QSR1844/3/5/24

Depositions - John Richards charged with receiving banknotes knowing them to be stolen

24 May 1844

From: 1844 To: 1844

Charles Lockhart of Dunstable, draper – on Wednesday 22 May about 9pm he went out for a few minutes. On his return his young man Henry James Hayley told him he “had had a rum customer in the shop” who had purchased some stockings and wanted change for a £10 which he had refused to give him until his [Lockhart’s] return. The man had left the shop stating he would call again. The man returned and asked if they could change the note. It was a £10 note of the Leighton Buzzard Bank No.5727. He asked the prisoner his name – he said Richards of Hockliffe. He wrote Richards name and address on the note, took 4s 7d and gave him the change. Not knowing the name he suspected it to be false. He then enquired if there was such a person living at Hockliffe and found there was not. He found several persons had taken notes in a similar way. He saw PC Tutte at George Osborn’s house. Tutte asked if he could identify the man who changed the not. He said he could. He went with Tutte to the Saracen’s Head Inn, found the prisoner in bed and identified him. He saw the prisoner’s clothes searched by Tutte. He gave the banknote he took to Tutte. The pair of black worsted stockings now produced by Tutte which were found in the prisoner’s carpet bag have his private mark on them. Henry Cheshire of Dunstable, grocer – on Wednesday 22 May about 7.30pm the prisoner came to his shop and asked for ½ lb of 6s green tea. He gave him the tea. The prisoner asked for change from a £10 Leighton Bank note, No.5593. He gave him a £5 note of the Hitchin Bank, 4 sovereigns and 17s in silver. He had no other note in his possession. He gave the Leighton note to PC Tutte. About 9pm the same night Charles Lockhart came to his house and asked if he knew someone named Richards of Hockliffe. He said no. Lockhart said he had taken a £10 from him and was not satisfied about it. Lockhart described the man who was the same one who gave him the £10 note. He went in search of the prisoner and found him in bed at the Saracen’s Head Inn. The parcel of tea produced is the one he sold. John Young of Dunstable, grocer – on 22 May he sold the prisoner ½ of 6s green tea and changed a £10 Leighton Buzzard note, no.A6198. Thomas Weatherill of Dunstable - he is shopman to Mr Neale who keeps a draper’s shop at Dunstable. On May 22 the prisoner came to his shop a little after 8pm. He purchased 2 pairs of white women’s stockings at 18d a pair and 2 pairs of women’s black worsted stockings at 18d a pair. He gave the prisoner change for a £10 Leighton banknote. About 11pm Mr Lockhart came and asked if he had had a person offering a £10 note. He said he had. They went to Mr Osborn’s and found PC Tutte and Mr Cheshire there. They went to the Saracen’s Head and found the prisoner in bed. The number of the bank note was 5872. He identifies the stockings produced by Tutte as his by marks on them. Ann Gostelow wife of Thomas Gostelow of Dunstable, innkeeper – on Wednesday 22 May about 4pm the prisoner came to their house, ordered tea and asked if he could have a bed. She agreed. He had a carpet bag with him. About 10pm he asked for his bill. It was 3s 9d and he told her to take 4s. He gave her a £5 Leighton Buzzard note and she gave him change. Thomas Gostelow of Dunstable, innkeeper – on 22 May about 11pm PC Tutte asked if he had got a £5 note of the Leighton Buzzard bank. He said his wife had it. They gave it up to Tutte. The number was 15453. He saw the prisoner at his house that afternoon. Joseph Osborn of Dunstable, draper – on 22 May the prisoner came into his shop and bought 2 pairs of white cotton stockings at 1s 6d per pair and gave him a £5 Leighton Buzzard note. He gave the note to his father who put it in the cash box. He gave the prisoner £4 17s change. There was another Leighton note taken out of the till and put on the top of the one now produced. The note given by the prisoner is 17044 and the other 19193. The stockings produced by Tutte have his private mark on them. John Tutte of Dunstable, police constable – on 22 May he was on duty at Dunstable and received information from Henry Cheshire that a man had been into his shop and given him a £10 not in payment, No. A5593 of the Leighton Buzzard Bank dated 12.10.1840. Cheshire suspected something was wrong. He found the prisoner had been into several other shops and purchased various articles for which he had changed other notes of the Leighton Buzzard Bank. He went with Henry Cheshire and they found a man answering the description in bed at the Saracen’s Head Inn. He went to George Osborn’s house to make some enquiry when Charles Lockhart and Mr Weatherill came. Lockhart went with them to the Saracen’s Head. They went upstairs and knocked at the room door where the prisoner was sleeping. The prisoner did not answer. He burst the door open and went to the bedside. Lockhard, Cheshire and Weatherill all identified him. He charged the prisoner with changing several £10 notes under very suspicious circumstances. He asked how the prisoner came by them. He said he had taken them but did not know who from. He asked how the prisoner came to change so many notes when he had so much change. The prisoner said he wanted them changed, and afterwards said a tall man with black whiskers had given him the notes to change and that he was to have 10s for changing them. He searched the prisoner’s clothes and found he had 5 different parcels of money wrapped up in papers in