QSR1877/1/5/2

Depositions and examination - Emma Smith of Tingrith, charged with stealing one flannel petticoat value 1s from Fanny Sturgess at Tingrith on 17 October 1876

20 October 1876

From: 1876 To: 1877

James Brinklow of Tingrith, gardener – he is a gardener employed by Miss Trevor. On Tuesday 17th October he was carrying a parcel containing a flannel petticoat from his house to Miss Trevor’s. On his way up the village at about 9.30am he called at Mrs Mannings and laid the parcel in an ivy hedge about 9 or 10 yards from the road inside the garden while he went inside. When he came out of the house he forgot the parcel. About 3 hours later he went back for it and it was gone. He made enquiries and gave information to the police. He went with PC Sturgess in search of Emma Smith. They found her at the Green Man at Eversholt with the parcel in her possession. She said she had picked it up in the road or path. It had been opened. Charles Sturgess, police constable stationed at Eversholt – on 17th October he received information from James Brinklow at about 2pm. He went with Brinklow to the Green Man at Eversholt. Smith was in the taproom. He asked if she had called at Tingrith that morning. She said she had. He asked her what houses she had been to. She said Mrs Manning’s and the school. He told her a parcel had been stolen from Mrs Manning’s yard and asked if she knew anything about it. She asked if it was a paper parcel. When he said that it was she said she had it in her bundle. She gave him the parcel. She said she had found it in the road against Mrs Manning’s house. Brinklow identified it as the one he had lost. The parcel was quite clean. Smith also stated that three children saw her pick it up and that she would return to Tingrith and point them out. He went back with her to the school and to several other children’s houses in the village. She could not identify any of them. She then said they did not see her pick it up, but that she had just picked it up when they came out and she asked them if she had lost one. She called at the school but said nothing about finding a parcel there, and when she got part of the way to Eversholt she told her husband she wished she had. He took her into custody. He has seen Smith in Tingrith and Eversholt before, but believes she comes from Luton. Fanny Sturgess, kitchen maid in the service of Miss Trevor at Tingrith – the parcel produced containing a petticoat is her property and is worth one shilling. Emma Smith – she picked it up in the street and carried it on her arm on top of her parcels until she reached Eversholt. She and her husband stopped there to have lunch. It remained on top of the parcels until the policeman called. She told him she had been at Tingrith. She asked them if they had lost a paper parcel.

item

Smith, Emma,
Sturgess, Fanny,
Brinklow, James,
Sturgess, Charles,
Trevor,
Manning

TINGRITH, EVERSHOLT, LUTON, stealing, clothing, gardener, police constable, kitchen maid, Eversholt Green Man