352. JOHN GRIFFITHS proceedingsdefend was indicted for that he, on the 27th of April , on the King's highway, upon Benjamin Ward proceedingsvictim , did make an Assault, putting him in fear, and taking from his person one shilling, two sixpences, and six halfpence, the property of the said Benjamin .

BENJAMIN WARD < no role > sworn. - I live in Little Moorfields: On Friday the 27th of last month, about twelve o'clock at night, I was coming home from Islington, through Goswell-street , the prisoner at the bar, and another, laid hold of me and threw me down, and took from me all that I had about me, there was one shilling, two sixpences, and three-pennyworth of halfpence; they drew a knife upon me after I was down; as soon as I could relieve myself I went to the watchman, and gave an alarm; when the alarm was given, the watchman saw the prisoner run, and he followed him and took him.

Q. When the watchman took the prisoner, were you sure he was one of the men that robbed you? - A. Yes; he was carried to the watch-house, but was not searched; the next day, before the Magistrate, he was searched, and a knife and sixpence found upon him; the knife was a crooked one.

Q. Were you perfectly sober at that time? - A. Yes.

Q. What sort of a night was it? - A. A moonlight night, as light as day.

Q. How many minutes might pass while they were robbing you? - A. I suppose not three minutes.

Q. Was it so light that you could clearly see the faces of the men? - A. Yes.

Q. Were you pretty much frightened? - A. Yes, I was.

Q. Were there any other people in the street? - A. No.

Q. Did you cry out? - A. Yes, I did.

Q. Was the prisoner the man that knocked you down, or was it the other man? - A. It was the prisoner.

Q. How long did you see the prisoner before he was close to you? - A. Scarce two or three hundred yards, they met me both of them.

HENRY MAY < no role > sworn. - I am a watchman: On the 27th of April, about a quarter, or twenty minutes past twelve, I was standing at my box inGoswell-street, the corner of Old-street-road, when the alarm was given, by another watchman below me by springing his rattle; upon that, I saw a man walking up by the Charterhouse-wall, and I went and stopped him; with that, the prosecutor and the other watchman came up, and the prosecutor looked in the man's face that I had stopped, and said, that is not the man. Then I turned round, and saw a man run across the road, and go into the Leaping-bar public-house; I told the prosecutor he had better go in and see if that was the man; he went into the passage, and he came out, and said, that is the man, I will take my oath to him; the prisoner had not got into the house then, I went in and took him by the collar, and told him he had robbed a man, and he must go with me; he said, no, I have not robbed a man; I said, the prosecutor says you robbed him, and drew a knife upon him; oh, says he, then hang me at once. I took him to the watch-house and put him into the cage; the next day I took him to Worship-street.

JOHN ARMSTRONG < no role > sworn. - I searched the prisoner at the office, and found this knife and a sixpence; that is all I know of it.

Q. (To Ward.) Did you go into this public-house that May speaks of? - A. I went into the passage belonging to the house.

Q. How came you not to tell me that before? - A. I forgot it.

Q. He drew a knife upon you? - A. Yes.

Q. Did you see the knife? - A. Yes; it was a crooked blade, very much like this, I believe this is the same knife; he said, if I did not give him my money he would cut my side, and then he took it from me; the other man held me while the prisoner robbed me.

Prisoner's defence. I had been at the Black-horse all the afternoon, and was very much in liquor, and fell down in Hatfield-street; I would not go home with my wife, and I fell asleep in the street, and she took my hat and carried it home; a man picked me up, and I said I would give him something to drink, and we went to the Leaping-bar.

Q. (To Ward.) Did you observe whether either of the persons that robbed you had a hat on? - A. The prisoner had no hat.

Prisoner. The prosecutor came to me in Newgate, on Friday, and said, if I would give him a guinea, he would make it up.

Ward. No, he offered me a guinea, and I said, I could not do it.

Jury. Q. Did the prisoner appear to be in liquor at the time of the robbery? - A. He did not.

Jury. Q. Why did you come to Newgate to see the prisoner? - A. I went to see another person, one Murray, a man that I had known a good while, and I saw him accidentally.

