Buntingford Petty Sessions
Friday last, before Col. C.H.B. Heaton-Ellis (in the chair), The Hon. Baron C.R. Dimsdale, Captain H.H. Williams, and D. Crossman, C. Fraser and H.C. Marshall Esqs.
An Assault Case
Thomas Charles, of Harestreet, was summoned for assaulting Jonah Brown, of Sandon Road, Buntingford.
In his evidence the paintiff stated that the defendant jeered at him when he passed on 17th May. On June 3rd he stopped him in the High Street, and said he would hit plaintiff with a stick. Witness went up the Harestreet Road, where defendant struck him on the arm and shoulder.
Herbert Barron, of Harestreet, and George Jackson, of Buntingford, gave evidence on behalf of the defendant. Mr G.H. Maughan represented the plaintiff.
After hearing all the evidence the Chairman said it appeared that there was a long standing feud between the two. There was no doubt that the defendant did assault the plaintiff, as was shown by the medical certificate.
Defendant would be bound over for six months in the sum of £10.
Buntingford Farm Labourer Committed to Trial for Thefts
Cecil Henry Wood (26), a farm labourer, of Baldock Lane, Buntingford, was brought up in the custody of two warders from Brixton and charged with three separate offences, which, except for an hour's interval, occupied the Court till 2.45 p.m.
He was first charged with breaking into and stealing from Messrs. Forrest Stores, Ltd., Buntingford, property of the value of £1 13s. 4d. on the night of 17th and 18th June last.
Thomas Chamberlain Bayman, manager of the branch shop of Forrest Stores, Ltd., High Street, Buntingford, said on June 18th at 7.30 a.m. he went to the lock-up shop straight through to get a sack barrow. He found one of the four panes of the window of the door at the back broken and the bolts drawn back.
He was the last to leave the previous night when the door was securely fastened. Witness to the barrow to his home and then went to the police station and returned to the shop with P.S. Dean. He showed P.S. Dean the till, which the previous night contained 25s., and it was absolutely empty. All the drawers behind the counter were open. The cake case had been opened, some chocolate squares taken and a small caramel bitten and replaced on the case.
He was subsequently shown the same morning at 10.30 a bottle of sherry partly empty, four packets of cigarettes and 1 and three quarter packets of chocolate, of the total value of 7/9, all of which were produced and identified as having been in stock at the stores.
P.S. Dean, stationed at Buntingford, said he received a report from thr last witness and went with him to the shop. He found an entrance had been effected by breaking the glass and drawing the bowls of the door at the rear of the shop.
He took possession of the caramel produced, and found on it two distinct teeth marks. He searched the premises and at the rear the ground was wet, and he saw distinct foot-marks of hob nailed boots with toe and heel tips.
In company with P.C. Williams he traced these foot-marks along the footpath leading from High Street to Baldock Lane. Near Back Lane he saw the prisoner pass, and noticing his pockets were bulky called on him to stop. As he went towards him he noticed the footprints made by the prisoner corresponded exactly with those he had seen at the rear of Forrest Stores.
When asked what he had in his pockets he said "nothing". Witness searched him and found in the lining of his coat the gun produced and three cartridges. He said he had no gun licence. Witness told him his footprints corresponded with those found at the rear of Forrest Stores and that he suspected him of breaking into the stores, and he replied "I should not do a thing like that."
He gave his correct name and address, and refused to have his house searched, so witness took him into custody. On the way to the Police Station he threw the gun down and bolted. Witness ran and caught him, and he said "I'm not coming with you; I was out of work and hungry, and that is what made me steal."
At the station witness asked him to bite the caramel produced, which he did, and the marks corresponded exactly with those on the one found in the shop. He then said "I did break into Forrest Stores and steal some money and things, and you will find them on a table at my house."
In company with P.C. Voller and P.C. Williams, witness went to the prisoner's house and found on the kitchen table 25/5 in money, 1 and three quarter bars of chocolate, four packets of cigarettes and a bottle of sherry (three-parts full), all of which were prdouced. These were shown to him, and he said "That is all I took."
When charged the prisoner made no reply, and told the Bench he did not wish to say anything.
