This weeks West Briton is quite long and will therefore be sent in several parts. West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser. Friday 1st August, 1856. Part One. INSOLVENT DEBTOR - To be heard in the Court House, at Lancaster Castle, in the County of Lancaster, on Friday the Fifteenth day of August, 1856, at Eleven o'clock in the Morning precisely. JOHN ENDEAN, formerly of the Smiths' Arms, Shortlane's End, Kenwyn, near Truro, Cornwall, Blacksmith, Farmer, and Beerseller, and late in lodgings, in Dublin-street, Liverpool, Lancashire, out of business. LEON L. ISAACS. Attorney for the Insolvent, Sun-street, Lancaster. COUNTY COURT OF CORNWALL REDRUTH - Whereas a Petition of CHARLES WILLIAMS, formerly of Saint Teath in the County of Cornwall, and then of Saint Erth, in the county of Cornwall and then of the parish of Phillack, in the County of Cornwall, and now of the parish of Phillack, in the County of Cornwall, Civil Engineer, Mine Dialler, Surveyor, and Mine Agent, an Insolvent Debtor, having been filed in the County Court of Cornwall, holden at Redruth, in the said County, and an Interim Order for Protection from Process having been given to the said Charles Williams, under the provisions of the statutes in that case made and provided, the said Charles Williams is hereby required to appear in the said court to be holden at the Town-hall, Redruth, aforesaid, before the Judge of the said Court, on the Twenty-first day of August next, at Eleven o'clock in the forenoon precisely, for his first examination touching his debts, estate, and effects, and to be further dealt with according to the provisions of the said statute; And Notice is hereby given that the choice of Assignees is to take place at the time so appointed. All persons indebted to the said Charles Williams, or who have any of his effects, are not to pay or deliver the same but to Mr. FRANCIS PAYNTER, the Clerk of the said Court, at his office at the Town Hall, Redruth, in the said County, the Official Assignee appointed by the said Court in that behalf, acting in the matter of the said petition. Francis Paynter, Clerk. Dated July 10, 1856. TRIALS OF PRISONERS - JAMES SMOUTEN, a seaman, aged 23, pleaded Guilty of stealing, on the 5th of July, a coat, the property of THOMAS CLARIDGE, at St. Germans. In passing sentence, the learned Judge said he thought it probable there was some truth in a statement made by the prisoner that he took the coat when in liquor, and intended to return it; and his lordship remarked on the readiness with which the prisoner shewed the coat to the constable; but, drunk, or sober, he must be careful not to repeat such conduct, or he would be liable to a very different punishment than would not be imposed. Sentence, One Month's Hard Labour. JOANNA EDWARDS, 48 [?] a charwoman, who was indicted for having, as a servant to the Rev. WILLIAM JOHN ALBAN, at Mevagissey, stolen about 3 lb. of soap, his property, on the 10th of March. On this indictment she pleaded Guilty. She was then indicted and pleaded Not Guilty to a charge of having, on the 8th of April, burglariously broken and entered the dwelling-house of the Rev. WILLIAM JOHN ALBAN, at Mevagissey, on the 8th of April, and stolen a piece of beef value 5s. the property of the said William John Alban. Mr. BEVAN conducted the prosecution; the prisoner was undefended. ANN ANDREW deposed:- I am a cook in the service of Mr. Alban, and know the prisoner, who used sometimes to be in Mr. Alban's house, as washerwoman. About ten o'clock on Tuesday night, I left some beef in the inside larder communicating with the kitchen; I went to bed about eleven o'clock, and a few minutes after six the next morning, I was called down stairs by the housemaid, and found that the window had been broken, and the piece of beef gone; I next saw the beef in the possession of the constable HINGSTON, at St. Austell, on the following Thursday. (The constable here produced the beef, and it was identified by the witness Ann Andrew.) JOHN DIMOND, gardener in Mr. Alban's service:- I recollect the night of the Tuesday spoken of; between ten and eleven o'clock, I was in the kitchen and saw my fellow servant Ann Andrew, fasten the windows before she went to bed. When I went to bed, about half-past eleven, I left the book in the kitchen. Next morning, about a quarter past six, I came down stairs and saw that a pane of glass was broken in the window, by which the slide of the window had been put back; and the back door was unbolted, which I had seen bolted the night before. I went out to the tool-house, and saw that the door which I had fastened the night before was opened; and that there were marks on the door of its having been opened with a spade which was then resting near the door. Under the window of the larder, I saw marks of shoes, apparently a woman's, and afterwards I saw a similar mark on the window sill of the kitchen. On the Wednesday evening, I went with the constable Hingston, to