QSR1890/3/5/5/a

Depositions of Henry Carr, Superintendent of Midland Railway Police of Derby, Frederick William Fellowes, brewer of Kings Walden, James Sinfield, railway porter of Bedford, George Cherry, railway porter of Hitchin, Alfred Washington, clerk of Leeds, Fred Watkin, station master of Wickwar, Gloucestershire, Amos Parish, labourer of Upper Gravenhurst, John Rice, retired station master of Nottingham, Edward Haywood, railway porter of Hitchin, William Wellesley Adams, gas fitter of Fulham, London, Alfred Wilson, railway clerk of Derby, Frederick Smith, police superintendent of Biggleswade, Sarah Sophia Lloyd, singlewoman of Flint, North Wales, Fanny Pidgeon, wife of George of Swindon and John Roland Jones, student of Lampeter College, South Wales. In the case of William Roger Titmas accused of stealing a portmanteau, a handkerchief case, a jewel case, a button hook and other items to the value of £153 2s 6d.

13 May 1890

From: 1890 To: 1890

Frederick William Fellowes: a brewer and he residing at Kings Walden Bury near Hitchin. On 24 December 1887 he was a passenger on the Midland Railway from Burton to Hitchin. He had a portmanteau, gun case and cartridge bag strapped to the gun case. On reaching Bedford his luggage was safe and she saw the luggage taken by a porter towards the Hitchin train (he had to change trains at Bedford). The porter afterwards came and spoke to him. On reaching Hitchin the luggage was gone. He made a complaint and the train was searched. He afterwards made a claim on the company for £153. They paid him £100. The articles produced by Henry Carr consisting of a dress suit, plush satin handkerchief case marked with his monogram “F.W.F”, the buttonhook, jewel case, a silver sleeve link, a silver pin and broken gold horse show pin and a pair of slippers were his property and his portmanteau. The crest on the slippers was his crest. The portmanteau was a large brown leather one and was by no means new. It had no name or distinguishing marks. The gun case was quite new and the make of the gun was a Wesley Richards. [cross examination] he saw the portmanteau safe at Bedford. He did not see the portmanteau on the train. The porter said he had put the portmanteau gun case and bag into the last break in the train. James Sinfield: a railway porter stationed at Bedford. He recalled Mr Fellowes arriving at the station on the afternoon of 24 December 1887 about 3.30pm. He took charge of the luggage which was a brown portmanteau, gun case and canvas cartridge bag. The train from Bedford for Hitchin left at 4.50pm. He kept the luggage outside the parcel office until just before the train started and then put it in the rear break van. He spoke to Mr Fellowes but did not see the luggage again. He thought there was no other luggage in the van and the train was late. The down train as not in when he put Mr Fellowes luggage in the Hitchin train. George Cherry: a railway porter stationed at Hitchin Midland Railway and was the guard on the train due to leave Bedford for Hitchin at 4.50pm on 24 December 1887. He saw in the rear break a portmanteau, gun case and cartridge bag. He believed some other luggage was put in after these items. The train was 5 minutes late and he saw a gentleman at Shefford who came to his van. He had put out a gun case and portmanteau and other luggage. The other portmanteau, gun case and cartridge bag were still in the van. He couldn’t identify the gentleman who spoke to him at Shefford but from what the man said he put out the remaining portmanteau, gun case and cartridge bag onto Shefford platform. He then only had parcels for Hitchin in the van. On arriving at Hitchin Mr Fellowes spoke to him and the train was searched but no gun case or portmanteau were found. Alfred Washington: a clerk residing in Leeds. In December 1887 he was assistant porter at Shefford station. He was on duty for the arrival of the train due to leave Bedford at 4.50pm on 24 December 1887. He did not know the prisoner. He went to the rear van and the prisoner followed him. The passenger claimed his luggage and it was carried across the line to the other platform and put on a barrow and taken down to a spare piece of ground in front of the station. He waited with it until a conveyance came. Some items were put on top of the Brougham and some by the side of the driver. He put on all the baggage which came out of the station