Montgomery and district
Crime and punishment
More about..
The men from the King's Head  
 

The behaviour of these two men was very suspicious. Both were selling turkeys, though both denied that they had stolen them. Robert Price denied that he had left any turkeys at Mary Jones' house, though two of the missing turkeys were found there. Both were lodging at the King's Head and Thomas Jones had been to the mill, so he knew where the turkeys were kept.

When the case came to court at Easter it was found that Thomas Jones had been to prison for theft in Shropshire. The extract from the court records below shows what happened to them both.

 
 
The extract reads:
"Jury say Thomas Jones Guilty
Robert Pryce Not Guilty
Thomas Jones pleads guilty to prevoius conviction.
Ordered that the above named prisoner Thomas Jones be confined in the House of Correction for this county and there kept to hard labour for six months"

The jury probably felt that it couldn't be proved that Robert Price had actually had the stolen turkeys, and so had to declare him not guilty even though he might well have been involved.

COMPARE THIS CASE WITH THE CASE OF ELIZABETH GRIST
In the 30 years since Elizabeth came to court attitudes to punishment changed. Like Thomas Jones, Elizabeth had been found guilty of theft before, but where she was sent to Australia, he served 6 months in prison
 

Back to Montgomery crime menu

 

Link to sources
Back to top
Go to Montgomery menu