Sussex to wit Depositions taken and sworn the nineteenth 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 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 at Ore aforesaid (the rest of the family being gone to church) and saw seven Men each having a stick in his hand and among them the two persons now present in custody Alfred Soan and William Peters come along the Garden hedge and one of them 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, That 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 of the seven men whose name is unknown to this Depondent got up into one of the Trees and shook some apples off which the others picked up. That the said Alfred Soan said to this Depondent "Will your Dog bite?’ alluding to a dog which this Depondents Father keeps. That this Depondent said the dog would not hurt him, and the said Alfred Soan then said "Well keep him tied up or I‘ll knock his Brains Out". 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 one of the said seven men 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 Chicken which this Depondent heard crying out at the same place, while the other men were standing round him to prevent the Chicken from getting away. That when they saw this Depondent they ran away down the hedge and one of them the same man before mentioned as being dressed in a lead coloured frock, 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 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 where Fowls appeared to have been killed in the same hedge and at one of the said places found the head now produced of another of his Fathers Fowls and on making 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 BrissendenJohn Brissenden
of Ore aforesaid Husbandman Maketh oath and saith that on Sunday last the 18th Instant he had six Fowls in a field near his House at Ore aforesaid, which he saw in the forenoon. That he went to church in the afternoon and on his return about five o’clock he made search for his Chicken and found only two of them alive , and the body of another with his head wrung off and also the head of another. And three of the said Chicken of the value of four shillings were stolen and carried away and that he saw two places pointed out by his son where Fowls appeared to have been killed.John Brissenden
The before named Depondents George }
Brissenden and John Brissenden were }
sworn before me the day and year first }
above written. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}
Edwd Milward