QSR1833/2/5/12

Depositions of Mary Ann Wanfor, single woman of Ampthill. In the case of Daniel Cooper accused of stealing a quantity of brandy.

6 April 1833

From: 1833 To: 1833

Mary Ann Wanfor: on Wednesday her father went to London and left her mother and herself in charge of the concerns of the family. The same morning her mother suspected that the key of the liquor cellar, which was kept in the bar, was missing from the other keys which were kept on pegs in the bar. Upon being told she found it was missing. Daniel Cooper was then just coming out of the first cellar with potatoes, which were kept there. The spirit cellar was the one beyond the first and was enclosed by a lock up door. The key which was missing was the key to that door. She met Cooper at the top of the stairs and told him to give her the candle as she was going to the spirit cellar and told him the key of that door was missing. She asked him if he knew where it was. They then got back into the bar and the boy answered faintly that he did not know but at that moment he dropped the key into a quart mug which was standing near him. It had a little ale in it. He took the key out almost instantly and said that here was the key. She had observed him the whole time. She went with him to the spirit cellar and drew off a bottle of wine and sent him upstairs with it. She then stopped and examined the brandy cask in the cellar and perceived droppings under the tap. She came up and then went down again with a female servant and found in the first cellar a bottle full of brandy loosely corked among some empty bottles. She took it to her mother and her mother took care of it. Statement of the accused: he took the key of the liquor cellar from the peg where it usually hung and went down into the cellar where the potatoes were kept. He unlocked the door of the liquor cellar and drew off a quart bottle of brandy and set it in the open empty cellar among some empty bottles. He was very sorry indeed for what he had done and he had not done anything of the kind before.

item

Cooper, Daniel,
Wanfor, Mary Ann

AMPTHILL, stealing, brandy