Star.
London, England, 1804-11-16 00:00:00

CT OF TENCH.

MW

1$ COUTINUATION FIRM TN t PILICIIDIwG TAG!.

THE %INS V. TWINES ilti7ltY.

In 'his cafe, the Defendant was indifted for af-
faultink an officer of ezcife, obliruetirg bim in. the
difcharge ,f his duty, and refcuing from him a bag
of finuggled tobacco.
The saint' was tried by a Special jury, at the lkft
Affizes for Effex—and it appeared in evidence, that
the Profecutor met the Defendant on horfebacic, with
a bag of fmuggled tobacco, which he attempted to
fore; but the Defendant reGlled him. threw the bag
into si bode pond, and flruck the profecutor feveral
times, after which he got back the hag, and a (cube
er.fued ; when the Defendant (wore, he &mid nei-
ther have bag or tqhacco. The Dsgendant produced
no witnefes ; but, on account of his good charatter,
thejtiry recommended him to mercy.
r. Gaatiow, who moved for the judgment of
the Court, In the abfence of the Attorney General,
cfisferved, that though there was no evidence as to
the charefter of the Defendant, Yet the Jury, who;
in that part of the country, were very good natured
to this defcsiption of perfons, thought proper to re-
commend him.
He was fentenced to ft tmoisths imprifonment in
in the gaol of Chelmsford.
Tat [lad V. 10ali 111610 AN.
in this cafe alto, the Defendant was indleted fist. a
finsilmoffence, in eillultMg a revenue officer, and
olghtieing hint in the diftharge of his duty. He
faltered jodgilent to 4o againfi him by default.
Tht aZdavit which the had been
Med was read. It was /Worn by the Captain, Mate,
sad mariners of his Majell7's revenue cutter the
• Endeavour, that .having received fome information,
Wilgus+ Abrahams and another mariner, belonging
to 114 Endeavour, were ordered at twelve o'clock,
6U the,MOt of the 'sib of Angue lafl, to take a
boat andlew round the brig Jacobina, then lying in
Milord harbour. Pembroke, and to obfqrve whether
theft were any illicit prag ices going on on board of
that mid i they accordingly rowed round he.r, and,
*pot haat her, there was a large (hoc or puce of
ken iMenlaately thrown at the boat, which flinch
her is the fern, and, had it Itruck the gunwale',
• inte inehitallv have funk her ;—on the following I
the Mica of the cutter fent Come bands on
board tie Jacobins, in order to &fee/tails who the
=wee* who had thrown the that, when one
pointed at the Defendant, and raid he had
thrown the (hot, and Caid, that he, at the fame time;
declared. be did not care whether it was a King's
beet or not ;—he would do the fame to any boat
which bold come along•fide at night ;—he would
have thrown a Second that, if he bad not been pre-
vented by Harris.
• The Defendant's affidavits being produced, the
Ire read, was (worn by three Juflices of .the Peace
gar the County of Pembroke, fcmtal Clergyaseu.and
a oulaber amber refpeftable perfons raiding in that
part of the country. all of whom gave him an excel.
lent charager for integrity, honefty, and loyalty, and
ns a perfon who never wilfully committed a breach
of the peace 1 Rating, that what he had done mull
have proceeded from his ignorance of the law, ache,
et the time. conceived he was faithfully and honeilly
dlAbargirit Ms duty.
The Dekndant's affidavit Rated, that the Jacobins
being a Dutch prize to his Majefty's (hip the Rofatio,
and his brother having a large there on board, he
was put into her, by the prize matter, to take care of
her cargo, which confifiedvf rum, fugar, and coffee.
Several boats had pot off from the atom, at night. and
plundered the weird of a great quantity of coffee,
which had been kited by the revenue officer on Shure:
this obliged him to keep conflant watch, and about
twelve o'clock on the night mentioned in the indi&
meat, while the hands west at the pumps, be perceiv-
ed a boat rowing round, and, fufpetaing the was com-
ing for plbnder, he (lopped the pumps to Wien and,
having hailed her, received no anlwer ; he then, not
knowing the was a King's boat, threw a three pound
that, which (truck her. He concluded his affidavit.
by (wearing, that he never wilfully offended againit
the revenue or any other laws, but was always ready
and willing to Support and maintain them, and was
aloft firmly attached to his King and Country.
Mr. Esse:re, on the part of the Defendant, oh.
ferved, that, in cafes like the prefent, when perfune,
were convieted of obfiruaing revenue officers.in their
doty,they wereßenerally ready with an excuse, when
brought up for Judgment, and it freiluently hippest
edthat the perfons making affidavits in mitigation of
punitliment, winked in a great meafure at the offence;
but in this cafe, it could not for a moment be hippo&
ed, that fuch a number of Magairates, Clergymen,
and other refpeftable perfons, would combine to
noifreprefent the condo& and chara&er of Defendant.
and there was no reafon whatever to Comore the
Court had been impofed upon by them ;—but, if it
were fo, he confidered it tbould meet with the re-
fentment, inflead of the mercy, of the Court. There
was no proof whatever of any perfonal violence, and.
in cafes of judgment by default, the Court would ad-
mit of every prefumption in favour of innocence.
Mr. Juice GROS r, in pronouncing judgment, ob-
(erred, that much was to be laid on the Defendant's
behalf ; it did not appear quite clear that he knew
the perfons in the boat were revenue officers : on the
contrary, it rather appeared he was in the att erfl
doing his duty ; but as many mifehiefs might ensue,
if Such violence of condo& was allowed to be ru-
ined with impunity—the Court felt it abfollitely ne-
cefary to teach men in his fitUatiell to aet with more
moderation. He was then Sentenced to pay a fine of
five pounds, anti be imprifoned in Newgate till fuch
&Lobe paid.

