QSR1866/4/5/10-11

Depositions of Thomas Taylor, farm bailif of Luton. William Dalby, farm bailiff of Luton. John King, cooper of Luton. George Smith, police inspector of Luton. Samuel Brace, police constable of Luton. In the case of Daniel Jacobs and James Cain accused of stealing 6 iron buckets, bails and chains.

4 October 1866

From: 1866 To: 1866

Thomas Taylor: a farm bailiff and steward to John Sambrook Crawley Esquire and he lived at Farley Farm, Luton. The prisoner, Jacobs, had worked at the forge for the past 5 years as a general smith. Jacobs had never had permission to make jobs for himself. The materials supplied were Mr Crawley’s and he was there to make them up. From suspicions he had he, in the company of Dalby, went into the shop on 19 September in the absence of Jacobs and looked round. It was after Jacobs had left work in the evening. He found 2 pieces of iron in a part forged state. They appeared to be intended for well buckets. Dalby marked both pieces of iron by his order. Each was marked in 2 places. On the evening of 22 September he, with Dalby again, searched the shop and missed the 2 pieces of iron which Dalby had marked. Police Inspector Smith showed him 2 pieces of iron on the following Monday. The iron marked by Dalby had been 2 straight pieces of iron but the iron had since been worked into iron bows for bucket bails. The chain attached to the bucket bails was very similar to that used in Mr Crawley’s workshop. He believed the other 4 bails were made by the same person and were also Mr Crawley’s property. There were hundreds of yards of similar chain in the workshop which had been used to enclose off the cricket ground. The bails and chains were worth 2s 6d each and altogether 15s. He engaged Jacobs upon a trial and if his work suited he was to stay. Jacobs hours were mentioned and if they were busy he was to stay until 7pm and his wages were to be 22s a week. He had sometimes allowed Jacobs to make a tip for the shoe for any of their men that might lose one but not without his permission. The pieces of iron had been half concealed when they found them. There was also a quantity of bars the same size and the bails were made of. None of the smiths were allowed to do jobs for themselves. He had known Farley Farm for 14 years and had agreed that with Swain the smith before Jacobs. William Dalby: he was bailiff under Mr Taylor of Farley Farm. On the evening of 19 September he went to the forge with Mr Taylor to search it. He found 2 pieces of iron which were straight and hammered out with a hold in the centre as if intended for well bucket bails. They were standing a little back in the corner. He marked them with a file and set them back. On 22 September he went into the forge shop and could not find the iron. The bows of the 2 bucket bails produced were the 2 he had marked. There was also some chain which was similar to that in the forge shop. He believed the other 4 bucket bails to have been made by Jacobs. He had been accustomed to seeing Jacobs work for the past 3 years. The chain was very similar to that which would be put round the cricket ground. Jacobs had a striker to work under him and had management of the shop. He did not know if he had ever seen bails made. The shop was open for anyone to go in. Sometimes Jacobs worked late. Jacobs seldom came in before 6am and generally left about 5.30pm. Jacobs would repair the tools the men broke on the farm. That was allowed and Jacobs had nailed a pair of tips on his shoes, perhaps 3 or 4 times a year. Jacobs did that because he asked him to. The iron used was Mr Crawley’s. He would give Jacobs a pint of beer for doing so or sometimes nothing. Jacobs put tips on for other men. The shop was locked at night and the key taken to Mr Taylor. John King: he was a cooper and lived in Chapel Street, Luton. He had known Jacobs for 7 or 8 years and he had known him when he worked for James Cain. He had many opportunities of knowing Jacob’s work. At the beginning of August he saw Cain who said he had 6 sets of bails if he wanted to buy them. He was offered them for 2s 6d. He did not purchase them. On 13 September he went to Cain and asked him to let him have one of the bails they had spoken about as he needed one that day. The price was not fixed and he went to Cain to pay him on 17 September and offered him 2s. Cain said he would not take that amount unless he took half a dozen of them. He agreed to take them at 2s each. Cain said he would bring them over in the course of an hour and he brought 3 set but said he could not find the others as they might have got behind beer casks. He understood Cain to mean they had come from down the cellar. Cain said he would bring over the others when he found them. The same day he took back one of the chain to have the eye altered. One of Cain’s men altered the eye. From what the man said he asked Cain where he had the bails from and Cain replied he had bought them from Dan Jacobs. He asked how he had come to buy them from Jacobs and Cain replied that Jacobs was allowed to make up overtime. He believed the 6 bails produced were made by Jacobs as the eyes of the bow were made differently to the generality of bails. He later went to Cain and asked if Jacobs really had leave to make them and Cain said Jacobs was, as other smiths had done so before. On 22 September he went to Cain’s house for supper and Cain said he had the other 2 bails. He agreed to have them on the Monday. He went to Cain on Monday to get them and gave Cain 10 shillings. He saw Cain again and Cain said he could get him another half a dozen. He refused and said there was bother enough about those he had. Cain asked why and King said the police had the bails. King said to tell the police that he had the bails from him and they had been made in his shop. He told King if he did that he would be locked up. King said Jacobs had left them for him to sell at 3d profit. Police Inspector Smith came and took the bails. He had agreed 2 shilling with Cain as that was the price he could get them from other tradesmen. He would not have paid 4s for one. All the bails he had for Cain before had eyes which were round. Inspector George Smith: on 24 September he went to John King’s premises where he saw 5 bails and chain. He took 1 of them which he marked and showed to Mr Taylor and Mr Dalby. They identified it by some marks. He met with Jacobs and took him into custody and charged him with stealing 6 bucket bails and selling them to Cain. Jacobs did not reply. He took Cain into custody on 4 October and charged him with receiving the bails knowing them to be stolen. When he had seen Cain on 24 September, Cain had said he had bought the bails from Jacobs for 1s 9d and had sold them to King at 2s each. He said he had them from Jacobs at different times. Jacobs seemed frightened when he met him and seemed struck dumb. PC Samuel Brace: he was the police constable in charge of Luton police station. On 24 September Jacobs was in his custody and said to him that he had found 2 pieces of iron on Farley Road and had taken them to the shop at Farley Farm and made them up and sold them to Cain for 1s 9d each. Jacobs afterwards said he had made them into bails. Jacobs had a key and Mr Taylor came for it. On 29 September Jacobs told him one piece was a square piece and the other a found piece of iron. Statement of the accused: not guilty [both]

item

Jacobs, Daniel,
Cain, James,
Taylor, Thomas,
Dalby, William,
King, John,
Smith, George,
Brace, Samuel,
Crawley, John Sambrook

LUTON, farm bailiff, iron, chain, stealing, cooper, Luton Farley Farm, Luton Chapel Street, smith