160. SAMUEL WALLIS proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously and burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of James Hammerton proceedingsvictim , on the 23d of December last, at the hour of one in the night, and feloniously stealing a bushel of apples, called golden pippins, value 4 s. a hempen sack, value 1 s. a pair of linen sheets, value 3 s. one old waistcoat, value 1 s. one linen frock, value 6 d. and one linen curtain, value 6 d. the goods of the said James .

JAMES HAMMERTON < no role > sworn.

I live in the rope-walk, Mary-le-Bone , I have a little house that I pay seven guineas a year of one Mr. Owen, when I returned to my house between twelve and one in the morning of Christmas eve, the 24th of December, I found my house broke open.

Court. Where had you been? - I had been at a publick house all the day.

What till one o'clock in the morning? Yes.

What kept you there so long? - I had been to pay some money.

That did not keep you till one o'clock in the morning, if you had kept good hours, this would not have happened? - I left my house in the morning about five, and went to market, my wife was last in the house, when I returned, I found my front window, and my door broke open, and all my property gone out of my house, it was the front casement that was broke out, and the lead and the glass was all thrown into the rope-walk into the mud.

Court. What property have you lost? A sheet, an old quilt, an old jacket, an old frock, window curtain, and a bushel of apples; I called the watch, but could not find him.

Were the watchmen all at the publick house too? - No, but I could not make him hear, I ran to the watchmen, they said, they believed they had caught a thief, for they had caught one Samuel Wallis < no role > , with a sheet and some golden pippins, and things in a sack, I went and looked at them, and knew them to be my property; I swore to my property at the round-house before the constable of the night; I know the prisoner well.

What passed at the round-house? - I was ordered to go to the justice's in the morning, I went there, and swore to my property.

Court. Was any thing said about your property, in the presence of the prisoner at the round-house? - The watchman and patrol said, they brought them there.

Did you know the prisoner before? - Yes, I have known him many years.

What was he? - He used to follow the same business as myself, he did live in St. Giles's.

(The things deposed to.)

Court. What do you know them by? - My wife made this out of a bit of patchwork, and these sheets I bought.

How do you know them? - I know them by the blood on them, from the bleeding of my eye, and by a patch.

Court. What do you know the sack by, is there any mark on that? - Yes there is mark enough on that.

What is the mark? - I cannot read, but I know the sack, I have had it ever since last summer.

SARAH HAMMERTON < no role > sworn.

I am wife to the last witness, I went out about two o'clock in the day, and did not return till I came back with my husband, nobody was left in the house.

Court. Then nobody saw any thing of your house, from two o'clock in the day, till one o'clock in the morning? - No, my Lord.

When you went out, was the window safe? - Yes.

Do you know the sheets? - Yes, I know my own patch.

STEPHEN BURGEN < no role > sworn.

I am watchman, of Pancras parish, Henry Croker < no role > called me, I went as fast as I could, the prisoner had got away from him, and ran to the Fighting Cocks, in Tottenham Court Road, and the sack was dropped just by a pawnbroker's door, the corner of Chapel-street; Croker called to me to take care of the sack, for he had the man safe enough.

Who was the man that Croker brought across the road? - The prisoner at the bar.

Had he any thing else with him? - The things were all in the sack, I asked the prisoner what he had in the sack, he said nothing but apples, I laid my hand on the sack, and I found it soft, I said there is something else; I laid hold on the sack, and the first thing I took was the frock, the prisoner snatched it from me, and said it is only a pair of breeches of mine; I took him and the sack to the watch-house, and then we pulled all the cloaths out; there was a wad of straw over the apples, he said the apples came from Chatham to him, and that they were left at the Blue Posts, in Charlotte-street, my walk was within 100 yards of the prosecutor's house, and I heard a man calling out watch; he said his house was broke open, and that he had lost such and such things; I told him not to frighten himself, I believed we had his property, and the man and his wife, and son went to the round-house with me.

Were the things that were shewn to him at the round-house, the same which are now produced? - Yes, the prisoner fell on his knees, and begged we would let him go, and he would give us 4 s. then, and send us 5 s. the next morning.

Prisoner. Did you see me with the sack the next morning? - No, only Croker told me he saw him with the sack.

