QSR1867/3/5/13

Depositions of Thomas Bransome, labourer of Houghton Regis. Thomas Spittal, shoemaker of Houghton Regis. Emily Waller, straw plaiter of Houghton Regis. Susannah Robinson, straw plaiter of Houghton Regis. Mary Ann Duncomb, straw plaiter of Houghton Regis. Charles Cyril Hicks, surgeon of Dunstable. Witness on behalf of the prisoner: Thomas Squires, innkeeper of Houghton Regis. John Pratt, labourer of Houghton Regis and William Brimley, police constable of Houghton Regis. In the case of Alfred Pratt aacused of the malicious wounding of Thomas Bransome with a stick.

24 May 1867

From: 1867 To: 1867

Thomas Bransome: on the night of Saturday 11 May or early on the morning of Sunday 12 May, he was standing against Mr Pratt’s butcher’s shop in Houghton Regis. He was talking to some girls. There was a row going on close by but he was no part of it. It was a fight between the navvies and some of the inhabitants of the village. Whilst the row was going on the prisoner came up to him with a stick in his hand and said “you white slopped navvie” or something like that and the prisoner hit him with his hand or the great knobbed stick on the temple and knocked him down senseless. He was not sensible again until 2am when he found himself in his lodging at the Red Lion in Houghton Regis. He had been under the doctor for treatment to the blow since and he was still very ill. He was quite sure it was the prisoner who knocked him down. He had known the prisoner since Christmas. He said nothing to the prisoner before he knocked him down. [cross examination by prisoner] he did not call him anything besides a “white slopped navvie” and he had not gone to strike him. He was just off the Causeway when he was struck. He did not say to the prisoner that he was the one who had knocked him down. He did not know who knocked the prisoner down. He had just come down the street and was not drunk but had taken some beer. He had not been to work that day. He did not recall seeing the prisoner that day and was quite sure he had not attempted to strike the prisoner. He did not think the prisoner would hit him although he did say “I’ll knock you down”. He had been standing near Pratt’s for 2 minutes. He had going towards the row but had not got to it. He had come down the path or Causeway not down the road. He did not go towards the prisoner. [cross examination by the attorney for the prisoner] He had on a white jacket and a cap. A week later the prisoner said he thought he had been the man who hit him. He did not hear the prisoner say anything. Thomas Spittel: he was a boot and shoemaker of Houghton Regis. On the morning of Sunday 12 May, about 1am, he had been standing in the High street between the Folly yard and Pratt’s butcher shop. Alfred Pratt was there. He heard Pratt say that he would fight any navvy on the line for a pound. He saw Pratt go up to Bransome and call him another b____ navvy and then hit him on the head with a stick. It knocked Bransome down. The stick broke and he picked up a bit of it. It was a big stick, as big as a chair leg. [cross examination by the attorney for the prisoner] he had been seen by Pratt and Bransome. He had been stood in the road to see what was doing. He was there about an hour. There had been a row going on. He had talked to Brinkley part of the time. He gave the stick to the man that asked him for it. He did not know who the man was, how he dressed or how old he was. He knew the person was no a man on the line. Peter Day, a navvy from Chalton said the one he had given the stick to had gone away. He did not know how Day knew the man. He believed it was Wednesday when Brimley came and asked him about it. He did not see Bransome go towards Pratt. When Pratt spoke about another b____ navvy he was close enough to strike Bransome. He had not heard Bransome say anything. He did not hear Pratt say to Bransome that he was the navvy who had hit him. He thought 3 girls had taken Bransome home. He did not know what became of Pratt. He had offered to fight Alfred Pratt that night for a punch of the head when he had been threatened by Pratt. Emily Waller: she was a plaiter and a single woman living at Houghton Regis. About 1am on the morning of Sunday 12 May she was down the street opposite Mr Coopers, the tithe barn between the Folly and Pratt’s butchers shop. She was talking to Thomas Bransome, Susannah Robinson and Mary Ann Duncomb. Pratt came past and said he would fight the best b____ navvy that worked on the line for a pound. Thomas Bransome and Alfred Pratt met each other. Bransome asked who Pratt meant. Pratt struck him with a stick and said ‘that’s the man that struck me’. He hit Bransome on the left side of his face. Bransome fell down, then got up and went up the street a little way. She went home with him. [cross examination by the