May it please your Lordship, Gentlemen of the Jury—The Defendant, John
Church, stands indicted for a misdemeanour. He has pleaded Not Guilty,
and your charge is to enquire whether he be Guilty or Not Guilty.
Hearken to the evidence.
Mr. MARRYATT then stated the case on the part of the Prosecution, to the
effect following:—
May it please your Lordship, Gentlemen of the Jury—I am extremely sorry
to have occasion to state to you that the offence imputed to the
Defendant (which my Learned Friend, Mr. Bolland; simply opened as a
misdemeanour) is an assault, with the intent to commit an unnatural
crime; and I am sure, on an occasion of this nature, it would be
unnecessary for me to bespeak your serious attention to a charge so
serious in its consequences to the Defendant. The Prosecutor in this
case is a youth, about eighteen or nineteen years of age, the apprentice
of a Potter at Vauxhall, whose name is Patrick. He had been apprenticed
to him some time, and resided in his family. The Defendant is a
preacher—not of the Established Church, but of a Dissenting Chapel, not
far distant from Vauxhall, and Mr. Patrick and his family had been in the
habit of attending that Chapel and hearing Mr. Church’s discourses.
Their apprentice used frequently to accompany them to the Chapel, and by
that means he became perfectly acquainted with the person and voice of
the Defendant, Church. He knew him extremely well by name and
description. In the month of September last, Mr. Church complained to
Mr. Patrick that he was in ill health, and attributed that circumstance
to the confined situation of his apartments near to the Chapel. Being
ill, Mr. Patrick, as a matter of civility and attention to the Preacher
of the Chapel which he frequented, invited him to come to Vauxhall, where
he had a spare bed, much at Mr. Church’s service. Upon this invitation,
Mr. Church came, and he slept there on Monday, the 23d of September, for
the first time. I am not quite certain as to the precise night he came;
but on the night of the 26th day of September, the transaction occurred
which gave rise to the present proceeding. Mr. Patrick had left town on
business, but not before Mr. Church came in the first instance; but
during Church’s stay he departed for the country. During the master’s
absence, it became necessary for Foreman, the apprentice, to sleep in the
house. The only spare bed was occupied by Church, the Defendant, and
therefore a temporary bed was made up for the apprentice. He had a
resting place made up for him in one of the parlours of the house. It
happened that on the evening when this transaction took place, the
Prosecutor had been staying up to attend a kiln which was at work on Mr.
Patrick’s premises.
Mr. GURNEY.—I am told one of your witnesses is now in Court.
Mr. MARRYATT.—I am not aware of that circumstance. If he is, he must
certainly go out of Court.
Mr. GURNEY.—I am told Mr. Patrick is in Court.
Mr. MARRYATT.—Then I beg he will go out; and that all the witnesses will
remain outside until they are severally called.
Gentlemen, I was stating to you, that on the night in question, Mr.
Patrick went out of town on some business. An occasional bed was made up
for the apprentice. Mr. Church occupied the only spare bed-room in the
house. The apprentice, I believe, was not in the habit of sleeping in
Mr. Patrick’s family, except when his master went out of town; for
otherwise there would be no occasion to make up a temporary bed for him,
if he was in the practice of sleeping there. Between twelve and one
o’clock in the morning, the apprentice retired from the burning of the
kiln, to take his rest in the bed thus assigned him. He got into bed,
and went to sleep almost immediately; and at no very great distance of
time, he was awakened by the approach of Mr. Church in his bed-room. Mr.
Church was not ignorant where the young man slept and the manner in which
he was accommodated. The apprentice was alarmed, and certainly had no
doubt of what Mr. Church’s intention was in coming to his bed-chamber.
You must hear the circumstances from the witness; and I have very little
doubt that you will be satisfied from his evidence, and that of the other
witnesses I shall have to call, that the intention of the defendant was
that imputed to him by this indictment. The advances and overtures made
to the apprentice in the way that he will describe to you, must leave
very little doubt in your mind of the intention of the person who went
into that room. Indeed it would be very difficult to assign any good
reason for Mr. Church’s coming there. The lad was surprised. He awoke
and laid hold of the person by the arm, and called out, “Who is there?”
The Defendant said, in a feigned feminine voice, “Don’t you know me,
Adam? I’m your mistress.”—The lad was extremely surprised at this; he
knew that it was not his mistresses voice; and he knew by having caught
hold of the shirt sleeve of the person who addressed him, that it was not
a woman, but a man. In consequence of this, he endeavoured to lay hold
of him; the Defendant however retired from the room and went up stairs.
I told you that the lad had a temporary bed made up for him in the
parlour; and upon the defendant’s retiring from the room, the prosecutor
had a distinct opportunity of seeing his person; for it seems that the
door of the parlour was opposite the fan-light over the street door,
through which a light was given by the lamp in the street; and upon the
Defendant’s retiring, the prosecutor had a distinct view of him, and knew
him extremely well to be Mr. Church. He hardly knew how to act. He was
unwilling to alarm his mistress at that hour of the night; not indeed
that it was a story fit to be mentioned, or stated to her at any time by
him. He, however, went out of the house to the person whom he had left
at the kiln in the pottery when he retired to rest. That person’s name
is West; and he gave him an account of what had passed. West was for
going into the house and turning the Defendant Church immediately out;
but the prosecutor said it would occasion an alarm to his mistress, and
he thought it better to postpone the business until the morning.
