Adam Bustard

81

Gail Robyn Newman on 6th May 2022

Thomas and Adam Bustard Milltown Tawnawully, Co. Donegal, Ireland James and Mary Bustard together with two of their sons, Adam and Thomas were indicted for having, on 25th of June 1848, at Milltown Tawnawully, stolen a ewe and wether, the property of the Rev. James Ledlie Cruikshanks. The case was reported by the Londonderry Journal on 26th July, 1848 the following is account of the case from that paper. “The Rev. J.L. Cruikshanks sworn- It was reported to him at five o’clock in the morning of the 25thJune, that a ewe and Wether belonging to him had been stolen; he Went out and saw their heads and skins and part or their offal on the land, and knew the heads and skins to belong to the stolen animals; the land adjoins Lough Esk Church: witness crossed the Esk and found on the other side the naked Footsteps of a person, and then two pair of footsteps; people came over to him, but he told them to leave him alone and he would find out the thieves:took the measurement of these steps, he took the impression of these steps, he took the impression of his own naked foot on the ground, and found that, owing to the spring, it exceeded the Foot in length by the sixteenth or eighteenth part of an inch: the second pair of footsteps he found were shorter and broader than the other: he went to Mr. Brooke the magistrate, and then resumed continued the investigation till eight o’clock, when Mr. Brooke joined him: after tracing the footsteps for nearly a quarter of a mile he lost traces of them at a grass field, from which the house of the prisoner is about a quarter of a mile: between where he was and that house there are the grass field, the river, and public road: the police were all absent but one: that night he and a man alternately watched the house of the prisoners and in the morning about day break he found at the back of the house two pair of trousers and two shirts newly washed: getting impatient, he said that he would take possession of the police barracks and keep them till dispossessed; he at length got the police, who proceeded to search and he soon got a message that all his mutton was not lost; there were then shown him two sheep’s hearts and part of the entrails in three pots as if to be made into soup; the stench was so great that the police sergeant could not endure it; they also found the carcase of a sheep cut up, and in a crock, and another in a churn; the prisoner James said to witness, ‘I am sorry, your reverence, that I did not know it was your mutton; otherwise, I would not have let them bring it in’; there were thirty parcels of things found in the house; witness sent for Mr. Brooke, and all the prisoners including James and Mary were given into custody; the skins were cut through about the shoulders, and the knife, in piercing them had brought away some of the wool, which was found on corresponding parts of the carcases, and tails, which were to the skins, corresponded with those parts of the carcase where tails had been; the ewe had a black ear; the skins being produced, witness identified them; the sheep were yearlings D. McCollum, constable of police, sworn – Searched at the house of prisoners, and found two mutton carcases, one of them in crock and the other in a churn also two sheep hearts in a salt-box and liver in the old man’s bed, under him; the offals were in pots, and the old woman was trying to hide them; the prisoners Adam and Thomas were not there; there were marks of wool on the carcases which corresponded with cuts made in the skins, and the parts in the carcase from which the tails had been separated corresponded with the tails on the skins. Witness took the prisoner Adam next day at his grandfather’s about five miles from his father’s and Thomas was taken next day at the Bridewell, where he had gone to see his brother. Mr. Cruikshanks recalled- He compared the feet of Adam and Thomas with the measurement he had taken of the footsteps, and making the allowance of the sixteenth or eighteenth of an inch for stretch, he found that they corresponded. The smaller footsteps were those of turned-in feet, and Thomas’s feet were turned-in. Sir Thomas Blake, S.M. proved the declaration of prisoners to have been freely made, after they had been duly cautioned. Geo. McCrane sworn – Is a servant of the prosecutor, and was the first to find the skins which were those of a ewe and wether belonging to prosecutor: saw the mutton found in the house of prisoners, and from marks know it to be that of the ewe and wether. When the prisoners were asked whether they had any witnesses, Adam, the eldest boy, said it was he who killed the sheep, and that his parents knew nothing about it. His Lordship, in charging the jury, said they would have to acquit the two eldest prisoners, although it might be believed that they had received the property, knowing it to be stolen; for it was with stealing and not receiving it they were charged, and the evidence went to show that they were not the thieves. As to the other prisoners, his Lordship considered the evidence against them, particularly Thomas, to be very slight. The jury returned a verdict, finding James and Mary Bustard not guilty, and Adam and Thomas Bustard guilty.”

108

Nell Murphy on 20th June 2016

Adam Bustard, and his brother Thomas, were convicted of sheep stealing, at Donegal on 21 July 1848. 7yr sentence. Both transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the 'Lord Auckland' arriving 29 Jan 1853. Farm labourer/ploughman; aged 24yrs; 5'5"; Church of England; can read & write a little. Native place - Donegal, Ireland. Prison Barracks, Launceston in Colony upon arrival. Aug 1854: Capt. Smith, Flinders Island. Ticket of Leave 22 Aug 1854 Conditional Pardon 27 July 1855 Certificate of Freedom 26 Dec 1855 Application for Permission to Marry - to Mary Ann Harris (transported per Duchess of Northumberland). Approved 31 Oct 1854. No record found of actual marriage.