cries the manly dame, it hurts not me, " Quacks without art may either blind or kill,
" But* demonstration shews that mine is skill.
" But* demonstration shews that mine is skill.
Caulfield - Portraits, Memoirs, of Characters and Memorable Persons - v4
Her father had an estate (according to her account,) of about 100/.
a
year, but her mother, being an Irishwoman, prevailed on her husband to visit Dublin, where he settled, and purchased a public place in that city, with the remnant of money he had saved from the sale of his estate ; Sarah, being an only child, received a good educa tion in reading, writing, and such other learning
proper for a female above the lower order. She lived with her father and mother almost to woman's estate, and was noticed for her sprightly temper. Her parents, however, having some affairs which brought them to London, were accompanied by their daughter, who, some time after, went to service, and lived in several good families, performing her duty to the
satisfaction of her employers. Her father, inconse quence of his business, returned to Dublin, and took his wife with him, where they both shortly after died.
I2
56 MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
Sarah was now left to her own discretion, when form ing some acquaintance, she obtained a situation as one of the laundresses, or char-women, of the Temple, where she attended some gentlemen for a considerable time. Before this, she was in a situation at a place called the Black Horse alehouse, where she became known to Mrs. Tracey, and likewise to the two bro thers, Thomas and James Alexander.
Among other persons Sarah Malcolm occasionally did char-work for, was Mrs. Lydia Duncomb, a widow
lady, about eighty years of age, who had lived forty years in chambers, four pair of stairs high, in the Inner Temple ; she had one maid, Elizabeth Harrison, who had been with her many years, and was grown old in her service, for she was about sixty, and very infirm : but though she was now past labour, the good lady, (who was bed-rid herself,) still retained her, in regard for her former faithful services, and hired others to do her work, which sometimes occasioned the service of Sarah Malcolm. About three months previous to the unfortunate catastrophe, Mrs. Duncomb had hired Anne Price, who was nearly seventeen years of age, to be a constant servant. Mrs. Duncomb had a mid dling fortune left her by her husband, and lived con tented in peace with her two servants, until February
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 57
1733, when they were all found murdered. The maid-servant, Ann Price, was supposed to have been murdered first, having her throat cut from ear to ear
but by her cap being off, and her hair much entangled, was thought she had struggled hard with her mur
derer. It was conjectured her companion was strangled though there were two or three wounds in her throat, that appeared as they had been given by
nail. Mrs. Duncomb was probably smothered, and killed last, as she was found lying across the bed, with gown on the other two were in bed. A trunk in
the room was broke open and rifled.
This barbarous fact remained undiscovered till
Sunday noon, when Mrs. Love, who used to visit Mrs. Duncomb, came to dine with her. She found the door shut, and having no answer when she knocked, she concluded that the old maid was sick,
and that the young one was sent out on an errand. After waiting considerable time for her return, but to no purpose, she went down to Mrs. Rhymer,
friend of Mrs. Duncomb's, living likewise in the Temple,) and acquainted her with the circumstance, who came back with her to the door, but could gain no entrance. They began to think some misfortune
george ii. ]
a aa it ;
4>,
a
;
if
;
68 MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
had happened ; and meeting Ann Oliphant, a laun dress, (whose master's chambers were opposite to Mrs. Duncomb's,) they persuaded her to get out of her master's garret-window, and so into Mrs. Dun- comb's chambers. She did so, and opened the door to Mrs. Duncomb's friends, when, on entering, they discovered the bodies as already described.
About twelve o'clock the same night, Mr. Kerrel coming home, found Sarah Malcolm, who was his laundress, in his chambers ; he was surprised at seeing her there at such an hour. He had heard of these murders, and that she had formerly chared for Mrs. Duncomb, whereupon he asked her if any person had been taken up on suspicion ? She said, No. He told her, it was suspected the fact must have been done by somebody that was acquainted with the deceased ; and, as he had heard that she had formerly attended there, she should continue no longer in his service, and therefore desired her to prepare for quit ting him. Upon examining, he missed some of his clothes, when she confessed having pawned them. This made him more uneasy, and he resolved she
should stay no longer: upon which she went down stairs. His suspicion caused him to search further,
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 59
and in the close-stool he found some linen, and a silver tankard, with the handle bloody. Looking under his bed, he found a shift and an apron all besmeared with blood. These discoveries gave him an extraordinary concern ; he called the watch, and sent them after her:
who found her sitting between two watchmen near the Inner Temple gate. When brought back to Mr. Kerrel's chambers, he shewed her the tankard and the linen, bloody as they were, and asked her if they were her's ? She said, yes, and that the tankard was left her by her mother. The officers of the Temple carried
her to the constable, by whom she was taken before Alderman Brocas, and committed to Newgate. On her trial, which took place February 23, 1733, Roger Johnson, one of the officers of Newgate, deposed, the
prisoner was brought there on the 5th instant ; that he had some knowledge of her before, as she used to come there to see one Johnson, an Irishman, who was convicted for stealing a Scotchman's pack. On seeing a room in which the debtors were, she asked if
she might not be in that room ; and being told it would cost her a guinea, and that she did not look like one that could pay so much ; she said, if it were two or three guineas she could send for a friend that would raise the money. In consequence, suspecting she
george ii. ]
GO MEMOIRS OF [george ir.
had money secreted, he began to search her, when,
under her cap, concealed in her hair, he found a bag of
money, consisting of twenty moidores, eighteen gui neas, five broad-pieces, a half-broad piece, five crowns, and two or three shillings, all of which she confessed to have taken from Madam Duncomb; but denied any participation in the murders. This testimony was corroborated by Mr. Alstone, who was placed in a dark place to note her conversation with the witness. Her examination and confession, taken on oath, Fe bruary 6, before Sir Richard Brocas, Knt. was then read: who on oath saith, "That on Sunday morning last, about two o'clock, she, this examinant, was con cerned with Thomas and James Alexander, brothers, and Mary Tracey, who murdered Elizabeth Harrison, Lydia Duncomb, and another person, whose name she, this examinant, does not at present know, on or about the time last-mentioned, in the Temple, in this city, which was done in the manner following : — that she, this examinant, had several conferences with the aforesaid persons, concerning the robbing of Mrs. Duncomb ; and that about ten o'clock, on Saturday night last, James Alexander got into Mrs. Duncomb's chambers, and concealed himself under a bed till about two o'clock, when he opened her
REMARKABLE PERSONS.
chamber-door, and let the said Mary Tracey and Thomas Alexander into the said chambers; and, that she, this examinant, stood on the stairs as a watch, whilst they committed the said murders, and at the same time stole from out of the said chambers about 300/. in money, a silver pint-tankard, and a spoon, with divers other goods to a great value ; which said money and goods were by the above said persons brought down to her, and then distributed in equal portions amongst them, between four and five o'clock on Sunday morning last past. "
The prisoner, in defence, admitted she was accessary to the robbery, but was innocent of the murder; and gave the following particulars: "That she lived with
Mrs. Duncomb about three months before she was murdered, and that the robbery was contrived by Mary Tracey, then in confinement, and herself, from her own vicious inclinations. Mrs. Tracey coming to her master, Mr. Kerrel, on the Sunday before the murder was committed, and he not being at home, they talked about robbing Mrs. Duncomb, when Sarah objecting to do it herself, the other proposed the two Alexanders to help them ; and, in consequence, they all met the Friday following in Cheapside,
when they agreed, on the next night, to put their VOL. IV. K
george ii. ]
62 MEMOIRS OF [ceorge ii.
scheme into execution. Next day, being Saturday, Sarah went between seven and eight in the evening to see Mrs. Duncomb's maid, Elizabeth Harrison, who was very bad, and staid but a short time, having appointed to meet Tracey and the two Alexanders at ten o'clock; who, coming to the time, were impatient
to go about it then. " Sarah proceeds, " I told them I would go and see, and so I went up-stairs, and they followed : I met the young maid on the stairs with a blue mug ; she was going for some milk to make
a sack-posset, and asked me who those were that
I told her they were people going to
came after me ?
