William Dignum, the man charged with robbery and attempting to
murder Mr. Henry Andrews, near Hackney, on the 24th ult. (the par- ticulars were given by us at the time of the occurrence), was*tried on Thursday at the Old Bailey, and acquitted of the charge. Dignum established a very clear alibi. It appeared that Mr. Andrews must, in the hurry and trepidation of the moment, have mistaken Dignum, whose character is highly respectable, for another.
Mr. Carr, who was charged with manslaughter in having sold some dangerous and insufficient cannons to a person named Hughes, by the bursting of one of which a man named Webb was killed, was found guilty on Monday, and sentenced to fourteen days' imprisonment.
A man named Shaw, a well-known swindler and thief in town, was tried on Monday, on a charge of stealing la from a countryman, by the stale trick of helping him to secure his money. He was found guilty, and sentenced to transportation for life. Shaw is a very good- looking fellow ; his " flash " cognomen was " Pretty Charley."
Garratt Redmond Cotter, late clerk to the late Mr. Maurice, of the Brunswick Theatre, confidential clerk in Maurice and Co.'s printing- office, was arraigned on Monday, before a London Jury, for the embez- zlement of 741., and pleaded guilty. The convict was for six years in the confidential employment of Mr. Maurice, whose lamented death by the destruction of the Brunswick Theatre, some years ago, is well known. Since the period of that catastrophe, though a daily witness of the exertions of his widow for the support of herself and infant son, he had been recklessly engaged in embezzling monies which came into his hands as collecting-clerk. To cover his defalcations, which amount to nearly 1,0001., he has made false entries in the books, and committed many forgeries, the evidence of which is now in possession of the prosecutrix. When Mr. Maurice first engaged him, he was in the greatest poverty.
A very long trial took place on Thursday, of a Mrs. Ann Nicholls, for perjury committed in a suit for divorce in the Ecclesiastical Court, in which a Mrs. Kenrick was prosecutor, and her husband defendant. Nicholls swore, in addition to other matters, that she peeped through the keyhole of the bedroom of her master (Mr. Elder, a horse-dealer), and saw him and Mrs. Kenrick in bed together. It was clearly shown that this was impossible, inasmuch as neither when the door was shut nor ajar could the bed be seen through the keyhole. The lady, Mrs. Kenrick, was crosstexamined at great length : the only result of it, however, was, that she had a son before her first marriage, in 1824 ; of which slip, both her first husband and Mr. Kenrick her second were cognizant. Mrs. Nicholls was found guilty.
Three men were found guilty, on Wednesday, of stealing plate from the house of Henry Baker, Esq. Two of them were acquitted ; and the third, a very young lad, was found guilty. Mr. Baker recommended him, on account of his youth, to the mercy of the Court.
Mr. Justice Patteson—" The recommendation is of no use; the Act of Parliament is imperative, and condemns the prisoner to transportation for life."
Did not Earl Grey tell us that this clause could do no possible harm, and express his surprise at the language of the Judges in saying it did?
Two of the "swell mob," as they are called, named Austin and Davis, were condemned on Wednesday to fourteen years' transportation, for stealing two coats from the chambers of Mr. Maltby the barrister.
The cases at the Old Bailey Sessions, of which the above are a se- lection, have been of no particular interest. Most of the criminals were young. Of .535 (the entire number), only 123 were above thirty, and 212 were below twenty.
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