prisoner’s attorney] they were walking towards each other when Bransome said “who do you mean?” 2 more girls besides her had taken him home. She did not go inside his home with him. She left him in the Chequers Yard where he lodged. [cross examination by the bench] there was not a fight going on. There had been before Pratt struck Bransome. Maybe an hour. Spittel had been there but he did not see him after the man was struck. Susannah Robinson: she was a plaiter and a single woman living at Houghton Regis. About 1am on the morning of Sunday 12 May she was down the street between the Folly and Pratt’s butchers shop. Thomas Bransome, Miss Waller and Miss Duncomb were with her. She saw Alfred Pratt come past and say he would fight the best b____ navvy on the line for a pound. Bransome and Pratt met each other and Pratt struck him with a stick. It knocked Bransome down and Pratt said that he had been the man who had hit him. Bransome went home. Miss Waller, Miss Duncombe and herself had taken him. [cross examination by the prisoner’s attorney] she heard a disturbance in the street and went out. She didn’t see Spittel. Bransome was close to them. She could see across the road and it was not a very dark night. She believed the row had begun at 11pm. She went to Bransome’s lodging with him and he talked to them for a little. Mary Ann Duncombe: she was a plaiter and a single woman living at Houghton Regis. About 1am on the morning of Sunday 12 May she was down the street opposite the tithe barn between the Folly and Pratt’s butchers shop. She was talking to Thomas Bransome, Susannah Robinson and Emily Waller. Alfred Pratt came past and said he would fight the best navvy for a pound. Bransome said who did he mean and Pratt struck him on the side of the head with a stick. Bransome fell down and when he got up her, Waller and Robinson went home with him. [cross examination by the prisoner’s attorney] she heard a row about 11pm and went out to see. She did not know George Spittel. She was near Bransome when she saw the blow. She did not see Thomas Spittel. Charles Cyril Hicks: he was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and in practice at Dunstable. He was called in to see Bransome about 6pm on Sunday 12 May. He saw Bransome at the Chequers public house in Houghton Regis. Bransome was suffering from a contusion on the left templar region. There was no evidence of concussion of the brain. He attended Bransome for 4 or 5 days during that time and there were no unfavourable symptoms. He had not attended him since. There had been a slight abrasion of the skin and the wound may have been caused by a blow from a stick. [cross examination by the bench] he would not say there was no damage but as far as he could judge there was no injury to the brain. Bransome was afterwards attended by Mr Frederick Farr, the parish doctor. The blow was over the temple bone. It may have caused very serious consequences. Statement of the accused: nothing. Witnesses on behalf of the prisoner – Thomas Squires: he kept the Swan public house at Houghton Regis. On the night of Saturday 11 May, Alfred Pratt came to his house about 8.45pm and had a glass of ale. He took a pint away for his mother and came back and had a pint and went into the Tap Room. Some 6 or 7 navvies drank with him. They talked about fighting. A man called “Darkey” said he’d fight Pratt. Pratt said he sooner stand a treat than fight and said to bring a pint at his expense. Darkey drank it and turned round and knocked Pratt down. There were 3 more upon Pratt in a minute and he went in and tried to pull them off but a navvy held him whilst they were on Pratt. Brimley, the police constable, came in. He told him to open the door and they all went out. It was about 11.15pm. [cross examination by the bench] Darkey was not unlike Bransome. John Pratt: he was a labourer at Houghton Regis and was no relation to Alfred Pratt. About 1am on the Sunday morning Alfred Pratt said to Bransome that he was the man who had hit him. He did not know if Bransome made a reply. He heard a blow and Bransome fall. PC William Brimley: he went into the Swan about 11.30 on 11 May and saw Alfred Pratt sitting on one of the forms bleeding from the nose. A navvy had got hold of the landlord. He laid hold of the navvy and got Pratt outside and told him to go home. There was no doubt Pratt had been struck. Pratt went away. There was a row with some navvies and he came back flourishing a stick.

item

Pratt, Alfred,
Bransome, Thomas,
Spittal, Thomas,
Waller, Emily,
Robinson, Susannah,
Duncomb, Mary Ann,
Hicks, Charles Cyril,
Farr, Frederick,
Squires, Thomas,
Brimley, William,
Pratt, John

HOUGHTON REGIS, DUNSTABLE, wounding, assault, straw plaiter, shoemaker, surgeon, butcher, railway worker, doctor, innkeeper, Houghton Regis Swan, Houghton Regis Chequers