|
The Trial of Isaac Liptrap The proceedings on the King's Commission of the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, and the Gaol-Delivery for the County of Middlesex held at Justice-Hall in the Old Bailey between Wednesday, April 29, and Friday, May 8, 1772, before the Right Honourable William Nash, Esquire, Lord Mayor of the City of London, and the Honourable Sir Richard Adams, Knt. one of the Barons of his Majesty's Court of Exchequer. The First Middlesex Jury: Benjamin Coates _ William Dickins _John Elkins ____Richard FosterJohn Edridge ____William Nichol __George Eyres __John Pickering Thomas Vardy ___William King ___William Selby ___William Lester ISAAC LIPTRAP was indicted for breaking and entering the dwellinghouse of Eliezar Pigot on the 11th of January, about the hour of one in the night, and stealing two silver tablespoons, value 20s. (1) two silver teaspoons, value 3s. one pair of iron spurs, plated with silver, value 5s. one pair of leather boots, value 10s. one woolen surtout coat, value 7s. one gown, value 10s. two pair of men's leather shoes, value 2s. one pair of men's leather pumps, value 2s. one peruke (12), value 10s. one pair of silver shoe buckles, value 7s. one silver stock-buckle, value 2s. one hunting whip mounted with silver, value 5s. and a powder-proof piece, value 1s. the property of the said Eliezar Pigott, in his Dwellinghouse.Eliezar Pigot: I am a farmer, and live at Endfield; I had been to Edmonton on the 10th of January to pay my rent; I came home about half an hour after eleven o'clock and went to bed; about six o'clock in the morning my maid called me up, and told me my house was broke open; I got up, and found that three panes over the shutter (it was a leaded window) had been taken out, which made room enough for a man to put his arm over the top of the shutter, which was an inside one that took up and down, and fastened only with a button; on the inside of this was the kitchen; and the shutter was buttoned very near the top; the casement was open; my desk, which stood in the kitchen, was broke open, and I lost the powder-proof piece, and some halfpence, from the desk; the two teaspoons, the two tablespoons, and a child's pap-spoon, were taken from drawers in the dresser; the spurs, boots, coat, gown, shoes, pumps, peruke, shoe-buckles, stock-buckle, and hunting whip were all taken out of the kitchen; the shoes were, I believe, in the kitchen. Question: Do you know that they were fast the over night? Pigot: I saw the window-shutters were put to, but did not observe any thing further; the bureau, I am certain, was locked the over night; I pulled off my boots when I came home, and left them and my spurs and whip in the kitchen; my whip was brought to me when it was advertised, on the 16th of March, by Isaac Francis, who said he had bought it of a neighbour; I took my horse, and went with Mr. Francis to seek for the prisoner, of whom he bought the whip and my spurs; Francis took me to his lodgings; he was not there; we went to a house (2) to drink; while we were there we saw the prisoner go by; Francis went out and brought him into the house, under a pretence to drink; as soon as he came into the house he made a push to get out again; I charged him with having stolen my whip and spurs; he said he bought them of a Jew; Francis told me where he lodged; we searched his lodgings, and there found my powder-proof piece locked up in his box; and there were some other things that belonged to other people; these are my whip and spurs, (producing them) I left the powder-proof piece at Justice Wilmot's, and it is somehow lost; the prisoner denied the fact the first two or three times he was examined; on the 19th of March, after he was fully committed to Newqate, he charged Francis and Walby with being both concerned in breaking into my house, and said he handed the things out at the window to them.Question: You said he denied the charge the first or second time he was examined; I suppose the magistrate bid him be upon his guard? Pigot: The Justice said it would be better for him to impeach (3) at first.Question: How came he to do it at last? Piqot: I suppose he did not like to be sent to Newgate. (4)Question: Can you tell what words the magistrate made use of?Pigot: He told him, if he was fully committed, he could not turn evidence. Question: Did he make any promises to him of any sort? Pigot: No. Elizabeth Pepper: I am servant to Mr. Pigot I went to bed between eleven and twelve o'clock the night the house was broke open; I put the shutters up at the usual time, and they were safe when I went to bed; I buttoned the shutters, and an sure the casement was hasped when I put the shutters up. Question: Do you know what was in the kitchen? Pepper: All the things my master has mentioned. I went to bed between eleven and twelve o'clock; when I got up, a little after six in the morning, I found my master's desk broke open, and the shutters took down; I believe the casement was shut. Question: Did you open it? Pepper: I don't know that I did; the glass was broke, and the things mentioned in the indictment were gone. Isaac Francis: I live at Mile-End; the prisoner lodged at one Price's, a brewer's clerk, just by me; he had lodged about the neighborhood five or six months, I bought this whip and spurs of him; I believe it was the 16th of March that Mr. Pigot had them of me, and I had then had them about a month; the prisoner came by me smacking the whip as I stood at my door; he came another day, and said he had a mind to sell it; as I kept a horse, I purchas'd it of him; I bought the spurs some time afterwards. Question: Is there a name on the whip? Francis: Yes; I did not take notice of the name then; he said a gentleman had died at Edmonton, and had left his whip, boots, spurs, and a great coat, to his servant, of whom he had them; I went out with two friends to Little Heath, on one side of Wormly, two of us in a chaise, and one on horseback; we stopped