The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-05 00:00:00

SOUTH LANCASHIRE ASSIZES.

CROWN COURT.—FRIDAY.
Mr. Justice Parke took his seat. on the bench at nine

o'clock

THE MANCHESTER. COACH ROBBERY.
James Thelwell, James Skerrett, and William Mooby,
stood indicted for having, at Manchester, on the 18th of Fe-
bruary last, feloniously stolen fifteen hundred sovereigns and
one hundred £5 notes, the property of. Messrs. James Cun-
life and others; and James King and Bridget Jones were
indicted for having received the same, knowing them to be
stolen. _ _

Mr. Baines and Mr. Halton appeared for the prosecution ;
Mr. Wighain defended the prisoners Thelwell and Jones;
Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Overend the prisoner Skerrett ; Mr.
Greene the prisoner Mooby ; and Dr. Brown the prisoner

All the witnesses having been ordered out of court,

Mr. BAINES proceeded to state the case to the jury. He
said, after explaining the charge against the prisoners. that

it would be his duty in the present case to calf before them a
very considerable number of witnesses, whose evidence would
run a good deal into detail, and that the best way in which

he could render assistance to the jury, would be to give them
an outline of the evidence, in order to render more easy their
task of following the witnesses. The prosecutors were Messrs.
Cunliffe, Brooks and Co., bankers of the first respectability

at Manchester and Blackburn, and who had been "in the ha--
hit, for several years past, of sending parcels of cash and notes

from their estahlishMent at Manchester to their other esta-

blishment at Blackburn. Those parcels were usually sent on
Tuesday and Friday every week, and the conveyance selected
for this purpose was the coach called the Perseverance coach,
which left Manchester at half-past four o'clock in the after-
noon, starting at the Old Boar's Head coach-office, Hyde's-
cross. It would appear from the evidence, that on Friday,
the 18th of February, the cashier of Messrs. Cunliffe and Co.
made up a parcel, consisting of 1500 sovereigns and £5OO in
£5 notes ; that he enclosed it in a small leather box or port-
manteau, which was locked and fastened with a strap ; and
that it was delivered to the porter of the bank to be taken to
the coach. The porter accordingly took it to the coach, and
placed it, as usual, in the front boot. This occurred about
four o'clock in the afternoon. Two of the prisoners, Sker-
rett and Thelwell, about the time that the porter had been

carrying the parcel, were seen coming towards the coach in
company, Skerrett having in his possession an old carpet bag,
of a drab colour, which was a good deal torn at one side.

thelwell mounted the coach-boil Mooby was on the seat

Immediately behind the coach-box ; and when Thelwell and
Mooby had been in thiS position, the porter of the bank came
and deposited the box or portmanteau in the boot. Immedi-
ately after, Skerrett, who had been approaching the coach
shortly before with the carpet bag, came to the coach, mounted
the fore-wheel, began putting the carpet bag in the fore boot;
and he was observed, by persons about, to have his head and
shoulders in the boot, " rooting about," as the witnesses. ex-
pressed it, and this he was doing for some time.. While he
was in this position, the probability was that he had been
engaged in putting the box into •the carpet bag; at all
events, he certainly had the opportunity for so doing. He
was so long about this, that the persons who stood by had
their attention directed to the circumstance ; so much so,
that the individual who was holding the hor4es looked and
was about to approach him when he came down, and no
further observation was made. The coach started from
Manchester with thirteen persons, nine of whom were known
to the coachman, and the others were not so. When the
coach had reached within a mile of Bury, Mooby got down.
The coach then proceeded to Bury, and there the prisoner
Thelwell, who up to that time had been sitting on the box
seat, got down from the box and took ont of the boot a
carpet-bag, which had then theappearance of being extremely
heavy, so heavy that when the man swung it out he fell off
the wheel with it. He went into a public-house with the
bag, which was a light drab coloured one, corresponding in
appearance with the one which was very light and apparently
empty, and which had been put into the boot by Skerrett.
Some conversation then took place between Thelwell and
the landlady of the house and her daughter. The coach
went on to Blackburn, and when it reached there the clerk
of the bank was waiting for the parcel, but the coach was
searched and no such parcel was to be found. What had
been charged in the present case was this—that the three
prisoners, Skerrett, Thelwell, and Mooby, had taken part in
the stealing of the parcel, and before he (the learned counsel)
described the evidence as it affected each, he apprehended
it would be quite clear, in point of law, that the jury should

be satisfied that Skerrett:at Manchester, was removing the

parcel but an inch from the place where it was left by the
owner, or the agent of the owner, with a felonious intent,
that that constituted a stealing of the property by him. If
they should be further of opinion that Thelwell and Mooby

were joined with him at the time so to steal the property,

and near enough, by giving alarm or otherwise rendering
assistance, they would be equally guilty. If they believed
that Skerret had, at Manchester, put the box into the port-
manteau, he apprehended that that would constitute a com-
plete act of stealing by him and the others, although the
property was not actually removed from the coach until
Thelwell arrived at Bury. This being so, he would take
the evidence as it affected each. And, in the first place,

