QSR1840/3/5/47/a

Depositions and examination - Lewis Wright of Kempston, labourer, charged with housebreaking

16 and 23 April

From: 1840 To: 1840

DEPOSITIONS ON 16 APRIL Ann Walker of Kempston, widow - she keeps the King William IV Public House at Kempston. The previous morning about 6am she discovered her house had been entered in the night. She found the backstairs of an upstairs room called the Club Room open. About 10.45pm the previous night she saw the window closed and fastened. She went through that room into her bedroom. She was in bed about 6am when Lewis Wright came upstairs and said "your house is broken open and the club box is stolen". She got up and found the Club Room window and various doors open, which she had closed and fastened herself the night before. She missed nothing but the club box - a deal box about 2 feet long and 18 inches deep. She does not know what it contained. She is certain it was locked with three locks. It was a heavy box, but not too heavy for one man to carry. Lewis Wright was in the Club Room - he said he found the Club Room broken and was afraid they were murdered. They went downstairs and soon after the box was brought in by someone - she forgets who. The front of the box was broken in and the box was split in two. Several people had collected in her house having heard of the robbery, including Joseph Haines. The little cash box and club books were still in the box. Wright is not a member of the club. She has known him several years and always found him perfectly honest. He lives near her, and she has often had his mother and sister in her house during her husband's illness since November 13th. A benefit club of which William White is treasurer holds its meetings in her house. William White of Kempston, butcher - he is auditor of a benefit club which meets at Mrs Walker's house. When the club met last Monday night he shut up and locked the box with three different locks and keys. The landlady keeps one key and the two stewards one each. When he locked the box there was some cash in the little cash box which is kept in the great box. He thought there was more than £15 in the box, mainly in silver. On Saturday morning he heard the box had been carried away and broken and the money all gone except one half crown. He went to Mrs Walker's and searched the club books and found there should have been £15 9s 20d in the box. He heard Wright was the first person to discover it. He went to Wright and asked him for particulars - he said he found it in Mr Williamson's plantation. He asked Wright to go with him and point out the way he went when he discovered it. Wright went with him. He asked Wright what he was going for - he said he was going to Williamson's about some potatoes, to Charles Hull who lives on the premises of Mr Mossman, the tenant of Mr Williamson's farm. He said he could not find the foreman and so went into the plantation to do a "chair" for himself. He went with Wright to the place where he said he found the box. He said the club books were thrown into the ditch near where the box was found. He examined the footsteps which appeared to be those of two different persons. That is not the way from Wright's house to the mill - he might get that way but there is no public footpath. Wright did not say anyone was with him when he found the box, but he said James Walker, one of the members, went with him to help fetch it away. When they were in the plantation and Wright had told him he had occasion to go there to do a chair for himself he said "it was somwhere here that I did a job for myself but I don't see it now". The place where the box was found was very much trodden about. It was about 30 yards from where Wright said he had done a job for himself. It is possible a person might have seen the box from there. In going from Wright's house to Hull's he would not have occasion to go through the plantation. Henry Ison Jebbett, superintendent constable - he received information the previous morning that a robbery had taken place at Kempston. he went to Mrs Walker's and saw a ladder lying in the yard near the club room window, with marks as if the feet of the ladder had been placed there. He saw the footsteps of two persons on the ground and measured the impressions. From information received he went to Wright who was at work at Box and asked how he had spent the previous evening and when he went to bed. Wright said he did not know what time he went to bed but it was pretty early. He asked Wright what shoes he wore the previous day - he said the same he had on then. Wright also remarked "these boots are not strong enough to kick the box in". Wright supposed he came to ask questions about the robbery at the William IV. He [Jebbett] said it appeared a "singular circumstance" that Wright should be the first person to discover the robbery. He asked Wright what drew his attention to that particular spot. Wright said he didn't know. He said he was going to the foreman at Mr Williamson's farm about potatoes, but didn't see him. He asked Wright if Hull expected him to call about the potatoes - he said he did not think so. They talked about the part of the plantation where the box was discovered - Wright said he had been there a time or two