QSR1867/1/5/20

Depositions of James Joseph Wood, pastry cook and poulterer of Leighton Buzzard. Ann Cosby, wife of John, keeper of a common lodging house at Leighton Buzzard. George Cambers, police constable stationed at Leighton Buzzard. In the case of John Harrington, a labourer of Leighton Buzzard, accused of stealing a dead turkey.

1 January 1867

From: 1866 To: 1867

James Joseph Wood: there was a stand outside his shop where he put poultry. On 26 December there were a quantity of turkeys on the stand, all picked. The same night he missed a turkey. A police constable came to him about turkeys. He made inquiries and found 2 turkeys to be missing. He went to the police station the following morning and saw a turkey there he knew to be his by the manner in which it was tied and by its crooked breast. The value of the turkey was 15 shilling. The prisoner was a stranger to him. It was common for a turkey to have a crooked breast. Ann Cosby: wife of John and they had a lodging house in Leighton Buzzard. About 6pm on Wednesday 26 December the prisoner, a stranger, came in the bar. The prisoner had a turkey with him and he asked her if she would buy it. She told him she did not want it and the prisoner went to bed at her house. Shortly after PC Cambers came and asked if a man was there. She told him there was one up in bed and that he had wanted her to buy a turkey. She went to her kitchen with the PC and they saw a turkey there on a shelf. She went with the constable to the prisoner’s room and he was in bed. The prisoner was asked how he came by the turkey and he replied that a lady had given it to him in the street. PC George Cambers: on the Wednesday night he received information that a man had been offering a turkey for sale at Cosby’s lodging. He went and saw the turkey in the kitchen there. He went to the prisoner’s room and found him in bed. He asked the prisoner who owned the turkey and he replied that it was his and he had been given it by a lady in the street. He told the prisoner he was charging him with the theft of the turkey and he took the prisoner to the police station. On the way he asked the prisoner where the lady lived. The prisoner replied “a servant girl brought the turkey to me”. He asked the prisoner if he could point out the house and the prisoner replied no. Statement of the accused: nothing to say.

item

Harrington, John,
Wood, James Joseph,
Cosby, Ann,
Cosby, John,
Cambers, George

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, stealing, turkeys, pastry cook, poulterer, lodging house keeper