Read all about it……. Echoes Of Our Past NEWS
What was news in the
local news this weekend in 1859?
MAIN NEWS –
*Five men arrested for burglary –
The men were –
*Thomas Holt
*William Holt
*Anthony Coates
*James Todd
*Thomas Moody
On the night of Friday 14th October William
Watson had retired from his parlour to bed around 23.45. As the shutters to his parlour window would
not lock he had ensured that the outer windows were locked and secure.
An hour later he was awoken by two Policemen – P.C
Wilcockson and Sergeant Vincent to alert him that he had been broken in to and
to show him two items which the Police thought belonged to William. William confirmed that the “shade of
artificial fruit and a book entitled The Life Of Christ” were his property and
that they had been on a stand by the window at the time that William had
retired to bed.
Earlier that night, Inspector Gulley had thrown the five men out of the Old Wheat Sheaf public house and watched them walk away, up Saltergate towards Mr Watson’s home. At this point Sergeant Thomas Vincent had followed the men “up to Mr Ford’s, at the Uncle Tom’s Cabin they then crossed over the road to Samuel Spooner’s, the Yellow Lion beer house and went into the back yard”. Sergeant Vincent had approached the men and asked them what they were doing in the yard, to which they replied that they wanted some more beer. They were told to move on as the beer house was closed and Sergeant Vincent watched four of the men return back down Saltergate, the fifth man Thomas Moody stayed leaning on the wall outside the Yellow Lion.
Sergeant Vincent then walked away to meet his comrade P.C
Browitt at the house of Mr Booth the timber merchant and told him of the party
in Saltergate. When the two police
officers returned to the Yellow Lion they found the five men back in Spooner’s
yard. James Todd was the last to enter
the yard and when he did so Sergeant Vincent noticed that he had something
hidden in his coat. On asking what the
object was James Todd ran off up Union Walk.
A police chase ensued and James threw a book at them. Unfortunately the Police then lost the man in
the chase. They returned to the yard and
found the shade of artificial fruit hidden in the privy. The window of William Watson was found to be
open and the items removed. The Police
believed that another two men were also involved – Samuel Turner and a nail
maker.
Next morning at 7.30am the Police found James Todd at his
home on Silk Mill Yard. He denied any
involvement in the robbery.
At the inquest the men were read their cautions and
replied –
Thomas Holt “I had nothing at all to do with it”
William Holt “I know nothing at all about it”
Anthony Coates “I was not there, I know nothing at all
about it”
James Todd “Samuel Turner and a nail maker were on the
side of the road near Watson’s and if he will speak the truth he will say so”
Thomas Moody “went to sleep and the robbery must have
been committed whilst he was asleep”
All five men were committed to take their trial’s at the
next March Assize Court.
OTHER ITEMS –
*Assault at Hasland –
George Wilson a colliery steward admitted assaulting
Philip Sherry but said he had been provoked.
The incident occurred at the Hasland Lane Colliery and George stated
that he had hit Philip Sherry after he had witnessed him striking a young lad
at the pit. George said that Philip was regularly
hitting the lad. This was not enough of
an excuse for the Magistrates and George was ordered to pay a fine of 10s along
with costs of 15s 6d.
*Stealing a pigeon -
Two young lads; Charles Glossop and William Wrigley both
aged 15 years old were charged with stealing a pigeon worth 3s 6d which
belonged to Edward Haslam.
Charles Glossop was sentenced to one month’s hard labour
and William Wrigley was discharged with a caution. It was also noted that William had been
involved in several other suspicious circumstances.
*Quitting job –
A colliery worker named Thomas Kelly was given the choice
of either returning to work for two weeks and pay the expenses of 8s 6d or go
to gaol at Derby for 21 days after he had left his job without giving proper
notice.
Thomas Kelly had been involved in a dispute over wages
and the issue had been deferred to the Steward, who had told them to return to
work and he would put their case forward.
All the men had returned other than Thomas.
In light of his choices Thomas chose to return to work
for two weeks rather than be imprisoned in Derby Gaol.
*Gross insult –
A Chesterfield Post Office clerk accused Thomas Taylor a labourer
of knocking off his hat as he passed him in a public street, The incident occurred at the top of the
Market Place when Thomas Taylor had knocked clerk Mark Joel’s hat from his head
into the road. Thomas had not said a
word but simply knocked the hat off Mark Joel’s head. The Police were called and Thomas was said to
have been drunk, he was fined 10s plus costs.
*Mr Francis Whitworth of Sheffield to Miss Elizabeth
Spray, youngest daughter of Mr John Spray, wheelwright of Palterton on 23rd
October at Bolsover.
DEATHS –
*Elizabeth Barber wife of Thomas aged 29 years.
*Robert Jones aged 50 years of Walton.
SPORT –
No sport was reported this week. But keeping with the theme;
 |
| Derbyshire Times page 1 22nd Oct 1859 |
The Cricketer’s Inn which was situated at St Helen’s Place
near Spencer Street was to be sold by auction.
The property was in the use of beer-house by Mr Jonathan Cartledge.
The property consisted of a dwelling house, gardens at the
front and the back and was around 2115 square yards. There was a road to the property from Newbold
Road.
AND FINALLY…
Scared of your own shadow?
An unnamed man from Whittington was the topic of ridicule
this week, after his altercation with the image of another man in his bed
room. The man had retired to bed and was
soon asleep. During the middle of the
night he awoke and raised his arm to view his watch. At this point he saw the form of a man at the
bottom of his bed. After a moments
staring at the apparition, the man leapt from his bed and chased the “man”
around the room. Armed with a poker he
ran downstairs, still unable to catch the “man”. At this lack of success he alerted the
neighbours, who all attempted to find the intruder. It wasn’t until one of the neighbours noticed
the man swiping his poker at his own shadow that the mystery was solved. The Whittington man was chasing his own
shadow. It was a moonlit night and the
shadow of the poor scared man was following him around the room. At this conclusion the man was said to have “found
out his error…. He very quietly went to bed to dream of his foolishness”. Unfortunately for us the name of the man is
not recorded in the report.
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