316 + John Strong proceedingsdefend , was indicted for breaking and entering the dwelling-house of John Lodge proceedingsvictim This name instance is in set 2204. , in the ward of Bishopsgate , London, about the hour of two in the evening, and stealing forty yards of broad cloth, value 30 l. the property of John Skelton proceedingsvictim .

N. B. Those Trials with this mark + shew that the Prisoners were indicted for Capital Offences, and must have receiv'd Sentence of Death, if the Jury had found them guilty of the whole Indictment.

John Skelton < no role > sworn.

Q. What have you to say, with relation to this charge?

Skelton. The beginning of May I sent a piece and an half of broad cloth to Mr. Lodge's.

Q. What quantity of yards were there?

Skelton. There were two quantities; one was twenty-five, and the other about eighteen yards.

[The cloth was produced.]

Q. Do you know that to be your cloth?

Skelton. Yes.

Q. Do you know who stole it?

Skelton. I know nothing farther than that it is mine. The Prisoner was charg'd with stealing this cloth, and was carried before my Lord-Mayor; he denied it at first, but afterwards owned he was the person that stole the cloth.

Q. Did he tell you in what manner he stole it?

Skelton. No

Q. Did he tell you what sort of cloth it was that he had stole?

Skelton. He said it was superfine cloth.

Q. How came you by this cloth again?

Skelton. It was sent in a basket to Mr. Cam's.

William White < no role > sworn.

Q. Do you live with Mr. Lodge?

White. No; I did work with him, but I have not worked there since this fact was committed.

Q. Do you remember the taking in of that cloth at Mr. Lodge's, at any time, and when?

White. Let me look at the cloth [which he did.] On the fourteenth of May, at night, I left these two pieces of cloth at Mr. Lodge's, safe in the warehouse.

Q. What time did you leave these in the warehouse?

White. Between six and seven at night.

Q. Did the Prisoner work for Mr. Lodge?

White. Yes.

Q. Did he work there that day?

White. No; he had not worked there for fourteen or fifteen months before.

Q. When did you go to Mr. Lodge's again?

White. On the Tuesday; and when I came there, I was asked concerning the cloth.

Q. Is there any gate there?

White. Yes; there is a gate that goes into a yard, with a lock to it, and a bolt that goes into the staple four inches.

Q. Where is this warehouse?

White. It is in Little St. Hellen's.

Q. Is it any part of the dwelling-house?

White. No, it is not.

Q. Does it join to the dwelling-house?

White. They join wall to wall.

Q. Have you any passage, or communication, between this place and the street?

White. None, but by going in at the gate. The house and warehouse is all within the gate.

Q. But this is not Mr. Lodge's dwelling-house?

White. No; it is only for to receive goods.

Q. Do you go through the dwelling-house to go into this warehouse?

White. No.

Q. Has the dwelling-house any door to it, besides the door that is at the coming into the yard?

White. No.

Q. And is there no way of going out of the dwelling-house into this warehouse, without going into the yard?

White. No.

Q. Do you know how the cloth was found again?

White. Only as it was said, to be brought to Mr. Cam's.

Ann Walker < no role > sworn.

Q. What have you to say?

Walker. On the sixteenth of May, between five and six in the morning, I saw the Prisoner with something tied up in a brown wrapper, and he laid it upon a post; and he said, if I would take care of it till an inn was open, he would give me something to drink.

Q. Did you carry it to any inn?

Walker. I carried it to Mr. Stephen Scot < no role > 's, in Catharine-Street, in the Strand.

Q. What was it that was in the wrapper?

Walker. It was something of a dark coloured cloth.

Q. Is that the wrapper?

Walker. Yes.

Q. Is that the cloth?

Walker. Yes, I am sure it is; and when he went into the house, he laid the cloth down upon a table below stairs, and I took a candle, and lighted him up, and he carried it into a room up two pair of stairs.

Q. What occasion had you for a candle at that time in the morning?

Walker. Because the woman of the house was in bed, and he desired to leave it there, till the inn was open. Your servant, my Lord, you have done with me?

Mary Goldsmith < no role > sworn.

Q. Do you remember, on the sixteenth of May, seeing that young man at the bar?

Goldsmith. Yes, I saw him come into my aunt's house with something.

