The Proceedings of the Old Bailey

 

1061.   SAMUEL SAMUEL was indicted for feloniously receiving, on the 23rd of May , 39 yards of silk, value 13l., the goods of   Alexander Wilson , which had then lately before been stolen : against the Statute, &c.

ALEXANDER WILSON. I live in  Crown-street, Finsbury-square , and am an umbrella and parasol maker . On Friday, the 23rd of May, I missed a piece of silk, about thirty-nine yards - in consequence of information I went to Mr. Soper, the manufacturer, in Spital-square - I then went to Mr. Barnard in London-wall - he is a parasol maker - I saw some parasols made of the silk I had lost, or similar silk - these are them - I then went with the policeman to the prisoner - Mr. Barnard questioned him as to the piece of goods which he had bought of him the Monday previous - the prisoner replied, he knew nothing at all about it - that he had never sold him any silk, or words to that effect - this parasol is one which had been cut from the piece of silk - there had been forty-two yards, and this reduced it to about thirty-nine yards - these parasols found at Mr. Barnard's appear to be the same silk - there is a defect in the figure which appears in the parasols.

Cross-examined by MR. PHILLIPS. Q. Is it an uncommon pattern? A. Yes - I do not mean that there is no more of this pattern - I found the silk six days after I missed it.

  HENRY SOPER . I am a silk-manufacturer, and live in Spital-square. In consequence of what I heard from Wilson, I went to Barnard's house - he is an umbrella and parasol maker - I saw these parasols in a box in his house- I know they are made of this silk which I made last year, it is a pattern I made for Mr. Wilson exclusively, till the close of May, 1833 - here is a particular mark in these parasols, by which I am quite sure they are made from the same piece as the parasol produced by Mr. Wilson- the cane was perhaps one hundred yards - it contained two or three pieces.

Cross-examined. Q. How long did you make the pattern for Mr. Wilson exclusively? A. Up to May, 1833 - he had perhaps six or seven pieces - I have made the same for eight or ten houses - here is a defect which runs along the whole line of the figure - a part of the white is deficient - I never made any more with this defect in it.

  MORRIS BARNARD . I live at No. 45, London Wall, and am an umbrella-maker. I have known the prisoner several years coming to my warehouse to purchase materials for umbrellas - on Sunday morning, the 25th of May, he came and purchased two dozen of pressed horn hooks, two dozen of collars, two dozen of six-inch runners, four dozen of cane ribs, and two dozen of embossed ferrules - he then said, "Mr. Barnard, I have a piece of silk I think will suit you" - I said I would look at it - he untied this silk - I looked at it, and asked what quantity he had - he said twenty-two yards, and it was 5s. a yard - I told him I could purchase from the manufacturer as good silk, or better than that, for that price; but I would give him 4s. 9d. for it - he accepted my offer - it was twenty-two yards - I calculated what it came to - it was 5l. 4s. 6d. - my son was present, and Mr. Millingen was up stairs - I called him down, and borrowed 5l. of him - I paid the prisoner, and he paid for what he purchased of me - I made these parasols out of that silk.

Cross-examined. Q. Did you buy it cheap? A. No; not cheap - there was no allowance for any defect in it - I saw no defect - I cut up many hundred yards - I looked at this before I bought it - I asked him if it was honest silk - Millingen was in the shop when I bought it, and he saw it- the prisoner has been in the habit of buying and selling- if I had not known him, I would not have bought it.

COURT. Q. You asked if it was honest silk, what did you mean by that? A. If he got it fair - he said it was quite right, I might offer it where I pleased.

  CHARLES MILLINGEN . I was called, and lent Mr. Barnard 5l.

  HENRY BARNARD . I was present on the 25th of May, when the prisoner came - he opened the silk, and asked my father 5s. a yard for it - my father said he was buying regular silk in the trade for that - my father measured the silk - there were twenty-two yards of it; and he offered him 4s. 9d., which he took - my father asked if I had any money - I said, "No" - he called Mr. Millingen, who lent him 5l.

Cross-examined. Q. You had known the prisoner before? A. Yes, seven or eight years - I have met him at

sales, and he has bought things, and brought them round to the trade - I did not examine the silk very minutely - my father knew the prisoner - we have other samples of silk at the same price - we did not examined the silk particularly - this is the silk - my father measured it, but he did not take notice whether there were any defects in it - this was on the 25th of May - the prisoner has been lame ever since I can recollect him.

