Star.
London, England, 1818-09-07 00:00:00

ASSIZES.

GLOUCESTER, sEPIT:iinEn 2.
• James Mayo, aged 17, was charged with stealing
boots and slwes to a large amount from John
shoemaker, in Southgate-street.
John Williams, the prosecutor, proved the robbery
of all he had in his shop, which quite ruined his
credit and his custom, and identified the shoes.
The prisoner was proved to have pawned boots
and shoes in Bath and Bristol. When he was brought
'back to Gloucester in a post-chaise,. the prosecutor
lamented the liariship of having been deprived of
.all he had in one yight. The prisoner said he had
not done it, but his brother and another person. His
brother was the same Mayo who was sentenced to
'transportation for seven years at this Assize, and who
had been convicted of a burglary last year.
Just as his Lordship was beginning to sum up the
evidence, the prisoner put in a letter to his Lordship,
which was read by the clerk. After superabundant
professions of the highest estimation of his Lordship's
talents and virtues, it ascribed the crime of the pri-
soner to the society of profligate women, and of not
less profligate men, and prayed for merry and lenity.
His Lordship expressed much displeasure at this im-
pertinent letter, and after he had intimated to the
Jury that there wa's no evidence to prove that the
prisoner had actually broken into the shop and stolen
the goods, he remarked that the letter should be ea-
tisely excluded from their consideration. It was
written by some stupid and mischievous person, such
as was found in every jail, and intended to have been
deliverel to him in case of conviction. It would be
extremely hard to convert this into evidence against
him. Verdict—Guilty of receiving ;—that is—Not
Guilty. After a short impressive admonition, during
Which tears flowed profusely down his cheeks, he
Was discharged.
4daas Tolly, aged 22, and John Watkins, aged 25,
were charged with having burglariously entered the
counting-house of Messrs. Ridler and Croose, soap-
boilers, in Westgate-street, and stealing therefrom
15..6d. On the night before the Ist of March the
coanting-house was broken into, and Is. 6d. taken
out of tire till. John Barnes, who worked for Messrs.
Ridler and Croose, was suspected. His shoes were
found to fit tracks in a pit below the window through
which the thieves entered. Ile confessed, and gave
iefoemation that.. the prisoners were his associates
Watkins was seen in the' street, and when pursued,
fled. Finding no other means of escape, be plunged
into the Severn, and emerging from the stream, ex-
Claimed, " 0 Lord, 0 Lord, what shall Ido ?' He
got into a barge and proceeded down the river. He
tailed to a girl on the bank, " Barnes has split."
Seeing another barge coming up, he landed on the
right side and fledi His pursuers got across, and
carne up with him. Ile said he would tell all the
rights of it, " Barnes is the biggest rogue ; but for
him we had not done it.; he led us on." He then told
that 'Folly was in a b..ttge opposite the crane. :Mere'
Tolly was found, concealed under a bed. When drag
ged out, he asked, " What will be done to us?' It
was replied, " It is a very serious thing, they'll either
hang or transport you.' He then begged to be al-
lowed to remain where he was till the crowd should
have dispersed.
John Barnes the accomplice, told a full narrative
on the subject, by which he appeared to have been a
passive and rather an unwilling accomplice..
On his cross-examination by Mr. Luoteosie he ex-
hibited specimens of evasion, forgetfulness, contra-
diction, and infamy, beyond the example of any ac-
complice's evidence, not excepting Mr. Castle's.
Several witnesses, among whom was the foreman,
and another of the Jury, gave an excellent character
to the prisooers.
The Judge summed up with great attention, and
solemnly charged the Jury to give a verdict accord-
ing to their conscientious conviction.
The Jury, after consulting long in the box, retired,
and in the course of half an hour returned with a
verdict of—Not Guilty. Several persons began to
clap their hands. The Judge, with difficulty, repres-
sed-this indecent indication of popular feeling, and.:
then said, " Let them be discharged:' The applause
was repeated, and a general noise, like distant thaw
der, prevailed in defiance of all remonstrance.