Q. Was any body with him?

Goldsmith. Yes, one Ann Walker < no role > was with him, who I knew, or else I would not have let him in.

Q. What did he bring? was it a portmanteau?

Goldsmith. It was like a portmanteau. I took it to be a portmanteau at first, but it was cloth.

Q. Is that the cloth?

Goldsmith. I cannot say it is.

Q. Did he leave any thing in your house?

Goldsmith. Yes, he left it up two pair of stairs.

Q. How came it to be sent away?

Goldsmith. My uncle sent it away, upon seeing an advertisement.

Q. Did the Prisoner come for it?

Goldsmith. Yes; but my uncle thought it was stolen, and he kept it, and sent it home.

Q. When was it sent home?

Goldsmith. The Saturday following.

Q. Are you sure the Prisoner is the person that brought it?

Goldsmith. Yes, he is the person that brought it.

Q. What was it in?

Goldsmith. It was in a brown cloth.

Q. Did he come to demand it?

Goldsmith. Yes.

Q. Was it before, or after it was advertised?

Goldsmith. It was before it was advertised.

Q. What did your uncle say about it?

Goldsmith. He was very angry at my taking it in, and thought it was tea.

Mary Longbottom < no role > sworn.

Q. What are you?

Longbottom. I keep a publick-house in Shoe-Lane.

Q. Did the Prisoner come into your house at any time?

Longbottom. On the eighteenth or nineteenth of May, the Prisoner came with two men to my house.

Q. What time did they come?

Longbottom. They came about noon, and they were talking about cloth; and they said they were going about this cloth to Scot's, and that they believed the cloth was damned, but sooner than the people of the house should have it, the owner should have it.

Q. Who said that, the Prisoner, or any body else?

Longbottom. It was another person said so to the Prisoner, and advised him to send a letter to Scot's, or to advertise it.

Q. Did the Prisoner say any thing to that?

Longbottom. He said he would go to Scot's; and presently there was a woman came in, and she advised him not to go to Scot's, for it would blow him.

Q. And did he go to Scot's?

Longbottom. He went out, and said he would go to Scot's.

Q. Did he return again?

Longbottom. Yes.

Q. How long did he stay?

Longbottom. About an hour.

Q. Did the woman stay?

Longbottom. The woman staid all the time.

Q. When he returned, what did he say?

Longbottom. The woman asked him what he had done, and he said he had made an offer of part of the cloth, and nothing could be done.

Q. Was there any conversation between you and him?

Longbottom. I asked him whether he had lost any thing, and he said, he believed he had lost fifty pounds; said I, did you tell it? he said, it was not money, it was cloth.

Q. What cloth did he say it was?

Longbottom. He said it was superfine cloth. And there was one White, who was turn'd out of his work upon that account, came to my house, and spoke of the affair.

William White < no role > . I am the man; it very nearly concern'd me, for I have been a great sufferer by it.

Longbottom. The second time he was carried before my Lord Mayor, he confessed the fact, and desired to clear the woman, for she was not guilty of it.

Q. to Goldsmith. Is your uncle's name Scot?

Goldsmith. Yes.

Sarah Scot < no role > sworn.

Q. Do you know the Prisoner at the bar?

Scot. Yes.

Q. What do you know of him?

Scot. The Prisoner at the bar came to demand a piece of cloth, which was brought when I was in bed, and asleep : He came several times about it; he came one night, about ten o'clock, with a woman in a cloak; and the next day two men came, and one of them threatened my maid, and said, if she said any thing to them, he would put her eye out with a cane; and the Prisoner said, the cloth was worth twenty pounds. I told a man of very good sense of it, and he advised me not to let the Prisoner have it, and I would not let him have it; for I said to my husband, keep it and he said he would keep it, and see whether it was advertised; and when it was advertised, he sent it home.

Q. When was it advertised?

Scot. It was advertised the next day, and my husband ordered, that there should be no money taken for the carrying it.

Q. Is that the cloth?

Scot. That is the cloth, I am sure, and I was angry with my maid, and gave her a slap on the face for taking it in, for I thought it was tea, and she run away from me upon that account.

The Jury acquitted him of the burglary, and found him guilty of the felony .

[Transportation. See summary.]