except for a hamper and a box which had been improperly unloaded and were meant for Henlow. The luggage loaded consisted of 2 portmanteaus, a small leather case, a gun case, a hamper and a box. If there had been 2 gun cases he would have recollected it. He could no recollect seeing a cartridge case. There were 9 cases altogether but he could recall what the other 3 articles were. The goods porter helped him. Fred Watkins: a station master residing at Wickwar in Gloucestershire. On 24 December he was station master at Shefford. He was on duty for the arrival of the 4.50 train from Bedford. He saw the prisoner, a passenger on the train, go to the rear break and claim 9 articles including 2 portmanteaus and a gun case. The same night he received a company telegram from Hitchin. On 26th he received another telegram upon which he wrote a letter which he handed to a man named Parish, who lived at Gravenhurst where the prisoner’s father lived. On 29 December 1887 he saw the prisoner on the platform. Titmas said he was leaving by train and said he had a portmanteau which did not belong to him. Titmas said it must have been with his luggage when her left Paddington G.W. as he had the same quantity of packages when he arrived at St Pancras, having come across from Paddington in a cart. He could prove this by the porter he had left them with at St Pancras. Titmas said he had taken the portmanteau to Hitchin station and handed it over to the station master there. Asked which station master, he replied “the Midland”. Titmas said he had addressed the portmanteau himself to the Paddington lost property office as he was under the impression that it was there that it had got among his belongings by mistake. Watkins asked the prisoner if he knew anything of the gun case and he said he did not, he only had his own which he always brought with him when visiting his father and was now returning with him and was on the platform. The conversation had taken place in 1887 and it was impressed in his memory but he had not learnt it by heart. He had gone through the case with the company solicitor that morning and he refreshed his memory from old papers. He was quite sure the prisoner said he had given the portmanteau to the Midland station master. Amos Parish: a gardener residing in Upper Gravenhurst. On 26 December he received a letter from the stationmaster at Shefford and took it to the house of the prisoner’s father. He gave it to a servant there and was brought a note and asked to take it to the station master. He told him he was not going back but would take it if he wished. He was told it did not matter and he would be that way in the morning. John Rice: a retired station master residing in Nottingham. On December 1887 he was the station master at Hitchin. He believed the prisoner to be the same gentleman he had seen in the poultry market at Hitchin on 27 December 1887. He had been in uniform and the prisoner stopped and called to him. The prisoner asked if he was the Midland Station master and on being told he was, said “If you see the guard off the Bedford train will you tell him to inform the station master at Shefford that all the luggage I had on Saturday was mine”. The prisoner said nothing of taking a portmanteau to the station. The prisoner did not say he had been to the station but had found it locked up. He did not think the office had been locked up. He had spoken of the event several times to inspectors. The prisoner had met him by Jackson’s office in the sheep market. Edward Haywood: a railway porter residing at Hitchin and in the employment of the Great Northern Railway. He had been on duty in the parcels office on 27 December 1887 and someone brought in a long brown portmanteau, addressed to Mr Rogers, care of Hall Porter, Constitutional Club, Regent Street, London. The prisoner bought it about 12.37 and he rushed round to the other platform and tried to send it off but could not. The prisoner paid 2s 4d for the carriage. It went off by the 2.50 train and he wrote out a way bill. William Wellesley: a store keeper residing at 77 Shooralds Road, Fulham. He worked at the Incandescent Gas Company. On December 1887 he was a Hall Porter at the Constitutional Club, 14 Regent Street, London. He left on 31 December 1887. A few day before he received a letter or postcard from the prisoner but he had destroyed it. It purported to come from Mr