to dine there; from thence we went to Edmonton; I lay at a publick-house there; a man at the publick-house examined the whip, and then asked me how I came by it; I told him; he said it belonged to one of his neighbours, and that it was stolen out of Mr. Pigot's house; I told him I had bought a pair of spurs of the same man; my friends and I, and this person, went to the prosecutor's house on the Monday Morning, and shewed Mr. Pigot the whip, which he owned. Question: Where did he sell you the whip? Francis: I was at my door; we went down to Mr. Horsenail's, and I agreed with him and paid him there. Question: It was not done in any private way, was it? Francis: None in the least, it was open to all the people that were in company. He was fully committed on Thursday, and on Saturday Mr. Wilmot sent for me; I went to Mr. Wilmot , who informed me that the prisoner had sworn against me, and that he must commit me. I sent for my father and several of my friends, and Mr. Wilmot indulged me with going to a sponging-house instead of a gaol: we were fully committed a second time, I and one Walby, who is a man of character and property; we were re-examined on Wednesday before six justices, and, when the justices had heard the whole of the case related, we were honourably acquitted; we were committed to the bailiff's house from Saturday till Wednesday. William Piner: I am servant to Mr. Pigot; my master came to the stable to me, and told me the window was broke open; I went to the house, and there were three panes taken out of the window. --- Flanagan: The prosecutor gave me the spurs and whip to bring to Hick's hall. Question: Did the justice deliver the powder-proof piece to you? Flanagan: No; he said it did not signify, for Mr. Pigot could not swear to it. Pigot: I did swear it was my property before Justice Wilmot. Court: So he said he would not deliver it, because it was not sworn to? Flanagan: He said he could not just immediately find it, and there were things enough already. Prisoner's Defence I leave it to my council; I know nothing at all about it. For the Prisoner John Liptrap: I was with the prisoner before Justice Wilmot; the first time he was questioned was about the boots and spurs, and he said he bought them of a Jew; the Justice told me afterwards, if he would impeach any confederates, he would admit him an evidence; and I told him that.John Allen: I am a butcher at Red-lion-street, White-chappel, and have known the prisoner 14 years; he lived four or five years with my uncle as a carter and plowman, and bears the best of characters. Francis Lee: I live at Ponder's End; the prisoner lived at a publick-house just by me, and I never heard any impeachment of his character before this. --- Ballard: I live at Marybone, and have known the prisoner about two years and a half, I made him two suits of cloaths, and he paid me very honestly; he always behaved well. John Dutton: I am a wharfinger, and live at Ralph's key; I knew the prisoner about twelve years ago, when he lived with my father; he bore a good character then, but I have known nothing of him since. Verdict: Guilty Sentence: DEATH (5)Isaac Liptrap was also accused of burglarizing the house of Charles Scot of Stratford, Essex, (11) but was not tried for it. On 23 May, the names of seven convicts, including Isaac, were submitted to King George III, who reprieved three, including Isaac. The other four were hanged on 27 May.(10) On 21 July 1772, Isaac was ordered transported to America (considered by many to be a worse fate than hanging) for 14 years, twice the usual term. Duncan Campbell, of the company Stewart & Campbell, contracted (8) for the transportation of Isaac and 41 other Middlesex convicts on 22 July 1772, and Captain Dougal McDougal certified that they were shipped aboard the ship Tayloe 23 July 1772.(6,8) According to English Law and custom, Stewart & Campbell, was paid £5 for transporting each prisoner, who was then sold privately for as much as £10 in Virginia. A total of 174 prisoners were consigned to Campbell and McDougal between 22-25 July for the trip on the Tayloe, for which Campbell was paid £870.(8) On this voyage, the Tayloe stopped at the ironworks on the Rappahannock River in Virginia, and in Annapolis, Maryland.(9) To whom Isaac Liptrap's indenture was sold is unknown, but Captain McDougal apparently sold him for the more usual seven years, as "Isack Cliptrap" appears on the tax rolls of Rockbridge County, Virginia, in September of 1780.(7)(1) In 1772, a laborer's wages were 9 to 12 shillings for a 75-hour work week.(2) a public-house, or inn (3) to name his accomplices (4) The main gaol (jail) in London had no water, no sanitation, no separation of 1700 . . . prisoners, no beds, no bail or bond, prisoners required to pay their guards upon . . . entering and leaving, and an inconceivable stench. (5) The Proceedings on the King's Commission of the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, . . . and Gaol-Delivery, S. Bladon, London, 1772, No. 4, pp. 157-159, now found on-line at . . . http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17720429-19&div=t17720429-19&terms=Liptrap . . . with links to images of the original printed pages from reference (5) above. The original . . . handwritten parchment records of the trial are on file at the London Metropolitan Archives. (6) English Convicts in Colonial America., Peter Coldham, New Orleans, 1974, v.1, p.168 (7) List of Tithables, Charles Campbell’s Company, Rockbridge County, Virginia, 1780 (8) Certificate from Treasury Chambers, on file at National Archives, Kew, Surry; box T1/490 (9) Dan Byrnes The Blackheath Connection, a website book (10) The Ordinary of Newgate's Account of the final days of the four convicts who were hanged. See . . . .http://www.oldbaileyonline.org.uk/browse.jsp?path=ordinarysAccounts%2FOA17720527.xml (11) The London Evening Post, 24 Mar 1772 (12) "peruke" a style of wig popular at the time. BACK to Isaac Liptrap |