Petition of Andrew MaGee, 27 February 1805
Petition of Andrew MaGee
York Goal Febuary 27—1805
To his exelencey Thomas Jefferson Esqr.
President of the United States
Your humble Petitioner begs leave to State to your exeleney the Situation in which he is placed, he was accused of haveing property In his possesion which was not his own, in September 1803, and was taken up for the Same and Confined in prison, where he has Remained ever Since, in may last he was tryed before the Supream Court of Massachusetts and was Sentenced to Receive eighty lashes and Set one hour on the Gallowes and be confined three Years to hard Labour, the Corporale punishment has been inflicted on Your Petitioner, but there is Still upwards of Two Years Remaining for him to Serve, he therefore humbley prayes that your exelencey would be pleased to Remit the Remaining part of the Sentence or so much of it as you in your Wisdome Shall think proper. your petitioner has Composed a Song which he has enclosed in this petition which he hopes you will not be offended at, all of which is humbly Submited to your exellenceys wise Consideration.
as in Duty bound will ever pray
Andrew Ma Gee
RC (ViW: Tucker-Coleman Collection); endorsed by TJ as received from York, Massachusetts, on 14 Mch. and so recorded in SJL.
Situation in which he is placed: Andrew MaGee (or McGee), a mariner resident in Wells, Maine, was indicted for burglary and theft at the May 1804 session of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court at York County. Justices Francis Dana, Simeon Strong, Samuel Sewall, and George Thatcher presided over the trial. MaGee was charged on three counts, all of which occurred the previous September: first, a two-part charge of burglary for breaking into the house of John Bragdon in Arundel on the 28th and of theft for being found in possession of Bragdon’s silver watch valued at $25; second, a breaking and entering and theft charge for stealing coin valued at $16 from Simon Nowell’s store in Arundel on the 23d; and third, a theft charge for stealing 12 pairs of bridle bits valued at $2.80 from Peter Folsom in Wells on the 26th. On the first charge, MaGee was acquitted of burglary but convicted of stealing the silver watch. The punishment was 30 stripes, to pay the cost of prosecution, and to pay Bragdon $50 and return the stolen watch. MaGee pleaded guilty to the last two charges, for which he was sentenced to “be set upon the gallows with a rope about his neck, and one end thereof cast over the gallows, for the space of one hour,” to receive an additional 30 stripes for the second charge and 20 for the third, to be confined to hard labor for three years, to pay court costs, and to return stolen property and pay Nowell $48 and Folsom $5.60 in recompense (Supreme Judicial Court records, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine, Vol. 1 [1798-1805], 344, 386-8).