Star.
London, England, 1815-11-23 00:00:00

natiLlms

cot ur OF CHANCERY, N0V.22.
tArifilt:Y CASE.--6101 GitrUORY PACIE TURNER.
kr. HAAT brought thiS case again before the
Court, upon the assurance of creditable evidence that
sitter Sir Gregory had been in Court, be had experi.
enced 2 relapse, and had disappeared, without any
one being able to Ascertain windier he had gone.
The Lonn CIIANCELOR ordered the facts in be
brought before the Court in the shape of affidavits,
when he would act as the circumstances of the ease
demanded.

COURT or KlN:;'s BENCH, NOV. 22.
JUDGmENTS.
Tim KING V. TIIONIAS unarms!.
The defendeet hid been found guilty, at the lao
Winchester Assizes, of a conspiracy with an Ensign
of the name of Henry Horton, to defraud -- Kuy-
vett, Esq. Paymaster-General of the Army Depot
in die I,le of Wight. Horton has since been found
guilty of another crime, for which he has been sen-
tenced to transportation. The information contained
eight counts, the fitst six of which set forth, that
Graham was the principal clerk in the department of
the Paymaster-General of the Depot of the Isle of
Wight, whose duty it was to check various accounts,
and among others those of Ensign Horton, who
filled the office of Deputy Quarter. Master ; that, in-
stead of so doing, he conspired with Horton, and in
the year 1807, with intent to defraud, made several
alterations in the accounts entitled " Abstracts of al-
terations of (Jahn" for the 27th and stith regimeats,
making a larger sum appear to be due than actually
was due, so as improperly to übtein from Mr. Knyvett,
the Paymaster-General, coesiderable sums, which
he and Horton applied to their own private pureoses.
The 'rth and Bth counts charged, that certain altera-
tions had been made in the general ledger, with the
privity and consent of the defendant, by Ensign
Horton, by which it was represented that a balance
of £3 was owing to the latter, when in truth he had
received about £BOO more than he had a right to
claim. The whole extent of the fraud discovered,
amounted to about £l,lOO.
The report of the trial having been read, the de-
fendant put in no affidavits, and having employed no
Counsel; he addressed the Court very shortly, en-
treating their Lordships' mercy, and requesting to
be allowed to read a certificate from the Medical
Board, as to his ill state of health, arising from his
constant attention to the bueiness of his office, and a
letter from Mr. Kny vett to the Secretary at War,
recommending him as a deserving and faithful ser-
vant of the public, to the consideration of Govern-
ment for a pension, being, in consequence of illness,
incapable of further exertion. He had been in that
department for about fifteen years.
The Court permitted the defendant to read these
documents, which were dated as late as December,
1814, and January, 1815; the (lauds of which he
had been guilty during a course of seven or eight
years, not having been discovered until the April fol-
lowing. The defendant trusted, that their Lord-
ships would take into consideration, that he had al-
ready been imprisoned since April.
The ArIWZNE'.:-GENEIt kL called for the severe sen-
tence of the Court upon the defendant, who had
been guilty of a series of the grossest frauds. It was
in vain that intention was paid to economy in the
depertnenits of government, if these pecule.
tions in the lower departments were not repressed by
serious examples of their consequences. •
In passing the sentence of the Court, Mr. Justice
La Beam: adverted to the extensive frauds that were
found, by occasional thsclosures, to prevail among
the subordinate agents of the government of the
country. This case was another instance of the ge-
neral depravity of morals among perms, who, though
adequately paid, :Mowed their expences to spread
beyond their honest means, and then resorted to dis-
graceful expedients to support their extravagancies.
Nearly as soon as a mail was initiated into one of
these places, he was initiated also in the frauds prac-
tised in them, however pure he might before have
been. The Court was at a loss for means effectually
to check these extensive malpractices, but when dis-
covered it was its duty to fix upon the delinquent
some indelible mark of int Amy. The sentence, there-
fore was, that the defendant should be imprisoned in
Winchester gaol for two years, and during the per iud
that he should once be placed in the pillory in that
City.
The defendant, with tears, entreated the Court to
withhold the ignominious part of the sentence, in
consideration of his wife and two children.
Mr. Justice Le Beam observed merely, that the
defendants confederate had been transported for a
similar offence.
THE KING V. CHM GRINDRED.
The defendant was brought up for judgment,
having been found guilty oi an information charging
him with a misdemeanour, in negotiating for grain,
with a person named Isaac Sewell, for a place under
the Bond of Excise. The defendant was an inn-
keeper at Brough, in Westmoicland, and Sewell, a
schoolmaster ; the sum paid was £3OO. The nego-
ciatien was carried on through a Collector of the
nameof Phillips, since dead, who, according to the
allegation of the defendant, received the whole of the
money, he possessing the necessary influence. There
were some circumstances of mitigation in the case,
and among others, that urged by Mr. Sceneerr,
counsel for the dtifendant, that it was a much lighter
effenee for a man, without patronage, to receive a
sum of money in this way, than for an individual,
high in rank, and powerful influence, to take a bribe
to secure an office for an undeserving individual. In
this case it was not pretended, that Sewell was not fit
for the post he acquired, though he had subsequently
been dismksed, having obtained his office improperly.
The sentence of the Court was a fine of 4100, aad
imptisonment in Appleby jail for six mouths.
TILE ICLN V. JAME.% CREISEII, JOSHUA FELL, ANNE
his Wife, and I HOS. WEKAN.
The ATTOKNEY.GENERAL moved for the judgment
of the Court in this case.
This was an information which charged the first
three (Lt.endants with assaulting Edward Stark and
James Stuckey, in the execution of their duty as
Custom-house Officers, and the last-mentioned with
neglecting to assist the said officers • in making their
search in the house of Fell, for contraband goods,
although called upon so to do.
From the evidence adduced on the trial, it ap-
peared that inform atoll having been gives to the

