The court being seated, there appeared in person the widow Dorothy Careful, to make a complaint against Henry Luckless, and other person or persons unknown, for breaking three panes of glass, value ninepence, in the house of the said widow. Being directed to tell her case to the court, she made a courtesy, and began as follows:—

“Please your lordship, I was sitting at work by my fireside, between the hours of six and seven in the evening, just as it was growing dusk, and little Jack was spinning beside me, when all at once crack went the window, and down fell a little basket of cakes that was set up against it. I started up, and cried to Jack, ‘Bless me, what’s the matter?’ So, says Jack, ‘Somebody has thrown a stone and broke the window, and I dare say it is some of the schoolboys.’ With that I ran out of the house, and saw some boys making off as fast as they could go. So I ran after them as quick as my old legs would carry me; but I should never have come near them, if one had not happened to fall down. Him I caught and brought back to my house, when Jack knew him at once to be Master Harry Luckless. So I told him I would complain of him the next day; and I hope your worship will make him pay the damage, and I think he deserves a good whipping into the bargain, for injuring a poor widow woman.”

The judge having heard Mrs. Careful’s story, desired her to sit down; and then calling up Master Luckless, asked him what he had to say for himself. Luckless appeared with his face a good deal scratched, and looking very ruefully. After making his bow, and sobbing two or three times, he said:—

“My lord, I am as innocent of this matter as any boy in the school, and I am sure I have suffered enough about it already. My lord, Billy Thompson and I were playing in the lane near Mrs. Careful’s house, when we heard the window crash; and directly after she came running out toward us. Upon this, Billy ran away, and I ran too, thinking I might bear the blame. But after running a little way, I stumbled over something that lay in the road, and before I could get up again she overtook me, and caught me by the hair, and began lugging and cuffing me. I told her it was not I that broke her window, but it did not signify; so she dragged me to the light, lugging and scratching me all the while, and then said she would inform against me; and that is all I know of the matter.”

Judge. I find, good woman, you were willing to revenge yourself, without waiting for the justice of this court.

Widow Careful. My lord, I confess I was put into a passion, and did not properly consider what I was doing.

Jud. Well, where is Billy Thompson?

Billy. Here, my lord.

Jud. You have heard what Harry Luckless says. Declare upon your honour whether he has spoken the truth.

Bil. My lord, I am sure neither he nor I had any concern in breaking the window. We were standing together at the time, and I ran on hearing the door open, for fear of being charged with it, and he followed. But what became of him I did not stay to see.

Jud. So you let your friend shift for himself, and only thought of saving yourself. But did you see any other person about the house or in the lane?

Bil. My lord, I thought I heard somebody on the other side of the hedge, creeping along, a little before the window was broken, but I saw nobody.

Jud. You hear, good woman, what is alleged in behalf of the person you have accused. Have you any other evidence against him?

Wid. One might be sure that they would deny it, and tell lies for one another; but I hope I am not to be put off in that manner.

Jud. I must tell you, mistress, that you give too much liberty to your tongue, and are guilty of as much injustice as that of which you complain, I should be sorry, indeed, if the young gentlemen of this school deserved the general character of liars. You will find among us, I hope, as just a sense of what is right and honourable, as among those who are older; and our worthy master certainly would not permit us to try offences in this manner, if he thought us capable of bearing false witness in each other’s favour.

Wid. I ask your lordship’s pardon, I did not mean to offend: but it is a heavy loss for a poor woman, and though I did not catch the boy in the fact, he was the nearest when it was done.

Jud. As this is no more than a suspicion, and he has the positive evidence of his schoolfellow in his favour, it will be impossible to convict him, consistently with the rules of justice. Have you discovered any other circumstance that may point out the offender?

Wid. My lord, next morning Jack found on the floor this top, which I suppose the window was broken with.

Jud. Hand it up—here, gentlemen of the jury, please to examine it, and see if you can discover anything of its owner.

Juryman. Here is P. R. cut upon it.

