Volume V
|
and sentenced to Death, for robbing a Man whom they had accused of being an Ex-Convict the bar and indicted for making an assault, upon the king's highway, on William Ducketts, putting him in fear, and taking from his person, and against his will, a pocket-book, value sixpence, one Bank of England note, value ten pounds, one other Bank of England note, value five pounds, and three one-pound notes, his property. William Ducketts deposed that he was a venetian-blind maker, and that on the night of the day mentioned in the indictment he went into a liquor shop in St Giles's and asked for some beer ; but they did not sell any, and he could not be served with that article ; so he called for some rum-and- water. Whilst drinking it he observed an old man in the shop, and he invited him to a glass of gin, and paid for it, and then took the old man with him across the way to a public-house, where the two prisoners, who saw him in the liquor shop, followed him. They all conversed together, and he treated them all. He had no sooner done this than he perceived the prisoner Payne whisper something to another man in the room (Salmon, the Bow Street officer), and immediately Salmon took him (the prosecutor) into custody and searched him, saying that he had an information against him. He answered that he was not afraid of any matter or person, but the officer proceeded to search him, and upon taking his pocket-book from his pocket examined it, and found its contents to consist of the property above mentioned, whereupon Salmon said he was misinformed, and advised him immediately to go home. All this time the two prisoners were present, and saw the notes taken out of and again restored to the pocket-book, which he placed again in his inside coat-pocket, and having paid his reckoning departed. He had not, however, proceeded many paces from the last public-house when two men rushed upon him; one of them pulled his hat over his eyes, and the other pulled back his hands, and one or the other of them said, Come, you b--y --, your pocket-book," and they snatched it violently from his pocket, and made off. Salmon corroborated all that part of the testimony of the prosecutor that related to the occurrences which took place during the whole of the time he was in the room of the last public-house, and he assigned as a reason for searching the prosecutor in the manner he did that one of the prisoners (Payne) had privately informed him that he, the prosecutor, was a returned convict. Another witness, the publican, proved that both the prisoners came to his house the day after the robbery and tendered a ten-pound Bank of England note to be changed, which turned out to be the very identical note that was in Ducketts's pocket-book when he was robbed. The evidence of the prosecution being gone through, the judge, Sir Simon Le Blanc, summed up the evidence with his accustomed accuracy and precision, making suitable comments on the whole, and the jury brought in a verdict of guilty, and sentence of death was passed. |