the prisoner's house, and saw him search and find a piece of beef under a bed-tie. It was the beef I had before seen. The prisoner said she had it at her brother William's; but almost immediately afterwards she said she found it on the road. William Hingston, constable, of Mevagissey, gave particulars of his search at the prisoner's, and of the statements made by her, substantially the same as the evidence of the previous witness. SUSAN ANDREW, housemaid at Mr. Alban's:- I recollect the Wednesday morning, when it was found that something had been stolen from master's house. I cam down stairs eight or ten minutes after six o'clock. (This witness corroborated previous evidence, as to the window being broken, and the beef stolen from the larder. The jury found the prisoner Guilty of feloniously receiving.) Sentence - Two Months' Hard Labour for feloniously receiving the beef; and at the expiration of that sentence, Three Months' Hard Labour for stealing soap. GILBERT BENNETT, 25, miner, charged with breaking and entering the dwelling-house of WILLIAM BAILY, at Camborne, on the 21st of June, and stealing a sack and half a bushel of oats. He was also charged with felonious receiving. Mr. HOLDSWORTH conducted the prosecution; Mr. COLERIDGE the defence. William Baily deposed:- I live in Trelowarren-street, Camborne. On my premises I have a barn and stable within the courtlage, and detached from the swelling-house; the back part of the premises adjoin the back road. About half-past seven or eight o'clock in the evening of the 21st of June, I locked the stable-door, having on the previous Thursday put in the barn above the stable a sack containing half a bushel of oats. I locked the stable each night, and opened it each morning afterwards, till Sunday morning about half-past six, when I found that the stable door had been ripped open, and that the sack and oats were gone. In the morning of the 4th July, policeman WARD told me where the sack was; I went to the house of constable GEORGE NOBLE, and there I saw the sack which I gave into Nobel's custody (Noble here produced the sack, and it was identified by the witness). I have not seen the oats since. When I saw the sack at Noble's, there was wheat in it. The prisoner lives about 300 or 400 yards, or it may be a quarter of a mile from me. Cross Examined - I have known prisoner ten years; and never heard anything against him till this affair. JOSEPH WARD, police constable at Camborne:- I was on duty on the 4th July, in Union-street, between Trelowarren-street, and prisoner's residence. I heard a shrill whistle several times, and went towards it in Trelowarren street, and there made a stand; I heard footsteps of a man coming on; I concealed myself behind a door way until the prisoner came up and I took hold of him. Prisoner had a sack on his back, with something in it. I took hold of him and asked what he had there; and he said grain. I put my hand into the sack and found it was wheat, and said this is Eddy's wheat. Mr. Eddy had had his mill broken into and wheat stolen. Prisoner said, "Oh do let me go, and I'll never do it again;" he afterwards said that JOHN JAMES had found it in a brake belonging to Mr. PAULL, and told him where to go for it. He dropped the sack from his shoulder, and a young man, by my directions, took it to Noble's house, and I left it there. George Noble, constable produced the sack; and stated that on the night when it was brought to his house, the prisoner said that he and John James had found it a few days before, on the top of a hedge, and that John James and he had gone for it that night. (This witness also stated, on cross-examination, that the prisoner had borne a good character). John James, miner:- I live at Rosewarne Downs, in the parish of Camborne. I know the prisoner; I never went with him to any hedge, and never found a sack; I never told him to go and get one; I never saw this sack before I saw it before the magistrates. Mr. Coleridge said he could not ask the jury to disbelieve the evidence of the last witness; and if they believed him the story told by the prisoner was untrue, and that was evidence from which the jury might, if they thought proper, derive the inference that he stole the property. Mr. Coleridge, however, spoke of the good character which the prisoner received; but, as that was rather for his lordship's consideration, he would not trouble the jury with any observation in defence. The jury found the prisoner Guilty of Feloniously Receiving, with recommendation to mercy on account of previous good character. The prisoner was then indicted for stealing six tame ducks, the property of HENRY JENKIN, at Illogan. Henry Jenkin:- I reside at Red River, in Illogan; I am a farmer and keep ducks; I recollect rearing six ducks, of which my little boy had charge. I missed them on the morning of the 4th of July, and in course of the day saw George Nobel, the constable, and in consequence of what he told me I went to