242. ROBERT MANSFIELD proceedingsdefend was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 30th of April , a livery coat, value 12s. a hat with a silver band, value 14s. a velvet waistcoat, value 10s. and a pair of leather breeches, value 10s. the goods of Jesse Foot proceedingsvictim .

JESSE FOOT < no role > sworn.

The prisoner was my servant . I hired him about the 15th or 16th of April, the 15th, I believe, I had a sick horse, and I found him at the office at Charing-cross; and finding him very nigh, I ordered him home, and inquired into his character. I got a written character of him at the office, and he told me, he had been in London about eight or nine months, and had been six months out of place; and he told me, the reason that he left the gentleman that the written character came from was, because he did not like indoor work and that his wages were low. I told him, I would give him twelve guineas a year. I told him, as he had been so long out of place, I would lend him some money; I gave him the key of my corn, and at the expiration of the 13th day and half, I perceived I had lost two sacks of corn; and I took the key away from him.

Q. What day did you take the key from him? - I took the key away from him on the Monday as he went on the Wednesday.

Q. You understood he was gone away? - Yes, I understood so, and that night he was taken at a public house.

Q. What did you miss on his going? - A new hat, with a silver band, a velveret coat, with some silver lace, a waistcoat, and a pair of leather breeches.

Q. Where were they found? - On him; they were found on him at the public house in Marlborough-street.(The clothes produced)

Prisoner. I have no friends.

Jury. Is that the hat that your servant were? - Yes, they were livery clothes for his wear.

RICHARD FOOT sworn.

I am Mr. Foot's nephew; I was going with the prisoner, on the 30th of April, to the stable, to take the horse out to an airing. He told me, that he had left the key at home, and asked me if I would go back to fetch him the key of the stable? I went on for it, and while I was gone, he went away without telling me where he was gone. I see him afterwards; about the middle of the day, in Piccadilly.

Q. How near is that from your uncle's house? - Nearly a mile.

Q. What did you say to him? - I asked him what was the reason that he left my uncle in that manner? he told me, I should know in a few hours time; and that if I would go with him, he would go with me to my uncle's. I followed him, and he went up May-fair, and he went through Collyer's livery stables, a very narrow place that I could not yet down with my horse.

Q. Did he see you follow him? - Yes.

Q. Did he walk away, or run away, or how? - He was walking very fast, andhe turned round the corner, and I looked round that corner, and could not see him.

Q. Did you see any more of him afterwards? - Yes, at a public house next to Swallow-street after eight in the evening.

Q. Is that public house near to your uncle's? - About a quarter of a mile off; it was a public house that he used to lodge at.

Q.Did he lodge at that house when he was at your uncle's? - No, before he lived with my uncle. I went to my uncle, and told him where I see him, and he told me to go to the constable, and I went, and he and I, and another man, went to take him up. We took him to the watch-house.

Q. Was he in the public house when you took him up? - Yes.

Q. Did you hear him say any thing when he was taken up? - I did not go in, the constable did.

Q. Did any conversation pass? - He said something to the constable; I don't know what it was.

Q. Where is the constable? - He is not present.

Prisoner. Did not I say, I am very willing to go home with you, and deliver up the livery, but I have not a pair of small clothes to put on? - He did say, that he had not a pair of breeches to change his clothes.

Prosecutor. The clothes have been locked up in my house ever since they were taken from him. This is the coat and waistcoat that he had on, they were made about a fortnight before, for a servant that wore livery, but they sitted him very well.

Jury. Had he the clothes on at the time? - Yes; instead of dressing in a stable jacket he put these things on in the morning at six o'clock, and they were taken from his back at Marlborough-street, before the magistrate.

Const: It is usual for him to wear his jacket to do his work in of a morning? - yes, it is.

Q. What time was he to have put on these clothes? - After he had cleaned the horse.

Q. How far is the stable from your house? - It may be a hundred yards.

Q. You have no doubt but what these clothes belong to you? - Not the least doubt in the world.

Q. What reason have you to believe that he would not return again? had you any other reason than he did not return with his clothes? - That was my reason.

Prisoner. Did not you strike me? - No.

Prisoner. I had no small clothes to put on, and nothing to put on, and so I put on them things. He told me to put them on over night; I had no other things at his house; me struck me, and did every thing by me he chose; and I never was struck by a master before. That boy is a witness that the gentleman did strike me.

Court. Boy, you hear what he says, speak the truth between your uncle and the prisoner? - He had his hat on one day, and my uncle struck it off.

Prosecutor. That was in consequences of my charging him with the corn.

Not GUILTY .

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Justice GROSS.