Newspaper Transcripts
Some Selected Reports from The Pilot.
Tuesday, August 28th, 1810
ASSIZES.
At Hereford Assizes, which ended on Friday, ten Prisoners took their trials, viz. Wm.Fawke, for burglary in the dwelling-house of Mr.K..ll[?], Bullingham; and Benj.Gwillim, for stealing a mare, were found guilty, and received sentence of death, but were afterwards reprieved. John Lucy, charged with mixing poison with sugar, for the purpose of poisoning his wife and children at Ledbury, was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
At the above Assizes, a man of the name of Buttery was convicted of vending about the country a pamphlet containing a libel against Mr.Williams, attorney of Monmouth, and two other gentlemen. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment.
In an action brought by Messrs.Reynolds and Co. Proprietors of Iron-works in Glamorganshire, against the Proprietors of the Glamorganshire Canal, for diverting the water from their works, a verdict was given for the Plaintiffs, with damages.
SUSSEX - LEWES, Aug. 25.
KING v. HARBEN.
This was an action against Mr.Harben by Mr.King, who was a witness in the case of yesterday, and arising out of some squabble. Mr.Harben had caused a bill on indictment for perjury to be preferred against Mr.King, for his affidavit, upon which the rule for a criminal information was moved against Mr.H. in the King's Bench. This bill the Grand Jury threw out, and Mr.King brought the present action against Mr.Harben, for maliciously preferring that bill. The case was, however, not gone into, it being agreed to settle the case by taking a verdict for the Plaintiff for �100.
CROWN SIDE.
Sarah Searle was indicted for stealing several articles of plate in the dwelling-house of the Rev.Mr. Campion, at Westminster in this county. The conduct of the Prisoner in this case was the most artful and extraordinary that has lately occurred in any Court of Justice. Mr.Campion being absent from London the latter end of May and June last, the Prisoner was the only servant left in the house. For several days before the robbery she complained to the gardener and others that she heard persons in the house in the night, and expressed her fears that it was beset by thieves. She even went to the length of getting a man to sleep in the house, and she went to sleep at his cottage, returning in the morning. One mornings she described a man of suspicious appearance, who she said had been there inquiring after Mr.Campion, and she effected to have discovered the bars of the dairy window, which had been nearly sawed through at the bottom. At last she said, that on the morning of the 6th of June, just as she got to the house, and was about to light the fire, the same man rushed from the wash-house, seized her by the hair of her head, and dragged her over the house, compelling her to shew him where the plate was deposited, which she was obliged to do; that he then took her into the kitchen, and hung her on a nail in the kitchen, and there left her; that she, by the assistance of another nail in the wall, raised herself and was kept from suffocating until she got a clasp knife from her pocket, which she opened with her teeth and then cut the rope. She immediately fell down, and upon recovering herself, she ran out to a neighbour's house with the rope about her neck, where she stated the particulars. All these facts she deposed before the Magistrates at Lewes; but suspicions were entertained of their truth, for it was observed that the window bars had been sawed from withinside the house, and upon search all the articles of plate were found in her box.
The Jury found her Guilty, and she was sentenced to seven years transportation.
Treble, alias Thornton, who was convicted last Assizes for forgery, but reserved for the discussion of an objection in point of law, was informed of the decision of the Judges against the objection, and received judgement of death.
LORD ELLENBOROUGH having finished the business on the Crown side, assisted LORD CHIEF BARON in trying Special Jury causes; and the first was an information, filed by the Attorney-General, against one Thomas Moore, a smuggler, of Hastings, for aiding and assisting two prisoners of war, namely General Pillet, in the French service, and Captain Paollucci, in the Italian navy, to escape from Bishop's Waltham, the place of their confinement, to France. After the first witness has been examined, the Prisoner's Counsel informed the Court, that his client confessed himself guilty of the charge, and a verdict was given accordingly. - The Prisoner then addressed the Judge, and said, that he claimed the benefit of promises that had been made to him by Government, on his having made certain discoveries; but the Solicitor of the Admiralty, who conducted the prosecution, informing his Lordship that no promises has been made to him, he was ordered from the bar, and will be brought before the Court of King's Bench in the next Term to receive his sentence.
It is no less extraordinary than true, that General Pillet, who was taken prisoner by the 50th regiment of the line in Portugal, should have been put under their guard at Hastings, where he was taken, and prevented escaping from thence to France; and on his arrival at Lewes, to give evidence against Thomas Moore, in the above trial, he met the Officer of the 50th regiment in that town, with whom he dined at their mess; and the soldier who happened to wait at table proved to be the man by whom the General was wounded and taken prisoner in Portugal.
