Catherine Biscoe

135

C H on 12th April 2024

Old Bailey Online CATHARINE BRISCOE. Theft; grand larceny (to 1827). 16th July 1794. Text type Trial account Defendants CATHARINE BRISCOE Offences Theft > Grand larceny Session Date 16th July 1794 Reference Number t17940716-55 Verdicts Guilty Punishments Transportation 438. CATHARINE BRISCOE was indicted for stealing, on the 16th of June , seventeen linen. table cloths, value 5l. forty-eight linen caps, value 3l. two linen towels, value 2s. ten linen bed sheets, value 2l. twelve linen pillow cases, value 1l. four linen bolster cases, value 8s. a set of tent bed curtain, value 1l. a pair of callico window curtains, value 2l. two woollen bed blankets, value 1l. two cotton counterpances, value 1l. nineteen linen shirts, value 1l. 18s. twenty linen handkerchiefs, value 1l. three pair of nankeen breeches, value 9s. a pair of cosdary breeches, value 6s. two cotton waistcoats, value 6s. four pair of cotton stockings, value 8s. a pair of silk stockings, value 4s. a pair of callico drawers, value 3s. ten cotton covers for chairs, value 1l. two yards of linen cloth, value 5s three yards of dimity, value 6s two yards of callico, value 4s. four china plates, value 4s. a silk handkerchief, value 3s. and two woollen cloth coats, value 1l. the goods of John Mossman , Esq. and eight linen shirts, value 1l. two cotton waistcoats, value 6s. and ten linen handkerchiefs, value 10s. the goods of John Archibald Bertram . JOHN MOSSMAN sworn. These articles were lost from my house in Tokenhouse-yard ; Mr. Bertram is a cousin of mine; some of the things taken away were his; the prisoner was a servant of mine; she was taken up at my house for this, offence; she had been a servant about twelve months. I had been abroad for sometime; I returned on the 3d of June; I looked for my clothes when I came home, and I missed them; I missed all the articles in the indictment, and more. I left the house last November; she was the only servant left in the house; there was the counting house kept there, to which the clerks had access; one of the clerks resided in the house. Q. Have you ever recovered any of this property? - None. Q. Why do you impute it to the prisoner? - About ten days after my return, I came home one night, and found her in liquor, I was obliged, with the assistance of the other gentleman, to carry her to bed by force, and locked the door that she could not get out; before I delivered her in the morning, I looked through my drawers and other places in the house, one drawer in particular, which I knew to be full of table linen when I went away; the linen was taken out, and a large blanket was substituted in the place of the several things, that had been taken out, and slightly covered over with table linen, which was sufficient to confirm my suspicions; I went immediately to Guildhall, and got an officer, and charged him with the prisoner. It appeared that she had got false keys by the blacksmith's bill that was found upon her, with some duplicates to a considerable amount. Q. Was any injury done at all to these drawers? - Some of them I cannot use again with the same keys as formerly. Q. Do those duplicates answer to any of these things in the indictment? - The indictment was drawn from these duplicates, and a table cloth that was taken from her pocket. Q. How long had she been with you before you went abroad? - Four or five months. I got a character from a near relation of her's; and she appears to have began this practice very few days after she came into my service. Mr. Knowlys. I want to know, as you are a single man, whether this woman was not in the habit of advancing money for the things that were used in the house? have you never, for instance, paid her money that she had before advanced; as when you have ordered a dinner for your friends, she may have had some things of your green grocer, which she paid, and you paid for afterwards? - No, I don't know any such thing. Q. Did not you owe her half a year's wages at the time you came home? - I made out her accounts, and there is a balance owing to her of three or four pounds, granting she paid all the bills that she debits me for, which she has not, for they have come in since, two bills came in this week. Q. Is not the door of the house constantly open? - No, there is a counting house bell to ring. Jury. How does that door open when the bell is rung? - There is a bell handle in the counting house, just by the desk. Q. Then the clerk must pull to open the shop door? - They must; the pully from the counting house draws the lock of the door. Court. I understand that there was three or four pounds due to her; has she demanded that sum or not? - She has not; she asked for money after I did come home, and I gave her a guinea. JOHN ARCHIBALD BERTRAM sworn. I am a cousin of the gentleman that was examined just now; I was near two months in the house when he was absent; I arrived from Spain the end of April, or beginning of May 1794, and I am still there now. There was one shirt of mine found from a pawnbroker before the alderman. Q. Were any duplicates found that applied to your linen? - I cannot tell. The prisoner came home one night in liquor, and the prosecutor desired me to see if I had any thing wrong; and I found some things wrong; I missed some shirts, handkerchief, and a waistcoat; which I recognized before the alderman; but I cannot swear to it, because it has no mark on it; I saw a pair of stockings also; I cannot say exactly what I have lost, because I have no note of my clothes. THOMAS WILKES sworn. I am a constable; I have a quantity of tickets, fifty three, that belongs to one Alexander Purse , pawnbroker, of London Wall; here are several others belonging to Marshall Spincer, of Gracechurch-street; sixteen or seventeen; then there are two of John Parker's. the corner of Wood street I took them on her, out of her pocket; likewise this table cloth, and this bill for altering some locks. JONATHAN FISK sworn. I am a servant to Mr. Spincke, of Gracechurch-street; I produce three articles pawned by the prisoner at the bar, three handkerchiefs, two muslin and one cambrick, pawned the 31st of May. Q. Have you any doubt about the person of the prisoner? - No, none in the least. Prosecutor. I can speak to a muslin handkerchief and to a linen one; here is a cotton pocket handkerchief I can speak to; the five shirts they are marked I. M. and the number, I can swear to the sheet. Mr. Knowlys to Fisk. You say you have never seen this woman before? - No. Q. Your shop, I suppose, has little partitions, so that it is not very light where the customers come in? - There is a window just by. Q. There is a number of customers come to your shop? - Yes. Q. Therefore you may very easily be mistaken in this woman? - I am not at all mistaken; she has used our shop very near a twelve month backward and forward. WILLIAM WAKEFIELD sworn. I am servant to Mr. Purse, pawnbroker, London Wall; I produce a table cloth pawned for six shillings, the 24th of October; four napkins the 9th of March for five shillings; six napkins January the 30th, for seven shillings and six-pence, They were all pawned by the prisoner at the bar. Prosecutor. These things are all mine, they are marked. WILLIAM SMITH sworn. I am a pawnbroker's servant; I produce a table cloth, shirt, and tent bed furniture; the furniture was pawned the 30th of April; the table cloth and shirt the 30th of May. Prosecutor. The tent bed furniture I declined swearing to at Guildhall, but since that I have received a letter from the prisoner, and she owns that they are mine. Mr. Knowlys. Have you ever seen her write? - Yes, I have; it is in her hand writing. Bertram. This shirt produced by the last witness. is mine, it has my mark on it, and I missed some shirts. Prisoner. I leave it all to my counsel. The prisoner called I three witnesses who gave her a good character, and said that her husband had left her with two children. GUILTY . (Aged 28) Transported for seven years .