The
thieves were two young men, not much over twenty,--James and John
Macdonald, terribly shabby, dirty, jail-bird like, yet intelligent of
aspect, and one of them handsome. The police knew them already, and they
seemed not much abashed by their position. There were half a dozen
magistrates on the bench,--idle old gentlemen of Southport and the
vicinity, who lounged into the court, more as a matter of amusement than
anything else, and lounged out again at their own pleasure; for these
magisterial duties are a part of the pastime of the country gentlemen of
England. They wore their hats on the bench. There were one or two of
them more active than their fellows; but the real duty was done by the
Clerk of the Court. The seats within the bar were occupied by the
witnesses, and around the great table sat some of the more respectable
people of Southport; and without the bar were the commonalty in great
numbers; for this is said to be the first burglary that has occurred here
within the memory of man, and so it has caused a great stir.
There seems to be a strong case against the prisoners. A boy attached to
the railway testified to having seen them at Birchdale on Wednesday
afternoon, and directed them on their way to Southport; Peter Pickup
recognized them as having applied to him for lodgings in the course of
that evening; a pawnbroker swore to one of them as having offered my
top-coat for sale or pledge in Liverpool; and my boots were found on the
feet of one of them,--all this in addition to other circumstances of
pregnant suspicion.
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