QSR1836/4/5/18-19

Depositions and examinations - William Snoxall charged wtih stealing a wether sheep from John Bates, and William Scrivener charged with receiving part of it knowing it to be stolen

12 September 1836

From: 1836 To: 1836

John Bates of Biscot in the parish of Luton, farmer – yesterday morning he lost a wether sheep from a fold in a field he occupies in Luton parish called Deadman Pond. The shepherd missed it and brought the skin home to him. He got a search warrant against Snoxall whom he suspected of taking it. He went with Mr Butlin to Sundon. Mr Charles Tomson and Mr Butlin went to search Snoxall’s house. He went round the village with the horses. AS he was going round he saw Scrivener come out of a house with a very large pie, smoking hot. He followed Scrivener to a cottage which heentered. He went in after Scrivener and told him he had lost a sheep and he supposed Scrivener had got part of the mutton under the crust. Scrivener’s wife said “father, what did you go to etch that pie for. I thought you would be suspected”. She said she would tell the whole truth. She said they were in bed and that Snoxall called at their window and asked Scrivener for some tobacco. Snoxall then gave Scrivener a shoulder of mutton in at the window. Scrivener admitted this was true. He asked the woman if she had put all the mutton in the pie. She said she had not and there was a piece left. He asked her if she would fetch it. She said that was all she had in the house. He asked Mr Tomson, who had then come in, to search the house. Under a straw bed there were 3 or 4 more pieces of mutton. Two of them did not belong to his sheep but were quite a different sort. They then took Scrivener into custody. The skin which his shepherd brought to him belonged to one of his sheep. He had since had it compared by 2 butchers with the mutton found at Snoxall’s and Scrivener’s houses and it matches exactly. He asked Scrivener where the lower part of the shoulder which was cut off from the skin was and he said it was in the pi. They later found it there and fitted it. The reason he suspected Snoxall is that he is in the habit of carrying a stick on his shoulder with a large flag basket. He suspected the stick found in the fold to be Snoxall’s stick. Benjamin Chaplin had informed him that he had seen Snoxall near the place on Saturday and had heard he had been late at Luton that night. Thomas Butlin of Luton, innkeeper – he went with Mr Bates to Sundon to search Snoxall’s house. He called on Mr Tomson and went into the house with him. He told Snoxall he must take him into custody. He kept charge of Snoxall while Mr Tomson went with Mr Bates to search another house. When Mr Tomson returned he stood at the door while he went into the bed room. There they found one whole hind quarter of mutton and the loin of another, and the meat cut off of 2 breasts. They later searched a pot boiling on the fire and found a leg and a shoulder of mutton. Then shank bone of the leg was cut off at the joint. They took the meat down to the public house. They got a cart and brought the 2 prisoners and the meat found in Snoxall’s house and a pie found in Scriventer’s house. Scrivener told him on the road that the shoulder in the pie was given to him by Snoxall, and that there were 2 bits which did not belong to Mr Bates sheep. He opened the pie this morning and found part belonging to the shoulder which exactly fits the bottom part which was left in the skin. Richard Stokes of Limbury in the parish of Luton, victualler – he knows Snoxall. He met him last Saturday about 2 o’clock near the Biscott windmill going towards Luton. Snoxall had the basket now produced with mushrooms in it and a nut hayle stick. Thomas Cole of Luton, butcher – this morning he was sent for by Mr Butlin to look at the skin of a sheep and compare it with some mutton. He did so and found that various joints, fat and meat fitted exactly to the parts still attached to the skin. When he came into the room at Mr Butlin’s Mr Crawley and Mr Butlin were there. He saw Mr Butlin open the pie and saw 2 pieces of meat which did not belong to the same sheep – both were part of the neck. He knows Snoxall. He saw him about 2pm on Saturday near his shop. He saw Snoxall deliver some water cresses to George Nicholls out of a basket. The basket was very large and mended like the basket no produced. John Crawley of Luton, butcher – he was present this morning and compared the mutton now produced with the skin. It fitted exactly. Thomas Wilson of Luton – he keeps the Royal Oak at Leagrave. He knows Snoxall. On Thursday night Snoxall was at his house. Someday said they could earn 8s a week and he said they were damned fools for doing it, he could earn more than that before they were up. Benjamin Chapling of Luton, miller – on Thursday night he saw William Snoxall at the Royal Oak at Leagrave and heard him boast that he could live without work, and what fools labouring men were to work for such low wages. On Saturday about mid day he saw Snoxall in a field of Mr Bates close by the windmill. He stopped there some time and loitered about standing and sitting. Snoxall had a basket on his shoulder. Yesterday he was with Mr Bates at Scrivener’s house and brought the pie out of the house. He did not lose sight of it until it was delivered to Mr Butlin at Paynes public house. James Harris – he keeps the Dukes Head at Luton and knows Snoxall who was at his house on Saturday night. Snoxall came there in the evening and left about 11pm. Snoxall had a basket with him and a stick. The basket is like the basket now produced. Snoxall asked his wife for his stick as he went out but she did not have time to look for it. James Martin of Luton, shepherd – he is shepherd to mr Bates. On Sunday morning he missed a wether sheep out of the fold. There were 48 sheep and 4 lambs on Saturday night. The skin was left in the fold with part of the bones as now produced. He took the skin to his master. He could see footsteps of one man from the hurdles. He can swear the skin belonged to one of his master’s sheep, which he knows by the form of its head. He found a stick (now produced) standing by the hurdles. Charles Tomson of Sundon, farmer – yesterday morning he was called out of church by Mr Butlin and Mr Bates. They said they had got a search warrant to search the prisoner Snoxall’s house. He went with Mr Butlin. Mr Bates came in and said a man had brought a mutton pie into the adjoining cottage. He went there with Mr Bates. He asked the woman what was in the pie. She said partly mutton, which Smoxall had put into the window last night. She said all the mutton was in the pie. Mr Bates pointed with a stick at a piece hanging in the sleeping room which he reached down. They then searched the house and in moving the bed they found several pieces under some straw. He tied them up in a cloth and carried them to Snoxall’s house. They are the pieces now produced in the cloth. He then went into Snoxall’s house and proceeded to search it. He searched the room while Mr Butlin stood at the door. He found the whole of 2 hind quarters except one leg hanging in the bedroom with a cloth hanging in front of it. The other pieces were hanging a little further on. They then searched a pot that was boiling on the fire and found a shoulder and a leg in it. The leg was divided at the joint. He brought all the uncooked meat out of the house in a flag basket and saw it put into the cart. He came home with it to Luton and saw it locked up in Mr Butlin’s coach office. Snoxall was in the house and they took him into custody. They saw no mutton in the hosue except the pieces now produced. He has no doubt the mutton taken from Snoxall’s house was taken from the sheep lost by Mr Bates, but 2 pieces taken from Scrivener’s do not belong to the same sheep. William Scrivener – his wife bought the two pieces of mutton at Chalton and Snoxall gave him the other in at the window on Saturday night. He does not know what time but Snoxall told him it was between 4 and 5am.

item

Snoxall, William,
Scrivener, William,
Butlin, Thomas,
Stokes, Richard,
Cole, Thomas,
Nicholls, George,
Crawley, John,
Wilson, Thomas,
Chapling, Benjamin,
Harris, James,
Bates, John,
Tomson, Charles,
Martin, James

LUTON, SUNDON, LIMBURY, LEAGRAVE, Biscot, Luton Biscot Mill, stealing animals, sheep, mutton, farmer, innkeeper, victualler, butcher, miller, shepherd, windmills, mushrooms, watercress, Leagrave Royal Oak, Luton Dukes Head