QSR1884/2/5/4

Depositions of Charles Osborn, police constable of Westoning, George Short, labourer of Westoning, Edwin Stanley, labourer of Westoning and Frederick Stanley, labourer of Westoning. In the case William Smith accused of stealing a quantity of wood.

20 March 1884

From: 1884 To: 1884

Edwin Hanley: a labourer of Westoning. On 8 March there had been wood lying in his father’s yard. He was about to build a pigsty with it. The prisoner’s property adjoined their yard. It was his father’s hedge and there was no gap in it which required stopping. He and his brother went to their father’s yard and was the prisoner pulling a rafter from the wood. His brother asked what Smith was up to and Smith said he had lost a rabbit and was trying to find it. Hanley said he had lost some wood that afternoon but Smith denied taking it. Smith said nothing about stopping up a gap. On 9 March he went with PC Osborn to the prisoner’s house and the house was searched. They found pieces of wood and a frame was found in the barn. All of these were his father’s property. The frame was number and tallied with others in the yard. The prisoner denied the wood was Hanley’s. Frederick Hanley: a labourer of Westoning and brother to Edwin. He was at his father’s yard and saw the prisoner pulling a rafter out of a heap of wood. He asked the prisoner what he was doing and the prisoner said he had lost a rabbit. He was told he had no business there and his brother told Smith to go home. His brother first spoke to Smith about the missing wood. George Short: lived next door to the prisoner and on 8 March he had been outside his cottage. He saw the prisoner come up his garden from the direction of Stanley’s yard. He asked Smith what he was doing but Smith said “That’s my business. You are drunk”. He went down his garden and found a rafter lying there. He went and told Edwin Stanley and subsequently gave him the wood. Charles Osborn: a police constable of Westoning. On 9 March he went with Edwin Stanley to the prisoner’s house. The prisoner said he did to steal any wood and had no wood on his premises which did not belong to him. The house was searched and wood found in the cupboard and barn. Stanley identified it as his. Statement of the accused: on 8 March he had been at his neighbours at the Red Lion. On coming away he heard rustling in the Stanley’s yard. He went into the Stanley’s yard and put a piece of wood on the hedge to keep the cows out. He stood at his window and saw Short come up the garden with the piece of wood he had put on the fence. Short came out of the garden and began to swear. Short was hardly able to stand up. He said to Short that it was only spite.

8 pages

item

Smith, William,
Osborn, Charles,
Short, George,
Stanley, Edwin,
Stanley, Frederick

WESTONING, stealing, wood