Letter from of Edward Willes concerning 1 collective petition (34 people, including...

Letter from of Edward Willes concerning 1 collective petition (34 people, including the vicar and curate of Blackburn, and most giving occupations) and 6 individual petitions (Mary Hesmondhalgh, John Higgin and 4 from William Cotton) on behalf of John Yates, described as a jack-of all trades (painter and plasterer at Ribchester/Blackburn), convicted at the 'last' Lent Lancashire Assizes, for a burglary and stealing £300 from the house of Mary Hesmondhalgh, of Ribchester. There are letters/evidences from James Whalley, magistrate; James Watson, Thomas Starkie, vicar of Blackburn, Mary Holden, Bottom Yard near Blackburn; John Hesmondhalgh, shopkeeper; John Alston, yeoman, Ribchester; Robert Ashburnet, prisoner's attorney; William Greenshaw and 4 earlier letters from the judge to Lord Sydney. Grounds for clemency: for 18 years had lived localy, previous good character, prisoner was wrongly identified by the victim, and her brother John Hesmondhalgh, both prisoner and brother were acting from suspicious motives and were of bad character (although different accounts state that 1 has influence over the other), the real culprit was Richard Leeming alias 'Bacon Dick' and that John Hesmondhalgh was also involved in the crime, and that a 'mercenary printer' was publishing a false confession of the prisoner and distributing it in the area. Initial sentence: death. Recommendation: none made but on 1 occasion suggest to err on the side of mercy; the judge has already initiated an investigatio..

Folios 172-224.