Another. Yes, and I am sure I remember Peter Riot’s having just such a one.

Another. So do I.

Jud. Master Riot, is this your top?

Riot. I don’t know, my lord, perhaps it may be mine; I have had a great many tops, and when I have done with them, I throw them away, and anybody may pick them up that pleases. You see it has lost its peg.

Jud. Very well, sir. Mrs. Careful, you may retire.

Wid. And must I have no amends, my lord?

Jud. Have patience. Leave everything to the court. We shall do you all the justice in our power.

As soon as the widow was gone, the judge rose from his seat, and with much solemnity thus addressed the assembly:—

“Gentlemen,—this business, I confess, gives me much dissatisfaction. A poor woman has been insulted and injured in her property, apparently without provocation; and though she has not been able to convict the offender, it cannot be doubted that she, as well as the world in general, will impute the crime to some of our society. Though I am in my own mind convinced that in her passion she charged an innocent person, yet the circumstance of the top is a strong suspicion, indeed almost a proof, that the perpetrator of this unmanly mischief was one of our body. The owner of the top has justly observed, that its having been his property is no certain proof against him. Since, therefore, in the present defect of evidence, the whole school must remain burdened with the discredit of this action, and share in the guilt of it, I think fit, in the first place, to decree, that restitution shall be made to the sufferer out of the public chest; and next that a court of inquiry be instituted for the express purpose of searching thoroughly into this affair, with power to examine all persons upon honour who are thought likely to be able to throw light upon it. I hope, gentlemen, these measures meet with your concurrence?”

The whole court bowed to the judge, and expressed their entire satisfaction with his determination.

It was then ordered that the public treasurer should go to the Widow Careful’s house, any pay her the sum of one shilling, making at the same time a handsome apology in the name of the school. And six persons were taken by lot out of the jury to compose the court of inquiry, which was to sit in the evening.

The court then adjourned.

On the meeting of the court of inquiry, the first thing proposed by the president, was, that the persons who usually played with Master Riot should be sent for. Accordingly Tom Frisk and Bob Loiter were summoned, when the president asked them upon their honour if they knew the top to have been Riot’s. They said they did. They were then asked whether they remembered when Riot had it in his possession?

Frisk. He had it the day before yesterday, and split a top of mine with it.

Loiter. Yes, and then, as he was making a stroke at mine, the peg flew out.

President. What did he then do with it?

Fr. He put it into his pocket, and said, as it was a strong top, he would have it mended.

Pres. Then he did not throw it away, or give it to any body?

Loit. No; he pocketed it up, and we saw no more of it.

Pres. Do you know of any quarrel he had with Widow Careful?

Fr. Yes; a day or two before, he went to her shop for some ginger bread; but, as he already owed her sixpence, she would not let him have any till he had paid his debts.

Pres. How did he take the disappointment?

Fr. He said he would be revenged on her.

Pres. Are you sure he used such words?

Fr. Yes; Loiter heard him as well as myself.

Loit. I did, sir.

Pres. Do either of you know any more of this affair?

Both. No, sir.

Pres. You may go.

The President now observed that these witnesses had done a great deal in establishing proofs against Riot; for it was now pretty certain that no one but himself could have been in possession of the top at the time the crime was committed; and also it appeared that he had declared a malicious intention against the woman, which it was highly probable he would put into execution.—As the court were debating about the next step to be taken, they were acquainted that Jack, the widow’s son, was waiting at the school-door for admission; and a person being sent out for him, Riot was found threatening the boy, and bidding him go home about his business. The boy, however, was conveyed safely into the room, when he thus addressed himself to the president:—

Jack. Sir, and please your worship, as I was looking about this morning for sticks in the hedge over against our house, I found this buckle. So I thought to myself, sure this must belong to the rascal that broke our windows. So I have brought it to see if anybody in the school would own it.

Pres. On which side of the hedge did you find it?

Jack. On the other side from our house, in the close.

Pres. Let us see it. Gentlemen, this is so smart a buckle, that I am sure I remember it at once, and so I dare say you all do.