the constable Ward and saw four ducks in his possession. Joseph Ward, constable - on the night in question I apprehended the prisoner with the sack; I searched him and found four ducks in his coat pockets; I asked him where he got them; he said he stole them down at Red River, and begged to be let go and he would never do so again. James Jenkin, son of prosecutor, who had charge of the ducks, stated that he last saw them at his father's about seven or eight o'clock in the evening of Thursday, the 3rd of July; next morning he found the six ducks missing, and in the evening went to Ward's house and there saw four of them. (Ward produced the ducks, which were identified by the witness). Guilty. Sentence - Two Months' Hard Labour in respect of the sack; and One Month's Hard Labour for stealing the ducks. THOMAS LITTLETON, 22, a joiner, charged with stealing two planes, one chisel, and one plumb-bob, the property of SAMUEL TREVETHERN BENNETT, shipwright, from his yard, at Padstow, on or about the 14th of July. Mr. COLERIDGE conducted the prosecution; and Mr. COLE the defence. The Prosecutor deposed, I am a shipwright at Padstow; in July last I left there for some days, leaving my tools in charge of PASCOE BILLING, my workman. On my coming back, I received information that the planes were missing. In consequence of that, I called my workmen together and told them that if the planes were not brought back by the Tuesday night following, I should take measures to discover and punish the guilty person. This was on the Monday. The planes were not brought back on the Tuesday, and on the Wednesday morning, a search was made in the hold of the vessel from which they had been missed. Prisoner was in my employ, and had been at work in the hold of the vessel. I asked him if he knew any thing about the missing planes. He cried and said he did not know anything about them, and that he had not seen or touched them since the time of their being missing, he also offered to make the same statement before any magistrate, and to allow his boxes to be searched without warrant. I went to BLANNING, the constable, and told him what had passed, and I then went to my yard to tell Littleton to come and open his boxes. I found Littleton was not there; and I then went to Blanning to hasten him to Littleton's lodgings; and I and Blanning went there together to the prisoner's house, and there I saw Blanning take a plane from under prisoner's arm, and the prisoner asked me to be merciful to him. I said I could not do anything for him, as it was gone out of my hands. I got a search warrant, and searched prisoner's lodgings and found one other plane, a chisel, and a plumb-bob. The plumb-bob, I believe, was lost in November, and the chisel was lost in May. The plane that was found under his arm was also my property. On the 1st of July, the prisoner went to work for me, with tools belonging to me; he had been working in the yard before, but not as my servant. I found tools for my apprentices; and the men for themselves; the prisoner was on trial, and would have been an apprentice if all things had gone straight. The understanding was that I was to find tools for him until he got his own, and when he worked with his own tools, his wages were to be raised from 9s. a week to 10s. Thomas Blanning, constable:- On the 16th of July, Bennett called on me and gave me some information, in consequence of which I went to Littleton's lodgings, and found him at the foot of the stairs; he had under his arm a new plane that answered the description of the one I had lost; I took it from him and charged him with having stolen it from Bennett. Bennett was close behind me, and when I apprehended the prisoner he turned round to Bennett, and said "be merciful" or something to that effect. (The Witness then confirmed previous evidence, as to the results of the search at prisoner's lodgings, under search warrant; and he produced the various articles spoken of, for identification). Pascoe Billing, foreman for Mr. Bennett:- On Tuesday the 8th of July Mr. Bennett went away, and left in my care the yard and tools, and these two planes in particular; one of them was new and had never been used. I put the planes in my own chest, locked it, and kept them there till Thursday morning the 10th, when I took them on board the vessel for two men to work with and they were again taken on board the vessel on the following Friday morning; I saw them there that morning, but not afterwards till the following Wednesday, before the magistrates. The old plane had been missing about two months; the prisoner was working about the premises about that time. The defence by Mr. Cole, both in cross-examination and in his address to the jury, was, chiefly, that the prisoner took the tools not with a felonious intent, but justifiably under some alleged agreement or understanding between him and the prosecutor, his employer; and the prisoner received a very good character from the