Ann Blake

135

C H on 25th February 2024

Old Bailey Online ANN BLAKE. MARGARET BERRY. ELIZABETH BERRY. Theft; theft from a specified place. 29th October 1800. Text type Trial account Defendants ANN BLAKE, MARGARET BERRY, ELIZABETH BERRY Offences Theft > Theft from place Session Date 29th October 1800 Reference Number t18001029-5 Verdicts Guilty > Lesser offence, Not guilty, Not guilty Punishments Transportation 740. ANN BLAKE , MARGARET, the wife of JAMES BERRY , and ELIZABETH BERRY , were indicted, for feloniously stealing, on the 9th of October , in the dwelling-house of the said James Berry , five half joes, value 8l. a Bank-note, value 10l. and another Bank-note, value 5l. the property of William Michael . WILLIAM MICHAEL sworn. - I am an invalided seaman from Yarmouth Hospital : On Thursday the 9th of this month, I was at the Black-dog, in Drury-lane; I came to London on the 7th at night: I fell in with the prisoner, Blake, I had a fellow lodger of mine with me; I left the public-house with her, before it was dark, and went to her lodgings, No. 22, in Mr. Berry's house; I gave her half-a-guinea to go out and get something to drink, and then I gave her half-a-guinea to sleep with her; I cannot rightly say whether she went to bed with me or not; I was very much in liquor; I awoke somewhere about the dead of the night, and found nobody in bed with me, and I began to think about my property; I found my jacket under the bed, upon the floor. Q. You cannot say where you put it when you went to bed? - A. No; I missed my pocket-book out of my jacket. Q. When can you speak to having had it before that? - A. I am sure I had it at six o'clock at the Black-dog; I lost a twenty pound, and a five pound note, and six half joes; in about half an hour after I awoke, the prisoner, Blake, came to bed to me; I mentioned nothing to her about it till day-light; when it was day-light, I got up and began to put my cloths on, she was in bed at that time; I asked her to get up, which she did immediately; I then asked her if she had seen any thing of my pocket-book; she said, she had not, but told me, that I put my cloths under the bed, when I went to bed; I happened to cast my eye under the bed, and saw the pocket-book lying open, about three feet from where the cloaths lay; I took the book up, and I looked into it, I missed a twenty pound and a five pound note; there were three five pound notes, and a one half joe left; I did not say any thing at that time, I was rather ashamed of myself; then we both went out, and had some purl and gin; I then went in search of my fellow-lodger; I found him in bed with another girl, I told him to get up, and we went home to our lodgings. Q. You had not then mentioned any thing to her about it? - A. I had told her I missed my money, but did not say how much, and when she saw that half joe, she said, lord, here is your money, you cannot have lost any; after we had been in our lodging sometime, I got some intelligence from Maria Hill, and I saw five half joes found, that were hid in the garden of Berry's house; Treadway was with me, and Mumford, and about five o'clock we took Margaret Berry , and Elizabeth Berry upon suspicion; the half joes were covered over with mould, in an earthen pot. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. Is it not usual with you to put your jacket under your head for protection, when you have property in it, and sleep in a strange place? - A. Yes, if I had been in my proper senses. Q. Have you always given the same account? - A. Yes. Q.You lost a twenty pound and a five pound note? - A. Yes. Q. You have charged a ten pound note in the indictment, how is that? - A. I cannot say. Q. There were three five pound notes and a one left? - A. Yes. Court. Q. You saw nothing of either of the Berrys while you were in the house? - A. Not that I can remember. WILLIAM DRAPER sworn. - I am a soldier belonging to the first regiment of foot-guards; I was at the Wheat-sheaf, in Drury-lane, on Friday evening, the prisoners were all three there; I did not know them before Mumsord came in and took Ann Blake , and searched her; I saw Margaret Berry , apparently to me, give Elizabeth Berry a note, it was paper, and apparently Bank-paper; I was very near to her, I took hold of Elizabeth Berry 's hand, and said, here is one of the sailor's notes; she upt with her hand and struck me, called me a thief, and said, was I going to take her mother's property from her; I let go her hand, and she returned the same paper back to Margaret Berry, and Margaret Berry put it into her bosom, I do not know what became of it afterwards; Mumford was then by himself, and he had got Ann Blake in custody; he took Blake away, and then Berry went away directly. