515. STEPHEN SMITH proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 13th of May , one hundred and forty staves, value 14 l. the property of Lewis Berlesque proceedingsvictim . And

FOUR OTHER COUNTS the property of different persons.

The case was stated by Mr. Gurney.

THOMAS HAWKINS < no role > . I am a foreman to John Boulcott < no role > , and Joseph Boulcott < no role > , timber merchants, Narrow-street, Ratcliffe .

Q. I believe you have a wharf on one side of the street,and the other side a yard, what you call an interior timber yard - A. Yes.

Q. In the last month had you any quantity of staves in your wharf - A. We had.

Q Prior to the 12th of May, in consequence of any thing that occurred, did you remove these staves from the wharf into the interior yard - A. Yes; they were marked S. and N. they were marked Dantzic staves.

Q. At the time that you removed these staves, did you put any additional mark - A. I marked them with a circle, by which I should know them again.

Q. On the night of Saturday the 12th, were the staves safe in the interior yard - A. I believe they were, the bulk did not appear diminished. The staves were the property of Lewis Berlesque < no role > , they were on our wharf on his account.

Q. How late on the Saturday had you seen them - A. I generally lock up on Saturday about six o'clock. On Sunday morning I went up about seven o'clock, I looked at another pile, I had marked them also, I saw that the top tier had been disturbed.

Q.Then besides this parcel that you had moved into the interior yard, there was another parcel - A. Yes, there was no mark on them but my mark, a circle.

Q. On the Sunday morning you found this parcel, which had no other mark but what you had put, some of them were gone - A. Yes; I looked at the other parcel, I did not see that any of them were disturbed.

Q. On the Monday did you make enquiry about the neighbourhood, and make it known - A. Yes; and on Tuesday morning I was called up.

EDMUND WARREN < no role > . I live in London-street, Ratcliffe, opposite of the prisoner's house, and about an hundred yards from Mr. Boulcotts, in a parellel street.

Q. On the morning of Tuesday, the 15th of May, did you see any thing opposite your house - A. I was standing at the corner of London-street, I saw a horse and cart coming down London-street, the cart was drawn by a grey or white horse, that cart came to a house opposite my house; I never saw the prisoner there, the back of the cart turned towards the street door, the man knocked at the door and took the staves out, I saw the carman take the staves from the door of that house. On the evening before I had heard that Mr. Boulcott had lost staves; I went to Mr. Boulcott's foreman.

Q. What time in the morning was this - A. About a quarter after six. The cart, when it was filled with staves, went down London-street; I followed the cart and saw it in the Commercial-road; I saw Mr. Hawkins, and sent him after it.

RICHARD KERR < no role > . I am a carman to Robert Hutchinson < no role > , Plantation-place, Commercial-road, he is a cooper.

Q. How long have you known the prisoner - A. About four months; he is a cooper, he lives in London-street.

Court. Has he the appearance of a cooper in his house - A. Yes, at the windows there are tubs and pails.

Q. On the evening of the 12th of May, did you see him at Hutchinson's - A. I did; he told me to look in on him, may be he might have a few staves for master. On Monday evening I called on him, I saw him, he told me to come the next morning with the horse and cart. I told him I would come in good time as master had ordered the horse to be ready for him to go out at eight o'clock; he said, he had a few staves for my master. I went the next morning, betwixt six and seven o'clock, to his house, I knocked at the door, Mr. Smith came to the door himself.

Q.(to Mr. Warren.) Describe whereabouts in London-street your house is - A. About four doors up.

Q.(to Kerr.) Is that opposite where the prisoner lives - A. Yes.

Q.(to Mr. Warren.) Have you been in the habit of seeing pails and tubs in the window - A. Yes.

Kerr. I knocked at the door, Smith handed me out the staves, I put them in the cart, I took them to Mr. Hutchinson's yard.

Q. What was the colour of the horse - A. A white horse. As soon as I got in the yard I got the horse ready for the chaise. I left the staves standing in the cart in the yard without the horse.

Q. How soon after you had taken the horse out of the cart did Mr. Boulcott's foreman come - A. About half an hour after Mr. Hawkins came. The staves were all in the cart then; I told him I brought them from Smith.

Q.(to Mr. Hawkins.) In consequence of information that you received, where did you go - A. I went immediately to Mr. Warren, and by his directions I went on the Commercial-road to Hutchinson's yard, there I found the cart in the yard with thirty-six staves in it. I looked round the yard, I saw an hundred staves fixed on a pile, which I recognised having lost from the wharf; and the thirty-six in the cart I knew directly when I saw them. I saw Mr. Hutckinson, and he sent for Kerr. Kerr went to the prisoner's house, he was not at home. About three quarters of an hour afterwards we took the prisoner at the King's Head, by Limehouse-corner. I asked him where he got the staves I found at Mr. Hutchinson's; he said, he had bought them of a master lighterman, he did not know his name. I then went with him to his own house; he said, he had four more staves of the same sort, which he had bought of the same man; he desired me to go and look at them; he found them and brought them to us, they had every appearance to be the same kind of staves, but no marks on them. I found thirty-six staves in the cart at Hutchinson's, sixteen of them were marked; they were Dantzic staves.

ROBERT HUTCHINSON < no role > . I am a master cooper.

Q. It was in your yard, we understand, these staves were found - A. Yes.

Q. What were you to give for the staves - A. I know nothing of them; I had given nothing for them. As soon as the staves were claimed I sent for my carman.

Mr. Alley. When Mr. Hawkins was at your premises, did he not say that he could not undertake to speak to them - A. Close to the side of the cart he saw the hundred that I bought the week before, he overhauled them and said, he could not find the brand marks. I examined them and found half a dozen that had the mark, there was no chalk mark at all, that was the hundred: with respect to the thirty-six in the cart, part of the thirty-six bore his mark that he could swear to, that is what he calls the ring.

JOSEPH BOULCOTT < no role > . Q. What is the value of these staves - A. Half a crown each is the least value.

Prisoner's Defence. I have no further to say, the chalk mark is my private mark in trade.

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

GUILTY , aged 33.

Transported for Seven Years .

Second Middlesex jury, before Mr. Common Serjeant.