195. ADAM HANNAWAY was indicted for stealing, on the 15th of January, a cloth coat, value 10s. a cloth waistcoat, value 3s. a pair of leather boots, value 1s. the goods of Christopher Postern.
CHRISTOPHER POSTERN sworn.
I live at Turnham-green, with Dr. Myersbach. The prisoner came to the doctor's house to enquire for work; I told him that Thomas Ashley, our gardener, was not at work, but if he stayed till he came home he would give him work if he wanted him; he came home in the evening, he did not come home while it was light.
Q. What time of the day was this that the prisoner called? - In the evening, between one and two o'clock; he waited there till the dusk of the evening; I told him our gardener was not at home, to come the next morning.
Q. What time was it you told the prisoner to come the next morning? - About four o'clock in the evening, he went away when I told him.
Q. Did you see any thing more of him afterwards? - Not that evening. The next morning about seven o'clock, I was present, and Mr. Ashley set him to work, that was on the 8th of January, he worked that week all out; the Monday morning he came to work as usual, he worked till Saturday morning breakfast time; Saturday he asked his master gardener to give him leave to go away that evening on some business that he had got for himself to do; the gardener gave him leave to go; and he promised to come again, on Monday morning. I heard that, on Sunday I missed my clothes, I wanted to put them on.
Q. Where were they before you missed them? - Over the stable, I sleep over the stable, I had them on the Sunday before, they were my Sunday's clothes.
Q. Were they in any box, or any thing? - No, only hung on pegs.
Q. Did not you miss your things on Saturday night? - No, I did not suspect any thing of that kind. I missed a coat and waistcoat, and a pair of boots; on Monday morning he did not come to work.
Q. You did not make any enquiries after him on Sunday? - None at all; on Monday when he did not come to work I suspected him.
Q. Is there any communication to this room, except through the stable? - No, none at all. I went to Brentford, where I thought I should find them in some of the shops, and then this Thomas Ashley and I, we went to his lodgings at Brentford, (Hasting Sharp's,) there I found my boots, that was all; I went and examined all through Brentford, and I could not find any thing more, and they told me he was gone to another place to work, and that he was gone to market, and that I should meet him on the road; accordingly I went, and I met him by the Pack Horse, on Turnham-green; I asked him how he came to take my boots away? he said he had not; I told him then that I found them at his lodgings? he said that he had put them on to get some turnips on Sunday; then I asked him what he had done with my clothes, he denied them; I told him if he would tell me where they were I should be much obliged to him, and will not hurt you? at last he told me where he took and sold them; says he, the person is here who bought them of me; he shewed us himself where he sold them to, to a gentleman at Brentford, a man that deals in clothes, his name is Phillip Mattingly; we took him to the justice's the next day, and he brought the clothes there.
Q. Did you see them at Mattingly's first? - I did not, till he brought them to the justice's.
Q. Were the things that were produced before the justices, the coat and waistcoat that you had lost? - Yes. They are here.
THOMAS ASHLY sworn.
I went with the man to Mattingly's house on Tuesday night, succeeding the Saturday that he went away from me in the morning; I asked this Mattingly whether he had bought such a thing of that kind, as a coat and waistcoat? then Mattingly denied having bought such things, he did at that time; I then returned to Turnham-green, thinking it had been fictious what the prisoner had told me, I met the prisoner on the way, and one Naybour with him; when I met the prisoner I desired he would go back with me to Mr. Mattingly's, he went back with me, and when he came back there, Mr. Mattingly then acknowledged that he bought the things.
Q. What description had you given of the clothes? - I told him it was a light coloured drab coat and waistcoat.
Q. Had you described the sort of man that you supposed had sold them to him? - I mentioned that he must have bought them a very short time before this.
Q. Did Mattingly produce them that night? - No, the next morning they were brought to the justice's, Bland's, at Brentford, that was the first time I saw them, from the time they were stole; in consequence of his being taken up, from the evidence that was given before justice Bland, he was committed to Newgate; the clothes were put into the hands of the constable of Brentford, he is not here.
