Considerable interest was taken in Rushden in the abduction case which was heard last Friday at the Wellingborough Petty Sessions. Copies of the “Rushden Echo” and supplement, which contained the only full report published on the day of the hearing, were in great demand. Portions of the following report appeared in our earlier and subsequent editions last week:-

William Leeson, aged 18, Montague-street, Rushden, was charged with abducting Mabel Lord, a girl under the age of 18, at Rushden. Mr. W. W. James defended.

Sarah Sophie Lord said : I am the wife of James Lord, and live at Home Farm, Rushden. Mabel Lord, my daughter, was born on Jan. 25, 1895. About the end of February I heard that Mabel was keeping company with prisoner. I objected to it, and told my daughter so. She works at Mr. Horrell’s, shoe manufacturer, Rushden. On April 1st she left home at about 5.30 p.m. and did not return that night. I reported her disappearance next day to the police.

Mr. James : Has your daughter been happy at home? – Witness : Yes, very.

Has she ever threatened your husband or you that she would go away? – Never.

Has your husband ever had occasion to speak to Mabel about her conduct? – Never about her conduct; she bore the best of characters.

Further cross-examined, Mrs. Lord said her husband thrashed Mabel on the Saturday before she went away, but Mabel did not complain about it. She was not aware that her daughter was saving money to go away with at Easter. She tried to put a stop to her daughter’s acquaintance with prisoner, who had never been to her house.

The Girl’s Sister

Edith Minnie Lord, aged 18, daughter of last witness, living at home with her parents, said that one evening in February she was in Rushden with her sister Mabel when they met prisoner, who spoke to them. He began talking about their ages. She told him that Mabel was just 16. He said “I am a little older than Mabel.” She told him she (witness) would be 18 in May, and he replied “Mabel looks as old as you.” Witness told him Mabel was being taken for the elder.

By Mr. James : Mabel never suggested to me that she should go away from home. I do not know that Mabel asked two girls to go away with her. Mabel has been out late at night. Some letters were sent to the house after Mabel left. Her sister was thrashed for being out late at night with prisoner.

The Girl’s Father

James Lord, farm bailiff, Home Farm, Rushden, said that on the Saturday before his daughter went away he was at the bottom of the field where the house was situated and thrashed her with a strap across the shoulders. She had always been treated kindly.

On April 1st she left home without his knowledge or consent. He reported her absence to the police, and subsequently obtained a warrant for prisoner’s arrest.

An April 27 she was brought home to him by Insp. Bailey. In consequence of what he was told he looked in his drawer where he kept his clothes and money and missed £4.

By Mr. James : He would be surprised to hear that Mabel complained of being unkindly treated at home. He had not thrashed her more than once. He had never complained to anyone that his daughter was carrying on.

A month before he struck her he complained to her about her being out late at night. Mabel had never threatened she would go away from home, even if he did thrash her. He did not know Leeson, who had never been in his house.

In London

Esther Bowen, 12 and 13, Chesterfield-street, Kings Cross, London, said : No. 13 is used as a hotel. I knew prisoner as Mr. Ward, and the girl as Mrs. Ward. They both took lodgings at my hotel on April 1. I asked prisoner if they were married and he said “Yes.”

I let them have a room on the ground floor for two nights, with breakfast each morning. There was only one bed in that room.

Prisoner paid me in advance on Saturday night, and on Sunday gave me £1. On Monday I offered them a bed-sitting room at the adjoining house for 8s. a week, and they remained there three weeks.

They were there on the night the census was taken. Prisoner gave his name as Albert Ward, aged 23, and the girl as Mabel Ward, aged 20, and said they had been married five months.

By Mr. James : When they arrived at the hotel the girl heard the conversation. They stayed at the hotel three weeks, and during that time I had no complaint from the girl that she was not prisoner’s wife.

The girl looks much younger to-day than she did at the hotel. Her hair was done up then.

Mabel Florence Lord, aged 16, said : I have been keeping company with prisoner since last October. My parents objected to it when they knew, but I continued to go with him.

On Saturday, March 25, at 10.45 p.m. my father met me at the bottom of the field. I had just left prisoner. My father hit me across the shoulder two or three times with a strap.