Court. Was it very dark? - Yes, about ten minutes past twelve.

Did you from the time that Croker called out to the time that he brought the prisoner back to you where the sack was, see the prisoner at all yourself? - No, I did not know what he called me for.

When you ran it was after Croker, you did not see any body else? - No, only a woman that was upon her trial here the last sessions for this matter, she was the first person that I saw.

Was the woman standing by the sack when you first came up? - She was the first person that I saw.

Prisoner. I wish your Lordship would look into his character for every word that he has said, is very wrong.

Court. Do you take upon yourself to swear that he did offer you the money? - Yes, my Lord, he did.

Jury. Did any body take any? - No, not a farthing.

Court to Prisoner. If you have any witnesses to call against his character by and by, I will hear them certainly.

JOSEPH HARRIS < no role > sworn.

I know very little of this affair as to the man; I was bound over upon account of taking the woman that was in company with him; the prisoner told me, that the woman persuaded him to do it, or he would not; I am serjeant of the watch.

What did you say to him to make him tell you that? - We asked him who the woman was, because she escaped, and he said her name was Kemp.

Court. Before you said that, or before he told you any thing, did you tell him it was better for him to confess? - No.

Did you say any thing else to him besides asking who the woman was? - No, after I had taken the woman in custody, he told me, says he, if the woman had not persuaded me to it, I should not have done it. Nothing further passed of any consequence.

Prisoner. This man asked me to go out of the round-house, and have some bread and cheese, and some purl; I said I did not care if I did, as I was very cold? - I dare not pretend to take the man out.

Prisoner. Did not you take me out, and give me some purl, and was not the coach brought to the alehouse door? - It was the constable of the night that took him there.

JOHN CROKER < no role > sworn.

The night that I took the prisoner, I had been out as assistant to the patrol belonging to Sir Sampson Wright, and coming home about ten minutes after twelve, I met the prisoner with the sack, and these things that are now here, on his back, the corner of Chapel-street, Tottenham Court Road; I asked him what he had got, I do not know that ever I saw him before, he never was out of my sight, he said apples, after a little hesitation; I felt the sack, and thought it was apples or onions, or some such thing, I felt the top of the sack soft, that was these things that were in the moutly of it, at the top of the apples; I ordered him to lay them down, he did so, I asked him where he had brought them from, he hesitated, and at last said, he had been spending the evening at the Blue Posts, in Charlotte-street; the apples were his own, and that he had them from Chatham; I thought it was a quare place for apples to come from; and I called out watch, and he called out watch also; I fancy the watchman did not know where the voice came from, for he ran quite the reverse way; a woman came up to me and asked me, if I had seen a child without a hat, and the man called out immediately to her sister! sister! I did not think I was able to contend with them both, and I let the man go, and he ran away, I followed him one hundred yards, and I threatened to shoot him, and overtook him, he was never out of my sight; in the mean time the watchman came up, I desired him to take care of the sack, I took the prisoner and brought him back to the sack, and we opened it, and there was these things, he said they belonged to him, but his father and mother had had some few words, and he was going to another lodging, and he had brought these things away from them; I gave charge of him to the watchman, and we took him to the watch-house; he made a proffer of the apples, and to treat, and some money to let him go; I told him if he could prove the property his own before a magistrate, he might have them again the next morning, but I found they were the property of the prosecutor.

PRISONER's DEFENCE.

As I was coming up Tottenham Court Road, I saw a man and woman, and they asked me to carry this bundle, I did not know what was in it, they said they would give me 6 d. and something to drink; and as I was coming along, a man stopped me with it; I have no witnesses.

Court to Prisoner. You talk of Burgen's character, what reason have you to suppose he has a bad character? Is there any body here that you would ask about his character; - No my Lord.

Court to Jury. As to the question of burglary which is the material part of the charge, that will depend upon whether you are satisfied or not, as to the time when the house was broke open, as you have no account of the situation of the house from two o'clock in the day, till twelve or one at night: but soon after 12 at night the prisoner was found near this house with the sack.

GUILTY Of stealing the goods, but not guilty of the burglary .

Transported for seven years .

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury before Mr. Justice BULLER.