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called at the house, who, on taking off his
hat, disclosed a very bald head. The
magpie, who happened to be in the room,
appeared evidently struck by the circum
stance ; his reminiscences were power
fully excited by the naked appearance of
the gentleman’s skull. Hopping upon
the back of his chair, and looking him
hastily over, he exclaimed in the ear of
his astounded visitor:—“Oh, d—e, you've
been at the pickled cockles, have you?”
[lngoldsby Legends.
A TRIAL AT THE SESSIONS
HOUSE OLD BAILEY.
A pickpocket has just been acquitted.
“That’s a regular rascal,” said the
sheriff to me in a whisper ; “never was
such a case heard of, to be sure —seven-
teen watches, thirty-two pocket handker
chiefs, four pair of spectacles, and five
snuffboxes, all found upon his person !”
“Yet,” said I, “the evidence could not
have been very strong against h : m—the
jury acquitted him after a minute’s con
sultation.”
“Evidence, Mr. Gurney!” said the
sher'ff, “how little do you know of the
Old Bailey ! —why, if these London ju
ries were to wait to consider evidence,
we never should get through the busi
ness—the way we do here is to make a
zig z ig of it.”
I did not exactly comprehend the term
as it was now applied, although Daly
I had often used it in my society with re
ference to a pin and a card universally
employed at the interesting game of
rouge ct noir ; and I therefore made no
scruple of expressing my ignorance.
“Don’t you understand, sir?” said the
i sheriff—“why the next prisoner will be
| found guilty —the last was acqui tted—
the one after the next will be acquitted
I too —it comes alternate like —save half,
; convict half—that’s what we call a zig
zag ; and taking the aggregate, it comes
to the same point, and 1 think justice is
done as fair here as in any court in Chris
tendom.”
This explanation rendered the next
prisoner who made his appearance, an
object of considerable interest to me.
He was a little dirty boy, who stood
charged with having stole a pound of ba
con and a peg-top from a boy somewhat
his junior. The young prosecutor pro
duced a witness, who, as far as appear
ance went, might, without any great in
justice, have taken the place of the pri
soner, and who gave his evidence with
considerable fluency and flippancy. His
manner attracted the notice of one of the
leading barristers of the court, Mr. Flap
pertrap, who, in cross-examining him in
quired whether he knew the nature of an
oath.
“Yes I does,” said the boy.
“Explain it,” said Flappertrap.
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
“You may bed a,” replied the
lad, “that’s a hoath, arn’t it?”
“What does he say ?” said the judge—
who, as I about this period discovered,
was as deaf as a post.
“He says, ‘you may bed d,’ my
lord, ’ said Flappertrap, who appeared
particularly glad of an opportunity to bor
row a phrase, which he might use for the
occasion.
“What does he mean by that,” said the
judge.
“That is the way, my lord, he ex
hibits his knowledge of the nature of an
oath.
“Pah! pah!” said the judge—“ Boy,
d’ye hear me ?”
“Yes,'” said the boy, “I hears.”
“Have you ever been to school ?”
“Yes,” said the boy, “in St. Giles’s
parish for three years.”
“Do you know your catechism ?”
The boy muttered something which
w T as not audible to the court generally,
and was utterly lost upon the judge
personally.
“VY hat does he say ?” said his lord
ship.
“Speak up, sir, said Mr. Flappertrap.
The boy muttered again, looking down
and seeming embarrassed.
“Speak louder, sir,” said another bar
rister, whose name 1 did not know, but
who was remarkable for a most une
quivocal obliquity of vision—“speak to
his lordship —look at him—look as / do,
sir.”
“I can’t,” spdd the boy, “you squints !”
A laugh followed this bit of naivete,
which greatly abashed the counsellor,
and somewhat puzzled the judge.
“What does he say?” said his lord
ship.
“He says he knows his catechism, my
lord.”
“Oh—does not know his catechism—
why then what ”
“ Does know, my lord,” whispered the
lord mayor, who was in the chair.
“Oh—ah — does know—l know—here
boy,” said his lordship, “you kuow your
catechism, do you ?”
“Yes,” replied he sullenly.
“ W e’ll see, then—what is your name ?”
said his lordship.
“My name,” said the intelligent lad—
“what, in the catechism ?”
“Yes, what is your name?”
“M. or N. as the case may be,” said
the boy.
“Go down, go down,” said the judge,
angrily, and down he went.
“Gentlemen of the jury,” said his lord
ship, “this case will require very little of
your attention—the only evidence against
the prisoner at the bar which goes to fas
ten the crime upon him, is that which
has been offered by the last witness,
who evidently* is ignorant of the nature
and obligation of an oath. With respect
to the pig s toes which the prisoner
stands charged with stealing ”
“A peg-top,” my lord ?” said Flapper
trap, standing up, turning round, and
speaking over the bench into the judge’s
ears.
•‘Peg top,’ said his lordship—-“oh—ah
I see—very bad pen—it looks in my
notes like pig’s toes. Well—peg-top ol*
the peg-top which it is alleged he took
from the prosecutor, there has not been
one syllable mentioned by the prosecu
tor himself; nor do I see that the charge
of taking the bacon is by any means
proved. There is no point for me to di
rect your attention to, and you will sa>
whether the prisoner at the bar is guilty
or not; and a very trumpery case, it is
altogether, thac 1 must admit.”
His lordship ceased, and the jury
again laid their heads together; again
the foreman gave a little “hem'’ of con
scious readiness for decision ; again did
the clerk of the arraigns ask the impor
tant question, “How say ye, gentlemen,
is the prisoner at the bar guiity or not
guilty V “Guilty,” said the foreman to
the clerk of the arraigns ; and “I told
you so,” said the sheriff to me.
| Theodore Hook.
WEBSTER AND TtlE HIGH
WAYMAN.
A Correspondent of the Detroit Free
Press gives the following correction of an
anecdote about Mr. \\ ebster when riding
at night between Washington and Bal
timore :
he anecdote is entirely incorrect,
and as it appears to reflect on the cour
age of Mr. Webster, it is but fair that his
memory should have the benefit of the
true facts. The following you may de
pend on as the true version. 1 ha\e
heard it more than once from an intimate
friend of Mr. Webster, and was in Con
gress with him.
“Mr. Webster was one of the passen
gers in a stage coach, which broke down
between Baltimore and Washington.
The passengers went to the nearest tav
era and there found that there was no
other vehicle to be procured for some
hours. This was at night, and Mr. Web
ster being very anxious to proceed on
his journey, applied to the landlord for
some conveyance; his answer was that
he had none, but that a person was
about to proceed toward Washington in <
a gig, and might be induced to give him i
a seat; ‘but said the landlord, drawing Mr. I
Webster aside,‘you may not like your
companion ; he is the notorious M ,
the murderer! ‘Never mind,’ said Mr.
Webster, ‘he will not hurt me ; a % sk him
if he will take me. M was a man
who had been tried for a most atrocious
and savage murder, and who, although
he had been acquitted, was believed by 1
[Decembe r, 18,