562. WILLIAM BROWN proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Edward Leonard proceedingsvictim , between the hours of eleven and one, on the 24th day of June last, no person being therein, and feloniously stealing therein eight silver tea spoons, value 8 s. one wooden box, value 1 d. a crown piece, value 5 s. two half crowns, value 5 s. two shillings in monies numbered, thirty-six halfpence, value 18 d. and a piece of foreign copper coin, value 1 d. his property.

(The case opened by Mr. Garrow.)

MARTHA LEONARD < no role > sworn.

My husband's name is William Leonard < no role > ; I live at Charlton ; I know the prisoner, he is a neighbour's son; I went out on the 24th of June, about eleven in the forenoon, and left nobody in the house; I left the doors and windows all fast and returned at three, I then found a pole by the eaves of the windows, and the one pair of stairs window was open but not broke, and it appeared to have been opened by a chissel; with the assistance of the pole, any body might get up to the window; I missed eight silver spoons, a crown piece, two half crowns, one shilling, two sixpences, eighteen penny worth of halfpence; there was a Spanish piece of copper; the prisoner is the person, I have known him from an infant.

Mr. Peat, prisoner's counsel. Where is your house situated? - At Charlton in Middlesex.

Is that a town? - It is a village.

Before you left that house at eleven was you in that one pair of stairs room? - Yes, just as I went out, I was all over the house; I was the only person that was in the house.

How was the window fastened? - With a hook on the inside.

Court. Are you sure that window was shut when you went out? - I am positive it was shut and hooked.

Attend to what I say, the prisoner's life may depend on this part of your testimony, therefore be cautious? - I am quite sure.

THOMAS SPRIGGS < no role > sworn.

I am servant to Mr. Taylor; he is a Magistrate; I saw the prisoner at the breeches-maker's in Sunbury; I did not take notice that I was after him; I went with him, and we had a pint of beer together; I asked him if he was going home, and he said, yes; I asked him to ride behind; we went to another publick house, then he said, we might as well stop there, and have one threepenny worth, I told him, I should rather not, but he took me up to the publick house door, and we had this liquor; then I asked him, if he was going home, he said, no, he was going to have a game at bowles; I then told him he must go, for my master wanted to speak to him; he said, he should not go then; I told him, I did not know what my master wanted; he said, he would come to-morrow morning; I told him, that would not do, he said, must I go? I said, yes; then he made to turn to run away, and he walked with me, and going across Sunbury-field I observed some money in his hand under the lap of his coat; I asked him why he did not put his money in his pocket, he said, it was nothing to me; when we came to Harwood-green, he said, coachman walk gently on, I will run over to my father; he ran twenty or thirty yards before me, and I ran after him and caught him, and brought him to my master, and my master ordered him to be searched, and there was no money found upon him, only a pair of cockfighting spurs; I asked him what was become of the money, he said, he had none about him, I said to my master, I would go and look for it; I went and looked, and found none, but the next morning I picked up a shilling, and I shewed my fellow servant the track.

Court. What age is the prisoner? - I do not know, I believe about twenty.

What is his father? - A labouring man.

Mr. Peatt. You say he did not run in the first instance, and he said, he would come in the morning? - Yes.

WILLIAM SMITH < no role > sworn.

I am another servant to Mr. Taylor; I went the same evening and looked in the same path-way my fellow servant shewed me, and I found nothing, I went the next morning and found a shilling, and in the evening I found a sixpence, two halfpence, and a farthing, and this piece of copper coin. (The money produced.) This I found, and delivered it to Spriggs.

Mrs. Leonard. The copper coin is like that which I lost, and the shilling and sixpence were like these.

Court. Do you believe them to be the same? - I have no doubt of the copper coin, and the others are like what I lost.

Jury. How long before you lost this money had you seen it in your house? - On that very day, in a drawer locked; the upper drawer was not locked, and that was taken out, and the piece that divides the drawer was broke.

WILLIAM DENHAM < no role > .

Do you know the nature of an oath? - Yes.

When you take an oath, what does it oblige you to do? - If I tell lies, God Almighty will not have me, but the devil will.

How old are you? - Nine.

Do you go to church? - Yes.

Can you say your prayers? - Yes.

Do you know that it is a very bad thing to tell a lie when you are sworn? - Yes.

WILLIAM DENHAM < no role > sworn.

I live in Harwood; I know Mrs. Leonard, and I know her house; I know William Brown < no role > , that lad there.

Do you remember seeing him at any time? - I saw him about two o'clock come out of Mr. Leonard's garden.

What day was it? - On a Saturday.

Was you afterwards told that the house was broke open? - No, Sir.

Was it the same day you was before Mr. Taylor? - It was the Saturday before the Monday that I went before Mr. Taylor.

Where did he go from the garden? - Into his father's garden upon the Common; he had a chissel in his hand, and stooped down.

Where did he bring that chissel from? - I do not know.

Are you sure the prisoner was the person you saw come out? - Yes.

Quite sure of that? - Yes.

Mr. Peatt. How far was you from the prisoner? - I was upon the Common, about the length of this room.

How far is that from his father's garden? - Not far off.

It might be a stick he had in his hand? - I am sure it was a chissel.

Court. What is it that goes round his father's garden? - It is a hedge and ditch.

Is it a high hedge? - Yes.

How did you see over the hedge? - I saw through the hedge.

Jury. How came you to take particular notice what he had in his hand? - He had a chissel in his hand when he got over his father's gate; he passed by me when he came from Leonard's; I do not know what made me take notice of it; I told my mother first of it the same night.

How came you to tell your mother of it? - I do not know.

Had you heard this boy was taken up? - No, Sir.

Had you heard that Leonard's house had been broke open, before you told your mother? - I had not.

Court. Was there any thing particular in this? - Yes, I told her, I saw William Brown < no role > come over the hedge of Mr. Leonard's garden, and he went through the gate of his father's garden.

Did you speak to him, or he to you? - He spoke to me.

What did he say? - He only said, Denham.

HENRY ASLETT < no role > sworn.

I am headborough of Charlton; I was sent by Mr. Taylor's orders, after the prisoner was in custody, to his father's garden, and found a little box buried in the bank; it was the day after the house had been broke open; I have had it in my custody ever since; there was nothing in it; and I found these silver spoons in the garden, about three or four yards apart, buried in the mould, about the depth of my hat under a turf; they have been in my posseson ever since; they have Mr. Taylor's seal upon them; they are the same that I found.

(Produced and deposed to.)

Mrs. Leonard. They are marked S. W. they were my sister's; I saw the spoons the very day I went out, and left them in the same drawer with my money; I have no doubt of them.

Do you know any thing of this little box? - It is my little boy's box, it was in the same drawer; there was a new shilling, and two new sixpences in it; three of the spoons are quite new, they have never been used.

PRISONER's DEFENCE.

I went into my father's garden; it is very near a quarter of a mile from his house, the road where the lad stood is three hundred yards off; I came along by the place; but in the place I never was, and I am totally innocent.

JAMES JACKSON < no role > sworn.

I am upper servant in the family where the prisoner used to work; I have known him these three years past that I have lived there, we had plate and other valuable things about when he was about the house, and nothing was missed; it was in his power to have taken property if he chose it, I never knew any thing but a good character of him.

GUILTY. Of stealing the goods, but not of breaking and entering the house .

Transported for seven years.

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

[Transportation. See summary.]