STAFFORD.
The commission for the Summer Assizes for this county was opened on Wednesday, before Mr.Justice Lawrence. An appropriate sermon was preached on the occasion by the Rev.R.Slaney..
NISI PRIUS BAR.
LORD VALENTIA v. STEWARD.
This was an action of trespass, that went on the part of the Plaintiff, to do away a custom which was claimed in justification of the Defendant cutting down timber, on Upper Arley manor. The timber in dispute was a crab tree, which had been cut down by the Defendant; and the Learned Counsel made a particular point of ascertaining who had been accustomed to gather the apples ! This being the custom in dispute, it has been pleaded, that a Thomas Price had only been gathering a few pears off it, to make him a drop of drink ! What rendered this confusion of the vegetable species more laughable, the succeeding Counsel, who is not less distinguished his wit and eloquence, than his general correctness, commenced his examination of a witness by tracing an old hedge; and, looking over his brief too briefly over, asked them to begin at an ash-poplar ! (an ash and a poplar). The case however resolved itself into a question of boundary. Whether the crab-trees, and other trees in dispute, grew on the lands being the copyhold of inheritance of the Defendant, or on the waste of the Lord of the Manor, Lord Valentia ?
The Learned Judge, in summing up, gave a brief and clear analysis of the various evidence, written and verbal, that had been produced; and which went to establish the boundaries of two small paddocks, that had for a number of years crept into dispute, from an old and irregular fence, which was contended to have originally terminated them.- The Jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict for the Plaintiff, as to the land on which the crab-tree grew.
Counsel for the Plaintiff, Messrs.DAUNCEY and ABBOTT. For the Defendant, Messrs.JARVIS, and WIGLEY.
Viscount Valentia, and several other Gentlemen of distinction, sat on the bench with his Lordship.
CORNWALL.
CUMMINS v. BARBER.
This was an action to recover a compensation in damages for a breach of promise of marriage. The Plaintiff was stated to be a respectable young woman, and a relative of Mr.Cummins of the hotel in the Falmouth, in whose family she resided. The defendant was connected with a commercial house in Sheffield, and happened to put into Falmouth in July 1808, on board a Portuguese vessel, called Meyo Mundo. He was the super-cargo, on a voyage to the Brazils, for which the vessel was freighted by Messrs.Barber and Genn, of Sheffield, his uncles. The vessel being wrecked in Falmouth harbour, and her cargo landed, the Defendant was necessarily detained there to take care and dispose of the property;- and it was during this detention that the Defendant, as Serjeant LENS stated, paid his addresses to this young lady; and after gaining her affections, and by letters which exhibited the strongest feelings of attachment, he had suddenly, and without the least reasonable pretence, deserted her. His letters were written in a style that disappointed the curiosity of the crowd in the Court, who, as usual upon such occasions, expected some ridiculous exhibitions of epistolary tenderness; for the language and tone of the lover were correct and respectful, though not deficient in energy and spirit. It was not therefore to be wondered at that the personal assiduities, the eloquence, and the flattering promises of such an admirer, had won the heart of a female who had neither made vow nor promise against the state of matrimony. She gave him her affections. He embarked on a voyage for Curacao, and during that voyage she received repeated assurances from him, that amid the wind and waves of the tempestuous ocean, she was the pole-star that guided and the anchor of all his hopes. What was then her surprize when she received an epistle from him, in the autumn of 1809, stating that his losses at Falmouth (alluding to the shipwreck of the Meyo Mundo), and defalcation of an agent at Curacoa, &c. obliged him to break off the match ! - Mr.Francis Symons, of Falmouth, the ship-agent, proved that the cargo of the Mayo Mundo was insured. Mr.Robert Williams, of Falmouth, proved the attention paid by the Defendant to the Plaintiff. One of the 36 of the Defendant's letters that were produced, proved his expectations from his uncle and father were equal to �8,000. Mr.JEKYLL's ingenuity and eloquence were not sufficient to weaken the evidence, nor rebut the charge.
Mr.Justice BAYLEY spoke in strong terms of the improper conduct of the Defendant, and the very proper conduct of Miss Cummins.- Verdict for the Plaintiff, with �500 damages.
Wm.Daly was, at the late Armagh Assizes, acquitted of horse stealing, after a trial which occupied the Court, from nine o'clock until five. It appeared in evidence, that his father had been hanged two Assizes ago; one of his brothers last Assizes; that another brother was under sentence of death at this Assizes in Monaghan, for a conspiracy to murder; two other brothers fled the country for capital felonies; and Daly himself was merely acquitted on a suspicion as to the approver that appeared against him.
