BorBF4/79/221a

Information of John Serjeant of the Parish of St Paul, Bedford, ostler.

5 August 1834

From: 1834 To: 1834

John Serjeant says 'I am ostler to Mr Charles Higgins of the Swan Inn in the Parish of St Paul in the Town of Bedford. I know both the prisoners John Young and William Young. They were both in Mr Charles Higgins's Service yesterday threshing in his barn in the Swan yard...They were there all day but I saw them there at seven oClock last evening - I was in front of the barn outside when I saw them. The door was open. I had seen several store pigs the property of my master running about the yard in the course of the day but did not particularly notice them, but as I stood by the Barn door in the evening as I have before mentioned I saw two of the pigs on the outside of the barn door with their tails off, they appeared to have been freshly cut off as the blood was not then dry - the tail of one of them was cut close off to the rump the other was not cut quite so close but nearly so - I then looked at Mr Higgins' other pigs running loose in the yard and saw that thirteen or fourteen of them had their tails cut about twelve of them had their tails quite off and two of them were not quite off. They all appeared to have been freshly cut - about twenty minutes after on searching about in the yard against the barn door with Mr Higgins I found six pigs tails I first saw one lying upon the chaff and on kicking the chaff about I found the other five. If the pigs had been cut when I saw them before in the day as they were when I saw them at seven oClock I should certainly have noticed them I asked the prisoners if they knew anything about it and each of them said he did not.'

item

Serjeant, John,
Higgins, Charles,
Young, William,
Young, John

Bedford Swan, pigs, ostler, threshing, animal cruelty