LEICESTER CHRONICLE 1856 to 1879 1 January 5 1856 BOROUGH SESSIONS STEALING IRON Henry Dennis (40), boatman, John Hall (39), labourer and George Reynolds (25), higgler, were charged with stealing, on the 18th December last, 172 lbs of iron piping, the property of Alfred Burgess. Mr Mundell prosecuted ; the prisoners were undefended. Henry Brock deposed that on the day in question he was looking out of a window and saw the prisoners carrying ashes, and afterwards he charged the prisoner Reynolds with the robbery, but he denied it. He found a quantity of iron piping (produced), PS Sturgess proved apprehending the prisoner Hall, when he said, “It's a bad job ; it's the first time and I hope it will be the last”. The prisoners were called upon for their defence, when Hall said he knew nothing about it ; Dennis said he was a higgler, and knew nothing about the piping ; and Hall denied having had anything to do with the cart ; he was merely standing in the yard. The jury returned a verdict of guilty against all the prisoners, and they were sentenced to five calendar months hard labour each. 2 March 8 1856 CONCLUSION OF WEDNESDAY'S ASSIZE BUSINESS SHEEP STEALING AT HOLWELL George Billson (25), boatman, and Sarah Billson (45) were charged, the former with stealing one ewe, the property of Josiah Gill, at Holwell on the 24th February, the latter with receiving the same, knowing it to have been stolen. The jury found the prisoners guilty, George Billson of stealing and Sarah Billson of receiving. A previous conviction was proved against the prisoners in 1849. Fifteen calendar months hard labour each. 3 March 15 1856 COUNTY PUBLIC OFFICE, SATURDAY MARCH 8 Liskom Newbold, boatman of Leicester, pleaded guilty to stealing a pole, the property of James Wain, wood dealer of Belgrave. He was sentenced to fourteen days hard labour. 4 March 15 1856 MAGISTRATES' CLERK'S OFFICE, LOUGHBOROUGH, MARCH 8 Henry Matlock, boatman, who had been apprehended on suspicion of receiving property stolen from the Stanton colliery, was discharged for want of evidence. 5 May 3 1856 A FATAL BOILER EXPLOSION took place on Monday evening at the works of Messrs Rose and Co, Bilston, situate on the line of the Birmingham Canal. The boiler, which was 5ft 6in in diameter by 36 ft long, and made of 7-16ths iron, while one end was blown into the canal, was propelled with terrific force into the works, bringing down a chimney stalk 60 ft high, tearing a neighbouring boiler from its bed, and ripping up rolls and their bedding, which were so firmly secured that a force equal to hundreds of horse power must have been required to move them. At this obstacle the further progress of the boiler was stayed, and there it now lies torn to pieces. The rooting of the works and its surrounding brickwork were cast to an almost incredible distance. Massive iron uprights were broken to pieces and scattered, with disjointed heavy machinery upon every hand. The canal was nearly dammed up with the ruins which fell into it, sinking beneath them a longboat that lay near the works and endangering the lives of the boatmen. Benjamin Plant, the engineer at the time, was found in the canal quite dead with a severe wound upon his head. Thomas Court, a boilermaker, was found near to Plant, also dead from an injury upon the head of a more severe character that that by which the engineer was killed. Joseph Hill, another engineer, was found dead at a considerable distance from the immediate site of the explosion. He was surrounded by pieces of iron piping and bricks, some portions of which had struck him about the head and neck and deprived him of life. A youth named William Harris, an under hand puddler, was the fourth person killed. In addition to the above persons who are killed, a few have been injured. The sad accident is supposed to have originated in water having been turned by Court into the boiler while it was in a state of excessive heat. The shattered boiler gives evidence of its having been allowed to get nearly empty. Court had been at his work nearly an hour when the explosion occurred. 6 May 3 1856 INQUEST AT HEMINGTON A captain of a boat named Thomas Ironmonger, aged fifty six years, died suddenly on the canal on Sunday last. He had been on a voyage to Gainsborough, and was returning up the Trent. When in Holme Pierrepont parish he was taken ill with a pain in his stomach, and went to lie down. His fellow boatman went to him shortly afterwards, and found that he was dead. The body was taken in the boat to Shardlow, and from thence in a cart to Hemington, his place of residence. He had been troubled for some time with occasional pains in the stomach, and had consulted many doctors for it. It is supposed that he died from the rupture of some blood vessel in the neighbourhood of the heart, and at the inquest held on Monday, a verdict of “Natural causes” was returned. 