QSR1846/4/5/19

Depositions and examination - Simeon Stapleton charged wtih stealing one pair of cotton trousers at Ridgmont on 7 September 1846

7 September 1846

From: 1846 To: 1846

Henry Goss of Ridgmont, labourer – he lives with his father James Goss, a labourer at Ridgmont. On Sunday 23 August he wore the pair of trousers now produced. He took them off that day and left them lying on the bed. His father and mother sleep in the same room. No one else lived in the house. He did not miss the trousers until the following Saturday, after he heard that some bread and meat had been stolen from the house during his mother’s absence one day that week. He did not see the trousers again until he saw Simeon Stapleton wearing them that morning. He asked where Stapleton had them from and he said Charlotte Slade bought them at Ampthill. Stapleton mentioned the name of the man who sold them but he does not remember it. He has since heard Stapleton say to Mr Young that he bought them from another “navvy” whose name he did not know. He knows them to be his trousers by the way they are mended at the bottom and they match the piece (now produced) that was cut off when he first bought them. He gave 7s 6d for them and has not worn them much. Stapleton said he gave 3s for them. John Kitchener, policeman stationed at Ridgmont – due to what Henry Goss said he went after Stapleton and went with him to Goss. Goss claimed the trousers Stapleton was wearing as his. Stapleton said some girl at Lidlington had bought them for him at a shop at Ampthill 3 weeks ago last Friday, or a fortnight last Friday. He bought Stapleton to Mr Young the superintendent. Stapleton then said he bought them from a man on the railroad for 3s. Simeon Stapleton – he has nothing to say except that he bought them from “that there chap” from Leighton after he came home from Wavendon Feast. He thinks it was a fortnight ago yesterday. When Goss said someone had stolen his trousers he said a girl bought them for him at Ampthill because he did not want any bother about it. He does not know where the chap he bought them from is now. He was coming out of the White Hart nearly drunk. Nobody else was present. It was dark.

item

Stapleton, Simeon,
Goss, Henry,
Kitchener, John

RIDGMONT, stealing, clothing, trousers, police constables, railway worker, Ridgmont White Hart