The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-07-25 00:00:00

ROBBERY BY BOYS AT DORCHESTER.

Thr.e, b iya, named George House, William Pople,
and Charles Henry Ernest Davis, the two latter on
bail, were indicted-110me for stealing £l7 10.. trim
the house of Mr. J. R. Taylor, the property of Isaac
Waite, and the others with feloniously receiving the
same; also House for stealing from the dwelling-house
of John Iticaard Taylor one purse, one bank-note,
value and £6 10e. in money, the property of Mary
Ann Ayling, awl Pople and Davis were charged with
re,eiving the same.
Mr. Vigor prosecuted ; the prisoners were un-
defended.
The Judge remarked that two of them were
under 14.
Mr. Vigor said the nrcieeoutrix in this case is a
young woman named Mary Ann Ayling, barmaid at
the Plume of Feathers Inn, in this town, kept by Mr.
and Mrs. Ta)lor. The building itself consists of an
old part and a new. In the new part of the house the
boldness is traneacted, and during the day the old
part was left unoccupied, exceot that the oetler might
pass by the stairs which led up to the rooms.
Saturday and Wednesday were very busy days. Mr.
and Mr.. Taylor, Mi-s Ayling, the barmaid, the
servant maid, and the ostler were there, and on Wed-
nesdays and Saturdays the boy House was employed
to clean the knives and do odd jobs, and in his duties,
which he well bays to perfo•m iri the yard, he
occasionally would have to go from that yard to some
place at the bottom if the stairs comniunicatiog with
the house to fetch the knives and forks to clean, ant
would have the run of that part of the house, and
knew the habits of the family, and that part wee
generally unoccupied during the day. Miss Ayling
would tell them that in the morning of Saturday, the
Ist of July, she had been up to her room, and had
examined the purse which she had there, and which
contained a £5 note, five sovereigns, two half-sove-
r. igno, and come silver. She left this perfectly safe
Inside a small hog, which was in her clothes or travel-
ling box, when she came down in the morning.
During the whole of Saturday the boy House would
have the opportunity of going up the stairs, and no
one would be the wiser. On Sunday morning Miss
Ayling examined her purse, and found all her things
turned up inside her travelling box, the little box
there was forced or broken open, and the m..ney gone
that ha I been inside an old-fashioned red velvet parse.
blies Ayling communicated with Mr. and Mrs.
Taylor, arid the police were Pent for. On that very
morning a boy named Lake came into a passage caPed
" Steele's passage," very near where Houma lived, and
met House there. The latter produced ain note, an i
asked Legg to go to some publizhouse awl get it
changed. Legg went to two or three publichouses
to get change; but brought the five pound note
back again to House. At that time another boy
named Jeffery came up, and House showed him the
note, and told him he had some gold as well. Not being
able to get it changed, the money was left with House,
and Legg went off to Sunday School. When they
came back they met Howe again, and he complained
to Legg that there were two policemen at his aunt's,
and asked him C. take the money. He gave the £5
note ti Lake, and asked him to go to the South
Western Railway station and wait for him. Lake had
the purse and went up, and after waiting some time,
House came up, accompanied by the other two boys,
Pople and ass's. As soon as be came up House said
to Legg that he was wanted about a 125 note. The note
wee handed to Pople, and the red velvet purse with
the money in it was delivered to Charles Davis. They
went back to the town, Supt. Coward met them, and
the note was given up to Mr. Coward. Pople said he
got it from Legg ; Legg was asked where beg Lit, and
he said from House ; House was asked where he got it
from, and he said he got it from Steele's passage,
where he had found it. Davis and Legg weut
home, and stayed about during the evening, until about
ssven o'clock, when they met Polite, and agreed to go
up to Poundbury. On going nu they met li•ittee and
Jeffery, and when they arrived the purse was produced
by Davis, there was emus conversation, and Davis
produced another purse, and emptied the money into
It, handed the purse with the money in it to Pople, who
put it into his pocket, and the red velvet puree was
torn up. They separated, the puree being left in Pople's
ch.irge. Next day Davis came down do Legg's how,
and asked him to take the money, he refused, and it
was handed over to Robert L. Davis, who took poems-
sion of it, and took it to the police. Mr. Coward
apprehended the boys. On Poundbury, Howie said
he found the mosey in the Oak Yard ; when he was in
custody he said he hal it from "Mary," the name by
which the servant girl at the Plume of Feathers goes;
but she says she never gave him any money at all, lie
had also stated he found it in Steele's-passage, so that
he told three dietinct and separate Morten about it.
Mary Ann Ayling was then called, and stated that
House WM employed at the stable to help the ostler.
She had Lao boxes, a small one containing money in a
purse being kept in the larger box. On Saturday
morning the box was safe, but the next day she found
that it had been broken open, and her purse and
money stolen.
George Lake. a boy, said on the 2nd of July, as he
was going to school he mat House, who told him that
he had a LI note, and he wanted him to change it for
him. Ile could not get it changed, and he returned
It di House, who told him he had 1:6 in gold. He also
told him that he picked up the note in Steele's passage.
After school Pople gave Supt. Coward the note,
Hou.e repeating his statementas to having picked it up.
They afterwards went to Poundbury, where a puree
containing five sovereigns, two half-eovereigns, and
a shilling was produced, and witness tore up the purse.
On Monday he met Penis and Davis again, and the
latter gave him a purse containing 5 sovereigns, telling
him to take the money to House. lie handed it to

Davis's brother.
Frederick Jeffery stated that House showed him a
piece of paper, which he told witness was a £5 note.
He asked him to change it, but he refused • Lake
came up and House made a similar request him.
Witness also went to Poun lbury, saw the money
produced, and the purse torn up.
Robert Davis, brother to the prisoner of that name,
stated that he banded the purse over to the
Superintenda,t of police.
Mary Trevis, servant at the Plume of Feathers,
denied that she bad at any time given House any
money.
Supt. Coward stated that Poole handed him the
note, which House said he picked up, going with
him to the spot where he bad found it. The money
was brought to him by Lake, and witness went to
Poundbury, where the piece; of the torn-up pares were
given to him.
House's statement was that be did not know the
way to the bedrooms.
Pople and Davis made longer statements, mostly
narratives of what the boys had done together.
The Judge maid it was very sad to see three boys of
that age brought up on a charge of this kind,—with
stealing or receiving money, and although there are
differences between the charges, he need not go into
those differences. It wouldstrike them that the evidence
was stronger against one of the boys than against the
others, and his lordship went at length into the eel.
donee, pointing eut that House was found in possession
of the note, the money, and the purse. Legg seems to
have had the note, and given it to Supt. Coward, the
money being traced from House to the other boys.
Two of the boys were under 14, and boys of that age
are generally not supp 'sad to be sufficiently bad to
commit crimes like these lOU to ba punished. As to
Davis, they might be slow to convict him; the case of
Pople he left to them ; but pnnted out how strong the
evidence was against House.
The Jury found House guilty and the others not
guilty.
The Judge thought the evidence on the first indict-
ment WWI hardly so strong.
Mr. Vigor said the other money was £l7 10a, which
had been the savings of years, part of the money had
been recovered, sad he /eked that the money recovered
might be returned.