Rev. F. J. H. KENDALL, vicar of Lanlivery. The jury found the prisoner Guilty, but recommended him to mercy on account of his good character; and the learned judge passed the lenient sentence of a Fortnight's Hard Labour. JOHN GROSE, 21, miner, JOSEPH GROSE, 18, also a miner; and SAMUEL PARSONS, 12, carpenter; were charged with burglary at the dwelling-house of JOHN TREWELLING, at Tywardreath Highway, and with stealing therefrom two loaves of bread, on the night of Saturday the 12th of July. Mr. HOLDSWORTH conducted the prosecution. The trial resulted in the Acquittal of all three prisoners; but they were less fortunate in a second indictment, which charged them with stealing a rope, three tame fowls, and two poles the property of JOSEPH PHILLIPPS, on the same night and in the same neighbourhood. They were all found Guilty on this charge, and were sentenced to Twelve Months' Hard Labour, each. There was a third indictment, which was not pressed, charging the three prisoners with stealing on the same night, six gallons of cider and a water cask, the property of SAMUEL JANE. NICHOLAS VENNING, 47, coach-builder, was charged with stealing a vice and a spanner, the property of WILLIAM BIDDICK KELLOW, coach-builder, at St. Austell, on the 22nd of July. Mr. BERE conducted the prosecution, and the prisoner was undefended; the trial resulted in a verdict of Acquittal. JOSEPH KNIGHT, 21, carpenter, was charged, that he being a servant of WILLIAM BREWER, cabinet-maker, of St. Columb, stole from his master on the 19th of July, a workbox, a triangle, and some pieces of wood. Mr. HOLDSWORTH conducted the prosecution, and Mr. CARTER the defence. After several witnesses had been examined, the learned Judge stopped the case, and directed a verdict of Acquittal, but strongly cautioned the prisoner, and workmen and apprentices generally, against taking any portion of their masters' property, however small, under any supposition that they were entitled to it. If masters chose to give any refuse or other material for workmen or apprentices to work up for themselves, it was a different thing; but it must be understood that workmen and apprentices had no right to it. There was a similar indictment against PHILIP SMITH, aged 22, also a carpenter in Mr. Brewer's employ, for a precisely similar offence; but after the result of the preceding case, no evidence was offered, and the Judge directed an Acquittal. Mr. Carter said it was right he should state on behalf of these two young men, that there were witnesses in court who would have given them an excellent character. The Judge said he did not doubt their good character; but they must in future bear in mind that they had no right to take any of their master's property. Mr. Brewer, the prosecutor, addressing the judge, said he was pleased that his lordship had thus disposed of the cases; his only object had been to give warning for the future. The Judge said he had taken a right course. l SAMUEL McMEIKEN, 27, draper, was charged with embezzling certain moneys, to the amount of ten shillings and upwards, the property of his master, JAMES MILLAR, of Redruth, draper, on or about the 14th of July. Mr. COLE conducted the prosecution; the prisoner was undefended. James Millar deposed:- I am a draper at Redruth, and am in the habit of employing young men as servants, to travel for me. The prisoner was in my employ; and his duty was to call on any customers, and to take orders and receive money, on a particular round. My agreement with him was for two years, a sort of apprenticeship; the young men do not receive wages, but have their board, lodging, and travelling expenses, and at the end of two year we sell them a round and establish them in trade, this being paid for by bills at long date as we can agree. His Duty was to give account every Saturday night of moneys and to pay over the money to me. On the 5th of July he returned, after having been out for a week, but did not pay me over any money; he ought to have returned on the Friday night, but he did not return till late on the Saturday night, remained over Sunday, and started on Monday morning before I got up. I made some inquiries about him at Penzance, and the result was that I had him apprehended. I have here the prisoner's account book, which I took from him at Penzance; it contains entries of his having received a shilling from Mrs. KINGSTON, a shilling from Mrs. RAWLING, and ten shillings from Mrs. GRENFELL. I got that book from him a fortnight before he was taken into custody, when I went down to Penzance, I discovered that he had been receiving money; those sums I have mentioned had been paid to him as instalments on account, and he has never handed them over to me. MARY ANN BONNER, who lives at Penzance, and receives money on behalf of Mr. Millar from his customers, proved that on the 4th of July, she paid to McMeiken the three several sums named in the indictment; he having applied to her on the 19th of June, for money due from