On March 26 I again met prisoner and told him what my father had done. He asked me to go over to Chelveston and live with his married sister. He wanted me to go that night.

He told me that if I would go he would go as well, and would bike backwards and forwards to his work. I told him my mother did not like me walking out with him. I met prisoner again on March 28, 30, and 31. He told me I could go and live at his house.

On March 31 I told him my sister said he was not working as a shoe-hand but as a groom. He replied, “I would not live with such a lot as you are living with.”

Prisoner said to me, “If I go away will you go and live with me?” and I said “Yes.” He asked me if I had any money and I said “No.” He asked me if I could get any of my father’s without him knowing.

I asked him how much, and he said £3 or £4. He said “If we are caught you must say it is your savings.” We agreed to go to London. We arranged to meet on Wellingborough-road, Rushden, the next night. I did not obtain my father’s consent.

I met prisoner at the place appointed. He asked me if I had got any money and I said “Yes, £4.” I got it from my father’s drawer. We missed the train at Irchester, and went to London by the 10.25 p.m. train from Wellingborough.

I got two tickets for Bedford. Prisoner said that if we got tickets for Bedford people would not know so much where we were going. We were to keep in the train and go on to London paying the difference. I tendered a sovereign at Wellingborough for tickets and received 17/6 change.

When we got into the train prisoner asked me for the change and I gave it to him, with7d. of my own money. We went right through to London, and prisoner paid the difference in the fare when we got there.

Witness then described how they took lodging in London and cohabited there. Afterwards they left London, intending to walk to Leicester, but at St. Albans prisoner was arrested by the police.

Cross-Examined

By Mr. James : I have known Leeson since last October. I used to be very fond of him. My father has only struck me once because I was fond of Leeson. I never asked Leeson to take me away from home. If he says that, he says what is not true.

I have never suggested to anyone else that they should take me away. I never suggested to two girls that they should go away with me. I have never complained that my father and mother were not treating me well at home.

I have never threatened to take my life. I went quite voluntarily with Leeson. I have been with other young men before I knew Leeson.

I have not misbehaved with anyone else. I fetched a “Rushden Echo” to look up the trains. We were going by the 5.49 from Irchester. I took two dresses and had them both on. I took no luggage. From Irchester we were going to Wymington but lost the way and eventually got to Wellingborough.

It is not true that prisoner only decided to go with me to London when we got to Wellingborough. We neither of us tried to get married. We were going to marry when we got work. I was quite willing to be in London with him.

The Arrest

Insp. Bailey proved receiving prisoner into custody at St. Albans. Prisoner said, “We left with the intention of getting married but found that a special licence would cost too much. We were nearly spent out.”

Prisoner also said to me, “I had 27s. when I started, and Mabel had three times as much – what she had saved.”

Prisoner’s Evidence

Prisoner, giving evidence, said that Mabel Lord had often spoken to him about leaving home. He went to London with her on April 1 and cohabited with her.

It was not at my suggestion – prisoner proceeded – that we went to London. I met Mabel on April 1 and she said “I am going to catch a train at Irchester.”

I went with the intention of seeing her off, but we found the train had gone. We walked to Farndish and then to Wellingborough.

I first decided to go to London with her at 10.10 p.m., and we then went to Wellingborough, to catch the 10.25. She said, “If you don’t go with me, neither you nor anyone else in Rushden shall ever see me again.”

I went with her because she asked me to. I never suggested that she should take her father’s money. We passed as husband and wife. We had a serious row in London But Mabel said she did not want to go back home.

Prisoner was committed to the assizes on bail, himself in £75 and three sureties in £25 each.

9th June, 1911

Sensational Rushden Case - The Charge Of Abduction
Prisoner Acquitted - Girl’s Strange Story

At Northants Assizes on Wednesday, before Mr. Justice Pickford,

William Leeson (19), currier, Rushden, pleaded not guilty to a charge of abducting Mabel Lord, aged 16, at Rushden on April 1.

Mr. C. Dyer prosecuted, and Mr. Sandlands, at the request of the Judge, defended.

Mrs. Lord, of the Home Farm, Rushden, said that in February she spoke to her daughter Mabel about going out with prisoner, and witness’s husband had on one occasion in March hit the girl once. Her daughter lived happily at home, and made no complaint. Mabel went away on April 1.

