AUTOGRAPH DOCUMENT SIGNED, 7 MAY 1815, AS CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE MARYLAND COURT OF APPEALS

Folio sheet, folded to [4]pp, all in manuscript. Docketed on page [4]: "Petition of Lawson Clark of Montgomery County. Presented by Archibald Van Horn. Recorded 5 June 1815." The first two pages, plus two lines on the third page, consist of Clark's Petition. Page [3] is Judge Chase's Opinion, signed and written in his hand May 7, 1815. Very Good.

Jeremiah Chase was a prominent Maryland jurist, though not as famous [or notorious] as his Federalist cousin, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. Jeremiah was one of the authors of Maryland's 1776 Constitution, a delegate to the Continental Congress, Mayor of Annapolis, and a Federalist.
Here he responds to the petition of Lawson Clark, the surety on William Ward's bond. "A presentment was found against William Ward for setting up & playing at a table called a Faro Table... Process was issued and continued against said Ward until March Term of said court in the year 1814 when the said William Ward was arrested."
After he was arrested, Ward was incarcerated until Lawson Clark "was prevailed upon" to post Ward's $200 bond guaranteeing his appearance at trial. However, when the case was called for trial neither Ward nor any witnesses against him appeared. The court forfeited Clark's bond and Lawson Clark thus lost his money. Clark argues that "Ward could not have been convicted as no witness appeared against him." Having a "wife and six small children with but an inconsiderable estate," Clark pleads for a return of his $200.
Justice Chase does the right thing: he tells the Governor, to whom the bond had been forfeited, that "the Facts stated in this petition appear to be supported" by the evidence... I recommend a Remission of the Forfeiture, of the Recognizance of Lawson Clark as no witnesses appeared on the part of the State.