1. MARY DAVIS proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing on the 5th of October , eleven pair of silk stockings, value 5 l. the property of Elizabeth Martin proceedingsvictim , spinster , and John Betts proceedingsvictim , privately in their shop .

(The case stated by Mr. Gurney).

ELIZABETH MARTIN < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Gurney. Q. You are unmarried? - A. Yes; I carry on the business of a haberdasher in Oxford-street , in partnership with John Betts < no role > . On Saturday the 5th of October, between eleven and twelve o'clock, the prisoner at the bar came into our shop and purchased two yards of ribbon, and two yards of worsted binding.

Q. Were there any parcels of silk stockings that laid on the counter near to the place where she stood? - A. There were three parcels of white silk stockings lying on the counter in paper untied near where she stood.

Q. After she had purchased the articles, did she leave the shop? - A. Yes.

Q. While she was there, you did not miss any thing? - A. I did not.

Q. How long after she had left your shop was it before Mr. Lodge came to you? - A. Perhaps it might be a quarter of an hour.

Q. In consequence of what Mr. Lodge said to you, did you look upon your counter, and did you miss any thing? - A. I missed eleven pair of silk stockings. Mr. Lodge came to me a second time and produced a card that I have now in my hand; I knew the card by my mark upon it; that card was in the parcel of stockings that were lost.

Q. In consequence of this did you go with Mr. Lodge. - A. Yes, to the Berwick Arms public house, Castle-street, the corner of Berner's-street. I there saw the prisoner, and my stockings were in a dry tub in the yard behind the public house.

Q. Did you know them to be your stockings? - A. Yes.

Q. Were you afterwards shewn any paper that belonged to these stockings? - A. Yes, by the officer of Marlborough-street; I knew that paper to be the paper that the stockings had been wrapped up in.

Q. Were there any person in the shop besides yourself. - A. Yes, a young lady, an assistant of mine.

Mr. Knapp. Q. She is not here? - A. No.

JOSEPH PERKINS < no role > sworn. - Examined by Mr. Gurney. I am a porter to Mr. Draper, a linen-draper in Oxford-street, four doors from Mrs. Martin's.

Q. On Saturday the 5th of October, were you standing at your master's door? - A. I was standing just within side of the door; a woman came along, and just as she came opposite to the door, I saw one or two silk stockings drop from her lap; she picked them up and went on; and she had scarce got two yards from the door when she dropped them the second time.

Q. What stockings were they? - A. White-silk stockings. I turned to the side of the window to look after the woman; I saw her drop them the third time, and pick them up again, and on her taking them up a third time, she dropped a card; I went out directly, and picked the card up, and she was then walking up Berner's-street.

Q. Did you point her out to Mr. Lodge afterwards? - A. Yes, I and Mr. Lodge went after her; she turned the left hand from Castle-street into Berner's-street, and there I lost sight of her; I was about fifty yards from the corner when she turned into Berner's-street; I went into the public house and in the yard, and saw nobody there.

Q. Did you go into the public house the second time? - A. I went into the public house five or six times before I found the woman.

Q. Did you see the woman in the public house at all? - A. When I went in the third time she was standing at the parlour door, but I did not know it; it was the woman; she was going out; a gentleman said, stop her; I said to the gentleman, is that the woman? he said, yes; I said, I really do not think this is the woman; she was stopped, and when she went down into the parlour, I went into the yard of the public house; I picked up a white silk stocking, which was lying by the side of the bottle-rack; I then ran home and told them what I had found; I returned back to the yard; there was nine pair of white silk stockings and an odd one found in the tub in the yard by somebody else, and I put the odd one that I had found with them that made up ten pair.

Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. - Q. I understoodyou to say that the woman whoever it was, went into the public house; you do not mean to swear it was the prisoner at the bar? - A. I can't.

Q. You entertained doubts at that time? - A. I did, I asked the gentleman whether it was the woman or not?

Mr. Gurney. - Q. Do you mean to swear that it was not? - A. I cannot swear, she had a blue gown on then.