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The second charge was that of breaking and entering the premises of Mr A.S. Grigg, of Cockhampstead Farm, Braughing, and stealing property of the value of £1 11s. 2d. on the night of the 27th and 28th March last.
Theodore Austin Grigg, farmer, assisting his father at Cockhampstead Farm, said on March 27th he went out in the evening and came in just before 11 o'clock, and went to bed at 11.30 p.m.
The next morning he came down at 7 a.m. he discovered that his father's desk in the dining room had been broken open. He went into the kitchen to see if the door had been forced,but it was all right. The bottom half of the window was wide open, by which someone had entered. He went upstairs and told his father.
Albery Scantlebury Grigg, of Cockhampstead Farm, said in consequence of what his son said on the morning of March 28th he examined his desk in the dining room which he kept locked. The lock had been broken off after an attempt to cut it out, but the mahogany was too hard.
He found all the silver and copper missing - a little over 30s. His wallet, containing £8 in treasury notes, was not taken, but all the papers were dis-arranged. From the kitchen dresser one-and-a-half pounds of cheese and some stewed figs had been taken, and the place was dis-arranged. There were two guns kept in the corner of the kitchen. The double-barrelled one had been loaded with cartridges taken from the top of the mantlepiece, and with both barrels cocked placed by the door. He informed the police immediately.
P.C. G.A. Voller, of Bishops Stortford, said on March 18th [transciber note - it definitely looks like 18th but should be 28th] a report was received that Cockhampstead Farm had been broken into during the night and £1 10s. in money stolen from a desk in the dining room and a quantity of cheese from the larder, to the value of 1s. 2s.
In company with other officers the premises was examined and it was found that entrance had been gained by an insecure window in the kitchen. At 11.15 a.m. on June 18th he interviewed the prisoner in custody at this station and informed him that he suspected him of breaking into Cockhampstead Farm and stealing some money and cheese.
He at first denied it, and then said "I may as well tell you the truth. I wish to state that I have broken into Mr Grigg's house at Cockhampstead twice. On the first occasion I took some money from a desk and also some cheese from a cupboard. I cannot say how much money it was. This happened on a Saturday night. When I broke in the second time I took a gun, the one which the sergeant took from me today. This was on a Thursday night. I was hungry when I done these jobs, otherwise I should not have done them. I am sorry for the trouble I have put everyone to." He read the statement to the prisoner and he signed it. Later he was charged with the offence.
In answer to the Chairman, Supt. Wright stated that the prisoner was born in 1898, and was a single man. He joined the Army in 1915, and was transferred to the Army Reserve in 1919.
The prisoner said he was in the Northampton Regiment and served in France.
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The third charge against the prisoner was that of breaking into Cockhampstead Farm on the night of 13th and 14th May last, and stealing a gun, the property of Mr A.G. Grigg, to the value of £1.
Theodore Austin Grigg, of Cockhampstead Farm, said on May 13th last he went to bed at 10 o'clock and got up the next morning at 7. He went downstairs and found the kitchen door wide open, and groceries strewn on the doorstep and just outside. The drawers in the dresser in the kitchen had been ransacked and a single barrelled gun that stood in the corner taken away.
He recognised the gun produced. He went through into the scullery and found the window open, and in the sink in front of it was some mud that had come off someone's shoes. The kitchen door was locked and fastened the night before. The key lay just inside on the floor. He valued the gun at £2.
P.C. Voller, who was commended in the previous case by the Chairman for the way he gave his evidence, recapitulated his interview with the prisoner on June 18th, and with regard to this charge asked him to give an explanation of how he came into possession of the gun. He stated "I bought it from a strange man at Puckeridge three months ago, and gave 30/- for it."
Witness told him that this was not a satisfactory explanation, and that he was suspected of breaking into Cockhampstead Farm and stealing the gun which was found in his possession. The prisoner then made the voluntary statement already given in the previous case, and when charged and cautioned made no reply.
The prisoner was committed for trial and remanded to Brixon until Monday last, when his trial took place at the County Quarter Sessions at Hertford. All the witnesses in the cases were bound over to give evidence at the Quarter Sessions.
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At the Herts. Assizes at Hertford on Monday last Woods was sentenced to six months' inprisonment in respect of each of the charges, the sentences to run concurrently.