Mrs. Grenfell. WILLIAM NICHOLL, constable of Redruth, proved that on the 19th of July he had a warrant for the apprehension of prisoner, and on the following day, took him into custody at Morvah, and charged him with embezzling his master's property to the amount of GBP3 and upwards, and he said he would not have his exposure for his existence, and that if he owed Mr. Millar anything he would pay him, if he would give him time. In the course of cross-examination by prisoner, the prosecutor admitted that he had sold a considerable amount of debts, and got GBP90 in respect thereof, on the round on which the prisoner was engaged; but asserted that he was not bound to sell to the prisoner, at the end of his tow years, any particular round; he might sell him any round. There was between the prosecutor and prisoner much controversy as to the custom of their trade; and, eventually, the learned Judge on the evidence adduced, and on the account book put into his lordship's hands, summed up much in prisoner's favour, suggesting that, although it was clear the prisoner had received the sums of money in question and had not paid them to his master, there might be doubt as to the intent to defraud, which was the essence of a charge of embezzlement; there was the possibility that the money was retained as set-off for wages. His lordship also expressed strong disapproval of the system under which a man of such age as the prisoner was kept at work without receiving wages for his maintenance; it was, his lordship said, a perilous state to place such a man in, to be in the receipt of money, and to have nothing for himself as compensation, but the purchase of a district at the end of two years. The jury found a verdict of Not Guilty. SIMON KENVER, 19, labourer, was charged with maliciously killing a sheep, the property of THOMAS ADAMS, at Laneast, on the 3rd of May. Mr. COLERIDGE was counsel for the prosecution, but was engaged in the nisi prius court until a large portion of evidence in this case had been taken by the learned Judge, by examination from the depositions. GEORGE ADAMS, son of the prosecutor, deposed:- I live with my father at Lidicott farm. The prisoner was in the employ of Mr. LETHBRIDGE, who is my father's landlord, and whose estate adjoins. Five or six weeks before this sheep was killed, my father lost some lambs, which I found lying dead on some of the adjoining estates. Sheep and lambs were destroyed from nearly all the flocks in the neighbourhood; five or six in a week; I have seen five dead at a time; they were cut and stabbed. In consequence of this, I went to watch, about nine o'clock on the 2nd of May, and sat on a furze-brake, opposite the field where Lethbridge's sheep were to be that day. I saw Kenver and another of Mr. Lethbridge's men bring the sheep into that field; and afterwards the other man left, and Kenver was left along in the field, with a gun in his hand. The sheep broke from this field (Higher Widdons) to a field below called Lower Widdons, where Kenveer followed them and remained there till the bell struck twelve, and the sheep then went up to Higher Widdons again, and Kenver followed them and lay down in a gap; he then walked across the field into the plantation and I lost sight of him for twenty minutes; I left my place and went into the plantation, and he was not there. I then went to see my father's sheep; and then returned to the plantation, which was searched that day by, I suppose, thirty men of Mr. Lethbridge's and the neighbourhood; all hands turned out to make search, as it was supposed the sheep and lambs had been torn by dogs. That search continued till four o'clock; and when all the men were gone away, I went back to the place from whence I have been watching before, and saw Kenver and the sheep in the Lower Widdons, where they remained till six o'clock; and then when I joined Kenver, he told me there was another lamb bitten. I said "when?" He said, "when I fired." I asked him at what time. He said, "about half-past five." I said, "where were the sheep?" He said "in the Higher field; there was many a lamb outside the hurdle; I saw them run off; I ran to the hurdle, and inside I saw a bleeding lamb: I saw the furze move, and I fired in that direction." I asked him where it was; and he said in the higher corner, and that he had brought the carcase of the lamb down to the lower field. During all that time, I had been watching those fields; and from half past four to the time I joined him, I am certain there was no sheep or lambs in the Higher Widdons, and none at the time he fired. I examined the lamb, and found it had two stabs in the neck, and the tail was cut, nearly divided in two; they were not such marks as a dog would make; I believe the stabs were made with a knife, and the mark on the tail was a perfect cut. I walked towards home with Kenver and the other men, and on the way Kenver was asked if he killed anything when he fired. He said no, he did not see