In March 1682 in Chester County Court John Anderson stood accused of theft. He requested a trial by\u00a0jury\u00a0and\u00a0got a jury of six\u00a0Swedes and six\u00a0Englishmen.\u00a0Richard Noble deposed that he, with several others, found several\u00a0pieces\u00a0 of burnt pork or bacon in Anderson’s house. They also found\u00a0hidden and unfrequented places in an out house of\u00a0Anderson’s, where (as an Indian had before then informed them) Anderson used to hide pork. Furthermore\u00a0Anderson threatened the officers who came to search.\u00a0Francis Walker deposed that a person who bought a piece of pork from\u00a0Anderson told him the pork had a bullet in it.<\/p>\n
Since Anderson had a headless hog, he was asked where the head was.\u00a0He said he left it down the river, and his boy said, “No, the hog’s head is upon the mill at home.”<\/p>\n
While they were at it, they examined the suspicious circumstance of a stranger who stayed at Anderson’s. This came to nothing.\u00a0The jury found the prisoner not guilty and he was discharged. The court record did not show whose hog may have gone missing.<\/p>\n
This was not the only prominent case of hog theft. In December 1686\u00a0Joshua Hastings sued\u00a0Francis Yarnall for stealing his hog. A jury was summoned and a parade of witnesses began.<\/p>\n
Allen Robenett said that he knew the boar of Hasting and to the best of his knowledge it was the same boar. Francis Baldwin agreed. Randal Malin added\u00a0that the boar was bitten in the stone by David Ogden\u2019s dog. John Hastings said that he with his own knife marked Hastings\u2019 boar and that boar was at home all one summer and the winter following and that he saw him no more until he saw him at Francis Yarnall\u2019s and that he knew it to be Hastings\u2019 boar. William Malin saw a sandy colored boar but he knew not whose it was. Judith Calvert said there was a boar that kept company with their swine but afterward she heard it was Hastings\u2019 boar and it went from thence and was away some time and when it came again it had been bitten on the stones.<\/p>\n
But other witnesses supported Yarnall’s claim to the boar. George Maris said his mark was Yarnall’s\u00a0mark, and in every respect both of growth and shape it was Yarnall\u2019s boar. John Calvert said Yarnall’s boar\u00a0was about three months at his house and afterward Yarnall took him away and the boar was bitten on the right side of the stones. John Fox said the boar had one stone hanging down lower than the other and that he was bitten by the dogs on the right side of the stones. Jane Calvert was not sure.\u00a0Margaret Hollingsworth said that the boar was a right boar before he was bitten and that he was supposed to be Joshua Hastings\u2019 boar by the neighborhood and was there most of the winter.<\/p>\n
Caleb Pusey said that Yarnall asked him whether there was a boar about his house with one stone. Thomas Bristow said that he certainly knew the boar and that it was the very boar of Francis Yarnall. John Maris said he knew Yarnall\u2019s boar and when the boar was again by Yarnall he knew it certainly to be the same boar. George Maris the younger said he knew Yarnall\u2019s boar and it was the same boar that Yarnall brought to them to view when he fetched him home. John Hallowell said the boar was at his house and that is was the same boar which he saw at the end of the summer and that the boar was at Jacob Simcock\u2019s and he believes it was the Yarnall\u2019s boar.<\/p>\n
The jury must have had a hard job of weighing this inconclusive\u00a0evidence. In the end they\u00a0found for Joshua Hastings and fined Yarnall 25s with the cost of the court suit. Yarnall was not pleased and said he would\u00a0appeal to the court of equity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In March 1682 in Chester County Court John Anderson stood accused of theft. He requested a trial by\u00a0jury\u00a0and\u00a0got a jury of six\u00a0Swedes and six\u00a0Englishmen.\u00a0Richard Noble deposed that he, with several others, found several\u00a0pieces\u00a0 of burnt pork or bacon in Anderson’s house. They also found\u00a0hidden and unfrequented places in an out house of\u00a0Anderson’s, where (as an … Continue reading John Anderson and the headless hog<\/span>