Michael Lee

341

Maureen Withey on 2nd April 2024

Digitised Indent for Active. Michael Lee, Gaol delivery for County of Middlesex, at Old Bailey. 25 Feb 1789, seven years. (Gone to the Gorgon.)

135

C H on 23rd February 2024

Old Bailey Online MICHAEL LEE. Theft; grand larceny (to 1827). 25th February 1789. Text type Trial account Defendants MICHAEL LEE Offences Theft > Grand larceny Session Date 25th February 1789 Reference Number t17890225-86 Verdicts Guilty Punishments Transportation 268. MICHAEL LEE was indicted for stealing, on the 27th of January , a wooden trunk covered with seal-skin, value 5 s. four frocks, value 40 s. three linen gowns, value 40 s. seven linen shifts, value 45 s. a linen handkerchief, value 6 d. five pair of cotton stockings, value 15 s. two cotton frocks, value 7 s. three ditto, value 7 s. two unfinished shirts, value 40 s. five night-caps, value 2 s. the property of Lovelace Bigg , Esq . Mr. Garrow. Let the other witnesses withdraw. LOVELACE BIGG, Esq. sworn. I was coming with my daughter to London on the 27th of January; I had a trunk before the chaise, and having been cautioned about the possibility of its being cut off the chaise, both me and my daughter looked frequently to see if the trunk was on; the last time we saw it on we went into the next street by the Seven Dials; there we missed the trunk, the postilion-endeavoured to see whether it was dropped, it was not dropped there; I think that was near six o'clock; I then recollected the Rotation-office at Litchfield-street; I went there and gave information of my loss; I was called back by some of the people belonging to the office, saying that a trunk was secured at the watch-house, and that a man was brought in; the trunk I verily believe to be my property, but it has been used for my daughter's things; and as to the contents, they were principally my daughter's; she can give an account of them; I waited at Litchfield-street till they brought the trunk and the man; there was then an immediate examination, the trunk was in the possession of one Furneau. Mr. Garrow, Prisoner's Counsel. How long was it from the time you saw the trunk yourself, till you was told they had seen the trunk? - I should suppose it was twenty minutes or half an hour. SAMUEL FURNEAU sworn. I am a baker, I live in Macclesfield-street, Soho; on the 27th of January, a little after five, there was a noise in the street; a black was running after a man that had taken a trunk from the back of a carriage; I went out at the door, and the people ran down the gateway after him, which was close to my house, and they missed him; I went down the yard and came back again, I stood at my door, and one of my journeymen with me; in about ten minutes a man came out of the gateway with a trunk on his shoulder; I said to my man, that is the man with the trunk, and I stept after him, and caught him at the corner of King-street; the prisoner is the man, my man followed me, I put my hand on his shoulders; says I, my man where are you going with this trunk? he turned about; Oh Sir, says he, I am going to the watch-house; come along, says I, I will go with you; I went round by the left side of him, and my man on the right side, and just as he got the door, my man says to him, d - n me you are a thief; and then the prisoner threw the trunk right like against me, and made a plunge backward, and ran away down King-street; my man ran after him, and called out stop thief; he brought him back; while he was running after him I knocked at the door and put the trunk in the watch-house; when I had got away from the watch-house they were bringing him down King-street; I am sure he is the man, I looked at his face as soon as I had the trunk from his shoulders; the trunk remained in the watch-house till after six, then the gentleman belonging to the property was at the office; they sent for me, and the runners fetched the prisoner, and the trunk was at the office; my man took the trunk to the office, I was with him, I am sure it is the same; they examined the prisoner, and he said he had found the trunk under the gateway. Mr. Garrow. That he found it under the gateway, and was carrying it to the watch-house? - I recollect he said so, before he came to the watch-house. Did the prisoner know you before? - No. Did you know him before? - I think I had seen him before. Had you had any transaction or conversation with him before? - None, except that I had seen him in the street; my servant's name is Hugh Walker ; the black man lives at the sign of the Sun, a lace shop. Do you know that the prisoner and your man were acquainted? - Not that I know of, I never knew him before, never spoke to him before. Was he in the way to the watch-house from Gerard-street? - He was. HUGH WALKER sworn. I am servant to Mr. Furneau; between five and six o'clock in the evening there was a multitude of people came past my master's window, calling out, here he is gone down the stable-yard; my master and I went down to the bottom of the stable-yard; we heard what it was, and came back; I was standing looking up the street, he whipt out of the stable-yard, with the trunk upon his shoulders. Court. Who whipt out? - Michael Lee , with the trunk on his shoulders; the prisoner is the man that whipt out of the stable-yard with the trunk on his shoulders; I told my master of it; I had a child in my arms; my master ran first, and caught him by the collar; I ran is soon as possible to his assistance; when I accused him of the fact, he directly threw it down, and ran off. What did you say? - I said, you are the thief; then I might be about five or six yards below the watch-house, and he threw down the trunk; I ran after him, calling out stop thief; he ran as far as Frith-street, where, by the assistance of a shoemaker, he tumbled down; the shoemaker and myself collared him; then my master and me went home; about six o'clock, the watch-house keeper sent for us, they took the prisoner to the Justice; we went to the watch-house, and carried the trunk to the Justice; we took the trunk home again to my master's house, where it has been ever since; the trunk is here. Was the trunk open or shut? - It was shut when we found it. Mr. Garrow. How long had the alarm been given before the time that the man whipt out of the stable-yard? - I think it was about 6, or 7, or 8 minutes. You had given up all thoughts of seeing him? - We did, not having seen him before, only hearing of him; there might be a dozen