Page:Memoirs James Hardy Vaux.djvu/185

162 brother. I saw both the prisoners very busy, lifting up the lids of people's pockets. Bromley took a gentleman's handkerchief, on which my brother seized him. I apprehended Vaux. He had got away to some distance from the crowd."

Cross-examined by Mr. Alley.—Q. What are you. Sir?

A. I am a tailor, and a constable of the city.

Q. So you thought you could get more by prosecuting these two poor young lads, than by sitting on your shop-board at work?

A. I did my duty.

Q. Who took the handkerchief?

A. Bromley took it out, and Vaux laid hold of the corner, to take it from Bromley.

Q. Which pocket was it in, the right or the left?

A. The right-hand pocket.

Q. Now, Sir, you know these poor lads are trying for an offence, for which they are liable to be hanged, if they are convicted: I ask you, upon the oath you have taken, whether you ever heard of two persons putting their hands in a man's pocket at once?

A. I never did.

Q. Then if your brother has said so, he has told a lie?

A. That he certainly has. (A general laugh in the court.)