Files &c.
No 1.
March 19. 1799
Sometime about the first of February last, the undersigned Fleming
Saunders & Marmaduke Baker deposited a certain sum of money in
Mr Thomas Benton’s trunk, the key of which said Benton,
at all times carefully kept in his own possession. About six or eight days
after the deposit had been made, the undersigned Saunders applied
to Benton for some money, Benton opened the trunk
& the undersigned Saunders taking hold of his purse immediately
exclaimed, that some of his money was lost. This exclamation he was induced
to make from a conviction that both the size & weight of his purse
was considerably diminished. Benton appeared to be much surprised at this
declaration, & began to move his cloaths in the trunk, by the
moving of which several loose Dollars were discovered, but these were not
sufficient in number to make the sum which was lost. Some short time
afterwards said Saunders recommended to the undersigned Baker to examine
whether any of his money was also lost. The undersigned Baker
accordingly examined & declared
that he also had lost a few Dollars. This declaration appeared to add much
to Benton’s surprise & uneasiness.
As the money had been deposited in Benton’s own trunk the
key of which he kept with remarkable carefulness, the undersigned thought
that he must know something about the manner in which their money had been
taken & disposed of, but were unwilling to indulge the suspicion of
Benton having taken it himself. Some circumstances however occurred
about this time which confirmed them in the beleif of his guilt. As they
lived in the same room with Benton they had an opportunity of knowing almost
every part of his conduct. They could not help taking notice that instead of
being extremely parsimonious, as he had been in the early part of the
session, he had now become remarkably prodigal & extravagant. This
change of conduct together with several other circumstances, confirmed the
undersigned in the opinion that Benton had taken their
money
On the night of the eighth of March, the pocket-book of the undersigned William Cherry
was stolen out of his coat pocket after he
had gone to bed, & with the pocket book, eight Dollars in cash, one
of which was a federal Dollar of the latest emission, & which was
as the undersigned believe, the only one of the kind in College. On the same
night the sum of sixteen Dollars was stolen out of the pocket-book of the
undersigned Marmeduke Baker, also a shilling bill which was marked with the
initial letters of said Bakers name. As the Dollar & shilling-bill
were thus remarkable, it was thought that they might afford an easy
opportunity of detection. The undersigned Saunders & Baker
therefore went to the different Merchants & Tavern-keepers in the
village, described the Dollar & shilling bill,
& requested that if either should fall into their hands, that they
should give said Saunders & Baker immediate notice & also inform them
of the person from whom they obtained it. A few days afterwards the
undersigned Saunders was informed by Hugh Nunn (a clerk in Mr Scott’s store) that he had seen the above
mentioned Dollar in Thomas Benton’s possession, & that he had
endeavored to obtain the Dollar by giving other money in exchange for it,
but that Benton refused to exchange it, or by any means part from it.
Another circumstance which had great weight
with the undersigned was, that Benton had, for some
nights past, sat up much later than any of his room-mates, & that
the undersigned Saunders, lying awake in his bed when Benton beleived him to be
asleep, discovered said Benton very carefully tie on his neck-handkerchief
immediately before he went to bed. That the night following he discovered
Benton (as he beleives with a pocket-book open on the table before
him) carefully fold up his neck-handkerchief & then tie it on as he
had done the night before. Said Saunders declares that he
beleived at that time & does still beleive that in that
handkerchief Benton carried the paper money which he had stolen from Messrs
Baker
& Cherry & which amounted to somewhat more than twenty
Dollars. He farther states it as his opinion that Benton was on the second
night, mentioned above, adjusting the money in his neck-handkerchief in such
a manner as that it might neither be discovered nor lost.
Hitherto the undersigned were, by no means, disposed to communicate to any
person, the suspicions which they had entertained of Benton. But being now
fully convinced of his guilt, they determined to fall on some plan to make a
thorough detection, & as they were apprehensive that it might be
attended with a serious quarrel &
perhaps be the cause of a challenge from Benton, they determined
to make some of the officers of the University acquainted with their suspicions & the
reasons of them; & also to enquire what plan should be thought most
advisable for the undersigned to pursue. The undersigned Saunders
accordingly waited on Mr Caldwell on the 14 instant, &
informed him as above. In the evening of the same day the undersigned Saunders
with Mr Caldwell waited on Mr. Gillaspie
& communicated the whole to him, in order that they might have his
opinion & advice with respect to the method which ought to be
adopted. Among many other plans which were suggested, it was proposed that
the undersigned Saunders should not return to College until late at night when
Benton would most probably be asleep & that said Saunders
should then search his pocket-book, to see whether the Dollar or any of the
money which had been stolen could be found in it.
