59. FRANCIS FARMILO proceedingsdefend was indicted for burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Samuel Capon proceedingsvictim , about the hour of four in the night, of the 5th of November , and burglariously stealing five men's cloth coats, value 20s. a man's cloth cloak, value 5s. a cloth waistcoat, value 2s. three linen shirts, value 5s. five pair of worsted stockings, value 1s. 6d. a silk handkerchief, value 2s. three linen handkerchiefs, value 1s. a gown patch, value 10s. and a silver tea spoon, value 1s. 6d. the property of the said Samuel .(The case was opened by Mr. Gardner.)

SAMUEL CAPON < no role > sworn.

(Examined by Mr. Gardner.) I am a watchman ; On the 5th of November, about four o'clock in the morning, I was on the watch in St. John's parish; I was called by the patrole, and told that my house was broke open; the door was locked when I left it, and when I returned the padlock was broke off; I found three drawers broke open, and a tea chest; I missed two coats out of the drawers, and three others from a chest just by, and a burying cloak that was hanging up; I missed three shirts and a tea spoon out of the drawers, and this gown piece; about five pound of candles, a quartern loaf, and some meat; I keep a chandlers shop; I lost also a table cloth and three pair of stockings;the lodgers were all in bed; I have lodgers in three rooms in the house; three in one room, two in another, and one in another; the three and the two have lived a long time in the house, and were very honest people; the other was a soldier, and I took him to the Police-office, but he was discharged; I went the next day to Rosemary-lane, about three o'clock in the afternoon; I had been there a very little time, when I saw a Jew come by with some of my property.

Q. Was there any other person coming by at the time? - A. I spoke to this Jew to buy these goods; I told him I had not money to pay for them, and I went to get a constable, and when I came back the Jew was gone; and I saw another man, an Irishman, in the fair, felling a black coat of mine; and a deep blue coat; I told him it was mine, and then a constable came to my assistance, and in going through the fair I met with the same Jew again, and, in consequence of his information, we went together to Mr. Harris's, in Russel-court, Drury-lane; he had sold the things to the Jew, and the Jew sold them to the Irishman; they are in court, in the possession of the constable; the shirts I never found; we found the gown-piece at Mr. Harris's.

(Cross-examined by Mr. Ally.) I live in Woolpack-street, Westminster, and keep a house of lodgers; I discharged this soldier out of the house.

Q. Is any body concerned with you in the profits of your lodgings? - A. No.

Court. Q. What time was it when you quitted your house? - A. About nine at night.

Q. Who did you leave behind you in the house? - A. I left three lodgers in the one-pair-of-stairs, and, I believe, the two were in the two-pair-of-stairs, but this soldier was not in the house at that time.

Q. How do the lodgers open the door, on the outside? - A. They call to the others; my apartments were locked up; there were two locks.

Q. Your lodgers could let themselves in and out when you were out? - A. Yes; one had got a key, and the rest let one another in.

Q. They were all lost out of your own room? - A. Yes; the front room, below stairs.

- HARRIS sworn.

On the 6th of November the prosecutor came with some peace officers to my house, with a Jew that I had sold six coats to that morning about ten o'clock; I bought them of the prisoner at the bar the day before; I bought the gown-patch in the morning, about eleven o'clock; in the evening of the same day he came again, with six coats and a burying cloak. (Produces the gown patch.)

Q. Should you know the coats again that the prisoner sold to you? - A. I cannot say; I bought them in the evening, and when I looked at them the next morning I saw they were a parcel of rags, and would not suit my shop; I called in several Jews to look at them, as we shopkeepers usually do, when we have things not good enough for our shops; I sold them to this man for half-a-guinea, which was what I gave for them; the prisoner was present when I sold them for half-a-guinea.

Cross-examined by Mr. Ally. Q. He came to you first about eleven o'clock? - A. Yes; and he came about five in the evening.

Q. What day was it? - A. The 5th of November.

Q. He produced a card? - A. Yes; I am very cautious who I buy of; I asked how he came by it; he told me he had been recommended to me by a person that, from his description, I supposed to be my brother-in-law; he told me what size he was; he said he did not know his name, nor were he lived.

Q. You would not have purchased these things but for his producing the card? - A. No.

Q. Are you in the habit of shewing these cards to your customers? - A. Yes.

Q. How came the prisoner to be found out? - A. When I was taken, on Friday the 5th of November, the constable let me go upon giving my word for my appearance the next day; I went to my brother-in-law and told him I had bought a gown patch and six coats, and he told me he was a recruiting serjeant.

