John Patrick or Sullivan - an "uncivil push" and pocket-picking at Laurencekirk

John Patrick or Sullivan was one of a group of three individuals tried for "pocket-picking" in Laurencekirk, his accomplices being Mary Patrick and Alexander Leitch. According to the Dundee Advertiser of 22nd September 1866 the crime took place in or near the Royal Hotel and involved the theft of a pocketbook belonging to James Taylor, farmer and miller, Mill of Mondynes, containing a £20 bank note, a £10 note, a £5 note, six £1 notes, a deposit receipt for £25, a deposit receipt for £10 and several bill stamps and other papers. The previous convictions of the three are listed including the fact that John Patrick had been tried for theft under the name John Sullivan at the Police Court in Edinburgh on the 16th November 1861.

The three accused pleaded not guilty to the theft, so a jury was convened with a detailed report subsequently appearing in a number of local papers. James Taylor was evidently attending the market in Laurencekirk on 23rd August 1866 during which he conducted a number of business transactions. On entering the Royal Hotel in search of 'refreshment', one of the accused men passed by his left hand side and gave Taylor an "uncivil push". Post-refreshment, Taylor encountered the landlord's daughter in the lobby of the hotel when leaving and shook her hand. It was at this point that he, "Felt distinctly a pressure at his breast where the pocket book was. That made him feel again, when he found his book was gone. He cried out, "I have lost my pocket-book, my pocket-book is gone, and these are the parties who have taken it". The parties to whom he pointed were the two men, and they were taken before they had gone ten or twelve yards. James Stewart, innkeeper, Montrose, who was in the house - "an active young man" - ran after them and captured them. He (the witness) immediately identified them. He was quite sober".

Further witnesses were able to corroborate the evidence and establish that once Taylor's pocket had been picked, the book was then passed to Mary Patrick who concealed it prior to its ultimate recovery. The jury did not even need to retire to consider its verdict: the miscreants were found guilty with John Patrick and Mary Patrick both receiving seven years penal servitude, while Alexander Leitch was sentenced to ten years.

The Register of Returned Convicts from which the image is taken (see image below) contains an error with regard to the date of John Patrick's sentence: it is given as 21st July 1866 whereas sentence was in fact passed on the 21st September 1866. This is perhaps as a result of the register being completed on the release of the prisoner in 1872 and the date being recalled incorrectly or perhaps mis-transcribed.