It's midnight on the 8th May 1849 and five young men are leaving Uppingham to go to Horninghold to get some rooks from a clump of trees which stand in the middle of the village street. The aim is to get free, fresh meat for a rook pie - some of the party came to the village two days earlier to check on the supply. Arthur Bates, who lives close by, is woken up at 2am by the commotion. His wife Ann complains about the noise and the bad language the men are using and one of the men, called Thomas Riddle, throws a stone up and it almost hits the window.

One of the family, George Bates, goes outside and with Nathanial Atton and a couple of other people from the village, they ask the men what they are doing. After some words a fight breaks out and Bates and Atton are struck by Riddle, one on the nose and one on the cheek with a stick. The blows are heavy and cause significant injury. At court Bates confirms it was Riddle who had struck the blows and several witnesses back this up. The defence claim that although Riddle was there, he did not strike the blows as he had gone away to hide the birds. There are also complaints that the trees had been damaged, with one of the men falling from a tree.

The outcome of the rook expedition was that three of the men were given three months imprisonment; Samuel Riddle four months and Thomas Riddle was sent to the Leicester Assizes. His sentence is unknown.