Richard Sutton

81

Gail Robyn Newman on 25th March 2025

Richard Sutton, Residence: Norfolk Island; Current Status: Convict; Ship of arrival at Norfolk Island: Supply, 2 Apr 1796

116

Tony Beale on 9th December 2020

Old Bailey Online 137. RICHARD SUTTON was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 4th of February , one hundred and twenty pieces of copper money, called halfpence, value 5 s. the monies of Francis Cooke . FRANCIS COOKE sworn. I am clerk to Mr. Thomas Kendall , of Shadwell , coal-merchant; on Friday the 4th instant, about ten minutes before nine o'clock, sitting in my compting-house, and my fire going low, I stept to an adjacent warehouse, in order to bring a coal in for my fire, which I did; and coming in again, I found this man at my desk; I askt him what business he had there; he made no reply, but came and asked me the price of coals: you do not appear to want coals, you must be a very great thief; with that he said it was time for him to go, and he attempted to go; and I looked immediately into my desk, and found a five shilling paper of halfpence gone; I went out and called out stop thief, and in the course of a few minutes he was taken with the paper on him. Prisoner. What business had you to come up to me at the Lock-up-room; you spoke to me seriously at first; afterwards you began in a storming manner, and said that you would prosecute me, and that you might swear to me at the Justice's? - I swore to him at the Justice's. The second time you swore to a particular halfpenny; the first time I was only committed on supicion? - I swore to the money the first time, and he was committed on suspicion. Court. After he had left you, did you go back to the compting-house to see what was missing? - I was instantaneously upon him; there was only that one paper of halfpence there, besides some loose ones, so that he could not take any more; when I saw him, he was at the desk, and the door of the desk was open. Prisoner. How long was you out of the compting-house before you returned into it again, at the time you say you catched my hand? - About one minute. How long was you out of the compting-house, when you say you pursued me in the street? - I think about two minutes. Could you have sworn to me that I was the person before you saw me at the lock-up-room? - I could swear to him from seeing him in the compting-house. THOMAS EGERLEY sworn. I pursued the prisoner, and catched him in Cock-hill; Mr. Cook pointed him out to me, and I followed him; I lost sight of him at the top of Shadwell-market, but I got sight of him again in the space of ten minutes; he came up the steps, somebody said, there is the man running along; I pursued him, and followed him, and took him; I lost sight of him no more, I am positively sure that that is the same man I had seen before. Where did you take him? - Just on the other side of Goodman's-fields; I delivered him to Mr. Underwood. Did you stay to see him examined? - I did; he was carried to the Virginia Planter and examined, and five shillings worth of halfpence found upon him. Where were they found? - They were found in his right coat-pocket. Was there any mark on the paper? - None that I saw; it was a brown paper, and the halfpence were delivered to Underwood. Prisoner. You cannot positively say that I am the same man that your master told you of at first? - You are. How far distant do you think I was from you at first? - Not a yard. You was behind me, and ran after me, and yet you knew me to be the same man, as soon as you saw me on Ratcliffe-highway? - Yes, I did. My back then was to you, how could you tell? you could only see my coat; another man might have the same coat? - I am sure it is the same man. WILLIAM UNDERWOOD sworn. I took these halfpence out of the prisoner's pocket, at the Virginia Planter, and then kept them till the last hearing, sealed up as they are now, when I gave them to Mr. Cooke. (The money deposed to, particularly one halfpenny, by Mr. Cooke, being almost square.) Court. How many yards might you run after him? - About eleven yards. JACOB MURTON sworn. I am a porter to a company of hemp and flax-dressers at Limehouse; as I walked along, I heard the cry of stop thief, and saw the prisoner before the person that cried out, about one hundred and fifty yards: I stopt him; when I stopt him, he laughed and said, you have got the wrong person; he stopt very quietly at first, and afterwards tried to trip up my heels, and after that struck me in the face; he did not knock me down; he was carried to the Virginia Planter . Prisoner. Mr. Cooke has sworn that the paper of halfpence that was taken out of his desk was packed up; ask Underwood in what position they were taken out of my pocket? - They were loose. Court. Was any paper found about him at all? - This paper (the paper produced) was found in his pocket. Court to Mr. Cooke. Do you believe that to be the paper in which they were? - Yes, I do. PRISONER's DEFENCE. The halfpence, when Mr. Underwood got them from me, were tied up in my handkerchief, tied up in four knots. Mr. Underwood can swear it if he will: you see how the case is; Mr. Cooke will swear any thing to convict me. These halfpence I received from a shopmate of mine in a public-house; those halfpence were in my pocket handkerchief tied up as they are now; in the street I was used in a merciless manner; if I had not been beaten by them, I had not struck them at all. GUILTY , aged 38. Transported for seven years . Tried by the second Middlesex Jury before Mr. RECORDER. The Recorder, on account of his crime being aggravated by the resistance he made, pronounced sentence immediately after conviction: when the prisoner thus addressed the Court; "My Lord, I have yet one favour, and "that is, that I may be sent out of London "as soon as possible." Court. I believe you may be soon, as there is a ship getting ready to go out.