MR. PHILLIPS to ALEXANDER WILSON. Q. Can you say that you saw a man with a crutch in your place? A. No - I had this silk on my counter on the 22d.

  THOMAS KELLY (police-constable G 224). I went to the prisoner's house - Mr. Barnard said that the prisoner sold him the silk - Mr. Barnard said to the prisoner, in my presence, that he was the man that sold him the silk which I had seen previously at his house - the prisoner said he did not - I then told the prisoner he was charged with selling a quantity of silk to Mr. Barnard on the Monday previous, which was supposed to have been stolen from Mr. Wilson - he said he did not sell it him, that he was not out of doors on the Monday, and he had witnesses to prove the same - Mr. Barnard told me, in the presence of the prosecutor, that the prisoner sold him the silk on the Monday, and I took him on the Thursday.

Cross-examined. Q. Now, mind, I apprise you that what I am about to ask you is of great consequence to Mr. Barnard. Are you quite positive that Mr. Barnard told you that it was on the Monday that he bought the silk of the prisoner? A. Yes; I cannot be mistaken in the day - I am sure the prisoner told Mr. Barnard, when he charged him with having sold it on the Monday, that he could account for his time on the Monday, and that he was not out of the house - Mr. Barnard, in the presence of the prisoner, did not make mention of Monday, but he had to me before we went to the house, and I told the prisoner he had sold it on Monday - Mr. Barnard did not correct me in the day - he never said any thing about Sunday till he was before the magistrate - it was after the prisoner declared he could account for his time on the Monday, that Mr. Barnard changed it to Sunday.

COURT to MORRIS BARNARD. Q. You told us the prisoner came to you on Sunday, the 25th of May? A. When Mr. Wilson called upon me, on the Thursday, and looked at the parasols, saying, that the silk was stolen from him, I was rather confused, and I did, in mistake, say Monday - I gave Millingen a cheque for the money.

Cross-examined. Q. Was Mr. Millingen paying his addresses to your daughter? A. Yes. I was confused at the moment Mr. Wilson called, but my memory came back that afternoon, when I came back from the magistrate - I was confused in the prisoner's house - I did not think of the day- I did not correct the prisoner on the spot - I had made a mistake - I first told Mr. Wilson I bought it on the Monday, but I was confused then - I told the policeman so- he came directly afterwards. I was not very well that day - I did not recollect the day exactly; I thought it was Monday - I then walked to the prisoner's house with the policeman - I did not say one word about being mistaken on the walk; I suffered the policeman to tell the prisoner it was Monday; I did not contradict it - I was agitated - I made a mistake in the day - I did not correct the mistake in any way, till the prisoner said he could prove where he was on Monday - I then said it was Sunday - I never discovered the mistake till my witnesses told me I had made a mistake - Sunday is a remarkable day to buy, but I forgot the day - when the prisoner said he could account for every moment of his time, it did not make me remember it; I never gave it a thought - he denied instantly that he had sold it to me - this is the cheque I gave to Millingen for the 5l. he lent me - I told my foreman to be here to prove that the prisoner called at my warehouse, for the ribs I gave the order for - there was no question made by any body at the police-office as to the day - I was not afraid it would be questioned - I have had money transactions with Millingen before - he has lent me money before - I cannot tell how long before; it might be a month before - I cannot tell how much, without I had my cheque-book here; it might be 15l. or 20l., it was not so much as 50l. - I do not know that it was less than 20l. - I will not swear, because I cannot particularly say - my son was in the shop I think half an hour before the prisoner came in - he was doing nothing particular; speaking about the business transactions of the week, it might be - he is at a factory of mine, and sometimes he gave me an account of what was done - he did not come till near the middle of the day - I asked the prisoner for a receipt - he said he could not write- this was in my son's presence - I had known the prisoner nine years - I never knew whether he could write or not, but I asked him to make me out a memorandum, and he said he could not write - Millingen was not present then, but my son was, and he heard it - this cheque is the one I drew on my bankers, Jones, Lloyd, and Co. - it has been to Jones's house - I cannot say when - I never asked Millingen when he paid it into Jones's house, and he never told me - I gave it him on the Monday; I think the morning part - I did not give it him on Sunday, because bankers are not open - he came on Monday, after breakfast - I breakfast about nine o'clock - I cannot say whether it was before dinner; he did not dine with me - I sometimes dine at three, and sometimes at four o'clock - I expected he would get it cashed that day - my house is not two hundred yards from Jones's - I do not think it was after five o'clock when I gave it him - I did not know whether he would get it cashed that day - I did not tell you I expected he would get it cashed that day; he might have done it - he might not have got it for two days - he did not say any thing to me before I gave it him - I was in my counting-house - I do not know that any one was present - my foreman is at my factory.

