WOLVERHAMPTON CHRONICLE 1850 to 1859 1 16 January 1850 SMETHWICK RAILWAY CHAIR STEALING On Wednesday, police officer Critchlow apprehended, in Wharf Street, Birmingham, a man named Henry Parkes, a boatman, who the same morning between five and six o'clock was observed, with another man not yet in custody, loading a boat with some railway chairs from a large pile which had been deposited on the canal side near the newly erected railway bridge, the property of Mr Pickering, contractor for this portion of the Stour Valley Railway. Information was given to Mr Pickering, who immediately sent one of his foremen in pursuit of the boat and the men. Near to Monument Lane Bridge they were overtaken ; but finding or expecting they were watched, the two men decamped. The value of the chairs is £12, and they were 94 in number. It appears that Parkes and his companion stole away the boat from its anchorage near Tindal Bridge, and took it to Smethwick for the purpose of the robbery. 2 27 February 1850 WOLVERHAMPTON POLICE OFFICE, FRIDAY William Millington, a boatman on the Birmingham Canal at Wolverhampton, was fined 10s and costs for wasting water in the canal. SATURDAY Henry Roden, a boatman, was charged with stealing a quantity of tea from a boat lying at Mr Shipton's wharf some weeks since. Mr H Underhill appeared for the prosecution. Several of the witnesses, who are boatmen, not being in attendance, the prisoner was remanded for a week to afford time for collecting the necessary evidence. Daniel Fulward and William Sharratt, who had been taken into custody on suspicion of receiving a portion of the tea knowing it to have been stolen, were discharged, it being stated that they would be called as witnesses for the prosecution. ASSAULTS Clara Smith was summoned by William Trow, the captain of a boat, for assaulting him. The Magistrates, considering that the charge was not proved and that the conduct of the complainant towards the defendant had been improper, dismissed the case. 3 6 March 1850 WOLVERHAMPTON POLICE OFFICE, WEDNESDAY Thomas Tinley, boatman, was fined 10s and costs for obstructing a lock on the Birmingham Canal at Wolverhampton. SATURDAY Henry Roden, a boatman, who had been several times remanded, was brought up on the charge of stealing a quantity of tea from a boat lying at Mr Shipton's wharf some weeks since. Joseph Madeley, a beer shop keeper and bricklayer at Gnosall, was also charged with receiving the tea, knowing it to have been stolen. Mr H Underhill appeared for the prosecution, and Mr Fleetwood for the prisoner Madeley. The Magistrates, after hearing the evidence, thought there was no evidence against Madeley and not sufficient evidence against Roden to justify a committal. Mr Underhill applied for a further remand, but the Bench considered that as Roden had been already a long time in custody they would not be warranted in detaining him any longer. It appeared that another man (not in custody) had sold the tea, but there was no evidence before the Magistrates to connect Roden with the sale. 4 13 March 1850 WOLVERHAMPTON POLICE OFFICE, SATURDAY MARCH 9 HIGHWAY ROBBERY Robert Arundale and William Smith, boatmen, were charged with robbing Mr William Bishton, canal carrier of the Cannock Road, on the night of the 4th of March 1849. Mr Bishton stated that about twelve o'clock on the night mentioned he was attacked on the canal side, near the second lock, by three men, and robbed of about £13 or £14 in gold and silver. One of the men, the prisoner Arundale, presented a brace of pistols, one in each hand, at his head. Mr Bishton identified the prisoners as two of the men by whom he was attacked ; Smith and the other man stood by while Arundale, holding one of the pistols to his head in one hand, received the money, still holding the second pistol in the other hand. Smith, it appeared, was taken into custody on the following day for a burglary, and sentenced at the last March assizes to twelve months imprisonment, which expired on the 9th instant when he was apprehended on the present charge. Arundale was taken on the 2nd instant at Leicester, having been only a few days out of prison, to which he had been committed under another name. The prisoners had, about three years ago, worked for Mr Bishton. They were both committed to the assizes. BOAT ROBBERY Thomas Smith, boatman, and Joseph Madeley of Gnosall, were committed for trial at the assizes, charged with stealing four chests of tea, the property of the Trustees of the Duke of Bridgewater. This was the fifth examination which had taken place respecting this robbery, the prisoners on their former examinations being discharged. The tea was stolen from a boat on the canal on the 27th of January last, the empty