Police.
The Times, 1824-11-22T00:00:00

,r d6*5R6i4TRn E3 ..Sar.ah' Porter,.; JQ7& Smiq4, Zicard tChkk,-:g0d MaryCI lwqerf brouglitup 'fr, ik-exairrati -before' 4ehttkng in te(-t1r. OsroasE)ur.der tlhe follo*ing cWin.' Theorisoner.Porter,1jt appearod zwas servant to Mr. nnd :r3 ,L'o6epn, Who lodget at a grocer's, N4o. 46i. Crown-street, Firislitry. uaye, wherethey:oceupied-ihe-upperpart of the house. On last T ue.lay week Illr. Coh&n ha.ving le.c bome,.ttatinm his ihiention to return hb'ot 1 o'Clocktat ni4ht, Mrs. Coben 'went at seven ociock to pIas the eiening nt'h6tfatieer, desiring the servart to come lo at- tend her home-at half.past. nmne.. :Potter esleavoured with muchl earnestness to persunde lher to 4' make it an bour later, for when I master said-he would be home at II he wast almost sure to make it 12." trs. Cohen,-howeveri adheretl'to heroriginal orders; but her servant took upan-herseif not to call for her until a few m'inu'es be- fore 10. On.reacihinthome, Porter having the key, opene( ite pri- vate .street-loor,. 'which adinitted -them into the passage. and then iimediately. passed-into the shop to ask for a light, dec. clarin that ahe was afraid to go up stairs without one. Shc then preceded her rilstress up stairs, and on reaching the landing.placa exclaimed....'t Dear mte ! the kitchen-door is open ,'- itnd' tdde(l pitesently afterwards, " La, nia'.an, the platoe 'is gonei" An alarm of robberv was immediately given, and i the watchman called in; and -lralton, a pariah constable of St. liuke's, wlio was passing, and heatrd the outcry proceeded to exa- mine the premises, when it appeared that four iiver candlesticks, a silver tea-pot and stand, a silver fish-slice. 13 silver t-Lble-spoons, 27 silver tea-spoons, 4 silver gravv-spoons. 4 silver satuce-spsons, ard CJ siilver salt-spoons, had been carried off frrom a closet in which they had been deposited in Mfrs. Colhen's bed-room. The door oF the closet had been fbrc'ed open by means of a small hand crow-bar anti a chisel, which were left behind, and the lock being a plain lock, of the conTmonest description, and the locks on the doors of the bed. room and, kitchen, which were found open, appearing to have been opened in the ordinary way with a key, suspicion was immediately aroused that the thieves must have been admitted by the servant whl bao been left in possesslon of thae keys of the rooms, but not of that of tbe closer. Slhe was tlierefore taken into custody. The next morning 'Walton cAlled to -is assistance Briwvn, a Bowv-street pattrol, who, discovering that the prisoner Smith kept company with Porter, and that Mary Cbick had been seen in conversation with thent within a few yards of the house absut the time when the rob- bery was supposed to have been committed, apprehended chose per- sons on the Saturday follbwing, who wvere however iinmesliately dis. charged by the Magistrate, before whom they were examined, by ret ion of the extreme.y slight nature of the grounds oR which ther had become suspected. No sooner were thev out of custody tha'n they were joined by Richard Chicki thlehusband of Alary,with-whom they Proceeded into the back yard of a public-house adioining the office, fmm which they cairied on a conversation with Porter, who was then locked tip in one of the cells behind the office. lVaters, the offlcer, overheanr them tell the prisoner " to be sure and say nothing"_-' all's right"-" they can't burt you, for thoy-have found nothing, -and we are t,irned uip" (discharged); to which one of them added, " if they ask whether you saw nie that nfiet, say ves, you met me in l'rilson.street a little before nine o'cloe."' lIe therefore went round, nnd took them all three into cus- tody. He was unable, however. their persons having been concealed from his view in the position w1hich he had occupied, to assign to each his proper part of the dialogiue. On searching, them, three sovereigns were found upos Mlary Chick, and one sovereign. some silver, and some quite new articles of wearing apparel, on Richard ChicZk, who acknowfledged having purchased the latter at a date sunsequent to the robberv of iMr. Cohen. Their modecof accounting for the possession of this money, and their statements of the manner in which they hadl passed the evening on which the robbery wVas comrmitted, were ludicrously inconsistent in themselves, and contradictory of eacih other. Under these circumstances they were remanded far a week. When they were brought ul) to be re-examined on Saturday, no additional evidence was tendered against tilen, nor had any trace been discovered of the stolen property. Afr. Isancs, who attended for the prosecution, requested, that if not the wvhole of the prisoners, at least Sarah Porter, the servant, might be detaiped a week longer, but he could urge no other ground for the application than the sugpicious nature of the circaistances which had alreaylv been disclosed. Air. Humphreys, for the prisoners, said, that the tenderness dtre to the liberty of the subject required that when persons had been kept in custodv for eight days, sVome stronger grounds than those of mere suspicion should be shown to warrant their farther de. tention. Mlr. (snostwE seid, that the evidence before him was certainly not sufficient to authorize their being longer kept in custody; and, as they must therefore be discharged, he would say nothing as to any opinion which he might entertain of their g.uilt or innocence of the charge of vhich they had been suspected. The prisoners were accordingly discharged. Thete is very little doubt that Air. Cohen's property would have been recovered, and the perpetrators of this robbery brought to jus- tice, had the circumstances been made known to the police as soon a09 it was discovered, instead of being locked up in the less expe- rienced keeping of a parish constable. POLICE.