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Is there any allowance made in the hospital for the measure of sheets and shirts?—Three yards and a half for a shirt, and five yards for a sheet.

Were the sheets less than they used to be the last time they were cut, at the time that they mention? -I believe they are full as long now as ever they were, and are made in the same manner in every respect.

But were they not half a yard less in each pair of sheets than before? - No.

Are you positive and clear in that? -Yes; it cannot be; if any sheets are shorter than the standard, it is because the pieces of sheeting run a certain length, and we cut them so as not to leave any remnants; that is the establishment in the hospital, and has been always the practice; at least for 40 years back to Mr. Bell's time; I have pursued the same method, and employed the same people, and I have no reason to believe that they have made away with any of it.

You say there is the same quantity now in the sheets as formerly? The same.

How could it happen, that the sheets, when measured, appeared to be half a yard less ?--I fancy it will not appear so, when your lordships call upon the clerk-of-the-check's clerk, who is a check upon my office; he receives these sheets, and is a check upon them.

You are positive they are the same size as usual?—Yes, the same size as usual.

Whether you speak absolutely from having measured the present sheets?-I have seen a great many of them measured, and I believe all the linen is accounted for very clearly; it appears so to me.

I wish to have a direct answer; have you measured all these sheets yourself?-Not all: it is impossible I can measure eight or nine thousand pair of sheets; that cannot be supposed, I should imagine; I have seen a great many of them measured.

What quantity may you have measured yourself? - When there have been two or three hundred pair delivered into my office, I have measured three or four, and have been satisfied. If I have found a deficiency in any respect, I have looked farther into it.

What is the measure?-Of the sheets five yards.

Did those you measured measure five yards? They measured something under, because we cut them so as not to make any remnants.

I ask you the positive measure of what you measured yourself? — Sometimes a nail of a yard short, sometimes two nails short.

But none of them were positively five yards long?-Some of them

were.

Of what length were the sheets that you did measure yourself? Sometimes a full length, sometimes wanting a nail of a yard, at other times two nails perhaps. But then, when I came to inquire into the matter, I found that it should be so. A piece of sheeting, if it runs 40 yards, would make five pair of sheets, but they run 38 and a half, and 39, and 39 and a half; they are generally about that length, and then we make just the same sheets as if they run 40; it is an advantage to the hospital, and is the method that was always adopted by the former stewards.

Is it not somebody's province to measure all the sheets? - The people in my office measure a number of them, but not all of them, I dare say.

Whether or not the measuration you have taken of these sheets was before or after the complaint was made by Captain Baillie?-I have measured them since the complaint, and I have measured them before.

Is it your office properly to measure this linen?-It is, with the clerk of the check, never without him. . .

Have you always took the measure upon the faith of the contractor to be according to the contract? —No, I measure here and there a piece ; if I find a deficiency of a yard, or

half a yard, I go farther, and measure more, and if there is a yard deficient in any one of those pieces, I deduct a yard from every one of those pieces I receive.

If from the number of sheets you have spoken to, you had found a deficiency of half a yard upon every pair of sheets, should not you have thought it worth your while to complain to somebody of the hospital, in order to rectify that abuse? -Certainly not, these sheets have been delivered out of my care a twelvemonth.

If in the measurement of the sheets you yourself had discovered a deficiency, whether you would not have thought the hospital greatly defrauded by such a deficiency? It could not happen in

my office.

But I ask you if you had discovered a deficiency?--If so, certainly.

If again, if in the measurement of 388 pair of sheets, you had discovered, as the witness discovered, a deficiency of 195 yards, which he has sworn to upon his measurement, would not you have thought that a fraud too? - - Not if it was accounted for some other way.

I ask you, if upon your measurement you had found the deficiency? -No doubt of it; if there was a deficiency of 190 odd yards, there must be a fraud somewhere.

Do you know of any complaints being made to the council of a deficiency in the linen?--None..

How far is your rule to go by, when you find a piece short of its measure? You say forty yards. ought to make five pair of sheets? - Yes.

Suppose a piece of linen is thirtynine yards? Then we will make an allowance accordingly, we divide. it equally.

Suppose it is thirty-eight yards? -- We divided it accordingly; but if it is only thirty-seven or thirtyseven and a half, so that we think the piece would be too short for use,

that there would be a complaint, we make only seven sheets and leave a remnant.

