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A young man’s world was rocked 125 years ago when he ended up in jail after being caught red-handed stealing gravel from the beach by an Honorary Policeman.
Samuel Albert Pitman, aged 26, went to La Rocque on Saturday, 4 November 1899 to illegally collect the stones from the slipway.
His actions were spotted by Constable’s Officer John Elias Brée, who warned him that it was against the law. This was clearly not what Pitman wanted to hear as he proceeded to assault the officer with his spade.
The offence landed him in the Magistrate’s Court a week later where Brée was the main witness and laid the foundations for the evidence against Pitman. Brée said that he had been gathering vraic (seaweed) at La Rocque with his father the previous Saturday when Pitman arrived at the beach with a cart and began to shovel gravel into his vehicle.
Pictured: A magistrate's record of Samuel Pitman
According to newspaper reports, the Honorary Policeman said he approached Pitman and told him he was not allowed to take the gravel without permission and that he needed to cease immediately. The accused did not take this statement well, running after Brée and aiming a blow at him with the spade in his hand.
Brée managed to avoid most of the impact of the strike by throwing himself to the ground, although his wrist was injured by the swing. Pitman then jumped on him before making for his cart, throwing some stones at witnesses and driving to the slipway.
Brée once again approached the accused to reason with him but this time he was grabbed by the throat before Pitman calmed down and agreed to come to the Police Station with him.
However, this was not the end of his threatening behaviour. At the Police Station, Pitman told Brée in front of other Police Officers that he would get “more next time” if he was in trouble again.
Pictured: Pitman was spotted stealing stones from the slipway before he assaulted the Honorary officer
Brée submitted a doctor’s report to the Court that confirmed his injuries and other witnesses were called to corroborate Brée’s statement in this rock-solid case.
Surprisingly, another Constable’s Officer, Alfred Ahier, had been called to the scene but the Court heard that he decided against accompanying Brée and Pitman to the Police Station as the accused was sober and looked calm.
This decision was criticised by the Magistrate, who thought Ahier should have assisted more as Brée had been injured in the assault and he said that “he could not compliment [the] witness’s Parish upon having chosen him as a Constable’s Officer”.
Pictured: Report of the case in the Evening Post
Advocate Alavoine, who was defending Pitman, said his client hadn’t been aware that Brée was a Constable’s Officer when he approached him. Furthermore, when he was told, he calmed down. The Magistrate pushed back on this saying that Pitman must have known that he was doing wrong.
The accused also claimed he had been to the beach many times before to gather gravel and had never been stopped and was unaware that it was illegal. The Magistrate said he was not surprised by this revelation as many laws are passed but were not put into full execution.
The Magistrate concluded that there was no doubt there had been an unwarranted attack on Brée and that Police Officers must be protected. As a result, Pitman was sent to jail for three weeks with hard labour for the assault. For illegally taking the gravel, he was fined £2, or six days’ imprisonment in lieu of payment.
Pictured: Record of Mr Pitman being sent to prison
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