Star.
London, England, 1820-12-08 00:00:00

OLD DAILEY.

Yesterday Ann Gibson was capitally indicted for pri-'
vately stealing in the doelling•house of Mr. Galon,
a respectable tradesman in the Strand (with whom she
lived as servant), a si!ver goblet, a number of silver
spoons, and other articles, of the value of £5 and up-
wards. It appeared that the prisoner had purloined
the ankles, and pawned them at Messrs. Harris's, the
pawnbrokers, who lent two shillings on a'goblet (part
of the property), which they admitted was worth'E3;
afterwards they lent further sums, till she received
£1 upon that article. The prisoner pretended, when
she pledged the goods, to have been sent by an old
lady in Round-court.
Mr. Galon identified all the property. The pri-
soner called no witnesses; but threw herself upon the
mercy of the Court.
Mr. Baron Gmtriow having summed up the evi-
dence, said, that if the Jury were satisfied that the
prisoner stole t!.-e property, they must find a verdict
for the capital charge, as it had been sworn the goblet
alone was worth £3.
The Jury consulted for a few minutes, and re-
turned a verdict of Guilty—Death.
Mr. Galon entreated the mercy of the Court to-
wards the unhappy prisoner.
Baron GARaow.—Your recommendation shall be
attended to. You, Gentlemen of the Jury, seem to
join in the-prosecutor's recommendation.
Foreman.—We do, my Lord.
Baton GARROW—I shall take care that your re.:
commendation shall be attended to. I saw you wished
to reconcile to your consciences the finding a verdict
for stealing property less in value than 40s. I am
glad you delivered the verdicr you did; it will be an
erarople to othatr; and I can assure you, that the

• •
' same fate will await the prisoner as if Yon iiid. 'found
a more lenient verdict. Mercy will be extended to
her, you may be assured.
O'" A Juryman said, that he and his colleagues witiled
• to notice the improper conduct of pawnbrokers lend-
ing money upon suspicious statements or strangers,
which they considered to be wilful reception of stolen

property. ,
Baron GARROW.—I perfectly agree with you; and
I was conversing with my brother Bayley, while you
were considering your verdict, upon the propriety of
refusing the pawnbrokers their expenses, in conse-
quence of their improper conduet. I know, Gentle-
men, what the consequence of what I have'said will
' be. I shall receive a number of *letters from pawn-
brokers, stating that I know nothing of the nature of
their business ; that it is impossible to avoid taking
in stolen goods sometimes ; and that such establish-
ments are of great benefit to the Public. I know that
such shops give a great facility to the disposal of
stolen property, but I admit that the. poor are re-
lieved at times of distress ; and what I condemn is,
that when a person like the prisoner goes to pledge
property of the description of that pledged at the
shop of Messrs. Harris, no inquiry is made, though
the account she gave was in itself so very suspicious.
GOD forbid that I should wish to deprive the poor of
the benefit of such shops; I only wisk that pawn-
brokers should not receive property, when there are,
such strong grounds for suspecting that it is stolen.
The JUDGE then ordered that the expenses of the
pawnbrokers should not be allowed, and that the
property should be restored to Mr. Galon, without
his paying either of the sums advanced or the interest.
John Haut and William Lawrence' fur breaking
and entering the dwelling-house of William Bate,
:and stealing £lo and upwards in Bank notes and
money ; George Allen, for stealing a dial, three coats,
Sic. the property of John Smith; in leis dwelling-house;
and lames Farquhar and William Fulham, ter steal-
ins sixty yards of stuff, the property of Messrs. Burls,
in their dwelling-house, were all capitally convicted.'
C. Marcel Seago was indicted for stealing, in the
house of .1. Cook, in Upper George-street, Portman-
square, where the -prisoner lived as servant, a gold
watch and appendages, value £7O, a one-pound note,
and other articles, the property of Captain Mackay.—
Guilty of stealing, but .not in the dwelling-house.
'I Barber was indicted for breaking into the house
of J. Snell, Esq. in the Parish of Edmonton, and steal-
ing three dozen of silver-handled knives and forks, a
driving-coat, and other property.
The day after the burglary, a chisel was found at
the prisoner's house, which corresponded with the
marks upon the shutters of the window by which the
entrance was effected ; a pair of half-boots was also
taken from his feet—that of the right corresponded
with the impression on the earth leading to the win-
dow, but that of the left did not. _ .