Q. Do you know any thing as to the custom of an allowance to be made to the recruiting serjeant for the old cloaths? - A. No.

Capon. This gown patch is mine; I bought it of a poor woman; she said it was at Mr. Brown's pawn-shop; the poor woman went to her parish in Clerkenwell; I have had it three or four years.

Q. Are you a married man? - A. No.

Court. What occasion then had you for such a thing? - A. I thought I might have occasion, perhaps, for another wife.

Harris. There are four yards and an half of it.

Court. There is no particular mark about it? - A. No.

Q. Is that the same you bought of the prisoner? A. Yes; I gave him 12s. 6d. for it.

Capon. This is the coat I bought out of a pawn shop, about a year, or a year and a half ago; this blue coat I bought at Rag-fair; and this surtout coat I bought in Tothill-street, I have had it about a year and an half; this burying cloak the church-warden of the parish gave me; this black coat I bought of a lodger about a year and an half ago.

Q. < no role > So that you have no doubt about these things; - A. I can positively certain make oath to all of them; they were all missed at the same time.

Cross-examined by Mr. Ally. They had been lying by you some time? - A. Yes.

Q. As to the cotton you have never opened it? - A. No, nor looked at it so as to know what it was; I have had it so long in my custody that I can positively swear to it.

Court. (To Harris). Look at those coats again. - I believe them to be the same that I bought of the prisoner, and sold to the Jew; the cloak is patched in several places.

Harris, cross-examined by Mr. Ally. Q. Do you mean to undertake to swear, having them in your possession so short a time, that they are the same? - A. I cannot positively swear, but I believe them to be the same.

Q. When the prisoner was taken, did he not tell you the name of the persons he had them of? - A. No.

ISAAC BECKROW < no role > sworn.

I am a constable; Capon came to me in Rosemary-lane, on Friday the 6th of November, in the afternoon; I went with him and secured two men in Rosemary-lane, who, he said, were selling his goods; I took a coach and went with the prisoner up to Harris's house.

Q. Look at those things, and see if you know any of them. - Yes, these are the coats I took with me to Mr. Harris's shop; Harris acknowledged he sold them to a Jew.

Prisoner's defence. Please your Lordship, and Gentlemen of the Jury-At Bow-street I told the magistrates where I had these things from; and when I went to sell the gown patch to Mr. Harris, the man that owned it went with me; and Mr. Harris gave me 2s. for being recommended by his brother-in-law; their names were Cranmer and Martin; there was a young man in company at the time; they wanted me to buy a gown piece; I got acquainted with them by being in the recruiting service; they are what are called bringers, to persuade men to enlist, at which they were very successful; I told them I knew a person who was only beginning business, a Jew, and he would buy it; Cranmer and I went to Harris's, and he gave me 2s.; I told him, it was customary for me to have an allowance for all I bought or sold, or caused to be bought or sold, of 2s. in the pound, and he agreed to do it; Cranmer had the half guinea, and we went back to Martin, and they shared the money between them; I went to the Bunch-of-Grapes, in the Little Sanctuary; Mr. Harris will not deny that I carried a man with me each time; I went there several times, and if I had stole them, I should hardly have carried them where I was known; this man went with me, and sold the coats, and they gave the young man a shilling for carrying them, who will appear upon my trial; I went to Mr. Harris next morning for the shilling, and he was selling of them to the Jew, for the same money that he gave me for them, and therefore could not give me any thing out of it; I did it in my integrity, without any deception or fraud, not knowing they were stole any more than any gentleman in court; I gave in the names of the two men to the magistrates at Bow-street.

Evidence for the Prisoner.

The prisoner called Joseph Dickson < no role > , Charles Townsend, John Helien < no role > , John Simmonds < no role > , and Isabella Thornbill, who all gave him a good character.(The prisoner also called the following witnesses to facts.)

JOHN THORNHILL < no role > sworn.

Examined by Mr. Ally. Q. Do you know the prisoner at the bar? - A. Yes.

Q. Did you know him in the month of November last? - A. Yes.

Q. Do you recollect being in company with him at any time in the month of November last, and at what time? - A. Yes; on the 3d of November, I was with the prisoner all day, and at night he went home with me to my lodgings, in Little Welbeck-street, Cavendish-square; and the landlord did not wish for the prisoner to come to my lodgings, as he knew nothing at all about him; he charged the watch with him, and put him in the watch-house.

