John Armstrong

341

Maureen Withey on 28th July 2020

Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 28 July 2020), May 1811, trial of JOHN ARMSTRONG (t18110529-82). JOHN ARMSTRONG, Theft > theft from a specified place, 29th May 1811. 461. JOHN ARMSTRONG was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 17th of May , three hundred pound weight of rope, value 5 l. the property of John Luck , Charles Luck , Alexander Kemp , Robert Williams , and others, in a certain barge on the river Thames . Second count for like offence stating the goods to belong to Alexander Campbell . JAMES EVANS . I am a surveyor of the Thames Police office. Q. On the 17th of May in the afternoon were you on the river. - A. I was about five o'clock, I was in Blackwall Reach on the Kent side opposite of Black-wall. There were two Indiamen one of the name of Severn, nigh Blackwell Dock , as I was going down I observed the prisoner rowing from the ship to Black-wall point. He was on the Middlesex side, I saw him row to the stern of a lighter which laid aground on the point, he stopped there and he was out of my sight for a few minutes, I got down to him and just as I got there he had in his hand a small line apparently having something under water, he instantly dropped that line into the water upon seeing me, I had come round the craft, then I got into his boat, I found in that a piece of coire rope that is manufactured in the East Indies, and another piece weighing forty-two pounds. I then desired one of my men to put the boat hook down which they did immediately and with the boat hook they brought up a piece of buoy rope, weighing an hundred and a half, and another piece of rope, it appeared a topsail halliard, eighty four pounds, they were fast together and a small piece of line to the buoy rope, which appeared to me to be the piece of line that the prisoner dropped, I directed them to fish again, the prisoner said there was no more, we had the whole of them. This is the coir rope it will not sink. Afterwards I went on board the Severn, I found she was an indiaman. This tally was picked up in the boat and given to me in the prisoner's presence. Mr. Alley. This man was in the river he had got a drag. - A. Yes, he said while he was in the boat he picked up this with the drag but this coire rope will not sink it was in his boat. LUTEN. I was in the boat with Mr. Evans, I have heard what he has said and the account he has given is correct, after we had fished them up the prisoner took a piece of canvas off one of the ropes we took up threw it down in the boat and put his foot on it, I desired him to lift his foot up and let me see what it was, he did, I picked it up and gave it to Mr. Evans, it is called a tally. EVANS. This is the forty-two pound rope and this is the buoy rope, this is the top sail halliard, and this is the small line attached to it, that is what he had in his hand. Q. What is the worth of all these. - A. Five pound. THOMAS SMITH . I am boatswain yeoman of the Severn, the captain's name is Alexander Campbell . Q. On the 17th of May was the ship unrigging. - A. Yes, I was writing tallies for the rigging. I wrote on that day that tally, we have little stripes of canvas upon which we write and annex them to what we take down, that is my hand writing, we had a good deal of rigging taken down, some was in the ship and some in the craft alongside, whether that was in the ship or in the craft I cannot say. JOHN HUGHES . I am a boatswain. I have examined the rope, the coire rope belongs to the ship, I know it by a knot of my own making the top sail halliards I believe belong to the ship. MR. JAMES. I am a midshipman to this ship. I saw this tally put on the halliard and saw it put in the barge. I actually saw it in the barge. Prisoner's Defence. I went through Greenwich. I working through the reach, a little rope and that coire I catched down by Blackwall reach, I worked down by this ship, I catched this coire rope and the other I put it in the boat it being of such a weight I hauled it over so that I could row with it, and as to the piece of Canvas I did not know whether it was a tally or not. Court. How came you to put your foot upon it. - A. My Lord, I have it of one side, not intending to put my foot on it. THOMAS PITT . On last Thursday fortnight I was at work at this ship, this buoy rope was hove overboard, or one like it, it was cast overboard, I do not know who the man was that did it. Mr. Gurney. Q. You were rigging the ship. - A. Yes. Q. And while you were busy somebody whom you do not know cast it off overboard. Did you see him let it loose. - A. Yes. Q. You did not lay hold of him. - A. No. MICHAEL DAVIS . I am a dragman, I saw the prisoner pick a rope up, I cannot say it is the same. Mr. Gurney. Q. A great many times you see ropes picked up. Were not you taken to the Thames police office for it once. - A. Yes. GUILTY - DEATH aged 30.