The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-16 00:00:00

in the conduct of the parties offending, who assume that
mystery in order to screen themselves more effectually.
This case is described to be obtaining money by
threatening to charge persons with an infamous
crime. The facts will be placed before you,
arid they will be enough to cause you to send the case to
another jury. The case which I was about to refer to
you is a case of having in possession an engraved plate
of the half of a foreign note. That is the form of the
charge ; but the various steps taken by the parties ee.
cused render it a charge that can be presented in ninny
forms. By the Acts of 11 Geo. IV. r.nd let Wm. IV.,
sec. 19, it is provided, that with regard to having is vas-
in salon engraved plates of foreign bills or notes, or the
uttering any engraved paper purporting to be tiee note of
any person, bank, or corporation, is an offence for which
the parties so offending are liable to not more
than fourteen or less than seven years transporta-
tiou, or raore than three or less than two years
imprisonment, unless they can show au authority from
t"e person, bank, or corporation, whose note or plate
they' to
chacinvetleimmeitna,tteicilato
irnfiu
nttietreed. misclhiewfil
n 1
liognhlyt•
breednioanreit
b N,
ou,
parties vv!,o are well acquainted with the form of foreign
notes coming over to this country, and passing for, ed
instruments and notes of their own country, as if they
were genuine. In all probability, tke persons who are
engaged in foreign trade would be the sufferers to e.
great extent, and commercial interests would be ria-
terially affected. I will now refer you to the Acts
I hare mentioned, and which especially provide for
such offences. (The Recorder here read that part of the
Act referring to this crime.) I have troubled you with
the section of the Act at some length, because, in con-
sidering the facts of the depositions, it appears to me,
that there are circumstances applicable to more than one
branch of the clause, the particulars of which I have
read to you, as the possession of any paper, or plate en-
graved, and purporting to be s good note or plate, ap-
plies to all the provisions of this Act. It will be a matter
of no consequence whether the party ultimately de-
frauded be a foreign prince or any other foreign power
or person, as the guilty parties—if proved to be so—are
quite amenable to the laws of this country. There dues
not appear to me to be any other cases on the calendar
worthy of particular notice, and I will now dismiss you
to your labours. The Recorder having made a few re-
marks to the grand jury on the nature of their duties,
then dismissed them to their duties.
Caroline Cummins, 23, spinster, and Mary Cummins,
21, were indicted for feloniously stealing a silver coffse-
pot, value 141., the property of Sarah Hunter Taylor
Cathcart, in the dwelling-house of Charles Shaw.
In another count the property was said to belong to
Mr. Shaw.
It will be remembered that the prisoners were ar-
raigned upon an indictment, charging them with being
concerned with other persons in a very extensive rob-
bery from the house of Mr. Shaw, in whose house the
prisoner Caroline lived as servant, at the last session of
this Court, but upon the Counsel for the prisoner
making a suggestion that Mrs. Shaw, the wife of the
prosecutor, had sanctioned the pawning of the property,
and that lady being too ill then to attend to contradict
the insinuation, the prisoners obtained an acquittal, and
the other indictments were then ordered to stand over to
the present session, in order that Mrs. Shaw might be
en abled to attend.
Mr. PARRY having briefly stated the circumstances
under which the charge was brought against the pri-
soners, and alluded to the nature of the defence set up
on the former occasion, proceeded to call the witnesses.
From their testimony it appeared that the prosecutor,
Mr. Charles Shaw, is a solicitor on Fish-street-hill, and
his country residence was No. 11, Walwortlaterrace,
where the prisoner, Caroline Cummins, was employed as
servant in his establishment. It seems that a lady named
Cathcart had left in Mr. Shaw's care a box, containing a
large quantity of silver plate, which was corded and
i placed under his bed for security. In the month of
October it was discovered that the box had been opened
and a great deal of the plate abstracted, and the pri-
soner, Caroline Cummins, upon being taxed with the
robbery, then gave her mistress seventeen duplicates,
and admitted to her master, who afterwards questioned
her, that she had taken the property at the instigation of
her sister Mary, and that she had given her the articles
to pledge.
