INFAMOUS HYPOCRITE JOHN CHURCH***


Transcribed from the [1817] John Fairburn edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org

                   [Picture: Public domain book cover]

                              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 the only
                                 Genuine
   Edition! whereas, it is not so correct as FAIRBURN’S.—_John Church_.

                                * * * * *





                                   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 _one Proselyte_; and, when he is made, ye make
    him _two-fold more the child of Hell_ than yourselves.”

    “Ye Serpents! ye generation of Vipers! _how can ye escape the
    damnation of Hell_?”

                                     ST. MATTHEW, CHAP. xxiii. v. 15 & 33.

                                * * * * *

                                 LONDON:
          Published by JOHN FAIRBURN, 2, Broadway, Ludgate-Hill.
                           (_Price Sixpence_.)

                                * * * * *

                 Marchant, Printer, Ingram-court, London.

                                * * * * *




SURREY ASSIZES, CROYDON,
_Saturday_, _August_ 16, 1817.


                         THE KING v. JOHN CHURCH.

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

The second count charged a common assault.

The Defendant pleaded NOT GUILTY.

Counsel for the Prosecution—Mr. MARRYATT and Mr. BOLLAND; Solicitor, Mr.
HARMER.

Counsel for the Defendant—Mr. GURNEY and the COMMON SERJEANT.

The Jury being sworn:—Mr. BORLAND opened the indictment, as follows—

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

_Mr. Marryatt_ then stated the case on the part of the Prosecution; after
which the court proceeded to call witnesses: the first witness called was



ADAM FOREMAN _sworn_.


_Examined by Mr. Bolland_.—Will be twenty the first day of December next.
Is an apprentice to Patrick, the potter, of Vauxhall.  Has been with him
about five years.  Knows the Defendant, John Church, by sight.  Has known
him about two or three years.  Church is a preacher.  He, Witness,
attended the congregation in the Chapel where Church preaches and has
often seen him.  Witness sleeps generally at his father’s.  There are
occasions upon which witness sleeps at his master’s house when he goes
out of town.  Church lived by his chapel, in St. George’s Fields, the
Borough-Road.  Came to take up his abode at Mr. Patrick’s the 25th of
September, he came to sleep there that night.  Witness slept there that
night.  Does not know whether he (Church) had been there before.  Cannot
say whether he had seen him there before.  Knows that he slept there on
the 25th September, and that he, witness, was there.  Witness’s master
that night was out of town; but where he cannot say.  Mr. Church,
witness’s mistress, the children, and the two maid servants, slept in the
house that night.  There was no other man in the house except himself and
Church.  Witnesses bed-room was the front parlour on the first floor over
the kitchen.  It is not a bed-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 reason for 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 the kiln when he came.  It was necessary for him to sit up
to attend that kiln, and to give the key to the man, Thomas West.
Witness went to bed about one o’clock,—went to sleep directly he went to
bed.  Had not been asleep more than half an hour before he was awoke by
some one putting his hands under the bed clothes, and laying hold of his
private parts very tight.  Witness put his hand out of the bed-clothes,
and caught hold of him and asked him who he was? and laid hold of him, as
near as he could guess, by the upper part of his arm; felt lower down,
and found by the sleeve that he had got a man’s shirt on; found the wrist
was buttoned; knows very well it was a man; could not tell that from the
feel of the flesh.  Witness was here asked by _Lord Ellenborough_ by what
circumstance? and answered because he had got a man’s shirt on.  The
person, in answer to what he said, answered—“Adam, don’t you know me?  I
am your mistress,” in a faint voice, like a woman; 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 he
went 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 at the kiln.  As he
opened the door witness saw by the lamp that it was Mr. Church, and he
had only his shirt on.  The lamp that enabled witness to see the person
of Church is outside of the front street door, on the terrace.  The lamp
throws a light through the fan-light of the hall door.  Witness was here
asked by _Lord Ellenborough_ whether the lamp was at the street door? and
he answered, yes.  It is a parish lamp; not one of the new lights; nor a
gas light.  Question by _Lord Ellenborough_—Where were you standing at
the time?—I was getting up, my lord.  Witness went out of his room.  In
answer to a question by _Lord Ellenborough_, witness answered, he saw it
was Church by the lamp at the street door.  Witness was then in bed,
sitting up; had not then left his bed; did not open the door; Church did
that.  Witness saw him go out through that door; and then observed that
he had a shirt on.  The shirt or dress of a man is much shorter than that
of a woman, and, therefore, he must have seen whether it was a shirt or a
shift.  It was the shirt of a man witness is sure.  Did not see his face
at all; his (Church’s) back was towards witness.  When he was gone,
witness got up and put on his small clothes and shoes, and went into the
pottery to get the man to come up to the house; told Thomas West of it.
Witness was here asked by _Lord Ellenborough_ whether West was in the
pottery?—and answered, he was; it was the Thomas West that was in the
pottery before witness went to bed.