On Tuesday Jones and Francis were executed at Salisbury, pursuant to their sentence, for breaking into the shop of Mr.Bennet, silversmith, of that city, and stealing watches and jewellery to the value of �1500. Francis, who was by no means a notorious offender, conducted himself with great propriety at the fatal tree: but Jones, who confessed himself to have been a thief from his earliest years, mounted the platform in a bold undaunted manner, then took off his hat, and after giving it two or three twirls about his head, threw it among the spectators.
A few days ago, two boys, in bathing, at Portobello, near Edinburgh, went beyond their depth, and one of them sunk. The other, who fortunately could swim, with great intrepidity dived in search of his companion, and succeeded in bringing him to the shore, in time to save his life.
Friday afternoon, a boy very incautiously applied a red hot poke to a bomb-shell, which proved to be charged, in the back court of a house in Rotten-row, Leith. It instantly exploded, by which he was severely hurt, but he is now in a fair way of recovery. A great number of the windows in the house were broke, and part of the poker was found at the distance of 120 yards from the spot.
POLICE.
MANSION-HOUSE. Yesterday Priscilla Rose, a woman of the town, was brought up on suspicion of stealing a silver time-keeper . She was seen on Saturday in the Poultry, in a state of intoxication, with the watch in her hand, by a gentleman who, judging from her appearance, very naturally conjectured, that she was not the lawful possessor. He therefore gave in her charge to a Peace-officer, and she was conveyed to the Poultry Compter.
The Prisoner, in her defence, said she had received the watch as a present from a sailor, who had lived with her some days.
The LORD MAYOR, however, deemed it right not to give implicit reliance on this story, and therefore remanded the Prisoner, and ordered the watch to be advertised.
GUILDHALL.- A gentleman named M'Donald, complained to the Magistrate of what he considered an imposition, practised on him by one of the book-keepers at the coach-office, Swan-with-two-Necks, Lad-lane. He took a place there on Friday last, in the Liverpool coach, as for Sunday night; and on coming there on Sunday evening, he brought his luggage, the carriage of which he proposed to pay at Liverpool, as all his money, except merely what he kept out for travelling expences, was in a writing desk corded up with his trunk, and which he could not get at without much inconvenience, and a delay which would risk the loss of his passage. He stated this fact to the clerk; but, his luggage would not be taken upon any other terms than immediate payment, and he was left to the alternative of either leaving the trunk behind, or losing his passage, and forfeiting the full fare which he had paid.
A gentleman, who accompanied him to the office, ventured to remonstrate with the book-keeper, and threatened to complain to the Coach Proprietors, inasmuch as had the luggage been brought there without any passenger, there would have been no difficulty in having it conveyed to any person at Liverpool, and receiving the carriage money there upon delivery. But the only answer to this remonstrance was, that if one [of] the Proprietors was there, the gentleman should be kicked out of the office. Mr. M'Donald not chusing however to leave his luggage behind, would not go by the night coach, and departed, having no doubt of being allowed his passage on Monday evening; but on application this morning was refused, and the clerk would allow no other alternative than either to return half the fare, or to allow so much in part of full fare for the evening's coach.
The Magistrate said that this case did not come within his jurisdiction, and referred the complainant to his action at law.
This being, however, one of those cases wherein the remedy was worse than the disease, Mr.M'Donald deemed it the wisest policy to submit to an injustice than to seek redress by a lingering law-suit against the combind interest of the whole corps of stage-coach owners, with all the concomitant, inconvenience of attendance and loss of time, and he therefore departed to make the best of the bargain.
At this Office on Saturday, a gentleman of the name Lockyer, an East Indian by birth, but lately from Scotland, and his wife, a very elegant female, dressed in a style of Eastern magnificence, were brought to the bar, charged by the waiter of the Bolt-in-Tun Inn, Fleet-street, with an assault. The statement of the waiter amounted to this, that the parties came to the inn in question two days ago, and on the bill being handed to the husband for payment, he refused to pay it. A friend, however, having called to see him, he on better advice paid the bill. He then ordered a bottle of wine, which the witness served him, but he did not pay for it; and having shortly afterwards ordered supper, the witness told him he could not have the supper till he had paid for the wine. On this the gentleman got into a rage, abused the witness, and threatened to kick him out of the room. The witness refused to quit the room, when the gentleman rose to turn him out, and in attempting to do so, struck him. The lady also joined in the attack, till, alarmed by the noise, the master of the house came to the witness's assistance, when the gentlemen and lady were given in charge by the master of the house.