Mrs. Shaw, upon being cross-examined by Mr. BAL-
LANTINE, said that in the previous January she hail dis-
covered that the plate was pledgsd, and the prisoner
Caroline then also admitted that she had pledged it ; but
on her going upon her knees and entreating her forgive-
ness, she consented to advance the money to redeem the
property, and kept the circumstance from the knowledge
of her husband. She said that the prisoner had ben
many years in her service, and she acted as she did
solely from a feeling of kindness towards her, and she
declared that she had not the slightest knowledge of the
fact of the subsequent pawning until the prisoner pro-
duced the duplicates.
Mr. Shaw confirmed the testimony of his wife, and
added that when he questioned the prisoner Caroline,
she said that her sister Mary would come to the house,
and that she had compelled her to give her the plate to
pledge, and she begged him to have mercy upon her.
Christopher Greeves, the shopman of Mr. Turner, a
pawnbroker in the Walworth-road, proved that the pri-
soner Mary Cummins pledged the coffee-pot at his
master's shop on the 30th of March, in the name of
Mary Back.
The cofte-pot was produced, and identified by Miss
Cathcart as being her property.
Mr. BALLANTINE having briefly addressed the jury,
after a short deliberation they returned a verdict of
Guilty against both prisoners.
The RECORDER said the Court would be glad to have
some information with regard to the prisoners, in order
to guide its judgment as to what sentence ought to be
passed upon them.
Mrs. Shaw informed the Learned Judge that Mary
Cummins had been in her service several years ago, but
she had discharged her, and forbade her to come to the
house. She had very good reason to believe that she
had become acquainted with some very bad characters,
and that she had instigated her sister to rob them.
The RECORDER then ordered Mary Cummins to be
brought up for judgment, and after observing that her
case was a very aggravated one, as there was every rea-
son to suppose that she had brought her sister into her
present situation, he said he felt it his duty to pass upon
her a sentence of transportation for ten years.
There were several other indictments against these
prisoners for stealing other articles of plate, but they
were not proceeded with.
The prisoner Illaty Cummins was then indicted, with
a woman named Elizabith Clayton, for stealing a coat,
the property of Mr. Shaw.
The article had also been pledged at Mr. Turner's
shop, but Mr. Turner, jun., who took the pledge, could
nut identify the patty who made it. •
A verdict of Not Guilty YrRS accordingly returned.
The same prisoners were then arraigned for stealing a
pair of trousers, and upon this indictment a verdict of
Guilty was returned against Clayton.
They were then charged upon another indictment with
stealing a gold ring, the
prpropertybrotaosreocbluieitloe osrfo,CmAulemrs.amiSdi hn, a w .
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty against both.
They were called up for judgment, and the Re-
corder, after remarking that it was evident there
had been a complete conspiracy to plunder the
groundst hadhathat
foras
been
sup-
posing
pr o
therepe property
that the appear, rht
osi eowneevre,
made the dupe of older and more designing persons
the Court would feel itself justified in passing a coin-
partitively lenient sentence, which was, that she be
imprisoned and kept to hard labour for one year. The
other prisioner, Clayton, he sentenced to eighteen
months' hard labour.
receiving some articles that had been
with Anfneeloßnieouucs/il)n,an was then placed at the bar, charged
stolen by the prisoner Caroline Cummins.
Mr. leeenv said, that in this case he did not propose
to offer any evidence, because, althoughny tghueriletywheins ISO
doubt that the prisoner had received the property in
question, the prosecutor considered it very probable she
might have dune so without having a
ledge.
A verdict of Not Guilty was accordingly returned.
Mr. PARRY then applied for the Court to order the
pawnbroker to give tip the plate in his possession. He
ai; the same time stated that, during a few months, plate
had been pawned with him to the amount of 5001., with.
out, as it appeared, any observation being made.
The RECORDER said that he could only observe, that
if the same charitable conclusion bad not been put upon
the conduct of the pawnbroker as had been extended to
the last prisoner (Henchman), he might have found him-
self in a very awkward position. The only atonement
he could make, was to give sip the whole of the property.
Mr. Turner, jun., said he believed Mary Cummins was
the wife of a respectable person, and that the plate was
her property.
