| Reference Number | t17990911-98 |
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| Verdict | Guilty > with recommendation |
| Sentence | Corporal > private whipping |
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| Actions | Cite this text Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 19 August 2019), September 1799, trial of LEONARD HOLE (t17990911-98). | Print-friendly version | Report an error |
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480. LEONARD HOLE was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 21st of June , fifteen ounces of tobacco, value 3s. the property of Thomas Seal .
THOMAS SEAL sworn. - I am a tobacconist , I live in Whitechapel-road; the prisoner was a servant of mine about two or three months, I am not certain of the time: On the 21st of June, I had some suspicion I had been robbed, and I ordered the men into the accompting-house, when they were leaving work, in order that they might be searched; I found upon the prisoner, when it came to his turn, about fifteen ounces of tobacco, in his waistcoat-pocket; I took the tobacco and folded it up in a sheet of paper, and gave it to my shopman; I then sent for an officer, and he took him into custody, and upon his examination next day, I was bound over to prosecute; he begged that I would forgive him, and for God's sake that I would not take him into custody, I do not recollect the precise words; he begged that I would have mercy on him.
Cross-examined by Mr. Gurney. Q. I believe you have known the prisoner some years? - A. I have.
Q.And, in consequence of the good character he has maintained, you took him to be an honest man? - A. He has certainly bore a very good character; he has been an unfortunate, but I believe an honest man.
- ABBOTT sworn. - I am shopman to Mr. Seal: I did not see the tobacco taken from the prisoner; Mr. Seal gave it to me. (Produces it).
Mr. Gurney. Q. Have you had it ever since in your possession? - A. Yes.
Q. It was left at the office was it not? - A. Yes, and I went for it; it was sealed up, and I know it to be the same.
Seal. The tobacco delivered to Abbott, I am sure, was my property.
Abbott. This is the tobacco I received from Mr. Seal.
Prisoner's defence. It was tobacco that I had saved up from what was given me of an evening, to make a present of.
Seal. The tobacco we give them is perfectly finished, and cold; the tobacco I took from him was warm, and the same description of tobacco he had been at work upon; and there is a particular smell that betrays it at once, whether it is just took off the stove or not.
Q. A man being at work near the stove, with tobacco in his waistcoat-pocket, it might produce nearly the same smell, I should think? - A. It might in some degree.
The prisoner called three witnesses, who had known him from twenty to thirty years, and who gave him an excellent character.
GUILTY .
The prisoner was recommended to mercy by the Jury.
Whipped in the jail , and discharged.
Tried by the second Middlesex Jury, before Mr. COMMON SERJEANT.