We did not sell the Poney at Nantwich, but that Night we stole* a black Gelding, Saddle and Bridle, from a Publick House Door;44 and we rode back to our Flash House, three miles from Newport, the Sign of the W – H –, on the London Road.
The next Day we went to our old House, the Rock Tavern; but Burk sold the Poney to a Stranger on the Road: Then I carried him behind me to the Rock Tavern, where we staid that Night there being five more there of our Way of Calling. We went next Morning towards Birmingham, and got there just before Night; where we bought two Brace of Pistols, and went that Night and stole a Bay Gelding from a Ground about a Mile and half from thence; and we rode that Night to Worcester,45 and knocked up a Flash Landlord at the B – Inn, near the Bridge Foot whose name is D –: The next Night to the Cross, to another Flash House, and the next Night to Bath, and the next Morning to St– –n G– –’s [Stephen Gea’s] at Chapel Plaister, where I sold the black Gelding we stole at Nantwich, to a Dealer in Needles, whose Name is Darby, and who came from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, for three Guineas, and St – G –[Stephen Gea] vouched for the same.
[p.22]That Night I and Burk went over Clarken Down [Claverton Down],46 towards Trowbridge in Wiltshire, but not on any Design of robbing; and going down the Hill at the watering Place, we met a Post Chaise, which Burk swore he would go and rob: I denied to go with him, But he still swore he would: I asked him, as we followed the Chaise, if he thought I was mad, to do such a Thing so near Bath, and just as I came out of a House I was so well known in: but he again swore he would do it himself, if I would not go with him: Then I thought with myself that if he was taken, I should be in as much Danger as he, for being with him just before; so I consented to go with him. I desired him not to be guilty of any Mischief, or hurt any Person, for that four Men were as easily robbed as one, and that the Sight of a Pistol unawares, is a great Terror to any Man, and without they fire at me, don’t fire at them; he told me he would not: Then I rode up to the Chaise, and bid the Boy stand, but I believe he did not hear me, for he kept on. The World may think it is false, but I assure them it is true, as I am not sure whether I am for Life or Death: It being dark before I got up with the Chaise, I did not know whether the Window was up or down, but I ran my Hand through the Glass, and cut my Fingers all across, and I believe in drawing my Hand out of the Window, pulled the Cock of Pistol, for it went off through both Windows unexpectedly; but I thought at first the Fire came
from the Chaise, till I put my Hand on the Cock and felt it down; and Burk (he being behind the Chaise) also thought the Fire came from the Chaise at me, as he told me afterwards, which was the Occasion of his firing: Then we had no Pistol loaded, for we had but a Brace loaded when we attacked the Chaise, having discharged a Brace just before at a Mark on the Down. The World hath said that I threatened the Child’s Life, but I declare I had not such a Thought; for Mr. Hancock gave her to me, desiring me not to hurt her, and I took her in my Arms and kissed her, and then set her down: I do not deny but there was very bad opprobrious Language passed at first; but at last, if any Body had come by, they would not have known what we were at. It was reported we got above thirty Pounds from Mr. Hancock, but I do assure the World we got no more that [than] one Guinea and a half in Gold, and above six Shillings and Sixpence in Silver, his Gold Watch, and a great Quantity of his Lady’s wearing Apparel and Child’s Linnen.47
After this Robbery we went directly back to St – G –’s [Stephen Gea’s]; but they were all in Bed, except M – y G –[Mary Gea], whom I called down and she let us in and made a Fire, and got us a Tankard of Toddy, then called up her Husband, who came down directly, and we told him and his Wife what we had done; and Burk fetched in all the Things we had robbed Dr. Hancock of, in order to shew them, and Mr. G –[Gea] took the Gold Watch in his Hand: I then asked M – y G –[Mary Gea] to lend me a Wallet (which she did) [p. 23] to pack the Things in, and she folded up the Gowns as well as she could; for she said it would spoil them to rumple them; and she assisted us in putting them into the Wallet: I then ask’d Mr. G –[Gea] if he had any Gunpowder to load our Pistols with, who took down a Fowling Piece that lay on the Rack in his Kitchen, drew the Charge, and gave me the Gunpowder; when I asked M – G –[Mary Gea] for a Spoon and a Pipe to make two Brace of Balls to load our Pistols with, which she gave me, and they both assisted me in making them, and in loading our Pistols: Burk asked M – y G –[Mary Gea] if she was not afraid to see us load our Pistols; she said, No; they are not the first I have seen loaded by Night in this Kitchen: She then hash’d us some Veal. I bought a Bay Gelding of S – n G –[Stephen Gea] for six Pounds, and then we drank four or five Tankards of Toddy, and paid our Reckoning; and M – G –[Mary Gea] said, I would have you get as far as you can by Day light, and send to us, and we will send you Word what News there is at Bath.48