Q. When you were before the magistrate, were you sworn? A. I believe I was - I think I was - I am positive I was - I fixed on Monday as the day the prisoner sold it to me, but I made a mistake before the magistrate - I did not come to my recollection till after I left the magistrate - when I got home, my witnesses put me in mind that it was Sunday - my son was before the magistrate - he heard me swear it was Monday - he did not correct me - he did not give it a thought - my son was sworn, and I think he stated the purchase was made on Sunday.

Q. Now, did not you fix on Sunday as the right day,

because you knew the prisoner has not the means of proving an alibi? A. No; it was Sunday - I heard my son say it was Sunday, and I said it was Monday before the magistrate - I cannot tell why I did not speak to him.

Q. Now, having told it to Mr. Wilson, then to the policeman, then to the prisoner, and then to the magistrate, were you in a state of confusion all that time? A. It was the same day - I did not talk to my son in going to the office of any thing particular - I told him that the silk was stolen, and Mr. Wilson had called on me - that was before I went before the magistrate - I do not know what answer my son gave me - I was very much hurt - he said he was present at the transaction.

COURT. Q. He sold it you on Sunday, the 25th? A. Yes; I rolled up the silk, and on the Tuesday I cut it up, - that was the 27th - and on the Wednesday I offered the parasols for sale - they were made on the Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, and on Thursday they were found - I wrote this cheque, and gave it to Millingen - it would then go to the bankers; but I got it again, because I drew my books from the bankers, I think on the Wednesday morning, when I appeared before the magistrate the second time - I received this cheque, with some others, from the bankers - this transaction took place on Sunday, between twelve and one o'clock - my shop was open - the prisoner first made the purchases - my son was in the shop - the prisoner was there a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes - my son was there the whole time - Mr. Millingen was up stairs in the dining-room with part of my family - he came down when I called him - the prisoner was dressed in a drab or grey coat - he took all the things with him, except the cane ribs, which I gave him an order to receive at my factory - the silk was tied up in a pocket-handkerchief - my son saw that; Mr. Millingen did not - I did not give him the cheque that day, because he could not procure the money that day - he called on me on the Monday, and I told him the 5l. he had lent me I would repay him - I offered him the cheque - when this affair occurred, I got my book and cheques from the bankers, to prove that the 5l. I borrowed I paid him the next day - I thought the document to prove it was required, but no charge had then been made against me - I cannot tell how many of my family were up stairs with Millingen that Sunday - I dined at three or four o'clock - I went up stairs perhaps an hour afterwards - two or three of my daughters were there, and I think Millingen was.

COURT to HENRY BARNARD. Q. How long have you known Millingen? A. About four years.

Cross-examined. Q. Were you at the police-office on the Thursday with your father? A. I went there, but I could not speak to my father - I did not go with my father - I do not recollect whether I was sworn - I believe I said the silk had been sold to my father on the Monday - I did not recollect at the time - I did swear to Monday, but I did not think of it till I was reminded, when I got home, by Millingen and our foreman - I really cannot say whether I swore to the magistrate Sunday or Monday - I heard my father sworn - he said it was Monday - I was in the shop when this silk was bought - it was between twelve and one o'clock - I had not breakfasted with my father that day - I came in at the moment the prisoner was there, and he asked my father about the silk, which he had under his arm.

Q. What do you mean by "the moment?" A. The moment I entered my father's shop, I found the prisoner conversing with my father - I came in from our factory - I am sure I found the prisoner conversing with my father when I went in.

NOT GUILTY .