QSR1871/1/5/11/a

Depositions - Harold Cooke charged with assaulting Thomas Abbot at Kempston on 12 November 1870

3 December 1870

From: 1870 To: 1871

Thomas Abbot of Kempston – he lives at Up End, Kempston. On 12 November he was coming from the Quart Pot towards home about 11.40pm. He was singing. Edward Teedon was with him. They saw Cooke against the lamp post against Mr Harris’ stack yard. Cooke spoke first and said they might go home a little quieter. Teedon said “yes Sir we are going”. They went toe Mr Abraham’s yard. They kept on singing until Cooke came. Cooke asked if they were going home. Teedon said they were. Cooke pulled out his staff and hit Teedon on the side of the head. Teedon ran away. He ran round the corner. He had not spoken to Cooke. As he was running Cooke hit him on the back of the head and knocked him down. He does not know anything that took place after that. He and Teedon were not tipsy. [Cross-examination] He entered the Quart Pot about 10pm. He had been to Thomas Abrahams that night. Three went there and had 2 pints a piece. He did not order or pay for any beer at the Quart Pot. He might have drunk there. “I won’t say that I was regular sober”. He was walking by Mr Harris’ rickyard when he first saw Cooke – the gas light was shining. It was dark that night. He does not know that the lamps are put out at 10pm. Teedon did not run away when Cooke first came. Teedon and he were not fighting. Cooke came up the second time against Dr Beechey’s house. Cooke did not get between him and Teedon. Cooke did not say he had had enough of this. He did not see Teedon have a black eye that night. Cooke did not push him against the wall. He does not know where he fell – he was insensible. He knows many people came after he was down, he could see them round him. He does not remember Dr Beechey saying anything or being there. He goes to the Quart Pot nearly every night. He was not drinking at the Plough and Harrow. On the day he got the summons he walked to Bedford to get it. On the Sunday after this occurred he went to the Infirmary. He was at the Plough and Harrow on the Thursday after the assault. When he went to the Infirmary the Doctor told him not to get drunk. He got home just before 5 on Thursday. He works at the Quart Pot, but not at night. Frederick Mainzer Charles Beechey of Kempston, surgeon – on 12 November he heard 2 men singing in the direction of the Quart Pot to his house. They were walking quietly along. They were about 200 yards behind him. He went into his hosue. From his yard he heard a noise like a heavy body falling. He went out and saw Abbot lying on the ground covered with blood. Cooke was there, a woman names Teedon and a man and his wife named Gillett. The man was brought to his surgery. He found 3 large wounds on the scalp above the ear in a right line from the temple to the back of the head. The wound was cut through the scalp to the skull but the skull was not injured. In his opinion the wound could not be cut with a flat surface. Abbot bled much that night from veins in the scalp. He saw him the next Monday. On the Tuesday discharge of matter took place, a likely thing from such a wound. When he examined Abbot in the surgery in his opinion he was sober. If between Monday and Thursday he had drunk a pint or two of beer it would not have caused the discharge. Abbot was in great danger from the wound on Wednesday and Thursday. The days he thought Abbot was in danger he was in bed. If he came to Bedford on Thursday he was not then in danger. The policeman was close when he was on the ground. [Cross-examination] He believes Cooke has threatened to report him to his superior officer. Cooke saw him in the Quart Pot that night. Hull did not pour him a pint of rum into a jug – he poured out some spirits about 11.30pm and he then walked home. He did not see Cooke following him. The gas lamp was not shining. He did not say to Cooke in the yard “this has been going on a quarter of an hour”. He did not say “did this man fall on these stones”. He did not hear Cooke tell the landlord of the Quart Pot that he should put the drunken people out. He heard the landlord order Cooke out. There may have been 8 people in the house. He thinks the landlord was sober. Big doors separate his yard from where Abbot was, which was about 30 yards