We set out again for Clarken Down [Claverton Down], and so by the Glass-House, where Burk stole a Bay Gelding with a Pack Saddle. We went that Morning to Wells before we baited, and at Night to Taunton, and the next day to Exeter. Burk, as soon as he put up his Horse, went to one W – C –’s [William Cooper’s], a H –, in Northgate street,49 and told him what we had done, and gave him his Pistols to lock up for him, and said Baxter will come and bring his to you by and by: he said, and welcome. Just after, I went to see C –’s [Cooper’s] Shop, but Burk was not there; when C – [Cooper] told me what Burk had told him, and said, I have lock’d up his Pistols; shall I lock up your’s? I said, No; I will not put mine out of my Pockets: Then I told him I had been on the Scamp and what I had robb’d the Chaise of; I show’d him the Gold Watch, and told him what rich Gloaths we had got to sell: He wanted me to change Watches with him, the Gold one for a Silver one, which he said was got the same Way up at the Start, that is at London, and sent him down as a Present by a Family Man,50 but that it was christen’d before it came, that is, the Name and Number taken out, and others put in. He had told me if I would bring a Gown to his House, he had a Sister in Law who sold old Cloaths, she should buy it of me, and would say they were his Wife’s: Accordingly he went with me to the Inn, and I show’d him the Gown; and I gave him some of the Child’s Caps and a Gown, and some other Things, which he carried to his House and kept for me, he well knowing the same to be stolen, and from whence, and that they were got on the Highway. The said C – [Cooper], Brown, and I, were never apart last Lammas Assizes at Exon [Exeter]; for Brown knew him for twelve Years last past in London, and they had been out together on the Sneak: He is an old Family [p. 24] Man and left London on that Occasion, and came into the Country.
The 24th and 26th of March, one—and his Wife came to me, and bought a Shirt and a great Coat of Dr. Hancock’s Servant’s, which we stole from the Chaise: I told him he must take off the Buttons and Lining, which he did accordingly; and when it was ask’d for, he denied it; but afterwards it was found in his Custody. One of the above two Days, he and his Wife also came to the Goal of Exon, and fetcht out a Fly Petticoat and Sack; and she put them under her Petticoats, and said, No body will mind what I carry out of Prison, because I am always bringing Things in and out here, and at any Time we will give you as much as any Body shall, for any Thing that lies in our Way: They both well knew those Things to be stolen.
At the same Time one—and his Wife came to the said Prison; and he told me he would serve me or Mrs. Baxter at any Time,51 and secrete any Thing for me or her: Accordingly Mrs. Baxter gave them a great Quantity of wearing Apparel, which he and she told me they had sent to Launceston; and I was forced to hire a Horse for him, which cost me five Shillings, and two Shillings and Six pence for his Trouble to fetch the said Things back again, they having sent away those Things unknown to me or Mrs. Baxter, at the same Time both knowing them to be stolen, for I told them they were. And if it were not for such People as those I have mentioned in this Treatise, Sharping and Thieving would be but a miserable Calling; and, in short, if the World will allow me to be a Judge of the matter, I think it but a dismal Profession at best; for I can
speak it by experimental Knowledge, that a Man that follows this Way of Living, can never be at Rest Night nor Day: Such has been my unhappy Condition a great while; for as the wise Man saith, A wounded Conscience who can bear?
I forgot to mention that in Sept. 1752, I, and John Brown alias Dawson, William Elger, John Allen, alias Robert Jones, alias Robert Graham, went to Wayhill [Weyhill] Fair, where we met Thomas B – s [Brooks], and A – m G – g [Abraham Garing], of Sh – on[sherston]; and we agreed among us to buy two or three hundred Sheep of one Mr. Medlicott, of Sheston [Sherston], a Neighbour of B – s [Brooks] and G – g’s [Garing’s], and never pay for them; but I coming late to the Fair, the Sheep were all sold, and we then agreed to meet at Appleshaw Fair, on the same Purpose. We four then went on the sharping Lay, and Allen pick’d up a young Contryman, that came out of Sussex to buy Sheep, and his Shepherd with him; we defrauded him of fourteen Guineas and his Watch, and drank plentifully of Wine while we were at Work, and when his Money was gone took him out of one Door of the Booth, while the Sailor went out at the other; but the Contryman soon [p. 25] returned again, and finding we were gone, the Reckoning paid, and half a Bottle of Wine left upon the Table, then discovered, tho’ too late, that he was bit: he bore it with Patience, and he and his Man sat down and drank the Remainder of the Bottle of Wine before they departed.
