Foster vs Bell & Carmine - Plea of Trespass & Ejectment - 14 October 1797 - Transcribed by Gail M. Walczyk
Spelling remains the same.
Plea at the Courthouse of the County of Accomack before the Honourable the Judges of the District Court held in at the said Courthouse the 15 day of May in the year of our Lord Seventeen hundred & ninety nine
Be it remembered that heretofore to wit at a District Court held at Accomack Courthouse the 14 day of October in the year Seventeen hundred and ninety seven came Samuel Longcase lesse of William Foster by John Wise his attorney and brought into the said Court his certain Bill against Perigrine Poorclaim in custody & of a plea of Trespass in Ejectment and there were pledges to prosecute to wit John Doe & Richd Roe which bill follows in
these words to wit "Accomack County to wit Samuel Longcase complains of Perigrine Poorclaim in Custody &c" that whereas William Foster on the 10th day of January 1797 at the Parish of Sr. George and county aforesaid had demised granted and to farm let to the said Samuel one plantation one messuage one garden and one
hundred acres of land with the appurtenances situate, lying and being in the county and Parish aforesaid. To have and to hold the said land and Tenements with the appurtenances aforesaid unto the said Samuel and and his assigns from the first day of January then last part unto full end and Term of twenty years thence next ensuing and fully to be compleat & ordered By [-----] of which the said demise the said Samuel unto entered into the said lands and Tenements unto witl the appurtenances and was possessed thereof until the said Perigrne afterward to wit in the 10th of January in the year afsd with and upon possession of the said Samuel and ejected, drove out and amoved the said Samuel from his said farm, his said term not yet being ended and kept his said possess & then there did other injuries to him the said Sameul agt the peace of the Commonwealth and to the damage of the said Samuel of £500 and therefore he bringeth suit & and the said Pergrine Poorclaim altho the affidavit of Southey Satchell S. Sheriff of Accomack County that George Topping Tennant in possession of the premises in the declaration mentioned, hath he not appeared. It is ordered that, unless, he having legal notice of the Order or those under whom he claims or some or one of them do appear here at May of Court next and make himself herself or themselves Deft or Defts in this suit the room of the said Perigrine Poorclaim plead the general issue confess the lease entry and ouster in the declaration supposed and enter unto the common Rule to insist on the title only at trial, Judment shall be entered for the Plt & a writ of possession awarded him. and at a District Court held at Accomack Courthouse the 28th day of May last past came the Paintiff by his Attorney and on the motion of William Gibb, John S. Ker Nathaniel Burwell & Fanny Carmine and William Bell Junr by Thomas Evans their Attorney and also John Drummond and Peggy Drummond Infants by John Custis their Guardian they were admitted Defendants in this suit in the room of the said Perigrine Poorclaim and confessed the lease entry and ouster in the declaration supossed and agree to insist on the title only at the trial. Whereupon came the said William Gibb, John S. Ker, William Bell Jr. Nathl Burwell & Fanny Carmine by their said Attorney, and the said John & Peggy Drummond by their said Guardian and defend the force and injury when &c. and plead not guity and put themselves upon the County and the said Plaintiff likewise the trial of which issue was defered until the next Court, and at a District Court held at Accomack courthouse the 23rd day of October in the year last past
came the parties by their attornies and by their consent it was ordered that the Surveyor of the County of Accomack to Survey the lands in question and return between the parties, that he make out three
said and distinct plats thereof and return the same to the next Court and the said case was continued. And now at this day to wit at a District Court held at Accomack Courthouse the fifteenth day of May in the Year of our Lord One thousand and Seven hundred and ninety nine came the Parties by their Attornies and thereupon came also a Jury to wit Benjamin Floyd, Edmund Read, Roger Miles, Laban Powell, Thomas Munger, Mattias Outten, William Stran, William Townsend, Revel West, William S. Custis, John Read and William Harmon who being elected tryed and sworn well and truly to try the mattter in issue issued between the said parties and the Defendants William Gibb, John S. Ker, John & Peggy Drummond and Nathaniel Burwell with the assent of the Plaintiff withdrew themselves for defending this action any further they being in possession of no part of the lands in question, the said Jury upon their Oath did say that the Defendants William Bell Jr. and Fanny Carmine were guilty of the Trespass and ejectment in manner & form as the said Plaintiff in his declaration against them hath complained and they did assess the damages of the said Plaintiff by occasion thereof to six pence. Therefore it was considered by the Court that the Plaintiff recover against the said Defendants his Term yet to come & in the messuage and plantation aforesaid in the
declaration mentioned and Six pence his damages
aforesaid by the Jurors aforesaid in form aforesaid assessed and also his costs by him in this behalf expended and the said Deft may be taken &c. And on the motion of Plaintiff a writ of possession is awarded his to cause to him to have possession of his said Term returnable here &c.
