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Chelmsford Chronicle 8 May 1829 (Charles Coe)
Crown Court (Before John Disney, Esq)
Charles Coe and James Edgeley were convicted of assaulting Samuel Clark, at Earls Colne, and taking from his person the sum of nine shillings and sixpence, his property. The prosecutor, a jobber at Earls Colne, and very deaf, stated, that he was at the George public-house on Friday the 27th of March; the prisoners came in soon after; witness changed a sovereign to pay for a pot of beer, and received 19s 6d in change from Mr Martin, the landlord, which he put into his right-hand breeches pocket; prisoners shortly afterwards sat down beside him and asked him to dance, which he refused to do; they then pulled him off his seat, shook him, and afterwards gave him a blow which knocked him down on the bricks; does not know which of the two struck him, nor which of them put his hand into his pocket; when he recovered from his fall he missed 9s 6d from his pocket, viz. a half-crown, six shillings, and two sixpences. Cross-examined. Three of them had drank three pots of beer; was not tipsy; there were about twenty persons in the room; a woman was there of the name of B[illegible]; did not buy her a jug; was asked what he thought of her; did neither play nor dance with her. The persons in the room took the prisoners into custody. Charles Ketley, a bricklayer at Earls Colne, was at the George on the above day; it was fair day; he went in soon after the prisoners. Coe called for a pot of beer; Martin’s niece brought it in; Coe said he had but 3d except a sovereign, and he would be d—d if he’d change that for a pot of beer, upon which a man of the name of Basset said,”I’ll pay 3d for you till you partner comes in”; Edgeley came in about half an hour afterwards. Saw Clark change the sovereign and put his change in his pocket. Witness corroborated the evidence of Clark, as to him being pulled off his seat and made to dance round, as well as to him being knocked down; he then stated that he saw Edgeley draw his hand from Clark’s right-hand breeches pocket; a shilling dropped, which a man named Marven picked up; witness then asked Edgeley what business his hand had there, and observed that he had used the man (meaning Clark) ……ly. Coe said he was a d—d liar, and asked what business he had to interfere; he further said that he would serve witness the same; witness then laid hold of him, and held him till Russell, the constable, came. Coe said he would [?clear] the whole house if he had room. John Marven corroborated the last witness’s evidence. William Russell, constable of Earls Colne, was called in to take the prisoners into custody; he found on Coe four shillings, a sixpence, and two farthings. Bourne, another constable, searched Edgeley, and found on him a half-crown, three shillings and a sixpence. Coe conducted himself very improperly on being taken into custody. Coe, in his defence, said, that when the prosecutor was before Mr Brewster, the Magistrate, he stated that the woman had put her hand in his pocket. The depositions were accordingly read and in Mr Clark’s statement were the following words “The woman put her hand in my waistcoat pocket.” The prosecutor, on being recalled, declared that he had not uttered the words imputed to him. Mr Disney thought that owing to the deafness of the prosecutor, the error might have occurred. The father of the prisoner Coe gave him a good character, and produced several written testimonials from persons with whom the prisoner had lived, one of whom offered to take him into his service again. The Learned [?Chairman] remarked, that he never remembered a more desperate or [?designing] case, and he should exercise the utmost severity of the law, which was that they both be transported for the term of their natural lives.
1829/Mr Martin/../../../Chelmsford Chronicle Article
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