QSR1869/1/5/2

Depositions of John Adcock, labourer of Luton. Jonathan Seymour, farmer of Luton. Thomas Bradshaw, police constable of Leagrave. In the case of William Pinner accused of stealing a quantity of barley and within 6 months stealing a further quantity of barley.

17 November 1868

From: 1868 To: 1869

John Adcock: he was foreman to Mr Jonathan Seymour of Bury Farm, Luton and he resided there. On Friday 30 October the prisoner was working for his master and he was carrying threshed barley from the machine into the barn. The prisoner shot it out of the sacks on to the floor. That night there were about 60 or 70 quarters of barley shot loose onto the barn floor. He fastened the back of the doors of the barn with a chain staple and fork tyne the same night and locked the front door and took the key into his own possession. He unlocked the barn the next morning and went in and found the back door had been forced open. The staple was drawn and the tyne of the fork forced out. The door had been forced open from the outside. The barley left in the barn had some white wheat in it. The barley was land with had grown the white wheat the previous year. He was present when PC Bradshaw took about a sample out of the bulk in the barn. The barley produced was in every respect like the barley he had locked up in the barn on 30 October. On 9 November the prisoner was also taking barley from the thrashing machine into the barn, it was a stouter barley than that threshed on 30 October. He did not see the prisoner leave work on 9 November. The barley produced was the same sort, quality and dressed in the same way and that taken into the barn on 9 November. Jonathan Seymour: he was a farmer and lived at Bury Farm, Luton. On Friday 30 October the prisoner was working for him and he was carrying barley from the machine into the barn and shooting it onto the floor. The following morning from what Adcock told him he went to the barn and found the back door had been broken open and the staple drawn out. There were marks of violence on the door showing entrance had been affected from outside. On 9 November the prisoner was also in his employment. The prisoner was carting barley into the barn from the machine as before. He saw the prisoner last in the barn about 5pm. On 30 October the barley the prisoner took into the barley was rather thing and contained some white wheat. On 10 November he saw 2 qualities of barley at the police station. The larger bulk was in a sack and the similar one was in a bag. The one in the sack appeared the same as he had in his barn on 30 October and the barley in the bag was exactly the same sort of barley he had in his barn on 9 November. The value of the larger bulk was about 10 shillings and the smaller quantity was a shilling. He had not given the prisoner leave to take barley from the premises. To his knowledge no barley was gleaned on his farm and it was not allowed. Pc Thomas Bradshaw: on 9 November about 4.45pm he had been watching in the Dunstable Road for the prisoner as he left Mr Seymour’s premises. He had been watching the premises since 30 October. He saw the prisoner leave Mr Seymour’s and go towards Luton. He stopped the prisoner when he got to him and asked what he had in his basket. The prisoner said it was nothing but Bradshaw asked to see. The prisoner said that there was nothing to see. He took the basket from the prisoners back and searched it and found a piece of wood and a bag of barley mixed with white wheat. The prisoner said the bag contained a little wheat he had bought from a man on beech Hill that morning. He took the prisoner to the police station. The prisoner said he had given the man 10 pence for the barley. He charged the prisoner and the prisoner said that he was sure he had not stolen it. He searched the prisoner’s house and found a tub in the barn containing barley mixed with white wheat. The prisoner said he had not stolen the barley and that it had been gleaned by his children in the last harvest. On 10 November he went to Seymour’s barn and took a small sample of the barley which he found corresponded with that found in the prisoner’s house. Statement of the accused: he brought the barley a week ago from a man coming up Beech Hill who had a horse and cart. The man had stopped and got out of his cart. The man had said “I have had a find this morning”. He asked that man what that was and the man replied he’d found a small bag of barley coming along the New Midland Road and asked where he could sell it. He asked the man how much he wanted and gave the man 10 pence for the barley and the bag. He asked the man where was had come from and the man replied he had come from Dunstable and St Albans.

item

Pinner, William,
Adcock, John,
Bradshaw, Thomas

LUTON, Luton Bury Farm, LEAGRAVE, stealing, barley, farmer