anything, but he had hear dogs in the plantation nine or ten times that morning, and that the last time he went through the plantation it was something larger than a dog and it made a terrible noise. As I came back I saw a man called BLIGH, who examined the lamb in the presence of the prisoner, and said "Simon, this looks exactly like a cut with a knife." Prisoner made no reply. I then made arrangements to watch the next day; and about half-past nine left to go home; on the road I again saw Kenver, and said to him, "I have been into BLIGHT's and I am very much interested in finding out who is doing the mischief." He replied, "you are in as much danger as the rest." The next dinner hour I made arrangements to watch, and went to the furze-brake, and took my place where I could command the field in which our sheep were. During that forenoon Kenver was watching, with Mr. Lethbridge's keeper, HAWKE. As soon as Hawke left, (according to our arrangement), Kenver left the field and was absent about an hour; and then he came back and was joined by four men and directly afterwards by two others. I left and went home, but directly afterwards, a communication was made to me, in consequence of which I went to one of my father's fields, and there saw a dead sheep; its throat was cut; the windpipe cut all across, four or five inches with a sharp instrument; a cut across the nose; and at the shoulder a stab four or five inches deep, and perfectly fresh and warm. My father came there, and we observed near the sheep footmarks of shoes with nails. I had no nails in my shoes. The witness minutely described the footmarks, which he observed near the dead sheep, and which he traced at various parts of the fields, to the Widdons; and he went on to say:- When I got to the Widdons, I saw the prisoner there; the keeper and another man joined me: and we found that the footprints corresponded with the prisoner's shoes. My father charged him with killing the sheep, and put him in custody. When I said we must compare the shoes, the prisoner rose up and said "there's no sense in this." I said there's no sense in having so many sheep killed; I told him, too, that I had been watching the day before, and that his movements did not correspond with what he had told me, and that the account he had given me was almost entirely false, and that there had been no sheep at all on Higher Widdons at the time he said the lamb was bitten. My father took him into custody, and we walked to the bottom of the field where we had seen the perfect impression, and on comparing it with the prisoner's shoes we found them correspond exactly; the shoes also corresponded exactly with the impressions where we had found the dead sheep. About this time, some person asked him if he had anything in his pockets; he said "nothing but a knife," which he produced, and I found on it the mark of recent blood; the knife looked as if it had been washed; there was no blood on the outside of the handle; the blood was inside, and on the handle was some wool. Some one made an observation that there was blood and wool on the knife; and he said "that there may," afterwards at Launceston, he said he hoped I would do what I could for him. I said I should say nothing about it but the truth; but I believed it was impossible but that he must be convicted of killing that sheep and wounding more. He said he ought not to be punished for what he did not do, and that he had not done half of it. I said, "Do you mean that you have had any company in the affair; or did you see any other person kill sheep?" He said, yes, he did; and he named a person, whom he said he had seen kill a lamb in his master's field. I said, "Did the person know you saw him?" He said he did. "Then," I said, "you were together?" He said yes; and he mentioned several cases that he did not do. Confirmatory evidence was given by JAMES HODGE, a labourer, who was at Lidicoat farm on Saturday the 3rd of May; RICHARD HAWKE, Mr. Lethbridge's keeper at Tregeare; JOSEPH BLIGH, Mr. Lethbridge's hind, who stated that between Ladyday and the 2nd of May there had been as many as thirty-two sheep and lambs killed in the neighbourhood; and that Kenver's employment was to look after Mr. Lethbridge's sheep, under him (Bligh); THOMAS ADAMS, the prosecutor, who added that neither himself nor any one else in the neighbourhood had lost any sheep since the 3rd of May, when the prisoner was apprehended; and BENJAMIN SAMBELLS, policeman at Launceston, who received the prisoner in custody on Saturday the 3rd of May; about half-past six on Saturday, Kenver attempted to escape from the lock-up, and witness re-took him. The learned Judge deferred sentence, and intimated that the case seem to him of so extraordinary a character, that he should like to make some inquiries as to the prisoner's intellect. A bill against the prisoner, for maiming and wounding a lamb, the property of JOHN KING LETHBRIDGE, Esq., at Laneast, on the 2nd of May, was ignored.