Reference
QSR1823/299
Title
Information of John Ford of Colesden, farmer, Thomas Wagstaff, constable of Colmworth, and Samuel Stringer - taken before H Wade Gery.
Date free text
15 April 1823
Production date
From: 1823 To: 1823
Scope and Content
John Ford saith "late last Saturday night or early on Sunday morning about six bushels of barley were stolen out of my barn at Colseden, a bay of the said barn being broken down; seeing some footsteps about the size of Samuel Stringer & tracing them in a direction towards his house at Colmworth, I applied for a search warrant, & went with the Constable of Colmworth to his house, yesterday. He was not at home. We went to a coffer which was locked up & his mother said there was nothing but clothes in the coffer, but I saw barley by looking between the lid & the coffer. We asked her to open it. She said her son had the key. We went into the garden to him at Smith's at Bushmead where he was working. The constable asked him for the key of the coffer, which he refused to give. He went home with us & unlocked the coffer. I took a sample of barley from the coffer & compared it with some of my own, which I had with me. That in the coffer appeared to be two sorts mixed together, one of the sorts I believe to be mine. When I traced the footsteps there was a place in the clay where a person appeared to have fallen on his knee, & left the mark of a pair of cord breeches patched with a larger cord. We found in Stringers house a pair of breeches with the same kind of cord, & a patch of a larger cord."
Thomas Wagstaff saith, "I yesterday went with Mr John Ford of Colesden to search the House of Samuel Stringer at Colmworth for some barley which Mr Ford had lost. I told his mother we were come to search the house for some barley Mr Ford had lost she said she would show me what corn she had, she showed us some oats & a few beans, & said she had not got any barley. She said there was nothing in the coffer but her sons clothes, when I asked for the key she said her son carried the key with him. I lifted the lid a little way up & could perceive barley in it. We lifted up the coffer a little & got a sample of it out. We then went to Bushmead & found Samuel Stringer working in Smith's garden there. I told him I had been searching his House & there was a coffer locked which I must look into & his mother told me he had got the key. I asked him for the key & he said he would not give it me, I had no right to look in. I told him his mother said there was nothing in it but clothes. He said no more there was. I told him if he denied what was in it, I knew & he was my prisoner. He then went back with us & unlocked the coffer which we found nearly full of barley. When we found the barley his mother denied that she knew there was any barley in the house."
"Samuel Stringer says the barley has been in the house ever since last harvest. I bought 5 pecks of Smith, which I mixed with my mothers gleaning.
John Ford and Thomas Wagstaff further say on their oath that there appeared to be some fen barley in the coffer, & Mr John Ford further makes oath that the barley he lost was fen barley.
Reference
Level of description
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