The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-21 00:00:00

LEICESTERSHIRE MICHAEL MAS

SESSIONS.
SINGULAR CASE.-A GIPSY APPELLANT VICTORIOUS.
SMITH V. MORRIS AND SWANK.

This was an appeal against a conviction of the appellant
(one Nathaniel Smith) by C. C. Morris, Esq., and the Rev.
Swami, at the East Norton Petty Sessions, as a rogue and
vagabond, and sending him to prison for fourteen days—the
said Nathaniel Smith havint, it was alleged, lodged under a
tent in the parish of Knossington, without any visible means
of subsistence, or being able to give any good accaunt of him-
self.

Mr. Ifildyard appeared for the respondents, and Mr.
Macaulay for appellant.
Mr. IlthnvanD stated the respondent's case, and observed
that the present action arose out of the fact of a young girl,
about thirteen years of age, being seduced by another female,
a gipsy. who had told her fortune, to leave her service and
join a band of gipsies—Making this girl believe that. it was
a very pleasant life to lead, wandering about from place to
place, sleeping at night with the men, and living upon the
offerings" which the men brought in.
Mr. MACAULAY here said that if his Learned Friend would
put the conviction in, he (Mr. M.) thought he could cave a
good deal of trouVe by at once objecting to the conviction
as had upon the face of it.
The conviction was then put in, and read to the following
effect: That, on the 26th of September, 1845, at the East
Norton Petty Sessions, " Nathaniel Smith is convicted be-
fore us Charles Campbell Mon is, Esq., and the Reverend
Charles Swann, two of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace
in and for the said country (of Leicester), of being a ro'nre
and vagabond within the intent and meaning'of the statute
made in the fifth year of his late 'Majesty George IV.,
intituled An Act for the punishthent of idle and disorderly
persons and rogues and vagabonds,' &c., that to say, for
that the said Nathaniel Smith, on the. 27th day Vuly net,
at Knossington, in the said county, did lode tfr a tent
• in a certain lane in the said parish of Knossington, riot
having any visible means of subsistence, ant: tot giving a
good account of himself;" &c., &c. e • concluded by serviiig
the said Nathaniel" to the house of correction for fouricca
days' hard labour. Against this conviction notice of appeal
was given at the time. •
• Mr. Macaut,ay then objected to the conviction as being
bad on the face of it. The offence alleged to have been
committed by the appellant ought to have been fu!lv stated
in the conviction, which had been made under the 'Vagrant
• Act, 5 George IV., cap. 83, sec. 4, which said; " Every person
wandering abroad and lodging i,t any barn or outhouse, or
in any deserted or unoccupied building, or in the open air, or
under a tent, not having any visible means of subsistence,
and not giving a good account of himself or herself, shall be
deemed a rogue and vagabond within time true intent and
meaning t this Act," &c. Now, unless all these ingredients
concurred, the elffence contemplated was not committed; that
was, if a person could not give a good account of hinv.elf,
and had no visible means of subSistence, yet, if he was not
wandering abroad, he was not a• rogue and vagabond within
the meaning of the Act: Appellant had been convicted as a
rogue and vagabond, but the conviction did not state that
he was wandering abroad, or in what the offence consisted,
as it ought to have done,
After a brief consultation, the COURT decided that, in point
of form, the conviction was bad, not containing the words
" wandering abroad," &c. They therefore quashed it.
. .

