§ MR. BRADLAUGH (Northampton)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the depositions taken at Bow Street in the Queen against John Coleman, John Fahy, John Wing, and Thomas John Hennessey, which contain the following words and figures, as evidence given in open Court on 18th November, 1887, before Mr. Vaughan by John Crawford:—
I was at the Police Station, Bow Street, locked up on a charge, and I saw Greenwood, 99 E, strike Coleman on the nose twice. It was between 3.55 p.m. and 4.30 p.m.;whether the office copy of such deposition was obtained by the Solicitor to the Treasury, and on what date; and, whether the Solicitor and Counsel for the Treasury were both present in Court when the evidence was given?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)I have seen the deposition of John Crawford, which is correctly quoted, except that the word "twice" does not occur in it. The office copy of such deposition was received by the Treasury Solicitor on the 23rd of November. Neither the Solicitor to the Treasury, nor anyone representing him, nor Counsel for the Treasury were present in the Court at Bow Street; but a clerk from the Treasury Solicitor's Department and the Counsel instructed by him were present on December 9, 1887, when Coleman 586 was convicted at the Middlesex Sessions and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment with hard labour.