with respect to Skerrett. Skerrett was a person who some
years had been horsekeeper to the " Perseverance" coach.
He left the employment in the month of May previous to the
present transaction. He, therefore, had an opportunity of
knowing what the practice at the bank was, and the days on
which the parcels might be expected to go. It had already
been stated that he was seen with Thelwell going with wear-
pet bag towards the coach—that he was seen on the wheel of
the coach putting a carpet-bag, which had the appearance of
being light and empty, into the boot—that the bag had a
rent in the side, and that that opening would afford him an
opportunity for introducing the box. The jury had more-
over been told of the circumstances under which he was
standing on the wheel, and how he had bad his head and
shoulders in the boot. After this, cnt'ae next day, Skerrett
who, up to this time, had been under the necessity of bor-
rowing money, had his stall better furnished than usual, and
seemed to be no longer in want of money. In consequence
of suspicion having been attached to him, the superintendent
of police went and took him into custody on the charge ; and
it would be material for the jury to attend to what passed on
that occasion. The superintendent asked him about the
carpet bag, and the statements he made about it were ex-
tremely contradictory in themselves. In the first place he
stated that the bag was for a gentleman he could not see;
next, that it was for a gentleman on the box ; then, after-
wards, that it was for a gentleman sitting behind the box ;
and, finally, that it was for a stranger whom he had seen
about half-a-dozcii times, hot whom hp did not know. He
also denied that his head and shoulders were ever near the
boot whereas it would be satisfactorily shown they were.
This would be the case as regarded Skerrett ; and now as re-
garded Thelwell. Thelwell and Mooby had for some time
been porters with a i'l r. Thelwell brother of Thelwell the pri-
soner, who kept a silversmith's shop, at Manchester. The
jury had been informed that Thelwell had been coming along
with Skerrett—that the former took his seat on the box be-
fore the porter put the parcel in the boot—that he got down at
Bury and took the carpet bag out of the boot, and went with
it into a public-house, and that he had a material conversa-
tion with the landlady. This transaction occurred on Fri.
day, the 18th of February, and it would appear that on the
Monday after Thelwell and Mrs. Jones, who was living with
him, were in posseSsion of very considerable sums of money,
and that on Thursday, the day before the robbery, they left
their lodgings, alleging that they were unable to pay the rent.
A person named Wild would be called as a witness, and he
would depose that he had been for some time in a society
called the Odd Fellows, with Thelwell, arid that he had been
desired by Thelwell to pay his contribution for him, he being
unable to do so himself. On the Monday after the robbery
Wild was sent for by Thelwell, and was desired to meet the
latter at a public-house. He accordingly did so ; and the
jury would find that the four pounds which Thelwell owed
him was paid on that occasion, and that he had told W ild if
he would meet him next day, that he should not want for
£2O or 430, or £4O, if he wanted it. A bargain was then
made by him for a horse, and the jury would find that Jonas
was seen with her hands full of sovereigns, and that she said
something important. On the day. after this occurrence,
Thelwell was taken into custody by a police-officer. When
the police-officer came, he said to him, " I have come to
charge you with having had a hand in stealing a parcel from
the Old Boar's Head, in Hyde's-cross, in Manchester,"
upon which Thelwell remarked, " I have not been at Bury
for the last six months." The officer asked who had men-
tioned Bury ; some further conversation passed ; and this
was the case against Thelwell. With regard to Mooby, the
jury had already been informed that he was the brother por-
ter of Thelwell—that he was sitting in the coachbehind
well at the time it started, and that he had got down about a
mile from Bury, so as to be able to join Thelwell very spee-
dily. They would further find that on Wednesday, 23d Feb-
ruary, the two prisoners, Mooby and King—King being a
hawker in Leeds—came to a lodging kept by a person living
at Southend, near London. They seemed to be on terms of
intimacy with each other, remained in the house that day,
and had very considerable sums of money about them. Among
other lodgers in the house there was a person of the name of
Collins and his wife, who left the house suddenly on Thurs-
day morning. The landlord accordingly said to Mooby and
King the same morning, " I hope you haven't lost anything
by Collins." They said not. The same evening, however,
King said that Mooby had lost £l7O in bank notes, and he
added, I have been more fortunate : for I have £7OO in gold
here, and that I have kept safe." The jury would find that
both those parties had gone to tradesmen in Southend—that
Mooby passed two £5 notes, one to a tradesman from whom
he purchased a pair of boots, and the other to a trunkmaker
—that he changed those two £5 notes, although he had only
to pay a sum of 12s to the shoemaker front whom he made
the purchase in the first instance—that the shoemaker asked
him his name, and that he gave the name James Belmore—
that the shoemaker gave an invoice; and that that invoice
was subsequently found in the possession of King. Mooby
and King were after*ardx taken into custody in London ;
they effected their escape ,• they were taken into custody again :
they were then brought down to Manchester, and there all
the prisoners were committed for trial.
A great number of witnesses were examined, who proved
the faqtf sktatcd in the opening, when Mr. Griene addressed
the'jurrint7behalf of Mooby, and Mr. Wilkins., for Skerrett.
The jury consulted for ten minutes, and then found all the
prisoners guilty.—His lordship said that they must return
King guilty or not guilty.—The jury then acquitted King.—
His lordship then sentenced the prisoners to seven years'
transportation.

NISI PRIUS COURT.—FRIDAY.
The West Derby list was opened to-day.
WOOD AND OTHERS V. LLOYD AND ANOTHER

Mr. CROMPTON stated the case, which was undefended.
The plaintiffs are ironmongers in Liverpool, and the defen-
dants were, the one the traveller to the firm, and the other
the guarantee for his integrity. After he had quitted their
employment, the next traveller in \Vales found that his
accounts were falsified, and the action was brought to recover
the defalcation. A verdict was then taken for £37 155.,
being the whole sum claimed, minus £B, which had been
made a present of to defendant, the younger Lloyd, on his
leaving plaintiff's service without notice.