All. It is Riot’s.

Pres. Has anybody observed Riot’s shoes to-day?

One Boy. Yes, he has got them tied with strings.

Pres. Very well, gentlemen; we have nothing more to do than to draw up an account of all the evidence we have heard, and lay it before his lordship. Jack, you may go home.

Jack. Pray, sir, let somebody go with me, for I am afraid of Riot, who has just been threatening me at the door.

Pres. Master Bold will please to go along with the boy.

The minutes of the court were then drawn up, and the President took them to the judge’s chamber. After the judge had perused them, he ordered an endictment to be drawn up against Peter Riot, “for that he meanly, clandestinely, and with malice aforethought, had broken three panes in the window of Widow Careful, with a certain instrument called a top, whereby he had committed an atrocious injury on an innocent person, and had brought a disgrace upon the society to which he belonged.” At the same time, he sent an officer to inform Master Riot that his trial would come on next morning.

Riot, who was with some of his gay companions, affected to treat the matter with great indifference, and even to make a jest of it. However, in the morning he thought it best to endeavour to make it up; and accordingly, when the court was assembled, he sent one of his friends with a shilling, saying that he would not trouble them with any further inquiries, but would pay the sum that had been issued out of the public stock. On the receipt of this message the Judge rose with much severity in his countenance; and observing, that by such a contemptuous behaviour towards the court the criminal had greatly added to his offence, he ordered two officers with their staves immediately to go and bring in Riot, and to use force if he should resist them. The culprit, thinking it best to submit, was presently led in between the two officers; when, being placed at the bar, the judge thus addressed him:—

“I am sorry, sir, that any member of this society can be so little sensible of the nature of a crime, and so little acquainted with the principles of a court of justice, as you have shown yourself to be, by the proposal you took the improper liberty of sending to us. If you meant it as a confession of your guilt, you certainly ought to have waited to receive from us the penalty we thought proper to inflict, and not to have imagined that an offer of the mere payment of damages would satisfy the claims of justice against you. If you had only broken the window by accident, and of your own accord offered restitution, nothing less than the full damages could have been accepted. But you now stand charged with having done this mischief, meanly, secretly, and maliciously, and thereby have added a great deal of criminal intention to the act. Can you then think that a court like this, designed to watch over the morals, as well as protect the properties of our community, can so slightly pass over such aggravated offences? You can claim no merit from confessing the crime, now that you know so much evidence will appear against you. And if you choose still to plead not guilty, you are at liberty to do it, and we will proceed immediately to the trial, without taking any advantage of the confession implied by your offer of payment.”

Riot stood silent for some time, and then begged to be allowed to consult with his friends what was best for him to do. This was agreed to, and he was permitted to retire, though under guard of an officer. After a short absence, he returned with more humility in his looks, and said that he pleaded guilty, and threw himself on the mercy of the court. The judge then made a speech of some length, for the purpose of convincing the prisoner as well as the bystanders of the enormity of the crime. He then pronounced the following sentence:—

“You, Peter Riot, are hereby sentenced to pay the sum of half a crown to the public treasury, as a satisfaction for the mischief you have done, and your attempt to conceal it. You are to repair to the house of Widow Careful, accompanied by such witnesses as we shall appoint, and there having first paid her the sum you owe her, you shall ask her pardon for the insult you offered her. You shall likewise, to-morrow, after school, stand up in your place, and before all the scholars ask pardon for the disgrace you have been the means of bringing upon the society; and in particular you shall apologise to Master Luckless, for the disagreeable circumstance you were the means of bringing him into. Till all this is complied with, you shall not presume to come into the play-ground, or join in any of the diversions of the school; and all persons are hereby admonished not to keep your company till this is done.”

Riot was then dismissed to his room; and in the afternoon he was taken to the widow’s, who was pleased to receive his submission graciously, and at the same time to apologise for her own improper treatment of Master Luckless, to whom she sent a present of a nice ball by way of amends.

Thus ended this important business.