The Sun.
London, England, 1820-01-01 00:00:00

tNrEtz IntINCE.

lIQW-STItEF,T.

Yestetday was 'lre day appointed for the intim'.
twit deteritioation respecting, the robbery of
Messrs.-Makepeace anti ilarl,er, silrerstniTbs,lin
Serle-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, to the amount
of between six and seven hundred pounds, in sil-
ver plate, which had been 'received in pledge by
bseev,eirettelidpeadwwnab-sr,okites btsinagnd the main question to
i
of the pawnbrokers, and their
in the
liahilityti:)°l6 .):essi°.l
corn-
yelled 0 restore it without the thief being in
custody.
!oly'
n
At
e o'clock, Mr. Birniiee,lito'en Magistrate,
fore
il
fore whom this important gist
investigation, for some weeks past, called on ,the
a beenunder
case, at Which_time the Office WAS excessively
et owded with silversmiths, pawnbrokers, and
o hers interested in the questiou.
The Magistrare first called (Iron Mr. John Har-
ker, the partner of Mr. Makewce, to state the
native of his charge, which Was to the effect as
above described, that they had been robbed td
silver plate to' the amount. of between 6 and 7001.
and, troll) every infort»arion ;he bad received, be
had reason to believe who tile thief was, and his
su'P'ci"n was, that it was Chatles.Blake, a yont,g*
man who had been shoprnan and cletk in their
service. Upon this inf6rma-ion being taliPti upon
in the Murs.:talillrireiceongrnoiszea;R'ne7,(l ter . Mr.
iliirkel.'
owith 0
ie. ff‘eveht i
ctt ti
Ni tir sr t.
leit,itt:okri:::
vßelrayk Peir‘,:i,eit ci ithe;es
cipilr.),en .11 itlyv
iouv-,
twice(,.

.. A pawnbroker, whose name we nntlerttood was
Robins+th, addressed the Magistrate at sume
length, in justification at his oxim conduct. •and
that at his brethren in the business of past nbrokiog.
Ile denied that anyconcealm,nt of the stolen pro-
perty had been used by hitn ; if he had, he should
have considered himself to have eurrii;,ifted as great
an oirviiee• as' the thief tilt this- transaction, and
that he should have thonglot himself equally
to hold tip his hand with the thief, to take
his
trial at Jus•ice Old Bailey.
Mr. BIeNIE, the Magistrate, observed, that a
great deal had been said upon the subivet of
quantity of plate which bad been stolen tr,om
premises of Messrs. Makepe4re and_liatter, s:1-
versmith's, in Setlestreet, Litrcoln's Jim-fields;
and, also a great deal bad beets said by the Gel,-
Omen of the Law, as to.a search-warrant

hail been issued, and in cor,4quence the property
was 14ittad on their prenties, and the.- legal right
of-is toying retained by theirs, or restittnion•of
it being made to the pawnbrokers.. lie wished
that the decision had fallen into abler !rands, upon
• such an important silhkt to ihe` parties; borne-
ver, as the question was before him, he would de-
. cide to the best of his judgment. An had
been made to a case which was before hint about
a year and a half since, respecting some shawls
and veils which were-stolen, •and found in the
po,sassion of a pawnbrah.er ; in that casse no
search warrant had'heen granted, and he did not
consider it to apply to the present case.
The --Worthy Magistrate theit said, that all who
heard him might undcrsi and upon what he was
about to decide, and that it ter„ agreeably to the
Act of Parliament, he proceeded to re.ol the whole
of the 13th sec;i6n. He. (the Magistrate) was
decidedly of opinion that the property under dis-
cussion ought to he restorqd to Messrs. M.lit.-peoce
-rtnd Harker, front whom it bad been stolen, and
• forted in the possession of the pawnbrokers, who,
he conlesied, he did not think itad used due dill-
-gence in receiving such a quantity of vaitr,We
plate from- a Woman, who tniated .out to hare
given a• false account of name, who she- was,
and her residence. Ii adMitted that the pi;wit.=
brokers !tad used no concealment of the property
,alter it 'had been traced to them. He was sorry
that Iris decision would put pawnbrokers to very
great inconvenience, but they must he more
cautiousin fulute as to how and from whom they
received property in pledge. He,• site there
as-a goardian for the public good Pin4l protection/
must make an order in the best way he could.:--,
Hie hope; Messrs. Makepeace anti 'fiat her would
exert themselves for the -ap'prchension of the
thief, even to an outlawry.
One of the pawnbroker's exclaimed, that it seas
a complete compounding-of felony, as 'well as in
another case, which was positively and repeatedly
denied by-Mr. Makepeace.

kr r. on Ole 'part of the pa‘enbrokers,
protested against the delivrty of the diver art
found in the possession of the pawnbrokers, by
doplicates, which bad been given. by.Bial,e, the
absconded and sUspected thief, excrpt they were
identified. The Magistrate slated, that it was
not his wish that the articles should be returned
to illessts. I.+lakepeace and Marker tar some time
vat ; and Mr. Williams gave notice to the officer

in whn,e possession the plate was, not to ►etnrn
it to Makepeace and Harker, agrteable to the
opinion of the Cotnt►ron Si.rjeant.

GUILDHALL.
FortGEßY.—Yesterday Catherine Martin, alias
Smith, was brought up -in custody of Dolimun,
the Officer, charged with tittering 'two forged
Bank of England 'Notes for U. each,
Mrs. Frances Robson deposed', that she wa%
sbopwoman to Messrs..Gkezler and Cu. furriers;
Cbeapside. 'On the 28th inst. the pc isoner came
to the shop, and asked to see some sable ern inc,
collars and cuffs. Bhescleettd some Nl' the :tlntiont

Of 83. 6d. and in paytneot iendered of
En4land Note 101.11. Her address, slit: was

Smith, aid she resided in Cletkenwell.elose ;
upon this ;the received the change, and went
away. -On the following day, the Note was (lit-

core' ell to he 'a forgery. Oa ThurstLiy eccoittg
the prisoner came again to the shop, am! fiesirrd.

to see some swan stocks; two of these she put ellasi4
at 21. each, and in payment tendered a scond II
Note, ?gain giving the name of Smith, clef ken-
well-elose. Witness at once recogni,sing her Ks
the party wilt) had passed Ilse first bad Note, and
suspecting the enrinbi offered to be forgrd ako, she
called to a person, in the shop, rind.sm nt. to have it
changed, The prisoner instantly tried to retreat
from the shop, but witness prevented it fly bol!-.
int.; the door, and eellmg one of the teen o her
as,istance. Being charged with having uttered
the first note, she denied it, de:aying she hvi
never beetrin the shop before. Air. filmier, !sow-,,
ever, one of the paIIIW9r disproved this, having