Then again there is a superintendent, who certainly
claims the rank of a gentleman, and has perhaps been an officer in the
army. The superintendent of this district was present on this occasion.
The thieves were brought down from Liverpool on Tuesday, and examined in
the Town Hall. I had been notified to be present, but, as a matter of
courtesy, the police-officers refrained from calling me as a witness, the
evidence of the servants being sufficient to identify the property. 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.
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