Mr. Knight's below. As soon as she was gone, I said to Mary Tracey, ' Now do you and Tom Alex ander go down ; I know the door is left a-jar, because the old maid is ill, and can't get up to let the young one in when she comes back. ' Upon that they went
down, and James Alexander,* by my order, went in
* A boy about seventeen years of age, living servant with a person who kept the Red-Lion ale-house at Bridewell Bridge, hearing it said, in his master's house, that Sarah Malcolm had given in an information against one Thomas and James Alexander, and Mary Tracey, said to his master, " my name is James Alexander, and I have a brother named Thomas, and my mother nursed a woman
ceorge ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 63
and concealed himself under the bed ; and, as I was going down myself, I met the young maid coming up
again. Asking me if I had spoken to Mrs. Betty, I told her, no ; though I should have told her otherwise, but that I was afraid of creating suspicion, in case of her being informed that I had not been there. I past
her, went down to Tracey and Alexander, and afterwards to my master's chambers, and stirred up the fire. I staid about a quarter of an hour, and when I came back I saw Tracey and Thomas Alex ander sitting on Mrs. Duncomb's stairs, and I sat
where Sarah Malcolm lived. " Upon this acknowledgement, the master sent to Alstone, turnkey of Newgate; and the boy being confronted with Malcolm, she immediately charged him with being concealed under Mrs. Duncomb's bed, previous to letting in Tracey
and his brother, by whom and himself the murders were committed. On this evidence he was detained ; and frankly telling where his brother and Tracey were to be found, they also were taken into custody, and brought before Sir Richard Brocas : here Malcolm persisted in her former asseverations ; but the magistrate thought her unworthy of credit, and would have discharged them ; but, being advised by some persons present to act with more caution, com mitted them all to Newgate. Their distress was somewhat alleviated by the gentlemen of the Temple society, who, fully convinced of their innocence, allowed each of them one shilling per diem during
the time of their confinement.
K2
64 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
down with them. At twelve o'clock we heard some people walking, and by-and-by Mr. Knight came home, went to his room, and shut the door. It was a very stormy night ; there was scarcely any person stirring abroad, and the watchmen kept up close, except just when they cried the hour. At two o'clock, another gentleman came and called the watch to light his candle, upon which I went further up stairs, and soon after this I heard Mrs. Duncomb's door open ; James Alexander came out, and said, ' Now is the time ! ' Then Mary Tracey and Thomas
Alexander went in, but I staid upon the stairs to watch. I had told them where Mrs. Duncomb's box stood : they came out between four and five, and one of them called tome softly, and said, 'Hip! how shall I shut the door? ' I replied, ''Tis a spring-lock ; pull it to, and it will be fast;' and so one of them did. They would have shared the money and goods upon the stairs, but I told them we had better go down ; so we went under the arch by Fig-tree Court, where
there was a lamp. I asked them how much they had
got? they said, they had found fifty guineas and some silver in the maid's purse, above 100/. in the chest of drawers, a silver-tankard, and in the box money, with several other things ; so that, they obtained to
geobgk ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 65
the value of about 300/. in money and goods. They told me they had been forced to gag the people; they gave me the tankard with its contents, and some linen for my share, and they retained a silver- spoon, a ring, and the rest of the money among them selves. They advised me to be cunning, and plant the money and goods under ground, and not be seen to be flush ; then we appointed to meet at Greenwich, but I did not go. All that I have now declared is
fact, and I have no occasion to murder three innocent persons by a false accusation ; for I know I am a con demned woman, I know I must suffer an ignominious death, which my crimes deserve, and I shall suffer willingly. I thank God that he has granted me time to repent, when I might have been snatched off in the midst of my crimes, and without having an opportunity of preparing myself for another world. "
The jury, after retiring for about a quarter of an hour, returned with a verdict of guilty.
She was executed on Wednesday, the 7th of March, 1733, in Fleet-street, near Fetter-lane, amidst an amazing concourse of spectators. At the place of execution, she appeared at first tolerably calm and serene ; but afterwards fainted away from extreme agitation of spirits. Just before the cart drew away,
MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
she looked towards the Temple, and cried out, " Oh ! my master, my master! I wish I could see him;" and then looking up to heaven, often exclaimed, " Lord have mercy on me ! Lord, receive my spirit! " so con tinuing until the cart withdrew from under her.
1> ATVIKJj MALDK^.
george ii. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 67
Samel Jftaliiem
Daniel Malden was a native of Kent, and re
sided for some years at Canterbury, where he gained a tolerable livelihood as a postillion at one of the prin cipal inns in that city. Here he married, and for a time appeared to live in the greatest harmony with his wife ; but she turning out a complete virago, fre quent quarrels arose between them, which generally terminated in blows. Rendered thus unhappy at home, Malden came to the determination of abandon ing his wife, and Canterbury, and coming up to Lon don to seek a situation. He had not, however, been long in town, before he fell into vicious company, and
not meeting with immediate employment, betook
himself to the practice of privately stealing, frequent ing taverns and public ordinaries, where he would purloin silver-spoons, salts, tankards, and any other description of plate he could lay his hands on. In one of these speculations Malden was, for himself,
most unfortunately detected in stealing a silver-tank
68 MEMOIRS OF [george it.
ard, and, being conducted before a magistrate, was fully committed to Newgate, in order to take his trial.
tried at the Sessions-house in the Old Bailey, and found guilty on the clearest evidence, he received sentence of death, May 10, 1736. On the
14th of the same month, he, in company with six other prisoners, under sentence of transportation, found means to get down the common sewer ; and four of them got up a vault in Fleet-lane, three of whom went through the shop and made their escape ; the remaining one, however, was secured and carried back to Newgate. Among those that effected their escape was Daniel Malden ; but his enlargement was of short duration, being soon retaken and conducted in safety to his former lodgings.
On Monday, the 4th of the following June, Malden made a second escape, by sawing his chains near the staple that fastened them to the floor of the con demned hold, and getting through the brickwork, dropt into the common sewer. —Several persons were employed to search after him, but to no purpose, though the chains about him weighed nearly one hundred pounds: in their search they found the bodies of two men, who, attempting to escape, in a similar manner, had been smothered.