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. You mean honestly to say, that you do not know what that paper was? - A. I cannot say, but it appeared to me to be Bank-paper. Q. Were you there when Blake was searched? - A. Yes, and nothing found upon her. MARIA HILL sworn. - I live in Bird-in-hand-court, Long-acre, I know all the prisoners by sight; on the Friday morning I breakfasted with Ann Blake and the sailor, at No. 1, Stuart's-rents, she and the sailor both went out together; there was nothing said about what was lost: about eleven o'clock the same day, I met her in Stuart's-rents, she was very much in liquor, and said, she had given her landlady a twenty pound Bank-note, and a five pound Bank-note, and the landlady said, there was only a two pound note, and she said, she would not be done out of the money, but she would have it. Q. Was any thing said about where they came from? - A. Blake said, they were taken from the sailor; then I went over with Ann Blake to her own lodgings; she and her landlady had some words about the money, she had been to pawn a gown and cloak to make up the money, the two pounds for Ann Blake ; Ann Blake said to Margaret Berry , you know the money is hid in the yard; Margaret Berry told her to hold her tongue. Q. Was it said what money? - A. No. Q. Do you know if there were other lodgers in the house? - A. I believe there are, hard-working people. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. Are you a hardworking person? - A. I do any thing I can get for my living. Q. Did you happen to go with the sailor's companion that night? - A. It was another young woman; I was locked out from my own lodgings, and I came there and laid down upon the same bed. Q. You know them by sight only? - A. I have been in company with them. Q. And you would have us believe that she told you all this, though they were almost strangers to you? - A. She was very much in liquor. JAMES BOYD sworn. - I am a pawnbroker, in Clare-street, Clare-market; on Friday the 10th of October, about three o'clock in the afternoon, Margaret Berry came to my shop, and tendered me a twenty pound note to redeem two articles out of pledge, the one for fifteen shillings and the other one shilling and sixpence, but not liking to take it, I refused to give her change; the article for fifteen shillings was pledged in the morning of the same day; she said, I need not be afraid of it, for it was a very good one, she had it sent to her from sea by her son; but not believing her story, I would not take it, and she went away. EDWARD TREADWAY sworn. - I am a constable; on Friday the 10th of this month, about four o'clock in the afternoon, I took Elizabeth Berry in custody, at the corner of Stuart's rents, Drury-lane, I searched her, but found nothing upon her; the witness, Hill, who was by, said, if I would go into Mr. Berry's yard, in a white mug, I should find the money. Q. Did she say a white mug? - A. Yes; I went there and found this jug full of mould, and a bit of a tree standing upright in it; I pulled out the tree, and knocked the mould out, and found these five pieces of gold in a bit of rag; and about six in the evening, I found the mother standing at her own door; I searched her, and found nothing upon her but a parcel of duplicates. Q. How did you get to this yard? - A. Through the house, there is no other house that has a communication with the yard. Q. Do you know whose house it is? - A. Yes; I have known Mrs. Berry some years, they have kept the house many years, her husband's name is James. Q. Are you sure of that? - A. I have heard him called James. Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q.Do not you know that she has the sole management of the house, and that her husband only comes occasionally? - A. No, they live together. THOMAS MUMFORD sworn. - I apprehended Blake at the Wheat-sheaf; I searched her, and in her pocket found seventeen shillings and two half-guineas; I then took her to the Brown-bear, at Bow-street, and afterwards went with Treadway, and apprehended the other two. Blake's defence. The sailor went home with me, and said all night; the next morning we went to drink at the Wheat-sheaf, he did not tell me he had lost any thing at all, he was asleep when I went to bed to him; the constable took the money out of my pocket that the man gave me, two half-guineas and seventeen shillings; Elizabeth Berry had not been in the house at all for more than a week, she was out, nursing her sister-in-law, who was very ill, and only came into the public-house to see what was the matter. Margaret Berry 's defence. It was a note that my husband gave me. Elizabeth Berry 's defence. I was at my brother's for a week before this; the paper that I had was a small cap, and a half-crown wrapped up in it, which my mother had given me to carry to my sister; I concealed it, because my father was there, and I did not want him to know it. Blake, GUILTY. (Aged 27.) Of stealing, but not in the dwelling-house . Transported for seven years . Margaret Berry , Not GUILTY . Elizabeth Berry , NOT GUILTY . Tried by the first Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Baron THOMPSON.

338

Penny-Lyn Beale on 5th September 2021

New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents. Age; 27 Trial; 29 Oct 1800