THE DANCING-MASTER /IND TUX PIDIAL
Edward iflookr, charged with stealing a violin,
value 1.:5, was brought to the bar. He seethed a
gentleman of the Dandy order, and was at great
pains to keep his hair in due order. His neckcloth
was formed into a most elegant bow projecting under
his chin.
Peach, the prosecutor, missed his violin in 1814.
He was about to state a confession- by the prisoner,
but having acknowledged that he had promised to
be lenient if the prisoner confessed, he was allowed
to proceed no further. Ilis Lordship seemed to feel
this as a relief, as the witness was so deaf that thun-
der could scarcely penetrate his ears.
Watson, -a solicitor's clerk, nest appeared to prove,
that he had bought the fiddle from the-prisoner.;
They disagreed as to the price, after delivery. Ire,
too, proved equally deaf a.; his predecessor.
The prisoner made a speech of considerable length,
" The prosecutor is a broker, and often lent me vio-
lins. lie lent me the violin in question. I attended
many schools, and had a violin at each of them. A
typhus-fever deprived me of health for a long time,
and of: reeollection,since. You know, my Lord, that
the profession ordaticing is such that you cannot get
an assistant to keep 'a school for yqu. By, my long
illness I lost my:schools, and the loss of memory de-
prived me Of_ the power of recollecting where I had
left my violini, and where I had borrowed them."
Mr. Baron GARROW.--" Gentlemen of the Jury,
this case is so dark and intricate, perhaps you will
laink it safest to acquit the prisoner."—Not Guilty.
Judge—" Let him be dicharged."
Anothyr case of theft and breaking from jail,
which terminated in conviction and sentence of trans-
portation for seven years, and an insolvent debtor,
occupied the Court for a long time.
Jo/in Painter, aged 61, was tried for having bur-
glariously broken into a shop, at Child's Wickhant,
and stolen one, quartern loaf, value one shilling. h
was proved that he-had lifted up the latch. He was
convicted of the burglary and theft. When the Judge
was proceeding to pronounce sentence of death,, tlse
horror of the immense multitude of 'Newham was
most visibly and could not be fully repressed. Isis

Lordship intimated that he-might expect some mi-iJ
tigaxion. * "ri
Richard r,ellims, aged SS, end -Mary teak^ •his
wife, aged 41, wereatied-for stealing in a dwelling-
Louse, under the value of 40s. was "conViceed
she, as acting in his presence, *as =quitted.
he was sentenced to transportation for 14. years, she
earnestly implored to lie ails:owed to accompany him.
She is good looking, and seenntd tin Sid and modest. ,
James Gardner .was condemned to death for sheep
stealing, without hope of mitlgation.• it-Was a *sin-
gular circumstance in his .ease, .that he had . ap-
pointed a day for die-oak-of thasheep befote he had
stolen them.
The last trial of the day was that of Thomas Drr-i7s,
aged 44. There were three indictments against him
for an assault on three girls, on the same day, one
aged three years, the other two, and the last five.—
He was tried only on two. In the first instance he
was convicted of a common ssault, in the second of
an assault with intent.to commit a rape. The scehe
of this unparalleled atrocity was the garden of the
Cross Keys, Cheltenham. For the first offence he
was sentenced to imprisonment for twelve months,
for the second for eighteen months more ; he was,
besides, ordered to be privately whipped on Saturday
se'nnight, and the whipping was ordered to be a se-
rious punishment.
• The enraged mother of one of the infants stated,
that she had been anxious to have him tossed in a
blanket, or thrown into the horse-pond. The ruffian
had knocked her down. •

Mr. Baron GARROW said bet rage was most na•
turAl, but it should not be so in-directed. Had he
been drowned in the horse•pond, she would be an-
swerable for murder. She saw now that Courts of
Justice could tike cognizance of such brutal conduct.
None could have knocked down a woman but the
ruffian who was capable of assaulting an infant.
The following prisoners received sentence of death :
Dairy Moreton, aged 20, fee burglary; Thomas King, aged
Sit ; • David James, aged la ; John Stone, aged 211; and Jacob
Qsvely, aged Se, all for stealing in dwelling-houses; also Wm.
smith, aged 13, for horao-stealing. Ko hops of mitigation 1v.%
held out.

