Outrage – The Strange Story of Strannock – Gagged and Robbed In The Wood.

May 1908

Mexborough and Swinton Times May 30, 1908

 Outrage.
The Strange Story of Strannock.
Gagged and Robbed In The Wood.
Free-Handed Men from Grimsby.
“Standing Treat” At Conisbrough

Mr. W. J. Huntriss and Mr. E. W. Jackson spent the greater part of Wednesday in the Doncaster West Riding Police Court, hearing a charge of highway robbery against Martin Myers, Emmanuel Gibbs, and Isaiah Gough, all of Dalton Brook. The case aroused considerable interest in the Conisborough district, and the hearing was followed by a good muster of the general public.

The prisoner Gough was represented by Mr. G. W. Andrews, and Myers by Mr. H. Fretwell, of Rotherham, Gibbs being undefended.

Superintendent and “Shandy Gaff.”

Edward Strannock, a marine-store dealer, living at Fotherby Street, Grimsby, said that on Monday, the 18th of May, he was at Conisborough with a pony and cart, making his way to Rotherham. With him was a man named. Joseph Thomas Windle, a Grimsby fisherman, his partner in the business. They broke down as they proceeded down the hill at Conisborough, and he took the cart to a blacksmith’s shop for repairs. While the wheel was being fixed he went across to the Three Horse Shoes to have a “shandy-gaff.”

Supt, Hicks: You mean a drink, don’t you?

Witness: A “shandy-gaff.”

Supt. Hicks: I don’t know what a “shandy-gaff” is. (Laughter). Is it a split? (Laughter).

Proceeding, he said that after he and his partner had had a drink the three men, Gibbs, Gough, and Myers, came up, and Myers said, “Will you stand a drink of beer ?” and he replied, “Yes.” The men were strangers to him, but they all returned to the public-house. Windle had not come out of the house. They had half-a-gallon of beer at about half-past three. Altogether they had five or six half-gallons among the six, for there was a further stranger sharing. All were friendly, and the conversation was about nothing in particular. He kept his money loose in his trousers pockets, and he had £7 13s. When he paid for the drink he pulled the lot out and turned it over in his hand. The three men had an opportunity of seeing that he had money. They left the “Three Horse Shoes” at a quarter to five. None of them were drunk, nor even the worse for beer.

Mr. Huntriss: Do you mean to say that after consuming all that beer you were all right?

There were six of us, sir, for only five half-gallons.

At The “Red Lion.”

Witness, continuing, said that he and Windle went across to the blacksmith’s shop, got the cart, and proceeded up Clifton Hill. They had got 300 yards up the hill when the cart broke down again. Prisoners were coming up the hill, and they helped Windle to take the cart back to the blacksmith’s shop, he himself unyoking the pony and following. They left the cart and harness at the blacksmith’s shop and took the pony to the “Red Lion,” Faure drink shortly after six, witness paying for seven or eight half gallons. There were five of them to consume this.

They left at 10 o’clock – closing time. Myers and Gibbs were with him all the time, and Gough, after leaving for two hours returned a little before closing time. At that time he had little over 7 pounds in his possession, and was wearing a metal watch and a silver chain. None of them were drunk, though they were all little the worse for drink.

One of the men asked Windle and witness to go with him and sleep at his home the night. They had set off to go to Hill top on the way to Rotherham – the five of them. Gough had a heavy stick with him, which he had brought with him when he returned to their company at the “Red Lion” about 945. He, with Myers and Gough went forward and Windle and Gibbs walked about 20 yards behind. He did not see Windle anymore that night. When they reached Hill Top, Gibbs came up and witness found himself in the middle of the three. Gibbs said that his friend was coming up behind. They reached a plantation, and Gough, without a word, knocked him down with the stick and he became insensible.

Gagged and Robbed

In his further evidence, witness said that he was stunned with the stick, and Gibbs gagged him with a black handkerchief. They then dragged, him into the wood, opening a gate and passing through. He struggled, but be it was of no use. Gibbs struck him on flu) up jaw; his face being cut and bruised. The HE other two men pinned him down to the on ground, got his money and his watch and chain. No word was spoken while his pockets were being rifled. He lay in the plantation alone for about three minutes, and then the men came back, and Myers rolled him over on his face and searched for a hip pocket. Gibbs pulled his trousers off, and Gibbs cut off his body belt with a knife. He was again ill-used, all three beating his face with their fists. They knocked the sense out of him and left him unconscious in the wood.

When he recovered consciousness he saw lying near him his cap and belt and trousers, and. a strange pair of boots; Gough had taken his pair. He dressed himself and then went back into Conisborough. There he saw his friend Windle, at a quarter to six. He had been lying behind a wall. It was Windle who went to the police station, for he himself was too ill to go.

