QSR1822/312-313

Examinations and depositions. Information of Thomas Bennett of Tempsford, farmer.

1822

From: 1822 To: 1822

He found that his dovecote had been broken into and the pigeons stolen. Hearing that two men had been taken at Blunham he went over and accompanied them to a justice of the peace. The justice of the peace ordered that the cart in which the pigeons had been found should be applied to the tracks which were in his close, College Piece. 'The near wheel of the cart had a dog upon it to strengthen the felly that was sprung - the cart fitted the observed track precisely as to width - in the observed track there was a mark apparently made by a dog on the near wheel - in order to see if they tallied he measured with a string the circumference of the wheel with great care from the middle of the dog round. He then applied the string to the near wheel track and wherever the ground was soft enough to admit the mark and a second mark, he found the string reached the middle of the one to the middle of the second mark. He then examined the footing or footmarks made by the horse and found then to agree exactly. There was in the cart a coulter which he applied to the door of the dove house - the marks were not sufficiently distinct ... to say on oath that they were made by that coulter, but he says they were evidently made by such a thing. He accompanied the cart about three quarters of a mile to Down Lane when he and others took writing paper and made labels about an inch and a half square and tied them to the feet of more than one hundred pigeons, which were let fly in pairs. The pigeons so marked flew in a circle and then all to the best of his knowledge flew either straight to his dovecote or to the one at Blunham ... he then assisted to let fly the unmarked live birds, which all flew in the same directions. In all there might have been eighteen dozens of live and two dozen of dead birds. On getting home he found many pigeons had returned to the dovecote, amongst them more than forty of them marked with the white paper ..... He has no doubt whatever that ... the birds were his property.

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BLUNHAM, pigeons, theft, TEMPSFORD, animal drawn vehicles, general justices of the peace