Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    QSR1846/3/5/31-33
  • Title
    Depositions and related documents - Eliza Sadler charged with stealing £208 from the person of Edward Horn, and Henry Sadler and Jane Archer (alias Westwood) charged with receiving the money knowing it to be stolen
  • Date free text
    25 June 1846
  • Production date
    From: 1846 To: 1846
  • Scope and Content
    Edward Horn of Shillington, farmer – on Monday 20 April he was at the cattle fair at Luton. In the evening between 8 and 10pm he saw Eliza Sadler against the market house. He had been drinking that evening with a friend but was quite capable of knowing what happened. Eliza Sadler came up and started a conversation with him. He stayed with her about 5 minutes. He does not recollect taking out his purse while he was with her. He did not give her any money. His purse was in the right hand pocket of his trousers. He does not remember seeing a man with a wheelbarrow. When he left her he went to the Red Lion Inn. In the bar he found Mr Kinder waiting for him – they were going home together. They went to Kinder’s house at Leagrave. Kinder was going to send him home in his pony and chaise with a lad to bring it back. While the lad was putting the pony in he put his hand in his pocket to get 6d to pay for the turnpike at Barton and found his purse was gone. The purse contained £208 - £205 was in bank notes, 3 sovereigns and a little silver. He had the purse out to pay at the Red Lion a little before he met Sadler. He is sure Eliza Sadler is the person who came up to him at the market house. He did not feel her take his purse, but she was near to him and might have taken it without his knowing it. He went to Chelmsford and saw Eliza Sadler there and went before a magistrate. An examination was taken down. He was rather fresh on the night of the fair, but not incapable of taking care of himself – he does not think he was drunk. It was a fine night, not very light. She came up to him. She had a dark dress on like a mourning dress. She wanted him to go with her. He left her and made no appointment with her. She was alone. He paid for a glass of brandy and water at the Red Lion with some loose silver he had in his waistcoat pocket. He last looked at his money about 7 or 8pm. He had been having a glass with a butcher named James Mann of Upper Gravenhurst. He had 3 or 4 small glasses of brandy and water. At 8pm he went for a walk round the town. He walked about until he met Eliza Sadler, he thinks it was then nearly 10pm. She spoke to him first. She led him to the market house. She decryed him. They went there to talk. He paid for the brandy and water as he had it. He took his purse out of his pocket 2 or 3 times that evening to pay. He did not miss his purse until after he had supper at Mr Kinder’s. When he missed it he searched the room where they were sitting. He had not been in any other room. He went back to Luton the next morning with Mr Kinder’s son and made enquiries at the Red Lion. They searched the bar. He then went to Mr Bayldon, the superintendent, and told him how he thought he had lsot it. He did not notice whether Sadler was wearing a different dress when she went before the magistrate at Lilley. He thinks she had a different dress when he saw her in the cage. He knows her by her features. He did not tell Mr Kinder anything about the woman. He told Mr Bayldon he had been robbed but did not say it was by a woman – this was because he suspected her but did not know she had robbed him. The woman had nothing peculiar in her countenance – he did not see a black eye or a bloody nose or a patch on her face. It was rather dark. Two or three days later Mr Bayldon advised him to have some bills printed. The reason he had so much money in his purse was that he had been selling stock and came to Luton to buy more. Thomas Farmer of Luton, basket maker and victualler – on 20 April it was fair day at Luton. Between 9 and 10pm he went out of his house to do up his stable which is close to the Market House. He saw Horn underneath the Market House with a woman. They stood there talking for some time. He heard Horn say “well, what do you want”. There was a man passing the Market House with a barrow with a lantern tied to it, who stopped to rest. He saw Horn go up to the light and pull his purse out of his pocket. Horn went back to the woman said “will that do”. He could not hear what she said. Horn stayed with her about 4 minutes more. Horn then went to the Red Lion gateway and joined young Mr Kinder. The woman went the opposite way. Sadler appears to him to be very much like the woman he saw with horn. He had seen her with Henry Sadler at the Shoulder of Mutton public house during the day. Horn and the woman stood close together and she had her arm round his waist. They were as close as possible and had hold of each other. He was not more than 3 yards from them. He saw Horn put his purse back into his pocket before he came back to the woman. He has seen Henry Sadler before. He