Officers or Cdstoms that there were contraband good ;
concealed in the house of Fell, they obtained a viva
of assiitance, empowering them.to make ,search, aid
to call up.in the peace officers to give them arsit-
ance in the performance of that duty. In consequence
of this they went to the defendant, I`l4l3ean, who was

a beadborough, and called upon him to accompany
t:.em to Fell's house. O•) Arriving there they asicei
ii Captain Creeser, who lodged in the 11 ,use, xas at
home: an answer in the affirmative being given,

Stark was ihewn up stairs to Mr. Creeser's re—roii, on
the first Boor, and on entering told him h- came to
search for contraband knurls, whicli he had 'taken
from en board the Mertz% Mrs. Fell, who listened
at ddor, on heating this ran up stairs. wl,lch
Stark perceiving, he followed, and luttod her in the
act of taking an India silk shawl tr..ns a box., which
she attempted to conceal under the be-d. lie pre-
vented her, however, upon which she seized him by

:he collar, and screamed r itt for assistance.

Joblma

Fcll and Creeser urn) this e-mail up, and lin:Illy threat
Stark down stairs. 1‘1,13?..n was called upn to assist,

but refused, and the s .arch WAS not comi•leted till

the assistance of three cflicers from the Thames M.

lice (ACC WAS Ob!.tilled, when six BandauA hand-

kerchiefs and another shAwl were found.

The prisoners were all could guilty. •
Upon the part el the defendants, font allidayits
were put in. The first fr..rn Joshua Fell, stating.
teat he had no knowledge of the bwiness u;,on whit!'
Stark and his companion came, ti:l ! by the

screams of his witi, whom, on running up stairs, ho
found tindres.ed, and almost fainting on the

bed. Under such circumst.aaces, he was n—atui ally

irritated, and, irrhaps, behaved with a &glee of
violence which, under other circumstances, iw ;ht

n)t be justifiAble. Ills wife, who was tar advanced
in pregnancy, had, in consequence of the fright site
received on tl:is oec,sion, tniscarried. The shAwls
and h.►ndkerch'cls &nt], he stated, had been pun.

