QSR1838/3/5/15

Depositions - Jonathan Garratt charged with (1) stealng a hive and 24 lbs of honey from Richard Sheard; (2) killing a sheep with intent to steal the carcass

28 May 1838

From: 1838 To: 1838

(1) Theft of hive of bees ---------------------------------- Mary Sheard, wife of Richard Sheard of Marston Moretaine, farmer – about 2 months ago she missed a beehive from an orchard adjoining their house. She knows Garratt who lives near them. She counted the bee hive one of the best of her hives. There was a quantity of honey and a good stock of bees in it. Yesterday morning George Monk sent for him to Garratt’s house to look at a hive. She is sure it is the hive she missed – it had been broken at the bottom and she had mended it and she knew it by her mark. George Monk of Marston Moretaine, constable – nearly 12 months ago he hived a swarm of bees for Mrs Sheard. He was obliged to wait for the hive while Mrs Sheard was mending it and took particular notice of it. He remembers hearing about 2 months ago that Mrs Sheard had lost the hive. Yesterday at about 8am he went to the house of Jonathan Garratt and saw the hive standing in a bit of garden belonging to his house. He recognised it directly and told Mrs Sheard. He then went to Garratt and asked where he got the hive of bees. Garratt said he bought them from James Halsworth at Michaelmas time. He went for Halsworth who in front of Garratt said he had never sold him any hive of bees. Garratt said to Halsworth “you know you did sell me a hive – did not you?” Halsworth said he never did. James Halsworth of Marston Moretaine, labourer – he never sold Garratt a hive of bees. (2) Theft of sheep carcass ----------------------------------------- Philip Hart Henman, constable of Marston Moretaine – that morning he went to Garratt’s house in the parish of Wootton, which is only separated from the parish of Marston by a ditch. He went to search for mutton supposed to have been stolen. Garratt was not at home. He did not find any mutton, but found a sack on a bed in the house which was very bloody inside. The blood appeared fresh although it was dry. George Monk, constable of Marston Moretaine – yesterday about 1pm having heard that Mr Barnard Dimmock’s shepherd had found some mutton he went to him and was shown it. There were bits of the neck, breast and loin, a bit of a leg and a bit of a shoulder. They seemed to be all cut up into bits for cooking, not as a butcher would have cut them. They were all raw. They appeared to be parts of the same carcass. In the morning he patterned the meat with mutton found in the house of Joseph Valentine. The kidney found at Valentine’s exactly fitted part of the loin delivered to him by the shepherd. The kidney and suet had been torn out of the loin. Part of the breast delivered by the shepherd patterned with another part of a breast found at Valentine’s. He is sure they are all part of the same carcass. William Pilgrim of Wootton, shepherd – he is shepherd to Barnard Dimmock of Wootton, farmer, whose farm is partly in Marston and partly in Wootton. He knows Garratt who lives in a house near the boundary between the parishes and adjoining Dimmock’s land. Last Sunday evening he was out with his dog when his dog found some mutton in some bushes in a double hedge more than 200 yards from Garratt’s house. He took the mutton away from the dog. He took them to his master’s and then to Mr Monk’s. John Hill of Wootton, shoemaker – he knows Garratt. Last Friday night (May 25) about 6pm he went into the Fox beer house at Marston. He spoke to Garratt who told him he had a pair of shoes on his feet which he had taken to two shoemakers that day to be mended, and neither of them could mend them. He looked at the shoes, and asked why Garratt did not send them to him as he had been an old customer of his. Garratt said he thought he would not mend them if he had sent them. He told Garratt he would do them next moring if he wanted to send them over. About 10pm he saw Garratt and Valentine at the Chequers in Marston. He did not speak to them. On Saturday morning Garratt’s wife brought the shoes. He is sure they were the same shoes he saw on Garratt’s feet - they were made in his shop and he had since resoled them. He did not see the shoes on Saturday, or until yesterday when Philip Hill, one of the constables of Wootton came to look at them. He then saw there was blood on the shoes and some wool sticking to the soles of each. He cannot say whether it was there when the shoes were brought on Saturday. Philip Hill of Wootton, constable – he received the shoes yesterday from John Hill. He remarked the blood and wool on them. They have been in his custody ever since. Sarah Hill, wife of John Hill of the parish of Wootton, shoemaker – Garratt’s wife brought a pair of men’s high shoes to her husband’s house to be mended. Her husband was not at home. When he came home she told him where the shoes were in the shop. On Sunday about 2pm she saw the same shoes in her husband’s hands. He was looking at them with Philip Hill.

item

Garratt, Jonathan,
Sheard, Richard,
Sheard, Mary,
Monk, George,
Halsworth, James,
Henman, Philip Hart,
Hill, John,
Hill, Philip,
Pilgrim, William,
Dimmock, Barnard,
Hill, Sarah

MARSTON MORETAINE, WOOTTON, stealing, bees, bee-keeping, honey, farmer, constable, shoemaker, shepherd, Marston Moretaine Chequers, Marston Moretaine Fox