134. ISAAC SLITHE proceedingsdefend , ELIZABETH PRICE proceedingsdefend , MARY PRICE proceedingsdefend , and MARY MORRISON proceedingsdefend , were indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 12th of February , fifty-four pieces of tape, value 16s. the property of William Patten proceedingsvictim , privately in his shop .

WILLIAM PATTEN < no role > sworn. - I am a haberdasher , No. 131, Whitechapel : On Tuesday the 12th of February, between one and two o'clock, all the four prisoners came to my shop, with another person, a man, and a child; the prisoner, Morrison, asked to look at some bonnets that were in the window, she partly agreed for one of them, and the elderly woman, Mary Price < no role > , bespoke another, they said they lived at Deptford; we agreed to make one in an hour, and they agreed to wait; they said they were going to a public-house to get something to drink, they came back before the time, and the bonnet not being ready, they sat down in the shop; the prisoner, Slithe, walked backwards and forwards, he looked at different things, and particularly the mode, and said, this is the mode my mother's bonnet was made of; they then paid me for two, and the trimming of a child's bonnet; the other, Price, ordered one to be made like her sister's, which was to go home on the following Saturday, to No.1, Rupert-square, Leman-street; they did not leave their names till they were going, and then the other person, who is not here, desired me to put down the name of Slithe. I did not miss the goods till next morning between nine and ten o'clock; the young person, my assistant, Elizabeth Johnson, missed her cloak, which could not be found; there were about thirty dozen of tapes upon the counter, and upon examining them I missed four dozen and a half; I had just marked them when the prisoners came in, and I knew that no other persons, but the prisoners, had been near that part of the shop; I then got a search-warrant, I went with an officer, and found the prisoner, Elizabeth Price, who said, her husband was behind the bed; where we found the prisoner, Slithe, and in a box, we found a part of the tapes; the officer found some duplicates in a tumbler, and upon taking down the tumbler, the officer found a duplicate of a cloak.

Court. The cloak is not in this indictment.

Patten. We then went to Deptford, where we found the remainder of the tapes, at the house of the elder woman, Mary Price; there were fourteen pieces, and the officer brought them to town.

Cross-examined by Mr. Knowlys. Q. There was another person, of the name of Nicholson, with them? - A. Yes; he was discharged by the Magistrate.

Q. When you got to Slithe's house, the woman at once told you, my husband is behind the bed? - A. Yes.

Q. They lived together as man and wife? - A. They were certainly in one apartment.

Q. When you went to the old lady's house, did she not tell you that you were extremely welcome to search all over the house? - A. That she certainly did.

Q. I believe you made a considerable search about the house without finding any thing? - A. At first we did.

Q. Did not the old woman say, there is one room in the house that I have not been in since my poor husband's death, and you have not searched that room? - A. No; she said, to the officer, there is a room up stairs, but there has been nobody in it for some time.

Q. Was not that the room in which you found the tapes? - A. Yes.

Q. Did not the old woman, herself, direct you to the room? - A. No.

Q. You found that she had lost her husband? - A. Yes; on the Monday as they came to our house on the Tuesday, I thought it a very shocking affair.

Q. She paid you for all that she bargained for? - A. Yes; she bought a black bonnet and some black crape.

Q.Articles which were necessary for mourning? - A. Yes.

Q. That which she bought, I believe, exceeded in value what was taken from you? - A. Yes, certainly.

Q. Did not her daughter come in while you were in the house? - A. Yes; she said, she had had it from her sister Slithe, that she had given it to her; and the old woman said she knew nothing of it.

Q.In what state did you find the tapes at the old woman's? - A. In a paper which had my private mark upon it.

Q. There were no private marks upon those you found at Slithe's? - A.No; the papers were gone.

Q. Did not the old woman bear a good character in the neighbourhood? - A. I have heard quite the contrary this morning, from a man that lodged in the house.

Q. How many people were there in the shop at the time? - A.There was the young person, Elizabeth Johnson, my wife, and my son.

JOHN GRIFFITHS < no role > sworn. - I am an officer belonging to Lambeth-street; On Wednesday the 13th of February, the prosecutor came to the office for a search-warrant; I went with him to No. 1, Rupert-square, I asked the woman that kept the house what room Slithe lived in; she directed me up one pair of stairs; I knocked at the door, and Mrs. Slithe let me in, or a little girl that was there, I am not certain which; I asked her if she had a husband; she said, yes, he was behind the bed, dressing himself; there was a screen placed round the bed to hide it; he came out from behind the screen, and I knew him; I told him I had a search-warrant; he said I was very welcome to search; I then went round the bed to search the bed, but found nothing there; I then looked under the foot of the bed, and saw a trunk there, I listed up the lid of the trunk, and there I saw some tape; the prosecutor looked at it, and said, that is part of the tape, (produces it): I then looked round the room, and in a tumbler I saw some duplicates, I took down the tumbler, and took out ten or twelve; I laid them down upon the table to see if any of them led to any thing that I wanted; one was for a cloak pawned for twelve shillings; when I laid them down, Slithe took up that duplicate, with some more of them, and looked over them; I desired him to give me that duplicate; he did not consent to that, but put it into his mouth, trying to swallow it; I put my hand to his throat, and he put it out again; then I took him into custody, and desired the prosecutor to bring his wife, which he did, and they were fully committed.

Prosecutor. These are the numbers of my tapes, but they have no marks upon them, they are too narrow to be marked; here are two dozen of No. 13, and three pieces of 139.

Q.(To Griffiths.) When these tapes were found, did Slithe say where he had them from? - A. He said they were his own.

Q. Did he say where he had bought them? - A. No.

Cross-examined by Mr. Knowlys. Q. The wife told you at once where her husband was? - A. She certainly did.

EDWARD SMITH < no role > sworn. - I am an officer of Lambeth-street; This day week I went with Mr. Patten and Thomas Griffiths < no role > to Deptford; we searched the ground-floor, but could find nothing; I then asked Mrs. Price if she bad any room up stairs; she said, yes; I asked her if any body lived there; she said, no, there had not been for some time, that two men had lodged there; I went up and found these tapes lying open in the window; the old woman opened all her boxes, and shewed us every thing very readily; she said, she did not know of their being there; the daughter came in while I was there; I asked her if she knew any thing of them, and she said, she had them from her sister Slithe; afterwards the old lady and the daughter both acknowledged to have slept in that bed the night before.

Slithe's defence. I have only to say, that my wife and these two women are perfectly innocent.

Court. (To Patten). Q. Is your wife here? - A. No, she could not leave the shop.

Slithe GUILTY

Of stealing, but not privately .

The other Three NOT GUILTY .

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