CIVIL SIDE.
WiNDLE, DEMANDANT, V. BALDWIN, .TENANT.,

Four gentlemen were constituted Knights pro tern•
pore, girded with swords, and solemnly sworn to
choose twenty other men, from whom twelve are to
be selected to form, together with the four Knights,
the 16 of a Jury to try a writ of right.
This ancient trial seems to be returning into full
use and practice, and precedents begin to thicken
upon the profession. Last year, at the Lancaster
Assizes, Mr. Scarlett and Serjeant Hullock seemed
to hesitate somewhat as to the mode of procedure ht
a writ of right, in which the celebrated Mr. Roscoe
was tenant. Now, not only that case, but a late case-
in Berkshire, were referred to as precedents..
All was finished by four o'clock, and the Coutt
adjourned to the Judges lodgings.

OLD BAILEY SasstoNs.--The Sessions, which com-
mence on Wednesday next, will be the heaviest known
for many years. There are 460 prisoners already
committed for trial, among them are 179 females.—
Total in Newgate, 578. The list gives a melancholy
instance of the increasing depravity of the times, for
among, the prisoners there are an, immense number'
of juvenile offenders, many of whom are stated to be
under ten years of age. The above number was only
made up to Thursday night, since which a great
many others haie been vent to Newgate for trial ;
they are coming in hourly, and it is expected, from
the enormity eisome of the offences, that the Sessions
will occupy the time of the Court for four weeks.—
There are no less than 58 charged with forging Bask
Nofes.

Errzestvz FortGututs.—Saturday afternoon an
important investigation took place before R. Bums,
Esq. at Bow-street, respecting forgeries to a very.
large amount, supposed to be committed by a Gen-
tleman of high consideration in the trading and mer-
cantile world. On Friday information was received
_ _

by the Magistrate above-mentioned, of several for-
geries, but of one definitively, and he accordingly di-
rected W. Bond to go (armed with proper authority)
in pursuit of the gentleman. who was suspected to
have committed 'the offence. This gentleman was
found by Bond seated in a Kentish Town stage, near;
Staples fan, he•having made an appointment to dine
with a friend at Kentish Town. The officer, with
every feeling of kindness towards the unfortunate
gentleman, communicated his errand with all pos-
sible delicacy to him, and conveyed him to the
Office, where he underwent a cursory examination
before Mr. BIRNII4 during which time he kept one of
his hands in his coat near his breast, and the Magic-
trate conceiving that he either was meditating self-
destruction, or was anxious to destroy instruments
which he knew would appear in a criminal shape
against him, ordered the officers to take him out and
search his person diligently ; this was done, and in
one of Hs pockets was found a knife, fully calculated
to effect that which Mr. Biaxia.had contemplated.
Upon this occasion the charges against the prisoner
were only of a suspicions nature ; these being no po-
sitive or tangible proof against him ; he was accor-
dingly remanded for examination on Saturday. Mr
Stitsin, however, with that precaution which always
guides him; made it imperative upon the officer to
cause the prisoner to be watched more narrowly du-
ring the whole of the night ; this order was strictly
complied with by Bond, who stated the bis captive
had experienced a most restless night, and he had felt
it his ditty to take from him his neckerchiefs, and
every garment likely to assist hira.in the horrid act
of suicide. The documents.found upon him had, in
the interim. undergone an investigation, and- the re-
sult was, that long before tlseprisoner's examination,
John Elwes, lira. son of the late eccentric gentle-
man of that name, appeared, and being asked by Mr.
Blautt if he hadbeen in the habit of accepting bills
for large. amounts ? said, to .the best of bis recollec-
don he had not, in the wholesctufse of his. life,
ac-
cepted maze than two. Shortly after.three o'clock,
the accusing parties had arrived, and the pcisoiser was
bronght.in aid placed at the bar. Upon seeing Mr.
flees, he app rather affected by his presence :
he immiatdy leaned his• head upon his hand, and
contiattedin that.posture during the greater part of
the examisation- }lean:wend to the 11a1IW of ‘4 Mr,
Adams ;' tad it appears that his name is Balthazar
itiams.residing at Beaulas, near.Southaapton : he
has been an eminent shipbuilder, and.has, At • • •

