QSR1843/2/5/15

Depositions and examination - William Smith charged with assault on Henry Munday

24 March 1843

From: 1843 To: 1843

Henry Munday of Leighton Buzzard, carpenter - last Tuesday as he was coming down a lane at Leighton with James Pepper he heard a noise at William Smith's. He looked in at the window and saw Smith's wife holding up her thumb. Blood was running from it and something was bound round it. She did not say anything. Almost the same instant a fork came through the window and made the wound in his face. He did not hear Smith speak first. Smith did not say (that he heard) that he would put the fork through if he did not go away. He did not see Smith come out and attempt to shut the shutter. He was in the Royal Oak when he heard that Smith had cut his wife's thumb off. The noise he heard in the lane was made by the people round the house, not by Smith. He did not go away and come back again. The house is close to the road and he was standing in the road. As soon he looked in Smith's wife held her thumb up towards the window as if to show it to him. While he was looking at her thumb he saw Smith come from behind a screen and almost directly the fork came through the window and struck him in two places in the face. He fainted soon after and bled a great deal. He cannot say what sort of fork it was except that it had three tines. Maria Gardner wife of Moses Gardner of Linslade (Bucks), labourer - last Tuesday between 5 and 6pm she was passing by William Smith's house. She heard his wife call out "murder" several times in a tone which alarmed her. She rapped at the window and called out "what is the matter". She saw Smith and his wife in the room. Smith had a knife in his hand and had hold of his wife. When she rapped at the window he let her go and she came out of the door. She saw her thumb was bleeding. Smith followed her out and used some bad words and called his wife bad names. She assisted in getting the thumb bound up and left Smith's wife standing in the yard with Mary Gilbert. Smith had then gone away down the lane. She saw a knife in Smith's hand in the house, something like a table knife. He appeared very threatening in his manner to his wife and she appeared very much frightened and begged for assistance. Smith brough a shawl out of the house which was cut about. Mary Gilbert, wife of Andrew Gilbert of Leighton, labourer - last Tuesday she heard a cry and scream in the lane. She went to Smith's house and saw his wife come out of the house with the thumb of her left hand bleeding. It seemed to be a bad cut. She helped to bind it up. Smith came out and went away. She went into the house with his wife and stood at the door. Smith came back and asked her to go in. Smith talked to her very civilly for a time. The door stood open and people came round and he shut the door. People then crowded round the window and laughed at him, teasing him about some former misconduct. Henry Munday came and stood in front of the window. He did not speak or laugh or do anything offensive. Smith said to Munday "walk off Mr Munday if you please". Munday went away from the front of the window. Smith opened the door and tried to put up the window shutter. Some of the people prevented him, but she can't say who. She believes Munday was not one. Munday stood by the wall near the window and looked in at the window again. Smith called out to the people that if they did not walk away he would get something and make them. Nobody appeared to move. Smith took up a three tined potato fork. She said to him "do not take that for fear you do mischief". Smith held the fork up at the middle of the window. The window was closed. Smith said "if you don't walk off I'll run the fork through the window". All went off except Munday who stood still looking in at the window. He did not speak. Smith held the fork towards Munday's face - the window was between them. She said "pray don't do so". As she was speaking Smith ran the fork through the window into Munday's face. She went out and saw Munday's face was bleeding very much. From the time Munday first came to the time Smith pushed the fork into his face was not more than 3 minutes. James Pepper of Eversholt, carpenter - last Tuesday he was at the Royal Oak Public House between 5 and 6pm. Henry Munday was there. They heard that Billy the Sweep (William Smith) had chopped his wife's thumb off. They went to Smith's house. He looked in the window and saw Smith's wife with the blood running down her hand from her thumb. He said to Munday "just look at the poor old creature". Munday looked in at the window and stood there a short time. There were several boys round and some men at a short distance. There was no disturbance. Munday did not speak at all and he did not hear any teasing words used to Smith, but some of the people were laughing. He did not hear Smith speak to Munday. Munday did not go away from the window and return that he saw. He saw Smith come to the window with the fork in his hand and it was thrust through into Munday's face before he could tell Munday to get away. He saw Smith before this try to put the shutter up but there were several boys against it and that stopped him. Philip Wynter Wagstaff of Leighton Buzzard, surgeon - on Tuesday evening about 6pm he was called to see Henry Munday. He found Munday had received a severe wound in the face. There was a small wound on the left cheek and another of a serious nature in the right orbit, between the right eye and the nose. The bone was penetrated and the blood came down the nose. He introduced the probe rather more than an inch. It is such a wound as might be caused by a tine of the fork now produced. He does not think the blow was sufficiently violent to go into the hard part of the skull. During the evening he had reason to fear from the symptoms that the inflammation would cause death, but it was subdued and there is no longer any danger. He thinks the eye will not be lost, and he does not think now that it will be long before he entirely recovers. James Sherwood, constable of Leighton Buzzard - on Wednesday morning he took the fork now produced from William Smith's house. It had blood on one of the tines. On Tuesday night he had put Smith in the cage. He went to the cage a little after 11 in consequence of a message he had received. Smith was talking of hanging himself. He took Smith's handkerchief and other things away from him and confined him by the leg. While he was doing this, Gabriel Rogers who was present said Smith was not served so bad as he had served Mudnay who was not expected to live. Smith said "I should not care a damn if he had killed him". Before this Smith said he wished he had shot Munday. Smith was very violent when he took him into custody. He had been informed at that time that it was expected Munday could not live. William Smith - he was a little intoxicated and his wife had been carrying on a contract with the tally man. He asked her what she had been buying. He said if she did not tell him what she gave for the shawl he would destroy it. He took a knife out of his pocket and cut it to pieces. His wife came to rescue the shawl and she caught the knife with her thumb, he does not know how. He had no intention to injure her. She ran out of doors and when he saw her thumb was bleeding he told her to come in again. He had no other knife than his pocket knife. He never heard murder called. He warned the folks several times to go away or he would shoot them. He opened the door and gave them warning, and they kept on calling at him and exasperated him to the highest pitch. He took up the first thing he could lay his hands on and jabbed it at the window. Unfortunately it hit his friend here. He is very sorry for when he spoke so in the cage. He was so exasperated he did not know what he said.

item

Smith, William,
Munday, Henry,
Pepper, James,
Gardner, Maria,
Gardner, Moses,
Gilbert, Mary,
Gilbert, Andrew,
Wagstaff, Philip Winter,
Sherwood, James,
Rogers, Gabriel

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, LINSLADE, EVERSHOLT, assault, domestic violence, carpenter, surgeon, chimney sweep, constable, Leighton Buzzard Royal Oak