736. JOHN ANTIENT proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 13th of July , two ducks; value 4s. the property of William Want proceedingsvictim .

(The case was opened by Mr. Vaillant.) BENJAMIN WHITE < no role > sworn. - On Sunday, the 13th of July, I was in a field in the parish of Hackney , where I had been making a stack the week before; I got over the hurdles, and saw a piece of hay, pulled off the stack, upon the ground, and under it were three ducks; I took one of them, and carried it to Mr.Griffiths, the constable; they were all three warm, and the blood in them; Griffiths desired me and Bradford to watch them, which we did; I was in one field, and Bradford in another; I saw the prisoner go up to the stack with a basket; he passed by the ducks, and took up some sticks in his hand, which, I supposed, were to make skewers to fasten up the basket; he then turned himself round, as if to see is there was any body looking, and then he kicked off the hay, slooped down and picked up the ducks, and put them in the basket; then Bradford came up to him, and stopped him, and Mrs. Want claimed the ducks.

BENJAMIN BRADFORD < no role > sworn. - I was with White; I watched in a hedge near the stack; I saw the prisoner come into the field; he walked very near the stack; he picked up a little bundle of sticks, looked round about him, and then went up to the stack, stooped down, picked up the ducks, and then came back over the hurdles; I went towards him, and said, holt partner, how are you; he then said, he would be d-d if he had not found three ducks; I told him he must go with me to Mr. Griffiths, and we took him to Mr.Griffiths; Mrs. Want saw them in my hand, and said they were her's.

Q. (To White). Was the duck that you took away carried back again? - A. Yes.

ANN WANT < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Vaillant. I saw three ducks in the possession of Bradford; I knew two of them to be mine; they were marked in the right foot; I knew them by that mark; I can swear positively to them.

Prisoner's defence. I found them by the hay stack.

NOT GUILTY .

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before Mr. RECORDER.