QSR1848/1/5/39-40

Depositions - Richard Ward charged with stealing a pair of shoes belonging to John How Middleton and Thomas Snoxall charged with receiving

27 December 1847

From: 1847 To: 1848

John Keating of Luton, police constable - on 24 December about 4pm he met Snoxall going across the fields from Mussons Houses in Luton towards Stopsley. Snoxall lives in one of Mussons Houses. He saw Snoxall had something bulky in his coat pocket, stopped him and asked what it was. Snoxall said it was a pair of shoes that Richard Ward had brought them to his house, and that he was going to look for Ward to give them to him again. Snoxall said he did not know where Ward got them but he did not want to keep them any longer himself. On 23 December Mr Middleton sent for him an told him a pair of shoes had been stolen out of his shop at Luton. He looked at some of Middleton’s shoes and observed the sale mark. The shoes found on Snoxall had the same sale mark and were quite new. He took Snoxall and later Ward into custody. Ward denied having any knowledge of the shoes. He locked Ward up in the cage. As he was going away Ward called after him and said that George Wilding had taken the shoes, and that he stood outside against the window while Wilding went in and stole them. William Holloway of Luton - he works at Mr Daniel Brown’s at Luton. On the night of 23 Dec about 6 to 6.30pm he saw Ward in Middleton’s shop. Wilding stood outside. He stood in Mr Brown’s gateway on the opposite side of the street. He saw Ward come out of the shop with shoes in his hand. They ran away. He later saw Ward in the street and asked how he came to go into Middletons shop and take the shoes. Ward denied it. He did not see anyone else in the shop with Ward. He told Mr Middleton what he had seen. John How Middleton of Luton, shoe manufacturer, affirmed as a Quaker - he was in his sitting room on the evening of 23 Dec when Holloway came and told him someone had taken shoes out of his shop. He went in pursuit but could not find them. He checked and missed a pair of shoes which are the ones now produced by PC Keating. He knows them by his private mark. John Millard of Luton, police constable - on Thursday afternoon at about 5.30pm he was going down Park Street. He saw Ward and Wilding standing opposite Middleton’s shop, and saw a man standing against Mr Hyde’s door about 3 or 4 yards away, dressed in a ragged smock frock and an old brasilian hat. He did not see the man’s face, but he looked very much like Snoxall and was dressed like him. Having heard of the robbery he went with Keating the next day and met Snoxall coming through the fields with the shoes in his pocket. Snoxall said Ward brought him the shoes about 7pm the previous night and he knew nothing about them being stolen. Snoxall said he would take them to Ward as he was going to meet him with the shoes. Ward lives near the Waggon and Horses and Snoxall was going in another direction. Snoxall said Ward asked him to have the shoes at his house for a month. Snoxall denied being in Park Street the previous night. Character reference for Richard Ward, signed by Samuel Taylor, Charles Lawford master builder, and George Bailey of Langley Lodge, residents of Luton - certifies that before committing the offence Ward was “a young lad of industrious habits, that he never before committed such an offence; and we declare that his moral character was previously irreproachable”.

item

Ward, Richard,
Snoxall, Thomas,
Middleton, John Howe,
Keating, John,
Wilding, George,
Holloway, William,
Brown, Daniel,
Millard, John,
Taylor, Samuel,
Lawford, Charles,
Bailey, George

LUTON, Luton Park Street, stealing, receiving stolen goods, shoes, police constable, shoemaker, Quakers, Master builder