QSR1899/4/5/9

Depositions of Mary Ann Sharpe, wife of Henry Sharpe of Herne Farm Toddington; Henry Sharpe, Farm Bailiff of The Manor, Herne Farm Toddington; Thomas Harlow, Sergeant of Police stationed at Toddington; Henry Smith, a Roadman of Toddington and Walter Martindale, a Carter of Milton Bryan. In the case against William Broughton accused of breaking and entering the house of Henry Sharpe and stealing ten farthings.

14 October 1899

From: 1899 To: 1899

Mary Ann Sharpe said: I am the wife of Henry Sharpe a Farm Bailiff and we live at the Herne Farm in Toddington. On the 13th October 1899 about 10 minutes past 12 o’clock midday I left my house to take my son’s dinner to him in Toddington village. I bolted the back door and locked the front door taking the key with me. No one was left in the house. I got back to the house again about 20 minutes to one. I found the front door had been broken open and the inside doors had been opened and were left open. I had closed them before leaving the house. My husband came in at the time and I pointed out to him what had happened. The front door had been forced. The keep into which the bolt shoots having been forced off. I and my husband then went through the house we found that a wooden work box now produced had been broken open. It had been locked and was used by my husband as his cash box. there were only three farthings left in it and they were in a small box inside. Some papers had been taken out of a box in the front room and were littered about on the floor but as far as we know nothing had been taken away. Everything else in the house seemed as usual. As I was going into Toddington I met the Defendant in the road going in the direction to our house. Our house joins the road leading from Toddington to Milton Bryan. He was then only about 100 yards from my house. He was a stranger to me. Henry Sharpe said: I am a Farm Bailiff and live at the Manor Herne Farm in Toddington. On the 13th October 1899 I was about on the farm between 12 and 1. About 12.15 the Defendant came to the farm. I was standing in the road near the house when he came up. He asked me to give him a drink of water and I took him to the back door to get it. I found the door locked and I told him I could not give him anything to drink out of as the doors were all locked and no one at home. He went and drank at the pump and then he went back into the road and turned towards Milton Bryan and I saw no more of him then. I went then into the fields with dung I was carting. As I was coming back from the field about 12.30 and had got about 100 yards from the house I saw the Defendant coming from the front door of my house which looks towards Toddington. Before I got to the house my wife returned and called my attention to the front door. It had been broken open the keep having been forced off. I searched the house with my wife and found that a wooden box in which I keep my money had been broken open. Inside the box there had been a cardboard box containing 13 farthings. Ten farthings had been taken three only being left. The clothes boxes had been upset and some papers strewed about but we could not find anything missing but the farthings. I got on my bicycle and went after the defendant towards Milton. I caught him up at Milton and was there with the Sergeant of Police and I gave him in charges. After the defendant left the front door he turned towards Milton – I did not overtake any one else on the road. I met Mr Bailey coming from Milton. Thomas Harlow said: I am Sergeant of Police and am stationed at Toddington. From information received on the 13th instant from the last witness in Milton Bryan wher I happened to be I went back towards Woburn after the defendant whom I had passed in the road about 5 minutes previously in the village of Milton. I came up with him. I told him I should detain him for a few minutes. He said What for. I said You are charged with breaking into a house at Toddington. He replied You are mistaken. Sharpe had then come up and said defendant was the man and he gave him into my charge and I brought him to Woburn Station where he was searched n my presence. Nothing was found on him. He gave his name as William Broughton but said that he had no settled abode and that he had walked from Aston near Willesden since the previous day. It was about 1 to 1.15 when I first met him. The spot where I met him would be about 1 ½ miles from the Manor Herne Farm. I had seen the defendant in Toddington previously that morning about 9.50 and I passed him between Toddington and the Herne Farm about 11.15. He was about half a mile from the farm then. The said Henry smith sworn saith:- I live at Toddington and am a Roadman. On the 13th day of October 1899 I was working on the road between Toddington and Milton Bryan near the house occupied by Henry Sharpe. About 10 minutes to 12 in the forenoon a tall man came up to me from the direction of Toddington – He asked me how far it was to Fenny Stratford – I told him 11 miles – He said “I have been travelling all night”. He left me and went in the direction of Milton Bryan. I did not see any other stranger pass me that day. The prisoner is the man I saw. [unsigned] The said Walter Martindale sworn saith: I am a Carter and live at Milton Bryan. On the 13th October 1899 I was carting gravel between Toddington and Milton Bryan. About mid-day I passed the house occupied by Henry Sharpe and about 30 yards on the Milton Bryan side of the house I saw a man sitting on the bank near the hedge – As I passed him he asked me for a piece of tobacco – I gave him a pipeful – I did not meet anyone between Toddington and Milton Bryan except Mrs Sharpe – The prisoner is the man I saw. Statement of the accused: I started from Aston Wells about 11.40 on Thursday 12th October. I called a the sewer works and tried to get work. I then went to the Railway and tried for work there. Then I came on this way. I know nothing about the charges.

11 pages

item

Sharpe, Mary Ann,
Sharpe, Henry,
Harlow, Thomas,
Smith, Henry,
Martindale, Walter,
Broughton, William

Toddington Herne Farm, TODDINGTON, MILTON BRYAN, stealing, breaking & entering, money, farm bailiff, roadman, carter