505. EDWARD BENTHAM proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 20th of July , two men's hats, value 14s. the property of Ephraim Lindo proceedingsvictim , and Benjamin Lindo proceedingsvictim .

Second Count. Laying them to be the property of George Smith proceedingsvictim , Thomas Hutchon proceedingsvictim , and Thomas Anderson proceedingsvictim .

Third Count. Laying them to be the property of Thomas Anderson < no role > .

Fourth Count. Laying them to be the property of certain persons to the Jurors unknown.

(The indictment was opened by Mr. Vaillant, and the case by Mr. Knowlys.)

JAMES BASSEVI < no role > sworn. - I am clerk to Ephraim and Benjamin Lindo < no role > , West-India merchants : We had a quantity of hats from Messrs, Borrodaile.

JOHN WOODWARD < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Vaillant. I am warehouseman to Messrs. Borrodaile, hat-manufacturers, in Fenchurch-street: A quantity of hats were ordered by Messrs. Lindo, there were forty or fifty dozen; I saw them packed.

THOMAS SMITH < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. I am servant to Messrs. Borrodaile: There were a quantity of hats ordered by Messrs. Lindo; they were contained, I think, in five cases, marked L; Mr. Bailey, the carman, took them from our house, some time in June last.

- BAILEY sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. On the 10th of June, I had four carts loaded at Messrs. Borrodaile's, two of them went to Galley Quay.

Q. Is the carman here? - A. No.

JOHN-ALEXANDER MACKENZIE < no role > sworn. - I am a lighterman. (Produces a book).

Mr. Alley. Q. Is the entry you are going to read of your own making? - A. No, it is my partner's.

JAMES BLACKITER < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Vaillant. I am clerk to Mr. Thomas Hutchon.

Q. Who are owners of the Kerie ? - A. George Smith < no role > , and captain Thomas Anderson < no role > ; Mr. Anderson is captain and part owner, and Mr. Hutchon is the managing owner; I take an account of all the property that comes on board that ship.

Q. Were there any cases marked L on board? - A. Yes, I have the captain's receipt, (Produces it): I know his hand-writing, there were eight cases,three of them marked L, they were shipped on account of Messrs. Lindo; the prisoner, I believe, was mate on board the vessel, but I never saw him on board.

RICHARD PRRRY < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. I am one of the officers of the Marine-police: I apprehended the prisoner on Thursday the 18th of July, I went to his lodgings in Chapman-street, St. George's in the East, the prisoner was sitting at breakfast; I told the prisoner I had a warrant against him, on suspicion of robbing the brig Kerie ; he told me he did not know any thing about it, and he went very readily with me; I took this hat off his head in the office, and he told me it came from the brig Kerie, he told me he was mate of her; he said, he got it by breaking open some packages; he said, the Custom-house-officer, Charles Shropshire, and he broke open several packages with hats, and took some out; the one that I had from him was one of them, and Shropshire had another that he wore at that time. On Friday the 19th, I went on board a ship at Princes-stairs Tier, to apprehend Shropshire.

Q. The examination was taken in writing? - A. Yes.

Q. Did you see the Magistrate sign it? - A. Yes.

Q. Did you see the prisoner sign it? - A. Yes.

Q. Look at that paper? - A. This is the examination, I saw them both sign it.

Mr. Alley. Q. Did you not say this to him: - that if he would give evidence against Shropshire, it would save himself? - A. I did not.

Q. Do you mean to say you saw him sign that paper? - A. Yes; and he signed another or two besides.

Q. Did you ever read any of them? - A. No.

Q. And yet you mean to swear you saw him sign it? - A. Yes; I was along-side of him.

THOMAS ROGERS < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. I was in the office at the time the prisoner was examined; I have very often seen Mr. Herriot write, I saw him sign the examination, and I saw the prisoner sign it.

Mr. Alley. Q. The prisoner signed two or three papers, will you undertake to swear that you saw him sign that identical paper? - A. I cannot.

- SHROPSHIRE sworn. - Examined by Mr. Vaillant. I am a Custom-house-officer; I was on board the ship Kerie: On the 30th of June last, the prisoner came on board, about an hour after me, he was mate on board, she was lying at Princes-stairs, Rotherhithe, and was taking in her lading; about the 14th or 15th of July, he said, if he had had some on board the ship that he had had before on board of other ships, he said, you might put a hundred pounds a-piece in your pocket; I told him I did not wish to be seen in any thing of the kind.

Court. Q. What kind? - A. Plundering.

Q. Did he express what he meant at all? - A. No; I told Mr. Fraser of it.

Mr. Vaillant. Q. How came you by the hat that was taken from you by Perry? - A. Bentham gave it me down the stairs; it was about five days after the conversation: I was in the steerage, and he came out of the cabin, and asked me for my old hat, I gave him a hat with an oil-skin on it, and in about fourteen or fifteen minutes, he returned me the hat that was taken from me by Mr. Perry, with the oil-skin upon it; and said, here is the hat I promised you; he had promised me a hat: while I was hoisting some trunks forward, my old hat fell off, and he said never mind your hat, I will give you a better one than that: that was the same day that we had had the conversation.

Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. Have you been in custody since the hat was taken from you? - A. No; I was taken in custody with the hat on my head.

Q. Have you been at large since? - A. Yes.

Q. You were taken, upon the information of the man at the bar, for stealing the hat yourself? A. Yes.

Q. You turned evidence before the Magistrate? - A. No, I did not; I did not know where the property came from.

Q. It was a new hat, was it not? - A. No, it was greased in the fore part and in the hind part.

Q. How many hats do custom-house officers bring on board in general; not two, I suppose? - A. Sometimes one, and sometimes two.

Q. Are you now a custom-house officer? - A. No, I am suspended till this trial is over.

Q. And if you swear yourself innocent, and convict the man at the bar, you will be restored? - A. Yes; I am as innocent as the child that is unborn.

Q. (To Smith.) These hats have the general manufacturing mark of Mr. Borrodaile? - A. Yes, two L's; they are plated hats.

Q. Are these the kind of hats that are sent to the West India market? - A. Yes; we send all sorts.

Mr. Alley. Q. All the hats that you make have the same mark? - A. Yes.

Q. What are they worth? - A. About nineteen shillings.

Prisoner's defence. Shropshire was the man who gave the hat to me; he was also employed as a lumper on board the ship. I was absent from the ship several days, and during that time there was no officer on board; the captain was always on shore: and what might be done in my absence I cannot say. Shropshire gave me this hat in consequence of my signing his weekly note for payment of his wages.

The prisoner called two witnesses, who gave him a good character.

NOT GUILTY .

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Baron THOMPSON.

(The prisoner was again indicted, but no evidence was offered on the part of the prosecution.)