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Horse
Rustling at the Remount Depot?
The following court case
was reported on October 14th 1916:
MISSING ARMY HORSES
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ALLEGED THEFT FROM ARBORFIELD REMOUNT DEPOT
At the Wokingham Police Court on
Tuesday, Edward Wenman and Henry Wenman, of Ash, were charged with
stealing two mares, value £120, the property of his Majesty's War Department.
Captain Goater, of the Remount Depôt, Arborfield, said the two mares,
prior to August 9th, were turned out in Barkham Park. On that date these
two mares were missing. On August 27th he went to Guildford, accompanied by a
veterinary officer, when the police showed him the two mares. He discovered that
the numbers had been erased from the horses' hoofs and they had been branded
with a C on the near shoulder.
Cross-examined by Mr. J. T. Coggins (from Messrs. Fisher and Wells'
office): He would not say that the C on the horses was not an Army C.
James Francis Thurston, a captain in the Army Veterinary Corps, said he
accompanied the last witness to Guildford and saw the two mares. They had not
been "cast" from the Remount Depôt.
George Egerton, a shoeing smith at the Army Remount Depôt, Arborfield,
corroborated.
Corporal Gilbert John Hughes said a gate had been unfastened. Near the
gate there were marks showing that a horse and cart had been drawn up.
Alfred Hutt, a carpenter of East Heath, Wokingham, employed at the
Arborfield Remount Depôt, said on his way home he saw standing beside the hedge
a horse and cart and two men. He could not recognise the men.
P. C. Hopkins said that on August 23rd he accompanied Superintendent
Goddard to Edney Cottages, Barkham, near which was a triangular piece
of grass on which a horse and cart had been drawn up.
Mrs. Wallace, the wife of a soldier, said that on the night of August 9th
she drew back the curtains and saw a horse and trap with two men in it. There
were two horses following, and one of the men in the trap was leading them by a
halter.
Tom Maris, a harness maker of Market Place, Wokingham, remembered
selling some halters to a man in early August. He could not see the man in
court. He appeared to be a dealer and was a stranger to witness.
BLACKSMITH'S EVIDENCE
Albert Grinstead, 3, Park Row,
Stoke, Guildford, said he knew the elder prisoner (Edward Wenman)
and he saw him in his shop on August 8th. He was accompanied by a Caleb
Wenman, who had two mares in his possession, and they were the same two
mares as were in the stable outside the police court. He recognised them by the
shoes that he put on, on Caleb Wenman's instructions.
Cross-examined by Mr. J. T. Coggins submitted that there was not a shred
of evidence against the younger prisoner (Harry Wenman), and the Bench
had no option but to discharge him. With regard to Edward Wenman, who was
charged with stealing the two horses, the only evidence against him was that he
was seen by a blacksmith and his wife with the two horses. The blacksmith
thought that they were "cast off" Army horses, and, said Mr. Coggin, it
was conceivable that the prisoner thought the same.
The magistrates dismissed the case against Henry Wenman, and committed
Edward Wenman for trial.
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