Titmas who was a member of the club. In consequence of the communication he took in a portmanteau. He believed it addressed to Mr Rogers Esq and signed the delivery sheet. Within a couple of days, Mr Titmas called. It was large sized gentleman’s travelling bag; a large portmanteau. He gave it to Mr Titmas who took it away. He believed there had been several labels on it as if it had been travelling about for some time. Alfred Wilson: a clerk in the secretary’s department of the Midland Railway and residing at Derby. On 24 January 1888 he received a letter from the defendant, now marked W.R.T (5). Henry Carr: superintendent of the Midland Railway Police stationed at Derby. On 3 January 1888 he saw the prisoner at his office in Swindon. He told him that he was calling about the portmanteau and gun case which had been lost. He asked the defendant the particulars of his journey from Swindon to Shefford on 24 December. The prisoner said he had left Swindon at 10.50am and on arrival at Paddington he said he sent his luggage across on a bus. He left St Pancras at 3.40pm and he had 9 packages and at Bedford he met his father and Mr Turner from Manchester. They left Bedford at 4.50 and he saw his luggage put into the Guards Van and on arrival at Shefford it was taken out. Titmas claimed it and it was taken to his father’s house on a Brougham, and taken to the various rooms. Titmas received a message from the station master the day after Christmas asking if he had a portmanteau and gun case that did not belong to him. Titmas said he did and asked the man to take it back but the man said he was not going back. The following day he went to Hitchin market with his father and took the portmanteau with him in the trap. He drove to the station and handed the portmanteau to the Midland Station master. The prisoner said he had put a label on it addressed to the lost luggage office at Paddington. Carr told Titmas that Mr Fellowes was eager to have the portmanteau returned and Titmas asked what was in it. Carr replied clothing, jewellery and other articles. The prisoner said that Fellowes had his clothes made at Scott’s in New Bond Street and asked how he knew, Titmas said he had done business there. Carr made enquiries at Hitchin, Kings Cross and Paddington and searched the books and Way bills. He had another interview with Titmas on 23 January at Goddard Arms Hotel in Swindon. Mr Mason, the superintendent of the Great Western Police was present but he had since died. He told Titmas that what he had told him before was a pack of lies and that he had seen the station master at Hitchin and made enquiries of the parcel office at Hitchin, Kings Cross and Paddington. Instead of sending the portmanteau to the lost property office at Paddington he found it had been sent to Rogers, one of the accused Christian names, at the Constitutional Club and then handed to him by the Hall Porter. Titmas said that portmanteau was his own and asked if he had taken 2 portmanteaus to Hitchin he replied he had. Titmas appeared confused and declined to answer any more questions. About 5 weeks previous he had went to 42 Woburn Street, Russell Square, London and saw the prisoner’s wife. He received from her a handkerchief case, a jewel case and a button hook. On 13 May he received from the prisoner’s wife the silver pin, silver sleeve link and the broken horse shoe pin. He showed them to Mr Fellowes and then obtained a warrant and went with Superintendent Smith to Swindon and searched the prisoner’s house called Fairholm. He saw the slippers in the kitchen cupboard. He apprehended the prisoner on the way back to Biggleswade and showed him the handkerchief case, jewel case and button hook and said these are some of the things in Mr Fellowes portmanteau. Titmas said the things had not been found in his possession and it did not prove he had stolen him. He received the dress suit from Roland Jones of Lampeter College. On 23 May he showed the prisoner the dress suit, 2 pins, sleeve link and slippers and told him they were in Mr Fellowes portmanteau and he would be charged with stealing them. The prisoner replied “all right”. [cross examination] he received information which induced him to go to the prisoner’s wife’s house and she did not tell him she had been served with a petition for divorce. She said she was expecting one and thought he had come to serve her. She gave no reason for