QSR1854/1/5/9

Depositions of Samuel Roberts, butcher of Leighton Buzzard, Mary Bardell, wife of Thomas and PC John Olden of Leighton Buzzard. In the case of Matilda Smith accused of stealing 4lbs of pork.

19 November 1853

From: 1853 To: 1854

Samuel Roberts: keeper of a Butcher shop in Leighton Buzzard. He was a Quaker. He knew Matilda Smith and had dealt with her. On Saturday 19 November he had a piece of pork, along with 2 other bits, in a dish on his stall. Smith came into the shop and asked for a quarter of a pound of suet which he served her. Smith then remained in the shop for another quarter of an hour talking to another woman. When the women left he missed the pork. Smith had bought nothing except the suet and the other woman had bought a small piece of beef. The pork later shown to him was part of the piece of pork he had missed. He had sold no pork to Master Reeve on the Saturday. Mary Bardell: wife of Thomas Bardell, a fishmonger of Leighton Buzzard. He lived next door to the last witness. On Saturday evening between 9pm and 10pm she saw the prisoner, who she knew well, turning over a piece of pork on the prosecutors stall. Smith looked as if she was intending to purchase it. She afterwards saw the prisoner in the shop buying some suet. PC John Olden: from information received he went to the prisoner’s house on 20 November and asked her what she had got for dinner. She said she had a pig’s heart and a piece of pickled pork. He asked to see the pork and she pulled it from a pot which was on the fire. He asked where she had bought it and she said Master Reeve had given it to her. He took the piece of pork to the prosecutor who identified it as part of that which he had lost. He then went to the person the prisoner called Master Reeve and asked whether he had given her some pork. He said he had given her a pig’s heart and tongue but refused to say if he had given her pork too and that he should tell no lies about her. He took Smith into custody. Statement of the accused: she would say what she had to say at her trial.

item

Smith, Matilda,
Roberts, Samuel,
Bardell, Mary,
Olden, John,
Reeve

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, stealing, pork, butcher