Between the hours of eleven & twelve at night the undersigned Saunders
left Mr Gillaspie’s, & when he entered his room, found that
Benton was abed & asleep. He walked easily across the room,
took Benton’s pocket-book out of his coat pocket, & on examining
it, found the identical Dollar which Cherry had lost. This he
shortly afterwards communicated to the
undersigned Baker & Cherry. It was then agreed that they should take
Benton out & search him. To obtain an opportunity of doing
so, they agreed (with the knowledge & permission of Messrs
Caldwell
& Gillaspie) to go into the country for breakfast & to
take Benton along. In the morning the undersigned Saunders went to Mr Caldwell & borrowed of him a Dollar of the common federal
stamp, with the intention of trying whether by bantering the company on the
beauty of his Dollar, he could not induce Benton to shew the Dollar
which they were all now convinced he had in his possession. The undersigned
had recourse to this expedient from a conviction that if Benton
had obtained the Dollar any other way than by
stealth, he would feel no reluctance in shewing it. Said Saunders
when he returned to the room proposed to the undersigned Baker
& Cherry to go into the country with him to breakfast, &
added that if any of the others would go with them, & eat ten eggs
& drink five dishes of coffee that he would pay for the breakfast.
Benton immediately accepted the offer, but when the time of starting
approached, he declined. The undersigned by using a number of expedients at
length prevailed & Benton went with them. While on their way to the
house at which they were to breakfast, the undersigned Saunders made many attempts
to induce Benton to shew his Dollar but
without any success. As they returned from breakfast Benton appeared no ways
inclined to converse or to keep near to any of the undersigned, but kept
some distance before them. The undersigned Saunders at length called
to him not to walk so fast, adding that he wished to have some conversation
with him, on a particular subject. Benton slackened his
pace, & when the undersigned came up Saunders mentioned to him
the suspicions that they had of his having taken their money, &
that the only way of eradicating those suspicions was to submit to an
immediate search. Benton denied the charge & with uplifted
hands called the gods to bear witness to his innocence. Saunders
replied that this would not convince him, & told Benton
that he must submit to a search. Benton then put his hand
into his pocket, pulled out his pocket-handkerchief & offered Saunders
his key telling him that he might search his trunk. Saunders refused the key
telling Benton that he must search his
pocket-book. After finding that Saunders would not be put
off with the key, he agreed that his pocket-book should be searched. In the
mean time however, he kept his hand employed in his pocket & the
undersigned believe did then actually take
the above mentioned Dollar out of his pocket-book. With many &
solemn asseverations of his innocence, he at length delivered his
pocket-book to Saunders; but on examination it was found that the Dollar was
not in it. The undersigned Saunders immediately put his hand into Benton’s
pocket & pulled out the Dollar which he had discovered the night
before, & which the undersigned Cherry did not hesitate to
claim as his own. Benton appeared to be much agitated &
after many prevarications & self-evident falshoods, he confessed
that he had taken the money which the undersigned Cherry had lost, but denied
taking any more. He added that he took the pocket-book on the supposition
that Cherry
would imagine he had lost it out of his own pocket; & that he
intended to replace the money in a short time by putting the pocket-book
into some place where said Cherry would certainly find it. On being asked what
he had done with the pocket-book, he replied that he had thrown it to the
bottom of the little-house. After a number of other prevarications, he
confessed that he had taken a few Dollars from the undersigned Saunders,
but denied that he had taken any from Baker. In the course of a
day or two, Benton acknowleged that he had taken from the undersigned at different times the sum of thirty four
Dollars viz from Saunders the sum of nine Dollars, from Baker the sum of eighteen
Dollars & a shilling & from Cherry the sum of seven
Dollars.
The undersigned Fleming Saunders, Marmaduke Baker & William Cherry affirm that
the above is substantially a true statement.
Fleming
Saunders
Marmaduke
Baker
Wm. Cherry
Signed in presence of the Faculty
J. S. Gillaspie
Jos. Caldwell
Sam. A. Holmes,
A D Murphey