The next Day we went to a Booth that was Flash, (we always have two or three Booths or Houses in every Fair Flash, as we generally spend a great deal of Money every Fair Day.) I picked up an old Man that sold Cheese, by dropping of a Shilling, and took him into the same Booth to spend the Shilling, where the Sailor and Capper52 was; the Sailor ask’d the old Man to change a Guinea, and finding he had not much Money, laid him a Guinea that neither he nor I could borrow fifteen Guineas in half an Hour: I went the old Man’s Halves; but the Sailor said he must not bring any Person with him, but must come by himself: Accordingly he and I went together, and borrow’d the Money of the old Man’s Son, and came back and won the Guinea. The old Man was so rejoiced at his good Luck, that expecting to win all the Sailor’s Money, he made a Stake for the whole, and lost it at the first Prick. We both went to borrow more; but when we came back the Sailor and his Companion were gone, as the Landlord told us, so we parted. We then went to our first Booth, where I staid within, and my Companions that were out at Work, brought in the Master of a Sloop, belonging to Portsmouth, by finding Half a Crown; we laid him the same Wager, that he did not borrow twenty Guineas in half an Hour; the Sailor had upwards of one hundred Guineas in his Pocket; the Captain went out and borrowed twenty-two Guineas, and made Stakes for the whole, and lost; he cried and stamped very much; but the Landlord came and turned him and us out of the Booth, and said we were all a Parcel of Rogues, that we all came in together, and should all go out together; so we all went out together at one Door, but we returned again at the other Door, and staid and drank very plentifully: We carried forty-five Pounds out of the Fair.
The Beginning of November, we, the same four, went to Appleshaw Fair, to meet B – s [Brooks] and G – g [Garing]; accordingly we all met together, and agreed what to do with Medlicot: B – s [Brooks] and G – g [Garing] show’d me Medlicott’s Penns, and I bought one hundred and eleven Sheep of him, and desired him to come down to the Iron-Pear- Tree, where I would pay him for the Sheep: He asked me what Country I belonged to; B – s [Brooks] and G – g [Garing] had told me before to say Brackley, in Northamptonshire, which I did: B – s [Brooks], G – g [Garing], and my Accomplices, were at the Iron-Pear-Tree, waiting for us, and we going into the same Room, B – s [Brooks] said, How do you do, Mr. Poulter? I answered, At your Service: What, [p. 26] says B – s [Brooks] and G – g [Garing], here is our old Neighbour Medlicott; Have you bought all, Mr. Poulter? I said, Yes, Mr. G – g [Garing], but I am indebted to you fifteen Guineas: On which I pull’d out my Purse, paid him the Money, and thank’d him: He said, You are welcome to all the Sheep I have at any Time; I am sorry you did not deal with me now, but I am glad you have dealt with our Neighbour. I then went out to give them an Opportunity of talking: Medlicott ask’d them where I lived; they told him at Brackley, that they had dealt with me for many hundred Pounds, and that my Note was worth a thousand Pounds. When I came in, one of my Accomplices came and ask’d if Mr. Poulter of Brackley was there; I said, yes: He said, if you are the Gentleman I have a Draft on you for sixty Pounds: I said, Very well; you must meet me at Night, and I will answer it: He said, Very well, and went his Way. I said to Medlicott, What doth the Sheep come to? He replied, Sixty Pounds and upwards: I said, I will pay you at Andover Fair: He said, You must let me have some Cash, for I have a great Sum to pay away: I said, How much will do? He replied, Twenty Pounds: I then said, Mr. G – g [Garing], can you lend me so much? He answered, Yes, five Times as much, if you want it: I said, No; but twenty. He lent it to me, and I gave him my Note for the Money; but he had fifteen Guineas of my Money before, when I owed him not a Farthing, nor never had any Dealings with him nor B – s [Brooks], only under a Colour to blind Medlicott. I paid Medlicott twenty Pounds, and gave him my Note for forty more, to be paid at Andover Fair: Accordingly, we let run the Sheep, and as B – s [Brooks] and G – g [Garing] claim’d as great a Right to them as we; we paid them two Parts out of six. We drove the Sheep to Penzon,53 about a Mile from Wey-Hill, to one Mr. L–’s; and B – s [Brooks] sent a Man with twenty Pounds for forty Pounds worth of Sheep, which we let them have, so that they two had as much as we four: But they said they would make it up in the next; and then they sent to me, and said Medlicott was to be had again, if I would write him a Letter, for three or four Score more to meet me at Luggershall [Ludgershall, Wilts.]; and at the same Time write a Letter to G – g [Garing], and desire him to carry the Letter to Medlicott, and shew him his at the same Time: I did as he desired, and