QSR1881/1/5/5a

Depositions of Abraham Kennedy, Superintendent of Police, Gadsby Street, Bedford, Ada Warren and Hannah Wright, minors of Turvey, Elizabeth Warren of Turvey, Eliza Mardlin of Turvey and George Mardlin, Police Sergeant of Turvey. In the case of Ezekial Henry Larter accused of the indecent asssault of Ada Warren & Harriet Wright, a children under 12.

8 November 1880

From: 1880 To: 1881

Ada Warren: lived in Turvey and went to the National School at Turvey. Mt Larter is the schoolmaster in the big school and on 30 November she had gone to school in the morning and the afternoon. On that day she asked Mr Larter if she may go out. He said yes and she went out of the door close to his house which leads to the closet. She went to the closet and Harriet Wright came too. Then Mr Larter came and said he had locked the school door so nobody else could come out. [description of the assault…….] He buttoned up his trousers and told them to go to the school. They went to the door and he told Harriet to go and fetch some biscuits. He gave her some money. He unlocked the school door and sent her inside. After a while the master came in and then Harriet Wright came in with the biscuits. [cross examination]: she had left school first and Harriet came a minute or 2 later. The door had been unlocked, with the key in the outside lock. The door makes a great noise when locking and she heard the door lock. The boy’s closet is near to the girl’s closet but a high wall is between them, but you can hear if there are boys in the closet. She did not hear any boys in the closet whilst she was in the girls. When she had asked to leave Mr Larter was about to read dictation out for the children to take down on their slate. He was finding the page in a black book when she asked to leave. Often Mr Larter allowed a monitor to read out the dictation and when she went back in she saw a boy named Alfred Gardiner reading to the class out of the book. When she got back to class she began to take down the dictation. Gardiner took the whole of the dictation lesion. She did not see Mr Larter lock the door but she saw him unlock it. She had not seen Larter before he came into the closet. She did not hear anyone chopping wood. The closet is against Mr Mardlin’s yard. When Mr Larter did what she said he did, she and Harriet began to cry and hollered that they wanted to come out. They were frightened and he told them not to make a noise. When Larter came back into class he had a book under his arm and he went to his desk and started writing. When she got back to class she told Bertha Osbourne what Larter had done. She did not tell the female teacher Miss Wallinger and Eliza Mardlin until the next day. Mrs Mardlin went to see her mother. She had already told her mother after school. Emily Underwood persuaded her to tell her mother. Mr Mardlin had not seen her or asked her about it at all. [rexamination]: Mr Lartar is married. Harriet Wright: was at school on the afternoon of 30 November. She saw Warren go to Mr Larter and saw her go out. After Warren had gone she asked to go out. She went to the closet. Ada Warren was there and whilst they were there, Mr Larter came. He sad the school door had been locked and he shut the closet door. He did something with his clothes and unbuttoned his trousers. He told her to sit on the edge of the seat. He handed his book to Ada Warren. [description of assault….] They went back to the school and Mr Larter told her to go for some biscuits. She went to Mr Harley’s. Mr Larter went into the house and Warren went into the school. She bought the biscuits and gave them to him at his desk. [cross examination]: When she left Larter was giving dictation out. He normally gives out about 1 and a half sides of the slate in dictation. He would read it all through once before giving out a few words at a time in dictation. She asked if she could go out after he had read the script through but before they started to write it down. There Bailey and Sergeant are monitors but were not in the class that afternoon. When she got back with the biscuits the class were still doing the dictation. When in the closet she had screamed and cried. When in the closet she did not hear anyone in the boy’s closet but heard someone in Mardlin’s yard. She believed it to be Mr Mardlin. She told Eliza Mardlin but did not tell her mother. Elizabeth Warren: mother of Ada, who was 11 years old at the time of the assault. On 30 November she noticed her daughter come home from school and she seemed dull. She said she did not want any tea and her teeth ached. Eliza Mardlin: attended the school at Turvey and she saw Warren & Wright go out. Larter followed a little time later. Warren came back in first, then Larter and then Wright with some biscuits. She saw the master eat some. Warren made a statement to her after they had left school. Statement of the accused – Ezekiel Henry Larter: reserved his defence.

17 pages

item

Larter, Ezekiel Henry,
Kennedy, Abraham,
Mardlin, George,
Warren, Ada,
Wright, Harriet,
Osbourne, Bertha,
Underwood, Emily,
Gardiner, Alfred,
Mardlin, Eliza,
Warren, Elizabeth

TURVEY, sex crimes, schoolmaster, Turvey National School