Mr. PARRY said the greater part of Mr. Shaw's
plate, that bad also been stolen in addition to Miss Cath-
cart's, bore his initials, and some part of it his crest.
the RECORDER said he hoped tin Turner would be
more careful in future. Ile was not at all prepared to
say what view the jury might have taken of his conduct
if he had been placed in the dock. At present, he must
understand that the Court made an order for him to
deliver up the whole of the property.
The plate was then giveu up to the prosecutor.
William Harding, 23, a very well-dressed young man,
described as a shoemaker, but who is believed to be one
of the gang who are in the habit of prowling about
the different banking houses for the purpose of com-
mitting felonies, was indicted fur stealing a pocket-book,
nine 104 Bank of England notes, two 51. notes, two
cheques for 1,0004 each, and other securities, altogether
of the value of 2,7001, the property of Robert Vaughan
Wynne Williams, from his person.
The prosecutor said he was a solicitor, residing in the
Temple, and on the 27th November he had occasion to
go to Messrs. Mortimer's bank, where he changed a
cheque for 1001., and placed the notes he received in his
pocket-books, which at the time contaized the other
securities mentioned in the indictment. He put the
pocketbook into the hind-pocket of his body coat, which
bed a wrapper over it, and proceeded on his way
back to the Temple. As he was passing by Bucklers-
bury, he felt a very slight touch at his coat, and inane.
dieeely put his hand to his pocket, and feeling a packet
of letters in it, he imagined that his pocket- book was
safe, and thought no more of the circumstance ; but when
he got to his chambers he found that his pocket-book
was gone. It had since been shown to him, with its

contents perfectly safe.
John Coram, a sergeant of the City police, deposed,
that from some information he received about the time
the robbery was committed, he went into Gutter-lane,
and saw the prisoner walking along with his hands in
his pockets, and the moment 'he observed him he ran
off. Witness pursued him, calling " Stop thief," and he
saw him take a pocket-book out of his pocket- Ile then
turned up a court, and ho lost sight of him for a minute,
but he stopped him directly afterwards, and the pocket-
book was picked up close by him.
Mr. BALLANTINE said it would be useless for him to
attempt to struggle with this evidence, and he must
leave the prisoner in the bands of the jury.

The RECORDErA having briefly addressed the jury, they
at once returned a verdict of Guilty.
The Les-..ned JUDGE, in passing sentence, said there
was very little doubt that the prisoner was one of a
eg 'of persons who were in the habit of hanging about
"%king-houses for the purpose of committing plunder
tit this description, and it was very evident that he was
it skilful hand at these matters. The sentence, therefore,
Was, that he b. transported for ten years.

.NEW COURT.
(Before Mr. Commissioner BIILLOCC)
CAUEZZY ON THE HIGH SlCAS.—Alexande- Gordan,
captain of the barque Nathesis, and John Cummins,
mate of the same vessel, were charged with having
cruelly assaulted William Scott, one of the apprentices
on board that vessel, about the 20th of June last, while
the ship was near the line.
Mr. PAYNE, the counsel for the prosecution, said the
case was one of a serious character, and if proved would
exhibit a very cruel mind in those who have been in -
dieted-on the ch.arge. The charge was made against the
master and mate of the Nathesis of assaulting
and cruelly treating Scott, the apprentice. One day,
after crossing the line, the boy had been rather tardy in
getting up out of bed. Cummins, the mate, went below
with a rope's end, and flogged him up on deck. When
the boy came on deck he was sent aloft to tar the royal
rigging, with nothing on him except a blue shirt. The
mate followed him up, and struck him while aloft, but
the boy, to escape the flogging, leaped to lay hold of the
stays, which be missed, and fell into the water. But the
main part of the charge was—when the boy was brought
upon deck, after falling into tho water, the mate
pulled the shirt over the boy's head, and the master
himself gave him two dozen of strokes with a cat made
for the purpose. The mate wished to give him another
dozen, bat the master refused to allow him then; but a
short time after the boy was brought again on deck, and
the mate gave him a down more. The boy was then
taken down into the cabin, and was placed on his knees
on the cabin floor. The master and the mate then said
they would pour vitriol on his back. The master re-
quested the mate to put it on the boy's back, as he was
afraid of burning his fingers. The mate had the same
fear, and hesitated to use the liquid, but he afterwards
poured what both called vitriol out of a bottle on the back
of the apptentice Scott.