1111'. HILDYARD said there could be no djubt the insertion
of the words " wandering abroad " was essential in a con-
vie:ion under the 'Vagrant Act; otherwise parties of sub-
stance who chose to erect a tent in their own yard, and sleep
in this tent, on a summer night, might stand a chance of
being convicted as gigues and vagabonds.—(Laughter.)
[The sudden termination of this case on a point of law pre-
vented many interesting facts from being brought out, and its
being seen, also, whether gipsies—simply because they arc a
wandering tribe, with " every man's hand against them," and
theirs perhaps against every man (if all that is said of them
be true). are therefore to be left without remedy when the
law has been harshly or unjustly strained against them. These
facts, as far as we have heard them, were as follows :—On the
26th of July last, the appellant, who is a widower, en-
camped, together with his relations, Plato Smith and I'mlet
(Plato's wife), Dives Smith and his wife, and a younger fe-
male of the same name, at. Knossington, on the public road
between Owston and Oakham. Between two and three o'clock
the following morning, P. C. Morris, accompanied by five other
men, went to this encampment, handcuffed the appellant
and Dives Smith as they lay asleep, and, without any expla-
nation, took them and 'Violet Smith into custodv, besides
taking appellant's two horses, a cart, a watch, three sove-
reigns, four shillings, and sixpence, which were found on the
person of Nathaniel Smith, the appellant. The pri• on: Ts
were then conveyed to East Norton, and when arrived there.
were placed in the care of the constable of that place. The
men, however, made their esrmpe—aF,stated by Hildvard
_but, on the 26th of September, they surrendered them-
selves, and were convicted by the East Norton Bench as
rogues and vagabonds, as above described; and this was the
conviction now appealed against.. The woman Violet Snyth
was apprehended on a charge of felony, and, on that, chasge,
committed for trial at the Midsummer Assizes, by the float.
mi. W. Wilson. The alleged fe:ony consisted in stealing the
gown of the young girl stated by Mr. Ilildyard to have lice!:
" seduced" by the gipsies; the gipsies. hoa ever, said that,
so far from having ensnared the girl, they had met with
her -while she was wandering about; had taken her
iirtr
their camp out of compassion ; that they were
wn, sat fr.extion,
to get rid of her again ; and that
baeiiinlagrrsitetdilewn,mwn-aans,e:yalsis IslogesdmiNalp Violet.tler'se ,Smith, ° t 4
n that the gown of
this girl of thirteen fitted her exactly. The case, as we men•
floated at the time, was scarcely "opened,"
when the inclge
(Chief tiet74bofrsvnicillga aNn.ery
i'dtl!.°lieginl::.:
tortured into a charge of felony—and the pris"rer was at oi.ce
on
tllO Baronll)i.i3 to Pollock)use no
stringersto T.pd
acquitted under his Lordship's direCtion. Had the :Tyco:
col gone iota, it would have been urged, we bel,eve, out
behalf of the appellant, that the evidet ce of the p,-he, man
• before the East Norton beech proved no crime again-I ::p-
-' pillant and his companions, rather, that they had vis,.le
means of subsistence "—for the horses and money bcl-ta,eil
to Nathaniel, and there was ab;cr a cart. Furdier, Out. of
the horses and otiir property seized by the policeioan, t
horse was given up—the w her and the watch were sold by
direction uf the magistrates, and the money resifting ficni
such sale was re tamed,d, or not given up to the ahpeh
Mercury.

STATE or TILE HOSIERY AND LACE TRADES.—
The wrought cotton hose trivet), though somewhat im •
proved, is still, in a dull state, especi ily in some de--
partments of the manufacture, yet there •is a gradual
improvement perceptible. The cut-up cotton hose
branch is mill dull. The drawer, pantal on, and qti i I
branch has not impro'. ed. The c tton glove trade has
been much depressed, especially the ricer qualities, but I::
sme quarters it has amended a shade. Thrt lace-traele
generally remains in the fame depres:cd state we have
experienced it for several months past As there is
not much 'prolsatility of any very gieat r vival Leas,'
the spring trade ceinnitnce.-s, it 1 t-luivi a the to whit.,-,
holders to be very careful not to increase their sti:chi4
particularly at the pi esent high prices ,1 thread, whkh wilt
remain without -nine!' alteratiun, so long as the Moodiest('
market for fine yarns maintains its present briskness. • Tt.
silk hosiery .trade has improved, there I chug rorne good cod 9
for silk hose and gloves in the town.--Notthwhanilieciete.
Lord Lyitletcn, the lion. Spencer and W. 1,1,4,i5j
tlaton, since the interment of the late Earl Sileuqr, ,`t: :•-
been residing at llayley HO, ITS rcestcrslrire, r.144iT.,:.,
Dowager Lady Lyttleton will pass some 1, mks in r trinief:;
tefore her Ladyship resumes her atteudance ca the t
• 1ifree,,,..4
Wales and v-utlifal royal family. ...:: f
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