his small clothes pocket [contents listed]. On the table in the room was a quantity of silver and copper. He asked the prisoner if it belonged to him – he said it did. The whole total of the money found was £59 6s 5d. There was also a carpet bag in the room which the prisoner said belonged to him. He searched the carpet bag and found stockings, tea, a black silk handkerchief and a razor, all now produced. He was present when Thomas Gostelow asked his wife for the note she took from the prisoner. Edward Crouch of Caddington, police constable – on 22 May he was on duty at Dunstable. At about 10.30pm he was in the Saracen’s Head Inn. PC Tutte and Henry Cheshire came into the house and called him. Tutte told him to watch a window in the yard while he went upstairs. After a while he saw a light in the room. He then went upstairs and Tutte was searching the prisoner’s small clothes. Afterwards Tutte left the prisoner in his custody. He saw a coat lying in a char and searched it. He found a piece of paper rolled up like a scroll of tobacco. Inside he found three £5 notes of the Leighton Buzzard Bank, nos.7929, 15115 and 12967. The coat was the one the prisoner now has on. William Jones of Bedford, banker’s clerk – he is clerk to Mr Barnard, the banker at Bedford. On Saturday 23 September 1843 he made up a parcel of bank notes and bills of exchange to send to Sir Charles Price & Co Bankers in London. He took the numbers of the notes, put them in the parcel and handed it to Mr Barnard who sealed it in his presence and took possession of it. On Sunday night 24 September about 8pm he called at Mr Barnard’s for the parcel. He went to the residence of George Ward the coachman, who was not at home. He left the parcel with Ward’s servant or housekeeper. He returned again in about 10 minutes and found Ward at home. Ward confirmed he had the parcel. The various notes produced by PC Tutte were all part of the notes contained in the parcel. He knows them both by the numbers and by their own private mark. All the notes in the parcel were the property of Mr Thomas Barnard, Banker of Bedford. William Barnes Hart of Bedford, coach porter – he is coach porter at the Swan Hotel at Bedford. About 7 months ago on the night before the robbery took place of which Ward told the book keeper the day after on his next journey down, he saw the prisoner between 4 and 5pm near the Post Office. The prisoner asked him something about the coaches and whether it was necessary to book a place. He said it was not necessary as they had got no load. He saw the prisoner again at the coach office the next morning. The prisoner came and asked about a place. He asked what name and the man said Freeman. He took 10s in silver from him. The man who went by the coach was not the prisoner. He did not see the prisoner after the coach was gone. Thomas Barnard of Bedford, banker – on Saturday 23 September 1843 he saw he clerk William Jones make up a parcel of bills of exchange and banknotes to sent to London directed to Charles Price & Co. He took it into the house and locked it up in the safe. On Sunday evening he delivered it to Jones. The parcel was exactly the same as it was the previous evening. Mary Biggs of Bedford – she is servant to George Ward the coachman of the Bedford Coach. On Sunday 24 September 1843 she remembers Mr Jones calling and delivering a parcel. She took it into the parlour. There was nobody in the house but her. She laid it on the writing desk. It was a sealed parcel, tied with string. Her master came in about ¼ hour. The parcel was exactly as she left it. Mr Jones called again to check the parcel was alright and saw it lying on the desk where Ward had laid it down. The next morning she saw Mr Ward wrap the parcel up in a handkerchief and saw him put it in a basket and take it away with him. George Ward of Bedford, coachman – he drives the Self Defence Coach from Bedford to London. On Sunday 24 September he received a bank parcel from Mary Biggs. Mr Jones called soon after and he told him he had the parcel. He took it up into his bedroom that night. On Monday evening 25 September he put the parcel into a handkerchief and put it into a basket in the front boot of the coach. When the coach got to the Three Cups Inn in Aldersgate Street the parcel was taken out of the basket by the ostler there and put into the front boot. He then went on in the coach to the Golden Cross, Charing Cross. There was a person – a stranger to him – sitting behind the box who went to Charing Cross with him. Before he took the money from the passengers he went to the office with a parcel he took out of the front boot which he thought was the bank parcel and gave it to the clerk for safety. The parcel was tied up in a handkerchief. He later went to the office for the parcel again and took it to Messrs Prices the bankers in London where he saw it opened. Instead of bank notes it contained nothing but paper and there was no direction on it.

item

Richards, John,
Lockhart, Charles,
Tutte, John,
Osborn, George,
Cheshire, Henry,
Young, John,
Weatherill, Thomas,
Gostelow, Ann,
Gostelow, Thomas,
Osborn, Joseph,
Crouch, Edward,
Jones, William,
Barnard, Thomas,
Ward, George,
Hart, William Barnes,
Biggs, Mary

DUNSTABLE, CADDINGTON, BEDFORD, receiving stolen goods, robbery, banks, banknotes, Leighton Buzzard Bank, draper, stockings, police constable, Dunstable Saracens Head, grocer, tea, shopman, innkeeper, bank clerk, banker, Barnard's Bank, coachman, porter, servant, Bedford Swan Hotel, Aldersgate Street Three Cups, Charing Cross Golden Cross