385. WILLIAM JENKS proceedingsdefend was indicted for burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Joseph Davis proceedingsvictim , about the hour of one in the night of the 23d of May , with intent the goods of Joseph Wakelin proceedingsvictim , in the said house then being, burglariously to steal, take, and carry away .

JOSEPH DAVIS < no role > sworn.

I keep the Bell in Newton-street, High Holborn : On the 24th of May, about one o'clock in the morning, I was alarmed; I went to bed about twelve, and fastened the house myself; I was alarmed by my room window being broke by something thrown from the street, and the springing of rattles; the watchman called to me and told me there were people in the house; I went down stairs, and saw the door leading from the cellar into the passage open, where we go down to draw the beer; the street door being open, the watchman and my lodger, William Bick < no role > , went down into the cellar; I saw Bick take the prisoner under the flap of the cellar window, he was lying there and pretended to be drunk; I found a pistol loaded behind the ale cask in the cellar, that was brought in that evening,(producing it); the same morning I got up, and Henry Mason < no role > , another of my lodgers, picked this up in my presence against the tap-room door adjoining to the bar,(produces an iron crow;) there was a mark of twice the breadth of the crow at the cellar-flap where he must have got in.

Q. How was that flap fastened? - A. By a pin that goes through into the bar and a key.

Q. How did you find it afterwards? - A. Just as I had left it except the mark of the crow.

Prisoner. I was very much in liquor. Was I in a concealed manner? - A. He lay open enough with his legs into the cellar, and his body under the cellar-flap.

WILLIAM BICK < no role > sworn.

I am a lodger with the last witness; I came home about one o'clock in the morning, and there was a man appeared very much in liquor standing at the door, and asked me to let him lie down there, it was not the prisoner; my wife came down to let me in, and saw a man standing at the top of the cellar stairs, with a candle in his hand; then she went up stair and called out at the window that there were thieves in the cellar, and immediately I called the watch and flung up something out of the street to wake the landlord; one of the lodgers came down, and I went into the cellar and found the prisoner lying under the cellar-flap.

Q. How far were you from the cellar-slap before you went down? - A. Just by.

Q. Was it open then? - A. It was not.

Q. Had he any candle? - A. No; I did not observe any candle at all; I took him to the watch-house.

SUSANNAH BICK < no role > sworn.

I came down stairs to let my husband in, and saw a light by the bar-door about one o'clock in the morning; the bar-door is a little way from the cellar stairs.

Q. Was the bar-door open or shut? - A. Open; I saw a person's head, but through the glass I could not discern their face.

HENRY MASON < no role > sworn.

I am a lodger with the prosecutor; I was alarmed, I got up and went into the cellar, the prisoner was then in the care of the watchman; in the morning about six o'clock, going out to work, I saw a crow lie in the passage, which I picked up and gave to Mr. Davis.

LYDIA PAYNE < no role > sworn.

I picked up some matches in the cellar about eight o'clock in the morning, just within the door of the further cellar, and a candle at the side of the cellar stairs.

Q. To Mrs. Bick. What became of the light? - A. I did not stop to see; I ran up stairs, I was very much frightened.

THOMAS GOSNELL < no role > sworn.

I am a watchman: On the 23d of the night of last month, I was called by another watchman; I ran into Newton-street, and Bick said there were thieves in the house, he threw things up at the windows to wake the landlord; we soon got in, and Bick and I went into the cellar; I found the prisoner lying under the flap of the cellar, I took him up stairs; there were two other watchmen, and we took him to the watch-house; he pretended to be drunk at the watch house.

JAMES POWELL < no role > sworn.

I am a watchman, and went to the prosecutor's house; I saw the door and shutters all fate; somebody cried out, take care of the slaps of the cellar; I went from one flap to the other; they are about five yards distance from one another, and it was rising up about six inches. I jumped upon it immediately and called out, here they are; I sprungmy rattle, and then I stopped to keep them from coming out; another watchman came up out of the cellar with the prisoner.

Q. Did you observe any mark of a crow upon that flap? - A. No, I did not; it was about three yards from the door that was the nearest.

THOMAS BANGEY < no role > sworn.

I am a watchman: I stood outside the door; I was not in the cellar at all.

Q. To Davis. Who is Mr. Wakelin? - A. I do not know.

Court. I suppose the fact is, that the clerk of the indictments has written Wakelin instead of Davies.

Q. To Davis. Do both these flaps go into the same cellar? - A. No; they belong to two distinct cellars, which communicate with each other.

Q. Which of the flaps was it that you observed the mark of the crow upon? - A. That nearest to the street-door.

Q. How is the other flap fastened? - A. With a padlock.

Q. Describe the fastening of that flap under which the prisoner was found? - A. There is a flap upon a frame, and the door shuts down upon it, and then it is fastened inside with a key.

Q. Did you search any other part of the house afterwards, to see if there was any other person there? - A. Yes; every part that we could think of; I did not go to the watch-house with him.

Prisoner's defence. I had been out with some acquaintances to a christening, and got very much in liquor; I was making the best of my way home, and how I got down in the cellar I cannot tell; I frequented this man's house, and he knows me very well.

Prosecutor. To the best of my knowledge I never saw the man in my life before.

For the Prisoner.

JOSEPH BOOTH < no role > sworn.

I have known the prisoner two years, he is a green-grocer ; I am a boot-maker; I never knew any thing of him but honesty and civility; I keep a chandler's shop facing where he lives.

GUILTY . Death . (Aged 22.)

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Justice LAWRENCE.