John Bird

Level 135

C H on 7th March 2024

Old Bailey Online JOHN BIRD. Theft; grand larceny (to 1827). 11th January 1797. Text type Trial account Defendants JOHN BIRD Offences Theft > Grand larceny Session Date 11th January 1797 Reference Number t17970111-45 Verdicts Guilty Punishments Transportation 105. JOHN BIRD was again indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 20th of December , a silver watch, value 3l. a steel chain, value 6d. a composition seal, set in metal, value 6d. and a base-metal watch key, value 2d. the property of Thomas Hollinshead . THOMAS HOLLINSHEAD sworn. - I am a journeyman printer : I had been out, on Friday the 19th of December, rather late, at supper, in Smithfield; about half past two the next morning, I called in at the Queen's-head, Covent-Garden-market , I had a pint of purl, I drank some of it, and being early in the morning, I dozed a little, and the purl had made me sick, I went to the door, in order to evacuate, and the prisoner, Bird, and another man, who had been sitting in the house, came to the door to me, and asked me if I found myself any better. Q. Did you know them before, or were they strangers? - A. They were entire strangers to me; they asked me where I lived, I said, I lived in the City, but I should stop there till the people got up where I lodged; there was a short man in company with him, not the prisoner, he took the watch out of my sob, and put in his waistcoat-pocket; I turned round, and said, don't play any tricks with the watch, it is a watch I set a great value upon; he went towards a little archway, that goes into the market; I went into the house again, and told them that I had lost my watch; Mr. Lynch a constable ran after him, and Mr. Butler the landlord sent his boy to fetch Bird back, and he overtook him about Russell-street, and the watchman brought him back to the house; I said, he was one of the men, the other man never was taken, I have never got the watch again; the prisoner, Bird, said, he would do his utmost to restore the watch if they would let any person go with him. Q. Did these men talk together when they came out? - A. Yes. Q. You said, he asked if you were better, and how far you were going, which of them was that? - A. Bird, I think, asked how I found myself. Cross-examined by Mr. Gurney. Q. You went out to supper-where might you sup? - A. In Smithfield. Q. What time did you leave your friend's house where you supped? - A. I believe it to be between one and two. Q. Were you perfectly sober? - A I cannot say I was. Q. Were not you very much intoxicated? - A. Not very much. Q. To sober yourself, you went to a public-house in Covent-garden? - A. Yes. Q. And you drank some purl, and it had the effect of making you sick? - A. Yes. Q. The prisoner and another were sitting in the public-house? - A. Yes. Q. There were more people in the house? - A. Yes. Q. Did it strike you as a very uncommon, and a very inhuman thing to come out to see after you? - A. No. Q. Bird asked you how you found yourself? - A. Yes. Q. And they happened to be the only two persons in the house who took compassion on your situation? - A. They came out to the door to me. Q. And therefore you infer they were in company, you never saw them before? - A. No. Q. You never saw them sit next each other before? - A. No. Q. And you have no other reason for saying they were in company, than that they were standing next each other in the public-house? - A. They stood together. Q. Was there nobody else standing near them at the time? - A. I did not observe any body. Q. If any body else had come out with them, you would have said they were in their company too? - A. Perhaps so; I sat in a box by myself. Q. Bird asked you how you found yourself; he might very naturally ask you that question with a kind intention? - A. Yes. Q. The other man took your watch out of your pocket, and you thought it was a joke? - A. Yes. Q. Bird came with you into the public-house? - A. No; I did not see him till after he was brought in by the watchman. Q. Did you see him do any thing towards taking the watch? - A. He was only with the man. Q. Do you mean that he was any otherwise with the man, than enquiring at the same time how you were? - A. No, he was not. Q. Did you hear any conversation pass between Bird and the other man, which could shew that they had seen each other before? - A. No; I heard no conversation between Bird and the other man. Court. Q. Did not you before say they were talking together at the further corner, when they came to the door? - A. I will not be sure. Q. Then what you told me just now could not be true, that you did not hear any conversation; I will now ask you a third time, and see what answer you will give - Did you hear any conversation between Bird and the other man? - A. I believe they were speaking together when they came out. Q. Did you or not hear any conversation between them? - A. I cannot exactly say; I was very sick at the time. Q. Do you mean to say, that the other man gave the watch to Bird? - A. I am partly sure that Bird had not got it. Q. Now, being partly sure, are you not quite sure? - A. Yes. Q. After Bird came back to the house, you sent a person of the name of Lynch after the other man; is he here? - A. Yes. Q. And Bird told you he would do all in his power to restore the watch? - A. Yes. Court. Q. When Bird went off, did he go off in the same direction with the other man? - A. No; they went in contrary directions.