South Yorkshire Times, December 2nd, 1932.

New Methods

Poaching With Catapult

A statement that game trespassers were using catapults instead of guns was made by Mr. A. S. Furnss, solicitor, prosecuting on behalf of Earl Fitzwilliam in a case at Rotherham ‘West Riding Police Court, on Monday, in which two Brampton Bierlow trammers were summoned for trespassing in pursuit of game by day.

The two men. Thomas Birkinshaw (26), and John Loftus (26), both of Concrete Cottages, Brampton Bierlow, were fined £1 each and ordered to pay 2s. 6d. each costs. The defendants did not appear.

Mr. Furniss said on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 6th, a police sergeant was in Coley Lane. Brampton Bierlow, when he saw the men coming from Gorse Wood. He saw that they had left two dogs behind ranging the wood. He searched them and found they had catapults with iron nuts, bolts, stones and pebbles, which they used as pellets. When told they would be reported, one of them replied “Well, wo are making a good start.” The other replied. “Wo are only after mushrooms.”

The Wood, said Mr. Furniss, was a well-known roosting place for pheasants, and as shots would be heard it had become the practice for men to take field glasses to spot the birds and then knock them off the trees with a catapult. He asked the magistrates to deal seriously with the case as this time of the year and until Christmas, it was a bad time for poachers.

The Chairman (Mr. J. S. Colton Fox): This is the best time for poachers.

Mr. Furniss: Yes. I should say it is a bad for the estate.

Police Sergeant Humphries gave evidence in support of the statement.