Star.
London, England, 1821-03-07 00:00:00

►\
~.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

~ 1..

• ,~.:

COURT OF ILINGI.IMINCH, MARCH 6.
- IMPORTANT TO COACH-MASTERS.
•WRIOUT AND CO.lO. YAM. • .• • •

The plaintiffs are Bankers, residing at Christchatch,
and had employed the firm of Rogers, Olding, and
Boycott, as their Agents in London, to pay off their
Notes, and to remit them to Christchurch, to be there
re-issued. The defendant is one of the Proprietors of
the Poole mail coach, and of the Southampton night
coach. On the first day of December, 1819, a par-
cel of Notes was sent by the House of Rogers and
Co. to the defendant's coach-office, and there booked.
The parcel contained £1,300 of :he plaintiffs' Notes,
and was directed to Mr. Angier, who was Clerk in
the Bank of the plaintiffs, at Christchurch. The
parcel never reached its destination, and this action
was brought to recover the amount.
_ _

Mr. William Boycott proved, that on the follow-
ing day, a lot of £360 was presented to the witness
for payment, and another lot of Cl® in the afternoon
of the same day, which he also paid: but it being
unusual to have so large a sum presented for pay-
ment on the same day, witness's suspicions were •,T-4
cited, and, on examination, he found that the other
clerks had paid £390 more. The whole amounted
to £lO5O, and were some of the very notes sent off
the preceding day to the defendant's office. On ex-
amining the defendant's books and way-bill it was
found the parcel had been sent .by the Southampton
night-coach, not by the mail, as the defendant had
undertaken, and it was matked •4 missing" in. the
way-bill.
The porter proved that he delivered the parcel at
defendant's office, paid two-pence for booking it, and
received a memorandum. He neither insured the
parcel, nor informed the defendant of its contents. •
Other witnesses were called ; but the case for the
plaintiffrested chiefly on the defendant's undertaking
to send the parcel by the Mail.
The defence consisted of two points; first, it was
contended that the notice in the defendant's office
should have protected him from any loss of greater
valne than five pounds; and, secondly, that the plain-
tiffs' agents had not acted fairly in not making known
to the defendant the contents of the parcel, and in-
swing it accordingly.
Witnesses were called to prove that the usual no-
tice posted up at the Coach-offices, which was pro-
duced in Court, had been known to Rogers and Go.
It was also proved that the parcel was sent by the
Southampton night-coach, but was stolen on the way.

The CIIIEF JUSTICZ ebseried, that if the Mail
which left London, and by which the defendant had
undertaken to forward the parcel, had proceeded for-
ward to Christchurch, before it were changed, he
should not hesitate in that case in directing a verdict
for the plaintiffs; but that being changed in South-
ampton, the question for their consideration was, first,
whether the risk was greater by the one than by the
other ? If they thought the risk greater by the
Southampton coach than by the Poole mail, they
would find for the plaintiffs ; but if they were of a
contrary opinion, they would find for the defendant.'
But again, they were to consider also the quantity of
damages they would give in case they should find for
the plaintiffs. 'The unusual sum of £360, and a sum
of L:100, being presented for payment to one person
in the house of Rogers and Co. ou one day, ought to
excite their surprise, since £5O was the general ave-
rage of notes presented for payment on any one day.
Had' they been more active, that circumstance might
probably have led to a discovery of the fraud, and
of the persons concerned in it. He would only add,
that of the £l3OO, only £lO5O were claimed. Of the
remaining £250, nothing had been known, and pro-
bably they never would be claimed.—Verdict for
the plaintiff—Damages, £lo6o—Costs, 40s.

Monday sennight was committed to Northampton
county jail, Mary Clarke, widow of the late John
Clarke, of Charweton, charged with having been ac-
cessory before the fact to the murder of her late hus-'
band, John Clarke afore,aid, by Philip 'Jaynes, now
confined in the above jail for the cortimis.ion of the
said murder, .as stated last week. The deceased, it
will be recollected, was shot while cutting hay from
a rick near his dwelling, Charwell-house. It appeared
to the Coroner's Inquest, that he must have been filed
at from under the tiles in his own barn, and on exa-
mination, in a hole in a barley-stack, were found a
ladder, a gun in a new case, and a large bag, con-
taining bread, cheese, and bacon, a bottle, &c. Per-
sons were set to watch all night, and on Monday
morning (after the commission of he.murder on SA..
turday afternoon), the barley-stack was removed, at
the bottom of which they discovered Philip Haynes,
who was taken into custody. He declared he knew
nothing of the transaction, until his irons were put-
ting on, when he said he should not have done it, had
he not been over-persuaded!

