James Brown an Irishman, was charged with being on the premises of Messrs. Metcalfe and Mayes in Bench Street for a supposed unlawful purpose on the previous evening and also with begging on the premises of Mr. Austin of the same street.

Edward Spain a mariner, deposed; I was in Bench Street last night about ten minutes to seven I was walking in the direction of the Market Square on the right hand side of the road when I saw the defendant standing beside Mr. Austin’s front door. I saw him go into the shop by the shop door and commence talking to Mr. Austin’s assistant. I looked in at the window and observed that the assistant after talking to the defendant for a few minutes offered him a small card that he refused and walked out of the shop. The defendant stood on the pavement for a few minutes and then walked into Messrs. Metcalfe and Mayes’s. He remained there for about five minutes when one of the assistants opened the door and motioned him to go out. After standing by the window a few minutes he tried the private door of the same premises.

A young man who was with me at the time went up to the defendant when he saw him open the door and asked him where he was going. He made no answer but opened the door and went in closing it after him in our faces. The defendant might have had a little to drink but he certainly was not drunk. I waited beside the door for a few minutes to see if the defendant came out again and as he did not make his appearance I went into the shop and acquainted with what I had seen. I then went out into the street again. The private door was soon opened and I saw the defendant talking to one of the assistants in the passage. Inspector Capon happened to be passing by at the time, on the opposite side of the road and in consequence of what I said to him he crossed over and took the defendant into custody.

The defendant on being asked if he had any questions to put to the witness said he was greatly the worse for liquor at the time and scarcely remembered anything that happened.

Elizabeth Corbett deposed; I am an assistant to Messrs Metcalfe and Mayes whose shop is in Bench Street. Somewhere about half-past six-yesterday evening the last witness came into our shop and in consequence of something he told me I immediately went into the hall. I found the defendant standing on the staircase leading to the first floor. I asked him what he did there. He replied that he only had one eye and therefore could not see very well where he was going. (Laughter.) I desired him to leave the house immediately but he refused, saying he first wished to explain himself. He then asked me if I had a handkerchief I could give him to tie up his head. (Some amusement was caused in court when it was discovered that the defendant had a piece of dry sticking plaster stuck on his forehead purely for ornamental purposes just above his nose.) I refused to give him anything and opened the door again desiring him to walk out and he complied.

James Hopper a Metropolitan Constable deposed; last evening somewheres about seven I was walking along Bench Street in company with Inspector Capon when the witness Spain came up to us and in consequence of something he said to us we crossed the road to the front door of Messrs. Metcalfe and Mayes. The door was open and I saw the defendant standing in the passage. Two or three females were also there. Superintendent Capon asked him what he was doing and as he could not give a satisfactory answer we took him to the Police Station.

By Major Crookes; the defendant might have been drinking but he was not drunk.

The defendant said he was a painter by trade and on the previous morning started from Hythe with the intention of tramping to Ramsgate via Dover. He met “a friend” on the road who gave him four pints of beer. He admitted trying to “pick up a copper” for nights lodging. He had moreover had a fall and he wanted a handkerchief to bind up the wound on his forehead, but being unable to procure one he had determined to go and get medical advice and had he supposed owing to bad eyesight (but more probably from the effects of what he had taken to drink) mistaken the shop of Messrs. Metcalfe and Mayes for a surgery. (Laughter.) He afterwards discovered his mistake but was taken into custody before he could offer any explanation.

Major Crookes thought that the excuses the defendant had made only tended to substantiate the case made out against him. In the first place it was unlawful for him to beg from door to door and secondly he did not believe the defendants eyesight to be so bad as to prevent him distinguishing a silk mercer’s shop from a surgery. He would be sent to prison for a fortnight with hard labour. (1872)