Counsel for the Defendant—Mr. Gurney and the Common Serjeant.
The Jury being sworn:—Mr. Borland opened the indictment, as follows—
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.