7 May 17 1856 LOUGHBOROUGH PETTY SESSIONS, MAY 8 William Jeffcoat of Loughborough, boatman, for having unlawfully killed a hare on the 25th of April last, on land at Quorndon, was fined £2 and costs, or six weeks hard labour. 8 May 24 1856 ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH PETTY SESSIONS, MAY 17 Two boatmen named Jesse Ordin and William Wells were apprehended by Mr Price, the parish constable of Ashby, for having a quantity of malt in their possession. They had offered some at Moira at 6s 9d per bushel, and this being considerably under the regular price, they were suspected of having stolen it, and taken into custody. Remanded for further examination, and removed to the Ashby lock up. 9 May 24 1856 LUTTERWORTH PETTY SESSIONS, MAY 12 A long case, in which William Rowson, boatman, Liverpool, was charged by William Gardner, farmer, Welford, with having stolen two cows on the 13th instant, his property, value £28, was dismissed, the Chairman telling him that he had been discharged without a spot or stain upon his character. 10 August 23 1856 TOWN HALL, MONDAY AUGUST 18 BRUTAL ASSAULT A young boatman named Thomas Halford was charged with assaulting Elizabeth Astill, a young woman about eighteen years of age, on the 9th inst in Grosvenor Street. The complainant stated that she was in trouble by defendant, and that her mother went to ask him what he should do for the child when it was born. Defendant assaulted her mother, and hearing the disturbance, complainant went out into the street, upon which defendant came up to her and struck her on the cheek. He then knocked her down, dragged her along the street by the hair of her head, and kicked her several times while she was on the floor. He was fined 10s or three weeks imprisonment. 11 December 27 1856 LOUGHBOROUGH PETTY SESSIONS, DECEMBER 18 Benjamin Ross of Loughborough, a boatman, was charged with having left his wife and family chargeable to the parish. His wife and four children had cost £47 14s in relief, and from £5 to £6 in expenses for seeking and fetching him from Chertsey in Sussex last week. The bench committed him for three months hard labour. 12 January 10 1857 TOWN HALL, LOUGHBOROUGH, JANUARY 2 John Merriman and Henry Hickingbottom, both of Castle Donington, boatmen, were further remanded on a charge of stealing two hams and 140 lbs of bacon on the 26th ult, the property of Mr Abraham Welsh. JANUARY 7 A little old woman named McDonald was brought up and remanded on a charge of drunkenness. She was found on Sunday night in Swan Street, helplessly drunk, and rolled up more like a hedgehog than a human being. 13 January 31 1857 DEATH BY DROWNING An inquest was held at the Limekilns in the parish of Burbage yesterday week, on view of the body of Eliza Nicholls, between seven and eight years of age. From the evidence adduced, it appeared that her father was a boatman on the canal. On the previous Wednesday, at the above place, her father stopped for the night, and took the little girl along with him to put the horse in the stable, leaving her mother in the boat. He afterwards sent the deceased to her mother to get some money to pay for the stable, and on her not returning he went in search of her along with another boatman, but could not find her. They then procured two boat hooks and tried the canal, and after some time they succeeded in finding the body of the girl about two yards from the bank of the canal. A surgeon was sent for, and every means taken for her recovery, but life was extinct. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental death”. 14 April 25 1857 COUNTY PUBLIC OFFICE, MONDAY ATTEMPT AT RAPE AT KILBY John Falstead, a youth seemingly about eighteen years of age, was brought up on a charge of attempting to commit a rape on the person of Ann Smith, servant to Mr Freer, landlord of the “Black Swan” near Kilby Bridge, on the previous afternoon (Sunday). It appeared that the defendant was a boatman on the canal, and that the complainant, together with a little girl, daughter of Mr Freer, named Sophia, had gone to take a walk with the baby on the towing-path. The prisoner, who was in an adjoining field picking cowslips, came up to them and seized the complainant, when the outrage complained of was committed.