DREADFUL EFFECTS OF FR!GHT.—A short time
since, a young woman of Exeter, named Whicker,
who was in the habit of going out to day-work at
her needle, was passing through a field, which the
servants of the house she had left had represented as
haunted, and the fears of the credulous girl being
thus awakened, a black boy, having wrapped him-
self in a sheet, concealing all but his facie and hands,
met her in the path. The shock was too strong for
her reason—she became raving mad; and, about a
fortnight since, was conveyed to the Asylum, near
Exeter, deprived of all those noble powers of .intel-
lect which dignify human nature above the brute
creation; and though the dreary void of her mind is
occasionally irradiated by lucid intervals, she soon
relapses into insanity, from which, it is feared, she
will never perfectly recover!
Tux NA ssucK DzastoNo.—An extraordinary large
diamond, belonging to the Honourable East-India
Company, has recently been received from India. It,
is denominated the Nassuck dfamond, and was taken,
with the baggage, from the Peishwa of the Mahrat-
tas. It weighs 3.58 grains, or 89i carats; its shape
is triangular. Mr. MAWE, who visited.the Diamond
District of Brazil, has, through the favour Of the
Chairman, modelled it.- He thinks the 'form, when
rough, was an irregular octohedron, and has been cut
into its present shape to preserve the size and weight.
It is of the finest water, and the largest diamond that
has appeared in Europe, except the Pitt diamond,
and one in the possession of the Emperor oflivosiA.

. -
pitiatimaLE ingt• INnaitsr*ci cii4E;l

His MAJESTY'S free pardon was received on Mon.'
day evening for Frederick under sentence of
death in Newgati.
The case of this youth, only about 17 years of age,
is peculiarly intereeting. He was convicted on the Bth
of December, of a street robbery, during the time of
a fire, near Wardocr-street, and ordered for execu-
tion, with five others, on the 31st of .lanttayy. Mr.
Sheriff WaITIIMAN, who inquired into the particulars
'of the case of each of these unhappy persons, was
struck with the circumstances of the case of this poor
I lad, who seemed less concerned for his own life than
for the distress his fate would occasion to his relatives;
and from the artless and ingenuous manner he an-
swered his enquiries, the worthy Sheriff was led to
believe that he-was innocent of the crime.
On the Monday previous to the day appointed for
the execution, Sheriff WAITIIMAN made a represen-
tation to Lot d Sit:mount, who gave the circumstance
a most attentive and humane consideration, and a
respite was-sent about five o'clock that afternoon.
From that time Sheriff W AITIIMA N has been .unre-

-mining in his enquiries into every circumstance of
the case, as well as into the previous conduct of the
prisoner, who, it appears, bad but recently come to
town, and resided with his parents in the neighbour-
hood of Waidour-street; and unfortunately went to see
the fire. While mixing in the crowd, a rush was
Made by a gang of ten or twelve pickpocket'; and
the prosecutor, who had his seals and chain snatched
away, laid hold of White, charged him with the rob-
bery, and,called to two of his companions, who were
at some distance, and did not see the robbery, and
they came up and assisted in conveying White to the•
watch-house. No property was found upon him, nor
was he in a situation to convey it to others had he
really.been the thief; for the prosecutor swore upon
the trial that the prisoner kept pulling and screwing
at his chain, in order to get his watch from his fob,
while he had hold of him, but it was almost impos-
sible
that a slight lad, in custody, and offering no re-
sistance, would so act.
_ _