Being
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 69
This additional exploit of Malden's made consi derable noise, and he was as much talked of as the famous Jack Sheppard. Notwithstanding that a des cription of his person, with the offer of a reward for his apprehension, was sent to every sea-port and public place in the kingdom, Malden continued undetected until Sunday, September 26th, following his last escape ; when being at Canterbury, and quar relling with his wife, to whom he had fled for safety, he was again secured, brought up under a strong guard to Newgate, and chained down in the hold, with such precaution as to make escape impracticable. On Friday, October 1 5th, he was arraigned at the bar of the Old Bailey, to receive his former sentence ; and on Tuesday, the second of the next month, Novem ber, 1736, was executed with two other convicts, at Tyburn.
George ii. ]
VOL. IV.
MEMOIRS OF [georce u.
THE FEMALE BONE-SETTER.
Mrs. Sarah Mapp, a female of masculine habits, distinguished herself by some extraordinary cure she effected, merely resulting from personal courage. — She was called the bone-setter, or shape mistress. Her maiden name was Wallin. Her father was also a bone-setter, at Hindon, Wilts; but, quarrelling with
him, she wandered about the country, calling herself
crazy Sally. On her success in her profession she married, August 11, 1736, Hill Mapp, a servant to Mr. Ibbetson, mercer; on Ludgate-hill. In most cases her success was rather owing to the strength of her arms, and the boldness of her undertakings, than to any knowledge of anatomy or skill in chirurgical operations. The following particulars relative to her are collected from the Grub-street Journal, &c. and serve at least to shew, that she was a character consi derable enough to deserve the satire of Hogarth.
August 19, 1736. —" We hear that the husband of
MR. S SARAH MAPP
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 71
Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter, at Epsom, ran away from her last week, taking with him upwards of one hundred guineas, and such other portable things as lay next at hand. Several letters from Epsom mention, that the footman, whom the female bone-
setter married the week before, had taken a sudden journey from thence with what money his wife had earned ; and that her concern at first was very great ; but soon as the surprise was over, she grew gay, and seemed to think the money well disposed of, as it was like to rid her of a husband. He took just one hundred and two guineas. "
The following verses were addressed to her in
george ii. ]
August,
1736: —
" Of late, without the least pretence to skill, " Ward's grown a fam'd physician by a pill ; " Yet he can but a doubtful honour claim,
" While envious death oft blasts his rising fame. " Next travell'd Taylor, fill'd us with surprise, " Who pours new light upon the blindest eyes ; " Each journal tells his circuit thro' the land ; " Each journal tells the blessing of his hand :
" And lest some hireling scribbler of the town " Injures his history, he writes his own.
" We read the long accounts with wonder o'er ; " Had he wrote less, we had believ' him more. " Let these, O Mapp ! thou wonder of the age ! " With dubious arts endeavour to engage :
L2
MEMOIRS OF [georgeii.
72
September 2, 1736. —" On Friday, several persons, who had the misfortune of lameness, crowded to the White-hart Inn, in Whitechapel, on hearing Mrs.
Mapp, the famous bone-setter, was there. Some of them were admitted to her, and were relieved as they apprehended. But a gentleman who happened to come by, declared Mrs. Mapp was at Epsom, on which the woman thought proper to move off. "
ADVERTISEMENT.
September 9, 1736.
" WheFeas it has been industriously (I wish I could
say truly) reported, that I had found great benefit from a certain female bone-setter's performance, and that it was to a want of resolution to undergo the operation, that I did not meet with a perfect cure : this is therefore to give notice, that any persons afflicted with lameness (who are willing to know what good or harm others may receive, before they venture
on desperate measures themselves) will be welcome
* While you, irregularly strict to rules,
" Teach dull collegiate pedants they are fools :
" By merit, the sure path to fame pursue ;
" For all who see tby art, must own it true. "
george ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 73
any morning to see the dressing of my leg, which was sound before the operation, and they will then be able to judge of the performance, and to whom I owe my present unhappy confinement to my bed and chair.
" Thomas Barber, Tallow-chandler,
" Saffron-hill. "
September 16th, 1736. —" On Thursday, Mrs. Mapp's plate of ten guineas was run for at Epsom. A mare called " Mrs. Mapp" won the first heat, when Mrs. Mapp gave the rider a guinea, and swore if he won the plate she would give him 100 ; but the second and third heats were won by a chesnut-mare.
" We hear that the husband of Mrs. Mapp is re turned, and has been kindly received. "
September 23d, 1736. —" Mrs. Mapp continues making extraordinary cures ; she has now set up an equipage, and on Sunday waited on her majesty. "
Saturday, October 16, 1736. —"Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter, with Dr. Taylor, the oculist, was at the
play-house in Lincoln's-inn-Jields, to see a comedy called ' The Husband's Relief, with the Female Bone-setter and Worm-doctor which occasioned a full house, and the following epigram :—
74
MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
" While Mapp to th' actors shew'd a kind regard,
" On one side Taylor sat, on th' other Ward:
" When their mock persons of the drama came
" Both Ward and Taylor thought it hurt their fame ; " Wonder"d how Mapp cou'd in good humour be —
" Zounds!
cries the manly dame, it hurts not me, " Quacks without art may either blind or kill,
" But* demonstration shews that mine is skill. "
And the following was sung upon the stage: —
" You surgeons of London, who puzzle your pates, " To ride in your coaches, and purchase estates ;
" Give over, for shame, for your pride has a fall,
" And the doctress of Epsom has out-done you all.
Derry down, &c.
" What signifies learning, or going to school,
" When a woman can do, without reason or rule, "What puts you to nonplus, and baffles your art, " For petticoat-practice has now got the start.
Derry down, &c.
* This alludes to some surprising cures she performed before Sir Hans Sloane, at the Grecian Coffee-house; (where she came once a week from Epsom, in her chariot drawn by four horses) viz. , a man of War dour -street, whose back had been broke nine
years, and stuck out two inches; a niece of Sir Hans Sloane in the like condition ; and a gentleman who went with one shoe-heel six inches high, having been lame twenty years of his hip and knee, whom she set straight, and brought his leg down even with the other.
george i! . ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 75
" In physics, as well as in fashions, we find,
" The newest has always the run with mankind :
" Forgot is the bustle 'bout Taylor and Ward;
" Now Mapp's all the cry, and her fame's on record.
Derry down, &c.
" Dame nature has given her a doctor's degree,
" She gets all the patients, and pockets the fee ;
" So if you don't instantly prove it a cheat,
" She'll loll in her chariot whilst you walk the street.
Derry down," &c.
October 19, 1736, London Daily Post. —" Mrs. Mapp being present at the acting of the Wife's Relief, concurred in the universal applause of a crowded audience. This play was advertised by the desire of Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter, from Epsom. "
October 21st, 1736. —" On Saturday evening there was such a concourse of people at the Theatre Royal, in Lincoln s-inn-Jie Ids, to see the famous Mrs. Mapp, that several gentlemen and ladies were obliged to
return for want of room. The confusion at going out was so great, that several gentlemen and ladies had their pockets picked, and many of the latter lost their fans, &c. Yesterday she was elegantly entertained by Dr. Ward, at his house in Pall-mall. "
" On Saturday and yesterday Mrs. Mapp per formed several operations at the Grecian Coffee
76 MEMOIRS OF [oeorge il
house, particularly one upon a niece of Sir Hans Shane, to his great satisfaction and her credit. The patient had her shoulder-bone out for about nine years. "
" On Monday, Mrs. Mapp performed two extraordi nary cures ; one on a young lady of the Temple, who had several bones out from the knees to her toes, which she put in their proper places : and the other on a butcher, whose knee-pans were so misplaced that he walked with his knees knocking one against another. Yesterday she performed several other sur prising cures ; and about one set out for Epsom, and carried with her several crutches, which she calls tro phies of honour. ''
November 18, 1736. —" Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter, has taken lodgings in Pall-Mall, near
Mr. Joshua Ward's," &c.
