The Sun.
London, England, 1811-02-22 00:00:00

co wr I Ku ENT.
Ear the tor the
Army. N4vy.

Eno 300 900
,18t) 240 72,0
2 107 , 32
t6B $4
194 97 t
94 t)3 243
.1 2211

20 33

3000

LAW REPORT,

I'ooo

1,01.4D0N 3 printed by R{Citklt
at the: SunN-Oppi

COUR!' OF Kit4C'S E813:28.

THE KING V. WITHVITVAND 01 HERS.

. .
-Mr. 'Tormo- stated this to be an itsdiament
charging W.' Withers and Phillips, two Sh,-riff 's
Officers, Mr. Carter Draper, an Attorney of Court,
Mr. Feathers, whose
name the Jury had already
heard during the presen't Sittings, as being keeper of
`the Guildhall Coffee-house,•and two persons ilam6d
Siddons and Duke, who were Bailitls' followers,.
with breaking and entering,the
,kitchen-kr;tlee-,Vue
of the prosecutor,' Josiah Copland', .withlpursang
him out of his pleastirei-grOunds, which were be-
tween his !hoose and:, hiskialten-garden, to his
dwelling-house-door the mite' door of, which he
having secured by bolting it at.the top, they forced,
,by buistiug off'the'cop of she I IsOlt, which aliqi Pm--
lied with it part of the wood-work of, the door;
"and litving tlms, gained, admiaion, under a teal; or
pretendCd execution ag4tisf the goods of the prose-4icutor; %Olds-beating the- prosecutor its a motif violent
manner. The Learned Ootiosel steel hardly tell
the Jury, that nothing could justify, any Otticeri, or
any other person, in breaking into any man's house,
114 r, less JD assaulting the keeper of the house after
Ow had so broken in ; and it, it , should appear that
IMr. Draper, who was theattorney in the business,
i had the super.ntendanee of it; and though he might
'not 'be originally
present,was .concealed in the
pigeon-house while the breAting and entering took I
place, he mukt be:Neatly responsible with _all the; •
others concerned in the, violence thus committed.,
`'Josiah Copland said, that he lately resided in
Lower Edmonton., On the morning of the <2 !St tit
May last he, went out from hit, house to his garden,
for ate PurpOse of unlocking the -gale: of it. in his
• kitchen garden he observed six men concealed, ss ho
immediately rushed toward hint, on which hit, with
equal expedition, retired to his house by the side
door, out of which lie had proceeded, which was
equally with the dour in Itorit an
,soar door to .his,
house. Having got into his, house. by this door ,he
fastened it,. and bolted it by means cat the upper
bolt. ' The men tollowed. him, and burst the door
open, in consequeneeof which the cap of the bolt
' was,,forced Of, and part.,of the upper Ott' of the
wood-Work of , the_door gave way. They then
knocked the witnessrdown, telling hint, if he made
any resiStance, trkiat they would have. his bloody
mett or his bloody ,gue. When the witness had ie..
covered, • lie ,follOw44,ithe. then into al:" kitchen,
where he Saw them with Some plate in-then hand,
:mil ;Ilse: with a ten pound Bank note, which be had
just gisien to his servant; to get changed. ". ' ,
' He told the, tueo,{lelt. lie did not conceive they
kid aoy busioesS with his money , on which,t‘i7o of
them dragged hint to the st.iirs, aphist which they
bent Min upon his back, while, wo others of them
heat him,' telling hire they would murder 1tir0.!...--
Tne witness at this tit,,! felt quite eni.toited, nod
' begged they would ware hits life. ,&lts.. Cuplaud
then came down ill tier •iigiit ctothes—one of the
0-ericers threatened toknoek her doWn,,b4t SAldotts;
one'of the todowers, prevented hint, observing; .they
had done etii.ugh already: 1p consequence of the
assi,Lill Illadq.litt 100 wtmess be-was Wind . for three
• da}s; his jaw-butte - was,,dislodged, the mark of
which lie, still vet:oiled; and he, verily believed at
the time that he, sh9old hate lest his sight. "When
he ,canto to himself, its way ail covered with blood.
Wit hers Was, the first plasou who stt tick ,hia,, Phil-
. ups was the other i Siddons he knew. was aki there,
and ,frOun him he knew the naincs of the :other tie-
fencionts. ' . . , ...
. . .

