QSR1854/3/5/15

Depositions of Alice Cooper, wife of Ebenezer, gardener of Wyboston, the said Ebenezer Cooper, Edward Lee, rural police constable of Eaton Socon and Martin Cooper, gardener of Wyboston. In the case of John Watson, private of the second battalion of the Cold Stream Guards, accused of stealing a watch guard.

17 May 1854

From: 1854 To: 1854

Alice Cooper: she and her husband live with her mother, Mary Martin at Wyboston, keeper of Queens Head public house in Wyboston. On 15 May about 7pm the prisoner came to the house and enquired if he could have lodging for the night. Watson sat in the house until 10pm and then went to bed. He slept in the same room as her son. The prisoner was called at 7am; her son having got up at 5.30am. Another man by the name of Lyon had also slept in the same room and had come downstairs about half an hour after her son. After washing himself, Watson went out into the back yard and did not come back again. The previous day she had seen a silver watch guard on the mantel piece in her son’s room. After the prisoner had come downstairs she went to her son’s room and missed the guard. She did not say anything to the soldier as she thought perhaps her son had it with him. Ebenezer Cooper: the prisoner slept at his mother in laws house on 15 May. The prisoner told him he was on his way to Newcastle, but the following morning as he was coming home to breakfast, he met the prisoner going along the North Road towards Eaton. He spoke to Watson and after he got home he received information about the watch guard and went after the prisoner. He traced him along the North Road as far as the middle of Eaton and then went on a further 3 miles but could not find him. He turned along other roads and eventually met the prisoner riding in a cart in Dulow, a hamlet of Eaton Socon, away from the North Road. He charged Watson with having taken something from the house and told him he must returned with him. The prisoner denied the charge but accompanied him to Eaton Socon where he was given into the custody of the police. PC Edward Lee: on of Bedfordshire’s Rural Police Constables. Ebenezer Cooper brought the prisoner to him and gave him into his custody on suspicions of stealing a silver watch guard. He searched the prisoner, who denied having the watch guard. He found the watch guard in the prisoners cap, concealed between the lining and the cloth. The prisoner acknowledged he had taken it and said that he hoped Mr Cooper would let him off and it was the first time he had taken anything. Watson said he had taken it to keep him straight as he had no money. He said he had taken it from the mantel piece and wished he had given it to Mr Cooper when he met him on the road. Martin Cooper: to the best of his belief the chain produced by the police constable was his and he had seen it safe on the Monday night on the mantel in the house of his grandmother Mrs Martin. From information told to him he checked the following morning and found the guard gone. The prisoner and another man had slept in the same room as him on the Monday night. They were both still in bed when he went down stairs the following morning. Statement of the accused: nothing to say.

item

Watson, John,
Cooper, Alice,
Cooper, Ebenezer,
Lee, Edward,
Cooper, Martin

Wyboston, gardener, stealing, watches, Coldstream Guards, soldier, Wyboston Queens Head