Sussex to wit Depositions taken and sworn the twenty first day of October 1829 Before me the undersigned one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace acting in and for the said county.
George Brissenden
of the age of thirteen years and upwards Son of John Brissenden of Ore in the said County Husbandman Maketh Oath and Saith that on Sunday last the 18th day of this Instant October about four o’clock in the afternoon he was at his Father’s house in aforesaid (the rest of the family being gone to church) and saw seven men each having a stick in his hand and among them Alfred Soan, William Peters, John Marwick and Henry Hunt the person now here present in custody - come along the Garden hedge and one of them the said Alfred Soan asked this Depondent where the foot road was and he replied "It is just forward". That they then asked him whether his brother was at home and this Depondent said he was not. They then asked him whether there were any apples on the Trees in the yard and this Depondent said "No the wind has blown them nearly all off". That one of them then said we shall have some apples and one amongst them got up into the Tree and shook some apples off which the others picked up. That they then went away down the close and into a Wheat Stubble field in which this Depondents Father had six fowls and this Depondent hearing the said Fowls cry out went into the same field and then saw the same John Marwick dressed in a lead covered round frock laying down on the ground and putting his arm as far as he could into the hedge in the act of catching one of the Chickens which this Depondent heard crying out at the same place while the said Alfred Soan, William Peters and the said Henry Hunt and the others were standing round him to prevent the chicken from getting away. That when they saw this Depondent they ran away down the Hedge and the said John Marwick got over the hedge and came up the other side to the place where he had before tried to get the chicken and there attempted to get it out of the hedge but the hedge being thick he could not do it. That this Depondent called out to them and they all ran away as fast as they could and after they were gone he went to the place where he had seen the Man trying to get the chicken out and there found the Fowl now produced the property of his father with its head wrung off and its wing broken. That he saw two other places near thereto in the same hedge where Fowls appeared to have been killed and at one of the said places found the head now produced of another of his Fathers fowls and on making further search it was discovered that three of the Fowls had been stolen and carried away. That this Depondent had about two o’clock the same afternoon seen all the six fowls feeding in the field. ~ George BrissendenGeorge Vine
of Ore in the said County Laborer Maketh Oath and saith that on Sunday afternoon last about two o’clock he was in a house called the Ivy house in the said Parish of Ore about two miles from the house of the said John Brissenden and while he was there seven men among them the said Henry Hunt now here present in custody and Alfred Soan, William Peters and John Marwick came into the said house and had a pot of Beer. That the said John Marwick was dressed in a lead coloured round frock and a black hat and the said Henry Hunt was smoking a pipe ~ and they all went out together towards Mr Woodroffes house and in a direction towards the house of the said John Brissenden.X
The Mark of the said George VineSworn before me this }
21st day of October 1829 }
Edwd Milward