- Defendants GEORGE MORGAN
Offences Theft > Burglary
Session Date 11th January 1797
Reference Number t17970111-7
Verdicts Guilty > Theft under 40s
Punishments Transportation
68. GEORGE MORGAN was indicted for that he, about the hour of ten in the night of the 10th of December , being in the dwelling-house of George Brookes , feloniously did steal two hundred and three copper halfpence, five china bowls, value 30s. a tea-caddie, value 5s. a pound of green tea, value 8s. four glass rummers, value 2s. and a wooden drawer, called a till, value 6d. the property of the said George, and that he having committed the said felony about the hour of twelve at night,
burglariously did break the dwelling-house of the said George to get out of the same .
GEORGE BROOKES sworn. - On Saturday the 10th of December, in the evening, between nine and ten, the prisoner was drinking with three or four persons in my house; I keep the Plough, at Tottenham , I have known him these three or four years; I opened the door about eleven o'clock to let them out, by some means or other, the candle went out, those persons went out, but I don't recollect Morgan going out with them, I did not see him go; I then came back and lit my candle at the fire, in the bar, there were 8s. 11 1/2d. in the till, there might be more, I had examined it on the Thursday before, this was on the Saturday when I locked it up, to the best of my knowledge, there might be about eleven or twelve shillings all copper, except a bad shilling; I then went to bed as usual, directly after they were gone, the family were all gone to bed, but myself; the maid-servant found the back door wide open the next morning.
Q. She is here, is not she? - A. No; I came down and found the door that goes into the garden open, and that the till was forced open with some irons that had been taken from the fire; then I looked about the house and missed a tea caddie, with a pound of 8s. green tea, that had been put in the same morning; after that, I went into the back room, and looked in the beaufet, and found five china bowls gone, they had left the matches burning underneath, in the bottom of the cupboard; I then went into the front room, and missed some glass tumblers, I cannot tell how many, I suppose there were five or six gone off the side-board; I then immediately went into the garden to see if I could find the till, supposing it might might be thrown away; I did not find the till, but I found the lock of it, which I have in my pocket.
Q. How do you know it to be the lock of the till? - A. I locked it up myself every night; one of the witnesses went down a field adjoining the garden, and found five china bowls, and four rummers, and then I received a note from Mr. Patrick, that there was a suspicious man in his house, selling good half-pence, fourteen-pence for a shilling, and I got a warrant, and went to Mr. Patrick's, and had him apprehended, Mr. Patrick keeps the White-hart public-house, in the same parish; the prisoner asked the officer's name, his name is Tatham, and said, he wished to speak with him in another room; we then went into the room with him, and he put his hand in his pocket, and said, I am the person that robbed you, and this is your property; he produced 8s. 11 1/2d. in copper, and a bad shilling and sixpence; in going to the Magistrate's, I asked him what he had done with the till, and the tea caddie, he said, he had concealed it in a ditch, at the back of Mr. Scales's sand-house, some persons then went and found it there; I then asked him, if he had any confederates, and he said he had one, that he let in at half past eleven o'clock, whose name and person he knew very well, but would not swear to him.
Q. Did he describe how he let him in, or where? - A. At the back door in the garden.
Q. When had you seen this back door last? - A. I saw it bolted at eleven o'clock, when I went up to bed; there were two strong bolts and no lock to the door.
Q. Are you sure that these bolts were shut? - A. I bolted them myself.
Q. What is the value of those china bowls? - A. Thirty shillings, the large one cost me 17s. and the small ones I don't know what they cost, they were in the house when I came to the house.
FRANCIS PATRICK sworn. - I keep the Whitehart; the prisoner came to my house between eleven and twelve o'clock, on the Sunday in the forenoon, and asked for a pint of beer, which was brought him; a little while after, somebody came in, and said, Mr. Brookes's house was robbed, and his reply was, he can well afford it, I wish I was the person; a little after, some people came in, and he was telling them he had worked four days, and his master had paid him all halfpence, but one shilling, and if they would take any halfpence of him, he would let them have fourteen pennyworth of good halfpence for a shilling, and there were some people in the house that bought some of them, one 13d. one 14d. for a shilling, and one 7d. for sixpence; my wife said, a man that works hard for 14d. would not sell it for one shilling, and he said, "you seem to be d-d sharp upon me," I sent a note to Mr. Brookes, and he came with a constable, and took him.
JOHN TATHAM sworn. - I apprehended the prisoner on the 11th of December, at Mr. Patrick's; I went along with Mr. Brookes, he said he was the lad that did it, and here is your property; and as we were taking him to a Magistrate's, I told him, if there is any body concerned with you, you had better tell, and then he said, there was one Jack Brookes concerned with him, and he said, he had hid the till behind Mr. Scales's sand-house. (Produces it, and the halfpence that were found upon him).
Q. These are the halfpence that were found upon him, after he had disposed of the 14d. 13d. and 7d.? - A. Yes.
DAVID WOLFE sworn. - I am a bricklayer and horse-patrol; I found the caddie and till on Sunday morning, about half past seven o'clock; I asked the prosecutor if he knew who was in his house last, the night before, and he mentioned this man; I came at the time he was apprehended, and I
asked him if he had any confederates, he said no, at first, and then afterwards confessed, this Brookes, coming along the fields; and as we were going to the Justice, he told me the till and caddie were hid in a ditch, behind Mr. Scales's sand-house, and I went there and found them according to his description; I brought them back again to Mr. Brookes's house, and then we went to the Magistrate's, but he was not there, and the prisoner was taken to the cage.
Q. (To Brookes). How did you find your china bowls? - A. I had them from Thomas Buck .
THOMAS BUCK sworn. - I am a lodger at Mr. Brookes's, and I went into the field adjoining the garden, where I found these bowls and glasses, about fifty or sixty yards from the house; I carried them to Mr. Brookes's, and have kept them ever since. (They are produced).
Q. (To Brookes). When had you last seen your bowls? - A. I had seen them in the beauset that evening; the bottom of the caddie is broke off.(The property was all deposed to by the prosecutor).
Prisoner's defence. When I was taken, I was in liquor, and I owned to it.
NOT GUILTY of the burglary, but guilty of stealing to the value of 39s. (Aged 18.)
Transported for seven years .
Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before The LORD CHIEF BARON.
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Centuries Past
1761 - 1807 (46 years)