Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
I have Just committed to Gaol a person who calls himself John Bancroft, of Stoughton, Blacksmith, for stealing a Brass kettle of the value of 40/, the property of Peter Tufts of Medford, husbandman;1 The theft was committed last night evening Yesterday, at Medford, but the thief was taken with the kettle in his possession, in Boston, & pleaded not guilty. As Jany. court is so distant I would wish he might be remov’d by habeas Corpus to Middlesex, & receive his tryal there, it will save the county considerable expence.
Mr. Tufts is the bearer of whom you may inquire further about the matter.
The cost here is 13s/6d which Tufts has paid & must receive again.
This case was quickly brought to the Oct. session of the Supreme Judicial Court at Cambridge, which had begun its session on Oct. 30 and concluded on Nov. 3. John Bancroft pleaded guilty to a charge of theft, and was ordered to pay £4.4 as treble damages with goods restored and receive fifteen stripes. He declared himself unable to pay damages, and so the court ordered that he could be disposed of in service for four months (Supreme Judicial Court Minute Books, Middlesex County, Oct. 1781. Massachusetts Judicial Archives, Boston, Mass.). He may be the same John Bancroft who served eighteen months in Castle Island prison (Feb. 1790–Aug. 1791) following a conviction by the Suffolk Court of General Sessions (Castle Island Commitment Register, 1785–1798. Massachusetts Archives, Boston, Mass.).
The practice of ordering people to be sold into service to recoup unpaid fines continued in Massachusetts until at least 1796 (Commonwealth v. Nathan Webber and Daniel Webber, Supreme Judicial Court Minute Books, Middlesex County, Oct. 1796. Massachusetts Judicial Archives, Boston, Mass.). In Suffolk County, during the period between 1782 and 1787, sentences of enforced servitude ranged from two months (for unpaid damages of 35s.4d) to twenty-nine years (for £595.3s) for men; and from two months (for £3.8s) to five years (for £65.18s) for women (Supreme Judicial Court Minute Books, Suffolk County. Massachusetts Judicial Archives, Boston, Mass.).