QSR1865/3/5/28

Depositions of Benjamin Hopkins of Grovebury Farm, Leighton Buzzard. Wiliam King, labourer in the employment of Benjamin Hopkins and resident in the same location. William Champkins, police constable stationed at Leighton Buzzard. Charles Powell, veterinary surgeon of Heath & Reach. In the case of William Wannerton accused of wounding 4 cows.

13 June 1865

From: 1865 To: 1865

Benjamin Hopkins: a farmer living at Grovebury Farm. William Wannerton had been in his service as a cowman since Michaelmas last. Wannerton alone had attended to the cows at Clappin Ground cow house. On 3 June Wannerton attend the cows as usual and 9 in his charge. On 3 June Hopkins left home for 2 days, returning on Monday 5 June. To the best of his belief the cows were all right when he left. On returning home he saw one of the heifers and its leg was dreadfully swollen. The next morning he saw the same heifer with a swollen side. He saw that the skin had been broken on the other side as if from a blow with a sharp piece of wood. He looked at another heifer in the same cow house and saw a sore place on its side. He called the prisoner’s attention to it. The prisoner looked at it and said nothing was the matter. He accused Wannerton of knocking the heifer about and the prisoner denied it. Afterwards he saw another of the heifers with its leg dreadfully swollen. There were marks on its leg as if it had been kicked with heavy boots. The skin was broken. Another heifer was in a bad state and could hardly walk about. On Tuesday 6 June he asked the prisoner how the legs of the heifer had become swollen. The prisoner said “when I was milking the heifer she kicked. I put my hand between her legs and she fell down”. He had already asked the prisoner for how long the heifer had had a swollen leg and had been told 2 or 3 days. On the evening of 6 June the prisoner absconded from his service and he did not see him again until he was in custody. He obtained a warrant against the prisoner. On Saturday 18 June he saw the prisoner at the station house. The prisoner had sent for him. The prisoner said he was very sorry that he had done it and he wanted him to go as easy as he could on him. He asked the prisoner why he had done it and he replied that a heifer had kicked him as he walked by. He asked the prisoner how he had done it and the prisoner said “I knocked them about with the milking stool”. He said something to the prisoner about a bludgeon he had found outside the cow house and the prisoner said the reason there was blood on the bludgeon was because he had used it to take the cows clean out. He had never had words with the prisoner and could not imagine why he should injury his cows. William King: a labourer employed by the prosecutor and was one of his cowmen. On 7 June about 4am he lit the prisoner under a hedge and asked him what he was doing there at that time of the morning. The prisoner said “There is a bit of a tiff between master and me”. He tried to persuade the prisoner to go back to his cows. The prisoner said he could not for fear that the policeman should take him and he would stay away a few days in the hope it would blow over. When he saw his master at breakfast that morning he told him some of the cows had been injured. He saw 2 of the cows; one had a swollen leg and the other a bad place on her side which was swollen and hard. He did not see the skin broken. PC William Champkins: on 7 June he went to Slapton in Buckinghamshire and apprehended the prisoner. He told the prisoner he was charged with wilfully injuring some cows on Friday or Saturday. The prisoner said it was not Friday and he had never worked for Mr Hopkins. He told the prisoner he would detain him and did so. He had asked the prisoner his name before apprehending him and the prisoner made no reply. On 9 June he went to Grovebury Farm and into the cow house where the prisoner had worked. He found the bludgeon which had blood and hair upon it. The next afternoon he saw the prisoner at the station house. The prisoner said he had never knocked the cows about before and that the cows were very tiresome. The prisoner asked to see Mr Hopkins. Charles Powell: a veterinary surgeon. On the evening of 6 June he saw the prosecutors cows in the cow house at Grovebury Farm. He found 4 of the cows injured, 2 severely. One of the cows was injured on both sides and there was a scab as a result of a serve bruise. The other side was much bruised without abrasion. The hind legs were also swollen from bruises. The scab on the side appeared 3 or 4 days old. Another of the cows had bruises sides and bruised hind legs and 1 fore leg. The skin on the legs was slightly scratched. Another of the cows was bruised. The bludgeon produced was the likely instrument to have caused the bruises. Statement of the accused: he did not wish to say anything.

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Wannerton, William,
Hopkins, Benjamin,
King, William,
Champkins, William,
Powell, Charles

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, Leighton Buzzard Grovebury Farm, HEATH & REACH, veterinary surgeon, wounding, cows