November 25, 1736.
" In this bright age three wonder-workers rise, " Whose operations puzzle all the wise ;
" To lame and blind, by dint of manual slight,
" Mapp gives the use of limbs, and Taylor sight. " But greater Ward," &c.
December 16, 1736. — " On Thursday, Polly
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 77
Peachum, Miss Warren, (that was sister to the fa mous Mrs. Mapp) was tried at the Old Bailey, for marrying Mr. Nicholas; her former husband, Mr. Somers, being living. "
December 22, 1737- —" Died last week, at her lodgings, near the Seven Dials, the much-talked-of Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter, so miserably poor, that the parish was obliged to bury her. "
george ii. ]
VOL. IV. m
MEMOIRS OF [georgr ii.
Stephen UfautomteU
Stephen Macdaniel was one of those detes table villains that no epithet is vile enough to brand their infamy. This fellow, in conjunction with John Berry, James Egan, and James Salmon, followed the profession of swearing away the lives of innocent unsuspecting persons, for the sake of the reward given by government, for the conviction of capital offenders : —the young, friendless, and destitute, were sure to become their prey ; and father and motherless lads, of from sixteen to eighteen years of age, were their most favourite game. This profitable merchandise was carried on for a series of years, undiscovered and indeed unsuspected. Macdaniel had kept a public- house, (the sign of the Angel) in Scroop's-court, facing St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, frequented mostly by thieves, thief-takers, women of abandoned character, and pick-pockets. It was during his re sidence in this house that he became acquainted with the thief-taker Berry, and shortly after adopted the
Stephen Macdaniel,. (Thief Taker. )
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 79
same profession ; and, when thieves sufficient could not be found to answer the purpose of these in dustrious gentlemen, rather than be idle, they fur nished a few thieves of their own manufacturing.
Two lads, named Ellis and Kelly, were unfortunate enough to be seduced, and drawn into the toils of the thief-takers, by a kind of underling, or scout, they
called Thomas Blee. This Blee pre vailed on the two boys to accompany him on a scheme he pretended of stealing linen ; but this was merely a device to lead the lads to an adventure, already planned to entrap them, and ensure the re ward. James Salmon, a breeches-maker, one of the confederates, was the person fixed upon to be robbed ; and the place appointed was between New-cross turnpike and Deptford, to entitle them to an addi tional reward offered by that parish. Every thing succeeded agreeable to the plan proposed ; Salmon was met on the road by Blee, Ellis, and Kelly, and robbed of a bundle containing a pair of leather-bree ches, and from his waistcoat-pocket a clasp-knife, a tobacco-box, two shillings and sixpence, and a
pocket-piece. Blee now takes the lads with him into the Borough, and safely lodges them in Kent- street ; and the following morning leads them to the M2
georgb ii. ]
employed,
80 MEMOIRS OF [george ».
Spread-eagle public-house, where he had agreed with Macdaniel, Berry, Salmon, and Egan, to meet and take them : first, however, taking care to secure his own retreat. It happened that Mr. Joseph Cox, chief-constable of the lower half-hundred of Black- heath, received information that a breeches-maker had been robbed in the parish of Deptford, by three
footpads, and that two of them were taken by Macdaniel and others, and sent to Maidstone-gaol ; and that the third person concerned in this robbery was Tom Blee, who had frequently been seen in
company with Macdaniel.
Mr. Cox, with laudable anxiety for Blee's apprehen
sion, resolved to proceed in search of him himself, and, after two or three days looking about, he very fortunately, with the help of a constable, took him into custody, very early in the morning of the 9th of August, 1754, in Newgate-street. He conveyed him directly to the water-side, in order to carry him to Greenwich ; when, as soon as he had got him into the boat, he said he would discover all he knew
concerning the robbery of the breeches-maker. Mr. Cox and the constable advised him not to divulge any thing in presence of the waterman, but reserve what he had to say until he went before a magistrate ;
george ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 81
when, being taken to Justice Bell, at Greenwich, he made a full and clear confession of the whole nefa rious transaction, from the beginning to the end.
As soon as the confession of Blee was taken and sworn to, Mr. Cox was advised to attend the trial of Ellis and Kelly, and not to discover he had Blee in custody till after the trial. Mr. Cox accordingly went to Maidstone, taking Blee with him still in custody, and arriving there in the night, stopt short of the town, leaving him in safe keeping, while he attended the trial the following day; but nobody knew that Blee was in custody, or so near the town. Henry Serjeant, a constable of Deptford parish,
to conduct Ellis and Kelly to Maid- stone-gaol, and, while on the road, they told him Tom Blee was concerned with them in the robbery, where he lived, and what sort of clothes he wore ;
this he took down in writing, and shewed it to Justice Bell on his return from Maidstone, who de sired him to go and take him. Serjeant replied, he would give directions to a thief-catcher, and applied to one Ralph Mitchell ; but he refusing to act in Mr. Cox was informed of the circumstance, and lost no time in accomplishing Blee's apprehension. On the trial of the two lads, Ellis and Kelly, Macdanjel,
was employed
it,
82 MEMOIRS OP fGEORGE H.
Salmon, and Egan, severally gave evidence, but Berry did not appear in Court. The circumstance of the robbery being clearly proved, and the prisoners not being able to deny the leading facts, were found guilty. But immediately after the trial, the whole gang of blood-money gentry was taken into custody, by virtue of a warrant sent purposely down to Maid stone, by the magistrate of Greenwich, Colonel Bell, who had kept the confession of Blee, and his deten tion in custody, a secret.
At the following Old Bailey sessions, Macdaniel, Berry, Egan, and Salmon, were indicted as acces saries, before the felony was committed, in feloni ously and maliciously abetting, assisting, counselling, hireing, and commanding Peter Kelly and John Ellis to commit a robbery on the highway. There was a second count in the indictment, as an offence
at common law.
Joseph Cox produced a copy of the record of the
conviction of Peter Kelly and John Ellis, and swore he had it of Mr. Knapp's clerk, with whom he ex amined it with the record, the purport of which is, " That Peter Kelly and John Ellis were tried the 13th of August, 17,54, at Maidstone assizes, before
Sir Dudley Rider, Knt. and Sir Michael Foster, Knt.
GEORGE ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 83
for the said robbery on the defendant Salmon, and
found guilty. "
Thomas Blee being sworn, developed the whole
of the abominable transaction, and being corrobo rated by several other witnesses, in respect of the close connection and subsequent conduct of the defendants, the jury found the whole four guilty of all the facts charged in the indictment; but, whether the facts charged were within the 4th and 5th statutes of Philip and Mary they knew not, and therefore prayed the assistance of the Court, so it was made special.