A man of the name of Rhodes, who was first called
to speak to the examination of the footsteps' swore
that both half-boots fitted the impressions; but the
Constable who apprehended the prisoner admitted
that that belonging to the left foot was of a different
formation altogether,
Rhodes Was recalled, and Mr. Justice BAfl se-
vet+ely reproved him for omitting a fact in.his exa-
mination upon which the life of the prisoner. almost
entirely depended. The Learned Judge then told
the Jury, that very little credit ought to lie given to
the testimony of a witness mho had given his evidence
in such a manner.

Several witnesses gave the prisoner a good charac-
ter, and the Jury returned a verdict of—Not Guilty.

GUILDPIALLAN EXTRAORDINARY FLIGHT AND
PUBSUIT:-...J. Lyn, one of the gate-keepers of thel
Southwark Bridge, was summoned before Alderman
Cox, on a charge of having assaulted a man of re-
spectable appearance, and forced him to pay the toll
of another person.—lt was stated that the complain-
ant, a fat elderly man, had been pursued by a woman,
from whom he had found himself for a time unable
to escape ; but being aware that his pursuer was pen-
nyless, he hit upon an expedient. He took the di-
ection of Southwark Bridge, and passed the gate ;
the woman was stopped for the toll, but a stranger,
seeing her in tears, paid the penny for her, and she
soon overtook the man, but he suddenly turned back,
And again went through the gate. The woman was
again under the necessity of makitt an appeal to the
by-standers, and again succeeded. She overtook the
complainant a second time on the opposite side of
the bridge, and again he turned back. Determined
to escape, if possible, from his pursuer, and to ex-
haust the charity of the by-standerst he dodged her
several times• along the bridge. • After they had tra-
versed it about six times, the gate-keeper, of whom
the gentleman now complained, refused to let the fe-
male pass without payment- of the toll. She said she
was in pursuit of her cruel husband, who was about
to desert her, and prevailed upon the gate-keeper, by
her tears and entreaties, to allow her to, pass. The
gate-keeper overtook the complainant, and demanded
a penny, as the toll for his wife. The complainant
denied that she was his wife, and refused, on whiCh
the gatekeeper took the hat off his head, 'and refused
to return it until the complainant paid the penny.
The gate-keeper, in defence, cited a clause in the
Bridge Act, which entitled him to distrain instanter
upon the goody or chattels of any passenger who went
through the gate without paying the toll. He thought
the husband was liable for the debts of the wife,' and
therefore he had levied upon the complainant's hat.
The complainant denied that the woman was his wife,
but saidshe was one who had a design both upon his
purse and person. But admitting that she was his
wife, he denied the right of the gate-keeper to dis-
train upon him for her travelling expenses.-- Alder-
man Cox, on looking over the Act, thought that the
clause which afforded the gate-keeper such summary
justice was a most arbitrary one, and one which must
have crept through the Legislature unnoticed, as it
was contrary to the spirit of the law. However it
did not, as it stood, enable the gate-keeper to levy
upon one person for the toll of another. The gate-
keeper had, he thought, acted illegally, as the asser-
tioa of the woman was one of which the truth-could
not be ascertained.—The gate-keeper agreed to the
proposition to Make a public apology, and the com-
plainant said he should proceed no further.
.An assemblage of. at least five hundred men en-
tered the premises of Mr. GOFF, of Yoletown, in the
county of Wegord, ,in Ireland, la* week, and car-
.riea off eighty. bands of barley —sad upyt anis of
seventy tons of hay.