The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-08 00:00:00

I POLICE INTELLIGENCE..--YESTERDAY

CHARGE OF ASSAULT ON POLICE-OFFICERS NOS. 22 AND
127 -

-COUNTER CHARGE OF GROSS AND UNNECESSARY

_ -
I VIOLENCE BY THE WITNESSES AND THE PRISONERS, AND

THE CASE DISMISSED.
Daniel Creer, an old man ; William Creer, (his son,)
Edward Lloyd, and Robert Thompson, young men - and
Sarah Buckley, an elderly female, were placed at the bar
under the following charge :
Police-officer 127 said, that between two and three o'clock
yesterday (Sunday) morning,- while he was on duty in
Christian-street, he heard a noise of a window breaking, and
went to look what was to do. Seeing three young men run-
ning away, namely, the prisoners Robert Thompson, Edward
Lloyd, and William Creer, he knocked for assistance. Police-
officer No. 22 came up, and they pursued them. Two or
three of them got into an old man's house named Thompson.
One of them was getting over the wall coming out, and he
and the others were secured, as they (the officers) wished to
know who had broken the window. The old man Creer
came out and endeavoured to rescue the prisoners, and told
the female prisoner to fetch his knife, and he would do for
them (the officers). ['he witness (127) did not see the win-
dow broken. Officer 22 spoke to the same effect. In cross-
examinatioß they admitted that two or three other officers
came up. They denied that they heard the knife was sent
for to cut the neck-cloth of one of the young men, whom his
friends believed to be choking.
The owner of the broken window was called, and he stated
that only one square was broken. He did not know by whom
it was broken, or whether it was done by accident or design.
Mr. Davenport appeared for the prisoners, and called the
following evidence.
Edward Tollit, of Portland-place, said he had gone home
only a short time before, and saw three men in the street,
quite quiet. Shortly after he heard a cry of " murder." He
went to the door, and saw a police-officer (22) make so vio-
lent a blow at Edward Lloyd that the ferule of his stick struck
fire from the stones, and the stick itself was broken to atoms.
He (witness) might as well have been struck at as the young
man, for anything he had done. He afterwards saw Edward
Lloyd dragged by two policemen, while he was on his back
and his head on the ground, a distance of about 200 yards.
Witness afterwards got the numerous pieces of the officer's
stick, which he produced. Old Daniel Creer came down
stairs when he heard the cry of his son, and seeing the young
man struck, begged they would not use their sticks so freely,
when he immediately received a violent blow from Policeman
22 on the back of the head. Old Sarah Buckley (the de-
fendant) looked out at her window, and then came down
stairs. When she saw the young man (Thompson) on the
ground, and heard that he was choked, she fetched him some
water. The old man, hearing that they could not undo
Thompson's handkerchief, said to the old woman, " Fetch
me a knife, and I'll cut the handkerchief from his neck ;
they've choked him."
Another witness saw the lads go up the passage quietly.
One of them endeavoured to get over a railing into the
house where he lived, the door being closed, and officer 22
caine up and beat him shamefully with his stick ; another
held him by the handkerchief. The old man came out with
his trousers on only for his son, and was dragged away in
that state. The lads made no resistance.
Agnes Duckworth said she picked up the pieces of the stick
and gave them to Mr. Tollet.
Wm. Agnew said he saw the young man named dragged by
his heels, and his head on the ground.
Mary Smith said she was sitting up with her husband who
had some work to finish. She saw an officer laying on the lad
while he was on the rails, and the other holding him by the
neck.
Mary Anderton said the young men were quiet and made
no resistance. She saw the old man struck a dreadful blow
by police-officer 127. Witness also spoke to the inal-treat-
ment of the lad while he was on the rails. The spikes were
sharp and he could not get off them. They had to lift him
off, and he lay on the ground and could not speak.
Police-officer 22 said that they had not dragged Lloyd in
the street at all, but that he had walked between two men.
The trowsers worn by the young man were produced. They
were torn to pieces, and had evident marks of being soiled by
the mud of the street.
Police-officer 22 said that the trowsers were torn on the
rails, by their taking the young man down.
The witness Tait here said that this was not true, for the
torn trowsers belonged to Lloyd, who had been dragged in
the street, and not to Thompson, who had been on the rails.
The prisoner Wm. Creer said he never struck any of the
officers, and was willing to go quietly ; that the window was
broken by accident, and that he was struck a second time, and
made no resistance until he saw his father struck.
The old man Edward Creer said he came down to the door
to bring in his son, when he was struck on the head. He
was dragged off by them in his trousers only. Both father