giving him the information. He did not take notes of their conversations. The prisoner had been carrying on business as an auctioneer at Swindon. Superintendent Frederick Smith: he went to Swindon on 14 May, in the company of a Wiltshire policeman, with a warrant to apprehend the prisoner. The policeman told Titmas that Superintendent North wanted to see him at the police station and the prisoner said “certainly”. He was charged. Titmas’s house searched by Smith and Carr and they found slippers in a pantry cupboard. On 23 May he showed the slippers to the prisoner and told him they had been identified by Mr Fellowes. The prisoner asked if they had found them in the safe and they replied it had been the pantry. [cross examination] The prisoner made no objection and came willingly. The slippers were not concealed. Mrs Titmus had given him no information and they found nothing else in the house except the slippers. Sarah Sophia Lloyd: a single woman residing at Flint in North Wales. She was the prisoner’s sister-in-law. She went with the prisoner and his wife and child to the prisoner’s father at Gravenhurst in December 1887. She remained with Mrs Titmas senior and the little girl at Gravenhurst for some weeks. After she left Gravenhurst she went to Swindon and lived there for nearly 12 months. Soon after going to Swindon she saw the prisoner wearing the slippers. In the bedroom, occupied by Mr & Mrs Titmas, she saw the handkerchief case. [cross examination] her sister had asked her to come and prove the things. She did not know how she specifically noticed the handkerchief box or slippers. The handkerchief case was in the wardrobe, nothing particular called her attention to it. She noticed nothing else in the wardrobe. It was about 2 years since she’d seen the slippers. She had seen her brother-in-law about 12 months ago and believed he had worn brown slippers then. Titmas had paid for her education and sent her to school. There was no foundation for suggesting her sister had dictated to her what she should say. She had been served to attend before she had heard from her sister. Fanny Pidgeon: wife of George Pidgeon, a mechanic. In May 1889 she went to live with Mr & Mrs Titmas as a housemaid. She remained with them until the house was taken by Captain Christie in August 1889. Mr & Mrs Titmas used to occasionally quarrel. On several occasions she heard Mrs Titmas say to him “Thief who stole the portmanteau and sat up all night to burn it”. Mrs Titmas threatened to write to the Midland Company and tell them about it. She never heard Mr Titmas deny it or make any answer. Mr Titmas used to wear the slippers produced and on one occasion Mrs Titmas threw them on top of the pantry cupboard. Shortly after Captain Christie came to live there, she received a letter from Mr Titmas asked her to send the slippers and 2 walking sticks. She knew his handwriting. A label enclosed with the letter. [cross examination] she was not discharged for being in the family way but because she could not do all the work Mrs Christie wanted. The sticks were to be sent with the slippers but the stamps on the label were not enough. She never tried to send them and but the label on the slippers so that it should not be lost. She saw Mrs Titmas the previous day but they had not spoken. John Rowland Jones: a student residing at Lampeter College in South Wales. Through the medium of the “Lady” newspaper he bought a dress suit. He bought it though a correspondence. He received it from W Rogers Titmas. He bought the suit and sent to money to him. He paid just under 3 guineas for it. Statement of the accused: he reserved his defence.

38 pages

item

Carr, Henry,
Titmas, William Roger,
Fellowes, Frederick William,
Sinfield, James,
Cherry, George,
Washington, Alfred,
Watkin, Fred,
Parish, Amos,
Rice, John,
Haywood, Edward,
Adams, William Wellesley,
Wilson, Alfred,
Smith, Frederick,
Lloyd, Sarah Sophia,
Jones, John Roland,
Pidgeon, Fanny

SHEFFORD, Shefford station, Hitchin, Hitchin Station, BIGGLESWADE, Kings Walden, South Wales, Flint, Derby, BEDFORD, Leeds, Wickwar, Upper Gravenhurst, Fulham, Nottingham, railway employee, railway porter, gas fitter, housemaid, student, clerk, brewer, station master, Midland Railway Company, St Pancras Cromer Street, Paddington, stealing, clothing, London Regent Street, Holborn Woburn Place, Swindon, auctioneer, divorce, gentlemen's clubs