256 



Inquisition on Jiutlj fliem. 



lAJOR PERRY KEENE has kindly presented to the Society 

 the original inquisition on Ruth Pierce. The document is 

 on parchment, sealed and signed by the coroner, and is as 

 follows : — 



" (Sftltltgiltre to W&itL) An Inquisition Indented taken at 

 the Burrough of Devizes in the County of Wilts aforesaid on The 

 Twenty Sixth day of January in the Twenty Sixth Year of the 

 Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the Grace of 

 God of Great Brittan France and Ireland King Defender of the 

 Faith Before me John Clare Gent: one of the Coroners of Our 

 Said Lord and King for the County aforesaid Upon Yiew of 

 the Body of Ruth Peirce late of Pottern in the said County 

 Widdow then and there lying dead and upon the Oath of 



Richard Anstie Richard Williams William Hillier 



William Slade John Williams Robert Hay ward 



Gabriel Bartlett Ambrose Portch Joseph Chandler 



Robert Phipp Joseph Akers William Lewis 



Good and Lawfull men of the County Aforesaid who being Sworn 

 and Charged to inquire how in What manner when and where the 

 aforesaid Ruth Peirce died and came to her Death upon their 

 Oaths aforesaid do say and present that on the Twenty Fifth day 

 of January in the Twenty Sixth Year aforesaid between the Hours 

 of Ten and Eleven of the Clock in the Forenoon of the Said Day 

 a Great Quarrell arose between Four women in the Market Place 

 of the Burrough of Devizes aforesaid whose names was Elizabeth 

 Slade, Sarah Slade, Mary Parker, and the aforesaid Ruth Peirce 

 who joined together and bought one Sack of Wheat of one Farmer 

 Nathaniel Alexander at the Price of Seventeen Shillings which 

 makes Four Shillings and Three Pence each when the Farmer 