Q. What is his name? - A. Rozier.

Court. Q. What time of night was he put into the watch-house? - A. I cannot say; it might be about twelve o'clock.

Q. What was the reason he was kept in the watch-house that night? - A. We made a little bit of a noise, because the landlord did not wish us to be in the house.

Q. Do you know what the prisoner is? - A. A shoemaker.

Q. Had he been in the army? - A. Yes; a recruiting serjeant.

Q. How did you come to know the prisoner? - A. I was enlisted.

Q. You was one of his recruits? - A. Yes.

Q. Did the landlord charge the watch with you? - A. No; he let me be at my lodgings.

Q. Did you see the prisoner next day? - A. Yes, at Marlborough-street.

Q. In consequence of his being charged with the watch? - A. Yes.

Q. He was discharged from the office at that time? - A. < no role > Yes; about eleven o'clock in the morning he went away to the Mitre, near King-street, Westminster, and had a pint of beer, and then went to his house to dinner; and he was not very well.

Q. How long did you stay at the Mitre? - A. About twenty minutes; this was about twelve or one o'clock, I believe; I continued with him all day; I went to his lodgings, in York-street, Westminster, it might be about one o'clock, and staid all day and all night.

Q. Recollect very exactly and very concisely; you say you staid there the remainder of that day and all of that night? - A. Yes.

Q. Now what time did you sleep at this house? - A. All night.

Q. Where did the prisoner sleep? - A. I slept in one corner and he in another, in the same room.

Court. Q. You were not in bed, were you? - A. Yes, I was.

Mr. Ally. What time did you get up in the morning? - A. Between nine and ten.

Q. Do you know whether the prisoner was in bed all that night? - A. Yes; positively in bed all night, till near ten in the morning.

Q. When you got up in the morning what did you do? - A. We got up and had our breakfasts, and went to the Parade in St. James's Park.

Q. What occurred to you there? - A. Two men accosted the prisoner, and asked Farmilo if he would buy a gown-piece which they had to sell, or if he would sell it for them; he said he could not buy it, but, if they liked, he would sell it for them; he left us at a public-house in the Strand, while he went to sell it.

Q. Did you see this gown-patch? - A. Yes.

Q. Should you know it again? - A. Yes.

Court. Where did you go from the Parade, and who with? - A. To a public-house in the Strand, with those two men we met upon the Parade.

Q. Where was this public-house? - A. Just opposite Somerset-house, near the church, I believe it is, I don't know the sign.

Q. Did those men stay with you? - A. One of them did; the prisoner and the other man went away, I believe to sell it.

Q. How long was it from the time he left you at the public-house, till you saw him again? - A. About a quarter of an hour.

Q. Where did you see him then? - A. At the public-house.

Q. How long did you remain with you? - A. He did not leave me at all; the man returned with him to the public-house.

Q. How long did you remain at this public-house in company with the prisoner? - A. A few minutes, I believe, and then we went to the prisoner's house.

Court. Q. You left the two men behind? - A. Yes.

Q. Was there any appointment made to meet afterwards, and for what business? - A. There was to be a house-warming at the Bunch-of-Grapes, in the Little Sanctuary; these two men that had the gown-piece said they had got six great coats to sell; they asked Farmilo if he could fell these great coats.

Court. This was after you got to the Bunch-of-Grapes? - A. Yes.

Q. Who went to the Bunch-of-Grapes? - A. I and the prisoner and altogether.

Q. Then it was these two men that said they had these coats to sell? - A. Yes; they asked the prisoner if he would sell them for them; and the prisoner and I went up stairs with the men that belonged to them.

Q. Who was that? - A. I cannot say; it was one of the two men; the coats were tied up in a dirty looking thing, and I carried them to Mr. Harris's.

Q. Who accompanied you to Mr. Harris's? - A. The prisoner.

Q. For what purpose? - A. To sell these things for those two men; they were sold for half-a-guinea.

Q. Where did you go to after that? - A. To the Bunch-of-Grapes.

Q. Who did you see there? - A. These two men.

Q. Do you know what was done with the produce of the sale of these coats? - A. It was thrown down upon the table to them; there was about 9s. or somewhere there abouts.

Q. Were you to get any thing for carrying these cloaths? - A. Yes, I had a shilling for my trouble.

Q. What time of the day was this? - About six o'clock at night.

Cross-examined by Mr. Gardner. Q. These two men were perfect strangers to you? - A. Yes, I never saw them in my life till that day.

