Today's item of interest is a 1733 writ of execution, issued by court clerk John Sturgis, in a matter involving a suit by James Otis, Sr. against Noah Wepquish, a member of the Mashpee tribe. According to the document, Otis had represented Noah's son, Phillip, in a criminal case. Phillip had been charged with night burglary of a dwelling house and was facing a possible sentence of death. Otis claimed that Noah had promised a fee of three pounds if Phillip escaped with his life. Otis further claims that he will show at trial that Phillip "was not found worthy of death, that his time & expenses...is well worth three pounds, yett the deft [the defendant, Noah Wepquish] refuses to pay...."
In this writ, clerk Sturgis orders the sheriff to attach Noah's goods or estate to the value of six pounds. A notation on the verso indicates that the defendant maintained that he had made no such promise to Otis. I'd love to go digging through the Barnstable, Massachusetts court records at some point to see how this played out...
Next time? A 1738 indenture binding a Mashpee woman to serve a Barnstable man.
Many thanks to Robert Rubin of Robert H. Rubin Books for his wonderful description of this item, on which this post is based. His keen eye and transcription made it much simpler for me to understand the circumstances surrounding this issuance of this writ.
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