Elizabeth Watson

116

Tony Beale on 9th December 2020

Old bailey Online 549. ELIZABETH WATSON, otherwise called ELIZABETH DAVIS , was indicted for obtaining goods from John Wilkinson , by false pretences . JOHN WILKINSON sworn. I live in Cock-court, Ludgate-hill , I am a Woollen Draper ; I know the prisoner perfectly well; on the first of December last, she came into my shop, saying she wanted to look at some raven grey cloth for mourning; I shewed her two or three pieces; she said one of them would do very well, and she should want seven yards she believed; she then said she was the wife of Captain Pearce, who lived near the King's-head, at Stratford, and one suit was for the Captain, and the other for his friend; and she then said her husband had been a customer to Mr. John Sloan , of Johnson's Court, Fleet-street, and he was deceased, and that in consequence of that Mrs. Sloan being left with a small family, her husband had agreed to employ Mrs. Sloan; she then described Mr. Sloan's family, particularly the eldest boy being lame; I then asked her, if she had seen Mrs. Sloan since the death of her husband; she said no, she had not; I asked her if she had seen the Daily Advertiser, in which Mrs. Sloan solicited the favour of her husband's customers; she said no, she was told of Mr. Sloan's death by a fishmonger, at Temple-bar, whom she was intimately acquainted with; she then said, that the Captain and his friend would each want a great coat, and she looked at something for those great coats; though she said she would let them alone; she wanted two suits for two boys at a broarding-school, but she would not have that mourning, for it was not worth while to put boys in mourning, particularly as they were at school; then I shewed her coloured cloth, she pitched on one for the boys, and asked me if three yards would do, describing the size and age of the boys; I told her I believed it would take three yards and a half, and she agreed with me for three yards and a half of superfine cloth, at eighteen shillings per yard; I told her, I would send down this three yards and a half by the Stratford coach, or by a Mr. Short who conducted the business for Mrs. Sloan, and I was to wait on the Captain and his friend the next morning; she said, the cloth for the boys would be wanted directly, it must not be sent to Mrs. Sloan, she was not to make them; she said she had a coach waiting on Ludgate-hill, and she would take the cloth with her; I then packed up the cloth, and went with her, and delivered it to her in the coach; I See originalClick to see original was to send my bill to Captain Pearce the next morning for the grey cloth, and I was to send the grey cloth, and Mr. Short was to take up at my house after he had measured Captain Pearce's friend; after I delivered the cloth to the coach, and the coach was drove off, I took my hat, and went to Mrs. Sloan; I did not see the prisoner again till she was before the city Magistrate. You did not get your bill paid the next day from Captain Pearce? - No, I never heard any more of Captain Pearce. What two boys did she want the clothes for? - I understood them to be the boys of Captain Pearce. ANN SLOAN sworn. I am the widow of John Sloan ; he was a taylor; I do not know a Captain Pearce, of Stratford, to my knowledge my husband had no such customer; the prisoner was at my house the first of September, and said she was the wife of Captain Pearce, at Stratford, and she wrote this card. (Shewn to the Court.) She came to bespeak a riding habit for herself; she said she was the wife of Captain Pearce of Stratford. Did she tell you any thing of your husband having worked for Captain Pearce? Yes, she said about two years ago; she said, I must send some body to Stratford in the morning, to measure her for a riding habit, and Captain Pearce for some clothes; she said she would call again, but she never did. Court. Did your husband keep regular books? - Yes, for any thing I know, Mr. Wilkinson has his books; he was whole and sole executor at the death of my husband. WILLIAM BANTOCK sworn. I live at Stratford; I have lived there seventeen years. Do you know a Captain Pearce that lives there? - No. Have you any opportunity of knowing who lived in that neighbourhood - I was overseer of the poor last year; I know the inhabitants of that neighbourhood well; I know of no such person that lives in that neighbourhood or near. I suppose you take account as overseer of course of house-keepers only; you do not take account of lodgers? - No, only of housekeepers. But are you well acquainted with lodgers in the neighbourhood as well as housekeepers? - I cannot say for lodgers, but I do not know of any such person. If such a man of the description of Captain Pearce, a gentleman of some property, with a family, had lodged there for any time, should you have been likely to have known him? - I certainly should have known him, if there had been such a person in the neighbourhood. THOMAS BLACKBURNE sworn. I am a carpenter; I live at Stratford; I was constable one year some years back. Were you in any parish office last year? - No. Whereabouts do you live at Stratford? - Within two stones cast of the King's-head. Do you know a Captain Pearce there? - I do not know any such name. Do you know the prisoner? - I know her by sight very well. Where did she live when you knew her? - She lodged at my house. When? - It was a twelvemonth ago last Friday since she went from our house; it was the second day of Bow-fair; she lodged at my house three weeks to the best of my recollection. What name did she go by? - She went by the name of Dixon. Not by the name of Pearce? - No. Did you ever hear her say any thing about a Captain Pearce when she lived at your house? - No, she spoke of her husband that was down in the country, and she said he was an usher, and she expected him up. This is the same woman? - Yes, and very sorry I am to see her there; I thought she had been a different woman. JOHN BATT sworn. I live at the King's-head, Stratford; I do not know a Captain Pearce in that See originalClick to see original neighbourhood; I know the neighbourhood well. Have you known any such person there for a twelvemonth past, or any time before that? - No, I have kept the King's-head for above eight years. Do you know the prisoner? - Yes, I think I have seen her at my house. At about what time? - About last Whitsuntide was twelvemonth, but I cannot tell what name she passed by; I know nothing of this business. (The direction read, which was written by the prisoner at Mrs. Sloan's) To Mr. John Pearce , near the King's-head, at Stratford. PRISONER's DEFENCE. I know nothing relating this matter all, they take me for a different person I am quite sure. Court to Mr. Wilkinson. Are you quite sure this is the person that obtained the cloth from you? - I am quite sure, I am perfectly clear I saw her when she was first taken up. But at the time that she applied at your house, had you an opportunity of observing her so as to know her again? - Sir, she was half an hour in my shop; it was between twelve and one at noon day, and I went with her to the coach; I am quite clear that she is the person. GUILTY . Court to Prisoner. I am extremely sorry that your conduct puts it out of the power of the Court, to shew you that lenity that they might otherwise incline to do; but you are the same person who about two years ago was sentenced to be imprisoned for six months; it is the duty of the Court on a second conviction, certainly to pass a severer sentence than that of the first; and the sentence of the Court is, that you be Transported for seven years . Tried by the second London Jury before Mr. RECORDER.