QSR1847/1/5/4-6/b

Depositions and examinations - John Payne, Thomas Inns and James Scales charged wtih stealing one bottle of wine, the property of John Moor

4 November 1846

From: 1846 To: 1847

Sophia Moor of Luton – on Monday evening 26 October there were 2 ½ dozen of wine standing in the window of her husband John Moor’s shop in Luton. On Wednesday morning 28th Oct she missed one bottle of green elder wine. PC Millard showed some pieces of a bottle and a label which are exactly the same as that which she lost. She does not think anyone else in Luton had any of the same kind. He husband has lately taken the business of Mrs Clemesha and her name is still up over the shop. Payne had been in the shop several times lately and asked for items she had previously told him they had not got. She saw several other boys standing outside the shop. David Shaw of Luton – on Tuesday or Wednesday night 27/28th October he, Scales and Inns stood outside a pastry cook’s shop near the Post Office at Luton. Payne went in to ask the price of a currant cake. While he was there the woman went out of the shop. He then went to the corner of church Street. Scales came running after him with a bottle of wine in his hand. Scales and Inns ran down the street and Pyne followed a few minutes later. They went into the churchyard together and then up St Ann’s Lane up Meeting Alley, and there they drank the wine. Scales threw the bottle at a tree at Sparrow corner and broke it. John Millard of Luton, police constable – on Monday 2 Nov he apprehended Payn and Inns. Payne told him that he, Scales, Inns and Shaw were standing against Mrs Clemesha the pastry cook’s shop about a week ago. Payne went into the shop and asked the lowest price of a currant cake. The other 3 stood at the window. The woman went into another room and Scales went into the shop and took a bottle of wine from the window. They all four ran down Church Street with the wine through the churchyard, up St Anns Lane and up the Meeting Alley where they drank the wine. Inns made exactly the same confession and said he knew it was wine by reading the label. Inns said the words on the label were Bishop and Peels superior elder. Scales made the same confession and said that after they drank the wine he threw the bottle at a tree and broke it. He went to Sparrow corner and found the pieces of bottle and the label among the trees. He showed them to Mrs Moor.

item

Payne, John,
Inns, Thomas,
Scales, James,
Moor, John,
Moor, Sophia,
Shaw, David,
Millard, John

LUTON, Luton Church Street, stealing, wine, shopkeeper, pastry cook, police constable