QSR1874/1/5/1

Depositions and examination - John Dearman of Leighton Buzzard, postman, charged with stealing one bushel of beans and one sack from David Stevens at Chalgrave on 26 October 1873

31 October 1873

From: 1873 To: 1874

George Hyde of Tebworth in the parish of Chalgrave, labourer – he works for Mr Stevens looking after the cattle and pigs. On 25th October there were some old beans in an outhouse on the premises, a little over a bushel, in a sack with a red mark. He missed the beans at 6.30pm that day. He saw Dearman go into the outhouse at 5.30pm. He did not see him leave. He believes the sack produced is the same. The beans in the sack are old beans and about the same quantity. Dearman is not in his master’s employ – he is a postman. Thomas Cook of Tebworth, butcher – he saw Dearman at about 4.30pm on 25th with a sack on his back, about 100 yards from Mr Stevens’ premises going towards the pillar post at Tebworth. The sack had about a bushel of something in it and was heavy to carry. Annie Dudley of Tebworth, singlewoman – she is 10 years old and lives with her aunt at Tebworth. Last Saturday night at about 5.30 she saw Dearman with a sack on his shoulder. He put it under a window outside her aunt’s house. He went into the house and called David Birch, then went out. Dearman carried the sack into her aunt’s stable. Birch went with him. They left the sack in the stable. David Stevens of Tebworth, innkeeper – he saw the bushel of beans in a sack in his outhouse that morning. He bought them for old beans. Their value is 8s. Sacks on his premises are marked the same as the sack produced. [Cross-examined] He had told Dearman to grind beans on his premises. He did not lend Dearman any sacks. Dearman had no business on his premises. He has a grinding machine on his premises. There were no beans in his outside except those that belonged to him. James Busby, police constable stationed at Hockliffe – on 26th October he found the sack and beans produced in Mrs Robinson’s stable at Tebworth, hidden behind some wood. He apprehended Dearman at Leighton. Dearman made no answer to the charge of stealing beans. [Cross-examined] The sack and beans were not in the manger. William Whinnett, police constable stationed at Woburn – he conveyed Dearman to Aspley to be remanded. Outside Mr Parker’s Dearman said to him that he took the beans to Mr Stevens’s to grind, that they were beans he bought at Leighton some time ago, and that he had no time to grind them on Saturday so took them away so that Mr Stevens’s men should not use them. John Dearman – “I am not guilty”

item

Dearman, John,
Stevens, David,
Hyde, George,
Cook, Thomas,
Dudley, Annie,
Busby, James,
Whinnett, William,
Birch, David

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, CHALGRAVE, Tebworth, HOCKLIFFE, WOBURN, postman, butcher, innkeeper, police constable, stealing, beans