EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CRIMINALS INCLUDING JONATHAN WILD

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EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CRIMINALS INCLUDING JONATHAN WILD
A 1p. petition, from Fleetwood Clark, dated the 4th March, 1722, to the Commissioner of the Treasury claiming #200 reward for himself and others for the apprehension of James Lincoln and Robert Wilkinson who have since been convicted and executed, endorsed by the Commissioner and referred to Anthony Cracherode for his opinion; a 1p. document, dated May 6th, 1723, from the Commissioners to Lord Halifax, Auditor of the Exchequer, signed by Charles Furness, Richard Edgecumbe and Henry Pelham (afterwards Prime Minister), setting out the payments to be made, based on Cracherode's report, listing 10 men to receive #100 between them for apprehending Wilkinson (from #17.10s. to #2.10s each) and eight men to receive another #100 between for apprehending Lincoln (from #25 to #5 each, #25 going to Jonathan Wild); and three related documents, all bound together with the original cord; together with six documents concerned with the case of David Bindon, [undated but circa 1710], being Bindon's formally pleaded complaint against a Dutch privateer for seizing him and other members of his crew, assaulting them '...they drew the carpenter by his heeles half maste high and threw him down on his head..."; and five other documents relating to the case, 1710-11. (11)

Lot Essay

The notorious thief-taker Jonathan Wild (?1682-1725) himself hanged two years later. Wild led a duplicitous life as a receiver of stolen goods and informer, often accusing the innocent as well as the guilty in order to claim rewards and silence his enemies.

David Bindon was a privateer trading along the Channel.

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