The Trial and Conviction of that Infamous Hypocrite John Church

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Trial and Conviction of that InfamousHypocrite John Church, by AnonymousThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and mostother parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms ofthe Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll haveto check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.Title: The Trial and Conviction of that Infamous Hypocrite John ChurchAuthor: AnonymousRelease Date: October 4, 2018  [eBook #58026]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF THATINFAMOUS HYPOCRITE JOHN CHURCH***

Transcribed from the [1817] John Fairburn edition by DavidPrice, email [email protected]

FIFTH EDITION,
Church burnt in Effigy!  Rev. J. L.Garrett’s Vindi-
cation, the Whole of the Evidence, &c.&c.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hay &Turner have had the affrontery to call their Scribble theonly Genuine
Edition! whereas, it is not so correct as Fairburn’s.—JohnChurch.

THE
TRIAL
AND
CONVICTION
OF THAT
INFAMOUS HYPOCRITE
JOHN CHURCH,

The SURREY TABERNACLE PREACHER,
BOROUGH-ROAD, ST. GEORGE’S FIELDS,
FOR AN
Abominable Offence;
INCLUDING THE WHOLE OF
THE EVIDENCE;
Tried before LORD ELLENBOROUGH, at the Surrey Assizes,Croydon,
Saturday, August 16, 1817.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TAKEN IN SHORT HAND.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TO WHICH IS ADDED,
HIS LIFE,
CONFESSIONS, NOTES OF ONE OF HIS SERMONS,
THE WHOLE OF
THE LOVE-LETTERS, &c. &c.

“Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees,Hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make oneProselyte; and, when he is made, ye make him two-fold morethe child of Hell than yourselves.”

“Ye Serpents! ye generation of Vipers! how can yeescape the damnation of Hell?”

St.Matthew, CHAP. xxiii. v. 15& 33.

LONDON:
Published by JOHN FAIRBURN, 2, Broadway, Ludgate-Hill.
(Price Sixpence.)

p. 4Marchant,Printer, Ingram-court, London.

p. 5SURREYASSIZES, CROYDON,
Saturday, August 16, 1817.

THE KING v.JOHN CHURCH.

The Indictment charged, “Thatthe Defendant, late of the parish of St. Mary, Lambeth, in thecounty of Surrey, on the 26th day of September, in thefifty-seventh year of the reign of George the Third, with forceand arms, at the parish aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, inand upon one Adam Foreman, in the peace of God and our said Lordthe King, then and there being, did make an assault, and him, thesaid Adam Foreman, then and there did beat, wound, and ill treat,so that his life was greatly despaired of, with intent, that mosthorrid and detestable crime, (among Christians not to be named,)with the said Adam Foreman, against the order of nature, then andthere feloniously, wickedly, and devilishly, to commit and do, tothe great displeasure of Almighty God, to the great damage of thesaid Adam Foreman, and against the peace,” &c.

p. 6Thesecond count charged a common assault.

The Defendant pleaded NotGuilty.

Counsel for the Prosecution—Mr. Marryatt and Mr. Bolland; Solicitor, Mr. Harmer.

Counsel for the Defendant—Mr. Gurney and the CommonSerjeant.

The Jury being sworn:—Mr. Borland opened the indictment, asfollows—

May it please your Lordship, Gentlemen of the Jury—TheDefendant, John Church, stands indicted for a misdemeanour. He has pleaded Not Guilty, and your charge is to inquire whetherhe be Guilty or Not Guilty.  Hearken to the evidence.

Mr. Marryatt then stated the case on the part of theProsecution; after which the court proceeded to call witnesses:the first witness called was

ADAM FOREMAN sworn.

