282. SAMUEL BRAMPTON proceedingsdefend was indicted for stealing, on the 2d of December , a cask, value 11 s. twenty-seven gallons of table beer, value 15 s. the property of Thomas Smith proceedingsvictim , Capel Hanbury proceedingsvictim , and Daniel Bell proceedingsvictim , executor s of the late John Hanbury < no role > .

(The case was opened by Mr Knapp.)

THOMAS SMITH < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knapp. I have the management of the brewery in Whitecross-street ; I am the surviving partner; my partners are the executors of the late firm; John Hanbury < no role > was my partner, now the executors are connected with me; the executors are Capel Hanbury and Daniel Bell < no role > ; I have the management of the concern; the prisoner was a drayman , and had the charge of the beer, and delivered it to the different customers; he was what we call foreman of the dray; he had another man to assist him; when he comes home in the evening, the names of the persons to whom he has delivered beer, is entered in a book by the clerk; he mentions the names, and afterwards he signs it with his initials; that is the usual way.

Q. Was Mrs. Sexton a customer of yours? - A. Mrs. Sexton was some years ago, very near four years ago, but not since.

Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. Where Mrs. Sexton lives is in Essex; the beer you charge to have stole was delivered in Essex? - A. Certainly.

MARGARET SEXTON < no role > sworn. Examined by Mr. Knapp. Q. I believe some years ago you were a customer of Messrs. Hanbury and Co.? - A. Yes.

Q. Do you remember the prisoner at the bar coming to your house, and when? - A. In the beginning of December last; I had some beer of him, and paid him when he delivered the cask; whether he asked me if I wanted the beer, or would I take the beer, I cannot say which of the words.

Q. Was he a servant of Messrs. Hanbury and Co. at the time you were a customer? - A. I knew him before, by coming with other men to serve me with beer.

Q. At the time he came to you in December, you were not a customer at all? - A. No.

Q. Did he say from whom he came? - A. I knew the dray, and from whom he came; I took a cask of beer.

Q. What did you pay for the cask? - A. Ten shillings and sixpence.

Court. Q. What cask was it, a large one? - A. I think they hold twenty-seven gallons.

Q. What price was it? - A. Mr. Smith told me it came to fifteen shillings; I gave him ten shillings and sixpence.

Q. Did you buy it of him as from the house of Hanbury and Co.? A. - Yes, being so inferior, I thought I gave the value of it.

Q. Did he say where he brought it from? - A. No, he did not; I knew the dray to be Mr. Smith's.

Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. You reside in Essex? - A. Yes, at Walthamstow; when the dray came round, they always spoke as they passed; I had a brother lived there.

Q. The prisoner brought you a cask of beer; you bought it, and gave ten shillings and sixpence for it? - A. Yes; it was not fit for the pigs; I gave it to the pigs at last.

Q. It was represented to you as good beer when you bought it? - A. It was.

Q. When you tasted it, it was sour and griping? - A. It was.

Q. The beer you formerly had of Hanbury was good; do you think the last beer was theirs? - A. It may; all beer does not run alike.

Mr. Knapp. Q. You said you had a relation in this house of Hanbury and Smith? - A. I had; he was a cooper.

Q. Was he acquainted with this man? - A. I do not know.

Q. You live at Walthamstow; what are you? - A. I am nothing but a washerwoman.

Q. What part of Walthamstow is your house near? - A. North-green; just before you come to the forest.

Q. How long is it since you have left off dealing with Messrs. Hanbury and Smith? - A. Near four years; if not quite.

Q. You have lived upon the spot ever since? - A. I have lived on the same spot thirty-six years.

Court. Q. Do you keep a house there? - A. Yes.

Q. A wooden tenement? - A. No; a brick one.

Q. Did you taste the beer before it was left? - A. No.

Q. Then you did not know it was bad when you bought it? - A. No.

Q. What did you pay? - A. Ten shillings and sixpence; that was the money he said it came to.

Q. Why did it not strike you that you could not have twenty-seven gallons of beer for ten shillings and sixpence. What does your family consist of? - A. People that I employ, sometimes five or six.

Q. How many casks of beer do you consume in a month? - A. Not many in a month.

Q. Who do you have your beer from? - A. From Mr. Aslam, at Stratford.

Q. Do you ever get twenty-seven gallons of beer from him for the same money? - A. I never had such a large cask of him.

Q. What do you pay him? - A. Ten shillings for eighteen gallons.

Q. Did it not strike you, when you paid ten shillings and sixpence for twenty-seven gallons of beer; did you think the man came by it honest? The fact is, that you had a cask of twenty-seven gallons of beer, and that you paid only ten shillings and sixpence for it, do not come by this way any more. -

THOMAS DALTON < no role > sworn. Examined by Mr. Knapp. Q. You are a servant to Mr. Smith? - A. Yes.

Q. Do you remember going with the prisoner with any beer from your masters, and going to Mrs. Sexton's house? - A. I did not know the house when I was there; I cannot tell when it was.

Q. You do not know whether it was before Christmas or since? - A. I cannot tell upon my word; I went along with him.

Q. Did you go to Walthamstow - Did you leave a cask there at Mrs. Sexton's? - A. Yes, we left a cask there, I do not know what was in it.

Q. You never gave Mr. Smith any information about it? - A. No, I did not know any thing about it.

Mr. Alley. You are a very honest fellow, and know nothing about it.

THOMAS SMITH < no role > , jun. sworn. Examined by Mr. Knapp. Q. You are the son of the Gentleman examined here before; I understand that the man who delivers beer, has it entered in a book when he comes home by the clerk, and he signs it; have you the book of the 2d of December last? - A. I have the book here, there is no delivery of that kind (the books produced), this is the book they sign, and this is the book they post it.

Q. Is there any account in the other book of any money having been received of a cask of beer to Mrs. Sexton in December last? - A. There is no name of Mrs. Sexton in it; there is one Gentleman, Mr. Allen, that suspected that he had not so many as we booked to him.

Court. The fraud this fellow commits is this; he charges Mr. Allen for three casks, and he has had but two; they are accounted for to the master, therefore the only evidence to prove against the prisoner would be, that he has charged to Mr. Allen three casks, and he has only had two.

NOT GUILTY .

London Jury, before Mr. Recorder.