before. Wright said after he discovered the box he went home to his brother's yard before going to Mrs Walker's and stopped there about 10 to 15 minutes. He [Jebbett] asked why Wright supposed the box belonged to the club held at Mrs Walker's. Wright said he had no particular reason for thinking so. He had heard Wright could not read or write - otherwise the club books would have informed him who they belonged to. Wright said he then went and alarmed Mrs Walker and his sister at her house - the sister sleeps at Mrs Walker's. He left Wright and went to his house where his wife gave him the pair of boots now produced. He measured them and found they matched the footmarks. He went to the plantation to the place where Wright said he had done a job for himself, but could not find anything. He tried to see if it were possible for Wright to have seen the box and it appeared to him impossible. He left the boots with Wright's wife. They appeared to him to have fresh damp earth on them of the same description as the earth in the ditch. He saw Wright at his work and he said he had not worn any boots other than those he had on since Sunday. He saw Wright the previous night at the Willim IV and asked him to account for the discrepancies in the different statements he had made earlier in the day. He then took him into custody. Lewis Wright of Kempston, labourer - he knew nothing about the box, had never seen the box in his life before that time and had never been in Mrs Walker's stairs. He was coming from Charles Hull's place (Mr Mossman's) and going across straight for the mill. He got over into the plantation to do a job for himself. As he was going on doing his breeches up he saw something shining white and went to see what it was. The box was broken in two and there were a lot of cards lying outside. He did not know what it was but thought it must be a club as he had been in two clubs. He went straight into town and said to Jess Ashwell there was a box lying in the plantation which must be a club box. He went round the town and saw Mrs Walker's door shut. He got over the gate and went round to the back door and saw James Walker there on his own premises. He told him there was a box broken open down by the river and some cards in it. Walker said "that must be ours then". He saw Mrs Walker's door inside open and went and hollared in the house but could not make anybody hear. He went upstairs and hollared and Mrs Walker called out "who is there". He told her what he had seen. James Walker asked him to show him where the box was. FURTHER DEPOSITIONS ON 18 APRIL Henry Ison Jebbett, police superintendent - since the last examinations he went to the plantation and placed his son, a lad 7 years of age, at the place where the box was said to have been found and went to the part from which Wright said he had discovered the box. He could not see his son - he tried from almost every direction near where Wright stood. He measured the distance as about 70 yards. He was there again yesterday and observed that several persons had been doing what the prisoner said he had since he was there last. He searched the house where Wright lodges (his mother's) on the day he was committed but found no money. When apprehended Wright had 3 sovereigns and a few pence on his person, which he said he received for two pigs he had sold at market for his brother or cousin for 30s each. John Tregenza, keeper of Bedford Gaol - Wright was searched in his presence by the turnkey Skinner on Thursday 15 April. Wright first produced 5 shillings and a six pence and 6d of halfpence. When challenged he then produced 3 sovereigns and a half. Wright had since said he received the money for 2 pigs and could produce one fo the persons to whom he sold the pigs. He thinks Wright said it was the ostler of the Hop Pole. George Hull (aged 7 years), son of Charles Hull of Kempston, labourer - he knows Lewis Wright. He did not see Wright at any time on Wednesday but saw him about 6am on Thursday down at Mr Mossman's farm. he went for some potatoes. Wright asked where his father was. He said his father was gone down the field and Wright went away - he doesn't remember which way. Wright came through the white gates down the road and went back the same way. He did not see Wright go to the plantation. He does not remember now whether it was Wednesday or Thursday. William Dudley of Kempston, bricklayer - he lives next door to Wright. In his house he can hear people going up and down stairs in Wright's house and can hear the least noise. He remembers hearing three people going up to bed one after another on Tuesday evening. Four people slept in the house that night besides an infant - mother and son and two brothers, all grown up. He had no reason to supposed that either of the persons he heard going up was the prisoner. In the morning he and Wright unlocked their doors within a minute of each other about 5.15 to 5.30am. Wright said nothing to him. He cannot say whether more than three did or did not go upstairs on Tuesday night. Wright's house is nearer to the William IV than his. Alice Wright of Kempston, widow - she is Wright's mother. She remembers Wright going to bed on Tuesday evening about 10.30pm and he got up about 5.05am. She lay