What is the precise rule you go by to term the piece too short, whether it is thirty-seven yards, or thirtyseven yards and a half?—It is left to the judgment of the persons that cut them.

Who are those persons?-Two of the clerks' wives have cut them for late years before my appointment, and before my predecessor's, I believe.

Mr. Maule called in.

Whether the sheets are of the right length at present? - I believe

So.

What reason have you to think that they are?—I have known the hospital a great many years, and, till very lately, I never heard of a complaint at all of the kind.

What reason have you to think that they are not shorter than they were formerly?-I don't know that they are shorter than they were formerly.

Did you never hear a complaint of the kind? - Not till very lately.

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Are the pieces of linen not always of the same length? - They run from 37 to 37, 38, and so on to 39; very seldom to 40.

You seldom find any pieces of the full length? - Very seldom.

Do you speak from your certain knowledge, that the sheets are not now shorter than they were before? -I don't say that they are at present.

You say they are not shorter now; whether they were not shorter before the complaint was made by Captain Baillie?--I believe they are now as they have been made for many years past.

Do you speak from your certain knowledge that the sheets are now no shorter than they were before?

I never heard till very lately, as I said before, that the sheets were shorter now than they were formerly.

Answer that question directly;

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the same measure?—I have meas-
ured them frequently formerly,
when I was a clerk in the clerk of
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them measured since I have been in
the present office, and since I have
been clerk of the cheque myself I

How many?—I suppose 100 pair have often seen them measured, and

or more.

Out of how many?-Some thousands.

How many thousands? - Very likely three or four thousand.

How many hundred pair, out of these three or four thousand, have you measured?—I suppose an hundred pair I have seen measured.

And were those equal to the standard? I have already told your lordships, that I never knew that they were to the standard.

What rule have you to go by to say, that in former times the sheets were shorter than the standard? By how much were they shorter ? I cannot speak particularly to that; but I do, from my own knowledge, know that the sheets were formerly made as they are now, and in the same manner, and by the same people.

You say they were shorter, but don't know by how much; I desire you will say then, how you can possibly know that the present sheets are not shorter than those were ? -- I said, at the same time, that though it was a nominal thing that the sheets were to consist of five yards, yet I believe they never were of that quantity.

But how much were they shorter ?
I cannot particularly say.

If you don't know by how much they were shorter, how can you possibly say, that you don't know that they are now shorter than they were then? I never heard a complaint.

That is not the question; you say, that from your knowledge, the hundred sheets you measured were the same length as those before; now you say, you don't know the exact length of those before; how then can you know that these are of

differI don't know that there is any ence between those made formerly and those made now.

When you measured the sheets formerly, of what length were they? . . . I believe short a quarter of a yard; I have seen them so very often.

Have you measured any number of sheets latterly?-I have seen a great many measured lately.

Have you made any computation, and cast it into an average, to see how much they were short?—No; but I apprehend they were not more than that short; none that I have measured have been more than that short.

Can you speak to any certain number that you have seen measured, that do all of them come within a quarter of a yard exactly, or nearly?-No; I have only seen here or there some measured when a quantity have been delivered in. . . .

Whether you have any reason to believe that the measurement that Mr. Field made was not a fair measurement? - I believe a fair one. (Mr. Maule withdrew.).

Captain Baillie called in.

Whether you know anything of the method in which the linen is cut out in Greenwich Hospital? -- Do you speak of sheets or shirts?

The sheeting.-A piece of sheeting is generally cut into sixteen lengths, to make eight sheets; each length ought to consist of two yards and a half; a piece of Russia sheeting generally contains thirty-seven yards and a half; that being cut into sixteen lengths, does not run to the standard of the hospital; instead of sixteen lengths, it ought to be cut into fifteen only; by which means two pieces will make fifteen sheets; and by cutting four pieces in that man

ner, they will make exactly fifteen pair of sheets; instead of which the practice is, to cut four pieces into sixteen pair of sheets, by which means there is a pair of sheets more than there ought to be by the establishment.

Whether the pieces of linen 'in general run thirty-seven yards and a half? They are bought for thirty ells, that is exactly thirty-seven yards and a half; and if you search Cheapside, from one end to the other, I believe it will be found to be the length. . . . There is a gentleman I have seen here to-day, who is a draper, he can tell the exact length of the pieces. What is his name?