A Quarrel.

Mr. G. W. Andrews: When you invited these men to go for a drink, how much money had you?—About  £8 7s. 6d.

You told Mr. Hicks that you had £17 13s.

Yes, that’s when I saw the men. There’s a difference between going in first time and going in again.

Yes, I should imagine so at your rate of progression.

Were you the treasurer of the company?—Yes.

That’s the best position, isn’t it?—Yes.

Did you render the partnership accounts? —No, but we knew how things were.

I suppose he kept a cute eye on you?-Well, we kept one on one another.

And so you fell out occasionally?—No, not as I know; only about the old cart.

Did he ask you to take the .pony and let him take the cart?—Yes.

Windle was demanding some of the 7 1.3s„ wasn’t he?—Yes, and he didn’t get it.

Whatever was done to you on this night, I suggest that if was done by Windle. Because he would not do as you wanted, and he was going to get his own back that way?

Windle was not there. That’s not true.

Well, I don’t know.  I wasn’t there

It’s to my sorrow. I wish you had been. (Laughter).

What were you doing with Gough’s hoots?

1—I don’t know. Can you tell me?’ I found them in the wood.

Are these boots as good as your own? – Decidedly, they are better.

I suggest that what you say about the theft of your boots is a lie? – I suggest that these boots I have on were stolen by these men in Rotherham

I suggest that the boots were swapped in the public-house —They were not,

Why should the men take off the trousers if they did not want to take them away?-They would have token my brains away if they could. (Laughter).

Perhaps they could not discover them. (Laughter).

Mr Fretwell: When you first saw Myers, was he talking to a man about 3 yards away from you? – Myers talking to someone. He’d be talking to my old horse then.

Did you see Myers hand that day? – No, but I felt it at night.

Did you notice that he had an abscess on his hand? – No.

Further, witness said that he only had 3 pints of beer all the day. He was not so fond of it as all that.

Gibbs, in the course of cross-examination, elicited that there had been a quarrel between Strannock and Windle about the money.

The Partner

Joseph Thomas Windle, Fishman, Fotherby Street, Gregory, said he was at Conisbrough with chronic on Monday, the 18th inst and confirm what he had said as to the accident and the drinking at the “Three Horse Shoes.” Strannock, he said, paid for all the drinks they had in the “Three Horse Shoes,” and the “Red Live.” He did not know exactly how much money Stanley cad.

When they left the “Red Lion” at closing time, Gough was there with a big stick, walking towards the hill. None of the five were the worse for drink. They walked on, Myers and Gough, Strannock, and he and Gibbs following on behind. Suddenly Gibbs asked for a drink of beer from a bottle he was carrying. He refused, because it was Strannock’s beer. Gibbs then butted him and struck him, leaving him lying in the hedge, where he remained for half an hour. They got half a mile away from the “Red Lion”. He went back to the field and slept with the pony all night.

The next morning he found Strannock near the blacksmith shop between 6.30 and 7 o’clock. He had a black eye, and his head was bleeding from a cut. His chin was bruised. He seemed to be in pain, and could only just hobble. He reported the matter to the police

Wit and Humour.

Mr. G. W. Andrews: Why did you go with the men away from the village, if you did not like their company P—I went where the money was, because part of the money belonged to me?

Did you agree that the half-gallons should be paid for out of the partnership funds?—Certainly, if he was good enough to give it, I was.

You told us you were not in the habit of sitting and counting how much you drunk? —Yes, I don’t count it. I sup it.

How much can you drink before you are unable to count up?—Fourteen pints a day. (Laughter).

You don’t put in overtime at that?—No, not at that. I do at the pork-shops sometimes. (Laughter).

When would your day for the consumption of beer commence?-0h, about six o’clock in the morning. (Laughter).

You wash in it, perhaps?—Perhaps I don’t.

How many pints had you on this day?—Why, when there are six of you to a half-gallon, there’s only what you might call a swallow. (Laughter).

No Quarrel.

You were all in good order—fit to attend a temperance lecture?—Yes, certainly.

Wasn’t it a fact that during the whole of that day you had been wrangling with Strannock?—No.

Did you say anything about the money?—No,

Did you make any arrangement about the dividing of the pony and cart— Certainly

Why did you make such a silly arrangement as that?—Why, you do anything in drink

But you told us you were not drunk?—I was not drunk.

Why did you go back to Conisborough after you were put in the hedge?—Because I didn’t want any more hitting on the head.

You let your partner take his risk?–Yes, certainly I had had enough.

Overheard!