Mr. PAYNE then proceeded to call the witnesses to
prove the charge.
The first witness called was the boy William Scott.
He said he was an apprentice on board the Nathesis
barque. Gordon was the master, and Cummins the
mate. The day after crossing the line, he was late in
getting up. lie was flogged up on deck, and then sent
up the foremast with the tar barrel to tar the royal
rigging. He had nothing on but a blue flannel shirt.
W hen he refused to tar the rigging, the mate, who was
aloft, struck him.
Mr. BALLANTINE here interrupted the evidence, to say
that his Learned Friend had so conducted the case as to
make the acquittal of Capt. Gordon a matter of justice.
He had already proved an assault against the mate. There
was but one count in the indictment. The assault proved
against the mate satisfied that count ; the captain,
therefore, he argued, must be acquitted. It had been
settled so long ago as the time of Lord Ellenborough,
in the case of ‘• Stant v. Prickett." More than one
assault had been cemmitted in that case. The counsel
for the prosecution had proved one assault, and was
proceeding to prove another, when Lord Ellenborough
stopped him, and said he might have detained the
Court and the jury all day going; through the different
charges in order to select the one on which to
rely ; his Lordship said that must be done by
counsel previous to coming into Court ; enough
in that case had been proved to satisfy the
count. On this ground he (Mr. Ballantine) held
that enough had been proved to satisfy the single count
in the ineictment in the present case, and as that was
proved against the mate alone, he held that Captain
Gordon should be acquitted.
Mr. HunneEsroste, Counsel for the mate Cummins,
objected against the Counsel for the prosecution tend, ring
evidence of any further act in which the mate might have
been concerned. The case in the present instance was
analogous, he said, to the case 'f a declaration. There,
if there was but one count put in, and a justifi-
cation proved by the accused for any one
of the assaults committed, that justification
was held to apply to the single instance of assault proved.
The prosecutor was at liberty to pat any number of
counts he pleased on the indictment, but if he had put
one only, he must choose that act on which he will rely
and prove that. He said his Learned Friend wouid
argue that the charge in this case was a joint charge,
but it was joint and several.
Mr. PAYNE said the charge was a joint one, and the
evidence put in was not intended to prove the act of as-
sault, but only an incident leading to it.
Mr. BALLANTINE, in reply, said an assault was an
assault by whatever name it might be called.
Mr. HIIDDLESTONE, for the mate, said if his Lordship
was prepared to admit the charge was a joint charge,
then he must be prepared to follow his principle out, hir
if the charge were a joint charge, one being acquitted,
both must be acquitted.
The Learned COMMISSIONER retired to consult with
the Learned Recorder. On returning into Court, he in-
timated that the opinion expressed by the Learned Re-
corder coincided with his own, and that no further evi-
dence could be brought against either of the accused.
The jury was then directed to find Captain Gordon
Not Guilty.

The testimony of the boy Scott was continued—He
said that the mate came up with the intention of flogging
him. When he saw this he jumped off the yard-arm, and
attempted to lay hold of the backstays, but, missing
them, fell into the water. He was a quarter of an hour in
the water.
Mr. lIUDDLESTONE objected to evidence of anything
more that might have happened ; enough had been
brought forward to satisfy the Court.
The objection was allowed, and Mr. Huddlestone
proceeded to cross-examine the boy Scott. He
said it was his watch that morning. 'I he watch
began at 7 bells, that is half an hour before eight o'clock.
When he came up he found all the watch on
deck. He did not know what time it was
then. (The captain here was observed by a
juryman making use of means to intimidate the boy
in giving his evidence, and was ordered out of Court.)
