The Robbery At Earl Cowpe...
The Times, 1824-08-13T00:00:00

We bhye alredy inf%e=d our readera, that in conseqaence of the solern asseveration, of innocence made so incessantly by the con- victs Harris and Dtiviisinde their trial, the Under-Sheriffof ltert- forshite (Mr; Nicholson) wws induced to suggest to Davis the neces- y of his makhlbga full disclosure ofoll that had come to his know- ledge concerning the robbery, and thb prs4ons who he said viere con- cereed in it. This " cdtlfession" was transmitted to the Home.De. artmnent, and itr the abserce of Mr. Peel, was inspected bY MIr. Hobhouse, the Under Se&remazy of State, who took upon himself, n_- der the circumstanccs, to prOCure a respite for the prisoncrs for two days. A longer delay, we nnderstand, was solicited, but Air. hobhouse did rnt feel himself warranted, in she absence of the Chief Secretary, in procuring a respite for more than the two days. Since the transmisston of the respite to Hertford, the most active inquiries have been set on foot in ordler, if possible, tO ascer- tain beyond a doubt whether the story told by Davis is true or false. Sevcral of the BoW street officers, particularly Nicholls, Morris, and Avis7 who were very activc in the apprehension of the convicts, hlave wiril the last two days been strenuous in their exer- tions, and have discovered some circumstances whiLh tend to favour the supnosition that a mistake may have been made as to the identity of the prisoners. The officers recollected, that after the apprehen- sion of the convicts, and while they were in aear!h of others su nosed to be concerned, they were told by some of the " fa- mily-men" (thfeves), as thev are called, wlho best knew Dad- field and his concern, that Harris was not in the robbery. This assurance has been repeated since the conviction, and it has its weight with thie officers; for those wlho advauced it could have no! other fecling in favour of Hhrris alone, than men (whatever their character) generally entertain when a fellow-creature is about to suffer an unjust punishment. Had what is called " fellow-feel- ing" been the actuating motive with these men, it occurred to the officers that there was no reason why they should not have made the i same declaration with respect to Davis. Amongthe persons accused| in the" conf'ession" of tle last namel convict is a namesakeof his, one Bob Damis, and tbis beingcommunicated to the officers, they irme- diately recollected a well.known thief of that name, and-what was of still,greaterconsequence-that he bears a strongresemblanceto flarris in personal appearance. These several facts were communi- cated yesterday n)erning to Sir R. BUtNIE, and the worthy Mfagis-I trates having ordered the cfficers to spare neither trouble nor cx- pense in the further prosecution of their inquiries, went himself tO the Home Secretary s office. The result of the whole investigation has been, that yesterday afternoon a further respite was sent off to ilertford, but for what period we were unable to learn. A very curious circumsjance connected with the testimony against Harris (ranspired yesterliay. It may be recollected that on the trial, an alibi was attempted to be proved by the chiUd of' the prisoner, to the effect that his father was, on thc night in question, at Astiley's Theatre; but the child, in cross-examination,hAving KiVen confused answers, little va.le was attached o his eilitdnce by the jury. The frientds of the prisoner, however, relying un the fact, yesterday caused bills tO be stuck up in various parta of Lonalon, requesting the person to come forward who had left the theatre with him on ihe nignt of' the robbery; and the result of these bills has been the diseovery, that the prisoner was, on the night in question, accompa- nied hoine from the above theatre, between the hours of twelve and otie, bv a respectable tadesman of thc name of :lIaisey, living at No. 6, Circus-street, New-road, and who yester(lay took coach to the Secretary of Statc's office, for the purpose of authenticating the above facts. ., iWBap 1 A' AR O~A7