Q. Who has the clothes? - Naybour.
PHILLIP MATTINGLY sworn.
I buy clothes, new and old, I live at Brentford, near the seven mile stone.
Q. Do you remember the last witness coming to your shop, to know whether you had bought such an article as this coat and waistcoat? - Yes, he described it as a light coloured drab coat, and it is a dark colour, I do not recollect that he mentioned the person, nor a word about it.
Q. The fact is, you bought a coat and waistcoat? - I bought them of a man much like the prisoner, but I don't know the man.
Q. When did you buy them? - I don't know when I bought them.
Q. How long was it before application was made to you? - Four or five days.
Q. When the prisoner came to your shop, and said, that he sold you the clothes, was it true or not? - I thought it was true, from what the prisoner said, I don't know no more of him.
Q. You had no recollection how long you had been possessed of these clothes? - No, no further than what he said he had sold them me.
Q. Was that or was it not true? - I did not know the man again, if he had not said that he sold me the clothes.
Q. Do you recollect what past between you, and the man you bought the clothes of, whoever that man was at the time? - Nothing more than he asked me if I would buy the clothes? I asked him what they were? he said a coat and waistcoat, he said he was out of work, and he would sell them; I offered him first half a guinea, he said I must give him twelve shillings, I gave him twelve shillings for the coat and waistcoat.
Q. Do you say that you forgot the person that you bought the things of, when it was in less than a week that you saw him again after you had bought them? - I did not know till I saw the prisoner, and he told me that he was the man that sold them me.
Q.What enquiry did you make, of the man that sold you these articles? - I did not make any enquiry. no otherwise than that he told me he was out of work.
Q. Were these livery clothes? - Yes, it had been a livery coat, but it had been turned.
Q. Look at the prisoner? - To the best of my knowledge it is the same man, but I never saw the man before.
Q. How much did you give him? - I gave him twelve shillings, what he asked.
Q. To the best of your recollection the prisoner is the man? - Yes, he is.
Q. Then whoever the person was, the man that they brought, said he was the man that sold you the clothes? where are the clothes now? - Naybour has got it.
NAYBOUR sworn.
I am a man that works in gardens along with the prisoner.
Q. Do you know any thing of the loss of these clothes? - No.
Q. How did you get this bundle? - I received them of the constable, he is not here.
Q. Can any body say these are the clothes that were found at Mattingly's?
Askley. I see them delivered into the hands of the constable's son (Pollycut.)
Mattingly. I believe these are the clothes I bought.
Postern. I know them fast enough, they are my own clothes, I was at the justice's when they were brought there, and these are the clothes, they were my clothes once, but they have not been in my care since they were stole till now.
Court to Naybour. The clothes were delivered to the constable by Mattingly? - Yes, and Porter swore they were his clothes.
Q. And these are the same as produced by the constable before the justice? - They are.
Postern. These are my boots, there is my name within them on the inside; they were hanging up in the room.
Prisoner. I met a traveling man on the road, and he had these clothes, and he asked me what I would give him for them boots? and I told him I would give him eighteen-pence for them; and so he said no, that would not do, if I would give him a pint of beer I should have them; so with that I went down with him as far as the King's Head, and drank part of a pint of beer, and he delivered the boots to me, and said they were his; he said he had got these here other things, and he was going to sell them as soon as he could; and I went up to Brentford with him; he said they were his own, and he went into this shop, just by the seven mile stone, and he sold them, and I stood at the door, and I thought being a travelling man that they might be his own. So he said he had made pretty well of them, as he was out of work He took me over to the Black Boy, and treated me with part of a pint of beer.
The prisoner called four witnesses who gave him a good character.
GUILTY. (Aged 16.)
Judgment Respited.
Tried by the first Middlesex Jury before Mr. Baron THOMPSON.
Source: Proceedings of the Old Bailey