Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
Samuel Fales Esq. I shut the Window, in the morning I arose so dark I could not find my Stock. I went down to fence could not see if window open. I went in & found my
desk broke open& the money gone.
Saml. Thurstonsthat night, we searched him found the bag in his pocket & the light half Joe, & he carried us into the woods & show us the hankerchief, he owned he was on the green before candles out, & hid it in Woods by sun rise;
Moses PikeI arose half the starrs appeard. I got to Ward2 at sun rise, breakfasted at Judge Durfee’s two miles beyond I overtook Grey, I told him what hapned he turn’d pale, Grey was at Mr. Fales abt. a fortnight before.
Oliver SoperI took him & brought him to
he told me howhe opned the house that it was some time after the Candles were out, found the
silver inthe woods
17 milesoff.
Greenfeild BlakeSaturday say abt. 8 oClock Grey came in asked the way to Taunton, he said his name was not Grey & did not
The case was heard before the Oct. session of the Supreme Judicial Court for Bristol County:
Anow now in this present Term before the Court here comes the said Gardiner Grey under Custody of the Sheriff of said County and being set to the Bar here in his proper person and forthwith being demanded concerning the premisses in the Indictment above specified and charged upon him how he will acquit himself thereof, he says that thereof he is not Guilty and thereof for tryal puts himself on GOD and the Country (James Sullivan and Willm. Bradford Esqrs. being assigned by the Court, Counsel for the prisoner) a Jury is immediately impannelled, viz Noah Dean, Foreman and Fellows, namely Josiah Cornish, Thoms. Dagget, Rufus Whitmarsh, Joseph Lewis, Geo. Williams, Seth Gilbert, Elijah Hodges, Edwd. Dean, Joseph Read, James Tisdale, and Andrew Gilmore, who being sworn to speak the truth of and concerning the premisses upon their oath say that the said Gardiner Grey is Guilty. And now the Atty. Genl. moves that Sentence of Death might be given against the said Gardiner Grey the prisoner at the Bar upon which it is demanded of him the said Gardiner Grey if he has or knows ought to say wherefore the Justices 372 here ought not upon the premisses aforesaid to proceed to Judgment against him who nothing further saith unless as he before had said, Whereupon all and singular the premisses being seen and by the said Justices here fully understood, It is considered by the Court here, that the said Gardiner Grey be taken to the Goal of the Commonwealth from whence he came, and from thence to the place of Execution and there be hanged by the Neck untill he be dead. (Supreme Judicial Court Minute Books, Bristol County, Oct. 1786. Massachusetts Judicial Archives, Boston, Mass.)
Gardner Gray, under sentence of death for burglary, petitioned the General Court for commutation “as this is the first offence he has ever been Charged with.” The resolve on Gray’s petition speaks of “the Sobriety of his manners and Examplary Conduct” before the crime and commutes his sentence to three years hard labor at the state prison at Castle Island in Boston Harbor, with condition that if he escapes and is recaptured, “he shall Suffer death agreeably to the Sentence aforesaid.” Passed Nov. 17, 1786 (Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts [1786–1787] [Boston, 1893], Chapter 134 [Sept. 1786], 413).
Gray was committed to Castle Island on Nov. 17, 1786, served his three-year sentence, and was liberated on Nov. 17, 1789 (Castle Island Commitment Register, 1785–1798. Massachusetts Archives, Boston, Mass.).
RTP noted in his diary on Oct. 26: “Do. fine weather Gardner Grey tryed & convicted of Burglery of Saml. Fales Esqrs house; 27, Do. Grey Sentenced. Court finished by noon. 1/2 past one I set out & rode to Boston by eight oClock.”
The town of Ward in Worcester County was named to honor Gen. Artemas Ward, but the name was changed to Auburn in 1837 to distinguish it from the nearby town of Ware.