Elderly farm labourer, John White was due to appear, back in
November 1859, before Blandford Magistrates charged with poaching. He was up
before Magistrates JJ Farquarson (above) from Langton Long, W P Okendon from Turnworth
and Lord Portman from Bryanston. As Dorset landowners and local gentry he knew
they would show little sympathy towards a poacher. Indeed there were many
Dorset folk who had been transported as convicts to Australia for this crime.
Witness Robert Fookes came forward in the Courtroom and
identified John as the man he had seen trespassing in the pursuit of game on
Baron Hambro’s land. He had seen him with four dogs stop and pick up something
which he had put in his pocket. As he could not afford a lawyer, John had to
conduct his own defence. He endeavoured to show that neither he, as a silly old
man, nor his ‘poor bitch’ nor his
three ‘pups of two months old’ could
ever be guilty of such an offence.
The Magistrates were so amused by the old man’s eccentricities
and dry humour that in the absence of more direct evidence they dismissed the
case. However, they counselled John to be more careful in future, to which he
retorted:
‘Thankee gentlemen, you
will never catch I poaching again.’
A roar of laughter broke out around the Blandford Court but
as the Magistrates had already made their decision they felt unable to change
it. (Dorset County Chronicle – 17th
November 1859)
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