C:;ss-exantinca.
e .believed, but wpuld ordt swear, thlt Mr.
Draper, whom he knew well, was one of the six.
Lle.cohlessvd having two guns in his house, one of
1k high lie always kept 104dt:a ;_ but, (15ikiryi, that he.
had, presented eithre of them to all or either of the
pally who thus visited.his,preanses.. , In pail.:ctfilar,
lse dt:nit!ti unit Phillips, one ot.the °dicers, ,having
runfroal hi, hetid.alorig with the pre3ecutor,
had arrived in the house at the same moment
the prosecutor,: and that, on the prosei.utort4re-
venting the gnu against Philips, he then, .to, save
knocked torn down.
Bevi'ral other witne,ses were examined, ,oho in,
part corroborated tliw story of the pioieeutor, par-
ticularly as to ntarlts,of violence appealing on his own
rson, and on the doors if his garden and tlwel-

. ,
ling-huuse. ,
,
A person of the name of Richards, who was the
KiriSli Otlicer, proved that he' had neten called into
tlik house by the Sheriti 's ()Ulcers, to keep 1 he peac,,
for them ; that he did not, observe any outrage or
Rld,lletiti 011 the pat of WC Sheriff's Oflicers i but
that the contrary was the fact..---Copland: was rather
violent, and was using, tile .Otticers al. . Copland,
too, when he (the Otticery,was thnicrtliectin by the
Sheritf'S Officers, did not p.,int out to ii any
mai ks of breaking into his house or gardens.,
Mrs. Copland proved that her husband was in a
very exhausted state,whcn .she, alarmed by,his cries
of murder, came down stairs, and found him lying
on his back, and two of the Oflieers‘beating him.—
One of them attempted to strike her, butrulle stroke
was prevented by Siddons, one of the fohowers,
holding out his,ernvto prevent it. There were Sc.
velal towels covered with her hu,band's blood, from
his eye, the sight of. which she was, at one time,.
convinced he must have lost. She now knew
Feathers, who, on the day on which 'the execution
was followed up, carne into the house of the pro,
secutur, and demanded the keys of the hack par-
lour,, which being. refused, he -broke it open si. ith
his loot; saying that he bad a key at the bottom of
his boot.
Mr. GA atiOW 'for, the debndants, undertook'to
give a complete answer to, the case on the , part of
the prosecution, but his proof not answering to his
instrnabons, except in so far as MI. Draper was
cOneerned, he was obliged to abanlon the defence as
to all'the defendituts, except him.
Mr. TOPrING said, against Mr. Draper ha had
not toea'nt to press for a verditt. Ile was glad ttrat
he, as a professional map, had not been guilt)! (flan)?
such proceeding as that now .charged ; MO as he was
a professional Mat)) he thought it but justice to him
to say so,

.
Lord ELLINBOROUGA said, as the evidence Stand,
there could be nu doliiit as to the guilt of four of
'the defendants; " Withers, Siddons, and
Duke. Of the resetaining two, Feathers was, provocr
to have taken a part in the trespass at eleven o'clock
in the day, by breaking open a back parlour door;
I.e most therefute be esteemed as privy to the origi-
nal n .
:respas.4, 43 to Draper, he was ever ?pen to
have ben present ; and even if he had been the
persoeSeen to drop from the pigeon-house, such
woula net have been enough to imiilicate him,
Th 6 Jury immediately found Mr. Draper—.:-Not;
Guilty ; awl the other five defendants.-1-Puitty,

COURT OF EXCHEQUER, FEa.

STALE BLER.

