136. (M.) Thomas Hunt proceedingsdefend , late of Whetstone , wheelwright , was indicted for stealing one piece of oak timber, value 10 s. the property of his majesty proceedingsvictim , Jan. 18 . ||

Thomas Nuthell < no role > , Esq; I am surveyor of his majesty's woods within the dutchy of Lancaster. About the middle of May I received his majesty's commission to cut down, and sell for his majesty's use, a large quantity of oak timber, and beech, growing on Enfield chace , within that dutchy. The fall was begun in the month of May, and ended in August. I was to pay to his majesty's use four thousand pounds neat, after deduction of charges. During the fall and after, I missed a great quantity of billet wood, so I directed my people to endeavour to detect those that stole it. About the 20th of January I received information that the prisoner at the bar had carried off an oak tree ( part of the fall) in the night. I order'd an agent of mine to go to him, to know if he had done any thing of that kind. The answer brought me was, that he had bought some chips and offal wood of the hewers, but had not carried off any thing else. At the time I received this message back, the witness, who will be next called ( Charles Head < no role > ) who was said to have help'd him to load this tree, happened to be at my house, and on his confirming it, I had the prisoner taken up, and carried before Mr. Fielding, on the 10th of this instant. Upon his own examination, the witness having sworn to the fact, he said in his defence, that he had bought this tree of one Andrew Tyler, a tenant of Mrs. Sambroke's, who lives about a mile or two from the chace, and that Tyler had help'd him to load it that night, and that he came very honestly by it. This he said was on the 18th of January. I asked him if he would abide by that defence, if he would, I would go over to Tyler, and bring him to town, in order to get him discharged. The prisoner said he would. I went to Tyler, who lives at a place call'd Little Heath, near Northaw Common, and upon telling him all the circumstances I have now mention'd, Mr. Tylor told me he never had any dealings with the prisoner at all, except that the prisoner mended him a plough, for which he had paid him. I then inquired at the turnpike, between Tyler's house and the chace, (where they sit up night and day) thro' which the timber must have past, if the prisoner had had it of him. The turnpike man told me, no timber whatever had gone through that turnpike towards London, for several months. On the prisoner's being re-examin'd before justice Fielding, which I believe was on the 14th of February, he said, he could not persist in his former defence, but that he had taken this tree from the chace by mistake, that he had agreed with me for a little lot of trees, and he thought this had been one of them.

Q. Had he bought any timber of you?

Nuthell. He had applied to buy some, but the character of the man being bad I would not sell him any but for ready money. I never sold him any. There were some trees looked out for him, in case he could raise the money, and mark'd with the initial letters of his name. I did imagine that might have been his defence at first, so I took the trouble to go over those trees, and found them all lying on the chace. The tree that he had taken away was no part of that wood. I then took Charles Head < no role > to the place, in order to see what tree it was. I found it was an oak tree that had been cut, part of the fall, in the midst of some bushes: the butt end of the tree was left in the ground, and the tree was carried off. I went to the prisoner's house, in order to see it, and found it within his own yard, at Whetstone, where he lives. As all the trees were mark'd with some letter of the alphabet at the bottom, I look'd there, but the bottom of it appeared to me to have been cut off, so that I could not form any judgement of it.

Cross Examination.

Q. Was that person that assisted him your servant, or any way employed by you?

Nuthell. He was not my servant; he is a labourer, and was digging a pond at my house, near the chace, and, as I understood, the prisoner got him to assist him. I believe he thought it was the prisoner's property.

Q. Had not you sold some of these trees to Mr. Sleath?

Nuthell. No, I had not; Mr. Sleath is my agent, the measurer of the king's timber.

Q. Had not he measured the prisoner thirty-five small sticks?

Nuthell. He had measured thirty-five sticks, which the prisoner was to have had upon his paying. for them. Mr. Sleath was the very person that advised me not to let him have it till he paid for it.

Q. Did the tree lie open in the prisoner's yard?

Nuthell. It did.

Q. How long after the fact was it, which you say was on the 18th of January, that you saw it there?

Nuthell. I believe it was on the 14th of February.

Q. Did you take minutes of his examination?

Nuthell. I did.

