541. ELIZABETH FINCH proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 16th of September , a calico bed-gown, value 5s. a pair of sheets, value 5s. a jack towel, value 12d. two diaper tablecloths, value 10s. and a calico petticoat, value 12d. the property of Richard Holt proceedingsvictim .

MARY ANN HOLT < no role > sworn. - On the 16th of September, I lost the things mentioned in the indictment, (repeats them), out of a box in an empty house at Kentish-town ; I had not seen them for a month; I had removed the box there last Friday week, and the key was left with Mrs. Finch, at the next door.

Q.What is she? - A. Her husband is a cooper; I was informed of my loss, and I told her of it; she was very sorry for it; I saw the gown at the office last Thursday.

Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. Q.You had not seen these articles for a month before? - A. No.

Q. The box was not locked? - A. No.

Q. I assure you I do not mean to distress you, for I feel for every body who is in that unfortunate situation-your husband, I believe, became a bankrupt? - A. Yes.

Q. Your husband had not the good fortune to have his certificate? - A. I know nothing about it; I do not know what a certificate means.

Q. Did not you, in consequence of the bankruptcy, remove this trunk to the house next to the prisoner's, in order to be out of the way, and after it had been removed from other places before? - (Hesitates).

Q. Notwithstanding your husband has been declared a bankrupt, you removed these things to an empty house? - A. We took that little house, being cheap rented.

Q.What was the reason you thought fit to move your things to an empty house, after your husband was declared a bankrupt, and before he had got his certificate? - A. It was cheaper for us to have a house than a lodging.

Q. Do you not know that every thing you had was liable to be seized, your husband being a bankrupt? - A. Yes.

Q.Notwithstanding that you moved these things to an empty house, gave your key to a person you had never before known, and the box open? - A. I always had the key from her.

Q.Before they went to this empty house, had they always been at one house? - A. No, they had not; they had been at Mrs. Atkins's, in Fleet-market, about a week.

Q. Was the box at any time locked? - A. No.

Q. How many persons were there in your own house, before it was removed to Mrs. Atkins's? - A. Four.

Q. What happened to the box while it was at Mrs. Atkins's, you don't know? - A. No.

Q. Mr. Finch is a cooper, and your husband is a cooper? - A. Yes.

Q. When Mrs. Finch was acquainted with your loss, she expressed her sorrow for it? - A. Yes.

Q. When the box got to the house next to Mrs. Finch's, had you the curiosity to see what it contained? - A. No.

Q. Then from the time it was sent to Mrs. Atkins's, till it reached Mrs. Finch's, you knew not what was in it? - A. No.

RICHARD HOLT < no role > sworn. - I was out at the time that the property was missing; I had not been home above half an hour, when Mr. Martin said, there was a gown of ours pawned; I went to Mr. Martin's, and saw the gown.

Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. Q. I understand a misfortune has attended you, as it does many men; you have been a bankrupt? - A. Yes.

Q. Have you got your certificate? - A. I have not asked for it; the commission was closed long ago; my wife's apparel was all allowed me, and all our linen; we had nothing that the commissioners or the creditors could claim; there were a few things at this house, a table and two chairs, that were given me by friends, since the bankruptcy; Mr. Finch was to have lent me a bedstead; he was an intimate acquaintance of mine, and I did not wish to have hurt his wife.

ANN CUNNINGHAM < no role > sworn. - Last Saturday week Mrs. Finch sent for me; I serve her with milk; she asked me to go of an errand for her to oblige Mrs. Holt, to pledge a gown for a little money for Mrs. Holt's use, which I did; I pledged it with Mr. Gough, in Red lion-street, for four shillings, and I gave Mrs. Finch the money and the duplicate; and on Monday I took it out again.

Q. By whose desire? - A. By my own desire; I had a suspicion that all was not right, because I had burnt the duplicate by the desire of Mrs. Finch, and I took the gown out, and carried it to Mrs. Martin, the wife of Mr. Martin, a cooper; she lent me the money to take it out; and then I thought if any thing should occur concerning it, I could produce it.

Jury. Q. How could you get the gown out, if the duplicate was burnt? - A. I went to the pawnbroker, and told him it was burnt, and he said, I must make an affidavit that it was neither given away nor sold, but that it was burnt, and I did make the affidavit.

Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. Q. You serve Mrs. Finch with milk? - A. Yes; I have served her a year and a half, and I had the promise of serving Mrs. Holt when she came to the house.

Q. Who gave you that promise? - A. Mrs. Finch.

Q. And though you burnt the duplicate at the desire of Mrs. Finch, you went to another person for the money to take it out? - A. Yes; Mrs. Martin, a cooper's wife; I have known her three or four years; Mr. Finch, and Mr. Martin, and Mr. Holt, were all very intimate.

Q. Did you know of any quarrel they had had lately? - A. Not Mr. Finch and Mr. Martin, but Mrs. Finch and Mrs. Martin.

Q. So Mrs. Martin was the person you fixed upon to get the money of, though you knew that she and Mrs. Finch had quarrelled? - A. I went to her because she was a particular friend of mine, and I knew she would let me have it.

Q. Mrs. Martin was not very much displeased at your coming to her, I take it? - A. I do not think Mrs. Martin thought any thing about it at that time.

