With the scrapping of the double jeopardy rule, a man may be tried twice for the same offence, but could one man be sentenced to be hung twice within two years?
Zechariah VAIL(ES) married Elizabeth NORRIS at Heybridge in 1667 and baptised at least three children in nearby Witham. One of them was named Zechariah like his father and around this time the family was living in Lockram Lane, a turning off Witham main street. Zechariah (Zach, Zachary) was a labourer and by 1675 he was in trouble with the law for stalking and catching partridges and pheasants in the cornfields of John GREENE of Boreham. John PERRY, Thos HAWKINS and Robert TURNER all of Boreham gave witness against him, but on this occasion he was let off.
He was not so lucky in 1694. With a fellow labourer of Witham, John CLEERE, he was accused of breaking into three separate houses on a single night in January to steal 60 pounds of beef (property of John MILES), 2 bushels of malt, 2 hens, and a pair of boots (property of John HARRISON), 4 bushels and a peck of gray peas and a bushel of wheat (property of Elizabeth MAYHEW). A bushel was a measure of volume equal to 8 gallons, and a peck was equal to 2 gallons. How could they have hoped to carry 34 gallons of peas, 16 gallons of malt, 8 gallons of wheat, as well as the beef and the hens through the town at dead of night without being spotted? At Chelmsford Assizes in March they pleaded guilty, and for good measure pleaded guilty also to stealing 4 geese, 3 turkeys, 4 cocks, and 7 hens belonging to Chris WRAGG of Wickham Bishops in February.
Not surprisingly, both were sentenced to be hung. End of Story? Not quite, because two years later, Zach VALE, labourer of Colchester, was accused at Brentwood Assizes of breaking into the home of Christopher FISHER at 2am and stealing 24 pairs of shoes, stockings, waistcoats, shirts and sheets. Again, one wonders how he could have carried such a haul through the streets of Colchester. At least Christopher FISHER saw him according to his evidence, and Zach pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to be hung and delivered to Brentwood gaol for the hanging.
Now was this the same Zechariah who had escaped being hung in 1694, or was it his son following his father’s footsteps? The latter seems likely, as the son would have been 22 years old in 1694. But I cannot be sure, as I have not found any records of executions or burials of prisoners at Brentwood or Chelmsford. Does anyone know of such records - or come across any records of Zachary VAIL post 1694? Perhaps there is a more interesting story of the elder Zechariah escaping, or having his sentence commuted to transportation, only to return to his life of crime.
The family was still at it in 1712! John VAILES of Witham stole a pair of sheets and an apron from Nathaniel GENTRY; he pleaded not guilty and got away with a whipping. John was the son or grandson of the elder Zechariah, and my 5xgr.grandfather, but hopefully the family crime-wave stopped there.
Geoffrey Mann (member no 4537)