbold, the constable of
Castle Donnington. In the house was found a glazed leather
hat, which Newbold at once identified as the hat. of Edward
(alias Teddy) Hood, a notorious eh iracter, with whom he had
been acquainted many years. He next ascertained that the
prisoner, together with Hood and another man named Dixon,
had been drinking in company at a public-house in Donningten,
kept by a man named Bosworth, the night previous to the rob,
berg, and that along with the rest of the company they
left about half-past eleven o'clock. From Bosworth's, Mr.
Newbold proceeded to the house of the prisoner's father,
and he there found that he had not been at home during the
night. On the morning of the sth, about five o'clock. the
prisoner, Dixon, and Hood called at a public-house called
the Paul Pry, about six miles on the Ashby road, and thence
they were all three traeed together to a public-house at
Ashby, where they stopped all day. In the first part of the
journey Hood was without a hat, but on his arrival at
Ashby, he had on a blue cap, which he had stolen from the
Paul Pry. When in the public-house at Ashby, the prisoner
Oldershaw said they had run away from Castle Donnington for
poaching, and he exhibited a number of table and tea-spoons, a
mousselin-de-laine dress, and a towel. Not content with the
mere exhibition of these articles he presented the landlady with
a teaspopn for her hahy, and also with a towel, both of which
she now produced at the trial, and swore most positively to the
prisoner. These articles were identified by members of Mr.
Sterling's fund)/ as stolen on the night of the robbery. For
several weeks no tidings were heard of the supposed thieves—
Dixon and Hood are still. out of the way—but a few days ago
the prisoner Oldershaw was apprehended at Loughborough.
These were the main facts of the case.

Mr. WlLLmoax, fur the defence, did not deny that a robbery
had been committed, and that the prisoner had been in pos-
session of the stolen articles, but from his instructions he
argued that on the night in question the prisoner, when in a
state of intoxication, had received the articles from the real
thieves, and that, when he:tame to his senses, he was so
alarmed upon hearing of the robbery that he was afraid to
return home.

The jury found the prisoner Guilty, and the CHIEF BARON
sentenced him to 10 years' transportation.

OXFORD ClRCUlT—Gloucester, Aug. 4.
CROWN COURT.,
Mr. Justice PATTEsoIr delivered a brief charge to the grand
jury. after which the Court proceeded With the trial of
William Gillespie, a young man of respectable appearance,
aged 24, who was indicted for having assaulted one Susannah
Cratchley, at Stroud, in this county, on the sth of July last,
with intent to commit a rape.
The prosecutrix stated, that upon the evening in question
she was walking about the streets of Stroud at about ten o'clock,
looking out fer a truant brother, Miles by name. At about
half-past ten she met a man, who turned out to be the pri-
soner; she thinking he was the object of her search, called
" Miles." when the prisoner answered, " I am not
Miles," and laid bold of her arm. She struggled hard to get
away, and begged him to let her go. He said he would net until
he had effected his purpose. Be then took indecent liberties
with her. She would not yield, and then the prisoner struck
her to the ground with a stick which he held in his right
hand. While on the ground she called out " Murder !" and
then succeeded in getting up. Prisoner knocked her down
again, and then walking off, apparently only a few yards, re-
turned, and endeavoured to persuade the girl that he knew
nothing of the transaction, and demanded of her, "Who has
done this? •if I knew who it was I would give him a good
hiding." The prosecutria was positive she was not mistaken
in the man, and that he was the prisoner.
A respectable-looking woman named Hunt was attracted to
the spot by cries of "Murder !" and observed the prisoner
standing by the side of the poor girl, and she (prosecutrix)
said," You are the man who did it." He denied, and at last
offered the girl some money, and suggested that the charge
should be " fixed " upon somebody else. A policeman
(Bishop) came up, and took the prisoner into custody. Upon
being asked if be knew anything of the character of the pro_
secutrix,,he stated that he had seen her walking about the
streets like a common prostitute.

His LORDSHIP summed up, and the jury found the prisoner
Guilty of a common assault ; when the Learned Judge sen-
tenced him to be imprisoned in the common gaol for two calen-
dar months.

WESTERN ClRCUlT.—Bridgewater, Aug. 4.
CROWN COURT.

Robert Chard and Betsy Chard were indicted, the former
for biirglariously breaking into the house of John Nash, near
Taunton, and stealing a silver spoon, and the latter for receiv.
ing it knowing it to have been stolen.

• -
It appeared that the prosecutor's house was properly fastened
up in the evening; the next morning it was discovered that
the house had been broken open, and that a silver spoon and
other articles had been taken. Several other burglaries having
been committed in the neighbourhood, the house of the male
prisoner aas searched, and several of the stolen articles were
found, and the female prisoner had possession of the spoon.
The prisoners were both found Guilty.
They were then indicted, the male prisoner for breaking into
the house of Mr. Hewett, and stealing two guns and a coun-
terpane.
It was clearly proved that Robert Chard was in possession of
most-of the articles shortly after the robbery, and the counter-
pane was found in the female prisoner's box.

The jury found the male piisoner Guilty, but Acquitted the
woman.

Mr. Justice EaLE then sentenced Robert Chard to be trans-
ported for life, and Betsy Chard to be imprisoned and kept to
hard labour for twelve months.

There were four other indictments against the prisoners.
James Adey and Mary Adey were indicted for having a
mould in their possession for the purpose of making counter-
feit coin.

It appeared that the male prisoner had taken lodgings in
Taunton, where he and the female prisoner lodged. Mary Adey
having gone to the shop of Mr. Fisher (a very respectable iron-
monger in the town) a great many times, and bought at each
time half-a-dozen spoons of Britannia metal, that gentleman's
suspicion became excited. He procured a warrant, which he
placed in the hands of the police, and he desired his porter to
follow her the next time she came to the shop. On the 26th
of May she came again and purchased five spoons of the same
metal. The porter followed her, and saw what house she
entered. Information was given to the police, and the house
was pointed out to them ; they opened the door, and, upon
their going in, they saw the female prisoner, and told her they
had a warrant for her. She went up stairs and into a room in
the second floor ; they followed her, and in the room they saw
James Adey sitting at the fire with a ladle, having in it melted
metal, and in his hand was a mould of plaster of Paris, from
which melted metal was then running. In the room the police
found a very large quantity of counterfeit half-crowns, shiLings,
and sixpences, and it was clearly shown that this system had
been practised for many months, the woman always stating that
she sold the spoons to farmers. On the occasion in question,
however, parts of the spoons were found in the room occupied
by the prisoners.
They were found Guilty, and sentenced to 15 years' trans-
portation.