told Mr Bayldon he had seen Horn and a female together that night, and that he had seen a notorious character near the Shoulder of Mutton who had been the head of a gang of thieves 15 or 16 years ago. John Puddephatt of Luton, victualler – he is landlord of the Shoulder of mutton. On 20 April Eliza Sadler and Henry Sadler asked for a night’s lodging. They were there about 4pm and again in the evening. The two Sadlers have lodged in his house before. Ruth Everett of Luton, wife of Joseph Everett – her husband keeps the Crown and Anchor at Luton. On 19 April 6 people came and asked for lodgings, including the 2 female prisoners. They stayed that night and took their beds again. On 20th, between 9 and 10pm, 2 of the men told her they had got a conveyance to Bedford and said they would pay her for the beds as if they had stayed so she would not lose anything. Four of them left – one man and one woman stayed, but went before she was up in the morning. John Milard of Luton, police constable – on Friday 12 June he was standing near the cage when he heard Henry Sadler say “I wonder where Jem Skinner is now”. Sadler’s wife Eliza said “he is above 2000 miles from Chelmsford”. Henry Sadler said it was all through Skinner that they were there as he told George Richmond about it. He then said “the old woman won’t be such a fool as to kick her bustle sill she?” Eliza Sadler said “I told her before I left home who ever came to be sure and not know anything about it”. Henry Sadler said “I’ll be bound some of them will go to her and get something out of her”, and mentioned the name of Mr Mayes. Kemp told them to be quiet as there was no doubt somebody would be on the listen. They were all 5 in the cage in three separate cells. John Everett of Luton, straw hat dealer – he remembers seeing Eliza Sadler, Jane Archer (alias Westwood), Thomas Sadler and Joseph Kemp in his father’s house the Crown and Anchor. They were all sitting together in the tap room. He saw them in the George yard as they were getting off the coach. He went and told his mother he had seen the people he had seen at her house in custody. He believes them to be the same people. William Edward Bayldon of Luton, police superintendent – on Tuesday 21 April Mr Horn and Mr Kinder junior came to his house and gave him information that Mr Horn had been robbed. Horn told him where he could get the number of one note. A few days later Horn said he would offer a reward and cause bills to be published, and this was done. From information received he went to Chelmsford on 8 June. He went with Superintendent May to Henry Sadler’s house and apprehended Sadler and his wife. She said “they want us for a robbery at Luton Fair” (which he had not mentioned). He went to Braintree Heath and apprehended Joseph Kemp and Jane Archer. They said they knew nothing about it. At Sadler’s house he noticed most of the household furniture was new, and noticed the same at Kemp’s house. He asked Sadler if he had any money. Sadler said he had a little. Hea searched and in a drawer he found 3 sovereigns, half a sovereign and 10s and 6d in silver, and 3 sovereigns in a purse. At Kemp’s house he found 5 sovereigns, half a sovereign, a crown piece, 2 half crowns and 4 gold wedding rings. Eliza Sadler appeared in a different dress before the magistrate at Chelmsford. The first time Horn saw her he had no doubt she was the girl. Sam Newman of Gravel Lane, Southwark (Surrey) – he is a printing ink manufacturer. On 24 April he saw Thomas Sadler and Henry Sadler. He sent a horse and cart to Smithfield for sale. He had fixed a price on it. The person he sent with it brought the prisoner and his father to him. He agreed a price of £18 10s with them. The young man Henry Sadler paid him for it. He thinks he received two £5 Bank of England notes and the rest in gold, which he paid into his bank the next day. Frederick Dickinson of Romford (Essex) – he is assistant to Mr Samuel Fletcher, pawnbroker of Romford. On 29 April he saw Jane Archer with another woman come to the shop. He sold her a bed, bolster, 2 pilows, 6 chairs, a bedstead, a table and chair, 2 saucepans, a counterpane, a fender, fire irons, a tea kettle, bellows and a frying pan, for £6 6s 6d. Since then he has sold her a chest of drawers for about £2 12s or £2 15s. He has seen her several times before. She has pawned wedding rings with me more than once. She paid the £6 in gold. Supporting documents - account dated 29 April 1846 of items bought from S Fletcher at Romford by Mrs Kemp - receipt for £18 10s paid for a brown cob, chaise cart and harness on 24 April 1846 - receipt for silver watch, chain, seal key and ring bought from John Sarl and Sons, London on 22 April 1846 - note of conversation between Henry Sadler and Eliza Sadler in Luton cage - receipt for household goods bought at G Taylor’s drapery, Bishopsgate Street, London, April 1846 - receipt of Eastern Counties Railway Company for freight sent by Mr Sadler to Chelmsford, 29 April 1846
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