QSR1834/1/5/22

Depositions of Thomas Page of Tempsford. Samuel Carter of Little Barford. Joseph Power of Girtford. Joseph Bennett of Tempsford. George Reed of Tempsford. William Audley, labourer of Tempsford. Stephen Cooper of Girtford. Thomas Barker of Sandy. Henry Jeeves constable of Sandy. In the case of Joseph Balls of Sandy & Samuel Daniels accused of stealing 3 sacks, 7 bushels of barley and a bushel of beans.

17 December 1833

From: 1833 To: 1834

Thomas Page: on Saturday 14 December he took charge of the toll gate on the road from Little Barford to Tempsford. The gate was situated between a barn on the road side occupied by Mr Bennett and the village of Tempsford. There was nothing pass through the gate between 8pm Saturday night and 9am on Sunday morning except for a wagon of 4 horse belonging to Mr Allington of Little Barford, and 2 carts; a horse cart and a donkey cart which went through the gate together from Little Barford towards Tempsford about 1.50am on Sunday. Joseph Balls was walking both carts. There was a man on the horse cart and Joseph Balls said it was Samuel Daniels. The one horse cart appeared to be loaded. Balls paid the toll for the one horse cart but claimed exemption for the donkey cart as being loaded wit manure. He asked him what Daniels was loaded with and Balls it was nothing but pease and sacks from Huntingdon market. It appeared to him to be more of a load than that. Samuel Carter: he was employed by Mr Allington of Little Barford to preserve the game and look after the property. On Saturday night he went with another man, Ebenezer Green, who was also employed by his master, from Little Barford to Eynesbury. When they arrived at Eynesbury they saw a one horse cart and a donkey cart standing at the door of the public house. They went into the house and had some beer. Balls and Daniels were in the house and said they were going home to Girtford, which would use the road through Little Barford and Tempsford. They agreed to all go together and the 6 of them got into the one horse cart. He was sober at the time. He lost his handkerchief and felt about the cart for it. He felt nothing in the cart but a little straw. He got out of the cart near Little Barford about 12.45am. Daniels drove the one horse cart and Balls rode with them. A little boy drove the donkey carts. Joseph Power: he often sold beans to Samuel Daniels and Daniel had half a peck from him on 15 December. They were old beans and corresponded with the sample produced. Joseph Bennett: he occupied a barn at Tempsford close to the roadside leading from Tempsford to Little Barford. He had 2 sacks of barley and a sack of beans in the barn. Early on Sunday morning, he was informed that his barn had been broken open and the 3 sacks with barley and beans and a truss of clover hay had been taken away. He went for a search warrant for Daniels and Balls. He went with William Basker, the high constable of Biggleswade, to search the houses. They found nothing at the house of Balls. At Daniels house they found nothing but in the stable they found a sack containing oats mixed with 2 sorts of beans. One sort of beans was old and the other new. The new sort corresponded with those taken form his barn. Daniels said he had purchased the beans from Mr Power of Girtford. He immediately procured a sample from Mr Power and they were old beans unmixed with any new. The old beans corresponded with those found in the mixture. The Daniel’s horse was eating part of a truss of clover hay and there was no other clover hay on the premises. They found some kernels of barley in the bottom of Daniel’s cart. George Reed: shepherd to Mr Joseph Bennett. He saw 3 sacks of corn safe in Mr Bennett’s barn on 14 December. One contained 6 bushels of barley, another a bushel of barley and the third a bushel of beans. There were also 3 trusses of clover hay. On Sunday morning he went to the barn and saw the door had been broken open and on looking missed the 3 sacks of corn and a truss of clover. He told his master. He saw tracks of a cart and chores which appeared to come from Little Barford on the near side of the road close to the barn. At the barn they turned and went towards Tempsford on the other side of the road. About 2 yards from the wheel tracks was a place littered with clover hay as if a truss had been laid down there. He was sure the tracks were quite fresh and had not been there Saturday forenoon. William Audley: he worked fro Mr Bennett as a labourer, On Saturday he was threshing barley in the barn on the Little Barford road. He left the barn about 5pm. There were 3 sacks of corn in the barn and 3 trusses of hay. He locked the barn. There were no cart tracks on the near side of the road. On Sunday morning he heard the barn had been broken open and went there. He observed a track with Reed pointed out to him. Then track was correctly described in Reed’s evidence. He also saw some litter of clover hay and a small quantity of pease straw. There was no peases straw in the Bennett farm. It appeared to have been dropped out of the cart that made the tracks. Stephen Cooper: on Monday 16 December he went into a close at Girtford, in the occupation of Robert Ayres, about 100 yards from Samuel Daniel’s house. He picked up an empty sack close to the hedge which appeared to have been thrown over the hedge. The hedge from the high road passed Daniel’s house. It was the same sack sworn to be George Reed as being Mr Bennett’s property. Thomas Barker: on 16 December he was working in a field in Sandy adjoining the Great North Road, which led to Tempsford. There was a rick close to the road and there he found 3 sacks covered. He saw the name on one of the sacks was ‘Bennett, Tempsford’, another had a hole in it through which he saw barley. Henry Jeeves: he was constable of Sandy. On Monday he was informed some of Mr Bennett’s sacks had been found in Thomas Barker’s rick at Sandy. He went and took possession of them. He found 3 sacks which he guessed to contain about 7 bushels of barley. Joseph Bennett: 2 of the sacks produced by Henry Jeeves were his property and the same which were stolen from his barn with 7 bushels of barley. The barley was exactly the same at that stolen from his barn.

item

Balls, Joseph,
Daniels, Samuel,
Page, Thomas,
Carter, Samuel,
Power, Joseph,
Bennett, Joseph,
Reed, George,
Audley, William,
Cooper, Stephen,
Barker, Thomas,
Jeeves, Henry,
Basker, William,
Ayres, Robert

SANDY, Girtford, TEMPSFORD, Little Barford, stealing, barley, beans, sack, tollkeeper