seem, heretofore possesse. d character ad means,

whiih have entitled him to the brit consideratiOn cf
some of the first people of the metropolis. Mr. Snow,
of the Banking-house of Snow and Paul, upon whom
be is supposed to have forged to the amount of 1.:1900.
' ted, •t he had been upon intimate terms with
that
them for the last twenty years.—Mr. George John-
son, of:the firm of fiord and Johnson, Solicitors, of
the Inner Temple, stated, that he knew the prisoner.
On friday he came to witness, and asked him to dis-
count the bill produced for £2OO. Witness accor-
dingly gave him a cheque for £197. 10s. upon the
Banking•house of Messrs. Gosling and Sharpe, de-
ducting the difference (a. 10s) for the discount.—
The-cheque produced was the one he gave the priso-
ner. The bill wasonearly as follows :
...ta

" Swum, Sermatami.l.-020th: Two months after date par
to Itly order in London, two hundred pounds for value received.
" L LIMMr.."
" To Messrs. Charles Brook and Co. Southampton. Accep-
ted at Mews. Williams and Co. bankers, London. Charles
Brook and Co. accepted for Self and Co. " appear soon."

The above was proved to be a forgery.—W. Bend,
belonging to this Office, stated that he took the pri-
soner into custody on Friday afternoon, and he found
upon him the pocket-book produced, with its con-
tents ; and in his pocket he found a five pound and
a few other notes. The five pound note was proved
to be one of those given in payment of the cheque,
and the contents of the pocket-book were chiefly
other bills of exchange, ready for negociating, which
=blotted to between three and four thousand pounds;
=long which were two upon " George Elwes, Esq.
High-street, Mary-la-Bonne," which were shewn to'
that Gentleman, and who pronounced them forgeries.',
There were two others upon Messrs. Saow and Co.'
one for £lOOO, and another for I:700. Mr. Snow—
Mr. Adams, will You tell us what you have done with
the other monies 1 Prisoner—No ; Ido not choose
to tell you. Mr. Illaszte--Mr. Adams, if you have
any thing to Lay, I should be happy to hear it ; I do
not at the same time wish you to say a word if you
arc not inclined—perhaps it would. be more humane
in me to recommend you not to say any thing. Mr.
Adams—l thank you, Sir, Ido not wish to say any
BIRNIE then stated to him, that he felt
it his duty to apprize him, as he did all persons
placed in similar situations, that the Sessions were
very near at hand, and if he was anxious to procure
legal assistance, he ought to lose no time in obtain-
ing it. Ire was fully committed for trial.
_ _

wsioN-HoesE.—Saturday a number of persons,
chiefly juvenile, were charged with offences in Bartho-
lomew Fair. The parties consisted priacipally of pick-
pockets, and of individuals for assault, and of disor-
derly characters. The number of offenders, however,
is considerably diminished, compared with those who
disgraced former years. The accused were nearly all
sent back to the Compter, as the best place of security
until the carnival has ceased.

