309. PATRICK ST. LEDGER proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing on the 28th of February , five pound weight of red paint, value 2 s. from out of the ordnance stores in the tower of London , the property of our Sovereign Lord the King proceedingsvictim ; - and

TWO OTHER COUNTS for like offence, only varying the manner of charging them.

The case was stated by Mr. Knapp.

ROBEAT COOMME. Q. You are a soldier in the seventh veteran battalion - A. Yes. On the 28th of February I was a centinel at the magazine at the end of the white tower; I was stationed at the Tower; the prisoner was a labourer belonging to the Tower, he was employed by the board of ordnance. On this day, about twenty minutes before six in the afternoon, I observed the prisoner go behind some old ropes, I saw him take some paint up in a bladder and put it in his pocket; I took it out, I told him he should not have it; I kept the paint till the corporal came to relieve me; I let the prisoner go; I did not see the prisoner again till I saw him at the office.

JOHN SMITH. I was corporal of the guard. I received the paint of the last witness; I delivered it to the officer of the guard; he delivered it to Gotty the officer.

JOHN GOTTY < no role > . I am an officer belonging to the Thames police. The paint I got from the clerk of the storehouse; I have had it ever since. I apprehended the prisoner in Brush alley, East Smithfield, on the 3d of March; I told him I must take him in custody for stealing the paint, and a pistol that he had taken from the Tower; he said he knew nothing about the pistol, he had not got it.

JOHN COOPER. I am clerk in the storekeeper's office in the Tower; the prisoner was employed as an extra man in the different store offices.

The property produced and identified.

Prisoner's Defence. I have been serving my king and my country both at home and abroad. On this evening I went down to get a bit of wood to light a fire; this paper I saw there; I took it up, the centinel ordered me to put it down again; I put it down again, and then he said nothing to me, he was not thirty yards from me at the time.

GUILTY , aged 39.

Confined One Month in Newgate , and whipped in Jail .

First Middlesex, jury, before Mr. Recorder.