QSR1846/1/5/35

Depositions and examination - Henry Haines charged with stealing a "beetle" from William Pates

10 November 1845

From: 1845 To: 1846

William Pates of Caddington (Herts) – last December (1844) he lost a beetle. He employed Henry Haines to rib up a quantity of wood for him. He took a beetle and wedges into the wood to do it with. It was in Deadmansey Wood in Whipsnade. When the wood was finished he asked Haines for the beetle and wedges. The wedges were brought back but not the beetle. He made enquiries but did not get any information until one day when he went to Luton. He went to a constable who found the beetle. He recognizes it by holes drilled through it and riveted on the other side. No other beetle is made like it. The handle has been changed and a push handle put in. William Godfrey of Flamstead (Herts) – he was at Deadmansey Wood to buy a load of wood about a fortnight before last Christmas. Haines came out of the wood with a beetle in his hand and asked if he would buy it. He bought it for 6d. PC Baker came to him in March and he gave him the beetle. When he bought it there was no handle – he put the handle in. Henry Haines – he and another man were going to do a job for Mr Pates. Pates told them to come up to his house to take the beetle and a saw to the wood. The other man went up with the beetle and he took the saw. The man said he had broken the beetle. He never saw it again after that. He later went to the wood for another job, found a beetle on the road and picked it up. He asked Daniel Binham if he knew anything about it, and he said that old beetle had been kicking about for 2or 3 days. He sold it to William Godfrey for 6d. George Baker of Market Street (Herts), police constable – he went to Wm Godfrey on 25 March and asked if he had bought a beetle. Godfrey brought it to him from his barn. Pates identified it as his property. He apprehended Haines who said he found it in the wood. He took Haines into custody and locked him up. Haines broke out in the night and has been at large ever since. He took him again on Saturday night.

item

Haines, Henry,
Pates, William,
Godfrey, William,
Binham, Daniel,
Baker, George

CADDINGTON, WHIPSNADE, Flamstead, Market Street, stealing, tools, Whipsnade Deadmansey Wood, wood, police constable, escape from prisons