274 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



as the rich. In my opinion it is 

 a greater crime to serve the 

 former than the latter with this 

 infamous stuff. 



The defendant was convicted 

 in the penalty of 50/. 



^cr V. Brady. — The defendant, 

 Mr. Alexander Brady, grocer 

 and dealer in tea and coffee, 

 Gray's -inn-lane, was charged with 

 having, on the 28th of February 

 last, in his possession IS pounds 

 of sham coffee, called vegetable 

 powder, and with selling the same 

 for genuine coffee. 



Lord and Pearson, excise- 

 officers, stated, that they pur- 

 chased an ounce of coffee of the 

 defendant on the2Sth of February, 

 and, upon examining it, they dis- 

 covered that it was made up of 

 peas and beans, ground with a 

 small quantity of coffee. Upon 

 examining the mills in his shop, 

 they found both coffee and veget- 

 able powder in them. They also 

 found IS pounds of vegetable 

 powder mixed with coffee, in a 

 state prepared for sale, wrapped 

 in papers. 



One of the Commissioners 

 tasted some of the 18 pounds 

 produced by the officers, and 

 declared that it was most infamous 

 stuff, hot to the mouth, and unfit 

 for human food. 



Defendant.! — Wliy, I have sold 

 it for twenty years. 



Commissioner. — Then you 

 have been for twenty years acting 

 most dishonestly, defrauding the 

 revenue, and the health of the 

 poor must have suffered very 

 much by taking such an unwhole- 

 some article. Your having dealt 

 in the article so long aggravates 

 your case ; you have been for 

 twenty years selling burnt beans. 



peas, and I know not what other 

 articles, for genuine coffee. You 

 are convicted in the penaky of 

 50/. 



Charles Bowser, of Oxford- 

 street, tea and coffee-dealer, was 

 charged with a like offence, and 

 upon the saBie evidence. 



This defendant said he certainly 

 kept the composition for sale, 

 but he never disposed of it to 

 respectable persons. He lived 

 in the neighbourhood of St. 

 Giles's, and he sold the sham 

 coffee to the poor Irish people 

 there at a very low price, as they 

 could not afford to purchase the 

 genuine. 



One of the Commissioners ob- 

 served, that he knew no reason 

 why the poor should be poisoned 

 any more than the richer part of 

 the community. The defendant 

 should find, at all events, that 

 they were equally entitled to the 

 protection of the proper authori- 

 ties, when any attempt was made 

 toimposeupon them, andtoinjure 

 their health. 



The defendant was convicted 

 in the same penalty as the last. 



OLD BAILEY, Friday, May S. 



Insanity. — Mathias Maher was 

 brought to the bar apparently in 

 a state of furious derangement, 

 for the purpose of being arraigned 

 on a charge of forging a power of 

 attorney, with intent to defraud 

 Thomas Moore, under the prose- 

 cution of the Board of Admi- 

 ralty. The prisoner was con- 

 ducted to the bar by three men, 

 one at each arm, and one behind, 

 having a fast hold of him. He 

 was secured by a strait waistcoat 

 and by weighty chains at his feet. 



