QSR1891/2/5/1

Depositions of Robert Hill, Butter Dealer of Houghton; Edward Henry Harrison, Porter on the Great Northern Railway at Sandy; Ann Eldridge, widow and Grocer in Stevenage; Mary Ann Blow, wife of Joseph Blow from Stevenage; Charles Boutell, Sergeant of Police at Stevenage; Elizabeth Smith, wife of Thomas Smith a Farmer in Gosperton Cheal near Spalding, Lincolnshire; Elizabeth Hill, widow and butter dealer in Spalding; James Roberts, Railway Guard from Peterborough; Frederick Smith, Superintendent of Police at Biggleswade. In the case of Mary Ann Eversden, wife of John Eversden of Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, accused of stealing 20lbs weight of butter of the value of £1 6s 8d.

7 January 1891

From: 1891 To: 1891

Robert Hill: a Butter Dealer living at Houghton in Huntingdonshire, attended Sandy with butter on the 10th December and on that morning about 8.30 left about 20lbs weight of butter, packed in a cloth in a box, on the Sandy Station in the usual way for Mr Crawley, a Grocer of Sandy to call for – his name was pencilled on the box lid. The butter had been purchased from Mrs I. Smith of Gosperton near Cheal Spalding and was identified in court as being a portion of that left on Sandy Station on the 10th. He valued the 20lbs of stolen butter at £1 6s 8d – there was 17lbs of Mrs Smith’s butter in the box and the other 3lbs was different. He saw the butter, produced in court, at Stevenage – 12lbs in Ann Eldridge’s shop and 2lbs in another shop. On 11th December he went to St Neots Market where he saw the prisoner in a cart and asked if she had seen the butter he left at the Station the previous day and she said she had not. On the following Monday he saw her at St Ives Market and she asked his mother, who was with him, if they had found the butter – he said no. He said he had regularly bought butter from Mrs Smith for the last 6 years – the butter is marked with Mrs Smith’s mark. He said that he attends 5 markets a week selling butter and knows of no one except Mrs Smith who uses this mark and that he bought this butter on 9th December. When he left the butter on Sandy platform he went on to London by the train between 8.30 and 9.00am, he saw some baskets near his. He said the 4lbs of butter produced by Sergeant Boutell were the same kind as those he left on the platform, he also produced 1lb that he had bought from Ann Eldridge at Stevenage for 1s 5d. [cross examination by Mr Clare] He said that he had not personally purchased that butter from Mrs Smith as he was not in Spalding on 9th December. He said he knows Mrs Smith very well but not the amount of butter she makes. His mother showed him that purchase on the evening of 9th December – she had bought between 300 and 400lbs from Spalding but only 17lbs of it was from Mrs Smith and had come in Mrs Smith’s own basket. On the 10th he and his mother had left Huntingdon for London with the 17lbs in the box, they did not get out at Sandy as he had asked that someone put out the box and saw that it was put out on the platform close to the bookstall. He said he gave no instructions as to the box of butter – Crawley should have been there to meet it – he usually does but was not there then – the butter then waits on the platform till Crawley comes for it. [re-examined] He said that he delivers butter on sandy Platform every week for Crawley. [recalled] The box produced was handed to him by the Booking Clerk of the G.N.R. at Sandy. He said he last saw that box before on December 10th when he left it on Sandy Platform. Edward Henry Harrison: a Porter on the Great Northern Railway at Sandy. He said that on 10th December 1890 the defendant alighted from the 8.32am up train at Sandy and there were two boxes and a small hamper put out of the brake van for her which he took and placed upon a seat on the platform while she went out into Sandy. She came back between 10 and eleven and after the arrival of the 11.22am up train he went on to the platform and saw the defendant seated in a third class compartment. The defendant said to him “Bring my things in here”. He then saw there were 3 boxes and a small hamper – one beside the two he had put there – they were all labelled “Sandy” with the company’s label. He put all three boxes and the basket into the compartment with the defendant who made no remark as to whether the boxes were hers – the boxes were similar to the ones produced. He said he believed that the one produced was one of them. He took one box and the hamper, another