The Proceedings of the Old Bailey

 

467.   WILLIAM BRADBURY was indicted for stealing a Bank post-bill, for 20 l. a bank-note for 10 l. another note for 5 l. 5 s. the said notes being the property of   John Baring and Company; and the said several sums payable, and secured by the said notes, being due to the said   John Baring and Company, the proprietors thereof, against the statute , January the 1st .

Second count. Laying them to be the pro perty of   Robert Gosling , and   Francis Gosling .

  CHARLES COLLINGS sworn.

I am clerk in the Devonshire Bank, at Exeter . The firm of the house is   John Baring ,   Gregory Jackson , and   John Shaw . I remember   Gregory Jackson inclosed some notes in a letter directed to Robert and   Francis Gosling ; the letter was put into the post-office on the 29th of December last.

(The notes were produced to the witnesses.)

These are part of the notes inclosed in the letter.

  JAMES LOCKE sworn.

I am clerk at the post-office at Exeter. The letters put into our office on the 29th of December, were forwarded to London.

  EDWARD BARNES sworn.

I am clerk at the post-office in London. The Exeter bag arrived safe, as usual, on the 31st of December.

  ROBERT GOSLING , Esq. sworn.

This letter that was directed to you, did you receive it on the 31st of December? - No, I never received it.

  AMY NOBLE sworn.

I live with my brother, who keeps a silver-smith's shop at Charing-cross. On Tuesday night, the 30th of January, the prisoner came to our house, and bought a pair of silver shoe-buckles, a gold shirt-button, and a pair of gilt buttons; he gave me a Bank post-bill of 20 l. and I gave him cash for it. I gave the bill to my brother that night.

  RICHARD NOBLE sworn.

I keep a silver-smith's shop at Charing-cross. On Tuesday evening, the 31st of December, I received a 20 l. Bank post-bill of my sister; I sent it to the Bank the next morning, for acceptance.

Was it paid? - No. On Saturday was three weeks, the prisoner came into my shop to buy a pair of silver buckles; I shewed him some: he did not approve of them. He asked for some second-hand ones, I shewed some, and he chose a pair. Then he wanted a gold shirt-buckle; I shewed him one, he said, he had no cash by him; if I would change him a five-guinea bill, he would be obliged to me. He gave it me; I saw it was the same indorsement as the 20 l. note my sister had received. I suspected him; I asked him, if he had any other note: he shewed me a 10 l. note, indorsed in the same manner. I took them both, and told him, I would get change for one or the other. I went to my other shop, which is opposite, and desired a person to go to the door, and see that he did not get off, while I got a constable. I went to the watch-house, and got one, and took him in custody. As we were going in a coach to Bow-street, I asked him, how he came by the notes; he said, he found them in a pocket-book, either

in Fleet-street, or the Strand, I am not certain which. We asked him what he did with the pocket-book; he said, he threw it away. He was searched at Bow-street, and he had five guineas, and some silver, in his pocket.

Mr.   ANTHONY PARKIN sworn.

I am solicitor to the Post-office. I attended the examination of the prisoner, at Bow-street, on the 17th of June. The three notes which have been produced here, were at that time produced: the prisoner was asked, where he got them; he said, he was coming along Cheapside, on a Friday or a Saturday evening, about six or seven o'clock, and he found a pocket-book, in which these three notes were contained; and also a 50 l. note, which he had put off at Windsor, a 100 l. note, which he had put off at Bath, and a 40 l. note, or bill, which he had put off at Mr. Tregent's, a watch-maker, in Leicester-fields. He said, he did not look at the pocket-book 'till the Sunday after he found it; and that in two or three days after his looking at the pocket-book, and its contents, he put off the 20 l. note at Mr. Noble's. He was also asked, if he told any body what he found; he said, No: he was asked if he had any acquaintance in the Post office; he said, he had an uncle who was a letter-carrier, who was dead. He was asked, if he had ever visited his uncle, in the letter-carrier's office; he said, he had.

To Collings. Did the letter that was sent from your house, contain a 100 l. a 50 l. and a 40 l. Bank-note? - A 100 l. two Bank post-bills, 50 l. each, a 20 l. Bank-note, and a 40 l. Bank-note.

  JAMES TREGENT sworn.

I am a watchmaker, in Leicester-fields. On the 8th of January, in the evening, the prisoner came to my shop, to buy a gold watch: he asked for one of a low price; he said, he had had some prize-money; that all he had got, for a great many prizes they had taken, was a 40 l. Bank-note, which he would go home and fetch, in an hour. He came again, in about an hour, with the note; the watch came to fifteen guineas: I took the note, and gave him change. He said his name was Barnett. I never saw him before; I saw him afterwards at the Justices.

  WILLIAM ELY sworn.

I am a letter-carrier to the Post-office. I have often seen the prisoner in the letter-carrier's office, at the post-office in Lombard-street; he used to come to his uncle,   Solomon Barnett .

Do the letters that come from Exeter, and which are directed to Fleet-street, go into that office? - Yes, they do.

  EDWARD POINTER sworn.

I am inspector of the letter-carriers. I knew   Solomon Barnett very well; he was in the letter-carrier's office fourteen or fifteen years. He always bore an exceeding good character; he is now dead: he died about Lady-day last.

  ISAAC PADMAN sworn.

I am in the Bank post-bill-office, the office for issuing Bank post-bills.

Look at that bill: is that the proper clerk's hand-writing? - It is.

Is that bill paid? - It is a cancelled note; I apprehend it is paid; it was accepted the 2d of January, 1782. I issue out bills, and pay them; I have two partners who pay bills when I am not there. I cannot say whether this has been paid or no.

Was it, on the first of January, unpaid and unsatisfied? - I am certain it was.

PRISONER's DEFENCE.

I found a pocket-book on the last Saturday of the old year, in Cheapside; I put it into my pocket. I did not look at it 'till the Sunday after; then I found there were six notes in it: I put the notes into my pocket, and threw the pocket-book away. I went on Tuesday to Mr. Noble's, and bought a pair of shoe-buckles, a shirt-buckle, and a pair of buttons, and changed a 20 l. note.

GUILTY .

Tried by the First Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Justice HEATH.

[Transportation. See summary.]