_Cross-examined by Mr. Gurney_.—The person, whoever it was, opened the
door and went out, afterwards shut the door after him.  Saw him when he
opened the door.  There was no light in the room.  The light came from a
lamp on the Terrace.  The lamp is between five and six yards from the
door on the Terrace.  The Terrace on which witness’s master’s house is
situated, is a row of houses raised above the road.  The lamp is upon the
Terrace opposite the door.  About five or six yards from the door.  The
light which it gives to the passage is through the fan-light over the
door.  Did not see the face of the person.  Saw that the person had a
shirt on.  Was rather alarmed, waked out of his sleep in this way.  It
was not long about.  Witness don’t know how long he (Church) had been
there before witness awoke.  Witness went directly to West, who directly
came with him and searched the house for thieves.  Did not know whether
any body had got in or not.  Looked at every chamber-door in the house
except Mr. Church’s and witness’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 door open.  Looked at all the doors in
the house, and found them all shut.  The maid servant’s door was on the
jar.  All the other doors were shut.  After that witness and West
searched the house all over.  West stopped while the witness put on the
remainder of his clothes, witness then went back with West to the
pottery, after having locked the door.  Told West this story directly,
told him that Mr. Church came down into his (witness’s) room and behaved
in a very 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 not search the house for thieves; and you answered
“Yes,” are you right or wrong in that?—I asked you before whether you and
he did not search the house for thieves, and you told me that you
did?—Witness answered, we searched the house: we looked all over it, to
see if there was any body in any of the rooms, but not for thieves in
particular.  Witness did not think of thieves, because he knew who it
was.  Did not go into the maid servants’ room; only looked in; having
found the door open, looked in.  The two maids slept in that room; one is
witness’s sister.  The door being ajar, witness pushed it in a little,
and saw they were abed.  Did not speak to them.

_Re-examined by Mr. Bolland_.—Witness did not search the house for
thieves because he knew who the persons was.  The reason of his searching
the house was because he wished to be quite right before he made the
accusation against Mr. Church.  Witness and West found there was no other
man in the house but Mr. Church.  There was not any door or window open
at which any other man could have come in.  The light from the Terrace
struck through the fan-light or window over the door.  It gives a pretty
fair light to the hall, it shews a little light up the stairs.  It was at
the time the person opened the door and went out that witness got this
view of his person.

_Examined by Lord Ellenborough_.—Did not hear Church when he first came
into the room.  Was awakened by the application of his hand to witness’s
person.  He was standing upon the floor.  Witness has not any difficulty
in hearing.  Witness did not call to him by name, or give him to
understand that he knew who he was.  Witness saw his (Church’s) back as
he went out of the room.  It appeared to be the height of Mr. Church.
Cannot say what height he is.  He had a night-cap.  Cannot exactly say
whether it was a man’s night-cap or no.  Thinks it was a handkerchief
tied round his head.  Cannot tell what sort of handkerchief it was.  When
witness and West searched the house and examined the different doors they
went to Mr. Church’s door, but did not touch it, nor did they go in.
West wanted to go into the room and pull him out.  When West wanted to
putt him out, witness did not call to him because he was afraid of
disturbing his mistress; she would have been very much alarmed.  Church
never had any conversation with witness, nor did he ever make any
overture of this sort to him before this time.  There was nothing
particular in his manner or conduct towards witness before this time.
Witness has not spoken to him at all since.  Has attended before a
Magistrate with him; spoke in his presence there, but not to him; did not
hear him speak before the Magistrate.  He did not speak at all before the
Magistrate.  Witness gave the same