Court. - Do you remember what colour gown she had on when you first saw her? - A. A light gown.

- LODGE sworn. Examined by Mr. Gurney.

Q. Where do you live? - A. No. 53, Oxford-street.

Q. On Saturday the 5th of October about twelve olock, did the last witness come to you and say anything about a woman? - A. He did.

Q. In consequence of what he said to you did you go to Berner's-street. - A. I did; he and I followed the woman; I went back for my hat; in the mean time she turned the corner of the street, and I lost sight of her.

Q. Did you go into the public house? - A. I did, and I went into the yard there; I saw the prisoner at the bar standing at the door of the privy; I desired the landlord to detain her; I believe it to be the prisoner at the bar.

Court. - How come you to desire the landlord to detain her? - A. I had suspicion that she had stole the stockings.

Mr. Gurney. - Q. Upon your desiring the landlord to detain her did you see her go into the house? - A. No, I went away directly to Mrs. Martin.

Q. Before you went away to the house of Mrs. Martin, did Parkins give you any thing? - A. He did, a card.

Q. Did you take that card and shew it Mrs. Martin? - A. Not in the first instance; the second time I went, I shewed Mrs. Martin< no role > the card.

Q. After you had shewn Mrs. Martin the card, did you return to that public house? - A. I did, with Mrs. Martin.

Q. Did you there find the prisoner whom you had desired the landlord to detain? - A. I did; I asked her how she came by the stockings; she said nothing at all about them; one of the men who was in the passage, said the stockings were in the yard in a tub; I went into the yard and saw the white silk stockings lay in a heap in the tub. I went for a constable; he came, and took the prisoner at the bar, and the stockings were given into his charge; I did not see her searched.

Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. - I understood you that you said you went back for your hat? - A. Yes.

Q. During that time you lost sight of her? - A. I did.

Q. You believed her to be the person I understood you to say? - A. Yes, I believe the prisoner is the person that I saw when I came back from fetching Mrs. Martin; I had seen her before, at the door of the privy, and that was the only knowledge that I had of her person.

Mr. Gurney. That person that you saw in the yard before was the person that was given in charge of the constable? - A. Yes.

Mr. Knapp. - Q. You do not mean to swear that the prisoner was the person that went by your house? - A. I do not.

JOHN WAGSTAFFE < no role > sworn. Examined by Mr. Gurney. Q. You are a constable? were you fetched by Mr. Lodge to the Berwick Arms, Castle-street? - A. I was; in the back yard there was nine pair of white silk stockings and an odd one lying in a tub; I took them out and counted them, and some person in the yard took out an odd stocking, and gave it to me; I then took charge of the woman; she was standing in the tap-room; I took her to Marlborough-street; she was took there by Kennedy.

JAMES KENNEDY < no role > sworn. Examined by Mr. Gurney. - I am an officer belonging to the police-office, Marlborough-street. On Saturday the 5th of October, when the prisoner was brought to the office by Wagstaffe, I searched her, and found upon her two yards of ribbon, and two yards of worsted binding? I went to the Berwick Arms, and saw the privy searched; I saw some paper found in the privy, which I now produce.

Mr. Gurney. - Q. (To Prosecutrix.) Look at that parcel of stockings which Wagstaffe has produced; do you believe them to be the stockings that you lost on that day? - A. I am certain of it; I had mixed them; some of them are of a pink dye, and some of a blue dye, some blue tops, and some red tops; there is no mark on them.

Q. You have told us that the card which was found was in that parcel? - A. Yes, the binding and the ribbon that was found upon the prisoner was cut off these two pieces (producing them), I sold them to the prisoner myself.

Q. Now look at these two pieces of paper which Kennedy has produced. - A. They have my private mark on them, the stockings were in this paper.

The prisoner left her defence to her counsel, called four witnesses who gave her a good character.

GUILTY of stealing, but not privately in the shop , aged 26.

SENTENCE - Two years imprisonment in the House of Correction , and fined one shilling .

First Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Justice Grose.