This. special verdict was afterwards argued by counsel before the twelve judges, at Serjeants'-inn- hall, in Chancery-lane. Their lordships being of opinion, that the facts charged were not within the statutes of the 4th and 5th of Philip and Mary, and the 3d and 4th of William and Mary ; an order was given that they should be indicted for a conspi racy, in which the facts with which the prisoners were charged might be more clearly explained ; and they to receive such punishment as might be inflicted on them by law.
Accordingly, February 28, 1755, they were again arraigned at the sessions at the Old Bailey, in the
84 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
mayoralty of Slingsby Bethel, Esq. , upon an indict ment for combining and conspiring together, that one Thomas Blee should procure two persons, namely, Peter Kelly, and John Ellis, to go to Deptford in Kent, and to take divers goods and money from the person of James Salmon, on the king's highway, who should be waiting there for that purpose ; with intent that they should cause the said two persons to be apprehended, and convicted for robbing the said
Salmon on the king's highway, and so unjustly and wickedly procure to themselves the rewards men tioned in the act of parliament, proclamation, and other parochial rewards, for the apprehending of high waymen, July 24, 1754.
Tom Blee was the chief witness against the pri soners in this, as he was upon the former trial ; and the evidence he gave upon both was to the same purport, with this addition, that Berry told him, that
when he, Kelly, and Ellis, robbed Salmon on the Deptford-road, he, Berry, lay behind the four mile stone, and saw the robbery committed.
The prisoners having nothing material to say in their defence, the jury found them guilty. The sentence pronounced against them by the Court was, to be imprisoned in Newgate for the term of seven years ;
oeorge ii. ]
and, in that time, to be each of them set in the pillory twice, in manner following; Macdaniel and Berry in Holborn, near Hatton-garden ; Egan, or
Gahagan,
HEMARKABLE PERSONS. 8&
and Salmon in the middle of Smithfield. Afterwards, Macdaniel and Berry at the end of King- street, Cheapside ; and Gahagan and Salmon again
in Fleet-street, near Fetter-lane ; and, at the end of that time, to find sureties for their good behaviour for three years, and to pay a fine of one mark each.
Pursuant to their sentence, Macdaniel and Berry,
on the 5th of March, stood in the pillory in Holborn,
near Hatton-garden, and were so severely handled by the populace, that it was with the utmost difficulty that one of the sheriffs and the keeper of Newgate, who stood in a balcony just by, prevented their being utterly destroyed ; and so great was the mob, that the peace-officers found it impossible to protect the
prisoners from its fury.
March 8th. — Egan, or Gahagan, and Salmon stood
in the pillory in the middle of Smithfield rounds; they were instantly assaulted with showers of oyster- shells, stones, &c. and had not stood above half-an- hour before Gahagan was struck dead, (supposed by a marble, or stone shot from a cross-bow, which en tered his forehead,) and Salmon so dangerously
VOL. IV. N
86 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
wounded in the head, that it was thought impossible he could recover. Thus, though the law could not find a punishment adequate to the horrid nature of their crimes, yet they met with their deserts from the
rage of the people.
Four gentlemen of the same profession were, a
short time since, capitally convicted for similar of fences, viz. Vaughan, Ben Johnson, Brock, and Pelham ; and, notwithstanding the public indignation against these miscreants was raised to the highest pitch, they found means to escape the hands of jus tice, without undergoing the slightest punishment.
This appeared more extraordinary, when compared with the fate of the unfortunate Eliza Fenning.
— ******.
S Mc. LEAN ESQ? ( The Ladies Hero. )
of. orgk ii. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 87
Same* Jftacleatte.
James Macleane was a native of Monahan, in the north of Ireland, where his father, who was de scended from a very honorable family in the High lands of Scotland, had settled. Being a younger son, he was bred up a divine of the church of Scot
land ; and, going over to Ireland, became preacher to a dissenting congregation at Monahan, where he was universally esteemed as a gentleman of
probity, piety, and humanity. He married into a reputable family in those parts, and left only two sons, the eldest of which was brought up to the
church ; and who, at the time ofhis brother's misfor tune, was pastor of a Protestant congregation at the Hague, and living in the highest esteem and respect.
The second son, the subject of this article, had received a very decent education, being designed for some mercantile employment so soon as he should be of age proper to place him in a counting-house ;
but, unfortunately, his father dying before he was quite eighteen, and what little patrimony he was n 'i
88 MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
entitled to coming under his own management, was soon squandered, without a reflection on his future settlement in life.
Mr. Macleane's property being entirely exhausted, his mother's friends, who were the only relations he had in Ireland, quarrelled with him for his extrava gance; and refused him either advice, shelter, or sub sistence. He then applied to them for the means of fitting him out for sea, which being refused, he was under the necessity of hiring himself as servant to a Mr. Howard, then on his way to England. With this gentleman he continued some time; but keeping company with the lowest of his countrymen, he con tracted habits which displeased his master.
They consequently separated ; and he returned to Ireland,
once more to solicit his friends to do something for him suitable to his birth and expectations ; but. either his manners or their circumstances not agreeing, they refused to see him, or to afford him any countenance or support. On this disappointment he applied to his brother at the Hague, from whom he frequently received remittances, and advice that might have been of great service to him. But the money soon being dissipated, he was once more under the necessity of seeking employment in a gentleman's service ; and
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 89
was fortunately received into that of a Colonel F n, who had some knowledge of his father's family. With this gentleman he lived a few years as butler; but, at last, was detected in some pilfering embezzle ments in his trust, and was dismissed without a cha racter. He remained some time out of place, and had thoughts of going over to serve in the Irish brigade in the French service; but understanding, that unless he conformed to the Popish religion his encouragement would be trifling, he conscientiously relinquished the project.
george ii. ]
about this time, that his late master, Colonel F n, intended shortly to visit England, and presuming on that gentleman's known humanity,
he addressed him in as pathetic terms as he could devise, on the necessity of his circumstances, which so wrought on his feelings, that he was once more taken into his service, and entrusted with the care of his baggage to London, with an allowance of one shilling a day for subsistence; though he had only presumed to request his passage to England. Soon after his arrival in town, he had the audacity to request the loan of a sum of money from his master, to purchase a pair of colours, desirous of
equipping himself on the expedition of a fortune
Learning,
90 MEMOIRS OF [georc. e n.
hunter being prepossessed with the perfections of his person, which he had the vanity to think only re quired dress to engage some lady to raise him from his present obscurity. Foiled in this application to the colonel for money, he enlisted himself in Lord Albemarle's troop of horse-guards, but again he was at a loss for money, and as ten guineas was all he required, his liberal master generously supplied him.
The colonel, at his importunity, was prevailed upon to lodge the money in the hands of an officer belong ing to the troop, with which Macleane seemed satis
fied : but after his pass and other credentials for joining the troop, then in Flanders, were made out, his inclination for a military life vanished ; and he enlisted himself into the service of the fair sex, with many of whom, at this time, he became acquainted.