The master of the inn corroborated the statement of his waiter, with the exception, that he did not see the gentleman strike the waiter. He had ordered their bill to be given to the parties, wishing, from what he saw about them, that they should quit his house. They had come to his house as man and wife; he suspected them not to be so. The gentleman agreed to the statement of the waiter, except to his having struck him, which he denied, although he might have been justified in doing so, from the insolence of the waiter, after the former bill had been paid, in refusing to serve up supper without payment of the only bottle of wine then due, and afterwards in refusing to quit the room, which he presumed to think he was bound to have done as his (the gentleman's) order, it being to be considered his room, so long as he paid for the use of it.
The worthy Alderman expressed his regret that this charge had been made. Of the honour, respectability, and feeling of the parties, he could have no doubt, after a circumstance so highly creditable to them, as that which he had just heard, and which argued them to possess the nicest feelings of humanity. [ He alluded to a circumstance communicated to him by the Clerk of the Court, that through the means of this lady and gentleman, the unfortunate young woman who was remanded from this place on Friday, for pledging a harp which she had got on hire, had been enabled to have it restored to the owner.] - All the extent of his jurisdiction, however, went to the disposal of the present charge, which he had already dismissed; and if the parties accused felt themselves aggrieved, they must apply to another tribunal. The gentleman stated, that they did feel themselves greatly aggrieved, and he was resolved to prosecute the master of the inn for false imprisonment; whether civilly, or by indictment, must depend upon the legal advice he should afterwards receive.
The unfortunate young woman alluded to, so providentially relieved by their encounter with this charitable pair, was then brought up, and the musical instrument maker having now no charge against her, she was discharged; the worthy Alderman expressing a hope that she would guard against such errors in future.
BIRTH.
On the 27th inst. the lady of Mr.F. Ommanney, of a son.
Yesterday morning, at Blackheath, Mrs.Williams, of Cornhill, of a daughter.
On Tuesday, the 14th inst. at Hampton-court Park, the lady of Colonel Vesey of a daughter.
Mrs.Doyle, lady of Capt.Doyle, of a son and heir, at the house of her father, Sir W.M.Milner[?], Bart. at Nun-Appleton.
MARRIED.
Yesterday, at St.George's Hanover-square, Mr.Rowe, of Fleet-street, to Miss.E.Keys, of Charles-street, Grosvenor-square.
At Kidwick, Lister Ellis, Esq. of Castlefield, near Bingley, to Miss Olivia Garforth, second daughter of Thomas Garforth, Esq. of Steeton-Hall, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the West-riding.
Mr.Samuel Isaac Tobias, of London, to Miss Sophia, eldest daughter of Dr.Solomon, Gilead House, Liverpool.
J.L. Batley, Esq. to Miss Baines, only daughter of Mr.John Baines, surgeon, Masham.
T.Gould, Esq. of Wakefield (grandson of the late Judge Gould), to Miss Martin, daughter of Wm.Martin, Esq. of East Cottingworth Hall, near York.
Mr.Joseph Holmes, of Woodhouse, stone mason, to Miss Mary Cooper, of Hunslet. This marriage proves that "the silent eloquence of love," so much celebrated in song, is not a poetic fiction, for the bridegroom is deaf and dumb !
DIED.
At Edmonton, on the 24th inst. Mrs.Hodgson, wife of Wm.Hodgson, Esq.
On the 25th inst. in Hall-street, Berkeley-square, the infant son of George Baring, Esq.
On the 8th inst. after a long and severe illness, at Scilly, on which station he had been upwards of four years, Charles Williams, Esq. Commander of His Majesty's ship Horn.t[?] and son-in-law to Jonathan Page, Esq., of Great Smith-street, Westminster. He was one of the few survivors who recovered from their wounds in the gallant action by the brave Sir Edward Pellew, in the Nymphe frigate, when she captured the Cleopatra French frigate, the first ship of war taken after the beginning of the revolutionary war, since which time he served King and country in the Egypt Expedition, twice in the West Indies, and coast of Africa, with the reputation of a good and brave Officer.
At New York, John Knox, Esq. merchant, brother of Geo.Knox, Esq. American Consul for the port of Hull, and its dependencies.
At Alderton, near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, the Rev.Dr.Frank, brother of Bacon Frank, Esq. of Campsal, near Doncaster.
After a very short illness, John Watson, Esq. of Bilton Park, near Knaresbro'.