1820THE TRIAL OF DANIEL MENDOZA
DANIEL MENDOZA was indicted for stealing, on the 27th of April , from the person of John Hyde , Esq. , one pocket-book, value 1 s., and eight 1 l. Bank notes, his property .
MR. BOLLAND conducted the prosecution.
JOHN HYDE, ESQ. On the 27th of April I was standing at the corner of Cockspur-street , to see the King go to open the House - there was a great crowd. I felt a pull at my pocket, and immediately missed my pocket-book, as soon as I could put down my hand; it contained eight 1 l. notes, and a game certificate and receipt. I had received the notes from Messrs. Jones and Lloyd the day before.
JAMES TEWSLEY . I am clerk to Messrs. Jones, Lloyd and Co. I remember paying Mr. Hyde thirty 1 l. notes; they were running numbers, and dated the 28th of March, 1820.
GEORGE ROBINSON . On the 27th of April I was with Batten, and saw the prisoner a little after three o'clock at Waterloo-place, in company with three others, attempt a gentleman's pocket. He lifted his coat up with one hand and put the other into his pocket - he left without taking anything. I followed him towards Charing-cross, and as I was coming up St. Martin's-street with Dukes and Batten, I saw the prisoner and two others go into the Horse and Dolphin there, I followed, and went into the taproom, no person was there; I went into the yard, saw the prisoner, and took him. I was in the act of searching him when he took eight notes from his left-hand breeches-pocket, and rolled them in his hand, I took them out. A game certificate was picked up in the yard by the landlady. Two other persons were in the yard, and as I opened the yard door one bolted out, and got away. Duke secured the other, but found nothing on him.
Cross-examined by MR. ANDREWS. Q. The yard leads to the privy - A. Yes; the notes are No. 44501, and following numbers.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON . I produce a pocket-book which I saw Mrs. Jackson deliver to her husband, about four or five o'clock in the afternoon.
SARAH JACKSON . My husband keeps the Horse and Dolphin; the prisoner was in my house in company with two men, between three and four o'clock; about half an hour after the officer came and found a game certificate in the yard, and in about half an hour after that I found the pocket-book by the yard door - nobody had been there except the prisoner and his companions; nobody but them were in the house.
SAMUEL DICKENS . I searched the prisoner in the house, and saw the notes found on him.
WILLIAM BATTEN . I am an officer. I saw the prisoner at the corner of Waterloo-place, in company with two others; I did not follow him, but saw him again going into the Horse and Dolphin, followed him directly into the house, and saw him searched. I had seen him put his hand into a gentleman's pocket in Waterloo-place.
(Property produced and sworn to.)
GUILTY .Aged 20.
Transported for Life .
Second Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Common Sergeant
Citation
Old Bailey Proceedings Online ( version 7.0, 30 May 2012), May 1820, trial of DANIEL MENDOZA (t18200517-78).
COMMENTARY
The report of the trial of Daniel Mendoza shows us the activities of the London Watch in enforcing the law. The institution itself was known from the early thirteenth century and by 1820, as we see from the account, there was in the busy areas of the metropolisa patrol of officers who had the powers to arrest and search. The case also gives a glimpse of the quiet life of a London pub in the mid afternoon. We can also imagine the crowd that spring afternoon swelling round to catch a glimpse of the King, and taking their hats off to him. The old King, George III, had died in the January of that year; the new King was his son, the former Prince Regent, George VI.
The victim of the crime appears to have been a wealthy man and had recently taken out thirty pounds in bank notes. The pound was symbolised by “l” (later replaced by £, and in each case short for “libra”, the basic unit of weight used by the Romans).
The trial itself occurs at a date when the accused had no right to give evidence.
The record of the evidence in this case is splendidly clear, and is expressed in relatively short sentences. The convention of the notation of the evidence is that maintained by counsel to the present time in England and Wales, namely of noting not the questions asked of the witness but only the answer he or she gives. We can see that the evidence of a woman is taken as a matter of course, and that she is able to reckon or tell the time.
Meticulous care is taken to identify the property as stolen and to trace the victim’s ownership.
At this date, punishment by transportation would have been to the penal colonies of Australia for the purposes of forced labour. In 1820, colonial New South Wales was ruled as a benevolent military despot by the extraordinary Governor Lachlan Macquarie, now celebrated as the Father of Australia. Under his encouragement, the penal colony beyond the walls of the prisons developed into a flourishing and complex civil society.