Star.
London, England, 1827-08-04 00:00:00

!tional, and that the prisoner's own feelings would be a
suffic'ent punishment, when hs,..tefiected on the loss of
life, and of limb, probably, which his accident had
cause& As to the newspaper publications, his opinion
was on record. He thought every notice of a case be-
fore trial ought not to be tolerated, from its obvious
tendency to prejudge and prejudice the question which
remained for serious and solemn investigation.

. The Counsel said they were prepared with the very
best character for the prisoner, who had felt throughout
this business as became a man in such a situation.
He then traversed till next Assizes.
arrnissave AND 3111017 LAN acsaamtv.
Robert Waster was indicted for having, on the night
of the 18th of Jantasy, 1827, at Kemble, in this
county, (heir* at the time in the dwelling-house of the
Rev. John Price Jones) stolen one silver soup ladle,
four sauce ladles, several salt spoons, and a number of
other articles of plate, to the value of between 3001.
and 4001. the property of the Rev. Gentleman, toge-
ther with five 11. notes, and a large quantity of clothes,
a'sihrei watch, &c. There was also a count for bee-
glariously breaking out of his master's house, after
committing this felony.
It appeared in evidenie that the prosecutor, wbb was
a Reverend Gentleman of fortune and rank In the
crianty, had had the prisoner for three years as butler
in his family; he had borne the best character pie-
viously : so much so, that his master had become se-
curity for the rent of a mill, to the business of which
the prisoner was, under hit patronage, to hate retired
last May. It appeared'that on the 17th of January,
Mr. Jones bad a dinner party, and entertained his
(Heads till late in the evening. About 11- eelotk be
that night, the prisoner, the housemaid, and localism
were together in the kitchen, when prisoner additated
the footman, and said, " James, as you are drowsy,
why not go to heir at the same time' telling. the
Imosemaid to Make up James's bed in its plate on a
room rear the hall ; the house being ohdet repeir;
adding, that he (prisoner) would leate the plate there.
The housemaid remarked, that her master wished• the
plate carried up stairs; and inquired why, the butler
would not take It there. The latter refused taking it
there, saying he thought it as safe below stairs as
above. After the footmen retired to bed, the prisoner
brought the plate box near him, with several of the
articles, such as a tea-pot, &c. loose on the top of it.
The footman asked if he should lock the d •or ? The
butler said no, as he might want the trap for supper,
if ordered. The footman then fattened his watch to
the wall, and fell asleep. Prisoner remained in attend.
ante upon the family fill one o'clock in the Morning,
when they all retired to rest; iiter which it was pri-
soner's duty to fasten up the house. Soon after the
footman fell asleep he awoke, and missed his watch
and waistcoat, which he had hung upon a peg on the
wall. He immediately got out of bed, and perceived
that the plate and box were also missing; but having
been only nine days in the family, he imagined that
the butler had removed it for domestic rise at supper,
and thought that oat of a joke upon a new servaht,
his watch bad been taken ; he therefore fell asleep
again. The Reverend Mr. Jones stated in his

-evidence, that he :toted to rest about one o'clock
on that night. and was disturbed about an Imor after-
wards by a noise. when Major Haines, a visiter in the
house, knocked at his Ised-room door, and intimated his
fear that all was not right below stairs. They imme-
diately went down stairs together, and felt the wind
bloiving upon them. It oceutred to him that the house
EtyaQ bMn broken open, mid fie tan tip Mu ana! brought
OOit m a pile of pistols. takitri iteenttai position to tont-
Maittl the amides of the hofii, While the Major sierthed
ttl'it rooms, but nobody was fottud. The hall was ittewed
all over with empty glass bottles, and the fragments of
lit hell lamp. ft appeared to him that they had ail been
AU* down ttrgethet, and had ereated'the noise which
had disturbed the family. The butler's pantry window
Was open, Mid its iron bars removed. rise servants on
the alarm ran Bowe stairs, and among thein the pri-
soner in a night cap; but with his small clothes but-
toned at the knee,.as be wore them While in
Mr. Jones not seeing the footman, and apprehensive for
his safety, proceeded towards his room, and found the
passage door so bolted as to Mot him within bid apart:
meat. Upon opening the ddot he found the footman la-
bouring.under the surprise of being suddenly awakened.
The prisoner then said, Master, the plate's gone !"
The footman said, .6 And so is my watch I" The vil-
lage was immediately roused, but nobody was found.
On the lawn, however, a coat was seen which the pri-
soner first pointed out, though it was not visible to
others. The drain upon the lawn was raked with si
fork ; but nothing was discovered. The prosecutor.
upon receiving from London some information from
Martborcrugh-stieet, went to town, where he found thi
prisoner in eu.tody, who gave the following ettraot-
dinary accountof the robberys—That about three weeks
after it had occurred, upon going for Mr. Jones's let-
ters to the post office at Cirencester, he observed oM
letter rather peculiar in its aispearante; he peeped into
lit, and found that it purported to come from the robbers,
who therein, according to his statement, informed Mr.
'Jones, that the plate was deposited in a drain under the
lawn; that they were doable to carry it away, owing to
the heat of the pursuit; and as they lived a great dis-
tance from the place, and could not carry it off, he
might recover it. The prisoner said, that this commu-
nication induced him to take the plate out of the drain.
He then concealed it in his pantry for neatly three
months, and that in the tea pot was the footman's
watch.

William Styles, a silversmith, residing in Tottenham-
court-road. proved the prisoner's coming to Ms shop on
the 2Sd of June, and offering for sale about fifteen
ounces of melted silver, which having been melted in a
ladle instead of a crucible was left to be assayed. He
afterwards paid him for it 31. 4s. 6d. In a few days
be called again with a much larger' quantity, which he
said he had obtained from a refiner, who was unable to
repay a loan to a friend without giving him this old
silver. On this second occasion he brought about 140
ounces of plate in a very mutilated state. This aroused
the suspicions of the silversmith, who desired the pri-
soner. if he bad any more, to bring it all at once. The
latter went away, and returned with 1.50 ounces more,
which he left to be weighed, and was to call again at
three o'clock for payment. Mr. Styles, in the interim,
sent for a police-officer to Marlborough-street, and had
the man taken into custody when he called for money.
He said at the time that the plate had been sent to him
from Mr. Janes, of the Pig-market, Lincoln.
Goddard, the police-officer, said the prisoner gave his
neaps as Richard Wilson. In consequence of in-
formation which he bad received, be went to the Sugar-
loaf, in Great Queen-street, Lincoln's•inn-fields, and
66/ought away a boat which the prisoner admitted to be