Petition of John P. Van Ness and Others for Robert Ware Peacock, 3 January 1805
Petition of John P. Van Ness and Others
for Robert Ware Peacock
To Thomas Jefferson Esqr.
President of the U. States,
the petition of the subscribers
Humbly states
That Robert W. Peacock, as your petitioners are informed, is apprehended and confined in the goal of this City upon a charge of Forgery, which may possibly be substantiated against him:—That your petitioners are advised that the Wife of the prisoner is a woman of merit, and of very respectable connexions in the state of virginia;—that she is, together with her two helpless, innocent, little children, plunged by the alleged misconduct of her Husband, into distress and wretchedness; and that she wishes to retire from the Country with her said husband before a trial is had in the case:—That your petitioners are informed that you possess the power of ordering the said prosecution to be discontinued—Your petitioners therefore pray that you will be pleased to exercise the said power upon the express condition that the prisoner shall leave the Country within such period as to you shall seem meet, and as you may specify.—
And your petitioners will ever pray
Washington Jany. 3d. 1805—
RC (DNA: RG 59, GPR); in John P. Van Ness’s hand; signed by Van Ness and 153 others; endorsed by TJ as received 8 Jan. and “Peacock. petn on his behalf” and “refused. Jan. 9.”
Wife: Eliza Peacock.
will ever pray: the signers included prominent Washington figures such as John Thomson Mason, Augustus B. Woodward, Daniel Carroll Brent, Uriah Forrest, Charles Lee, and Philip Barton Key; Maria Cosway’s brother, the architect George Hadfield; TJ’s barber, Edward Frethy; and his tailor, Thomas Carpenter.