QSR1847/3/5/4

Depositions and examination - Richard Cooper charged with stealing the tailboard of a wagon and several pieces of deal and a larch fir (value 5s) from Thomas Jackson at Leighton Buzzard on 16 April 1847. [Name of John Cooper originally included as defendant, then deleted]

20 April 1847

From: 1847 To: 1847

Charles Potts of Leighton Buzzard, carpenter – he is employed by Mr Jackson, the contractor for the Dunstable Railway as foreman over part of the line from Leighton to Dunstable. There is a Lodge being erected by mr Jackson on the side of the line about a mile from Leighton Buzzard. There is a quantity of short ends of deal boarding lying there, which he believes to be the same as that produced. He saw Plowman saw the piece with the knots at each end and in the centre from a larger piece on Friday afternoon. He believes the part of a tail board of a tip wagon produced is the property of Mr Jackson. It is elm wood and is very like all their tail boards. Gregory Austin Plowman of Linslade, carpenter – he is employed by Mr Potts at the Railway Lodge. He was at work there last Friday (April 16) and left at 6.30pm. He packed the pieces of boards which were lying there close together before he left. He remembers seeing one of the pieces produced that evening. He sawed it out of a broader board that day. It has a knot at each end and one in the centre. There is so much of this wood he cannot say he has missed any, but he is sure the two pieces in his hand are two of them. Jeremiah Kellard of Leighton Buzzard – he is employed as store keeper on the Dunstable Railway. He was near the Lodge on Friday evening about 9pm. He passed the prisoners on the high road very near to the Lodge at that time. He knew them and spoke to them. They were going in the direction of the Lodge, towards Northall, not from it. James Parrott, police constable stationed at Leighton Buzzard – he was on duty near the Lodge last Friday evening. At about 8.30pm he met the two prisoners in the road with the wood now produced. He stopped them and asked where they got it from. They said they picked it up in the road. It was about 40 yards from the Lodge and they were coming from it towards their home. He told them that if they did not take it back to where they had it from he would take them into custody. They went back about a mile and placed it by the side of the road. He enquired the next morning and found it belonged to Mr Jackson. He then went to the prisoners’ house and found the part of a tail board now produced. They said they had found the wood where they laid it down. Richard Cooper said he was coming home from Northall when he found it. The father, one of the prisoners, stated that each took a piece of wood.

item

Cooper, Richard,
Cooper, John,
Jackson, Thomas,
Potts, Charles,
Plowman, Gregory Austin,
Kellard, Jeremiah,
Parrott, James,
Jackson

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, DUNSTABLE, LINSLADE, stealing, wood, wagon, carpenter, railway worker, railway contractor, foreman, 2nd built railways, storeman, police constable