away not 50 yards. He did not go to the Quart Pot to drink, he went for a bottle of brandy as he had illness in his house. None of the people in the tap room appeared incoherent or drunk. He noticed Thomas Abbot in the house and did not think he was drunk. William Graves Johnson, house surgeon of the Infirmary in St Mary, Bedford – he examined Abbot on 13 November and found him suffering from 3 scalp wounds varying in length and depth. The first was about 1½ inches in length and extended to the bone; the second was less than an inch; the third was a mere abrasion. There was no grit or sand in or around them nor any bruising. They extended from front to back. He thinks the wound would have been caused by a blunt instrument. If they had been caused by a fall there would probably be grit and bruises. He thinks all scalp wounds are serious. It was a bad scalp wound. The skull was not injured. It was a clean cut wound. He might have got such a cut from falling on large pebbles. [Cross-examination] He thinks the wounds could be inflicted by a policeman’s staff. Edward Teedon of Kempston – he left the Quart Pot about 11.40 on 12 November. He did not see Abbot have any beer. He had been to Abraham’s before that. Abbot and he had 2 pints of beer there. When he was going home he saw Cooke who asked if they were going home. He said they were. Cooke told them to go a little quieter. They were singing. They went to the corner of Abraham’s yard and stood there maybe 5 minutes. Cook came again and told them to go on home. Cooke pulled his staff out from behind and hit him across the face – he had a scar from it. He ran off home. He saw Cooke hit Abbot. He heard 2 sounds he took to be blows. He saw a large bruise on Abbot’s arm after it and a large bruise on his leg. Abbot had not spoken to Cooke. Cooke served him with a summons at Lesters. The men said to Cooke “we should not like to be knocked about like that”. Cooke said “it will do him good it will let the loose water out of his head”. This was on the following Friday. When Cooke pulled his staff out he had a little stick. The gas lights were alight when he went home. They were not drunk and had not been fighting. [Cross-examination] He was standing at the gable end of Abraham’s house when Cooke came to him. He was not squaring when Cooke came up. He ran home when Cooke struck him. He swears he saw Cooke strike Abbot. He had no black eye on Monday morning. He did not tell Mrs Woods whether it was a stick or a staff, or that he wished he went home when Cooke first came. He might have had 3 pints that night – 2 at Mrs Woods (Abraham’s) and one at the Quart Pot. He was perfectly sober. He did not see Mobbs turned out of the Quart Pot or hear him say anything about fighting. He did not see the landlord turn out a man named Golden. Lewis Poole of Kempston – he was awake in bed between 11 and 12 on 12 November. He heard a blow struck. He heard the policeman say “are you going home”. He heard another blow struck and heard a fall. He went to the window and saw Cooke strike Abbot. They were not 5 yards from his window. He saw Cooke strike 2 blows, but could not see what he struck Abbot with. [Cross-examination] It was a policeman that struck the blows. He has been convicted of assaulting Police Constable Mark He did not see more than one policeman in the yard that night. He saw Mr Beechey come out of his house while the policeman was there. James Hart of Kempston – he lives in Abraham’s Yard. On 12 November he heard 2 persons singing. He heard 3 blows struck. He saw a man and Cooke about 18 feet from him. Cooke had something in both hands. Cooke took hold of Abbot’s arm and told him to get up. Abbot said he could not. Rebecca Darlow of Kempston, widow – she heard some men come up singing. She heard a blow struck, got out of bed and looked out of her window. She heard 3 or 4 blows. She saw a man on the ground. She saw the Kempston policeman.

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item

Cooke, Harold,
Abbot, Thomas,
Beechey, Frederick Mainzer Charles,
Johnson, William Graves,
Teedon, Edward,
Poole, Lewis,
Hart, James,
Darlow, Rebecca,
Abrahams, Thomas,
Gillett

KEMPSTON, Kempston Up End, Bedford St.Mary, assault, police constable, surgeon, Bedford Infirmary, Kempston Quart Pot, Bedford Plough & Harrows, brandy