Wm. Crookes, brick-burner, employed by Messrs. Walker and Crawshaw, Conisbrough, living at 8, Cross roads, Conisbrough, said that on Monday afternoon he was sat on a gate by the side of the highway, when the three men, Myers, Gough and Gibbs, came by. They were following the two men, Strannock and Windle, who were engaged upon their broken cart. He heard Myer say, -We must get what they’ve —- got, and give them a —- hiding.” They did not appear to have noticed him, and he went back to his work in the brickyard. He saw the five men a, little later Mire their way to the “Red Lion” apparently on good terms.

Mr. Andrews: Didn’t it occur to you to interfere and prevent what appeared to be a highway robbery? – No, it wasn’t my business.

Smaller Links

John Yates, a labourer living at Mount Pleasant, Conisborough, said that he was on Hooton Cliff road, between Hill Top and Hooton Roberts, at 6-46 on the morning of Tuesday, the 19th, and found the body-belt, which he threw away again.

Arthur Mangham, miner, of 7, Cusworth Street, New Conisborough, said he was at Hooton Cliff-gate, and picked up a cap and belt and stick. The stick and the belt he threw away, but learning later of the robbery, he went and fetched the stick and belt, and took them to the police. The grass around was, crushed as if there had been a struggle.

Thos. Thompson, 6, Eastwood Lane, Rotherham, a collier, who knew all the prisoners, said that on Tuesday afternoon (the 19) – a half-past three, he was in Bridgegate, Rotherham, where he met Myers and Gibbs. Myers invited him to have a drink with him. They went into the Fitzwilliam Arms, and while they were drinking Gibbs produced a watch-chain, and asked witness to take it to the pawnshop. He took it to the pawnshop and got four and sixpence.

P.c. Haydock, of Conisborough, said that he was on duty in the Doncaster and Sheffield road at 10-30 p.m. on Monday, the 18th. He saw the three prisoners, with Strannock and Windle in the middle of the road, walking towards Hill Top. All of them appeared to be a little worse for drink. Windle came up to him and asked for a chew of tobacco. He told them he had none, and they went on towards Hill Top.

P.c. Lundy said he saw Strannock on Tuesday morning, at the Cross roads, Conisborough. He looked as if he had been badly knocked about. His clothes were dusty, and he could scarcely walk at all. At six o’clock the same evening he went to the Police Office, Rotherham, and saw the prisoner Gough, in custody on another charge. He was wearing, a pair of boots which Strannock identified as his property, and of which he took charge.

At 5-15 a.m. the following day he apprehended the two other prisoners. Myers and Gibbs, at the house of Myers, 37, Kilton street. Dalton Brook. He charged them both with high-way robbery with violence. Myers replied, “It’s a —- nice thing. Gough has the boots on his feet. The man was all right when we left him at twenty minutes past ten.” Gibbs made no reply. At 5-15 p.m. on Thursday be received Gough into custody from the Rotherham police. Replying to the charge, Gough said, “I am not guilty. I overtook the men upon the road, went with them as far as Hill Top, and then left them.” On Friday he went to the scene of the assault, found the turf very much disturbed and showing signs of a struggle, and also found part of the body-belt.

The Defence.

Martin Myers, collier, 37, Kelvin Street, Dalton Brook, said he went to look for an absconding lodger at Conisborough, on Monday, the 18th. Gibbs and Gough were with him. They were outside the “Three Horse Shoes” in the afternoon, and he was engaged in conversation with another man when Strannock was talking to his friends.

Subsequently he and his friends were at the bottom of Clifton Hill, and they saw Strannock and Windle take the cart back. He did not say what the witness. Crookes had alleged that he had said. They went with the two men to the “Red Lion,” and later he invited the men to rest for the night at his house, provided they behaved themselves. Strannock had been making use of bad language all the afternoon, and when they came out of the “Red Lion,” the two men, Strannock and Windle, commenced to quarrel about their business, whereupon they left the two men, for fear they should get into trouble. Gough, he said, had exchanged boots with Strannock in the “Three Horse .Shoes.” He denied the assault, or any knowledge of the assault, and said that what bad been said about the “gagging and robbing” was a pack of lies.

Emmanuel Gibbs, a trammer, living at 37, Kelvin Street, Dalton Brook, corroborated. Strannock and Windle, he said, quarrelled in the “Three Horse Shoes,” and would have come to blows but for the landlord. The men actually did come to blows out in the road after they turn out of the “Red Lion.” So they left them there.

Isaiah Gough, Whinney Hill, near Rotherham, said he was with Gibbs and Myers on Monday, and confirm what they said. He denied having had the stick (produced) in his possession, and he denied the assault.

Each prisoner was committed to the Assizes, Gough finding sureties of £50 for his release on bail.

The hearing occupied six hours.