Sarah
Hawkins Genealogy Site
Newspaper
Articles
Taunton
Courier, and Western Advertiser 12 Mar 1856
Page 8 Column 2 &
3
MAGISTERIAL PROCEEDINGS.
GUILDHALL, WEDNESDAY.
Before R. M. KING, Esq., J. R. ALLEN, Esq., C. N. WELMAN, Esq., and H. BADCOCK, Esq.
LICENCES.
This was a special session for the transfer of licenses, and the following were transferred, viz.:- The Old Waggon and Horses, East-reach, from John CLEMENTS to John BULT; the Royal Marine, Silver-street, from Wm. COLEMAN to John BATER; the Squirrel, Church-square, from Mary Ann HOLLOWAY to Francis Henry VINCENT.
Wm. SEARLE, summoned by Mr. STUCKEY for non-payment of 13s 11d, the amount of a general district-rate, was ordered to pay the amount and costs.
The two boys, Alexander WILLIAMS and Wm. THOMAS, charged with stealing a jacket, the property of John WOODBERRY, were committed for trial at the next Assizes, with a view to their being sent to a Reformatory. We gave the particulars of the case in our last.
SATURDAY.
Before R. M. KING, Esq., J. R. ALLEN, Esq.. H. BADCOCK, Esq.. C. N. WELMAN, Esq., W. BLAKE, Esq., F. W. NEWTON, Esq., and C. J. HELYAR, Esq.
David PYNE was summoned on a charge of assaulting Bernard COUSINS, and wilfully damaging a door in the house of complainant. Mr. TRENCHARD was for complainant. It appeared from the statements of COUSINS and his witnesses, that complainant keeps a beer-shop near the Athelney Station, in the parish of Stoke St. Gregory; on Sunday evening, 24th ult., defendant was there drinking, and the party “called the reckoning” at 25 minutes past 9; defendant was quarrelsome, and the company all left him, and refused to sit with him. He commenced cursing and abusing Mrs. COUSINS, and on complainant desiring him to leave, he dealt him a severe blow on the nose, causing it to bleed profusely. Complainant told PYNE “he had done it, and he (COUSINS) would make him pay for it.” He insisted on defendant leaving the house, and PYNE sprung on him and seized him by the hair of the head; eventually they got defendant out, and Mrs. COUSINS locked the door. Shortly after, PYNE came thumping the door, and burst it open, by which he fell down all his length in the passage. The damage to the door was estimated at 1s. - The evidence on the part of the defendant was of a very contradictory character, some of the witnesses stating that Mrs. COUSINS first pulled defendant by the hair, and the complainant was first struck by PYNE. Defendant himself admitted that he was drunk, and fell against the door, thereby breaking it open. He was fined for the assault 14s 6d, including costs, and for the “door business,” as Mr. KING termed it, 5s 6d – in all £1. The money was paid.
Bernard COUSINS, complainant in the last case, was summoned by David PYNE for keeping his house open for the sale of beer at undue hours, on the 14th February. The summons on this charge (and a similar one said to have been committed on a subsequent day), was not taken out until COUSINS had taken proceedings for the assault and damage done to his door. After a lengthened hearing, the Bench inflicted a fine in the first case of £2, including costs, and in default of distress, one month's imprisonment; in the second, a fine of 7s 6d, including costs, or a week's imprisonment.
James BLAKE, James HAYES, and John CATTLE, were severally summoned by the Surveyor of Highways for the parish of Hillfarrence, for non-payment of highway-rates. The defendants had built cottages on land formerly “waste,” called Hill Common, and until the present year had not been assessed to the highway-rate. The only excuse given for non-payment was that they had never paid any highway-rates before. Payment in each case, with costs, ordered.
DISTRESSING SCENE.
John KINGLAKE was summoned by Mary Ann RICHARDS to find sureties for his future good behaviour. This case was heard last week on a charge of wilful damage to a door at North Curry, as stated in our last. Mr. H. TRENCHARD, who appeared for the defence, now consented that the evidence then given should be received as evidence on the present charge, and Mr. PINCHARD read the notes from his book. Complainant was cross-examined as to her permitting and encouraging the defendant and other lads to visit her house in the evening, which she positively denied. - Elizabeth RICHARDS, sister of the complainant, corroborated her evidence, and Mr. TRENCHARD was about to cross-examine her, when she fell into a fit, and a truly painful scene ensued. The poor girl's countenance became livid, and blood and foam issued from her mouth, while her mother and sister, with the assistance of Inspector SAMUELS, could hardly restrain her struggling; and in this state the witness was carried out of court. - For the defence, witnesses were called to prove an alibi; but the Magistrates ordered the defendant to find one surety in £20 to keep the peace for two months.
Caroline CLEMENTS was charged with stealing a basket containing a dish and 1lb. of butter, the property of Joseph RYDON. The prisoner, it appeared, overtook a child of the prosecutor's, carrying the articles, on the Kingston road, and, when near Pyrland, took them from her. The girl told a man named MORRELL of the circumstance, and he followed the prisoner, and secured her and the goods. Sentence – one month's imprisonment.
Elizabeth SLEE was charged with stealing a towel, the property of Adam ELMSLIE, Esq. Phoebe RICHARDS, the prosecutrix, who resided at Rowbarton, is a laundress; on Thursday she hung some linen in her garden to dry, and within an hour missed a towel. Some information was given her by a neighbour, and she went to the prisoner's house in Greenway-lane, and demanded the towel. Prisoner stoutly denied having seen it, but a search-warrant having been obtained, Policeman AUTTON found the article in a box up-stairs. Sentence – one month's imprisonment.
James TAUNTON, who has been once convicted as a rogue and vagabond, and once before imprisoned for felony, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, for stealing 1lb. of beef, 1lb. of cheese, and some suet-pudding, from the larder of Mr. Alfred HUNT, of North Curry, into whose premises he had feloniously intruded unobserved.
Before Dr. KINGLAKE. MONDAY.
William TOLER (aged 15) and Joseph GOODMAN (aged 12), brother of Lavinia GOODMAN, the juvenile delinquent who has several times been before the Justices charged with crime, were charged with stealing a penny loaf the property of Elias NORRIS, a baker, in Shuttern, Taunton. Mrs. NORRIS stated that the two boys came to her shop yesterday (Sunday) and asked for a halfpenny orange. While there she saw the younger prisoner pushing something into TOLER's pocket; she immediately searched TOLER's pocket, and found a penny loaf, there, which TOLER took out and threw into the window. GOODMAN ran away, but Mrs. NORRIS detained TOLER, and sent for a policeman and placed him in custody. Mrs. NORRIS does not sell oranges, and neither of the boys had any money, so that their asking for an orange was a mere subterfuge. - Remanded for trail at Petty Sessions on Wednesday.