QSR1842/4/5/23

Depositions and examination - William Knight charged with stealing a bay filly from John Ivett

4 October 1842

From: 1842 To: 1842

John Ivett of St Paul Bedford, brickmaker - On 17 October 1840 he had a bay filly and had been using her in the afternoon. He sent a man of the name of Thomas Matthews who was then working for him with it to a field of his in the parish of Clapham near the road from Bedford to Clapham. The following morning he went to the field and found his horse gone. From information he received from the parish constable of Dunstable he went there on 20th. On his arrival he went to the Red Lion Inn. Accompanied by the landlord and the constable he went into the stable and by the light of a lantern identified his filly among several horses. He took it home with him and still has it. John Young the constableof Dunstable was with him when he identified the horse. Knight formerly lived in the adjoining house to his on the Clapham Road but had left it about 2 months before the filly was stolen. He did not see Knight about the neighbourhood at the time it was stolen. The gate of the field where the filly was was not locked and there was a gap in the hedge but he could not see traces of the footsteps of a horse having gone out of it. John Young of Dunstable, baker - on 20th October 1840 he was constable of Dunstable. He remembers Mr Ivett coming to him that day and going with him to the Red Lion stables where he identified a filly as his property. He had received that filly on 18th October from Joseph Waller of Dunstable who had taken it from a man he had apprehended on suspicion of stealing it, who Waller also gave into his custody. The prisoner is that man. He took Knight to the cage and on his way John Tutte one of the Bedfordshire Rural Police came up and assisted him to search Knight. They locked him in the cage. On the following Monday he was obliged to go to Luton Market and gave charge of the prisoner to John Tutte. On his return he learnt Knight had escaped from the cage. He asked the prisoner who he was. He said he was a baker living in London, that his name was John Rogers, and that he bought the house from a short man with boots whose name he did not know. The prisoner said the reason he left London was that he had a falling out with his wife, that he had been to Newport Pagnell and had come round that way home. On searching him they found about 7 1/2 pence in copper. John Tutte, no.30 of the Bedfordshire Rural Police, stationed at Dunstable - on 18th October 1840 he was in the police force and remembers assisting John Young to put the prisoner in the cage. On 19th October he was employed by Mr Young to take charge of the prisoner in the cage. He gave Knight his dinner about 1pm. He went round the cage at that time and saw everything was safe. About an hour after he left he received information that Knight had made his escape. He found several picks taken away from the window and a hole made large enough to admit a man. The engine house adjoins the cage and is under the same roof. The hole through which he had escaped was broken into the engine house. The lock of that door was broken open with a piece of iron. He went in pursuit of the prisoner but could not find him. He is sure the prisoner now present is the same man. Joseph Waller of Dunstable, jobber - he remembers taking a filly to John Young two years ago on a Sunday morning. He does not remember the month or day as he is no scholar. He wished Mr Young to put it down and saw him write it down on a piece of paper. On that Sunday about 7am he met the prisoner in the middle of Dunstable going towards Market Street on a bay filly and suspected it was a stolen one because the filly seemed very tired and the prisoners coat, which was black, had marks on the back of it such as would be made by snails crawling over it, which would be the case if a person slept in the grass or in a ditch. The prisoner turned up bye lane near the Half Moon, leading into the open fields. He got his horse and rode after him. When he came up with Knight he told him he was upon trespass and should go back with him. Knight said he would not. They both got off their horses and had a scuffle. He called a shepherd he saw at a distance and with his help took Knight to Dunstable to the Waggon and Horses and sent for Mr Young, He gave the filly and Knight into Young's custody. He saw Mr Ivett at Dunstable on the Wednesday morning who had the filly in his possession.

item

Knight, William,
Ivett, John,
Young, John,
Tutte, John,
Waller, Joseph

Bedford St.Paul, DUNSTABLE, Newport Pagnell, horse theft, brickmaker, baker, police constable, parish constables, jobber, Dunstable Red Lion, Dunstable Waggon & Horses, parish cages