Q. I take it for granted then, as an honest man, you enquired how they came by so many great coats? - A. I thought them honestly come by.

Q. How came they to give you a shilling to carry these cloaths, instead of carrying them themselves? - A. I cannot tell; I suppose they did not like the trouble.

Q. What sort of a room was this you slept in on the 4th, all night? - A. A very good room.

Q. How many pair of stairs high was it? - A. Two.

Q. Did you both sleep in one bed? - A. No.

Q. You sleep pretty well in general? - A. No, I am very restless, sometimes.

Q. In consequence of that you can take upon you to say, that he was in the other bed all night? - A. Yes.

Q. You are quite certain as to that? - A. I will be upon my oath he was.

Q. Where abouts is the prosecutor's house; do you know that? - A. No.

Q. You are quite positive? - A. Yes.

Q. You never heard any body say any thing about the prosecutor? - A. No.

Q. Did the prisoner send to you to appear as a witness for him? - A. Yes, he subpoeaned me.

Q. How long do you suppose you were at the Mitre? - A. I suppose about a quarter of an hour.

Q. How did the quarrel begin the night when the watch was charged with him? - A. The landlord did not like strangers in his house to sleep.

Q. Now, the morning after the night that you slept together, what time did you rise? - A. It might be about nine or ten o'clock.

Q. Where was it that the two men first spoke to Farmilo about this? - A. Upon the Parade.

Q. What part of York-street is the prisoner's house in? - A. I cannot say the number.

Q. How often have you been at the prisoner's house? - A. A great many times.

Q. Do you know whether there is a number on the door or not? - A. I cannot say.

Q. Try and recollect yourself? - A. I cannot positively say the number; I believe there is a chalked number upon the door, but I cannot say what the number is.

Q. Have you known the prisoner a great while? - A. Not a great while.

Q. How long? - A. I suppose about three months.

Q. Is he the house-keeper, or a lodger? - A. A lodger only.

Q. What room does he lodge in? - A. The two-pair-of-stairs front room.

Q. How many windows are there in that room? - A. Two.

Q. What time did you go to the Bunch-of-Grapes? - A. To supper; the two men asked me to go.

Q. Do you mean to say you went with these men to dispose of all those things, though you had never seen them before, and without any enquiry? - A. I never saw them before I saw them on the Parade, on the 4th of November.

Q. Then you mean the Court to believe that you speak the truth, and the whole truth; that these men being strangers to you, and offering you so many great coats, you went to help to dispose of them, without asking any questions about it? - A. Yes.

Q. You were to have a shilling? - A. Yes.

Q. You were a recruit? - A. Yes.

Q. You had seen them upon the Parade? - A. Yes.

Q. Did they seem to be intimate with the prisoner? - A. Not very.

Q. What were those men, were they recruits? - A. Something like it by their dress.

Q. You were subpoenaed to come here? - A. Yes.

Court. Q. Was it with the coats you went with the prisoner, or was it with the gown piece? - A. I went with the coats with the prisoner.

Q. Who bargained with Harris? - A. The prisoner.

Q. Where was it? - A. In Harris's house.

Q. Then Harris saw you there? - A. Yes.

Q. Did you say any thing to him on the subject of the bargain? - A. No.

Q. You were there all the time? - A. Yes.

Q. What day of the week was it that you spent the might at the prisoner's lodgings? - . Wednesday.

Q. What day of the month? - A. On the 4th.

Q. How came you not to go to your own lodgings? - A. I thought, as I had been with him all day, I might as well stop with him.

Q. So that you never made any offer to go home to your own lodging? - A. No.

Q. When did you go to your own lodging? - A. The next day.

ISSABELLA GORDON sworn.

Examined by Mr. Ally. I live in Petty France.

Q. Do you know the prisoner? - A. Yes.

Q. Do you recollect when the prisoner was apprehended? - A. Yes.

Q. Do you know where the prisoner lodged? - A. In the same house with me.

Q. What is the name of the place? - A. York-street.

Q. How long had he lodged there? - A. About nine months.

Q. Was it the beginning or latter end of the week that he was taken up? - A. The latter end of the week, on the Friday.

Q. What are you? - A. I go out to a day's work, washing.

Q. When was it you first went to work that week? - A. On Monday; I slept at home on Monday night.

Q. Did you sleep at home on Tuesday night? - A. Yes; I sleep at home every night.

Q. Did you go out to work on Wednesday? - A. Yes.

Q. What time did you return home on Wednesday? - A. Between nine and ten at night; when I returned home I saw Mr. Farmilo, for he spoke to me.