or fourteen people pass our door; my master's house is the corner of the stable-yard. Did you hear what your master said to him, and what he said to your master when he spoke to him? - The answer that the man gave was, that he was carrying the trunk to the watch-house; at the watch-house he said, that he had found it, and that he was carrying it to the watch-house. Where did he say he found it? - He said he found it under the gateway in the stable-yard; when he was taken to the watch-house, both before and after he was at the watch-house, and at the Justices, he said the same thing; I never saw him before my knowledge. When he threw it down, and threw it out of his arms, and ran off, had he said so about that time? - Yes, before that time. Prisoner. How far is King-street from the watch-house? - About twelve or fourteen yard, not exceeding. (The trunk produced.) This is the trunk. Miss ELIZABETH BIGGS sworn. Court. Do you know that trunk? - Yes. Is that the trunk that was on the chaise at the time you was coming to London? - Yes, I am sure of it. Have you the key of it? - Yes. Give it to the officer to see if he can open it. (The trunk opened.) Miss Elizabeth Biggs . This is my writing, it is a list of the things, I saw them put in. Court. You live with your father? - Yes. HENRY DANIEL (a Black) sworn. I live in King-street, Covent-Garden. Court. Are you a Christian? - I hope so. Do you profess the Christian religion? - Yes, I do. Then, if you do, you will do well to recollect that you are upon your oath, and that a man's liberty is at stake: You have been baptized, have you? - Yes, I have. I was going of an errand, it was on a Tuesday night, or Thursday, I met a post chaise coming; it met me as I was coming up Gerard-street , and I saw a man underneath the post chaise, and that man I thought riding behind the post chaise might have fell, and got himself tangled by the nails, or something, and I was going to halloo out; and there was another man came up, and told me, if I opened my mouth he would knock me down directly; I held my peace 'till the man came from under the post chaise bringing a trunk with him, he passed close by me; I did not say anything, but stopt 'till the man got just out of my sight, thinking that this man was robbing the chaise; I spoke directly, as I spoke the other man ran off; I ran into a shop, and acquainted them of it, that a man had cut a trunk from behind a chaise, directly I followed him; I did not see the man afterwards, not after taking the trunk 'till I saw him in the watch-house; I went on my errand, and coming back again, I heard an alarm that a man was taken; I went to the watch-house, and saw the man that had the trunk. Are you very sure that that man you saw at the watch house, was the man you saw with the trunk on his shoulders? - Yes, I saw him once at the Rotation-office; I knew him again then, that is the man that I saw with the trunk; I never saw him before to my knowledge. Mr. Garrow. The first thing that you observed, was a man as you thought entangled in the wheel of the chaise? - Yes. Then somebody else told you they would do you a mischief: How long was the man when you saw him in your view? - About three minutes. He was leaning on the perch? - Yes, he went away with the trunk, he went the same way that I was going. You had never seen him before in your life? - Never. When you went to the watch-house, you had been told that the man was found with the trunk? - Yes. Therefore you expected to see the right man at the watch-house? - Yes. When you came to the watch-house then you saw this man? - Yes. Now, how is it, that you come to swear positively to a man whom you saw the first time in your life, for three minutes leaning on a carriage, and running with a trunk? - Because, when he came from under the coach, it was almost the turn of a street, and he came as near to me as I am to you, and he was going quickly, and I saw his face by the light of the lamps. What time of the evening was it when you first saw the man? - Between five and six, the 27th of January. You did not see his face while he was under the carriage? - I did not, I saw him when he came from the carriage, and came on the pavement. How near was the other man at the time? - He was standing almost abreast of me; my attention was a little taken up with him after the prisoner was gone by me. Had not the prisoner an iron on at the watch-house? - I did not see it, I heard that the man was taken, and as I was going to the watch-house I expected to see the same man I saw before. - RICHARDS sworn. I am a shoemaker; I was at work, I heard the cry of stop thief; I got out of my stall; the corner of Frith-street, Soho Square, the prisoner turned the corner; and as I got out I attempted to lay hold of him by his great coat, he was running, I missed my hold; I went a little further, and went to lay hold of him again, he stript his coat half-way down his arms, and I put my foot before him, and threw him down; then I secured his arms that he could not do any thing to me; if he had any thing in his hands, and by that time the baker's man came up to my assistance, and we took him to the watch-house; he said he was not the man that they were in pursuit after, that they took him to be the wrong person; he was quite a different sort of person to what they took him to be. JOHN DIXON sworn. I am an officer belonging to the Rotation office, Litchfield-street; I know nothing of the prisoner, only fetching him from the watch-house to the office, I searched him, and found a knife in his pocket, and these straps, were left by the desire of the magistrate with me, the post-boy gave them to me. JAMES FINCH sworn. I am a chaise-driver; I drove that gentleman and lady in January to London from Hounslow. Do you remember any trunk being cut off? - Yes. What was it done round with? - Two straps; I took the straps, and gave them to Mr. Dixon. PRISONER's DEFENCE. I was coming along Macclesfield-street, in crossing the road, I stumbled over something, at the side of the road; I looked at it, and it was a trunk; I immediately thought it would be the best way to take it to some place of safety, that it might be advertised; in going along to the watch-house, a gentleman tapped me on the shoulders, and asked me, where I was going to with the trunk; I told him I had just pickt it up, and was going to the watch-house. GUILTY . Transported for seven years . Tried by the second Middlesex Jury before Mr. Justice GROSE.