STOLEN or Strayed, out of a Close in Skirbeck, in the County of Lincoln, in the Occupation of Mr. Pell, of Freiston in the same County, on Monday Night the 25th Instant, or early on the Tuesday Morning following, A large Chesnut HORSE, Seven Years old, has a large White Range down his Face, his hind legs are White nearly up to the Gambrols, with a cut Tail. Whoever will discover the Offender or Offenders who stole the said HORSE so that he or they may he convicted thereof, shall receive FIVE GUINEAS Reward, of Mr. SAMUEL TUNNARD, of Boston aforefaid, Treasurer to the Society for prosecuting Felons in the Hundred of Skirbeck aforesaid ; and if strayed the Person who brings him to the said Mr. PELL, shall receive HALF- A-GUINEA, and reasonable Charges.^aStamford Mercury, Friday 20 July 1787

The above George Williams, Richard Meavin, William Clltherow, and Henry Coulson Colley, were also charged with breaking into the house of Mr. Bennett Pell, of Gautby, near Horncastle, on the night of Monday the 2d May, and stealing therefrom various sums of money, a watch, and other articles. During Monday four men had been seen together in different places in the neighbourhood of Mr. Pell’s house by several persons; three of them were identified as being Williams, Clitherow, and Colley; four men about half-past twelve the same night placed a ladder against the wall of Mr. Pell’s house, and forcing open a window, entered his bed-chamber; the old man, 84 years of age, seeing the four men enter, struck the first that approached him, but was himself instantly felled to the ground, and while one ruffian knelt on him, another gave him so severe a blow across the eyes as effectually blinded him for the time, and also threatened him with a repetition should he make a noise: their two companions then proceeded down stairs to commit their depredations; having found the old man’s desk, (which they robbed of two 10l. notes, two 5l. notes, 4 sovereigns, 1 half-sovereign, and 4 metal counters,) and abstracted a watch from Mr. Pell’s small-clothes his bed-room, they decamped through the same window at which they had entered, leaving the poor old man in such a state from their ill-usage that he was unable to sit up for three days. The prisoners then separated, Clitherow going to Horncastle, and Williams and Colley to Boston, where Colley in a state of intoxication gave a 10l. note and a 5l. note into the care of John Newton, engineer of the Lincoln and Boston steam-packet; he, suspecting that Colley had not obtained them honestly, retained them, and afterwards delivered them up to Mrs. Pell, and one of them was identified by Mr. Paul F. Pell, as having been paid by him to his father only a few days before. Clitherow remained in the neighbourhood of Horncastle till his apprehension ; he was proved to have changed three sovereigns on the morning after the robbery, and when apprehended he had in his possession two counters similar to those stolen from Mr. Pell’s desk, and to one left in a candlestick in Mr. Pell’s bed-room on the night of the robbery—The Judge summed up at great length, and the Jury found Meavin not guilty, and Williams, Clitherow, and Colley guilty.- Sentence of death was recorded. The prisoners are supposed to belong to a gang of desperate thieves, which their transportation, it is hoped, will be the means of dispersing.^bStamford Mercury, Friday 22 July 1836

W. R. KING most respectfully informs the public that he has received instructions from Bennett Pell, Esq. to SELL by AUCTION his useful Household FURNITURE, &c, on his premises at Gautby, in the county of Lincoln, on Thursday the 4th day of January, 1838. The Sale to commence at 10 o’clock in the Morning.—Particulars in catalogues, to be had of P. F. Pell, Esq., Tupholme Hall; of Mr. Babington, stationer, Horn- castle; and of the Auctioneer, Coningsby. Coningsby, 19th Dec. 1837.^cStamford Mercury, Friday 29 December 1837

At Horncastle. on Monday last, in his 89th year, Bennett Pell, Gent, late of Gautby, and formerly of Freiston, near Boston, highly respected by all who knew him.^dStamford Mercury, Friday 15 May 1840