The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-15 00:00:00

ri
': 11 • kf

~Slil3ll4EY SESSIONS TUESDAY.

igerat quarter sessions for, the county of Surrey. e,om-
esterday, at the Court House Kingston. There vas
v;" fa:** 11 attendance of magistrates. E. Pennryn, Esq ,
e • as chairman, and there were also present Earl Love-
IN
e, Kemble, Esq., M.P.; J. Trotter, Esq., M.P. ; Sir R.
Fredwick, J. J. Briscoe, Esq. ; Colonel Challener, T. Puckle,
Esq. ; J. W. Freshfield. Esq. ; G. T. Nicholson, Esq. ; J.
Jeffrey, Esq. ; R. C. Austen, Esq. ; C. Barclay, Esq. ; A. K.
Barclay, Esq.; E. Johnson, Esq., &c.
The surgeons of the different gaols made their reports,
from which it appeared that their respective establishments
are generally healthy, and the surgeon of Brixton Gaol gave
some rather curious information relative to the effect of the
prison discipline and diet on the prisoners. It appeared that
in many cases the prisoners gained considerably in weight;
in two instances where the prisoners were confined for six
months, the increase being in one case 151b5., and in the
other.' 251bs.
The County Treasurer (Mr. Smallpiece) then reported the
state of the county finances. He said there was a balance
in hand at the last meeting of the Court, of 8,108/. 3s. 3d.,
which sum had been increased by a county rate of 2d. in the
pound, and other items, to 26,911/. ls. Bd. ; he had had on
behalf of the county 12,8004 which included a sum of 6,189/.
on account of the money borrowed for the erection of the
County Lunatic Asylum, and there were other bills now due,
which would reduce the amount of the balance in his bands
to 7,932;, which would be sufficient to carry him on to the
next session without another rate.
A lengthenep discussion then took place on the motion of
Mr. Barclay for the erection of a 'lock-up house at Dorking,
and another of a similar nature by Mr. Nicholson for Farn-
ham, under the new Parish Constables' Act.
Mr. BARCLAY, after remaking on the want:experienced at
Dorking of some place of security for prisoners before exa-
mination, observed that, as the question was a novel one,
and arose under a new Act of Parliament, he and the gen-
tlemen who had brought the matter forward did not feel
themselves sufficiently acquainted with the details to make
any motion to the Court on the present occasion, and he
should, therefore, move that the matter be referred back to
the magistrates acting in these divisions of the county ; that
they should consider the matter fully, and be prepared, by
the next session, to give the Court ample information on the
subject.
In answer to questions put by one of the magistrates, it
was stated to be the intention to appoint an officer to take
charge of the lock-ups, who would superintend the con-
stables of the district.
The Earl of LOVELACE said, lie was not at present suffici-
ently acquainted with the subject to give any opinion re-
specting it ; but he trusted this was not an endeavour, by a
side wind, to introduce the constabulary into the country.
Mr. NICHOLSON said, there was no ground for such a sup-
position. The person appointed as superintendent would be
a parish officer to all intents and purposes, and would be paid
by the parish.
After some further conversation, it was arranged that the
matter should be referred, as proposed by Mr. Barclay, with
a view to the Court being placed in possession of all the
details, before they came to any decision upon the subject.

GUILDFORD QUARTER
SESSIONS.
(Before the Hon. G. C. NORTON, Recorder.)
NERVOUS EXCITEMENT AND ROBBERY.

?Martin Williams, solicitor's clerk, was placed at the bar,
charged with having, on th% evening of the 6th of September
last, stolen three gold chains, the property of Mr. Triggs,
eweller and watchmaker, High-street, Guildford.
. .

No counsel had been engaged fur the prosecution ; Mr.
Parry appeared for the defence. _

From the evidence for the prosecution it appeared that the
prisoner, about nine o'clock on the evening in question,
dashed his hand through the shop window of Mr. Triggs,
and having seized three gold chains which lay there, ran
slowly down the street. - As above a dozen perscns were
near the spot at the time, and witnessed the transaction,
he was instantly pursued and taken into custody. When
Mr. Triggs, who was conversing with a friend in the shop
when the window was smashed, had reached the spot where
the prisoner had been seized, the latter pulled the chains
out of his pocket, and presenting them to the former, said,
" Here are your chains; do not be alarmed." He was taken
to the sttion-house and searched; and found to have in his
possession only one farthing in money, a bit of deal, and a
pair of gloves. His appearance betokened great bodily
exhaustion, his clothes were soiled, and his hands and face
unwashed. He appeared to set much store by the shapeless
bit of deal, and requested the constable to leave it in his pos-
session, and when this was refused, he charged the officer to
take care of it. On his examination before the magistrates,
previous to his committal, he reiterated his request to be
allowed the wood, and it was again refused, and he appeared
rather annoyed in consequence. This conduct on the part of
the prisoner excited suspicion thathismind was disordered.