COURT OF COMMON MFRS. NOVENIB7R t 4.

WILLIAMS V. EVAN.

Mr. Serjeant 131 sr Italed. the the pre'ent Was an
anion brought by Mr. Williams, who keeps the Angel
Inn, at the back of St. Clonent's Church, to recover
the lam of 321. 4s. rod. being toe amount of a bill
for Deceifatiesfupplied to the Defendant, his wife, and
bee Mier, daring the period of nearly two months, or
thereabouts, in which they were all completely board-
ed AO lodged at the above ion. He knew that a de-
fen:e was let up of the Defendant being an intant iu
the e es of the law, and that, the►eture, he c.aticl
sat bc custfuleted liable to the pychut of this debt.

But he would prove to the Court and to the Jury,:that
not more thout a pint of wine per day was furmfbed
to the Defendant, his wife, and her finer; that upon
the whole they had lived with the utmoll frugality;
and that the bill for the amount of which the Defen-
dant was now toed was reafonablc in all its items.
John Birmingham, a waiter at the Angel, was firft
called. He hated that, to the bell of his knowledge,
the Defendant and the two Ladies had lived in his
mailer's houfe for about three months, during which
time they had been generally fhpplied with breakfaft,
dinnir, and Copper, and two beds confiantly. Some
days, however, they had not any dinner, and there
were other days on which they had no breakaft. Upon
the whole, he was unable to piove any particular
charge in the bill, or to form any regular calculation
in his own mind of what might be the feeneralasnount.
The parties had come to the Angel in a poll chalk,
and the Gentleman Paid that he came on the recom-
mendAtion of Mr. sutherton, a itefpeaable attorney
in Welsiogron, who was the father of Mrs. Burn.—
He had heard a Gentleman of the name of Carpen-
ter (peaking to his mailer about the Defendant ; but.
all that he could recoiled of what pafftd was, that
Mr. C. Paid that " he was a flippery yoting chap."—
He had beard that Mr. Burn's father was a pawn-
broker, in a refpeetable line of bufinefs.
George Blanchard, waiter and hair &der at the
inn, corroborated the Ratement of the left witnefs in
many particulars.
Thomas Eddifs, a clerk to Mr. Palter the pawn-
roker in Fleet greet, proved the family connetlion
of the Defendant to be as before Rated.
The minority.of the Defendant was admitted on
the part of the profecution.
The Come Justus obferved, that the Plaintiff
unqueftlobably was not entitled to recover at law for
any thing but barely for neceffaries fupplicd to the
Defendant himfelf. There might be fomething in
the appearance of the Defendant and others coming
there in a poll chaife ; but it appeared to him that
the whole of the credit was given upon account of
the name pi Mr. Sutherton being made ufe of, and
from a knowledge of the Plaintiff's own conneetioo.
But as front the nature of the Plaintiff's cafe, there
Was an impolfibility of proving. precifely and dif-
tinelly what neectfaries were furniflied to the Defen-
dant ind to him only, the Court nor Jury had not
the lealtground for finding a verdia for the Plaintiff
to any particular amount.

There was, in particular, one gendeinan among
he Jurymen, however, who Paid that he thought it
very hard that the Plaintiff Should not it leaft have a
verdia for fomething like what might be ftippofed to
have been furnithed to the Defendant himfeif.

They were informed from .he Bench that they
were !worn to judge from evidence, and they
had no evidence before them as to any angle article
mentioned in the account, being furned to the De-
fendant bimfelf.

The Counfel for the Defendant then Rated, that
tol. had been depofited in Court for the payment of
the fuppofed.amount of his own debt.
The Jury then gave a verdid for the Defendant.
His Lordthip, however, obferved that he could
not record their verdia fubjeet tp that Lilt MCA-
timed circumfiance.