Through the liberality of the ladies, he procured a contribution of fifty pounds, under pretence of ship ping himself for the West-Indies ; but, being once pos sessed of the cash, and his mind changing as to travel ing, he laid it out in fine clothes, and made suit to the
daughter of Mr. Macglegno, a dealer in horses, with whom he was so lucky as to succeed, and with her received about 5001. as a marriage-port ion.
george ir. ]
With this sum he set up a grocer and chandler's shop, in Wellbeck-street, near Cavendish-square; and while his wife lived he kept even with the world, and maintained his family in decency, though with much difficulty ; for he was more the man of pleasure than
of business. Those who knew him at that generally spoke of him as a harmless inoffensive man; but were often surprised at his way of life, and apt to suggest strange things of him ; though nothing wicked or notorious was laid to his charge while he lived in that neighbourhood.
His wife died about three years after their marriage, leaving him two daughters, of which her mother took the charge, as she afterwards did of the one that sur vived him. Deprived of his wife, who had managed all the affairs of the shop and business, he was too
much addicted to idleness and pleasure to confine himself to the occupation of a grocer ; so sold off all his goods, and with the remains of his effects, which he had not augmented by trade, he once more com
menced gentleman fortune-hunter.
He was scarce six months embarked in this project,
before he had, by folly and extravagance, exhausted all that remained of his late wife's fortune ; and was at a loss how to raise any more to supply present neces
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 91
time,
92 MEMOIRS OF [georqe h.
sities, much less to support the figure he made. It was grievous to him to descend again from the fine gentleman to the menial servant, and he soon grew melancholy on the dreadful prospect of being obliged to dispose of his clothes and equipage for mere bread. He was in this gloomy disposition, when he received a visit from a countryman of his, Plunket, an apo thecary, who, in a familiar way, asked the cause of his melancholy ; on which the other stated his real circumstances, yet he was by no means quite a
stranger to them before. To which Plunket replied, " I thought Macleane had spirit and resolution ; with some knowledge of the world, a brave man cannot want; he has a right to live, and need not want the conveniences of life; while the dull, plodding, busy knaves carry cash in their pockets we must draw upon them to supply our wants ; there need only impu dence, and getting the better of a few idle scruples ; courage is scarcely necessary, all we have to deal with are such mere poltroons. " This discourse was
soon understood by Macleane, who, though at first
shocked at the bare mention of yet the necessity
his pride and indolence suggested so strongly, that he yielded to the temptation and from that time, which might be about eight months after his wife's death,
;
it,
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 93
entered into a particular intimacy with Plunket, agreed to run all risks together, and, present or ab sent at any enterprise, to share all profits ; of which, until the fatal discovery, they kept a fair and regular account.
Though Macleane believed himself possessed of as much courage as any man, yet, on his first attempt (nor could even long practice obdurate,) he felt every symptom of fear and cowardice, aggravated by the stings of conscience, which vice could not harden. However, the success of the first enterprise (on a grazier coming from Smithfield-market, from whom, on Hounslow-heath, they took above 60/. ) encou raged him to stifle the checks of conscience, and to
persevere in a way which, though it appeared to him wicked, yet was found so lucrative. In this transac tion he was no more than passive, stood by without speaking a word, or so much as drawing his pistols, but inwardly in greater agony than the man that was robbed ; so that if any resistance had been made, he would certainly have taken the first hint of trusting to his heels.
The next robbery they committed was on a coach in the road from St. Albans. By agreement, Macleane was to stop the coachman, and present his pistol on
VOL. IV. O
george ii. ]
94 MEMOIRS OF [george it
one side, while Plunket did the same on the other. But though he rode frequently up with intention to give the word, yet his heart failed him; and Plunket, lest they should miss the booty, did it himself; and it
was with some faultering Macleane demanded their money after the coach was stopt, and no danger seemed near. However, he grew more resolute, and, to redeem his credit with Plunket, who began to rally him on his pusillanimity, he once by himself robbed a gentleman in Hyde-park, on horseback, of his watch and money; and was the acting man in the robbery of Horatio Walpole, which indeed he owned, and declared the firing of the pistol was accidental.
He reigned long and successfully, and was never but once afraid of discovery ; to avoid which, he went over to Holland, till the storm was blown over ; pre tending a friendly visit to his brother, to. whom. he gave a feigned account of the manner of his living; and was by him introduced to many very genteel assemblies, and where, it was said, some purses and gold watches were lost ; which, since Macleane's con finement, suspicion has fixed the theft on him, though at the time no such thing was thought of.
By such means, however, he supplied all the extra vagance of his disposition ; yet he never once thought
geohge ii. ] REMARKABLE
PERSONS. 95
of his daughter, and seldom visited his mother-in-law,
fearing she might make inquiries respecting his way of living, and residence, which he ever carefully concealed from her knowledge; indeed, he was con tinually shifting his lodgings, to avoid impertinent questions from other persons.
Justice at length overtook him, for having robbed the Salisbury coach, and Lord Eglington in his car riage, on the same morning, June 26, 1730, when
taking from the former a cloak-bag, containing wearing-apparel, &c. the property of a passenger, named Higden, he had the imprudence to strip the lace from off the clothes, and to sell them to a sales man, to whom he had given directions where he might call on him to view them, although at the very time they were particularly advertised. This circum stance led to his apprehension ; and, upon his first examination, he confessed to have committed the robbery in company with William Plunket, who had absconded ; though upon his trial he retracted his con fession, but was found guilty on the clearest evidence.
James Macleane, aged 26, was in his person of a middle size, well limbed, of a sandy complexion, broad open countenance, and pitted with the small pox ; but, though he had been called the gentleman
o2
96 MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
highwayman, and in his dress and equipage affected the fine gentleman, yet to a man acquainted with
good-breeding, and can distinguish it from impudence and affectation, there was very little in his address or behaviour that could entitle him to that character.
He was so much in favor with the fair sex, that many presented him with money while confined in the Gate-house ; and the notice taken of him by some persons of distinction, gave him hopes of life after conviction, which he cherished until the warrant arrived for his execution. He was hung at Tyburn, 1750.
SAMUEL. MY IMIHKSOX .
george ii. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 97
£Wffiwsmu
Samuel
m
Samuel M'Pherson was a man possessing, in the highest degree, prejudices in favor of his national character, custom, and manners; which impelled him, in company with many of his fellow-soldiers and
to the desperate attempt of reaching their native Highlands from the vicinity of London, through a country at that period strongly armed, and
prejudiced against the meditated plans of invasion from a Popish Pretender.
In the reign of King George the First, the rebellion revived the fame of the Highlanders; and it is well recorded how deeply they were engaged on both sides ; but on the one part, many were found of the Scots' nation to join the standard of rebellion; an equal por
tion of the same country were found, at least, to assemble round that of the royal cause. When these disturbances subsided, and the whole country was in
state of uninterrupted peace, sudden resolution was taken to put an end to the celebrity and power of
countrymen,
a
a
if,
98 MEMOIRS OP [george ii.
the Highland clans, by disarming them absolutely ; and it was at first proposed to strip them of their clothing, and prevent them going in their ordinary dress. This was in the year 1725, and the motion for bringing this bill into parliament, which was entitled, " For more effectually disarming the High landers in that part of Great Britain called Scotland ; and for the better securing the peace and quiet of that part of the kingdom," was made by a general-officer, and seconded by Mr. Duncan Forbes.
year, but her mother, being an Irishwoman, prevailed on her husband to visit Dublin, where he settled, and purchased a public place in that city, with the remnant of money he had saved from the sale of his estate ; Sarah, being an only child, received a good educa tion in reading, writing, and such other learning
proper for a female above the lower order. She lived with her father and mother almost to woman's estate, and was noticed for her sprightly temper. Her parents, however, having some affairs which brought them to London, were accompanied by their daughter, who, some time after, went to service, and lived in several good families, performing her duty to the
satisfaction of her employers. Her father, inconse quence of his business, returned to Dublin, and took his wife with him, where they both shortly after died.
