Mary Smith

135

C H on 25th February 2024

Old Bailey Online MARY SMITH. Theft; housebreaking. 29th October 1800. Text type Trial account Defendants MARY SMITH Offences Theft > Housebreaking Session Date 29th October 1800 Reference Number t18001029-70 Verdicts Guilty > Lesser offence Punishments Transportation 806. MARY SMITH was indicted for breaking and entering the dwelling-house of John Alwey , about the hour of five in the afternoon of the 7th of September , the said John Alwey , Henry Goodwin, and Lydia Stamford , being therein, and stealing a cloak, value 10s. a gown, value 10s and a sheet, value 2s. the property of Stephen Gale . MARY GALE sworn. I am the wife of Stephen Gale ; we lodge at No. 40, Union-street, Middlesex-hospital; John Alwey keeps the house; he lives in the house; I live in the one pair of stairs frontroom; I went out between two and three in the afternoon; my husband was at work; I left nobody in the room; I turned the key in the lock, and put the key in my pocket; I returned between five and six in the evening, and found the door safe, as I left it; I met a woman on the stairs, with a bundle in her lap; she passed me, and asked me for a strange name; my landlord stood at the door, and had some suspicion; I missed a sheet from off a large bible, on a table, in my room, a white gown, and my long red cloak; I heard no more of my things till five weeks afterwards; I heard that a woman was taken up. Q. Do you know if the woman that you passed was the prisoner? - A. I cannot say, for I took no notice of her; I had no suspicion; I went to Pancras watch- house, and there I owned my sheet, that was on Wednesday the 15th of October; and, the same evening, my landlord went with me to Marlborough-street, where I saw the prisoner with my red cloak on; I said, it was my cloak, and a young man took it from her; she said, she brought the cloak from Bristol with her; I told her it was my cloak, I could swear to it; the said, if it was my cloak, they must have changed it where she had been the night before; I attended the Monday following, and swore to my cloak; the sheet was delivered to me at the same time, (produces it); Lovett has got the cloak. Q. Did you ever see the prisoner at all about your premises? - A. No. Q. Was there no violence done to the door? - A. No. Q. Then the door could only have been opened by a key? - A. I do not know how she got them. Q. Are you perfectly sure these things were in the room when you went out? - A. I am certain of that. Q. Who was in the house when you went out? - A. John Alwey , Henry Goodwin , and his family, and Lydia Stamford, were all at home, and so they were when I came back. JOHN ALWEY sworn. - I keep a house, No. 40, Union-street, Middlesex Hospital: On the 11th of September, I was standing against the street-door for half an hour, or better, about five o'clock; the prisoner at the bar was coming out of the passage with some things wrapped up in her gown tail; I am sure it was the prisoner at the bar, I had seen her very often before, and knew her well by sight; I saw a red cloak hanging down, which made me suspicious that she had been robbing some of my lodgers, she had got her gown-tail over it; I followed her to the corner of Suffolk-street, and saw her go down into a milk-cellar; I then went back, and made inquiries whether any thing had been lost or not; and I saw no more of her till she was taken. Q. Are you sure she is the same woman? - A. I am. EDWARD LOVETT sworn. - I am an officer belonging to Marlborough-street, (produces a red cloak); I took it off the prisoner's back on the 15th of October, about six o'clock in the evening; the prisoner was delivered into my custody at the office. WILLIAM POSTLETHWAYTE sworn. - In consequence of an information, I went to the apartment of the prisoner: On the 14th of October, - Q. How did you know it was her apartment? - A. From the information of a person who is here; I found a great quantity of wearing apparel of different sorts, and I carried the whole to St. Pancras watch-house; Mrs. Gale came there and claimed a sheet, which I got from her lodging, it was delivered to her at Marlborough-street; in the table-drawer I found these keys, (producing eight door keys); they are none of them skeleton keys. ANN NEVILLE sworn. - I went with the last witness to the prisoner's apartments, my husband is a locksmith: The prisoner came to me, and wanted my husband to pick a lock for her, for she had lost the key; I told her she lived too far off, and my husband was not at home; I saw no more of her till Tuesday the 14th; she said, she wished my husband would pick the lock of her door; I asked her if she had not been in her room since Monday; and she said, no, she had been at a friend's house; she seemed very much intoxicated, she had a bundle, and I begged her to put down her bundle, and try and have a bit of sleep; she sent my husband to pick the lock at No. 2, in John-street; she asked him to sit a key to it, which he did; she asked me to let her sit till she was a little recovered; she asked me to go home with her, which I did, and carried the things for her to her lodgings; I had not returned above a quarter of an hour when Mr. Ansell came to ask my husband whether he had been sitting a key any where, and I told where she lived. Q.(To Postlethwayte.) You did not find the prisoner at her lodgings? - A. Yes, I found her in bed. Mrs. Gale. This sheet and cloak are my property, they are worth ten shillings. Prisoner's defence. I bought the ticket of the cloak, it was in pledge for four shillings; and the sheet for one shilling; I bought it of a woman that was at the Justice's with me, and the Justice discharged her and committed me. GUILTY (Aged 28.) Of stealing the goods, but not of breaking and entering the dwelling-house . Transported for seven years . Tried by the second Middlesex Jury, before Mr. RECORDER.