Old Bailey, Thursday, Sep...
The Times, 1824-09-24T00:00:00

lfarWf J>irkerintg and Sarah Shlation vere indicted for having fe. onious y set fre to a house, of and belonging to John Jackson, ir the possession of the prisoner Pickering. . Air. Jackson, crst-glass.manufacturer, swore that a house No. 3, Castle-street, St. Joha's, Clerkenwell, had been in the occupation of the latc husbandl of Pickering, an.l since Iiis. death that it had been occsapied by her. The house Nvas the property of the wittidss, Since tnie death or her husband the prisoner had been his tenant. Mr. BRanO ttcK,.of counsel for the prisoners, took an 6bjection to the indictment, whiclih chJarged the lhouse to be belonging to Air. Jackson, when in fact it belongedl to the prisoner as tenatnt. IMIr. Justice L1'TT7.EDALE said, he was not convinced of the va. lidity of the objection, but he would reserve the point. iMr. Jackson waI then cross-oxamiied._Tlhe prisoner 1had been his servait, and married orte of hlis workmei. Ile knew that the wind4ows of thc house hatl been broken; but he knevw nothing else of thle stnte of it, as he had neverseen its interior. , lary Stacey, on the 2Gth of August last, saw the twvo prisorers coiniig out of the houise before-mentioned, with a small bundle, which was carriedl by Shannon: Pickering locked the (loor. This was about 10 o'clock at night. Pickering went on a little way, and then returned back, and leoked through a crevice in the shutter. She thlen said something to Shannon, anti both the prioners went nway. About three or four minutes after they were gone, the witness saw through the crevice a lighit, wlichi rapidly increased, and an alarm was given. (Iross-examined..-Witness knew that thiere hail been a mob oppo- site the prisoner's house a short ti nie before, when the windowvs were broken by the people in the street. There hadl been disturbances several times before, and police-officers lial coinc to piut an enil to them, bot she knew nothing about tbe cause of them. lVhen the prisneinr Pickering left her house, the tipper wirlsow were broketi. Hlenry Stacer, son to til lbrt witntes, swore tbat in consequence of wbat Ihis mrotlier tol(l him, lie looke(l thirough the windtow of the prisoner's house, and saw there was a blase in the room. lie then knockedi at the door, an(i gave the alarm; with the assistance of Some otlier persorts, he broke of.sn thie shutters, procureti nine or erc pails of water, iud at length put out the lire. On entering the parloutr, he foundic a bag of parer-shavinrgs ort fire in the cupboard; thiere were also art old pair ot bellows and some rags o n the shelves of the ciipboartl, all of which were on fire. There was no fire in anv otiter part of the room. Harriet Nash saw the prisoners quit the houtse on tie night of tbie fire. aitu after lockinte tire door, the prisoner Pickering said " I have done it; its all right." On her cross-examnination, the witness admittedl that the disturb- ances were nearly nightly, and the police-officers were obliged to be in attendance. Christopher htunt rernermcbered goitre into the liouse ir Castle- strect o0t tie night of the fire. In a IoWver room. after it teas broken open, saw a closet, In whichl were shavirg.s and rags. Thiere was also a beistead and a mattress. Some of the shelves seemed burnt, thorigir lie saw hut little lire inside, and a good leal out. The floor of the room was not hrurnt. Witness, rvho had never been iu tire houise before, went up stairs, but saw no fire. James Deatinoan broke open, the street-door with an iron crow-bar (producel in courrt. and found the cupboard in a burning state. The cupboard appeare& to be a fixture. Cross-examinedI by Mr. BRoDRTcg.-I mn a rag.rnerchaitt. Over miry door I pert " Dealer ii imarine stores." I would have toldl thc Jury that I an-i a "dealer i,n maTine stores" if they had asked me. I arn also a Iead-mercilarlt, andl a pewter-mereciant. The crow-bar producedl is miine. I am a good deal at hlome, except when I go into the courntry for orders. That is, not tbr rags, but for pewter-pots. (Av laugh.) I have seen people collect two or three times before thie prisoner's house, before thei fire happenedl. I have seen thern five or seven, or ten, or fifteen, er twenty timies; I will swear I never saw themz 19 times; blt I will riot swear I never saw them 1.i times. I saw several watLirmen on the nighit of the fire. I don't remrember whietirer I said before tire police-magistrate that tirc side of tile curp- board was burnt. On my oath, I don't kaow whietiler I recollect if I said to the niagistrates on oath trhat tile shreves were burnt. Samuel 5Sellon, watchrman, nn the 26th oif Arireist lAst went to the lioune in qI!estiort in Castle-street, about 20 riinnrtes past ten, on the alarn of fire being given. Or going into the lower roornt he sate lie cupboard oi, lire, and a bed and a mattress drawn near the cupboard. In the hcal) taken eit of the cupboard were a pairof feniale stays, the woodi of an old pair of bellows, and other rags. (A lIaugh.) Clark. a constable, apprehended the two prisoners immediately after the fire was extinguishetl. Theprisoner Pickering was going to bed at the time rwitness calledi to take her. Whent at the watclr. house lie told her that she was charged with setting her house on fire. She seemed very iauch alarnied, and asked fbr water; but before water could be obtaineid shc fell into hysterics. The officer produced a bpx of very simiall dimenisions forirrd in the liouse, and containing some fragments of paper books &c. Reuben Rice assisted last witness in apprehienmling Pickering in a house at Slale's-pilce, where she had lived for a fortnight. He pro- ducerI a few shelve, and fragments of a gown and a pair of stays, that hiad been fn und ott the premises in Castle-street. Witness liad been before repeatedly sent for by Mrs. Pickering, because people collected befbre her doors, and she could not possibly live in quiet. The owner of tire irouse in Castle-street said he purchased it in 1797 ; but did not knrow wletiter or no the cupboard was thiers tirere. The case for the prosecu'ion being closed, iMir. Justice 1.lTTL.EDAr.E was proceeding to address the ijuvr, when the Foreman state(d that tireir miinus were long before mnade utp, and they retured a verdict of Arot Gni/h. The JUiDGE said there was certainly a difficulty in assigning any imnaginable motive for the crime imputed to the prisonlers. OLD RAILRY, TlRtrRSDdr, SLp. 23.