Examined by Mr. Bolland.—Will be twenty the firstday of December next.  Is an apprentice to Patrick, thepotter, of Vauxhall.  Has p. 7been with him about five years. Knows the Defendant, John Church, by sight.  Has known himabout two or three years.  Church is a preacher.  He,Witness, attended the congregation in the Chapel where Churchpreaches and has often seen him.  Witness sleeps generallyat his father’s.  There are occasions upon whichwitness sleeps at his master’s house when he goes out oftown.  Church lived by his chapel, in St. George’sFields, the Borough-Road.  Came to take up his abode at Mr.Patrick’s the 25th of September, he came to sleep therethat night.  Witness slept there that night.  Does notknow whether he (Church) had been there before.  Cannot saywhether he had seen him there before.  Knows that he sleptthere on the 25th September, and that he, witness, wasthere.  Witness’s master that night was out of town;but where he cannot say.  Mr. Church, witness’smistress, the children, and the two maid servants, slept in thehouse that night.  There was no other man in the houseexcept himself and Church.  Witnesses bed-room was the frontparlour on the first floor over the kitchen.  It is not abed-room in common in the house.  Witness slept there,because there was no other bed-room that he could sleep in. There was a temporary bed, therefore, put up for him there. Witness retired to rest about one o’clock.  The reasonfor his being up so late was because there was a kiln burning,and he (witness) was obliged to sit up to let the man into thekiln when he came.  It was necessary for him to sit up toattend that kiln, and to give the key to the man, ThomasWest.  Witness went to bed about oneo’clock,—went to sleep directly he went to bed. Had not been asleep more than half an hour before he was awoke bysome one putting his hands under the bed clothes, and laying holdof his private parts very tight.  Witness put his hand outof the bed-clothes, and p. 8caught hold of him and asked him whohe was? and laid hold of him, as near as he could guess, by theupper part of his arm; felt lower down, and found by the sleevethat he had got a man’s shirt on; found the wrist wasbuttoned; knows very well it was a man; could not tell that fromthe feel of the flesh.  Witness was here asked by LordEllenborough by what circumstance? and answered because hehad got a man’s shirt on.  The person, in answer towhat he said, answered—“Adam, don’t you knowme?  I am your mistress,” in a faint voice, like awoman; it was not the voice of his mistress, Mrs. Patrick;witness knew the voice directly he heard it; it was Mr.Church’s voice; Church fled the room directly, that is hewent out in a hurried step.  Witness then got out of bed,and put on his small clothes and shoes, and went to the man up atthe kiln.  As he opened the door witness saw by the lampthat it was Mr. Church, and he had only his shirt on.  Thelamp that enabled witness to see the person of Church is outsideof the front street door, on the terrace.  The lamp throws alight through the fan-light of the hall door.  Witness washere asked by Lord Ellenborough whether the lamp was atthe street door? and he answered, yes.  It is a parish lamp;not one of the new lights; nor a gas light.  Question byLord Ellenborough—Where were you standing at thetime?—I was getting up, my lord.  Witness went out ofhis room.  In answer to a question by LordEllenborough, witness answered, he saw it was Church by thelamp at the street door.  Witness was then in bed, sittingup; had not then left his bed; did not open the door; Church didthat.  Witness saw him go out through that door; and thenobserved that he had a shirt on.  The shirt or dress of aman is much shorter than that of a woman, and, therefore, he musthave seen whether it was a shirt or a p. 9shift.  It was the shirt of a manwitness is sure.  Did not see his face at all; his(Church’s) back was towards witness.  When he wasgone, witness got up and put on his small clothes and shoes, andwent into the pottery to get the man to come up to the house;told Thomas West of it.  Witness was here asked by LordEllenborough whether West was in the pottery?—andanswered, he was; it was the Thomas West that was in the potterybefore witness went to bed.

Cross-examined by Mr. Gurney.—The person, whoeverit was, opened the door and went out, afterwards shut the doorafter him.  Saw him when he opened the door.  There wasno light in the room.  The light came from a lamp on theTerrace.  The lamp is between five and six yards from thedoor on the Terrace.  The Terrace on which witness’smaster’s house is situated, is a row of houses raised abovethe road.  The lamp is upon the Terrace opposite thedoor.  About five or six yards from the door.  Thelight which it gives to the passage is through the fan-light overthe door.  Did not see the face of the person.  Sawthat the person had a shirt on.  Was rather alarmed, wakedout of his sleep in this way.  It was not long about. Witness don’t know how long he (Church) had been therebefore witness awoke.  Witness went directly to West, whodirectly came with him and searched the house for thieves. Did not know whether any body had got in or not.  Looked atevery chamber-door in the house except Mr. Church’s andwitness’s mistress’s.  Looked at the door of Mr.Church and that of his mistress, but did not open them. They were both of them shut.  Did not find any dooropen.  Looked at all the doors in the house, and found themall shut.  The maid servant’s door was on thejar.  All the other doors were shut.  After thatwitness and West searched the house all over.  West stoppedwhile p. 10thewitness put on the remainder of his clothes, witness then wentback with West to the pottery, after having locked thedoor.  Told West this story directly, told him that Mr.Church came down into his (witness’s) room and behaved in avery indecent manner, that he had laid hold of his private parts,&c.  Did not search the house for thieves in particular;but searched if any body was in any of the rooms.  Mr.Bolland here said, I asked you before whether you did notsearch the house for thieves; and you answered “Yes,”are you right or wrong in that?—I asked you before whetheryou and he did not search the house for thieves, and you told methat you did?—Witness answered, we searched the house: welooked all over it, to see if there was any body in any of therooms, but not for thieves in particular.  Witness did notthink of thieves, because he knew who it was.  Did not gointo the maid servants’ room; only looked in; having foundthe door open, looked in.  The two maids slept in that room;one is witness’s sister.  The door being ajar, witnesspushed it in a little, and saw they were abed.  Did notspeak to them.

Re-examined by Mr. Bolland.—Witness did notsearch the house for thieves because he knew who the personswas.  The reason of his searching the house was because hewished to be quite right before he made the accusation againstMr. Church.  Witness and West found there was no other manin the house but Mr. Church.  There was not any door orwindow open at which any other man could have come in.  Thelight from the Terrace struck through the fan-light or windowover the door.  It gives a pretty fair light to the hall, itshews a little light up the stairs.  It was at the time theperson opened the door and went out that witness got this view ofhis person.

Examined by Lord Ellenborough.—p. 11Did not hearChurch when he first came into the room.  Was awakened bythe application of his hand to witness’s person.  Hewas standing upon the floor.  Witness has not any difficultyin hearing.  Witness did not call to him by name, or givehim to understand that he knew who he was.  Witness saw his(Church’s) back as he went out of the room.  Itappeared to be the height of Mr. Church.  Cannot say whatheight he is.  He had a night-cap.  Cannot exactly saywhether it was a man’s night-cap or no.  Thinks it wasa handkerchief tied round his head.  Cannot tell what sortof handkerchief it was.  When witness and West searched thehouse