and son showed severe wounds in their heads from which the
blood had been flowing.
Mr. Rushton inquired where police-officer No. 127 was,
and he was told that the man was not present. He then ob-
served that there had been great and unnecessary violence
used in this case, and all the policemen concerned ought to
have been in attendance. The lads probably had broken the
windows in coming home—whether by design or accident he
did not know. The duty of the police was to ascertain the
fact, and take up the wrongdoer; but he (Mr. Rushton) had
often said, and he could net repeat it too frequently, that
force enough was to be had, by the officers concerned, with-
out their resorting to unnecessary violence. There seemed
to have been unnecessary violence used towards the lad who
had broken the window, inasmuch as he had been dragged
along the street by his trowsers ; and there had been unne-
cessary violence used to the old man and the old woman, for
they came entirely in consequence of their son being in it, a
circumstance for which the police ought always to make
allowance. If the old man had attempted to rescue his son
who was a prisoner, seeing that he was known, the officers
instead of assaulting and taking him to Bridewell, should
have applied for a summons against him. He ought not to
have been struck at all. Police-officer No. 22 said he had
not struck the old man ;it was No. 127. Mr. Rushton di-
rected No. 127 to be in attendance to-morrow (Tuesday),
and he asked whether the prisoners were drunk when they
were received at Bridewell. The Bridewell-keeper replied,
that the old man and woman were sober, but that the lads
were not. Mr. Rushton ordered the whole of them to be
discharged. Addressing the old man, he told him that as he
had been assaulted by No. 127, he might have a summons
against that officer. Creer thanked the magistrate, and said
that he would take the summons. Eventually the case
against No. 127 was ordered to be heard this day (Tuesday),
Mr. Rushton repeating, that in the case just decided, there
had been on the part of the police concerned, unnecessary
violence, a want of common sense and a want of consider-
ation • and that there could be no justification for striking
the old man in the way he had been struck.
ROBBING AN OFFICE.
Samuel East, a boy, and Frederick Appleton, a young
man, were placed at the bar. Mr. Charles Thomson, mer-
chant, of No. 2, India-buildings, said that, on the 30th Nov.
he balanced his cash, and put into his safe 58 sovereigns and
4 half-sovereigns, wrapped in paper. The prisoner East had
been in his employ three or four weeks as office-boy. He
(Mr. T.) kept the key of the safe in a drawer which he kept
locked, and the key of which he carried in his pocket. He
was absent from the office on business several times on
Thursday last, and on Friday forenoon found the key of the
safe in the drawer where he had left it. On Saturday after-
noon he examined his cash, and missed nine sovereigns. He
also found that there was a difference in the manner in which
the sovereigns and half-sovereigns were placed in the paper,
from the time he left them. He asked the prisoner if he
knew rnything about it, and he said he did not. He got the
assistance of Halsall and Lloyd, police-officers. They went
with him to his office. Halsall found under the grate, in a
small handkerchief, ss. in silver, and half-a-crown ; and in a
towel he found four sovereigns. On being asked what he had
done with the rest of the money, prisoner said " he knew of
no more." Lloyd corroborated this testimony. Prisoner
said the handkerchief was his, and admitted be had taken all
the money ; that he had bought theatrical things with it, and
had given them to Frank Appleton, in Arley-street. The
officers went there, and found the articles (dresses, &c.), and
also some new calico. The prisoner, after being cautioned,
said that " Frank Appleton (the other prisoner) did not
know where he (East) got the things •, and that the calico
was his own, and that Appleton did not know anything about
it." Appleton, who it appears has a swinging boat, and
purposed opening some sort of theatrical place of amuse-
ment, was discharged. East was committed for trial.
SMUGGLING TOBACCO.
William Trotter, a fine-looking seaman, was charged with
having endeavoured to smuggle a quantity of tobacco. An
officer stated that on Sunday morning he saw two boys bring-
ing a chest on shore from the ship Mars, and on searching it
he found in it 31bs. of foreign manufactured tobacco. It
was stated in defence that the defendant had been mate of
the Mars, and was appointed master of the Augusta, in the
same employ; that the Mars was on the point of sailing, and
that he was therefore obliged to remove his chest from one
vessel to the other. The tobacco was for his own use, and
had been in port above a month. The boys who carried the
chest were told to take it to the Augusta. They had, how-
ever, told the officer that they were taking it to the defen-
dant's lodging-house.; and as they were not forthcoming to.
prove the directions they had received, the defendant was
fined lOs