Alleged Wholesale Robbery: Yesterday, at the Newton Police-court, before Dr. Atkinson and J. Vicary, Esq.: James Follett, Jonathan Prowse, Richard Myhill, George Millman, bargemen and John Frost, owner of a barge were charged with having on the 13th and 14th December, stolen about 12 tons of coals, valued at £12, the property of Mr. John Ball Pinsent, coal merchant of this town. – Mr. Creed prosecuted and stated that about ten days ago a vessel called the “Fanny” arrived at Teignmouth with a cargo of coal for Mr. Pinsent. The coal is there weighted out into barges that hold about 30 tons each, and conveyed to Newton, but is not again weighed on delivery. Two barges thus loaded were worked by the defendants; one belonging to Messrs. Watts, Blake, Bearne and Co. and the other to the Clay Company: That worked by Follett and Prowse was dispatched from Teignmouth last Saturday week and that by the other two defendants the Monday after. Both had to anchor near Coombe Cellars to await the following tide, and he should show by a man named Lang that he saw a small lighter, which he believed belonged to the prisoner Frost, near one of the lighters, and that when they arrive at the prosecutors’ stores, the quantity of coal was considerably reduced. He should also show that Frost employed a man named Trust to unload a lighter of coals at Archerbrook, near Coombe Cellars, and that it was carted away by a dealer of Coombe named Walter Morey to whom it was sold for 17s 6d a ton. Frost’s statement, he believed, was that he gathered up the coals on the bank of the river, but he should show by Mr. Pinsent’s clerk, and also the policeman who saw the coals the previous day in Moresy’s store, that it was the same kind of coal as that supplied to Mr. Pinsent, and that it was quite clean as when taken from the vessel. These facts were borne out by witnesses Lang and Trust, P.C. White and Mr. W. Holmes, clerk to Mr. Pinsent. A remand was then applied for and granted to Tuesday next. The bargemen were granted bail, but it was refused to Frost.
[see also Western Times: Friday 24th December 1880]
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GRO0518 Devonport: John Ball Pinsent: 1819 – 1901