Mary Mcmahon

135

C H on 11th March 2024

Old Bailey Online MARY McMAHON. JOHN JONES. CATHERINE COLLINS. Theft; theft from a specified place, Theft; receiving. 7th April 1831. Text type Trial account Defendants MARY McMAHON, JOHN JONES, CATHERINE COLLINS Offences Theft > Theft from place, Theft > Receiving Session Date 7th April 1831 Reference Number t18310407-4 Verdicts Guilty, Guilty, Guilty Punishments Death, Transportation First Middlesex Jury, Before Lord Chief Justice Tenterden. 701. MARY McMAHON was indicted for stealing, on the 15th of March , at St. James, Westminster, 1 watch, value 20l.; 1 coat, value 4l., and 1 dress, value 2l., the goods of Henry Ward , in the dwelling-house of Augustus Hoffman ; and JOHN JONES and CATHERINE COLLINS were indicted for feloniously receiving the said goods, well knowing them to have been stolen . EMMA MATILDA WARD . I am the wife of Henry Ward - we lodge at Mr. Augustus Hoffman 's, in Broad-street, Golden-square, in the parish of St. James, Westminster . The prisoner McMahon lived with us as servant from the 29th of January to the 15th of March - I wound my watch up between nine and ten o'clock that night, gave it to her, and told her to put it under my pillow; I sent her out on an errand, and as she did not return I went to look at the watch to see how long she had been gone, and it was not there; I afterwards saw it at Union-hall. PARSLOW ALLEN . I am an officer of the Police. I met the three prisoners on the 15th of March, at half-past eleven o'clock at night, in Bermondsey-street, near Tooley-street, between three and four miles from Golden-square -Jones had got a coat tied up in an apron or handkerchief; Collins had a gown tied up in something - McMahon had nothing that I saw then; I asked Jones what he had in his bundle - he said a coat; I examined and found it was a very good coat, lined with fur - I asked Collins what she had; she said a gown, and it was so - I asked them where they had brought the things from; they said from Lisson-grove, and were going to take the coat on board a ship, that the gown was the woman's sister's - I told them I should take them to the station-house; they consented to go-in going along we met Hack, the inspector; he examined the coat and gown, and told me to take them on to the station, which I did - I showed the things to him there; I then searched McMahon, and found a gold watch inside her cap. Cross-examined by MR. CHURCHILL. Q. Who said they brought it from Lisson-grove? A.They all said so; the two women said they were sisters, and that Jones was their brother - she had the gown in her hand not concealed at all. THOMAS HACK. I am inspector of the Police. I met Allen in conversation with the three prisoners - he said he had stopped them to inquire what they had got; I put my hand into Jones' bundle, and found the coat was a very valuable one - I then examined the bundle containing the gown, which Collins said her sister had given her; I told Allen to take them to the station - I followed them there, ordered him to search them, and done up in the knot of McMahon's hair, I saw him find this gold watch. Cross-examined. Q. Do you know the distance from the prosecutor's house to where they were taken? A. About two miles and a half or three miles, I should think. MRS. WARD. This is my watch; I had it a few days after McMahon came into my service - it cost about thirty-five guineas; it is no doubt worth thirty guineas - this is my husband's coat; I saw it that morning in one of the drawers in the bed-room - this gown I saw about two o'clock, laying on my bed; I did not miss any thing except the watch till the morning. Cross-examined. Q. Is it your gown? A. Yes - it cost nearly 4l.; I wore it but once or twice - the coat has been worn a good deal, but was very expensive when made. McMahon's Defence. The other two prisoners are innocent. Collins and Jones put in the following written Defence:- "On the 15th of March, about eleven o'clock at night, as John Jones and I were returning from the Olympic theatre, we met Mary McMahon , who asked us to go with her, as she was going to Chatham on business for her mistress; we said it was too late, and wondered what she could go for - she told us it was of consequence, and that she should go as quick as she could; she at last persuaded us to accompany her - we walked on as far as Westminster-bridge; she then said she was tired of carrying the bundles, and asked us to carry one each, which we did, and kept on until we came to Bermondsey-street, where a Policeman stopped us, and asked what was in the bundles - we replied only some things we were taking to Chatham; he then searched the bundles - in one was a merino dress and a velvet cape, in the other a coat; in the mean time the inspector came up, and ordered us all to be taken to the station-house - when we got there they asked our names, and Mary McMahon told us to say we were sisters, and John Jones our brother; so we all said our name was Jones; while the night-constable was talking to us, the Policeman said he heard the ticking of a watch, which was afterwards found on the person of Mary McMahon - we were then locked up till the morning; after we were locked up about two hours, she told me she had stolen the things from her mistress - I told her she ought not to have brought us into trouble, as most likely we should all suffer for it; in the morning we all gave our right names, and Mary McMahon acknowledged she had taken all the things from her mistress, and gave her address to the Policeman; we were then sent to Union-hall- the Magistrate there said the case must be taken to the County where the robbery was committed; we were then taken to the office at Marlborough-street - the Magistrate asked Mary McMahon what she had to say for herself; she said she was guilty of robbing her mistress, and that she met John Jones and me as before stated - we were then fully committed for trial." McMAHON - GUILTY - DEATH . Aged 17. COLLINS - GUILTY . Aged 18. JONES - GUILTY . Aged 17. [April 7.] Transported for Fourteen Years . Mary McMahon death conviction now Convicted at Middlesex Gaol Delivery for a term of life on 07 April 1831.