Vol 14; No 07 A Load of Bull

[Les1949]

This would have been in last night's programme

HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 7 A LOAD OF BULL
….desperate measures that led to the Old Bailey

On 11th July 1781, Alexander Frazier and John Hodges were tried at the Old Bailey for the theft of a bullock, valued at £6, the property of John Elphick, stolen from Bushy Park on 10th December 1780. Elphick stated that the bullock was lame and not fit to drive to market. Two witnesses were called by the prosecution; Ann Stent and John Stocker.

Stent testified that she had seen the two prisoners and Stocker return to the house with the bullock, saw them kill it. Stocker, in whose house Stent and the two accused were living, had presumably turned King’s Evidence to save his own skin, gave his version of events.

Stocker had spent the evening with Frazier & Hodges and much the worse for wear was persuaded to accompany them to the park at around midnight. Desperation for food, and especially fresh meat, was the driving force behind their enterprise. Desperate people often take desperate measures. Between them, they drove the bullock out through the Teddington Gate back to his house. Taken down to the cellar it was despatched, cut up and the unwanted parts buried.

The meat was salted and stored in barrels and put aside to eat at Christmas. However due to the furore raised by the disappearance of the bullock there was no chance of them enjoying the fruits of their theft and consuming the meat as they had planned.



Although it is not made clear one assumes that Stent had gone to the authorities and Stocker had owned up to his part in the venture.

Frazier for his part said,

‘I never wronged any man. I know nothing of it’.

Hodges,

‘I am very innocent of it’.

Verdict; Both Guilty Sentence; Death

Theft of property was always considered to be a very serious matter and the death sentence was often used as a deterrent.

It is not commonly known that less than a fifth of death sentences were actually carried out. Convicts avoided death through various options, including being sentenced to military service.

In the case of Alexander Frazier, on 25th November 1782 he was sentenced to serve in the Army, either in the West Indies or America.


The Old Historian