Q. Do you suppose she has thought of it since? - A. Yes; she has had reason to think of it since.

Q. Had you ever a duplicate in your custody before? - A. Yes; a great many.

Q. You think it a good thing, perhaps, when you have a great many duplicates, to burn them? - A. No.

Q. Mrs. Finch told you it was to be pawned for Mrs. Holt? - A. Yes; I pawned it in my own name; Mrs. Finch told me to pawn it in my own name.

Q. At the time Mrs. Finch desired you to pawn this gown for Mrs. Holt, did not you happen to know, from the intimacy that subsisted between these coopers and their wives, that the prosecutor was a bankrupt? - A. No; Mrs. Finch told me they were in distressed circumstances.

Q.Therefore you did not think it very extraordinary that she should be obliged to pawn a gown? - A. No.

Q. Was any body else present when Mrs. Finch desired you to pawn this gown? - A. No.

Q. Did you ever see any thing in the situation of Finch and his wife, that would induce you to suppose they were in want of four shillings? - A. No.

Q. He has a good deal of business? - A. He is a journeyman cooper.

Q. He is foreman, is he not? - A. Yes.

Court. Q. Are the people of very good reputation and credit in the neighbourhood? - A. Of very good credit; he keeps a house.

Q. You have been at her door since? - A. Yes, every day.

Q. And did not you wish to have it explained, that Mrs. Finch, a woman in very good credit, should pawn a gown for four shillings, and burn the duplicate? - A. No.

Jury. Q. Were you ever in this empty house that Mr. Holt and his wife were to go into? - A. No; I never was.

MARY ANN MARTIN < no role > sworn. - I am the wife of Mr. Martin, a cooper: On Monday, the 18th of this month, the last witness came to me, and I sent her four shillings and two-pence to take a gown out of pawn; she brought me the gown. (Produces it).

Mrs. Holt. This is my gown; I have had it about two years; it is worth about five or six shillings.

Mrs. Martin cross-examined by Mr. Knapp.

Q. Your husband is a cooper? - A. Yes.

Q. You have not always been upon good terms with Mrs. Finch? - A. We were acquainted two years back; I did not chuse her acquaintance afterwards.

Q. You were upon very good terms with Ann Cunningham < no role > ? - A. Yes.

Q. You have perhaps been kind enough to give her the money to take things out of pawn before? - A. No, never; I thought she was in danger, and therefore I lent her the money.

Q. It was a mere charitable motive that induced you to let her have the money? - A. No, no charitable motive at all, only because the girl should not come into trouble.

Q. You were not at all the sooner induced to do it on account of the quarrel? - A. No; Mr. Finch works for the same master that my husband does, and has done about five years.

Q. He is foreman, is not he? - A. I do not know.

Q. Upon your oath, do not you know that he is foreman? - A. I do not, I never heard that he was.

ANN CULLEN < no role > sworn. - I was with Mrs. Holt when Mrs. Finch's house was searched, but there was nothing found; Mr. Finch told us that he had had his house searched in that way to exonerate himself, for there was nothing in the house; Mrs. Finch acknowledged taking it out of the box, and cording it up again.

Court. Q.Who was present then? - A. The officer and Mr. and Mrs. Holt; the officer asked her why she did it, and she said, she wanted some money to buy a piece of cotton.

Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. Q.Was Mr. Finch present then? - A. Yes.

Q. Was any thing said by any body to Mrs. Finch, before she said that? - A. No, except what her husband said to her; he asked her how the gown came to be pawned by the milk-woman; she denied it at first, but after some considerable altercation between the husband and the wife, she said she had done it for want of money; and he asked her why she did it, when he had given her money; and she said, she wanted to buy a piece of cotton.

Mr. Knapp. (To Mr. Holt). Q. You were present at the time this conversation took place? - A. Yes; after she had confessed the gown, I told her if she would confess the rest of the things, I would freely forgive her.

Q. Had not you said any thing of that sort before she confessed the gown? - A. No; her husband spoke to her about it; I said, I did not wish to hurt her.

Q. Was that before or after she confessed the gown? - A. I cannot be positive.

Q.(To Mrs. Cullen). Q. Mr. Finch was displeased about this transaction? - A. Yes; he spoke of the ill consequences of it.

Q. Do you not now believe, that what she said afterwards, having first denied it, proceeded from the continued perseverance of her husband stating what he did to her? - A. I cannot tell.

Q.Was she not alarmed? - A. Yes.

Q. Did she not confess it in consequence of the perseverance of her husband? - A. Yes.

Prisoner's defence. I pawned Mrs. Holt's gown to pay for some coals, which she had ordered to air the house, and for a servant to clean it; I did not bid the person burn the duplicate.

Jury. (To Mrs. Holt). Q. Do you know if there were any coals purchased to air the house? - A. I do not know.

Court. Q.Were there any coals used? - A. Yes.

Court. Q. Who paid for them? - A. I do not know.

Jury. Q. Did you give her any orders to hire a servant? - A. Yes; and I paid for it.

The prisoner called six witnesses, four of whom had known her from her infancy, and gave her an excellent character.

GUILTY of stealing goods, value 10d. (Aged 23).

Privately whipped and discharged.

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before The LORD CHIEF BARON.