Accordingly, Mr. Church was not disturbed for that night; but in the
morning some inquiry was made by Mrs. Patrick, who asked whether the
prosecutor and the servants had not been disturbed in the course of the
night, by some persons coming up or down stairs? Some explanation was
given her of the cause of the disturbance, but not to the full extent, it
being thought adviseable not to explain the whole to her, as Mr. Patrick
was returning home that night, when the prosecutor determined to detail
the whole transaction to his master. The prosecutor had given his
mistress some account of what had occurred, but withholding from her that
part which he thought improper for female ears to hear. Mr. Patrick
however came home the next day, and the prosecutor told his story to him;
and on the following day several of Mr. Church’s friends having heard
that the boy had told his master what had occurred, came to Mr. Patrick
to inquire what was the extent of the information he had received. Mr.
Patrick communicated to them the whole of the information which the boy
had given, and said he thought it necessary that Mr. Church should
explain his conduct. By this time the thing was generally known and
buzzed about. Some of the congregation were desirous that no proceeding
should be instituted against the Defendant, as the public investigation
of such a transaction would be a disgrace to the individuals of the
congregation and to the cause of religion itself. Whilst Mr. Patrick and
some of his friends, who were of the same religious persuasion, were some
days hesitating about what course to pursue, the boy’s father came to the
knowledge of the transaction; and he without any sort of ceremony took
him before a Magistrate and laid the complaint which has given rise to
this prosecution against the Defendant, Mr. Church.
Much inquiry has since taken place; and the Defendant has endeavoured to
explain; the transaction as well as he could; and he has written various
letters upon the subject. Those letters are here, and they are much at
Mr. Church’s service if he thinks there is any thing contained in them
which will afford him any defence; because I do not think it right to
withhold any thing which can throw light upon such a transaction.
Amongst other things which Mr. Church urged by way of explanation, in
these letters, was a contradiction of some of the particulars stated the
prosecutor. He said, that there were some matters in the statement of
the boy which he was able to contradict. This declaration of Mr. Church
having come to the knowledge of Mr. Patrick, he was induced by the
application which was made to him, on the part of some of Mr. Church’s
congregation, to make some inquiry of Mr. Church upon the subject. He
accordingly took occasion to have an interview with the defendant, for
the purpose of enabling himself, if he could, to explain his conduct to
the satisfaction of the persons who are in the habit of attending his
chapel. At that interview, he contradicted some of the particularities
stated by the boy, but which are some of the most disgusting parts of the
narrative. He, however, admitted, most distinctly, that he had gone into
the lad’s room.
Now, when you shall have had it proved in evidence, that part of the
conduct ascribed to him was admitted by the defendant, I should like to
know if he really did go into that bed-room, for what possible purpose
could he go there in the middle of the night? It will appear, still
further, that Church was the only male person who slept in the house; for
there was no other individual of the male sex to take up his abode there
that night.
The question, then, will be, whether, upon the evidence I shall produce,
you can have any reasonable doubt of the defendant’s intention to commit
the offence imputed to him by this indictment? If you have no doubt of
the truth of the boy’s story—if you have no doubt that it was the
defendant’s intention to commit the atrocious crime charged upon him by
this prosecution, then, however painful your duty may be, you must not be
deterred by the enormity and apparent impossibility of such a crime
existing in society, from the fair and honest discharge of it. There are
two questions for you to determine:—_First_, whether the defendant was
the person who entered the prosecutor’s room?—and, _Secondly_, if he did,
whether the atrocious intention, alleged in the indictment can clearly be
inferred from his conduct on that occasion? But, gentlemen, if you have
any reasonable doubt upon either of these questions, I should not, as
Counsel for the prosecution, desire you to pronounce a verdict of guilty.
But, whatever conclusion you may draw from his statement, submitted to
your consideration, I trust you will take care that your indignation
against the offence itself shall not carry you to the conclusion of
guilt, unless the evidence I shall lay before you warrants the conviction
of the defendant.
Adam Foreman, _the first witness was then called and examined by_ Mr.
BOLLAND.
How old are you?—I shall be twenty the first day of December next.
I believe you are an apprentice to Mr. Patrick, the potter, of
Vauxhall?—Yes.
How long have you been with him?—About five years.
Do you know the defendant, John Church?—Yes, by sight.
How long have you known him?—About two or three years.
What is he?—A preacher.
Have you attended the congregation in the Chapel where he preaches?—Yes.
And have you often seen him?—Oh, yes.
Do you sleep generally at your masters house, or at your fathers?—At my
father’s generally.
Are there any occasions upon which you do sleep at your master’s
house?—Yes.
When is that?—When he goes out of town.
When your master goes out of town, then you sleep at his house?—Yes.
Where did Church reside? Where did he live?—He lived by his chapel.
Where is that?—In St. George’s Fields. It comes out of the Borough-road.
There he lived?—Yes.
Now, did he at any time come to take up his abode at Mr. Patrick’s?—Yes.
When was that?—The 25th of September, he came to sleep there that night.
Do you know what was the occasion of his coming?
Mr. GURNEY.—That must be of his own knowledge.