Mr. PARRY, for the defence, admitted that the prisoner
had stolen the chains in the manner deposed by the wit-
ness=es, and stated that he also considered him of sound mind
when the act was committed, and consequently responsible
for his actions; but still he (Mr. P.) felt convinced that he
should be able to convince the jury that the prisoner could
not be found guilty of the charge laid in the indictment of
having feloniously stolen the property. The prisoner had
taken the chains, not for the purpose of depriving the pro-
secutor of the property, but to get himself transported. The
very act itself was proof enough of that desire. The prisoner
selected a time when the street was full of people,-and parties
were in the shop, to seize the chains, and then he had slowly
ran away in order to maintain the impression that he was a
regular thief. The Learned Gentleman, having assured the
jury that what he was going to state was nothing but the
purest truth, proceeded to narrate the following circum-
stances :—The prisoner had been in the employ of a noted
firm ia.London as a confidential clerk for twenty years, but
having been, by the death of one of the partners, deprived of
the situation, ho made application for another under another
solicitor; and although there were above two hundred other
applicants, his excellent character obtained him the pre-
ference. But here unfortunately his writing was not
considered sufficiently good, and his employer intimated to
him as much. The prisoner being of a remarkably ner-
vous and excitable temperament, took this to heart, and
began to fear that he would be discharged, and ex-
posed to want and misery, along with his wife and
child, to whom he was most affectionately attached. Op-
pressed with this idea, he absented himself from his em
pioyment on Monday, the Ist of September, and started
into the country with only ls. 3d. in his pocket, and
without having formed the least plan to act upon. He
wandered about half distracted the whole week, and
on Saturday arrived at Guildford in a very deplorable
condition, as he had not slept in a bed nor taken food from
the WeAnesday ; and having conceived the idea that he
should be far less miserable if be were transported from the
country, he broke the window and stole the chains to secure
that—in his excited imaginati m—desirable position. This
would explain the circumstance which had caused so much
curiosity—the prisoner's attachment to the bit of deal. That
insignificant bit of wood he had seen his child cutting on the
day previous to his flight from his home, and he wished to
treasure it as a memorial of the son whom he felt convinced
he should never see again. The Learned Gentleman called
the following witnesses to character:—
Mr. Frederick E. Thompson, of the firm of Springhall,.
Thompson, and Powell, Raymond's-buildings, London, de-
posed that he had known the prisoner 20 years as confidential
clerk to Mr. Springhall. Witness would have trusted him
with thousands of pounds without the least hesitation, such
confidence had he in his integrity. He had come expressly
down to bear that testimony.
Mr. A. Groome, managing clerk to the above firm, had
known the prisoner fourteen years, and had often entrusted
him with sums-of money to various amounts; once, in fact,
with 4,0001. He believed him to be a person of the highest
character for honesty and sincerity.
Mr. Linklater, of Leadenhall-street, City, deposed to
having engaged the prisoner as clerk a few weeks ago, and
that he and his brother had made remarks upon the pri-
soner's deficiencies as a penman. He had chosen him from
above two hundred applicants because of his character. The
prisoner absented himself from the office on the Ist of Sep-
tember, as bad been stated.

The jury, after a short consultation, found the prisoner
guilty, but recommended him to mercy, on account of his
distressing circumstances ; and the prosecutor added his re-
quest to that of the jury.
Sentence, three n:onths' hard labour in Guildford House of
Correction, the first and last fortnight to be solitary.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
BOW-STREFT . .

BOPKERY•AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE —Yesterday, a young
woman, named Caroline Evans, employed as a housemaid at
Buckingham-palace, was placed at the bar for final examin-
ation, charged with stealing a quantity of wearing apparel,
Le!oliging to the clerk of the kitchen in the establishment.
It appeared at the last examination that a great coat being
rni;sed by Edmund Heale, clerk of the kitchen, from his
bed-room, he inquired of the prisoner if she had observed any
person in the apartment, and being answered in the nega-
tive, he communicated the circumstance to Inspector Steed,
who is constantly on duty at the palace, and who, being
directed to make search for the property, found in the pri-
soner's trunk a bag containing forty-two duplicates relating
to a quantity of wearing apparel, among which was one re-
lating to the article in question and other property belong-
ing to the prosecutor. The prisoner was shortly after ques-
thine" at Windsor Castle about the matter, but she gave
to other account than that the entire of the .duplicates did
not belong to her, and being taken into custody the whole
of the articles were found at different pawnbrokers in Pimlico
and Westminster, where they were pledged in the name of
Anne Brown a few days previous.
Mr. Wontner said, that it was useless for him to attempt
combating against the evidence, as he was certain the pri-
soner would be committed for trial on the charge ; but there
were two other cases against the prisoner, entirely uncon-
nected with the palace, upon which the prosecutors seemed
disinclined to proceed; and, as they were very doubtful, he
submitted that the Court ought not to entertain them.
Mr. TWYFORD said that he was given to understand by the
clerk that the other cases were of a much more serious nature,
if possible, for it could be proved that on a late occasion the
prisoner paid a visit to her sister, living in the service of a
medical gentleman residing at Pentonville, and, during her
temporary absence from the apartment, she contrived to steal
two silver table-spoons' for which the unoffending party had
been discharged from her situation, without a character;
and, not content with committing such a heartless robbery,
she paid another visit to a second sister, living as servant in
the family of a gentleman residing in the neighbourhood of
Regent's Park, where she also contrived to steal two other
silver table-spoons, and as the property, which could be
traced to the prisoner, could be identified, he considered that
she ought to be remanded for the purpose.
A gentleman came forward to say, that he had no doubt of
two of the spoons being his property; but as his servant,
who was the only person competent to give evidence as to
the manner in which the robbery was committed, was una-
voidably absent, he could ensure-her attendance on a future
day, if the prisoner were remanded.
The prisoner, who said nothing in her defence, was ac-
cordingly ordered to be remanded fora week.