Q. Did not the justice take it in writing?

Nuthell. He could not; he is blind.

Council. Justice ought to be blind.

Q. Did the clerk take it in writing ?

Nuthell. I believe not; I did not see him.

Q. Do you know whether the prisoner has not an estate of his own?

Nuthell. I don't know that he has.

Q. Can you take upon yourself to say that this was the tree that was carried from that place, which you, with Head, went to view; for you seem to say the mark did not appear on it when you saw it, in the prisoner's yard?

Nuthell. I can't take upon me to swear it is the same that was fell'd there, but I do verily believe it to be the same.

Q. Is there any means by which you know oak timber growing on the chace, from any other timber growing in any other place?

Nuthell. The oak timber we sell from the chace is not so well cut; we leave it rougher a good deal, and it was cut when the bark would not run; it will seldom run after the month of May. People that cut down timber chuse to have the bark run, which is very valuable. These particular trees were left with their bark on; it would not run.

Q. Did it appear in that manner, in which you describe trees cut from the chace?

Nuthell. Yes, it did; part of the bark was on it when I saw it in the prisoner's yard. People who can chuse their time of selling, don't cut down oak timber when the bark won't run, because it will pay for the charges of selling.

Charles Head < no role > . On Wednesday the 18th of January, between eight and nine at night, the prisoner's lad call'd me out of my bed, and desired I would go and help the prisoner.

Q. Was the prisoner by at the time?

Head. No. I got up, and went with the lad to the prisoner to Enfield-Chace, where he was with two horses.

Q. How far do you live from the chace ?

Head. I live within less than half a mile of the place from where the tree lay. The tree seem'd to have been cut down some time before; it lay amongst some bushes, and he could not get it out, so I help'd him out with it. He carried it on a truck with two horses into the high road, and there I left him.

Q. What did he say when you went to him?

Head. He said he had bought the whole hill of timber, and there was never a bit there that would do but that tree.

Q. Did he say of whom he had bought it?

Head. He did not, neither did I ask him.

Q. Was it lying on the same spot of ground where you shew'd Mr. Nuthell ?

Head. Yes, on that very place.

Cross Examination.

Q. Was it light or dark?

Head. It was moon light.

Q. Did you think he was about to steal it?

Head. I looked upon it to be his own tree, and that he came to fetch it away.

Q. Were there any more timbers near it?

Head. There were a great many more.

Q. Could you, at that time, have distinguished the mark of one tree from another?

Head. No, but I took particular notice of the place where it lay.

Mr. Nuthell. The timber on or near that hill I sold for above 500 l.

Q. from prisoner. How far did this lie from the lot that was mark'd out for me?

Mr. Nuthell. The witness Head can give no answer to that, but I can; if the court pleases, and if the prisoner thinks it will be of any service to him, I will answer it.

Prisoner. If you please.

Mr. Nuthell. The small stuff that was mark'd for him, 27 of them, lay in a plain, at about thirty yards distance, drawn together, in order that he might more commodiously take them away when he had paid for them. This tree was not any part of them, but lay at some distance in the bushes, within the cover.

Prisoner's Defence.

I bought this lot of timber of Mr. Sleath; it lies on the same plain where I am challenged; but five pieces of them lie in the thicket, and about eleven poll beyond lay this piece in a delve hole. I had two pieces lay in the thicket, about fifty polls below, which was not all drawn together. Mr. Sleath's clerk (named Ellis) measured it to me, and mark'd my own name on it.

He called James Honybourn < no role > , who had known him six years; Robert Jordan < no role > , twenty; James Steel < no role > , nine; John Reeves < no role > , about three; Francis Clairidge < no role > , twenty three; Richard Nusham < no role > , twenty; and Mr. Brooks, about three years, who all gave him a good character. - He call'd also his brother William Hunt < no role > , who gave him the same, and further deposed, that the prisoner had an estate of twelve pounds a year at Watford, and a house at Whetstone, where he lives, one part of which he lets for seven pounds a year; he has also an income by his wife of four shillings per week, and a couple of other little tenements; that he is very well situated, has a very good trade, and under no necessity, as to his circumstances in life, to be guilty of such a thing as is laid to his charge.

Guilty, 10 d.

[Whipping. See summary.]