man, one of the company’s laborers, brought the two other boxes and put them into the compartment with her – there was no one else in the compartment. [cross examination] he said he was sure there was no one else in the compartment. He was on the other platform when the train drew up. He believed no one was talking to her – she was in the compartment with the door open – there was a man came to help bring the things – William Webb a company’s laborer was close by her compartment – he took the first box and hamper and Webb brought the other two. He said the two boxes produced were like the two Webb brought to her. He said that all three boxes were not standing together on the platform – the two boxes and the hamper which he had taken as Mrs Eversden’s luggage in the morning and put on the seat were still on the seat where he had left them, the other box was about 2 yards off on the platform itself. Mrs Eversden had said to him, “porter bring me my things” and he had begun to take them. Ann Eldridge: On Wednesday 10th December 1890 the defendant came to her shop about 1.30 o’clock with a basket of fresh butter – she purchased 12lbs off her and gave her 14 shillings for it – she had dealt with her for years. On 13th December Mr Hill came into her shop and she showed him the butter that she had bought – some time afterwards Sgt. Boutell came and she handed him 11lbs of fresh butter – the butter was marked up the middle. She sold Mr Hill 1lb. [cross examination] She said she had always found the defendant straightforward and believed her to be a respectable woman. She said she owed her 14 shillings for the butter she had supplied the previous week and that she didn’t tell her that butter was 1 penny a pound dearer that week. [re-examined] She said she could not say whether she had bought butter from Mrs Eversden before of the same brand as the butter produced as she had bought butter from her of many brands. Charles Boutell: Sergeant of the Police stationed at Stevenage said that on the 13th December he went with the prosecutor Robert Hill to the shop kept by Mrs Ann Eldridge where there was a quantity of about 11lbs of butter which Mr Hill identified as his property. He took possession of the butter and now produced it for the hearing. He then went to Mr Joseph Blow’s house and was shown another 2lbs of butter by Mr Blow’s daughter, which Mr Hill identified, and he took possession of that. The same evening 3 more pounds of butter were brought to the Police Station at Stevenage from Mrs Blow – the whole of the butter bore the same brand. He saw Mrs Blow on the following Monday Elizabeth Smith: wife of Thomas Smith, Farmer of Gosperton Cheal near Spalding, Lincolnshire said that she made butter with only one kind of brand – a very old one. She supplied 19lbs of butter to the prosecutor on the 9th December – she had also supplied him with a quantity the week before all the same brand. She said that she only supplies to him and he has all her make – she confirmed that the butter produced was her brand. [cross examination] She confirmed that she sold 19lbs to Mr Hill and that she does not supply anyone else with butter. Elizabeth Hill: widow and Butter Dealer together with her son, said she was at Spalding on 9th December and bought 19lbs of butter from Mrs Smith at 1s 3d a pound. She brought 17lbs of it home having sold 2lbs to a gentleman on the train. She packed the 17lbs in a box with 3lbs (other) – she said the box produced was the one - which she could swear to as it was the last box mended by her husband before his death. She brought the box of butter with her and her son to Sandy on 10th December on the excursion train between 8.30 and 9.00am on her way to London. Her son handed the box to her and she gave it to a gentleman in the carriage who handed it out to Mr Barringer – she saw him set it down on the platform a little way from the bookstall. She confirmed that the butter produced was that bought from Mrs Smith and packed in the box. The next day at St Neots market she saw Mrs Eversden and asked her if she had brought the box of butter that was on Sandy Platform – she replied that she had not seen any and asked if Mrs Hill had lost some – she said yes. [cross examination] She said she buys largely at Spalding but doesn’t sell there. [cross examination by Bench] She said she sold the butter she bought from Mrs Smith the week before to Crawley who was to have had this – he always takes this dairy unless there is a larger quantity than he wants – sometimes