chased by hint without any knowledge of their being
vuttraband, and had been in wear I)r several years.
Au affidavit horn M:s. Fdl, staid, that shy
showed Stark into Mr. Creeser's room, and then went

up to her room to change her dress; she had partly
stripped herself, and was searching in a best foe
something to wear, when Stark came behind her,
seized her round the waist, and took from her hand
a shawl she had been wearing f 4 four years :
she was so much alarmed that she screamed violently
and threw herself on the Bed, and, in consequence of
her fright, shortly afterwards miscarried.
The third affidavit was !rem Creeser, denying all
knowledge of contraband goods being in the house,
and saying, that any part he had taken in the affair
was owing to the entreaties of Fell, on finding his wife
in so extraordinary a situation.
The fourth affidavit was from M,l3ean, stating his
ignorance of the nature of a warrant of assistance, and
the fact was, that as Fell himself was a constable, he
was fearful of committing himself.
Mr. GURNEY addressed the Court in mitigation of
punishment, and submitted, that of all the cases of
resistance to officers, in the execution of their duty,
which had come before the Cleft, and ef which he
had heard, this seemed to be the least offensive. He
observed, that it did not appear that Mt. Fell had
any knowledge of the object of Stark's visit to Mr.
Creeser, until alarmed by the elks of his wife, and
the state in which he found her was quite sufficient to
warrant something like a feeling of indignation on
his Nit. With tespect to Mr. Creeser, be had not
offered any resistance till ca'led en by Fell ; and the
guilt of ISl,llean was, in great measure palli,itcd, !torn
his being ignorant of the nature and object of a writ
of assistance.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL having addressed the
Court in support of the prosecution,
The male defendants were sentenced to pay a fine
of 4'lo each, and Ann Fell to pay a tine of 15s. ed.

THE KING V. JOHN I'EEI:LESS AND ROUT. HORNS.

These defendants were likewise brought up to re-
ceive the judgment of the Court, upon an informa-
tion, charging them with assaulting Wm. Marsh, an
Officer of the Customs, in the execution of his duty,
at Leinham, in the County of Kent, on the 14th of
June last.
It appeared that on the day in question, the pri-
soners were observed in the toad, near the house of a
firmer named Payne, with a cart, which Marsh sus-
, pected contained contraband goods. On his attempt-
ing to ge towards the cart, the prisoners preceded
him, and took two bludgeons from it, with which
they threatened " to do for him," if he interrupted
them. On his following them, Peerless threw a stone
at him, and Norris took a piece of a pole from a
hedge, with which he approached him, as if with
intent to strike him. Upon this he, having borrowed
Mr. Payne the farmer's gun, fired, and Peerless tell.
He was, however, able to get up and follow the cart,
into which Norris had go!, and was very active in
throwing out small kegs of brandy.
Mr. GURNEY, for the defendants, addressed the
Court, and observed, that although he could offer no-
thing in extenuation of the defendants' guilt, yet as
Peerless had been severely wounded, he trusted the
Court, in passing sentence, would take into conii-
deration the sufferings he had already undergone.
Sir S. LE BLANC, in giving judgment, observed,
that the Court could make no distinction in the pu-
nishment of the defendants. It was true, char Peer-
less had been severely wounded ; but a: he had gone
out upon an illegal adventure, he must take all the
consequences which followed. The sentence of the
Court was, " That the defendants should be impri.
son, d in the House of Con ection for the county of
Kent, for the space of one year, and ill it thty should
be forthwith committed to the custody of the Mar.
steal in execution of their sentence."

Another forgery has been discovered on the Coot.
missioners for victualling, the Navy, which, it Seel2ls,
WAS ,ffected near two years since. The perpetrator
1145 hitherto eluded detection.
Five hundred persons have gone into the Fleet and
King's Bench, since the commencement of the pre.
sent Term, in order to take the benefit of the Insol-
vent Act.
At a trial lately, in Ireland, a ns:ble Judge took
several opportunities of turning his wit against Coun.
seller M--. A witne4s apunring with one side of
his face much swelled, his Lordship Kernarked to Mr.
M. " that the fellow would male an excellent
sellor, he had so much jaw !" Oh, my Lord," re.
plied Mr. M. " a touch boor Judge, as his jaw is all
on one side !"