I2
56 MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
Sarah was now left to her own discretion, when form ing some acquaintance, she obtained a situation as one of the laundresses, or char-women, of the Temple, where she attended some gentlemen for a considerable time. Before this, she was in a situation at a place called the Black Horse alehouse, where she became known to Mrs. Tracey, and likewise to the two bro thers, Thomas and James Alexander.
Among other persons Sarah Malcolm occasionally did char-work for, was Mrs. Lydia Duncomb, a widow
lady, about eighty years of age, who had lived forty years in chambers, four pair of stairs high, in the Inner Temple ; she had one maid, Elizabeth Harrison, who had been with her many years, and was grown old in her service, for she was about sixty, and very infirm : but though she was now past labour, the good lady, (who was bed-rid herself,) still retained her, in regard for her former faithful services, and hired others to do her work, which sometimes occasioned the service of Sarah Malcolm. About three months previous to the unfortunate catastrophe, Mrs. Duncomb had hired Anne Price, who was nearly seventeen years of age, to be a constant servant. Mrs. Duncomb had a mid dling fortune left her by her husband, and lived con tented in peace with her two servants, until February
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 57
1733, when they were all found murdered. The maid-servant, Ann Price, was supposed to have been murdered first, having her throat cut from ear to ear
but by her cap being off, and her hair much entangled, was thought she had struggled hard with her mur
derer. It was conjectured her companion was strangled though there were two or three wounds in her throat, that appeared as they had been given by
nail. Mrs. Duncomb was probably smothered, and killed last, as she was found lying across the bed, with gown on the other two were in bed. A trunk in
the room was broke open and rifled.
This barbarous fact remained undiscovered till
Sunday noon, when Mrs. Love, who used to visit Mrs. Duncomb, came to dine with her. She found the door shut, and having no answer when she knocked, she concluded that the old maid was sick,
and that the young one was sent out on an errand. After waiting considerable time for her return, but to no purpose, she went down to Mrs. Rhymer,
friend of Mrs. Duncomb's, living likewise in the Temple,) and acquainted her with the circumstance, who came back with her to the door, but could gain no entrance. They began to think some misfortune
george ii. ]
a aa it ;
4>,
a
;
if
;
68 MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
had happened ; and meeting Ann Oliphant, a laun dress, (whose master's chambers were opposite to Mrs. Duncomb's,) they persuaded her to get out of her master's garret-window, and so into Mrs. Dun- comb's chambers. She did so, and opened the door to Mrs. Duncomb's friends, when, on entering, they discovered the bodies as already described.
About twelve o'clock the same night, Mr. Kerrel coming home, found Sarah Malcolm, who was his laundress, in his chambers ; he was surprised at seeing her there at such an hour. He had heard of these murders, and that she had formerly chared for Mrs. Duncomb, whereupon he asked her if any person had been taken up on suspicion ? She said, No. He told her, it was suspected the fact must have been done by somebody that was acquainted with the deceased ; and, as he had heard that she had formerly attended there, she should continue no longer in his service, and therefore desired her to prepare for quit ting him. Upon examining, he missed some of his clothes, when she confessed having pawned them. This made him more uneasy, and he resolved she
should stay no longer: upon which she went down stairs. His suspicion caused him to search further,
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 59
and in the close-stool he found some linen, and a silver tankard, with the handle bloody. Looking under his bed, he found a shift and an apron all besmeared with blood. These discoveries gave him an extraordinary concern ; he called the watch, and sent them after her:
who found her sitting between two watchmen near the Inner Temple gate. When brought back to Mr. Kerrel's chambers, he shewed her the tankard and the linen, bloody as they were, and asked her if they were her's ? She said, yes, and that the tankard was left her by her mother. The officers of the Temple carried
her to the constable, by whom she was taken before Alderman Brocas, and committed to Newgate. On her trial, which took place February 23, 1733, Roger Johnson, one of the officers of Newgate, deposed, the
prisoner was brought there on the 5th instant ; that he had some knowledge of her before, as she used to come there to see one Johnson, an Irishman, who was convicted for stealing a Scotchman's pack. On seeing a room in which the debtors were, she asked if
she might not be in that room ; and being told it would cost her a guinea, and that she did not look like one that could pay so much ; she said, if it were two or three guineas she could send for a friend that would raise the money. In consequence, suspecting she
george ii. ]
GO MEMOIRS OF [george ir.
had money secreted, he began to search her, when,
under her cap, concealed in her hair, he found a bag of
money, consisting of twenty moidores, eighteen gui neas, five broad-pieces, a half-broad piece, five crowns, and two or three shillings, all of which she confessed to have taken from Madam Duncomb; but denied any participation in the murders. This testimony was corroborated by Mr. Alstone, who was placed in a dark place to note her conversation with the witness. Her examination and confession, taken on oath, Fe bruary 6, before Sir Richard Brocas, Knt. was then read: who on oath saith, "That on Sunday morning last, about two o'clock, she, this examinant, was con cerned with Thomas and James Alexander, brothers, and Mary Tracey, who murdered Elizabeth Harrison, Lydia Duncomb, and another person, whose name she, this examinant, does not at present know, on or about the time last-mentioned, in the Temple, in this city, which was done in the manner following : — that she, this examinant, had several conferences with the aforesaid persons, concerning the robbing of Mrs. Duncomb ; and that about ten o'clock, on Saturday night last, James Alexander got into Mrs. Duncomb's chambers, and concealed himself under a bed till about two o'clock, when he opened her
REMARKABLE PERSONS.
chamber-door, and let the said Mary Tracey and Thomas Alexander into the said chambers; and, that she, this examinant, stood on the stairs as a watch, whilst they committed the said murders, and at the same time stole from out of the said chambers about 300/. in money, a silver pint-tankard, and a spoon, with divers other goods to a great value ; which said money and goods were by the above said persons brought down to her, and then distributed in equal portions amongst them, between four and five o'clock on Sunday morning last past. "
The prisoner, in defence, admitted she was accessary to the robbery, but was innocent of the murder; and gave the following particulars: "That she lived with
Mrs. Duncomb about three months before she was murdered, and that the robbery was contrived by Mary Tracey, then in confinement, and herself, from her own vicious inclinations. Mrs. Tracey coming to her master, Mr. Kerrel, on the Sunday before the murder was committed, and he not being at home, they talked about robbing Mrs. Duncomb, when Sarah objecting to do it herself, the other proposed the two Alexanders to help them ; and, in consequence, they all met the Friday following in Cheapside,
when they agreed, on the next night, to put their VOL. IV. K
george ii. ]
62 MEMOIRS OF [ceorge ii.
scheme into execution. Next day, being Saturday, Sarah went between seven and eight in the evening to see Mrs. Duncomb's maid, Elizabeth Harrison, who was very bad, and staid but a short time, having appointed to meet Tracey and the two Alexanders at ten o'clock; who, coming to the time, were impatient
to go about it then. " Sarah proceeds, " I told them I would go and see, and so I went up-stairs, and they followed : I met the young maid on the stairs with a blue mug ; she was going for some milk to make
a sack-posset, and asked me who those were that
I told her they were people going to
came after me ?
