William Benson

135

C H on 25th March 2024

Old Bailey Online WILLIAM BENSON. Theft; stealing from master. 10th April 1834. original. Associated with this recordAssociated with this record Text type Trial account Defendants WILLIAM BENSON Offences Theft > Stealing from master Session Date 10th April 1834 Reference Number t18340410-212 Verdicts Guilty Punishments Transportation 735. WILLIAM BENSON was indicted for stealing, on the 19th of March , 91 yards of cloth, value 80l.; 8 waistcoats, value 5l.; 19 waistcoat-pieces, value 5l.; 4 coats, value 15l.; 11 yards of kerseymere, value 5l.; 4 yards of serge, value 12s.; 2 yards of velvet, value 36s.; 1 pair of trowsers, value 30s.; and 2 fur collars, value 10s.; the goods of William Broughton , his master . WILLIAM BROUGHTON. I am a tailor , and live in High Holborn . The prisoner was in my employ up to the 19th of March - I went out that evening from ten minutes to a quarter past nine o'clock with Thomas Leekey - I left the prisoner in the shop - I gave him directions to clear the window, and shut up the shop - he asked me if I was going to Mr. Gibson 's, the Craven Arms - I said yes, I believed I should, and he said he should come as soon as he had closed - he did not come there, but about a quarter before ten o'clock, a man in the employ of Mr. Thwaites , came for me - I came home, and found my shop stripped of every thing that was moveable, almost: and two or three policemen were in the shop - when I went out there were ninety-one yards of cloth there, worth about 82l.; eight waistcoats, worth 5l.; nineteen waistcoat-pieces, worth 5l.; four coats, worth 15l.; and the other articles stated in the indictment - I have not seen any of them since - the prisoner was gone when I got home - there were no marks of violence on the door, as if any one had broken in - the prisoner did not sleep in my house - he generally came in the morning, but the police took him the next morning. Cross-examined by MR. DOANE. Q. These things would have formed a considerable bulk? A. Yes. I went out that evening with Mr. Leekey, who lives in the same house - we both took the house together - he is also a tailor - he is not in partnership with me - he has a weekly salary - I know these bills, which are headed "Leekey and Broughton"- we had been in partnership, but that had been dissolved six weeks before this robbery - on the 16th of January - none of these bills have been given out since, to my knowledge - Leekey was before the magistrate - I believe he stated that he was not a partner with me, but I was in such a state, I could attend to nobody's evidence but my own - sometimes the lock of my door does not catch if the window has not been shut right - I believe the door was found open one morning by a person who was in my employ - I have not been forced to open it with a poker - it is possible that if the window had not been shut right, a person might push the door open - there was nothing of mine found on the prisoner, or about him. COURT. Q. Was it his business to leave the window and door secure? A. Yes; if he had shut the window, and placed the post right, the door would shut itself when he went out. ANN BROUGHTON . I am the prosecutor's wife - I went into the shop that evening, about a quarter before ten o'clock- I found every thing had been taken out of it - Bray had come up stairs about a quarter or twenty minutes before ten o'clock, and I asked him how he got in; and from what he told me, I went down to the shop - I found the shop-door ajar, but there was no appearance of its having been forced open - the tickets of prices which had been on the clothes, were strewed about the bottom of the window - they ought to have been in a drawer, or on the mantelpiece - I had never seen them so strewed about before - I had not been in the shop that evening from a quarter past nine o'clock, till a quarter before ten o'clock, but I had passed down the stair-case three times - there is a staircase door which leads into the shop, and each time I came down it was shut - it is usually kept open in the evening. JOSEPH BRAY . I am twelve years old - I know the necessity of telling the truth - I lodge at Mr. Broughton's; but I am errand-boy at No. 29, St. Martin's-lane - I got home to Mr. Broughton's on the night in question, about a quarter before ten o'clock - as I was crossing the road opposite his shop, I saw a man outside pushing the door open - he looked round and saw me, and pulled the door to again - he then walked away towards Middle-row - I went in at the door which he had left ajar, and went up stairs - I met Mrs. Broughton on the stairs, and she asked me how I got in - I saw the shop-windows were empty, and the blocks were naked - the man who came out at the shop door was a tall man - I knew the prisoner before - I do not know whether he was the man who came out of the door - I did not see his face - he walked along, and another man, not so tall as he was, joined him. Cross-examined. Q. How long had you lived in that house? A. I do not know, Sir - I believe about a month - I had seen the prisoner constantly going in and out - I leave my place in St. Martin's-lane at ten o'clock at night - my master had not given me a holiday, and sent me home earlier that night than usual - I do not know what time it was when I got to Mr. Broughton's; but my usual time of leaving St. Martin's-lane is ten o'clock - one of the men was a tall man - I do not know whether he was the prisoner - when Mrs. Broughton came into the shop, the door was shut - I shut it when I went in. COURT. Q. Was the man who came out and shut the door taller or shorter, or about the same height as the prisoner? A. I think about the same height. ELIZABETH LEEKEY . I am the wife of Thomas Leekey . I lodge at the prosecutor's. I was at home that evening, and heard Sarah Ward , the servant, go down stairs about half-past nine o'clock - I then heard the stair-door shut, which makes a loud noise, and shakes my room - I sent my sister down stairs to know why the