Star.
London, England, 1812-01-15 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, JAN. 14.

PURCHASE or GUlNEAS.frilliant Fisher and
Wil-
liam Granger were indicted for a misdemeanour, un-
der the statute of the last Session, for purchasing
three guineas at a price considerably above their law-
ful and current value, from a man named Williams,

on the 10th of November last, in the parish of St.
Clement Danes. It appeared from the evidence, that
AViLiams, who is a journeyman baker, went, on the
day stated in the indictment, to the tapnt the Angel
Inn, behind St. Clement's Church, and that, wl.ile in
the room, he heard some men conversing about guineas ;
upon which he observed, " that these were scarce ar-
ticles :" to which Fisher answered, " not so scarce
neither • I have seen upwards of two hundred+von
that table within a very short time. We give a higher
price for them here ; and, if you have any. to spate,
there is a gentleman who comes here tit,* will give
you a good profit on them." Fisher called there se-
veral successive days afterwards; and Williams in
the interim went to Dickons, the police-officer, and
tol..fhim what had passed. Dickons, who was on
the watch for persons thus transgressing the law,
went, accompanied by another police-officer, along
With Williams, to whom he gave three marked gui-
neas for the purpose of selling them to the person
mentioned by Fisher, and of then taking the purcha-
ser into custody. Williams went in, and asked Fisher,
who was there, for the person who bought guineas.
Shortly afterwards Granger came in, and Fisher
pointed him out as the person. Williams then pro-
posed to sell him some guineas ; they higgled about
the price, and Granger agreed to pay him at the rate
of twenty-five shillings and nine-pence for each gui-
nea ; and did, accordingly, pay Williams for three
guineas, three one pound notes, seventeen shillings
and three-pence. Williams immediately left the
room, and told Dickons, who was in waiting ; and
who instantly came in and asked Granger to produce
the three guineas he had just purchased. Granger
finding he was betrayed, flew into a passion, and en-
deavoured to get away ; but the officer searched both
him and Fisher; and on searching Granger, they
found upon him twenty-one guineas, amongst which
were the three marked ones he had just purchased, a
considerable number of seven shilling pieces and sil-
ver coins.
Mr. POWELL, solicitor to the Mint, proved the ge.

•
nuine quality of a tank dollar, some Bank tokens,
and some shillings, paid in the purchase.
The evidence for the prosecution being dosed, Mrs
ALLEY and Mr. GURNEY, as Counsel for the defen-
dants, argued, that the indictment was defective, in-
asmuch as it described the dollar by the appellation
of a Bank token, which it was not, but commonly
called a dollar; and that the evidence was also de-
fective, inasmuch as it was not proved that the three
one pound notes paid in part of the purchase, vrere
the genuine notes of the Bank of England, as in the,
indictment they were averred to be.
Mr. WATSON, who sat as Chairman, stemmed up
the evidence for the Jury ; and stated, that if they
believed the evidence to sustain the charge, Fisher,
viho was present with Granger, and aiding and assist-
ing the bargain, being an accessary, Was quite as
much implicated in the misdemeanor as Granger, al-
though he had not paid over any part of the mo-
ney ; and he also noticed, that no proof had been of-
fered that the Bank notes were genuine.
The Jury, after some deliberation, expressed to the
Court through their foreman, their doubts whether
they could be warranted in a verdict of guilty, when
there was no proof, offered to them that-the Bank-
notes were genuine ; and they themselves could not
undertake to decide whether they were real or ficti-
tious. There was also one of the shillings handed to
them for inspection as part of the purchase money,
which they thought to be very suspicious, though
stated in the indictment to be good and lawful coin.
Mr. MAINWARING told them, that if they were dis-
satisfied with any part of the evidence, or entertained
any doubts that the whole of the facts were not pro-
vedohey had a right, and were bound to find a ver-
dict accordingly.
The Jury Immediately returned their verdict of—
Not Guilty.