he takes 50lbs a week if Mrs Smith has made that quantity. [cross examination] She said she sold the 2lbs to a gentleman between Spalding and Peterborough to whom she has sold butter before – he left the train at Peterborough. James Roberts: Railway Guard living at Peterborough said that on 10th December by the 11.22 from Sandy to Welwyn when at Welwyn he had handed a similar box to the one produced to the Station Master, which he had found under a seat in a third class compartment on the train. The box was light – he didn’t think there was anything in it – he didn’t notice any difference in the weight of it now to then. Frederick Smith: Superintendent of Police at Biggleswade said on 18th December he served Mrs Eversden with a summons to appear to answer this charge. She said that she had never stolen any butter – that she had no butter but her own and could tell him where she had sold it at Stevenage. He produced the box received from the prosecution that morning. [cross examination] He said he knew where the butter had been sold at the time he served her – he did not ask her where she had sold her butter after she told him that she could tell him where she sold it. Additional Evidence [unsigned]: Arthur Upchurch: Porter on the Great Northern Railway at Hitchin said on or about 10th December 1890 he was waiting for the 3.35pm down train due to leave Welwyn at 3.17 - remembered there was no box on the platform just before the train arrived but directly it had gone he saw a box like the one produced on the platform – it was a Keens mustard box with a Coleman’s lid down at one end the same as the one produced and had a Sandy label on. By direction of the Station Master he put a St Neots label on it and put it into the Break of the 5.48 train due to arrive at St neots at 6.30pm. He believed the one produced to be the same. Charles Gudgin: Porter on the Great Northern Railway at St Neots said on December 10th 1890 he received the box produced by 6.30pm train due to leave Hitchin at 5.48 – he took it into the Booking Office – he noticed it was a Keen’s mustard box with a Coleman’s lid and down at one end as now. James Ainger: Booking Clerk at St Neots Station, Great northern railway said that on 10th December 1890 the box produced was brought into the booking office - on 13th December 1890 in consequence of receiving an enquiry note he put the label (still) on the box and sent it by train to Sandy. William Albert Crossley: Booking clerk at Sandy station said that in consequence of information received he sent an enquiry note to St Neots station on 13th December 1890 and received the box produced from there on the same day. He handed it to the prosecutor Robert Hill about 8pm the same night. George Crawley: Grocer from Sandy said on Wednesday 10th December 1890 he was expecting a quantity of butter from Mrs Hill of Houghton Hunts as he was in the habit of having butter from her every week. On that day he received information that his butter was at the railway station at Sandy. He went there in the evening but could find no package – he then sent a letter to Mrs Hill complaining that the butter had not reached him. He said that he only sold butter by retail – it is very rare that he sells more than 1 or 2 lbs at a time but never more than 6lbs. He said that he had never sold butter to Mrs Eversden or her husband and that he only bought butter from Mrs Hill. John Cook Lacey: Porter on G. N. Railway at Welwyn said he was attending the 12.08 up train at Welwyn which leaves Sandy at 11.22am and saw Guard Roberts take an empty box exactly like the one produced from a third class compartment and put it on the platform. He said the station master was present and that he saw it was a Keens Mustard box with a Coleman’s lid on it with one end down, the same as the one produced, with a Sandy label on it. He took it into the office and afterwards put it into the 3.19pm train due to arrive at Hitchin at 3.35pm. Statement of the accused: She said she reserved her defence. “ I don’t call witnesses today”

23 pages

item

Hill, Robert,
Harrison, Edward Henry,
Eldridge, Ann,
Blow, Mary Ann,
Boutell, Charles,
Smith, Elizabeth,
Hill, Elizabeth,
Roberts, James,
Smith, Frederick,
Eversden, Mary Ann,
Webb, William,
Upchurch, Arthur,
Gudgin, Charles,
Ainger, James,
Crossley, William Albert,
Crawley, George,
Lacey, John Cook

SANDY, Stevenage, Spalding, Great Northern Railway Company, porter, butter, butterman, stealing, Peterborough, station master, larceny, St Neots, Hitchin, Welwyn