( Andrew Butler called upon his recognizance.) - LYNCH sworn. - I am an officer of the City of London; I was at this public-house, Mr. Butler's, and called for a pint of twopenny, and the prosecutor came in, and called for a pint of twopenny; during the time he was there, he fell asleep, and when he awoke, he turned sick; Mr. Butler told him he had better go out of doors if he was sick; I saw the man that was sitting in the box with the prisoner go out after him, and then he came back and touched the prisoner Bird on the arm, and he went out. Q. Was the man that took the watch, and the prisoner, sitting together in the same box? - A. Yes, they were; then they went out together; after they had been gone about ten minutes, Mr. Butler went out, and I followed him; I heard the prosecutor talking to the man about his watch; I asked him what was the matter; he said, that short man had taken his watch; I told him if he had got the young man's watch, he had better return it to him; he said, I have not; I then turned round to go into the house, and instead of his coming in, he ran away; he ran across Covent-garden, and I followed him, but being a very dark morning I lost sight of him; I then returned back again, and waited a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes in the house; some person came to the window of the public-house, and holloaed out, O! at the window; I said, I dare say that is the man that has got the watch; I went out, and saw a watchman at the door; I said did you see any body call; he told me, yes, that he was run across towards the Piazzas; I went up to him and collared him; I said, my friend, come back, and have this business of the watch settled; upon that a scuffle ensued, and there were blows between us; at Carpenter's coffee-house, I had like to have been through the windows; I let go my hold, and he got off, I left Bird in the house. Cross-examined by Mr. Gurney. Q. When you came into the public-house, you saw the prisoner and the other man? - A. Yes. Q. There were other persons there besides them? - A. Yes; porters, and people that work in the market. Q. There was a woman there besides? - A. Yes; there was a young woman sitting in the box. Q. When the prosecutor became sick, the other man went and looked at him? - A. Yes; and said, young man, you have dropped some papers; he had dropped some papers in pulling his handkerchief out of his pocket. Q. He was not sober? - A. No. Q. You were not there when the prisoner first came in? - A. No. Q. When you went after the man that did take the watch, you left Bird in the public-house? - A. Yes; I left him there; he never offered to go away. Prisoner's defence. I was drinking in the house; I had a very slight knowledge of the man that I was drinking with. ANDREW BUTLER sworn. - When I opened the door, about three o'clock in the morning, the prisoner at the bar came in with another man and a woman, and had some purl; that other man was the person that was charged with stealing the watch; shortly after they had come in, the prosecutor came in, and called for a pint of purl; he became sick, and my man helped him out to the door; the prisoner and his partner immediately followed him out to the door; the prosecutor shortly after came in, and said, he had lost his watch; Mr. Lynch, the constable, was sitting at the same time in the house: I called him to the door, and the person that took the watch ran across into the Garden, and the prisoner came in and went out again directly; and then a person came to the window and said, O! I said, I dare say that is the person that has taken the watch, and we went in pursuit of him, but he was not taken; the prisoner was afterwards brought back by a watchman of the name of Murphy, who is not here. Cross-examined by Mr. Gurney. Q. When you opened your house, these persons came in? - A. Yes; I open always at three o'clock. Q. Were they standing, waiting for admission? - A. No; they came shortly after I had opened. Q. Did you ever see the prisoner before? - A. I never saw either of them before, nor the woman. Q. While the prosecutor and the other man were disputing about the watch he made no charge upon this man? - A. No, he did not; he said, that he was in company with him, that was all. Jury. Q. Did either of these men pay for the other? - A. No; they paid separately. Q. Did they drink together? - A. Yes; one sat on one side the table, and the other on the other, talking together; they appeared to be very sociable and amicable together. GUILTY . (Aged 29). Transported for seven years .