The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-07-18 00:00:00

YORK, Tea,
'cittnew COMM-41M
George Booth,'of the parish
Wait Kidiag, shopkeeper. we _
1 the 23d of blayl felonlatudy
log a bill of exchange of the value s,
the value of 151., and-sundry promissory n..
of the value of 2001., or thereabouts, front
Wocidcock, traveller to Messrs. Cook Taylor pod Co:,
druggists, of the city of York: the property was laid in
the indictment as belonging to the latter. The prisoner
pleaded 61 not guilty."
The ease exacted great interest, from the reputable
condition in life of the prisoner, who was a shopkeeper,
and also large farmer, near Barnsley.
The first witoess was William Child Woodcock, els
mined by Mr. ALotasosr, as follows:—I was, last May,
traveller to Messrs. Cook Taylor and Co., of York, which
place I left on a journey on the 12th of that month'. I
know the prisoner, at whose house at Hall Green, hes.
tween Barasley and Wakefield, I called, as hi was a
customer of ones, at eight o'clock on the morning of the
23d of May. I pursued my journey upon a horse, .with
saddle bags, containing
.a canvas bag. with the molter,
and bills set forth in the indictment. Oa the morning 11
called, and before I went to the prisoner's house I optuall
my saddle bags to look for an account I had against
and saw my purse safe. I left my horse at the door wi
the bags open, and when I entered his house (where,
stayed only five minutes) I did not see the pawners,
frees thence I proceeded; after buckling up my saddle..
bags, and without looking a second time after my purse,
then, to Mr. Priestley's the surgeon; but I did out open
saddle bags while there, nor until I reached Wake-
On my arrival at the Stafford Anna, kept by Mr.
Tyler, in that town, I opened my bag, awl missed, for the
feet time, the canvass bag which contained my money.
I lestently called the waiter, ordered my horse oat agate,
and rode back to Hall Green. I then saw the prisoner,
mentioned to him my loss, and that it occurred at his
door He asked what kind of a bag, and 1 described it.
He said, " What had it in it?" I replied. i• To tell you
the truth, it had money, and a great deal." The (away
instantly searched •about the door • but in vain : and at
the time I had not the least suspicion against the pri-
soner. I afterwards went to Mr. Priestley's, and again
to the place where I had slept the night before; but
without any trace of the money. I then went to Wake-
field, where I circulated handbills (one of which he now
identified), offering a reward for the money, and notify-
ing that payment of the bills was stopped. On the Fij-
d d afternoon (the day of the loss) I saw the prisoner at
Wakefield. and he told me that his inquiries had been
ineffectual. On the ad of June, I saw the two bills, which
were the only bills in the bag, at Messrs. Taylor and
Co.'s cboatiophouse.
Mr. Cook Taylor, a druggist of York, described that
on the 4th of Jane be saw two bills of exchange, one for
201., the other 151., which reached him by post (the let-
ter now handed to him was the same). In consequence
of this he wrote to the prisoner, and on the 7th of June
he received from him the answer which was now in
Court; and soon after_ he went and apprehended him.
lowing to the letter conveying the answer, when prisoner
was taken before Mr. Wood, the Magistrate, of Wood-
' thorpe. They torched the prisoner's house afterwards,
land found a memorandum book, and account-books were
afterwards food there, which were also here. The pri-
soner when examined before the magistrate admitted an
account-book to be in his handwriting, which was now In
the possession of Shaw the officer. A comparison was
made before the magistrate of two ball sheets of paper
and the prisoner admitted that the letter shown to him,
which was one of these half sheets, was in his son's hand-
writing, upon paper which he bad given to him. Pri-
soner, in answer to a question, whether he had been
lately at Barnsley, said, Opt he bad nut been there since
the fair on the 13th of May. The question was meant to
ascertain if he was there on the second of June.
James Tyler, proprietor of the Stafford Arms Inn, at
Wakeffeld, deposed. that on the 3rd of June he received
the two !enters now handed to him, which he transmitted
to Mr. Taylor's house at York. One of the letters was a
perfectly plain eneelop, with the enclosure.
Samuel Wood, a fanner living at Chapelthorpe, knew
the prisoner for 16 or 17 years, and knew his handwrit-
ing. The letter shown to witness was, to all appearance,
prisoner's handwriting; and the writing in the memoran-
dum'book was not his but his sort's.
Kt. Taylor, a butcher. of Dodwell, knew the prisoner,
and also thought the direction ui the letter shown to him
was its his handwriting.
The Counsel for the prosecution tiow put in an envelop,
which contained the two bills that had been lost, and was
addressed to Tyler, Wakefield," and it was to the hand
writing of this superscription that the witnesses spoke ;and
also a letter from the prisoner to Messrs. Taylor, regret-
ting that his inquiries respecting the lost property were
ineffectual.
William Pardoe, a police-officer, who searched the pri-
soner's house, produced some sheets of foolscap paper,
which lie found therein, and. compared them with two
half sheets of paper now in Court (the envelop in which
the bills were returned, and the other in which the pri-
, sillier regretted that he could not trace the lost property),
and found the size, water-mark, date, and stamped lines,
Itteactly to corresponed. He also produced some large
wafers and a seal, which he found on the premises. Pri-
soner admitted some writing is a book to be his.
James Wood, a shoe-maker, of Barnsley. deposed that
he knew the prisoner, whom he saw near the post-office,
and ioing towards it, on Monday, the 2d of June, at
Barnsley. [This was to rebut time statement attributed
to the prisoner that be bad not been there since the fair
in May.]
The asual proof was then given from the Barnsley
post-office of the, transfer'of the two lettere already put in
evidence, and the clerk remarked a particularity in the
address of that to Tylen
Charles, Cholericly, Eat, of Knutaford, in Cheshire, was
landlord of the prisoner. la the month of Nay (the
26th), he received a draft from him for 221. 140.1 he was
in the occasional habit of ipakiog him small remittances,
as he sold his corn. The rent prisoner paid him annual-
ly was 4611., and the 22/. 1-18. was out of that rent.
About half a year's rent was due at Christmas, 1522,
Witness, previous to 1523, had often pressed prisoner for
a remittance on account, as he knabv he had a great deal
of wheat not thrashed out, and other available 'Lock on
his farm, which lie ought to sell.
John Lockwood, a maltster. at Wakefield, desposed
that on the 6th of June last he received from the prisoner
61. le. for malt ; the account was dun on that day. On
the following day he was apprehended. . '
The first witness. Woodcock, was rmalled, to identifiy
the two bill:. which lie had lest. This was the rase fur
the prosecution.
Time prisoner, on being called upon for his defence,
put in a writen paper, prepared, as he said, by a friend,
as he was not himself a goad setiolar. It contained a
decd tration of :cis innocence, am. ' if the absolute impos-
sibility of his having committed the felony, as he was ab-
sent trom loins on the morning alr. Woodcock first
called at his house. lie relied on the long.-established
character which lie bad uuiforuily sustained among his
neighbours, and on the respectability of his circumstances
as a strong prefintoption against any inducement to coin
~it such a crime as this; and at the same time he dis-
clairned impirting any undue motive to his prussentoss,
the principal of whom (.fir, Woodench) had shown great
careles-nest respecting his propertv.
John Illnchisffe, a labourer of the prisoner's, proved
that he saw hit, at the barn, which Intl half a mile front
the inni3e, during the whole of the morning upon which