When Vie charge was given at the watch-house, a
young man, stranger to the prisoner, stated that he
stood near the spot at the time ; that the prosecutor
appeared greatly confused and much intoxicated, and
remained two minutes. after the robbery before he
laid hold of anybody, and that he did not think it
possible for him to identify the person who robbed
him. The young man was, however, treated as an
accomplice, and told that they'should have him to-
morrow; he then gave his card of address, and the
prisoner requested him to appear for him in the
morning, and he accordingly attended at the Police
Office, where his testimony was again discredited,
'-and White was fully committed.
Although he was well connected, fearful of expos-
ing himself and ltu friends, he concealed his dreadful
situation from them till it was too late; the conse-
quence was, that he had no Counsel at his trial; the
friendly stranger again attended on his behalf, and
repeated the evidence he had previously given, but
being contradicted, as to the prosecutor's.intoxication,
by the prosecutor himself, and his two companions,
he was, of course, di'heliered, and, from the fact of
his thus coming forward, suspected .to have been
an accomplice.
After the conviction, .the prisoner's mother .got
some friend to draw up a Petition for mercy, "and
which, under the delusion, which is very common,
that a denial of guilt would render the Petition nu-
gatory, and would be considered . flying in the face
of the Court and Jury, contained his acknowledgment
of the justice of his sentence. White, who had uni-
formly declared his innocence, positively refused to
sign this Petition, avowing that he would sooner die
than admit this filsehood. The sincerity of his decla-
ration cannot be more clearly evinced than by the
folios% ing letter, addressed by him to his mother,
after the warrant fur his execution comedown:
" DEAR MOTIIRR, " January 29, 1821.
" The awful Iteport is at length arrived, and. I am one of
.those unfortunates that are doomed to die; but I have owe great
consolation on my sid?, that is, my being innoceot of the foul
crime alleged against me. Do not despair, dear Mother, for I
hope we shall hereafter meet in a better world. Goo gave me
fortitude to meet the Report, and I hope GOD will sot desert me
in my last moments. 1 should wish to see you as early as pos-
sible; you will be admitted all this day.—Dear Mother, from
your unfortunate son, " FREDEILICK WHITE."

His mother, however, thinking the Petition essen-
tial for the preservation of his life, induced his brother
to sign the prisoner's name to it. This innocent for-
gery produced at first a strong impression against the
prisoner ; but the circumstances, when known,placed
him in a more favourable point of view,
Mr. Sheriff WAITIIMAN, in the course of his inqui-
ries, has been able to produce the most satisfactory
evidence of the good character and veracity of the
friendly stranger, who appeared as a witness. He has
also been able to produce the concurrent testimony
of eight or ten respectable person who fully confirm
the above witness as to the intoxication of the prose-
cutor : seven of whom, including the landlord of the
public.house, and several persons who Were in com-
pany of the prosecutor, have made affidavits, stating,
that he had been several hours drinking various sorts
of liquors, and that he was quite intoxicated. For-
tunately, Mr.WAITIIMAN was also enabled to produce
the affidavit of a very respectable Gentleman,• who
not only speaks highly of White's character, but also
states, that, as he was returning home that evening,
near to the spot,.he saw White a short time previous 1
to the robbery, and spoke to him, and that he was'
entirely alone—which testimony completely discon-
necti him from any gang. It appears that one of the
companions of the prosecutor, who swore to his so-
briety, does not, nor ever did, live at the place which
he swore to be his residence, and was not to be found.
The worthy sheriff addressed a letter to the Foreman
of the Jury, stating, that some circumstances faiour-
able to 'White had come to his kn-owledge, which in-
duced him to investigate the evidence, requesting to
know upon what ground their verdict was founded':
and received a Declaration the next day, signed by
all the Jury, stating, that they acted on a belief that,
the prosecutor was sober, and that they discredited
the witness for the prisoner, looking upon him in the
light of an accomplice; at the same time stating,
that it would afford them great pleasure if any error
they had been led into could be corrected.
These, and other documents as to the prisoner's
character, the worthy Sheriff 144 before Lord &A-
mount, who submitted the whole to Mr. Baron Gkit-
now, before whom White was tried; and the Learned

'susige has given it as his decided opinion , that had
these circumstances been brought forward at the
the jury would have found a verdict of Not
Guilty. In c,onsequence of which, his MAJEny was
graciously pleased to grant his free r,arjoiL__Thui
has this youth been most providentially saved horn
an ignominious end.
His MaJcsvy's free pardin for Michad Ifarlg
was also received by Mr. Sheriff Wainuta; wit;
immediately communicated the same to him. •