QSR1846/1/5/14-15

Depositions and examinations - Robert Cox and William Sabey, charged with stealing 100 lbs of plaiting straw from Mary Ann Kempson at Shillington on 11 November 1845

8 December 1845

From: 1845 To: 1846

Mary Ann Kempson of Shillington, widow – she occupies a farm at Shillington and has employed Cox and Sabey as labourers for some time. Sabey worked as a tasker all last winter, and both have worked for her last harvest and since. From Sept 22nd to Nov 11th they have both been threshing wheat and drawing straws for plaiting as taskers. On 6 November Cox brought in a bundle of drawn straws to be weighed for Sabey. It weighed 10lbs. Cox took it back out to the barn. About ½ hour later at leaving work time he saw Cox carry a bundle of straws across the yard which appeared much larger than the one she had weighed. At the same time Sabey brought in the key of the barn. She had not sold any straws to Cox that day. She had sold him a bundle of 15lbs the previous day which she saw him carry out of the yard. She saw Cox carry the bundle on 6 Nov into the house of his brother Thomas Cox, a beer shop on the other side of the road. She sent George Denton to Thomas Cox’s to see what size the bundle was. When he came back he said he could not see any straws. She had given orders that all straws drawn in her barn should be drawn regularly and the fine not separated from the coarse. She never sold any separated and never sold any bundles of such fine straw as the three bundles produced. She also never sold bundles of that weight to either Cox or Sabey. The three bundles weigh 27lb, 20lb and 20lb. She has no other reason to think they are her straws except that they correspond with the fine straws drawn in her barn. She had sold several bundles to other persons in the previous week. She always sold her straws at 1d a pound, coarse and fine together. It was about this time that she had complaints made to her that there were not any fine straws among her bundles. The door of the threshing barn fronts into the yard and is on one side of the house. There is no other door to the barn. There is a window behind which opens into a sward close. There is no way from her barn into the close except by coming through the barn door into the yard or through the window. She had not sold any straws on 12 November to anyone. The straws she sold were always taken away the same day. She sold Cox a bundle of straws weighing 13lbs on 11 November. She turned them both away on Thursday 13th. Nobody went into the barn until West went in to clear up on the following Friday. Cox and Sabey were employed as weekly labourers. Maria Hall – she lives with Mrs Kempson and is a widow. On Wednesday 12 Nov Mrs Kempson was not at home. She was shutting an upstairs window a little before 6pm and saw Cox come from the back of the barn and go by the garden pales and over the end of the pond into the road. He was carrying a bundle of straw which appeared to weigh about 20lbs. She saw him go into the road and then to his brother Thomas Cox’s house. She noticed particularly because he was not going the regular way. It was getting dusk but she could see plainly enough that it was plaiting straw. She had not sold any straws for Mrs Kempson. George Denton – he works for Mrs Kempson and went at her direction to Thomas Cox’s beer shop to see if some straws were there. He arrived there less than 3 minutes after the prisoners but did not see any straws. Nobody else was in the room except the prisoners and the children. On 11 Nov he saw Sabey carry a bundle of straws from his mistress’s barn into Thomas Cox’s house in the evening. He laid down the barn door key and went directly into Thomas Cox’s house. He could not see any straws. It was not until the next night that he was told his mistress had not sold any straws to the prisoners on Tuesday. On Wednesday he had orders to be a little on the watch. He saw Cox and Sabey in the barn between 5 and 6pm. Sabey came out, locked the door and took the key into the house. Cox did not come out with him and he is sure that if Cox had come out he would have seen him. Maria Hall said she had seen Cox cross the meadow with a bundle of straws. James Jackson – he lives at Shillington and buys and sells plaiting straws. On Nov 5 he bought some straws from Mrs Kempson. He drew them himself, coarse and fine together. Cox and Sabey were present and carried the bundle to be weighed – it was 46 lbs. While he was in the barn Cox said they had some fine straws they had bought from the mistress and would sell to him for 1½d a pound, and that the straws were over at Cox’s beer shop. He said he would look at them. He carried his bundle home and went to the beer shop where there was a bundle of fine straws in the tap room which he bought. Cox brought several more bundles from a back room – 100 lbs altogether. Sabey was not there. A day or so later he went to the barn. Cox said he would sell him the remainder of the fine straws they had a Thomas Cox’s on Tuesday evening. He went there on Nov 11 and Cox and Sabey were there. He went into the back with Cox and saw 7 bundles of straws. There were six bundles of fine straw weighing 120 lbs. The other bundle was coarser and he did not buy it. He went to the beer shop the next morning to give them the money. Cox and Sabey were both together when he bargained and when he paid. The straws were always spoken of as belonging to them both. Three bundles of fine straws he bought from the prisoners were taken from his house by PC Hazard. Joseph West of Shillington, labourer – he has been threshing at Mrs Kempson’s as a tasker in a different barn to the prisoners. He went into the wheat barn on Friday 14 Nov and up on the mow found 9 or 10 handfuls of fine straws hidden in the cavings, tied up in little bundles. He also found 3 bundles of “shack”, which is straw from which plaiting straws are drawn. These should have been threshed immediately. He found these on Monday 17th. Nobody had been in the barn except him. James Tingay of Shillington, labourer – he was in Mrs Kempson’s barn on Monday 17 Nov when West went on the mow and found the handfuls of drawn fine straws and the three bundles of shack. Daniel Hazard, police constable stationed at Shillington – he took Sabey in custody before Capt Moore on the charge of stealing Mrs Kempson’s straws but he was discharged. A search warrant was granted for Thomas Cox’s house. From information received he went to James Jackson’s and obtained the 3 bundles of straw produced. He carefully searched Sabey’s house but could not get into Cox’s. He searched for them round the country but could not find them. Robert Cox and William Sabey – nothing to say.

item

Cox, Robert,
Sabey, William,
Kempson, Mary Ann,
Hall, Maria,
Denton, George,
Jackson, James,
West, Joseph,
Tingay, James,
Hazard, Daniel,
Cox, Thomas

SHILLINGTON, stealing, straw, farmer, farm labourer, threshing, wheat, beer houses