Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    QSR1846/1/5/31
  • Title
    Depositions and examination - Thomas Cox charged with receiving straw from Robert Cox and William Sabey knowing it to have been stolen from Mary Ann Kempson at Shillington on 11 November 1845
  • Date free text
    4 December 1845
  • Production date
    From: 1845 To: 1846
  • Scope and Content
    Mary Ann Kempson of Shillington, widow – she occupies a farm at Shilllingotn. During November Robert Cox and William Sabey were threshing wheat in a barn in her farm yard. On 6 November Robert Cox brought in a bundle of plaiting straw to be weighed for Sabey. It weighed 10lbs. In about ½ hour she saw a bundle of plaiting straw carried by the window which appeared much larger than the one weighed. She saw Sabey carry it into Thomas Cox’s beer shop which is nearly opposite her house. She sent George Denton to see how much straw there was but he said he could not see any straw there. He obtained a search warrant for Thomas Cox’s premises. It was put into the hands of Hazard the police constable. She was in the habit of selling bundles of straws to the taskers. She had sold Robert Cox one weighing 13 lbs on Nov 11th and saw him carry it away. She did not sell any more that day or the following day. She believes the bundle of straws found in Robert Cox’s house is hers. She thinks it weighs about 20lbs. She never sold a bundle over 15lbs to Robert Cox or Sabey. Robert Cox and Sabey both occupy houses within a 1/4 mile from her house. She always sells her straws at 1d per pound, with coarse and fine together. She has had many complaints lately that there were not any fine straws among hers. George Denton – he is employed by Mrs Kempson. On 6 November he saw Sabey carry a bundle of straws from their premises into Thomas Cox’s beer shop. On his mistress’s orders he went to Cox’s house straight away but could not see the straws. Robert Cox and Sabey were both there drinking. On Tuesday 11 Nov he saw Sabey carry a bundle of the same sort of straws from his mistress’s house to Thomas Cox’s house. He followed in less than a minute but could not see the straws. Robert Cox was there but Thomas Cox was not. He did not tell his mistress as he did not know that his mistress had given orders that no straws were to be weighed that night. He told her the next night. On 17 Nov he was in the barn and some men (Joseph West and James Tingey) were threshing – they showed him several handfuls of fine straws. Maria Hall – she is a widow and lives with Mrs Kempson. On Wednesday 12 Nov she was in an upper room which looks into the road. She saw Robert Cox passing from the barn across the end of the meadow and by the end of a pond into the road – not by a regular path. He was carrying a bundle of straws and went to his brother Thomas Cox’s house. She told Mrs Kempston. The straw was plaiting straw. Daniel Hazard, PC – on 17 November he went to Thomas Cox with a search warrant. He saw Cox and told him he had Sabey in custody. Cox said the straws that had been brought there by Sabey and Robert Cox had been bought by Jackson of Shillington and he did not have any straws there. He searched and found a bundle of plaiting straws in the inner room which Cox said was his own that he had bought at Stondon. Mrs Kempson saw with him and said they were her straws. He went back later and took Cox into custody and locked him in the cage at Shillington. The cage has a double door and each door was locked. He went in search of Sabey and was gone about 4 hours. When he returned he found the cage had been broken open. The hinge of the outside door was broken and both doors were split very much. He has been searching for the prisoner ever since. Yesterday morning (3 Dec) he saw Cox going in the direction of a barn he occupied in Stondon and took him into custody. He knows Cox had wheat in his own barn at Stondon and that a man was threshing there 2 days after Cox broke out of the cage. He saw some bundles of plaiting straw there. James Jackson – he is a straw dealer and lives at Shillington. On Tuesday Nov 11 he was at Cox’s house. Robert Cox and Sabey were there and said they had some fine straws they had from their mistress for 1d a pound. He bought 120lbs of them for 1½d a pound. He looked at them first – they were in an inner room. He bought all except one bundle which were coarser. On Wednesday morning he gave Robert Cox £1 and Sabey gave him 5s change. This was in the tap room. Nobody else was there. On Thursday evening he went to Thomas Cox for the rest of the straws. He went directly into a private inner room with Cox, who asked which straws were his. He said the four bundles were his. Cox said “then they are all yours except this one bundle which is mine”. Nothing was said about Robert Cox and Sabey. He had bought 100 lbs of straws from Robert Cox the week before at Thomas Cox’s which were in the inner room. Thomas Cox was not there. He had not bought any there before. He has known Robert Cox and Sabey a dozen years. He knows they are both married men and live in houses in Shillington. It did not seem strange to him that they should keep their straws at another man’s house. He has bought several bundles from Mrs Kempson for 1d lb. Thomas Cox – he denies it altogether and knows nothing about it. As to breaking out of the cage, the door was open and he came out.
  • Reference
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