THE KING V. BARCLAY.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL 'stated that this was an
:information against Barclay and Perkins, for rt.-eel!.
!ing into their -possession a quantity of Stale Beer,
:contrary to the provisions ()can Akt,of Parliament.
'lt had,been-the custom among some brewers to mix
stale beer with the new, in order to give it the
taste, colour, and flavour of old beer---and the Legis-
lature, with a view to preserve this article of gene.
rid consumption in as pore a state as possible, had
imposed a pctialty upon the' brewer for having stale
beer in trisepossession. He
.rhselaimed any idea of
imputing to such respeaable brewers as the defend-
ants any intention of aditheratieg their be.er, or aCe-
ing improperly in any way. Bit as this beer hadein
tact, beet) friund upon their premises, it was abso.
lurely necessary to enforce the ; fee it' they
were to be ,passed over, others, ef less respeeta.
bility might be encouraeed to mix their porter
with their stale beer, or some other noxious in.
grediene •
The man who drove the cart with the beer Mel
question, and the Excise ()dicer that discovefed.
were called; and Proved that the beer had been taken
tcalessrs. Barclay arid ferkins'se)remises, and that
it .weestale. e. •
Mr. Serjeant Vxtrortere for the deferidate, cross-;
examined the carman, from whose tv.stimony it ap-
peared, that he had CifiVell beer froM the ma-
nufadory ot , Mr. Matthew, at Clurkenwellethio:
mart then haVtnie a patent fir preServine yeast. Its
order to getehe yeast in sufficient quantity, Mr.' M.
had,agreed ,with six of the ;mist emineee brewers,
to send him the yeast in its fresh state. The whole
Was put into a vat, and in .slide t;, by pressete, the
solid substence was Separated' froth the fleid, and a
cake of yeast eas (Mined, which preserved all its
. ,
properties, however long it pew
.he kept. It had
beets the regular practice to take biick the beer thus
separeoel while still fresh—though in the caSe in
question, it had by 'some accident been suifered to.
remain !ill it became stale,
The I,t.Arnea Serjeant, after stating that no ini-
putation hid I.ei, from any quatter, cast-upon the
intentions to the Alefieelants, -.maintained that the,
present ease did not al all ewe wi,hin the 4e.e of
Parpinent. That At had passed to destroy, the
vadices of certain persons called Beer Doctors,
who, by liferids extracted from poisenoes plants,
such as cocuius itielices—deadiy night shade, &c,
tare a. fine coleer and a good tote to beer. N.-
thin; like. this had ever been itoputed to the, defend-
ants, and indeed it would have been the greatest
absurdity in the world, in persons of their extensive
trade, to have recourse to such practices. The beer
in question Wes all trOm malt and hops„ like the rest
of their beer—and as to its being stale, brewers must
mix the old and new at times, in order to gratify
the taste of their cusennets. Tate ALA permitted
brewers te) take back stale beer if disliked by their
customers--and why not receive it from this ma-
nutadoty .?:
The. LAMP, CITIEt BARON stated that there were
two distioet penalties in the Aft—one, ter having in
possession the noxious ingredients Mentioned by
the Learned Serjeant, nod. aeot her for recei‘ing
heepirig, Stale beer.' • He wets sure no improper use
was ever intended to be. made of the beer in flues-
the) ; and even thoegli coculus indicus;or any other
noxious ingredient, had bycu Wand on the pre-
mises of Barclay'and Pet kites, he would have drank
their beer without any r.creple,. because he Might
he certain that no improper use was to be made of
them, since, to persons who stood in their emi-
nence, their .charader MaS of much more import-
ance Om -any paltry advantage from this paetice.
But the Ad, in his opinion,, tetel been, vielated.—lt
permitted brewers to take back stale beer which did
not please their 'etistemers-.-a proof that they were
not permitted' to 'take it back under-any
.other Lir-
CUITISttipMe rthe Legislature had no such thing in
contemplation as ties manutattoty for the presstye-
tiori of yeaSt,, othlrwise a further exception might
have been admitted. It was a enanutadory highly
deserViug of eneouragemeot. But as the law stood,
thought the defendants liable for this penalty ;
but recienmended application to the Court, upon
the censtruction of the Ad. '
A. 'Verdict ,was then taken for the Crown, subject
to this reference. .