door was shut - that door leads from the stairs into the shop; and it is not a usual thing to shut it - I have been in the habit of coming down, if I heard any one in the shop, to see what was going on, and therefore that door was always left open - when I sent my sister down, she returned up again to me, and soon afterwards the prisoner came up, as soon as he had shut the shop - I did not see him shut the shop, but I heard it - he then came up stairs in consequence of my having sent my sister down to tell him I wanted to speak to him - he had promised to lend me a book, and I asked him for it - he said he had not got it; he had left it at Somers Town - he was finishing putting on his coat when he spoke to me - he then went out of my room, and shut my room door, which I never have shut - he wished me good night, and seemed in a bustle, as it was rather later than usual for him - Mrs. Broughton then came into my room, and the little boy came up - we all went down, and found the shop was stripped - I think from the time of the prisoner coming up stairs, and our going down and finding the shop stripped, was about two minutes - it might have been rather more, as I was working a bracelet, and was rather engaged upon it - the cloth that had been in the shop was all solid cloth and heavy - I do not think one man could have taken it away in two or three minutes. MR. BROUGHTON. I should think it would have taken two men ten minutes to have taken away the property if they had known the place - it would take a stranger, I should think, a quarter of an hour. JURY to ELIZABETH LEEKEY. Q. Was the prisoner in the habit of coming up to your room? A. He was in the habit of coming up at night, and saying he was going, and asking me to attend to the door; but I had not been at home till the last fortnight of his being there. COURT. Q. When he came up in the evening, was he in the habit of shutting your door? A. I do not know that he has shut it - I remember he closed it once. Cross-examined. Q. You have stated you heard the staircase door leading into the shop shut, and that it was always left open? A. Yes, by my wish it was; but it is a door that makes a noise when it shuts, as it does not catch well - it had lately been shut more frequently - I heard it shut that evening, as it shook my room - whoever went down stairs into the shop must have opened that door again - the prisoner said he lived at Somers Town. SARAH WARD. I am servant to Mrs. Broughton. She sent me out that evening at twenty minutes before ten o'clock - when I went down the staircase door was shut, and I opened it, and went into the shop - there is no other way out of the house but at the shop door - the prisoner and a young man were in the shop - no other person - the young man went out of the shop as I went in - the prisoner did not go out - I think the young man was not so tall as the prisoner; but I did not see his face - I asked the prisoner if that was Robert - he said "No," it was a young man; and he said something else which I do not recollect - the prisoner was putting his coat on - I noticed the busts in the shop were without coats - I had never seen them off before - I went out and returned in about ten minutes - the shop was then full of policemen. Cross-examined. Q. Had you been in the habit of noticing the shop at night? A. No: this was on a Wednesday night - I do not know that the prisoner had been in the habit of folding up the coats on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. COURT. Q. Had you been in the shop on Wednesday and Saturday evenings? A. Yes - I never saw the busts without the coats before. MR. BROUGHTON. It was not the prisoner's practice to fold up the coats on those nights. Cross-examined. Q. Did he never fold up the coats that were in the shop? A. The coats which were on the busts were two that were made on purpose for them - I do not know that they were ever folded up, or taken off, but by myself - I am out in the evening sometimes; but when I came home, I must have seen if the busts had been without coats, as I passed close by them; and I never did see that - there are gas-lights in the shop - one of them continues burning a little all night. HENRY BROWN . I slept in Sydney-street, Somers Town, in the same bed with the prisoner - I went to bed that night about twelve o'clock, the prisoner had not then come home - I lay awake till a little after one o'clock- the prisoner then came home. EDWARD SHAYLER (police-constable S 187). I went to Sydney-street, and took the prisoner the next morning - I told him I wanted him on suspicion of being concerned in a robbery - he said, "Dear me, it is very strange if there has been a robbery at Mr. Broughton's, I left the shop safe last night, at half-past nine o'clock" - I said,"You are my prisoner, and must go with me to the station-house" - in going along, I asked him what time he got home? - he said, "Ask me no questions; I shall answer you none if you do" - I found nothing on him, nor in his room, connected with this robbery. COURT to SARAH WARD. Q. How do you know it wanted twenty minutes to ten o'clock, when you went down into the shop? A. I looked at the dial in the shop, Prisoner's Defence. The boy said they were two short men in frock coats, and I wore a dress coat. When Mr. Broughton and Mr. Leekey went out together, I was told to take the things down; it generally took me a quarter of an hour to do that. I had done about twenty-five minutes past nine o'clock. Mrs. Leekey then sent her sister down to ask me about a book I was to lend her - I said, I could not get it that night, as it was too far to go to Somers'-town, and return. I then went out, and slammed the door after me - Mr. Broughton knows that the door had been left open all night, and one of the workmen came in at the door the next morning. I went to a public-house in Oxford-street that night, and left a quarter before twelve o'clock. I then went home, and was taken the next morning. GUILTY . Aged 20. - Transported for Fourteen Years .