Star.
London, England, 1818-01-19 00:00:00

OLD BAILEY, JANUARY 17.

Fri Man Kdly, aged 15, and Thomas Spicer, aged'
17, were arraigned under a charge of forgery, and;
uttering a Si. note, knowing it to be forged, with in-
tent to defraud the Government and Company of
the Bank of England. William Kelly was brought
up to plead on Friday, and in consequence of his per-
sisting to plead guilty, the Court very humanely sent
him back, in order that he might reflect a little upon
the act. The question was put to Kelly again in the
' usual form, on his being brought up this day, and he
obstinately persisted in declaring his guilt, asking,
" How can I plead not guilty when I am conscious
of my guilt ?" The prisoner was warned several
times by the Judge upon the Bench that his pleading
guilty would be no excuse to him, and earnestly ad-
vised him to take his trial, but it was all of no avail ;
Kelly was still, however, obstinate in pleading guilty,
and declared that Spicer was innocent. The other
prisoner, Spicer, pleaded not guilty to the charge,mnd
was_put upon his trial accordingly.
mr. Justice Assort summed up, and the Jury
found both the Prisoners guilty—Death.
Jamas Seckerson, a weaver, residing near Pollards-
, row, Bethnal-green, was put to the bar, upon an in-
dicunent whidi charged him with having feloniously
forged and uttered as true, knowing -to be forged, a
, note, purporting to be of the value of M. with intent',
to defraud John Sense; or the Governor and Com-
pany of the Bank of England.
Mr. Serjeant BOSANQUET stated the circumstances
of the case to the Jury ; after which witnesses were
called to prove the facts, as set forth in the indictment-
John Scrase stated, that he was a shoemaker, re-
siding at No 68, Middlesex-place, Hackney-road. On
4th December last, at half past six in the evening, the
prisoner came to his shop and bought a pair of pumps,
which came to 10s. 6d. in payment of which he gave
witness a 5/. note. Witness asked him where he lived,
and he pointed through the turnpike, and said, " just-
through." Witness asked him, " Newmarket Ter-
race ?" he said " Yes," and that his name was Mason.
Witness wrote upon it " Mason, Newmarket Terrace,"
and gave the prisoner change in four 11. notes, and
the rest in sill er. He then lighted a segar, and went
away. About three weeks afterwards the note was
returned as forged, but no such person as the prisoner
described hiw silfcould be found in NewmarketTerrace.
' This was the primary charge, and several witnesses
were called to prove other similar utterings with a
guilty knowledge.. The Prisoner being called on for
his defence, put in a very long written one, which
stated, that the whole prosecution arose in conse-
quence of his unfortunate likeness to a person who
must bare committed the offences charged to him.
His habits of life were honest and industrious ; when
he had work to do, he generally worked J 2 hours a
day, and as to the day spoken of by Mr. Scrase, hei
should be able to prove, most incontesiibly, that he
was otherwise employed.
Witnesses were then called who proved an alibi ;
and several respectable persons gave the prisoner a
most excellent character for honesty, industry, &c.
Mr. Justice PARK, in summing up the evidence,
observed, that it would be for the Jury, upon their
solemn consciences, to say whether the prisoner was
guilty or not. If they should not be of opinion that
he tittered the particular note in question, then they
could not find him guilty, for the ether counts were,
only to slim the felonious uttering, and unless the
witnesses were perjured, it was impossible that the pri-
soner could have passed the note on the 18th of No-
vember. He trusted that Con would guide them to
a right conclusion.
The Jury retired for ten minutes, and found a ver-
dict of Not Guilty, It was received with loud ap-
; probation by a very crowded Court.