QSR1844/3/5/30-31/a

Depositions and examinations - Samuel Partridge and Charles Freshwater, charged with stealing a pair of sugar nippers value 1s from the house of Charles Austin of Thurleigh

19 and 21 June 1844

From: 1844 To: 1844

19 June ---------- Charles Austin of Thurleigh, publican – the two prisoners were at his house, the Jackal public house in Thurleigh yesterday morning 18 June. They remained some time then went away. They returned about 3pm of the same day and stayed for 1½ to 2 hours. There was a pair of sugar nippers lying on the mantelpiece close to where the prisoners were sitting. No other persons but Mr Love of Keysoe came in during that time. He saw the nippers while the prisoners were there and missed them after they had left. A person names John Horne, a pensioner came in during the time the prisoners were there but went out again, and returned after they left and before he missed the nippers. [Cross examined] He saw no one but the people he has named come into the house. No travelling woman came in to his knowledge during that time. 21 June ---------- Charles Austin (resworn) – he was incorrect in the hour that the prisoners came in to his house the second time. It was about 12 o;clock and not 2. The reason he was incorrect at first is the conversation he had with Horne who came in after the prisoners had left and not at all during the time they were in his house. He believes no other person came into the room during the time the prisoners were there but cannot be certain as he was in the hayfield part of the time. His wife was left in charge. He means no other person but Mr Love of Keysoe. Mr Love did not stay all the time the prisoners did. He missed the nippers almost at the same time his wife did. His wife Ann Austin said to him that they were gone. They suspected the prisoners. He and another man followed after them and found Samuel Partridge asleep in Mr Desborough’s wheat field. There are two footpaths through the field which meet at a point and Partridge was lying asleep about 6 yards from the gateway where they meet. Partridge denied having the nippers or knowing where they were, and ultimately agreed to go back to his house with him. He searched Partridge but found nothing on him. When he reached Partridge he was asleep, but he saw someone resembling Fishwater going away at a quick walk in the direction of Mr Favell’s farmhouse along the other footpath. He has seen the nippers since at his house. They were brought there by George Hilson. He knew them as soon as he saw them by the wear of the spring and the fingerstop being loose. After the things were found he gook George Hilson to the place where Partridge lay asleep and Hilson showed him the place where he found the things which was about 6 feet away. [Cross examined] Mr Love went out during the time the prisoners were there but he does not know whether he returned afterwards as he was going backwards and forwards into the hayfield. He did not see any woman come in selling caps and hats. She might have done while he was in the field and he would not have seen her. Ann Austin, wife of Charles Austin – she saw the prisoners in the Jackal twice on Tuesday morning. The second time they came in again was between 11 and 12 o’clock and they stayed until nearly 1pm. Some little time after they left she missed the sugar nippers. While they were in the house Mr Love and a woman came in. She does not recollect leaving the room at all while the woman was in. Partridge sat in an armchair on the left hand side fo the fireplace when she went out either to the door or to draw some beer. When she came back he had moved to the other side. The sugar nippers were on the mantelpiece on the right hand side. She had seen them there just before the prisoners came in. She went out into the passage. When she came in again she saw Freshwater standing up against the mantelpiece. He looked confused and she began to look round as she thought something was not right. She went out again for a very short time. When she came in Freshwater he had his cap off and in his hands. She only missed the nippers after they had left. The nippers produced are hers. The next time she saw them they were in George Hilson’s possession. He said he found them near where the man lay in the wheat field. George Hilson of Thurleigh, labourer – on Tuesday 18 june he was threshing wheat when Freshwater came to the barn and asked him which was the way to Bedford. He told him and Freshwater said he must go to Riseley first. He was threshing at Mr Favell’s. He showed Freshwater the way to Riseley and he left. He had some conversation that night with Mr Austin who told him what he had lost and also where Partridge lay. The next day he looked along the hedge bottoms as he and another man were coming home from work. Between 5 and 6 feet from where Partridge had been lying he found all the things now produced on the ditch bank covered over with grass – 2 pairs of sugar nippers, a pair of candle snuffers and a blacking brush. He went to Mr Austin’s and then with Mrs Austin to Mr Long’s (the opposite public house.) having heard they had lost something. He then pulled the things out of his basket and laid them on the table. Both Mrs Long and Mrs Austin owned them as their property. Mrs Austin owned one pair of sugar nippers and Mrs Long the rest. Osborn went with him last night and pointed out where he saw the 2 persons lying. It was close to the field where he found the articles. John Osborne of Thurleigh, brazier – he met Mr Austin who said he was going after 2 men he suspected had stole something from him. Austin asked if he had met anybody – he said no, but he had passed 2 people lying asleep in Mr Desborough’s wheat field. He knew one of the them – Samuel Partridge – but not the other. Freshwater was dressed like the other prisoner and had a cap on. They were lying on their faces on the ground close together when he saw them. He showed George Hilson the spot where they lay. Samuel Partridge – he never took them and never received them. Charles Freshwater – he never touched anything out of Austin’s house except one pint of beer and a pipe.

item

Partridge, Samuel,
Freshwater, Charles,
Austin, Charles,
Austin, Ann,
Horne, John,
Hilson, George,
Love,
Desborough

THURLEIGH, KEYSOE, stealing, household goods, publican, Thurleigh Jackal, farm labourer, wheat, threshing, brazier