Q. What was Murray in Newgate for? - A. For a felony. The prisoner's wife came to my house five or six times, and said she would give me a guinea.

Q. Did you ask to see the prisoner? - A. No, I did not.

Prisoner. I was not in the same yard, and he could not see me till he sent for me.

Mr. Kirby. If the prosecutor did see him, he must have sent for him.

Ward. A friend that was with me sent for him.

For the Prisoner.

MARGARET SHEPHERD < no role > sworn. - I have known the prisoner several years: On the the 27th of April, I saw him at the Black-horse, at past eleven o'clock, I went in to get a pint of beer for my supper; I left him there; he borrowed sixpence of me, I gave him sixpence, and bid him good night; when I went home the chimes played twelve. I saw the prosecutor yesterday, at Hicks's-hall, and said to him, are you come to find a bill against Mr. Griffiths, and he said, yes, he had; I said, you promised to make it up for a guinea; he said, he did, but we did not attend on him; I told him we did attend on Mr. Wright, where he promised to come for the money; he said, if I had come an hour and a half before I did, yesterday, before he had thrown in the bill, he would have settled it.

Q. (To Ward.) Is what this woman has said true? - A. It is not.

Q. Is no part of it true? - A. She came to me yesterday with another woman, and asked me to make it up; I told them, I could not do any such thing, I was bound over to prosecute him, and could not; they staid a good while, and I told them it was of no service to stop any longer, for I could not do any thing in it. She first of all asked me if my name was Ward.

Q. She says she told you, that you promised to make it up for a guinea? - A. It is no such thing.

Q. Did you ever promise to make it up for a guinea? - A. No.

Q. Did she tell you any thing about Mr. Wright, the fishmonger? - A. Mr. Wright, the fishmonger, was in Newgate, and offered to make up the money.

WILLIAM HEARNE < no role > sworn. - I am a watchman: I was beating twelve o'clock, and when I came back, I found the prisoner stone blind drunk in the kennel, it was on a Saturday morning, I do not recollect what day of the month it was, he had no hat on; I asked him where he lived, and he could not give me a proper answer, and we went to Old-street, and there was a public-house, and I was obliged to lead him over, for he could not walk over, it was the Leaping-bar, in Old-street; and while he was with me in at the Leaping-bar, the prosecutor came up, with May, and another watchman, May and the prosecutor were both drunk; and they said to me, that that man had been robbed; I asked him where, and they said, in Bell-alley; I said, that is not in my beat; then the prosecutor said, I believe that is the man that robbed me; I told him to look, and be sure he was the man; for says I, the man has been in my company these ten minutes; he went to look at the man, he came back again to me, and said, he believed he was the man; then says I, you must be sure he is the man; instead of looking at the man, he called for a pot of beer, they would not draw any; I said to May, go and take him into custody, and I went upon my beat.

Q. How came you to tell a drunken man to take him in custody? - A. Because he was not in my beat, and there was another watchman with him.

Q. (To May.) You have heard what Hearne has said, is any part of it true? - A. No, it is all false, I never drank more than half a pint of beer the whole night, nor the following day.

Q. Was Ward drunk? - A. I cannot say, he was very much frightened; he appeared very well.

JAMES FROST < no role > sworn. - I have known the prisoner many years, he is a watch-finisher ; I was drinking with Mrs. Shepherd; I left the prisoner there at half past eleven o'clock, he was very much in liquor.

WILLIAM SMITH < no role > sworn. - I never heard any thing bad of him; he is a hard working, industrious, honest man; and, if he is acquitted, I will take him again to-morrow.

For the Prosecution.

JOSEPH WILKES < no role > sworn. - I am a constable of the night.

Q. Did you see May the night of the 27th of April? - A. Yes; I went to the watch-house about ten o'clock, and I found May on his beat; I stopped in the watch-house till about half past eleven; then, at half past eleven, I went round the watch-boxes to see that the watchmen were upon their duty, and when I came up Brick-lane, one of the watchmen said, master, you are wanted.

Q. Was May drunk or sober? - A. He was sober.

Q. The prisoner was taken after twelve, was he sober then? - A. he was; and the prosecutor was sober. NOT GUILTY .

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