James Fossett

343

Maureen Withey on 30th March 2023

Tasmanian Records. https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON22-1-1_0326 List of convicts whose surnames begin with F. Per Calcutta, James Fossett, alias Hickman, tried London G.D. 15 April 1801. Life. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 30 March 2023), April 1801, trial of JOHN HANNIKIN JAMES FOSSETT, alias HICKMAN (t18010415-138). JOHN HANNIKIN, JAMES FOSSETT, Theft > animal theft, 15th April 1801. 432. JOHN HANNIKIN and JAMES FOSSETT, alias HICKMAN , were indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 2d of February , a sheep, value 2l. the property of Simon Payne . (The case was opened by Mr. Gurney.) SIMON PAYNE sworn. - Examined by Mr. Watson. I am a salesman , in Smithfield-market : On Monday, the 2d of February, I lost one horned sheep out of one of my pens; I had many hundred sheep in the market; it was marked with ochre down the face, and J. G. on the near side in a circle tarred; I missed it before five o'clock in the morning; I saw it again in the afternoon, at Tomkins's, in Webber-row, Sr. George's Fields; I am sure it was the same sheep I had lost; you go through a shop with a wash-window into a yard, and in that yard I found it. Q. Could you see the yard from the street? - A. Not without the door was open. Q. Was the door open when you went? - A. I cannot say. Q. Was there any alteration? - A. The ochre mark down the face appeared to be daubed over with dirt. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. It is not customary for the salesman to go with his drover to market? - A. No; he takes the sheep, and then I go to the market. Q. Had you seen these sheep before they wentto the market? - A. I had seen it on the Sunday; it was one of a lot of ten. Q. They were not your own marks? - A. No; the mark of my employer. Q. Is it customary for you to put a private mark of your own, besides the mark of your employer? - A. Sometimes if there are sheep marked much alike, our men have a private mark of their own to put upon them. Q. But these sheep had no private mark? - A. No. Q. You don't mean to swear that the dirt on the face was occasioned by design? - A. No, I cannnot. Q. Tomkins's is a butcher's shop? - A. Yes. Q. Tomkins made no difficulty in telling you he had the sheep? - A. He was not at home. Q. But you had no difficulty in finding the sheep? - A. No. Court. Q. Who was the proprietor of these ten sheep? - A. Mr. John Graves, of St. Alban's, grocer and miller. Q. Had you any more than ten with that mark? - A. No; they were all horned sheep, and the rest were all pole sheep; if they had been all horned sheep, I should not have missed it. GEORGE ROBINSON sworn. - Examined by Mr. Gurney. I am drover to Mr. Payne: On Sunday night, the 1st of February, I took his sheep into the pens before eleven o'clock in the evening; there were ten horned sheep among them; they were marked with a round O, and J. G. in it, with tar, and an ochre mark down the forehead; I missed one of the sheep about twelve o'clock at night; I searched about, but could not find it; on Monday afternoon I found the same sheep at Tomkins's, with three others; I am sure it was the same sheep. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. Will you venture, upon your oath, to say, that these ten sheep were ever in Smithfield-market? - A. I cannot say that they were. Q. Will you dare swear you ever saw it in the market? - A. No. Q. That one might have been lost before you penned them? - A. It might. Q. Does it not often happen that a sheep may mingle with another drove? - A. Sometimes. Q. And all the diligence and anxiety you can use for your master, cannot prevent it? - A. No. Court. Q. How far had you drove them? - A. From Islington. Q. Could you not miss it between Islington and Smithfield? - A. No, not till I parted them, and then I missed one. JOHN BRETTELL sworn. - Examined by Mr. Watson. I am a master drover; I drove for Mr. Fountain, in Newgate-market: On the 1st of February I was out all night in Smithfield-market; I saw the two prisoners in the market against Mr. Payne's pens; I saw them lurking about the pens, as they always made it a practice of doing; I saw them first between eleven and twelve o'clock; I saw Fossett take a sheep out of Mr. Payne's pen; Hannikin was standing by; it was a horned sheep; they put it into Mr. Boys's pen; they were both together; they turned some more sheep out with it, and drove them down to Durhamyard, Chick-lane; when they had gone a little way, Hannikin said to Fossett, take them to Tomkins's, in Webber-row, and tell him they came from me; I then went and told Mr. Payne's man of it. Q. How many sheep were there? - A. I think there were about a score. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. Don't you know that Fossett is himself a master drover? - A. He has been a drover some years, and Hannikin is a master drover. Q. You are all drovers? - A. Yes. Q. You talked of lurking about the market just now - it was where they ought to be, in the way of their business? - A. Yes. Q. Upon your oath, did you never say it was Hannikin, the boy, that lifted the sheep over the pens? - A. I never did. Q. Were they both in the pen? - A. No; Fossett was in the pen, and Hannikin stood outside. Q. Did they not see you? - A. No; I was in the pen, doing some business for myself. Q. You were watching these men then? - A. No, I was doing some business. Q. You supposed they were going to steal the sheep? - A. Yes. Q. Why did you not call out to them, and tell them, if they did not desist, you would punish them? - A. I was afraid, I had been threatened so often. Q. Was not Robinson, Mr. Payne's drover, there at the time? - A. No. Q. As soon as Robinson returned, you told him what you had seen? - A. I did not see him till the morning, I had to go to Holloway. Q. Did you leave the market immediately after this? - A. As soon as they turned down Chick-lane, I went to Holloway. Q. What time was that? - A. Half past three o'clock. Q. Upon your oath, did you tell a single creature in the market, though you were in there till half past three o'clock? - A. I told Gordon of it. Q. Did you tell a single creature of it, till after you came from Holloway? - A. No, I did not see Robinson till after I came back, and then I told him they were gone to Tomkins's. Q. I ask you again, have you never said it was Hannikin that lifted the sheep over the pen? - A. I have not. Q. You have heard of a reward of twenty pounds, if these men are convicted? - A. I have not,I did not do it for the reward: I did it to stop such people; I have lost fourteen sheep myself. JOSEPH WRIGHT sworn. - Examined by Mr. Gurney. Q. Do you know Tomkins? - A. Yes; he is a butcher, in Webber-row. Q. On the 2d of March, do you remember seeing any sheep in Webber-row? - A. Yes; the prisoner, Fossett, was driving them. Q. Are you quite sure he is the man? - A. Yes; there were about a score in the drove, and four of them were put into Mr. Tomkins's; there was one horned sheep; it was marked down the face with ochre; I did not observe the other mark; I stopped the sheep for him; I staid there about ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour; Tomkins helped to get them in. Q. Did you see where they were put? - A. No. Q. Which way did he go then? - A. He went up Duke-street, which leads to Blackfriar's-bridge, and the Borough, both. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. You did not hear him say it was a strayed sheep, and desire him to keep it till it was called for? - A. No. Q. How came you to have any thing to do with it? - A. I was going to work. Q. How came they to find you out on the part of the prosecution? - A. I heard my master telling some gentlemen about the sheep. - GORDON sworn. - Examined by Mr. Watson. I am a sheep pen man in Smithfield market; in consequence of information from Brettell I went over to Tomkins's on the 2d of February, between ten and eleven in the morning; I found there a horned sheep, marked J. G. in a circle, on the side, and ochre down the forehead; the face was blacked. Q. Did that appear to be done by design or not? - A. I should think it was. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. You say you are of opinion this mark was defaced by design? - A. It was done with black. Q. Did you never see a sheep run its head against a dirty pen? - A. Yes, very often. Q. Don't you know there is a reward of seventy pounds if these men are convicted? - A. I have heard so. Q. Don't you know there is fifty pounds reward besides the reward given by the Act of Parliament? - A. Yes. For the prisoner. GEORGE ROBINSON , jun. sworn. - Examined by Mr. Alley. I am the son of George Robinson , the witness; I am drover to Mr. Payne. Q. On the 2d of February did you drive sheep from Islington for Mr. Payne? - A. Yes. Q. Can you say whether it was lost before you got to Smithfield? - A. I missed it when my father and I drew them; I did not miss it before. Q. You draw them before you pen them? - A. No; we part them when they are in the pen. Jury. Q. After you had penned them, and before you drew them, had you lost the sheep? - A. No. Court. Q. How many pens were there? - A. We had seven score sheep; there were thirteen pens; the pens were all open. Q. When you have filled one pen, you go to another? - A. Yes. Q. You don't mean to say you had them all under your eye? - A. No. Q. While you are at one end parting them, you can't see the sheep at the other end of the pens? - A. No. The prisoner, Hannikin, called two witnesses, who gave him a good character. Hannikin, GUILTY , Death , aged 14. Fossett, GUILTY , Death , aged 20. Second London Jury, before Mr. Common Serjeant. -------------------------------------------------------- Date of birth calculated from Old Bailey record - 1781.