QSR1833/4/5/12

Lucy Maddams, wife of John, farmer of Flitton. John Cooper, hairdresser of Dunstable. Robert Fowles, constable of Dunstable.James Higgs, shoemaker of Dunstable. John Carr, farmer of Flitton. In the case of Thomas Rainbow accused of stealing a young drake, 3 cocks and 14 hens.

10 September 1833

From: 1833 To: 1833

Lucy Maddams: on a Wednesday in the previous year she had been at Dunstabe market. She was going to the kitchen of the Crow Inn there and a man who she did not know offered to sell her some fowls which he had in his hands. She looked at them and said that they were old hens. The prisoner was there and said they were last years pullets and if she bought a couple she could have them for a shilling a piece. She went away without buying them. The prisoner did not have the fowls in his hands but did take part in trying to sell them. Suspecting that they were stolen she mentioned the case when she got home and hearing that Mr Carr had lost a quantity of fowls the night before, she sent word to him. She saw only 2 fowls. John Cooper: on 31 October, sometime in the afternoon, he saw 2 men, one of whom he knew to be John Allen and the other the prisoner Thomas Rainbow, run by him. He saw Allen come out of the Black Horse with 2 fowls in his hand and Rainbow joined him about 100 yards from the Black Horse very near to him. They ran up West Street and into a field and he saw the stoop at a place where he knew there to be a ditch. After they were taken into custody, he went to the place he had seen them stoop and found 3 fowls. He took them to Mr Fowler, the constable. Robert Fowles: he was one of the constables of Dunstable. On 31 October, the previous year, he was informed that 2 men were hawking fowls which were supposed to be stolen. He was told the men were John Allen and Thomas Rainbow. He met John Allen in the White Horse where Allen had 2 fowls in his hands offering them for sale at a shilling a piece. He took Allen into custody. Allen said he had bred them and brought them from Little Brickhill. He went with him to the Black Horse and there Allen ran away with the fowls. He sent James Higgs and another man after Allen and they brought Allen back and Rainbow too. He handcuffed Rainbow and Allen together and went to get he cage ready, leaving them in the custody of James Higgs and another man. When he got back he was informed the prisoner had slipped the handcuffs and got away. John Cooper brought him the 3 hens. When he first took Allen he had searched him but had not found anymore fowls. James Higgs: on 31 October he was in the Black Horse public house and saw a man there, who he now knew to be John Allan, with Robert Fowles the constable. There were 2 fowls on the table. Fowles went out of the room and Allen took up the fowls and ran out of the front door. Fowles asked him to go after Allen and to apprehended him as the fowls were supposed to be stolen. He met Allen and the prisoner together and took them into custody. He bought them to the constable and the men made no resistance. In the Black Horse the men were handcuffed together and the constable went out leaving them in his charge along with another man. Allen and Rainbow asked to make water and at first he refused buy one of them made water in the fire so he went out with them. He suffered them to go into a passage for the purpose and stood at the end of it. He could see Allen but not Rainbow. He found Rainbow gone. John Carr: he was a farmer at Greenfield and on the afternoon of Tuesday 30 October 1832 there were upwards of 30 fowls in his farm yard along with a young drake. On the morning of Wednesday 31 October he saw the ground pin of the hen house had been pulled out and the lock broken. He missed most of his fowls and the young drake. In the henhouse he found the head of a fowl wrung off. He tried to trace them but could not. On the following Thursday he was informed by Mrs Maddams of Flitton that she had seen Thomas Rainbow of Flitwick and another man offering fowls for sale ion the kitchen of the Crow Inn at Dunstable. He sent his man servant, Richard Somerville to Dunstable and afterwards went there himself and saw 3 or 4 fowls in the care of the constable. He recognized them as his fowls as did Somerville. He saw John Allen in custody and was told Thomas Rainbow had escaped. He prosecuted John Allen for theft and he was found guilty. The number of fowls stolen was at least 3 cocks, 14 hens and the young drake. Their valued exceed a pound. On the Friday following, as he was returning from Mr. Hamilton’s the magistrate, before whom Allen was taken, he found 4 or 5 of his fowls in hedges by the roadside. One had its head off. The head he found in his henhouse belonged to the body. Statement of the accused - Thomas Rainbow: he knew nothing about the fowls.

item

Rainbow, Thomas,
Maddams, Lucy,
Maddams, John,
Cooper, John,
Fowles, Robert,
Higgs, James,
Carr, John

FLITTON, DUNSTABLE, FLITWICK, stealing, fowls, farmer, hairdresser, shoemaker, Dunstable Crow, Dunstable Black Horse, Greenfield