1855 - Proceedings of the Old Bailey (1)

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Record
Date 1855
Topic Policeman observe thieves moving stolen goods in Robin Hood Court, Shoe Lane
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Site of Robin Hood Court, Shoe Lane, Holborn.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-06-17. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-06-21.

Record

[7 May 1855:]
GEORGE TAYLOR SWAN (City policeman. 267). On Saturday, 7th April, I was in Robin Hood-court, and saw Caddick carrying this tea chest (produced)—I asked him what he had got in it; he said, "Tea"—I said, "Where are you going to take it?" he said, "To No. 16, Gray's Inn-lane"—I asked him what made him go that way to Gray's Inn-lane—he said, "To save Holborn-hill"—he was going in that direction, but it was the furthest way—I asked him if he had a bill; he said, "No"—I asked him to put it down, and then asked where he brought it from—he said that two men had given it to him at the corner of Shoe-lane—I took him to the station, the chest was opened, and found to contain envelopes, and not tea—the address had been torn off.

HENRY CREW. I am a coal porter, at the City Gas Works. On Saturday, 7th April, I saw the tallest of the prisoners carrying this tea chest; there were two others following him, about ten yards off—one was in a velvet coat—I spoke to a policeman—I then heard one of them say some-thing which I could not understand, to the little one, and then they went down the court.

JOHN WALKER. I am foreman to Charles Morgan and Co., of Cannon-street. I saw this box packed up on 7th April, with 20,000 of one kind of envelopes, and 1,000 of another kind—it was sent by the carman, Holt, to No. 69, Old Bailey—they are the property of my masters, Charles Morgan and F. B. Adams.

JOHN HOLT. I carried this box in my van, and delivered it at No. 69, Old Bailey—it had an address on it—I saw it next on 8th April, and the address was then off.

THOMAS WILKS. I am porter to Hugh Lavington, who keeps a booking office, at No. 69, Old Bailey—I saw a chest like this there, and think it is the same—it was safe at 10 minutes or a quarter past 7 o'clock in the evening, and I missed it five or ten minutes afterwards.

WILLIAM CLARK (City-policeman. 237). On the evening of 7th April, I was on duty in the Old Bailey, and saw Caddick about 7 o'clock, standing within a few yards of No. 69, and King on the opposite side of the way—I afterwards saw Caddick at the station at 10 o'clock.

Caddick. I was not there.

COURT. Q. Had you known him previously by sight? A. No; there was nothing to direct my attention to him more than to anybody else; and there was nothing in his conduct which made me observe him.

JOHN MOSS (policeman.) On 8th April, it was my duty to visit prisoners in the cell, at Smithfield police station—when I visited Caddick, he asked me where Smith was; I said, "I do not know"—he said that he had made a statement to Smith, and said, "I am locked up for stealing a chest; it was not me that stole it, I received it from Apples. Pickford, and Grimes—Esqulent goes by the name of Apples. King by the name of Pickford, and Grimes by the name of Singer.

WILLIAM SMITH (City policeman. 244). I had Caddick in charge—I saw him in the cell at the station, on Sunday the 8th; that was before Moss saw him—I recognised him and knew him; he said, "Smith, I am locked up innocently, I am not guilty of stealing this chest which I am locked up for, you know who the men are who stole it"—I said, "No; I do not, unless you choose to tell me"—he said, "It was Apples. and Pickford, and Singer"—I knew the other three prisoners by those nick names—he described how they were dressed, and said, that Apples was the one who took it, and he had nothing to do with it until he got into Shoe-lane, by the oyster shop, when he took it, and carried it to Robin Hood-court, where he was stopped by the constable; and when he was stopped Apples was just in front of him, and Pickford and Singer close behind him—he said that he told the constable at the time, that the other two men gave it to him, and pointed to them.[1]

Source notes

IRHB has silently regularized the use of spaces before punctuation marks in the quotation and corrected the HTML text at Proceedings of the Old Bailey from the PDF of the original printed edition.

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