Edward Coe pleaded "Not guilty" to a charge of setting fire to a stack of barley, the property of Henry
Haddon Cave, at Desborough on the 30th of September.
Mr. Cave conducted the prosecution; the prisoner was undefended.
It appeared from the evidence that one of the witnesses, an old man, his granddaughter, and several
others, who were returning from the Wellingborough flower-show, passed the spot where the stack in
question was situate, and through a gap in the stone fence of a field adjoining the stackyard saw a man in
dark clothes carrying a light and going towards the stack, which stood some 50 yards distant from the lane
in which the witnesses stood. When first seen, the man was about five yards from them, and both the old
man and his granddaughter, who by glimpses of the light saw the man who carried it, believed it to have
been the prisoner, who was a near neighbour of theirs, and whom they knew well. The old man went to the
house of one of his companions named Stratford, from which place the light was seen to advance towards the
stack and disappear behind it. The granddaughter having been home went with her mother to Stratford's, and
while there distinctly saw the prisoner's face looking in at the window, and on seeing them come out he
ran round a corner and hid himself. The old man, his granddaughter, and her mother returned home, and
about an hour after were roused by an alarm of fire given by a man who was returning, about 2 o'clock,
from Wellingborough.
Mr. Henry Haddon Cave, who was also roused at that time by the alarm of fire, found, on reaching the
spot where his barley stack had stood, that it was almost entirely consumed, and was burning on every side
but that fronting the lane along which the witnesses had passed. Some evidence of menaces by the prisoner
was given.
The learned judge summed up the evidence, and the jury, after deliberating an hour, returned a verdict
of Guilty against the prisoner, who was sentenced to eight years' penal servitude.
The Times, Monday, Dec 12, 1859; pg. 11; Issue 23487; col A
Note: I believe this Edward Coe is the
man who was convicted of arson.
Born in Desborough, about 1825, he was married to Hannah Loake
in 1850 and had four children, the last
being born about 1860. The 1861 census shows Hannah, as both head of household and "wife", living
with her children. In 1871 she is described as "widow". I've found no trace of this Edward in the censuses
after 1851.