1873 - Proceedings of the Old Bailey (2)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
Revision as of 04:38, 17 May 2020 by Henryfunk (talk | contribs) (Text replacement - "<div class="no-img"><p id="byline">" to "<div class="no-img"> <p id="byline">")
Record
Date 1873
Topic Man tendering counterfeit coin caught at the Robin Hood on High Holborn
Loading map...
Site of Robin Hood on High Holborn.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-06-16. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-05-17.

Record

22 Sep. 1873:]
CHARLES HURLEY. I keep the Horse and Groom public-house, Whetstone Park—on 8th September, about 10 o'clock at night the prisoner came and asked for a glass of mild ale and a 2d. cigar, and gave a florin in payment—I gave him change—I put the florin in the till, being engaged in conversation—as he went out I looked at it again, and then noticed that it was counterfeit—I went out into Holborn to see if I could see him, and saw him go into the Robin Hood public-house—I called a constable and gave him into custody—the constable took hold of him and took him outside and asked what he had in his hand—he said "Nothing"—the constable told him to open his hand, he would not—the constable tried to open his hand—he resisted violently three or four times in going to the station—I saw his hand ultimately opened and a counterfeit florin taken from it—I had seen him in my house about 3 o'clock the same afternoon.

Cross-examined. I can't say what coin he paid with then—it was either a shilling or sixpence—I believe that was not counterfeit—I have only one till—I never put money I receive anywhere else, except 2s. pieces or half-crowns, which I place at the back after being put in the till—I put this florin in the till myself, and took it out again before placing it at the back, and I discovered that it was counterfeit—I had not taken any other florins shortly before—the prisoner was perfectly sober—he had not been drinking.

Re-examined. There was no other florin in, the till.

JAMES BADGER (Policeman E 473). I was spoken to by the last witness on the 8th September, in front of the Robin Hood—I went with him into the public-house, and he pointed out the prisoner there—I told him I should take him into custody for passing a bad 2s. piece—he said "Where is the 2s. piece, let me see it?"—I took him outside the door and asked what he had in his hand—I saw that his hand was clasped and he kept it by his side—he said "Nothing"—I said "Let me see"—he refused to do so—he struggled very violently and tried to bite and kick me—we both fell—he got his hand loose from me and made two or three gulping noises and said "It is gone"—but I still believed he had it in his hand—I got the assistance of three other constables—we forced his hand open and found in it this bad florin—I also got the other bad florin from Mr. Hurley—I searched the prisoner and found on him 9l. in gold, a 5l. note, eight shillings, and 15 1/2 d. in copper, a silver watch, a lady's umbrella, and a finger ring.[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.

IRHB comments

There were (at least) three public houses named the Robin Hood in Holborn: one in Leather Lane, one in the now lost Robin Hood Court, and that at 281 High Holborn. In this case the reference to Whetstone Park, only about 100 m to the west, points clearly to Robin Hood at 281 High Holborn being the public house in question.

Lists

Sources

Also see

Notes



Template:RcItemNav