G – g [Garing] went with the said Letter to Mr. Medlicott. G – g [Garing] asked Mr. Medlicott if would send me the Sheep; he said, I can’t tell: G – g [Garing] said, I will give you Six-pence a Head for the sixty Ewes, and send them to Mr. Poulter myself; but Mr. Medlicott refused, and said, I will send them to Mr. Poulter, for they are fit to turn into any Gentleman’s Park: G – g [Garing] said, I shall send him sixty, if you are willing: But all this was done to deceive Mr. Medlicott, they both having Sheep to come that way to Andover Fair, where all the Money was [p. 27] to be paid for the Sheep: Accordingly I sent John Allen to meet the Sheep Mr. Medlicott was to bring to Luggershall: Allen passed for my Man, and said I was gone into Dorsetshire for more; accordingly he met Mr. Medlicott with the Sheep: He had a Note from me to Mr. Medlicott; who delivered the Sheep, on Sight of the Note, to my Man Allen; and sent me back a Note of the Delivery of the same, according to my Order. Allen drove the Sheep to me, where I was waiting on Purpose, about a Mile from Wey-Hill: We staid there till B – s [Brooks] and G – g [Garing] came to us, and we sold them the Sheep that came to thirty-nine Pounds for twenty; for they said I should not have had them, had it not been for them, and they ought to have Half; so they got seventy-nine Pounds Worth of Sheep for forty Pounds; And at that Time they said, Damn Medlicott, We have not done with him yet, if you are willing, for he gets Money faster than we do: If you are willing Poulter, you shall rob him one Night or other; when he has got a Sum of Money about him, we will stay him at a Fair or Market late, and we will come home with him, so you must rob him and us too; and we will fill our Purses full of Halfpence on Purpose, and say we have lost forty or fifty Pounds: He keeps his Money in his Boots; for the other Night he was drunk, and I undressed him, and pulling off his Boots I found upwards of forty Pounds: This is the Way we may ruin him, if you are willing: But I would not agree to these Proposals at that Time; if I had believed it would have ruin’d him.
I think such People as these are worse than myself or my Accomplices: This is called in the Cant, Masoning; that is, giving your Notes for Money, and never designing to pay it: This Defraud was carried on by two of Mr. Medlicott’s near Neighbours; and, as they pretended themsel
ves, his particular Friends, of the same Calling, Sheep Jobbers. T – B – [Thomas Brooks] lives at the S – h’s [Smith’s] Shop on the Gloucester Road, between F – e and F – r: A – G – g [Abraham Garing] lives at S – n[Sherston] in W – e [Wiltshire], within three Miles of his Grace the Duke of Beauford’s at Badminton.
I do not think there is one out of ten of those People called Horse Jockeys, but will buy stolen Horses of any Family Man, though at the same Time they know them to be stolen; and they will capp to any masoning Cull for any Horse or Beast of any Sort, and buy them afterwards.
[This takes the text up to the end of p. 27.]
[P. 28]
The Way that Convicts return from Transportation, and the only Way how to prevent their Return.
AFTER they are in any Part of North America, the general Way is this, just before they go on Board a Ship, their Friend or Accomplices purchase them their Freedom from the Merchant or Captain that belongs to the said Ship, for about ten Pound Sterling, some gives more and some less; then the Friend of the Convict or Convicts, gets a Note from the Merchant, or Captain, that the Person is free to go unmolested when the Ships arrive between the Capes of Virginia, where they please. But I never heard of any Convict that came home again in the same Ship they went over in, for the Merchant or Captain, gives a Bond to the Sheriff of the County where such Convicts go from, to leave them in America, and they get a Receipt from the Custom there; but as there are ships coming home every Week, if they can pay their Passage they are refused in no Ship. Some Men will work their Passage back again, and them that cannot free themselves, take an Opportunity of running away from their Master, and lay in the Woods by Day, and travel by Night for Philadelphia, New York or Boston; in which Places no Questions are asked them. This encourages a great many to commit Robberies more than they would, because they say they do not mind Transportation, it being but four or five Months Pleasure, for they can get their Freedom and come home again. I knew one that never went over, but bribed some of the Ship’s Crew lying in the Transport Hole, Bristol. Her Name was Elizabeth Connor, I think it was in 1748, she was convicted at the said City for picking Pockets, and was ordered for Transportation, but is now in England, which I gave an Account of to Mr. Stokes, an Attorney at Law in Bristol.
Drunks, Whores and Idle Apprentices: Criminal Biographies of the Eighteenth Century Page 26