boxes being found on the following morning at the back of some houses in Canal Street. The particulars of the case were given at the time. 5 20 March 1850 STAFFORDSHIRE LENT ASSIZES HIGHWAY ROBBERY Robert Arundale and William Smith were charged with feloniously assaulting and robbing William Bishton on the night of Sunday the 4th of March 1849. Arundale pleaded guilty. Mr Lee, who appeared for the prosecution, called Mr Bishton, who stated that he was a contractor residing at Wolverhampton. On the night of Sunday the 4th of March 1849, he came from Chester by the train due at 24 minutes past 12 o'clock at Wolverhampton. He went down the road from the station at Wolverhampton and crossed the foot of the bridge at the bottom of Canal Street, in order to go home. He saw the prisoners and another man on the bridge ; it was a remarkably light night, and he saw their faces. He knew them before. Smith had worked for him in the course of five or six years perhaps twenty times. He went along the towing-path, and the three men followed him. Arundale presented a brace of pistols at him. Smith and the other man were two or three yards off. He was quite sure Smith was one of the men and should know the third man. He had about £13 with him. Arundale said, “Give us your money or I'll blow your brains out”. He gave him some money. Arundale said, swearing, “You've got some more ; turn it out ; I won't wait half a minute”. He gave him more ; he gave him about £13 10s. He gave information to the police, and named the names of the prisoners. He saw Smith next morning on the towing-path. Charles Gosling, toll collector at the lock house, Wolverhampton, said that on the night of Sunday the 4th March 1849, he saw the prisoners on the towing-path about eight o'clock. Another person was with them. John Bicker, boatman living at Wolverhampton, said that on Sunday evening, the 4th of March 1849, he saw the prisoners together about seven o'clock. Smith had a brace of pistols. He saw them on the canal bridge at the bottom of Canal Street. He never saw them until they were in custody. Thomas Butler, inspector of police, said that Mr Bishton gave him information of his having been robbed, and named Arundale and Smith. The other party named was now in Warwick Gaol. He took the prisoner Arundale in custody from a Leicester officer on the 24th of the month (March). Smith he took into custody on Saturday last at Stafford Gaol. He charged him with the robbery, and he said, “I know nothing about it”. He afterwards said, “I've been thinking of it ; I believe it was on a Sunday. At twelve o'clock, I left the Black Horse, and was on the canal bridge”. He (Butler) took the prisoner Smith into custody on the day of the robbery, for a burglary. He was convicted and was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. The prisoner Smith, on being asked what he had to say to the charge, said he had been taken up and put with Arundale, who told him that he was with two other men who threatened to blow his brains out if he did not commit the robbery. If he (Arundale) would speak the truth, he would say that he (Smith) was as innocent as a child. He begged that Arundale might be called. His Lordship remarked that it was an odd thing to examine one prisoner in favour of another. After referring to several Acts of Parliament, his Lordship decided that Arundale might be examined. Arundale then said he had not in his recollection seen Smith for four years before he saw him in custody. He did not see Smith at all on the day the robbery was committed. He (Smith) was not there. The jury found the prisoner Smith guilty. A previous conviction for felony against Smith was then put in and proved. His Lordship, in passing sentence, told Arundale that he had in no degree improved his position by the testimony he had given in favour of Smith. No one could believe it. As to Smith, he had been four times in gaol, and twice convicted of felony. It was necessary to pass a severe sentence, and that sentence was that each of the prisoners be transported for fifteen years. 6 10 April 1850 DUDLEY LARCENY BY A SERVANT On Wednesday, before J Roberts Esq, a boatman named William Sparrow was charged with stealing £4 8s, the money of his employer, Mr William Mullett of Brierley Hill, under the following circumstances :- It appeared from the prosecutor's statement that on the 15th of December last, he engaged the prisoner to take a boat load of fire bricks to London ; that he gave him £5 for his own wages, and at the same time gave him a separate sum, amounting to £4 8s to pay the tonnage dues ; that the prisoner took the boat from the Nine Locks in the parish of Kingswinford to Tipton, a distance about four miles, and there left it.