his door.—
Tune (Men-
_ 4 heifer,
recalled the day
Barnsley on that
be saw blob

sti dinner,
,e barn,
'clock, where he
Temkin at wot atl the afternoon.
William Mason said be wile farmer to Colonel
mout. fie'proved that the prisoner mine to idol o:g
dal morning (tbe time stated by the maltsteil, assA rob'
caved 61. 3s. 6d., which witness paid him for straw.
Mr. Parkinson, a surgeon, proved that it was the pi-
toner's practice to sell pope in sheets and half abate, -at
the wish of his customer'.
Mary Ileaurnost said she remembered meta% MT.
Woodeock at tue prisoner's house; the War was not
then at home. A little girl passed to and from the house
at the time he was there, to bey milk.
Hannah Dyson 'was at the Rodney, in Wakefield, on
the 23.! of May in the afternoon. Booth on that day
borrowed a pound note hauler sister, which be paid a
week after.
John Richmond, farmer to Mr. Allpott, of Crofton-
ball, remembered Booth fetching away a hrifer on the
2d of June, after picking a-celf on the Sunday.
Benjamin Crowder was at the tithe barn on the 24 of
June for some wheat. It was a rainy day, and they
could not load it until the afternoon. It was impossible
the prisooer could bare been absent from his barn on
that day.
The Bev. Thomas Breen virile of Woolley, knew the
prisoner nearly three years, daring two of which be had
lodged in his house. He always considered him to bo a
remarkably honest and industrious man. • Prisoner sold
writing-paper in sheets sad half sheets; knew his hand-
writing, and did not believe the envelop to have urea di-
rected by him.
Several other witnesset gave the prisoner an eSeellent
character.
Mr. Justice Hominy) summed up the evidence to the
jury, who, without leaving the box. found a verdict of—
Not (kitty.
This lasted from ten o'clock in the morning natil
balt-past five 1:1 the evening. The verdict appeared to
give general satisfaction.

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mmumimpoopuniso. 1111.1345.
111111411. lute 1111 this agar was suppdailfte birotwen lost at h
—caanaa or 1111;011T. . He atm recollected -selling him on the 2d of Ji
arish ofBandal *gnu is tilt. slay), st OK ism* bars, to which he breseist
r. was ladleted fot haring, 4313 that had wistained sosoe accident, which recall
tlonleusly stolen a big coataks• to biessinit.ile could not have been at Harosl
r the Tale. of 201., soother* day. for between the hours of 9 and 12 o'clock I
Icy promissory notes, alto s' the hare, and disrobe merely Went home
thereabouts, front Wm. Child and returned again to thrrbirn, at one o'clock
_ __J ~.IZar.“•• i 4 #4l thi aftprimen.