The Proceedings of the Old Bailey

 

22. (L.)   William Danborough was indicted for stealing a silver soup-ladle, value 7 s. a silver butter-ladle and a silver table-spoon , the property of   the company of Goldsmith , Nov. 9 . *

  Samuel Key . I am butler to the Goldsmiths company. On the last Lord-Mayor's day there was lost a silver tureen ladle, a table-spoon, and a butter-ladle.

Q. What is the use of the tureen ladle?

Key. That is to ladle the soup out of the tureen.

Q. When had you seen that last?

Key. I saw it between three and four in the hall in the afternoon that day; I delivered it out somewhere on the table, and some in the beanset; there were half a dozen of them on the first table; there were butter-spoons and table-spoons upon all the four tables; by counting up the number of them after they had been used about eight or nine o'clock in the evening, I found one tureen ladle, one table-spoon, and one butter-spoon missing; in the whole there are six dozen of table-spoons, two dozen of butter-ladles, and thirteen tureen ladles.

Q. Who delivers them back to you?

Key. They go into the kitchen to be washed, then they are brought to me by my waiters; there were ten waiters that day.

Q. Was the prisoner employed there?

Key. No, he was not employed by me; I was present when he was apprehended on the Wednesday between three and four in the afternoon.

  Samuel Cawthorn . I have the honour of being beadle to the worshipful company of Goldsmiths. Last Lord-Mayor's day I attended at the hall, I saw the prisoner there; there were a great number of people in and about the hall; we asked their business; several of them informed me they were servants waiting for liverymen; I asked the prisoner whose servant he was; he told me he was employed as a whiffler to wait upon the cook; I called to the porter Mr. Wren, and said, pray see this whiffler out of the hall, knowing he had no business there, that is all I know of Mr. Whiffler. I saw him passing and repaffing several times between the kitchen and the hall, and I obliged him to go out of the hall.

Q. What was he employed in?

Cawthorn. In carrying dishes, and taking dishes away.

Cross examination.

Q. Did you see him at the time of dinner?

Cawthorn. I did.

Q. Were there not many whifflers there?

Cawthorn. There may be many, but they have no business at the hall.

Q. Are not these whifflers employed to attend the cook?

Cawthorn. No, they are not, no farther than to carry dishes to gentlemen's tables.

Q. What is the prisoner?

Cawthorn. He is a lapidary .

  John Wren . I am porter to the Goldsmiths company. I saw the prisoner at our hall last Lord-Mayor's day backwards and forwards; he was waiting on our cook; I was the man that showed him out two or three-times, and told him he had no business there; he said he was waiting on our cook; he brought tureen things with the spoons in them, and the soup ladles.

  Benjamin Hillyard . I am clerk to Mr. Fair. I dined at Goldsmiths-hall last Lord-Mayor's day, the 9th of November; as I sat at dinner, being the last person at the end of the table, the door was open, I saw the prisoner bring dishes to the door, and the waiter received them of him, and I saw him take dishes from the waiters and carry them towards the kitchen, but I can't be particular what dishes they were; there was a dispute with the waiters; they told him he had no business there; he said he was employed by the cook; the beadle took him by the shoulder, and said he had no business there; I remember seeing him with one tureen in his hand.

  Thomas Swift . I am a silversmith; I have known the prisoner from a baby. On the 11th of November last he brought some silver melted in little comical ingots; it weighed 10 ounces 13 penny-weights; I suspected it might be the silver advertised, as it answered to the weight that was taken from the Goldsmiths company at the hall; he said it came from Portsmouth, and he had a letter of advice about it; he desired me to get an assay made of it, and then he was to send it down, (produced in court.) This never cou ld be melted at Portsmouth in this manner, they know there how to melt it as we do, this is not in a workmanlike manner. I went with the constable to Gutter-lane, and sent for the prisoner; then he told Mr. Fair he received it from Chatham; Mr. Fair asked him if he had a letter; he said he had, but no letter could be found. I was at his examination before my Lord-Mayor; there he said he kicked against something in Goldsmiths-street, Wood-street, and he went to a tavern for a light, and they refused him one; then he went home and got a candle and lanthorn, and went to the place and found the silver. I have trusted him in my shop when I have had a thousand ounces of silver, and I never knew any harm of him.