Cross-examined, witness said she had ordered her daughter more than once not to go with Leeson, and the girl paid no attention.

Edith Minnie Lord, daughter of the last witness, said she and her sister and Leeson were talking together one evening, and she mentioned to Leeson that Mabel was 16 in January.

James Lord, the father, working farm bailiff at Rushden, said that one night, when Mabel stayed out until eleven, he hit her once with a strap. She did not cry. She was away from home from April 1 to April 27. Four sovereigns were missing from his money.

Mrs. Esther Bowen, Chesterfield-street, King’s Cross, London, said prisoner came and asked her for a room for himself and his wife. They stayed at her house and filled the census paper up as Mr. and Mrs. Ward.

The Girl’s Story

Mabel Florence Lord, who is a tall girl, said she told Leeson her father had hit her, and he asked her to go and live with his married sister at Chelveston. He said he would go and live there and work with her. She refused. On March 31 she met him again, and he asked her, supposing he went away, if she would go and live with him. She arranged to go with him on the Saturday, and he asked her if she could get some of her father’s money to take some. She took £4. They met on Wellingborough-road, Rushden, on Saturday afternoon and walked to Irchester station. They missed the train there, and walked on to Wellingborough, catching the 10.15 p.m. train to London. They booked to Bedford, as Leeson said it would not be so easy to trace them, and paid excess fare at St. Pancras. While in London she wrote to her sister : “We aren’t half enjoying ourselves in London town, walking down the Strand with a banana in our hand. We are not swanking. I will think of you to-day at the wedding, but you ought to come up to ours.”

Mabel Lord Cross-Examined

Counsel cross-examined the girl as to a statement she was alleged to have made to a friend that she wanted to go away in a motor-car with a man at Bedford, and also that she wanted to go on the stage. These statements she denied. She went quite voluntarily with Leeson. He asked her to go and she said “Yes.”

Ernest Pridmore, York-road, Rushden, postman, said that on Saturday afternoon, April 1st, Leeson told him he was going with a girl to Scarborough, but he would not say the name of the girl.

Insp. Bailey, Rushden, said he saw Leeson and Mabel Lord at St. Albans, to which town they had walked from London. When arrested on a warrant Leeson made certain statements, and he said there had been no improper relations between him and the girl, although they had been together. On the way back to Rushden prisoner said : “I expect I shall get about 12 months.”

Prisoner’s Evidence

William Leeson said that Mabel Lord first mentioned about going away. She told him she wanted to go on the stage. She said her father had thrashed her several times, and she would like to go away. On April 1 he met the girl while he was in his working clothes and without a collar. She told him that she was going away, and that “if he did not go with her neither he nor anyone else in Rushden would ever see her any more.”

Cross-examined, prisoner said he thought from what the girl said that her father treated her rather badly. She asked him to marry her. He denied that he suggested to the girl that she should get some of her father’s money. He accompanied the girl to London in order to protect her. It was his intention to marry the girl, but he could not get married at the time because he could not afford a licence. He thought they had better wait until he got work. The girl tempted him to go away.

By his Lordship : We intended to get married when I obtained employment.

The Defence

James Wilson, Oakley-road, Rushden, for the defence, said he was a friend of Leeson, and he kept company with Mabel Lord’s friend. When speaking to Mabel Lord once he mentioned that he thought of going to Australia. She said she wished he would take her with him and she would pay his fare out. She said she had some money saved up, and that she was not well treated at home.

Mary Elizabeth Brice said she worked with Mabel Lord in a factory. Mabel suggested they should go away to London and get on the stage. Mabel also said she would like to go about in motor-cars with different men.

Mr. Sandlands argued that there was no evidence that there was any persuasion and inducement offered on the part of Leeson to get the girl to go away.

Mr. Dyer said it seemed the whole defence was “The woman tempted me and I ate.” The inducement offered by prisoner to get the girl to go away consisted in the fact that he said he would work for her and give her her liberty. That the girl was a consenting party did not affect the law on the matter.

His Lordship, in summing up, said that if the girl went away without any inducement from prisoner he was not guilty of taking her from the custody of her father but if he did induce her to go he was guilty.

The Verdict

The Jury found a verdict of “Not guilty,” and prisoner was discharged.