| Reference Number | t18000917-45 |
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| Verdict | Not Guilty |
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| Actions | Cite this text Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 01 April 2023), September 1800, trial of ELIZABETH SMITH (t18000917-45). | Print-friendly version | Report an error |
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632. ELIZABETH SMITH was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 7th of July , a Bank-note, value 501. the property of Henry Drake , privily from his person .
HENRY DRAKE sworn. - I am a baker , No. 1, New Compton-street: On the 7th of July, as I was coming from Westminster, up St. Martin's-lane, two girls met me, and wanted me to go home with them, the prisoner was one of them; I went home with her to a house in a court, in Whitcomb-street .
Q. What time of the night was it? - A. About one o'clock in the morning.
Q. Were you in liquor, or sober? - A. I had been drinking a little, but was not insensible; I was neither drunk nor sober.
Q. How long did you stay there? - A. It might be a quarter of an hour, or half an hour; while I was in the room, I missed a fifty pound Bank-note that I had in my pocket, I thought of it while I was there; I took it out of my pocket, and looked at it in the room.
Q. Did the woman see it? - A. I dare say she might see me take out a paper, and put it up again, I put it into my breeches pocket.
Q. Did you perceive her take it? - A. No, I did not see her hand in my pocket, but presently after I found my pocket inside out.
Q. Had you no suspicion at all at any time? - A. Yes, at one time I thought I felt her hand about my thigh.
Q. How soon after that was it you perceived your pocket turned inside out? - A. A very few minutes.
Q. How came you not to withdraw when you had those suspicious? - A. I thought I was as mindful as I possibly could; when I found my pocket inside out, I accused her of having taken the note; she said she had not got the note; I told her, if she did not give it to me, I would charge the watch with her; I then went down stairs with her, and waited till the watchman came; I never left her till she got to the watch-house; she was searched at the watch-house, but no note was found.
Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. Q.Are you a married man? - A. My wife is dead.
Q. Have you any children living with you at home? - A.One.
Q. A boy or a girl? - A. A girl.
Q. How much had you been drinking that night? - A. I cannot justly say.
Q. How long you might be at the lodgings of this woman, you do not know? - A. It might be half an hour.
Q. It might be an hour? - A. Not so long.
Q. How long had you had this fifty pound note? - A. I had taken it the same day.
Q. What had you been drinking? - A. I had been drinking some beer, and some gin and water.
Q. How long had you been drinking? - A. Two or three hours, I suppose, chattering and talking.
Q. Upon your oath, were you drunk or sober? - A. I was not drunk, I was not incapable of business.
Q. What else had you in your breeches pocket - no other money? - A. No.
Q. The Bank-note you never found again? - A. No.
Q.Was the note put up in a bit of paper? - A. Yes.
Jury. Q. Are you sure the note was inside the paper at the time you looked at it? - A. Yes; I did not take the note out, but I saw it inside the paper.
JAMES MACNALLY sworn. - I am one of the patrols of St. Martin's; on the 7th of July, the prisoner was brought to the watch-house, by Kilpatrick, a watchman; I went with the constable of the night to search the house; I had never seen the prisoner before to my knowledge.
Q. Was Drake with you? - A. No.
Q.How did you know where her apartments were? - A. She told us at the watch-house; I found this bit of paper at the foot of the bed, on the floor, it was up one pair of stairs, I cannot say whether it was the back-room or the front-room, the bed did not appear to have been disturbed.
Drake. This is the paper the note was wrapped up in; here is some of my own scribbling upon it.
Neale. (To Macnally.) Q. What was the state of Drake at that time? - A. He was drunk.
Q.Very drunk? - A. He did not appear to be sensible.
Q. The woman herself told you where her lodgings were? - A. Yes.
Prisoner's defence. I went into a watering-house, and saw this man and another girl drinking together, and I came away; after that, I saw him again by himself, very much intoxicated, and he wanted me to take him home with me, I took him to a house in a court in Whitcomb-street, and he made me a small compliment, and then wanted it back again; and because I would not give it him back again, he said I had robbed him; and as we came down the stairs he turned his breeches-pockets inside out, and they were full of holes.
NOT GUILTY .
Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Baron CHAMBRE.