QSR1856/1/5/8

Depositions of William Wiggin Blackband, gentleman of Biggleswade, Edwin Blunden, inspector of police of Biggleswade, William Goodship, beer shopkeeper of Biggleswade, Joseph William Jones and Sarah, wife of William Goodship. In the case of Cecilia Maguire, single woman of Biggleswade, accused of counterfeiting a gold sovereign.

19 December 1855

From: 1855 To: 1856

Joseph William Jones: a booking clerk at the Great Northern Railway station at Biggleswade. On the afternoon of 18 December the prisoner came to the booking office and asked for a third class ticket to London. The price of the ticket was three shillings and 5 pence. The prisoner laid a coin intending for a sovereign on the shelf of the booking window. He took up the coin and showed it to Mr Blackband the clerk in charge who came forward and spoke to the woman. William Wiggin Blackband: on being shown the bad sovereign by Jones, he went forward and spoke to the woman. He laid the coin on the shelf and said to her that it was worth nothing and if she tendered money like that she would get herself in trouble. She them put down another piece which was just as bad as the first and like it in all respects except the date. He told her it was of the same sort, to which she replied she had been robbed. He asked her where she had got the coins and she said she had received them as payment for a bonnet. He then asked her if she had any more money and then she put down a half sovereign and 2 half crowns. He told her to wait for the Superintendent of Police, which she did. The superintendent came and was given the bad money. Edwin Blunden: when he asked the woman where she had got the bad money from, she said she had sold a basket and her bonnet to a man who she did not know. She had received the bad money in payment. He took her into custody. Sarah Goodship: keeper of a beershop in Biggleswade called the Golden Pheasant. The previous afternoon Blunden had brought the prisoner to her house and asked her to search her. She did and found a half crown and a farthing. She told him she had taken one of the sovereigns from a man on the road from St Neots and another on the road from Luton, both for bonnets. As she was putting her to bed, a few hours later, she told the prisoner she should tell who gave her the money, as the truth would be better for her. The prisoner said she would never tell and get someone into trouble. She would suffer by herself. This morning she again asked the prisoner who gave her the money and she said she did not know. Statement of the accused: she did not know the money was bad. She met a man on the road between Shefford and Luton who asked if she was travelling without a license. She said she was and he said he should have her things taken from her. She sold him 10 bonnets for a sovereign and he gave her a bad one. He received the other bad sovereign from a man for the basket and 14 bonnets. She did not recall what she had said to Mrs Goodship.

item

Maguire, Cecilia,
Blackband, William Wiggin,
Blunden, Edwin,
Goodship, William,
Jones, Joseph William,
Goodship, Sarah

BIGGLESWADE, passing counterfeit coin, Great Northern Railway Company, beer shop keeper, railway clerk, Biggleswade Golden Pheasant