QSR1843/1/5/53

Depositions and examination - William Reeder

2 January 1843

From: 1843 To: 1843

George Warren - he is a journeyman shoemaker employed by John Chubb of Leighton Buzzard, shoemaker. He lodges in his master's house. On 25 November when he got up in the morning and went to his work he left a bundle in his bedroom containing one pair of cotton corded trousers, one waistcoat, one silk stock, one linen shirt front, one pocket kerchief, and one watch guard and seal. On the side of the bundle he left a pocket knife. It was the knife now produced - he knows it by one side of the handle being broken. When he left his bedroom William Reeder and Mark Halladay were in the room in bed - they were also employed by his master. About 7am Halladay came downstairs to the workshop. He asked where Reeder was and stated he got up nearly an hour before. Halladay and William Drage Pain, another shopman, went upstairs to the bedroom with him, suspecting Reeder might have taken some of their things away. He missed the bundle and its contents and also the knife. He did not see Reeder again until he saw him accidentally in Hockliffe yesterday. He went to him with some others and charged him with the theft. Reeder denied it but agreed to go with them to Leighton to their master. They went some way and he ran away from them. They caught him again and then kept him until they got assistance from police constable Clough. William Clough - he received the prisoner into custody yesterday. He searched him and found in his waistcoat pocket the knife now produced. He did not find any of the items Warren said he lost. The piece of leather now produced was given to him by one of the standers before he searched Reeder. George Warren immediately identified the knife as his. William Reeder - he bought the knife from a person he met on the road for 3d and a pint of beer. The money and book and the comb belong to him. He knows nothing about the leather. He comes from Greenwich and is a travelling shoemaker. He last came from London to Leighton. He has not been at Northampton. He has been there but not worked there. He was last there last Friday. He does not know Mr Marshall of Northampton and knows nothing of this leater.

item

Reeder, William,
Chubb, John,
Warren, George,
Halladay, Mark,
Payne, William Drage,
Clough, William

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, Greenwich, Northampton, stealing, clothing, shoemaker