A noted thief, named Jones, was charged with
robbing a gentleman of his pocket-book, in the neigh-
bourhood of St. Paul's, a few days since. The pri-
soner, it turned out, was one of a party charged with
felony, who effected an escape from prison about two.
years ago. On that occasion, he no sooner had freed
himself from his irpns, than he forwarded them back
to the keeper, and, in a polite note, assured him that
he had no desire again to wear the galling chain
He however, once more in Lob's Pound

Lutaten-reserr.—Mary libdos wassharged with obtaining
sixpence of Elizabeth Lee, a 3Alsotg simpleton, aged 20, who
had ousulted her as a fortune-teller about a law-suit, but who'
had ainsilied het'off with a story about her own husband's death,
and leaving her with 14 children.--Prhoder : " Please your
Worship, I'm an honest pains-taking woman, up early and d.own '
late—i has edealsngs with GOD, and not with the Devil—Mk me'
questions, and 1"11 truly. answer—The hrst gentlemen in town'
visit me—they never fail corning to me a second time when they
have been once.—There's Mr. ---, Mr. —, Mt. and
I many others, but I'm delicate In mentioning them, fearful cf
giving offente. The prosecutrla is spiteful against me, at seciag
these gentlemen come after me—she keeps a bad house, a br.thet,
an' please your Worship, in the same street:—she came to me on
Sunday last, gheni had two respectable gentlemen with me.
I looked at her saying, t deal with. Goo on Sundays, and not
with thepetit ! and the gentlemen immediately turned her ont.
nevet: teeth* money, your Worship—l tell' every body for
nothing, as; I would you, your Viorship--bus if is trade 'it thrown
on the floor, I perhaps may pick it up—ehatornu.know, hsa
different thing, your Worsliip."—Magistrate—. kinust commit
you." Prisoner (falling on her knees) What turn the key on
me? why it will be the ifeatis of me—l never had a key turned
so me in my life—think on snyiusband-and 14.ishadren, your
Honour." On being locked up, she said she prediculd *Ads-
•
fortune ionic time past. .

HACKNET-COACH OFFICIL—Friday last die Cptn;
missioners of Hackney-coachesconvicted the drivers
of the following numbers :—The-driver of N 0.31, in-
the penalty of for permitting another personlo
drive his coach in a furious manner, so as to endan-
ger the lives of the public, and cruelly whipping the
-horses. The driver of 352, in the penalty of 20s. for
Fiving very• abusive language to the complainant in
fooley-street. The driver of 372, in the penalty of
10s. for exaction. The driver of 378, in the penalty
of 15s. for exaction. The driver of 772, in the pe-
nalty of lbs. for eraction. The driver of 1057, in
the penalty of 30s. for being drunk in his employ-
ment, for gross abuse to the complainant, and for
working his coach as a stage.

Auocsr 7.—The public are indebted
to Mr. Hayes, one of the Police Officers, for having
in his late visa to Canada, broken up and dispersed a
confederacy of counterfeiters and venders of spurious
bank paper. He received such information before he
left New York, as enabled him to repair directly to
the principal manufactory ; though the situation was
judiciously chosen, in a large forest in Canada. llere
he found, if we understood our informant, a dwelling
house and other buildings erected, with convenient
apartments, and all the necessary apparatus for coun-
terfeiting bank notes, from the forge of plates to the
packing up of tho hills ready to deliver out to the ic•
tail venders. Each man seemed perfect in his parti-
cular branch. The engraving, it is said, cannot well
be excelled. The exact number concerned in this ex-
tensive.rnanufactory could not be ascertained; but it I
would seem they drove their business with great in-
dustry, for they always had on hand a large stock.
Any quantity could be procured upon the. shortcst
notice, on the following terms, .viz.—eve dollars in
specie for 100 dollars in counterfeit paper of small'
denominations; for bills of larger amount, .100- for
one, about equal to old continental currencY. Par-
chasers were numerous, and trade briik.- Mr. Hays
seized and brought with him a large quantity oftheir
paper, principally on the banks of-this State, and a
number.of plates. Some of the bills are so well exe-
.cuted. that it would puzzle even the most conversant
with bark parr to detect them.

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