QSR1860/1/5/6

Depositions of Joseph Barford, dealer in straw plait of Luton. Sarah Watkins, wife of Joseph, a dealer in second hand clothes in Luton. Police Sergeant George Smith of Luton. In the case of Sarah Lawrence accused of stealing a table cloth.

12 December 1859

From: 1859 To: 1860

Joseph Barford: residing at 55 Back Street, Luton. On the morning of 8 December he washed the table cloth and hung it out on a line in the garden behind the house. From something his wife told him he went and found the cloth gone. The same afternoon Sergeant Smith brought the table cloth to him. He knew it to be his cloth by some rusty marks where the teapot stood. He would value it at a shilling. Sarah Watkins: wife of Joseph, a dealer in second hand clothes. On 8 december the prisoner came to their house with a table cloth and asked her to buy it. She gave 5 pence for it. That afternoon Sergeant Smith came to her about the cloth and she gave it to him. Sergeant George Smith: on 8 December he went to the house of Joseph Watkins and Mrs Watkins gave him a table cloth. He took the cloth to Mr Barford and showed it to him. Mr Barford identified it as his property. He took the prisoner into custody and charged her with the theft. The prisoner said she had stolen the cloth to get sold money to “get some drink with but I am sorry for it”. The prisoner was worse for drink at the time. Statement of the accused; she did not steal it and had nothing more to say.

item

Barford, Joseph,
Watkins, Sarah,
Smith, George

LUTON, cloth, stealing, straw plait dealer, dealer in second hand clothes, Luton Back Street