Q. Was there any body with him at the time you saw him? - A. No.

Q. Where did you see him? - A. The outside of the door, between his door and mine.

Q. Did you see who was in the room? - A. No; there was nobody but his wife.

Q. Did you see the wife in the room? - A. I saw her at her own door.

Q. At the same time you saw the prisoner? - A. Yes.

Q. Did you see them the next morning? - A. No; I heard them in the night, for it was a very windy night; I was frightened, and got up, because I knew the prisoner was at home.

Q. How do you know the prisoner was at home in the night? - A. I heard them talk.

Q. Are you so well acquainted with his voice that you could recollect it? - A. Yes.

Q. What time in the night was this? - A. I cannot recollect; it was towards morning.

Court. You got up because you were frightened; what did you do? - A. I opened the door.

Q. You did not go into the room? - A. No.

Q. When you saw him, was he coming up stairs? - A. He was at his own room door.

Q. There was nobody with him? - A. No; his wife was standing at the door.

Q. You saw nobody that night but him and his wife? - A. No.

Q. Nor the next day? - A. No; I went out to work at six o'clock in the morning.

Q. You saw nothing of the prisoner that morning? - A. No; but I heard him talk to his wife, about four o'clock.

Q. Do you know the voice of his wife? - A. Yes.

Q. How many beds are there in his lodging room? - A. Only one.

Q. Where does that bed stand? - A. Close up to the wall; there is only a wall parts his room and mine.

Q. Have you been often in his room? - A. Yes.

Q. You are sure there is but one bed? - A. Yes.

Q. Then there is no place where any body can sleep, but this bed, where he and his wife were? - A. No.

Q. How long have you lodged in this house? - A. These seven years.

Q. How long has the prisoner lodged there? - A. I cannot say.

Q. < no role > You did not go into his room when you were alarmed with the fright? - A. No; but I know he was in the room.

Q. How long did you stay up? - A. < no role > Not long.

Q. Who keeps that house? - A. One Mrs. Withall.

Q. Is she here? - A. Yes.

Q. You heard him at six o'clock that morning, when you got up? - A. Yes.

Q. Where was he then? - A. Talking with his wife.

Q. You saw nobody else? - A. No.

Q. How long was this before he was taken up? - A. This was on the Wednesday night.

Q. Was it the Wednesday night that you got up in the night? - A. Yes.

Q. When was he taken up? - A. The Friday following

Q. There is no place whatever in that room where any person can sleep, but the man and his wife? - A. No.

Prisoner. She knows there was a cot that I used occasionally as a bed.

JOHN ELLIOT < no role > sworn.

Q. Do you know the premises of the prisoner? - A. I do perfectly well.

Q. Repeat to us what furniture he had in his room? - A. I believe his furniture chiefly consisted of a bed, bedding, blanket, two chairs, and a cot, I believe about half, or one third of the length of this table.

Q. Where abouts was that in the room? - A. On the left hand side, at the side of the bed.

Court. Q. How was it mounted? - A. It was not mounted; it lay on the floor.

Q. Is it put up and taken down? - A. I believe it was.

Q. How is it put up? - A. I fancy it is slung to the ceiling.

Q. Did you ever see it up? - A. No.

Q. When did you see it last? - A. Not since August.

Q. Where do you live? - A. In White-Lion-street, Pentonville; I keep a tobacconist's shop.

Q. How long have you lived there? - A. Six months.

Q. Do you continue to live there now? - A. Yes.

Court. (To Harris.) The prisoner was twice with you, first in the morning and then in the afternoon? - A. Yes.

Q. Who came with him then? - Two different men.

Q. Have you seen either of those men here to day? - A. Yes, this young man (pointing to Thornhill.)

Q. What did he corne to you wish? - A. To carry these six coats.

Q. Who came with the other things? - A. Another man.

Q. Who is he? - A. I don't know.

Q. Who bargained with you? - A. Farmilo.

Q. What did the other man come with? - A. A gown patch.

Q. You don't know him? - A. No.

Q. How did you know where to find Farmilo? - A. The person who recommended him, knew where to find him; the person is my brother-in-law that recommended him; he described him.

Q. You did not ask where the person was, or what his name was, that recommended him? - A. No.

NOT GUILTY .

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Baron THOMPSON < no role > .