It's a slow day ; currently reading proceedings from the Old Bailey. Times were tough :
Aged 18, stole 4 ducks, transported for 7 years.
1386. JOSEPH HARRIS was indicted for stealing, on the 4th of May , 4 live ducks , the property of John Bray .
JOHN BRAY . I live at Chiswick , and keep ducks . On the 4th of May I saw four ducks and one drake safe at half-past nine o'clock in the evening, in a small shed which was bolted outside - at a quarter-past seven next morning I went to the nest where one of the ducks had been sitting, the eggs were then cold, and the ducks and drake were gone; I went down to the prisoner's boat on the river Thames, in about three hours, he was in the boat alone - it was about three or four hundred yards from my place; I said, "Harris, you robbed me last night;" he said, "Bray, I have not;" I looked into his boat, and saw some feathers in a place called the well; I asked how they came there - he said a lady gave him a bantum fowl and he pulled some of the feathers off - I put my hand into the well and found a duck's foot; I said, "Is this a bantum's foot?" he made no answer - I got a warrant, and found my ducks in the cupboard of the boat.
Cross-examined by MR. PHILLIPS. Q. Do not you know his boat had been unmoored and carried some distance? A. No; I left a man to watch him while I went for a warrant - I did not get into the boat the first time, I only stood by the side of it; the officer was with me when the ducks were found.
BENJAMIN SNELL . I am a constable of Chiswick. I went with Mr. Bray to the prisoner's boat to execute the warrant - I found the ducks in the cupboard and the feathers in the well.
Prisoner's Defence. I was in the boat by myself for two hours, while he was gone for an officer.
GUILTY . Aged 18.
Transported for Seven Years .
A searchable online edition of the Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913.
www.oldbaileyonline.org