Scott said there were four men and two boys in the
watch ;he was one of the boys. All the sails were set
except the flying-jib and the spanker. At that time he
(witness) *as dozing in bed, when the mate came
down and gave him two or three blows on the back
with a rope's end, He then ran up to the deck. Ile
was ordered up to tar the ropes with nothing on but a
blue woollen shirt. He asked the mate to allow him to
put on some clothes, a pair of trousers at least ; but the
mate refused this. He refused to tar the ropes in this
condition, and was struck by the mate while on the
yard-arm, which he jumped from to catch the stays, but
tell into the water.

William Morris was a seaman on board the Nathesis
and remembered Scott having been in the water. He,
saw the mate go down below with a rope ire his hand.
On the deck he saw the mate give the boy two or three
blows ; the boy then had no trousers on. When aloft
he saw the mate in chase of the boy. The boy ran along
the yard-arm, where the mate struck him twice or thrice.
The boy then jumped off the fore lee yard-arm to catch
the back-stays, but he missed them and fell into the
water. The boy might have been a quarter of an hour
in the water. He could swim a little. The ship was put
about, and the boy was picked up. He, witness, was
then at the wheel.

Harris, another seamen, was called into the witness-
box, but proved nothing.
The Counsel for the mate then addressed the jury.
The Learned COMMISSIONER said that an assault had
been admitted ; the jury were to consider whether that
assault had been justified, and if they should find so they
were to acquit the prisoner.
The jury, after consulting, found the mate Not
Guilty.
The mate is, however, still in custody.
The case will be tried on a new indictment on Thurs-
day next.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
GUILDHALL.

Mr. Alderman Wilson gave the opinion of the Court
upon a novel question which had been started, as to the
right of a passenger by an omnibus to shift from the out •
side to the inside without paying double fare.
The conductor of one of Giles's Stratford and Chel-
sea omnibuses was summoned for demanding more than
the legal fare from a gentleman named Cox, who rode
from the Mile-end•road to St. Paul's. Being told the
omnibus was full inside, he got upon the box, telling the
conductor he should get inside as soon as there was
room. A passenger alighted at the London Hospital,
and Mr. Cox then got in, but was told by the conductor
that he should require a fare for riding outside and one
for riding inside, which two fares he paid.
Mr. Alderman WILSON said that, in the absence of
any direct provision for this case in the Act of Parlia-
ment, he must be governed by the general policy of the
law. Omnibuses, like public-houses, were licensed to
afford accommodation to the public. The publican was
bound to open his house and afford accommodation to
the traveller at any hour of the night, and, in return,
certain exclusive privileges of selling spirils, &c.,
were secured to him. The omnibus proprietors
had privileges accorded to them, and they were, in re-
turn, to afford certain accommodations to the public.
One of the principles of the Metrop.litan Carriage Act
plainly was, that the convenience of the public was not to
be sacrificed to the profit of the omnibus owner. The
profit of the owner would be sonsulted by allowing him
to blow a horn and call hi■ customers from afar, and by
allowing him to wait at the top of every street, or to
loiter on his journey till he had filled his carriage ; but
the law did not allow the public convenience to be thus
sacrificed to individual profit, and so he held in this
case the right of a passenger to shift to any more con-
venient unoccupied seat inside or outside the omnibus
was not to be fettered merely for the profit of the pro-
prietor. In the present case the legal fare for the half
distance was fixed at sixpence. This was painted within
the omnibus, and to demand more than the legal fare was
an offence by the statute ; and while the mere changing
of a seat added no weight to be carried, and did not
diminish the number of seats to be let, he saw no
ground for doubling the fare. Conductors were in the
habit of asking gentlemen to ride outside to accommo-
date a lady, without (saving over the sixpence obtained
b 7 that accommodation, and the conductors must
give as well as take accommodation. He saw nothing
ill the Act to warrant him in deciding that a passeu-
ger was bound to keep to the first seat taken. He
thought the passenger might shift to any better
unoccupied seat, and he ought not to be kept out of it
upon a speculation that somebody unknown might take
it, which somebody might not be picked up at all. He
did not mean to decide that an outside passenger might
claim a single unoccupied place inside after a stranger
had hailed the conductor and to the loss of that fare. If
the proprietor had no other means to test the honesty of
his servants but by counting the outside passengers at