QSR1847/1/5/19

Depositions and examination - Samuel Walker charged with stealing a shovel from John Bates

14 December 1846

From: 1846 To: 1847

John Millard of Luton, police constable - last October John Bates, a farmer at Biscott, reported that he had lost a shovel from his farm. Yesterday afternoon (13 December) he went to Walker’s house at Luton and found the shovel now produced in the stair hole. Walker said it belonged to him and that he had found it on the New Road some time ago. Walker said there were some letters on the front and back of it but what the letters were he did not know, and that the handled was smothered with mud so he cut it to clean it. He took Walker into custody and showed the shovel to Mr Bates who identified it as his property. It did not appear to be concealed. Walker said he should have told the Crier about it but did not want to be 2 or 3 shillings out of his own pocket. Thomas Bates of Luton - the latter end of October he missed a shovel from his father’s farm at Biscott. It was left in the cart hovel at night and he missed it the next morning. The shovel now produced appears to have been branded in the same way as his father’s other shovels but the brand has been cut out. He produced another shovel branded with his father’s initials J.B.B. on the front and back and side. The one produced appears to have been branded in the same places and exactly resembles the other shovel. He also knows the shovel by a small bend in it. Walker worked for his father about 2 months before they lost the shovel. John Ransom of Luton, labourer - he recollects a shovel being missing from his master’s farm at Biscott in October. He had put it in a cart in the cart hovel the night before. He has not seen the shovel since. The one produced looks very like the one which was lost. They were not both the same size when they were both new and the one now produced is not quite the same width as the other. The broadest shovel was the one that was lost. William Walker of Luton, labourer - he is the prisoner’s father and works for Mr Bates. He worked in the field the day after the shovel was lost. There was a little shovel used by William Humphreys and he asked Ransom why he had that little shovel. Ransom said they had a new one but had lost it. Barrett put it up in the cart but whether it went home in it they did not know. The cart was put in the hovel but when they went to look for it the next morning the shovel was gone. Samuel Walker - he had been to Biscott and as he was coming out of Mr Bates meadow between 7 and 8pm - he can’t say the month, but it was a Thursday night and he has had the shovel perhaps 6 or 7 weeks - just at the gate he stepped on the shovel. It was smothered with dirt and cut just as it is now. He could see there had been some marks on it and took his knife out and scraped it, but could not make the marks out. One day he burnt the rough places out where somebody had cut it. He never heard that anyone had lost a shovel. He brought it home and set it under the stairs where it has been ever since. He never made any inquiry about it. His father never told him that Mr Bates had lost a shovel.

item

Walker, Samuel,
Millard, John,
Bates, John,
Bates, Thomas,
Ransom, John,
Walker, William,
Humphreys, William

LUTON, Biscot, stealing, tools, farmer, police constable, Town Crier, farm labourer