Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    QSR1841/3/5/30
  • Title
    Depositions and examination - William Smith
  • Date free text
    31 May 1841
  • Production date
    From: 1841 To: 1841
  • Scope and Content
    John Saunders, servant of Joseph Allen of Marston Moretaine, grazier and cheese maker - on Saturday May 29 he was sent round the country with cream cheese to sell. he went to Aspley Guise and sold some cheese there. About 12.30 he took his chaise cart into the Bell Inn yard and put his horse in the stable. He went into the house to get refreshment. He left 12 1/2 cheeses in the cart. About 1pm William Smith came into the house and asked for charity. He noticed Smith had not got any shoes on his feet. Smith left. About 10 minutes later he missed 3 cheeses and 3 calico cloths laid between them from his cart. He traced footsteps of a person without shoes to the cart so suspected Smith. Thomas Perry was in the Bell yard and observed the same footsteps. They went towards Ridgmont and traced the footsteps to Crawley. They caught up with the prisoner on the road near Ridgemont. The policeman McHugh had come up in the mean time. They went back a short way and saw a bag with three cheeses and three calico cloths under it in a ditch by the roadside. The cheeses were much broken but he is sure they were the ones taken. Thomas Perry of Aspley Guise, labourer - he was sitting in the Bell Inn yard and saw Smith come into the yard and ask for charity. Saunders stated he had lost some cheese and they traced the footsteps of a person without shoes to the cart, then towards Ridgemont as far as Crawley. They caught up with the prisoner. He saw Smith with a bag in his hand, saw him empty the bag into the ditch and throw the bag over the contents, then pull grass over the bag on both sides to cover it. Smith went on and he waited by the spot until Saunders and the policeman came back with the prisoner. William Smith - he found the cheese and cloth in the ditch
  • Reference
  • Level of description
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