awake for much of the night - she had been ill. She heard her son speak during the night. He came and gave her a light. She called him to bring it to her. She heard the clock strike 11, 12, 1, 2 and 3. Her son went to bed just before she did. She believes he was in the house all night. She is sure he could not have left his room without her hearing him as he always lies with his bedroom door open and so does she. The doors almost touch each other. Samuel Wright of Kempston, pig jobber - his brother buys and sells pigs. Lewis Wright sold 2 pigs the previous week to the ostler at the King's Arms and two to Finedon at Wilshamstead. The pigs Finedon bought were worth about 30s each. He did not receive the money for them - they buy and sell together so he would have expected Lewis Wright to pay him. They never have a settling but lay out the money they receive in buying again. They never account to each other at all. They both hold land together - they both have what they please. If they kill a pig they each have half. He never has to ask Lewis for money because he does most of the business and Lewis works at home. Lewis sometimes asks him for money. James Wood, ostler at the Kings Arms, Bedford - he knows Lewis Wright and believes he deals in pigs. He knows nothing of his having sold two pigs to a man named Finedon. He bought two pigs from him and paid Samuel Wright for them. He paid 2 sovereigns and 11 shillings - 25/6 each. He paid Samuel because he reckoned the brothers were in partnership. He never saw Lewis Wright take money in his life. If he had seen Lewis Wright he would have paid him instead of Samuel. FURTHER DEPOSITIONS ON 23 APRIL Samuel Finedon of Wilshamstead, labourer - on Monday April 13 he bought two pigs from Wright out of the open pen in Bedford Hog Market. He gave 3 sovereigns for the pigs. Wright was a stranger to him. He paid him in the tap room of the Fountain public house. He does not think anyone saw him pay Wright. He is sure the prisoner is the man he paid. James Walker of Kempston, carpenter - the morning after the robbery at Mrs Walker's he saw Wright about 6am by Mrs Walker's back door. He did not see which way Wright came. Wright told him somebody broke into that house the previous night - he did not believe Wright so Wright told him to come and see. He jumped over the pales that separate his yard from Mrs Walker's garden and he saw her back door open. Wright pointed out the ladder and prints where it had been set up at the window. Wright said the box was down in Mr Williamson's spinney. Wright said he went to Charles Hull's to see after some potatoes and went into the plantation to do a job for himself and saw something shine up the spinney, so went to see what it was - it was the club box. Wright thought it belonged to Mrs Walker's by the cards, and came back again and raised the alarm. Wright said if anybody would go with him he would go and fetch the club box - he did not want to take it away himself or people might think he had done it. He [Walker] said he would go with Wright. They went to the spinney. He saw the prints of two person's shoes - Wright pointed them out to him. He measured the footprints. Both were about 10 1/2 inches long. Wright did not show him where he was in the spinney when he first saw the box. Wright pointed out the box and found the club books in the ditch, picked them up and put them in the box. There was half a crown lying under the box and Wright put it in the little box. They took both parts of the box to Mrs Walker's. When he first saw Wright, he said he had been into every bed room in Mrs Walker's for he did not know whether they were dead or alive - he [Walker?] was almost afraid to go upstairs himself. He [Wright?] forgot which room they lay in and had been to every other bedroom in the house before he went to theirs. His sister woke and came to the upstairs window where the robbers got out. He knows where Wright lives. In going from his house to Charles Hull's he would not have to go near the spinney. Charles Richardson was at work with him when he first saw Wright against Mrs Walker's door. No one else was nearby then, but Haines and several others soon came. There was once a footpath from Hull's to the mill which has been stopped about a quarter of a year or rather more. The only person he knows who goes along the stopped footpath is Mrs Kedge who lives in Mr Williamson's house, on a Sunday. If it were open the footpath is not the nearest way from Wright's house to the mill. It would be about 20 or 30 yards from the spinney. The nearest way to go from Hull's house to the mill would be by the spinney. ATTACHED Character reference for Lewis Wright from E R Williamson, dated 23 April 1840

item

Wright, Lewis,
Walker, Ann,
White, William,
Jebbett, Henry Ison,
Williamson, E.R.,
Haines, Joseph,
Mossman,
Williamson,
Hull, Charles,
Hull, George,
Walker, James,
Tregenza, John,
Dudley, William,
Wright, Alice,
Wright, Samuel,
Wood, James,
Finedon, Samuel,
Richardson, Charles,
Kedge

KEMPSTON, BEDFORD, WILSHAMSTEAD, breaking & entering, butcher, police superintendent, Kempston King William IV, club, plantations, ostler, Cauldwell Street Hop Pole, Bedford, Bedford Kings Arms, Bedford Fountain, pig dealer, Bedford Market