Source: The Ipswich Journal, 9,497
Date: 18 May 1895
Place: Stowmarket

STOWMARKET : FELONIES BY AN ERRAND BOY.

Wm. John Greengrass, an errand boy in the employ of Mr. S. Pluck, appeared before the Stowmarket Justices on Monday , charged with stealing 6d., the property of his master. On Thursday week prosecutor marked a sixpence and placed it on the floor in the shop. After about ten minutes he missed it, and went to a shop kept by Mrs. Suttle, in Stricklands, where he identified the coin. - The lad was further charged with stealing two silk handkerchiefs, value 5s., belonging to Mr. Pluck, and William Hammond, a young man in the employ of the Stowmarket Co-operative Society as a baker, was charged with receiving the handkerchiefs, knowing them to be stolen. Greengrass had admitted taking them, and stated that he had been urged to steal them by Hammond. Prosecutor has missed some stamps and coppers previously. - Eliza Hammond deposed that Constable Fuller made enquiry, and in her son’s box she found a white silk handkerchief. - Inspector Phillippo charged Hammond with receiving the handkerchiefs, and prisoner replied, “I did not ask Greengrass to steal them; I did ask him to get me one.” - The Bench decided to deal leniently with Greengrass, in consequence of his youth, and in consideration of the pressure brought to bear upon him by the elder prisoner; in each case he was fined 10s. The other case the Bench considered far more serious. Hammond would be fined £2, or one month’s imprisonment. - The money was paid in both cases by the parents.

This is Samuel Pluck born in Braintree in 1865, a tailor and outfitter. He can be found in Tree 11 (PL2400).