QSR1853/3/5/1/a

Depositions of John Wise, common carrier of Riseley and William Snell, police constable of Keysoe. In the case of Peter Robins accused of stealing an earthenware jar and 2 gallons of rum.

6 April 1853

From: 1853 To: 1853

John Wise: a carrier living at Riseley. On 4 April he went to St Neots with his cart. He loaded it with a ton of coals, 2 bushels of barley, 2 bushels of oats and 4 two gallon jars of liquors; one containing brandy, one gin, one rum and one peppermint. The liquors were covered with the 2 bushels of oats and fixed between the coals so they could not fall out of the cart. Before he got to Bushmead Hill he passed Peter Robins. When he got to the bottom of the hill he led his ponies up, due to the steepness. On looking down under the cart he saw the prisoner’s legs hanging from the cart. When he got to the bottom of the hill he looked for the prisoner but could not see him. He passed no other person until the next hill when he saw a man called Jarvis driving his own cart. He told Wise who the prisoner was. When Wise got further along the road he stopped to check his cart and found one of the jars missing. He knew the cart by its size and the name "Elgood - Spirit Merchant" being on it. He advised the police man at Keysoe of his loss. It was quite possible anyone coming behind the cart, as it proceeded down hill, could have taken off the jar. The value of the jar was shillings sixpence and the value of the rum a pound and 12 shillings. William Snell: he went to the dwelling house of Peter Robins in Little Staughton. He found Robins in bed, drunk. He asked Robins if he knew of a bottle lost between Bushmead and Little Staughton. Robins said as he was coming home the night before he had stumbled over a bottle lying in the road. Snell found the bottle beneath the bed, covered over with 2 sacks. Snell found the stamp had been broken and the original cork removed. The bottle contained rum, which appeared to have been watered. The prisoner said he thought it a bottle of oil. There was no damage to the bottle. When taking the prisoner to Bedford, the prisoner pointed out the spot at which he'd found it, which was the top of the hill. Robins said he had been coming out of Mr Taylor's close. Robins picked it up and then went to the Shoulder of Mutton in Little Staughton, and left the jar by the side of the road. Snell believed if it had fallen from the cart where Robins had shown him, the bottle would have been broken.

item

Robins, Peter,
Wise, John,
Snell, William

Little Staughton, RISELEY, KEYSOE, St.Neots, Little Staughton Bushmead Road, Little Staughton Shoulder of Mutton, carrier, stealing, rum