QSR1873/4/5/7

Depositions and examination - Thomas Baines of Leighton Buzzard, labourer, charged with stealing 7 dead rabbits from Thomas Eggelton at Leighton Buzzard on 1 March 1873

15 September 1873

From: 1873 To: 1873

Thomas Eggelton of Leighton Buzzard, labourer - he is a gardener and deals in rabbits. Thomas Baines is a near neighbour of his. On 1 March about 10.30pm he left the Market Place at Leighton where he had a stall and went to the Nags Head Inn there. He had a flat on his barrow in which were 10 dead rabbits. He left the flat outside the Inn on the barrow. He was inside 5 to 10 minutes. He heard someone at the barrow and went outside. He found his wife who was going to take the barrow home. When he got home he looked into the flat. One rabbit hung half way out and 7 were gone. Shortly after he gave information to the police. The value of the missing rabbits was 8s 6d. They were all wild rabbits and all the same colour. One of the skins produced he can swear to as there is a mark on the side where it had been shot. He never offered it for sale because it was too bad to sell. It had been dead a week, he knows. He only received it the previous night. All the other rabbit skins produced are of the same colour, all wild rabbits and about the same size. Jane, wife of Thomas Eggelton - on 1st March between 10 and 11pm she went up to the Nags Head Inn. She and her husband went from there with a barrow and flat. She saw 3 dead rabbits in the flat. About 11pm she saw Baines pass their house and go towards his house nearly opposite theirs. It was dark and she could not see whether he had anything with him. Baines' house is about 40 yards from the Nags Head. Thomas Eames the elder of Leighton Buzzard - on Saturday 1 March about 11pm he saw Baines with others standing by the Stag beer house in North Street, Leighton. He bought a dead rabbit from him for 1s. It was of the same colour as the rabbit now produced. He took the rabbit home with him. He wife was with him when he bought the rabbit. Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Eames the elder - [repeats her husband's evidence] The rabbit was taken home and cooked on the Sunday. The rabbit was very far gone and she scolded her husband for buying it. The rabbit was shot all to pieces in the side. She gave the skin to Sgt Olden the following Tuesday. Eggleton was with the sergeant and said he could swear to the skin. Thomas Eames the younger of Leighton Buzzard - the witness Thomas Eames is his father. On Saturday 1 March about 11pm he saw Baines outside the Stag beer house. He bought a dead rabbit from him for 9d. It was a very dark night. It was a wild rabbit and a similar colour to the skins produced. He left the skin with his wife when he left home the following Monday. Emma, wife of Thomas Eames the younger - the rabbit was cooked the day after her husband brought it home. On the Tuesday evening she sold the skin to John Deacon who keeps a shop at Leighton. The rabbit was a dead wild rabbit the same colour as the skins produced. John Deacon of Leighton Buzzard, shopkeeper - on Tuesday night 4 March he bought a rabbit skin from Emma Eames. He delivered it up the same night to Sgt Olden. Philip Geeves of Leighton Buzzard, labourer - on Saturday 1 March shortly before 11pm he bought 2 dead wild rabbits from Baines near the Stag. He gave 15d for the two. It was a dark night at the time. He took one of the rabbits home and sold the other to Joseph Munday of Leighton. Th rabbits were the same colour as the skins produced. On the following Sunday he bought a dead wild rabbit from Edward Geeves. Edward Geeves of Leighton Buzzard, gardener - on Saturday 1 March about 11pm he bought one dead wild rabbit from Baines outside the Stag for 1s. He took it home with him and sold it to Philip Geeves the following Sunday. It was the same colour and size as the skins produced. Joseph Munday of Leighton Buzzard, baker - on Saturday 1 March he bought a dead wild rabbit from Philip Geeves. It was a similar colour to the skins produced. The skin was delivered to Sgt Olden on the following Tuesday evening, as he understands from his wife. Jane, wife of Joseph Munday - he husband bought home a dead wild rabbit. She cooked it and delivered the skin to Sgt Olden on the following Tuesday. George Gibbins of Leighton Buzzard - on Saturday 1 March about 11pm Baines asked if he would buy a rabbit. He was just leaving the Stag. He went into Leighton and returned. He saw Baines again outside the Stag. He then bought a wild dead rabbit from him for 9d. Baines said it was the last he had got. He took it home and had it for dinner the next day. The rabbit he bought was the same colour as the skins produced. Jane, wife of George Gibbins - she remembers her husband bringing home a dead wild rabbit on Saturday 1 march. It was cooked the next day and she delivered the skin to Sgt Olden on the following Thursday . The skin was similar to the ones produced. Joseph Adams of Leighton Buzzard, labourer - on Saturday night 1 March shortly after 11pm he bought a dead wild rabbit from Baines near the Stag for 9d. He was to give a shilling but never saw Baines after to pay him the 3d. He took the rabbit home and it was cooked the next day. It was a similar colour to the skins produced. He left the skin with his wife. William Knight Clough, superintendent of police - on 10 September he received Baines into his custody on a warrant dated 11 April. Baines was apprehended at Oundle. Baines made no reply to the charge. John Olden, police constable stationed at Leighton Buzzard - on 1st March he obtained information of the robbery of some rabbits and from information received went to Thomas Eames's house. He received the rabbit skin produced from Eames' wife which Eggleton identified. This was on 4 March. He also received one rabbit skin from Deacon on Tuesday 4 March, one from Amelia Munday on 4 March, one from Jane Gibbins on 5 March, one from William Brerton's shop at Leighton on 6 March. He went in search of Baines who had absconded. Baines has been absent ever since until he was apprehended. He knows Baines well. He is not a dealer in rabbits. He is a labourer at Leighton. Thomas Baines - does not want to say anything.

item

Eggleton, Thomas,
Baines, Thomas,
Eggleton, Jane,
Eames, Thomas,
Eames, Elizabeth,
Eames, Emma,
Deacon, John,
Geeves, Philip,
Geeves, Edward,
Munday, Joseph,
Munday, Amelia,
Gibbins, George,
Gibbins, Jane,
Adams, Joseph,
Clough, William Knight,
Olden, John

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, Leighton Buzzard Market Place, Oundle, stealing animals, rabbits, shopkeeper, gardener, baker, police superintendent, police constable, Leighton Buzzard Nags Head, Lake Street, Leighton Buzzard Stag, markets