| Reference Number | t17671021-23 |
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| Verdict | Guilty |
| Sentence | Death |
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| Actions | Cite this text Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 11 December 2023), October 1767, trial of Thomas James (t17671021-23). | Print-friendly version | Report an error |
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544. (M.) Thomas James was indicted, for that he, on the 2d of August , about the hour of two in the night, the dwelling-house of Charles Eyloe did break and enter, and steal fifty shillings in money numbered; and on the 6th for breaking the said house, and stealing a shoulder of veal, weight twelve pounds, value 4 s. and a bushel of flour; and on the 14th of September for breaking the said house, and stealing four pieces of beef, weight twenty pounds, value 5 s. the property of the said Charles, in his dwelling-house . *
Charles Eyloe . I live at the Orchard-house, Blackwall , where the East-India company send their people to board; the prisoner is a Lascar ; he broke into my house on the 2d of August at night, and broke into my bar, and took three, four, or five pounds in silver, and some halfpence; this he confessed to me after he was taken; two nights following I found my cellar-window broke open again, and some veal was taken away; I had had a new cellar door made; he ripped the hinges from the posts, and got in again; he tried to get into the wine cellar, but could not get the iron bar off: on the 11th he broke into my hen-roost, and stole eight hens and a cock; all this he confessed to me; and on the 14th of September he broke into the cellar again, and stole four pieces of beef, and I do not suppose he went away adry, there was beer, wine, and brandy; I had no suspicion of him.
Q. Was your house and cellar made fast over night?
Eyloe. They were, it was found out by a man who the prisoner had promised to give ten bottles of brandy to; that man sent word he wanted to see me; I sent the prisoner to know what he wanted with me, and the prisoner never came back again to tell me: I hearing about the brandy; ordered, if he came near, to take him; he was taken in a summer-house about an hundred yards from my dwelling-house, by some countrymen of his, and my servant man; he was cut in the wrist, and my man was cut: the countrymen of his would have killed him, if I had not prevented it; he confessed the whole as soon as taken; I asked him how he got in; he said at my kitchen window, by the assistance of a hatchet and a knife; he is a Lascar from Bengal, he belongs to the East-India company; they send them to me to board.
Prisoner's defence.
There were two white men along with me that did it.
Guilty . Death .