Report of Robert Graham on 1 individual petition (John Holmes, hat manufacturer of...

Report of Robert Graham on 1 individual petition (John Holmes, hat manufacturer of Chesterfield, Derbyshire) and 2 collective petitions (the prisoners and (for Moddy only) 26 people of Bolton Le Moors, Lancashire) on behalf of Francis Moody, iron founder, and David Johnson, whitesmith, both 'superior journeymen at a capital forge', (tried with Edward Tesh and Elizabeth Tesh, his wife, for receiving the stolen goods) and convicted at the Lincolnshire Assizes on 5 March, for the theft of a goose, 8 ducks, 6 fowls and a bell, property of John Watkinson, farmer on 16 October 'last'. Evidences supplied by Ann Atkinson, servant; Celia Tate, Susannah Watkinson, prosecutor's wife; Joseph Barnes, John Watkinson, farmer; Robert Furness, iron founder; Samuel Newsham, shopkeeper; Richard Oakes, master baker; William Oldham, millwright; John Mowcastle, labourer; Chadford Hewson, labourer and George Coates, solicitor. There is an application for a warrant for the prosecution of Edward Tesh, Elizabeth Tesh and Celia Tate, spinster, for the receipt of stolen goods and sworn oaths of John Watkinson, Daniel Freeman, apprentice iron founder; Robert Potter, Joseph Curtis, William Oldham, millwright and William Curtis, 'Keeper of the Toll Gate upon the Bridge over the River Trent'. There is a signed confession of Ann Atkinson that she together with Celia Tate, Job Banes and 4 men, believed to be sailors, stole the fowls and they were eaten at the house of Edward Tesh. Grounds for clemency: innocent and were elsewhere at the time of the crime, the prisoners were honest, sober and industrious, had a good income, never been tried before, had no need to steal and the witnesses against them were corrupt, common prostitutes and felons with previous convictions, and committed perjury at the trial, the original depositions made by local magistrates were lost and evidence by the patrols would not be heard (by order of the judge). Initial sentence: 7 years transportation. Recommendation: speaks against mercy as the judge considers the sworn oaths to be 'very loose' and generally suspect in producing affidavits after the trial. Folios 116-141.