238. HUGH GRAHAM proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 16th day of January last, eighteen yards of painted floor cloth, value 5 l. the property of John Barnes proceedingsvictim , privily in his shop .

JOHN BARNES < no role > sworn.

I am a floor cloth manufacturer , the corner of Bow-street, Bloomsbury ; on the 16th of January I lost some floor cloth; I and another person, one Evans, were in the parlour, I heard a rustling in the shop at two different times; I got up twice, and the second time I missed some cloth out of the window; I lost about twenty yards; the value of the whole was near 5 l. but the value of this piece now produced is 3 l. I asked a little boy, and he pointed which way the man went, and Mr. Evans went one way, and I another, into Dyot-street and I saw the prisoner walking gently along with the floor cloth on his shoulder, and I secured him, and took him before Mr. Walker, the magiserate in Hyde-street, and Mr. Evans took care of the floor cloth.

Court. Did you know it to be your floor cloth? - Yes.

By what? - It is all my own work and the exciseman's mark is on it.

What is there particular in the excise-man's mark? - It is the admeasurement of the cloth, the cloth was lying in my shop window, withinside, I saw it about ten minutes before; I was in a back room with a glass partition, I could see all the shop.

Court. How long after you heard the rustling was it before you went out of your room into your shop? - I went out in less than a minute or two.

JOHN EVANS < no role > sworn.

I was with Mr. Barnes, I heard the rustling of cloth, and thought somebody was taking away the cloth; I told Mr. Barnes so, and we both ran out, and a little boy told us which way to go, and I went down St. Giles's, and up Dyot-street, as fast as I could; the prosecutor went up Bow-street, and I saw the prisoner coming down Dyot-street, with the cloth on his shoulder; the prosecutor secured the man, and I took care of the cloth; I know this cloth to be the prosecutor's; I sometimes repair the blocks, the man was committed.

PRISONER's DEFENCE.

I was passing by the street, and I saw a man with it on his shoulder, he asked me to earn sixpence and carry it, I said I should be very glad of it, as I was in want, and these two gentlemen took me.

The remainder of this Trial will be concluded in the next Part, which will be Published in a few Days.

THE WHOLE PROCEEDINGS ON THE KING's Commission of the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, and Gaol Delivery for the CITY of LONDON; AND ALSO The Gaol Delivery for the County of Middlesex; HELD AT JUSTICE HALL in the OLD BAILEY, On Wednesday the 25th of February, 1784, and the following Days;

Being the THIRD SESSION in the Mayoralty of The Right Hon. ROBERT PECKHAM < no role > , Esq; LORD MAYOR < no role > OF THE CITY OF LONDON.

TAKEN IN SHORT HAND BY E. HODGSON, And Published by Authority.

NUMBER III. PART II.

LONDON:

Printed for E. HODGSON (the Proprietor) And Sold by J. WALMSLAY, No. 35, Chancery Lane, and S. BLADON, No. 13, Pater-noster Row.

MDCCLXXXIV.

[PRICE SIX-PENCE.]

THE WHOLE PROCEEDINGS UPON THE

KING's Commission of the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, and Gaol Delivery for the CITY of LONDON, &c.

Continuation of the Trial of Hugh Graham < no role > .

Court. Who was the man that you carried it for? - He was dressed like a painter, I do not know the man.

Have you him here? - No.

Have you any witnesses to prove that? - No.

Have you any witnesses to your character? - No, I am a stranger in London.

Court to Jury. This prisoner was found with stolen goods in a suspicious manner, and the usual course is, that he should satisfy you that he came honestly by them. The question is, whether this is within that act of parliament of King William, which takes away the benefit of clergy, and makes it a capital offence, where goods are stolen out of shops and warehouses, that is, such sort of goods as are usually kept there in their course of dealing, that sort of commodity in which they deal, to the value of five shillings, privately and without the knowledge of the party, then it shall be a capital offence. Upon all these acts of parliament the construction has been always exceedingly strict; in the case of a private pick pocket, the act of parliament says pretty often in the same words, privately and without knowledge of the party; if they feel but the slightest sensation before the property is removed from the person, it has been the constant rule, that that takes it out of that act of parliament; so in my apprehension, in the present case, this was not absolutely without the knowledge of the prosecutor, because he heard a rustling in the shop, and if he had gone out the first time upon that alarm, he certainly would have detected the offender; therefore, I think that the same construction should be put on this evidence, and you should acquit the prisoner of stealing privately.

GUILTY Of stealing but not privately .

Transported for seven years .

Tried by the First Middlesex Jury before Mr. Justice GOULD.