-His name is

305. JAMES BYRNE'S TRIAL.

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306. HANS GROSS. Criminal Investigation. (transl. J. and J. C. Adam. 1907. p. 22.) . . . A thousand mistakes of every description would be avoided if people did not base their conclusions upon premises furnished by others, take as established fact what is only possibility, or as a constantly recurring incident what has only been observed but once. . . . I am assuming that the witness is really desirous of speaking the truth and is merely a bad observer.

...

In general, the matter should be elucidated by experiment, by ocular demonstration. Suppose a witness affirms that he was beaten by H for ten minutes. Let a watch be placed before him and ask him to take good note of how long ten minutes lasts and then say whether it was really ten minutes. After a quarter of a minute he will exclaim, "It certainly did not last longer than that." . . . Again, a witness declares, "When once I see a man I alway recognize him again." "Did you see the prisoner who was being taken out as you came in?" you ask him. "Certainly, I saw him very well," he answers. "All right, go and pick him out from ten other persons.' A witness estimates an important distance at, let us say, 200 yards; let him be brought out of doors and say how far might be 100, 200, 300, 400 yards; if now these distances be measured, one can easily judge if and with what degree of accuracy, the witness can judge distances. Such checks give the most instructive and remarkable results; whoever practices them will soon be convinced that their importance cannot be exaggerated. . . .

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Topic 2. Incomplete Recollection

308. LANGHORN'S TRIAL. (1679. HoWELL'S State Trials. VII, 452.)

[Oates, the informer, had testified that the Popish Plotters met in

London on April 24, and that he had come over to the meeting from the

Jesuit College at St. Omer in France with Sir John Warner. One of the Jesuit attendants was put on by the defense to prove that Warner had not left the College at that time.] Witness: "He lived there all that while."

Mr. J. Pemberton: "Was Sir John Warner there all June?" Witness: "My lord, I cannot tell that; I only speak to April and May."

L. C. J. Scroggs: "Where was Sir John Warner in June and July?" Witness: "I cannot tell."

L. C. J.: "You were gardener there then?" Witness: "Yes, I was."

L. C. J.: "Why cannot you as well tell me, then, where he was in June and July, as in April and

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(1820. Linn's ed. I, 67,91,96.) details of the sleeping arrangements of the suite].1

"[On this voyage] Where did Hieronimus sleep in general?" Majocchi: "I do not recollect [Non mi ricordo]."

309. QUEEN CAROLINE'S TRIAL. [Among the various charges of adultery and improper intimacy between the Queen (then Princess) and her servant Bergami during her tour in Germany, Austria, Italy, and the Mediterranean, one charge was made of adultery on board a polacca during a sea voyage to Palestine. The witness Majocchi, a servant in her suite during most of her journeys, had testified specifically to this charge, under the following questions from]

Mr. Solicitor-General Copley: "Did the Princess sleep under that tent [placed on deck] generally on the voyage from Jaffa home?" Majocchi: "She slept always under that tent during the whole voyage from Jaffa to the time she landed."

Mr. Sol.-Gen: "Did anybody sleep under the same tent?" Majocchi: "Bartolomo Bergami." Mr. Sol.-Gen.: "Did this take place every night?" Majocchi: Majocchi: "Every night."

[On cross-examination Mr. Brougham sought to test his trustworthiness by inquiring as to other

Mr. Brougham: "Where did Mr. Howman sleep?" Majocchi: "I do not recollect."

Mr. Brougham: "Where did William Austin sleep?" Majocchi: "I do not remember."

Mr. Brougham: "Where did the Countess Oldi sleep?" Majocchi: "I do not remember."

Mr. Brougham: "Where did Camera sleep?" Majocchi: "I do not know where he slept."

Mr. Brougham: "Where did the maids sleep?" Majocchi: "I do not know."

Mr. Brougham: "Where did Captain Flynn sleep?" Majocchi: "I do not know."

Mr. Brougham: "Did you not, when you were ill during the voyage, sleep below [in the hold] under the deck?" Majocchi: "Under the deck."

Mr. Brougham: "Did those excellent sailors always remain be

1 These questions were not all put in direct sequence; a few intervening questions are here omitted.

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