Mr. Hardy. I belong to Mr. White; Mr. Swift brought this silver to our house, upon which there

was some enquiry made after the prisoner at the bar; I saw the prisoner at the public-house in Gutter lane, he said he received the silver from Chatham; and before my Lord-Mayor he said he found it in Goldsmiths-street.

Q. to Cawthorn. Did you hear the prisoner examined?

Cawthorn. I did; he prevaricated when Mr. Fair examined him, saying he had it from Chatham, and he said before my Lord Mayor he had it from Portsmouth; I told him he made out a lame story, and if he expected any lenity from the company, the best way would be to tell the truth; he sighed and hesitated a little time, and at last of all said that he was guilty, and it was poverty and the want of business that drove him to it, and he desired to speak with Mr. Fair, and they went out together.

Q. to Key What was the weight of the silver lost at the hall?

Key We weighed a dozen of butter spoons, a dozen tureen ladles, and a dozen of table-spoons, and we found three of them, one of each sort, to come up to the weight of ten ounces thirteen pennyweights.

Q. to Hardy. What is the weight of the silver?

Hardy. It weight ten ounces thirteen penny-weights

Q. to Cawthorn. Mention the words as near as you can, that you said to the prisoner.

Cawthorn. I said, if you expect favour of the company, it will be better to make an ample discovery; and in answer to that, he did acknowledge taking the things two or three times over to me. I put this to him before he was before my Lord-Mayor, but I did not tell my Lord he had made that confession; he denied it there, and said he had found it.

Prisoner's defence.

I was at Goldsmiths-hall on my Lord Mayor's day; I went with my wife to see the table laid; Mr. Cartwright the head cook seeing me in the kitchen doing nothing, said, have you any thing to do here; I said, no, only I came to see; he said, take this key and go to my wife for a shirt and stockings; I sent my wife; she brought them and delivered him the key; then he gave her and me some wine; then things were going in; he said, take hold of this dish and follow them; I believe I carried two or three dishes, but never a tureen. I was going through Goldsmiths-street in the dark, and kicked against something; I saw a watch key; I had some suspicion there was a watch; I went to the Sun Tavern in Milk-street, and asked for a candle, saying I had kicked against something in Goldsmiths-street; the young man said, he had not a bit of candle, but desired me to go to my own house, which I did; and when I came to the place, there lay this silver in a brown paper all over dirt.

To his character.

  George Swift . I am son to Mr. Swift that has given evidence here; I live at the Sun Tavern in Milk-street; the prisoner came to me on Thursday the 5th of November in the evening, and required a piece of candle; he said he had kicked against something in Goldsmiths-street, and had picked up a watch key, and thought there might be a watch; I said I could not let him have a bit, and advised him to go home for a bit, and go and see what it was. On the Monday morning after he called again, that was my Lord-Mayor's day.

Q. What is the prisoner's character?

Swift. I think he deserves a good character; I think he is not guilty of this charge; he and I are very intimate.

Cross examination.

Q. Did you see him on the Sunday before my Lord-Mayor's day?

Swift. He called at the tavern where I live when he came from church.

Q. Was you with him on the Friday?

Swift. No.

Q. Was you with him on the Thursday night?

Swift. No.

Q. Did he tell you in what part of the street it was that he kicked against something?

Swift. No; he said he thought it jingled like silver, and he thought it might be a watch, or the case of a watch.

Q. Did he say he attempted to look for it?

Swift. He did, but the moon did not shine on that side of the way.

Q. Where does he live?

Swift. He lives in King's-head-court, Gutter-lane.

Q. How far is the Sun Tavern from the place where he said he found the silver?

Swift. It is about an hundred yards distant.

Q. How near is his house to the place?

Swift. That is about a hundred and fifty yards from it.

Q. How came it you did not ask this intimate friend of your's on the Sunday, whether he had found any thing, when he imagined he had kicked against a watch or some silver?

Swift. I did not; I was with him but a little time, and I never thought of it.

Q. Did you ask him on the Monday?

Swift. No, I did not.

Mr. Whitten. He served his time to me; I never knew him to wrong me; I never found him any way dishonest.

  Charles Buttery . I have known him nine or ten years; I never heard any thing against his character; I served two years fellow apprentice with him.

  Charles Bowden . I have known him four years; he worked for me three quarters of a year, and for his care, diligence, and sobriety, I gave him the care of a shop, where he had eight men under his direction; I found him very honest; he has been from me near twelve months.

Acquitted .