Mr. Knight's below. As soon as she was gone, I said to Mary Tracey, ' Now do you and Tom Alex ander go down ; I know the door is left a-jar, because the old maid is ill, and can't get up to let the young one in when she comes back. ' Upon that they went
down, and James Alexander,* by my order, went in
* A boy about seventeen years of age, living servant with a person who kept the Red-Lion ale-house at Bridewell Bridge, hearing it said, in his master's house, that Sarah Malcolm had given in an information against one Thomas and James Alexander, and Mary Tracey, said to his master, " my name is James Alexander, and I have a brother named Thomas, and my mother nursed a woman
ceorge ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 63
and concealed himself under the bed ; and, as I was going down myself, I met the young maid coming up
again. Asking me if I had spoken to Mrs. Betty, I told her, no ; though I should have told her otherwise, but that I was afraid of creating suspicion, in case of her being informed that I had not been there. I past
her, went down to Tracey and Alexander, and afterwards to my master's chambers, and stirred up the fire. I staid about a quarter of an hour, and when I came back I saw Tracey and Thomas Alex ander sitting on Mrs. Duncomb's stairs, and I sat
where Sarah Malcolm lived. " Upon this acknowledgement, the master sent to Alstone, turnkey of Newgate; and the boy being confronted with Malcolm, she immediately charged him with being concealed under Mrs. Duncomb's bed, previous to letting in Tracey
and his brother, by whom and himself the murders were committed. On this evidence he was detained ; and frankly telling where his brother and Tracey were to be found, they also were taken into custody, and brought before Sir Richard Brocas : here Malcolm persisted in her former asseverations ; but the magistrate thought her unworthy of credit, and would have discharged them ; but, being advised by some persons present to act with more caution, com mitted them all to Newgate. Their distress was somewhat alleviated by the gentlemen of the Temple society, who, fully convinced of their innocence, allowed each of them one shilling per diem during
the time of their confinement.
K2
64 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
down with them. At twelve o'clock we heard some people walking, and by-and-by Mr. Knight came home, went to his room, and shut the door. It was a very stormy night ; there was scarcely any person stirring abroad, and the watchmen kept up close, except just when they cried the hour. At two o'clock, another gentleman came and called the watch to light his candle, upon which I went further up stairs, and soon after this I heard Mrs. Duncomb's door open ; James Alexander came out, and said, ' Now is the time ! ' Then Mary Tracey and Thomas
Alexander went in, but I staid upon the stairs to watch. I had told them where Mrs. Duncomb's box stood : they came out between four and five, and one of them called tome softly, and said, 'Hip! how shall I shut the door? ' I replied, ''Tis a spring-lock ; pull it to, and it will be fast;' and so one of them did. They would have shared the money and goods upon the stairs, but I told them we had better go down ; so we went under the arch by Fig-tree Court, where
there was a lamp. I asked them how much they had
got? they said, they had found fifty guineas and some silver in the maid's purse, above 100/. in the chest of drawers, a silver-tankard, and in the box money, with several other things ; so that, they obtained to
geobgk ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 65
the value of about 300/. in money and goods. They told me they had been forced to gag the people; they gave me the tankard with its contents, and some linen for my share, and they retained a silver- spoon, a ring, and the rest of the money among them selves. They advised me to be cunning, and plant the money and goods under ground, and not be seen to be flush ; then we appointed to meet at Greenwich, but I did not go. All that I have now declared is
fact, and I have no occasion to murder three innocent persons by a false accusation ; for I know I am a con demned woman, I know I must suffer an ignominious death, which my crimes deserve, and I shall suffer willingly. I thank God that he has granted me time to repent, when I might have been snatched off in the midst of my crimes, and without having an opportunity of preparing myself for another world. "
The jury, after retiring for about a quarter of an hour, returned with a verdict of guilty.
She was executed on Wednesday, the 7th of March, 1733, in Fleet-street, near Fetter-lane, amidst an amazing concourse of spectators. At the place of execution, she appeared at first tolerably calm and serene ; but afterwards fainted away from extreme agitation of spirits. Just before the cart drew away,
MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
she looked towards the Temple, and cried out, " Oh ! my master, my master! I wish I could see him;" and then looking up to heaven, often exclaimed, " Lord have mercy on me ! Lord, receive my spirit! " so con tinuing until the cart withdrew from under her.
1> ATVIKJj MALDK^.
george ii. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 67
Samel Jftaliiem
Daniel Malden was a native of Kent, and re
sided for some years at Canterbury, where he gained a tolerable livelihood as a postillion at one of the prin cipal inns in that city. Here he married, and for a time appeared to live in the greatest harmony with his wife ; but she turning out a complete virago, fre quent quarrels arose between them, which generally terminated in blows. Rendered thus unhappy at home, Malden came to the determination of abandon ing his wife, and Canterbury, and coming up to Lon don to seek a situation. He had not, however, been long in town, before he fell into vicious company, and
not meeting with immediate employment, betook
himself to the practice of privately stealing, frequent ing taverns and public ordinaries, where he would purloin silver-spoons, salts, tankards, and any other description of plate he could lay his hands on. In one of these speculations Malden was, for himself,
most unfortunately detected in stealing a silver-tank
68 MEMOIRS OF [george it.
ard, and, being conducted before a magistrate, was fully committed to Newgate, in order to take his trial.
tried at the Sessions-house in the Old Bailey, and found guilty on the clearest evidence, he received sentence of death, May 10, 1736. On the
14th of the same month, he, in company with six other prisoners, under sentence of transportation, found means to get down the common sewer ; and four of them got up a vault in Fleet-lane, three of whom went through the shop and made their escape ; the remaining one, however, was secured and carried back to Newgate. Among those that effected their escape was Daniel Malden ; but his enlargement was of short duration, being soon retaken and conducted in safety to his former lodgings.
On Monday, the 4th of the following June, Malden made a second escape, by sawing his chains near the staple that fastened them to the floor of the con demned hold, and getting through the brickwork, dropt into the common sewer. —Several persons were employed to search after him, but to no purpose, though the chains about him weighed nearly one hundred pounds: in their search they found the bodies of two men, who, attempting to escape, in a similar manner, had been smothered.
Being
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 69
This additional exploit of Malden's made consi derable noise, and he was as much talked of as the famous Jack Sheppard. Notwithstanding that a des cription of his person, with the offer of a reward for his apprehension, was sent to every sea-port and public place in the kingdom, Malden continued undetected until Sunday, September 26th, following his last escape ; when being at Canterbury, and quar relling with his wife, to whom he had fled for safety, he was again secured, brought up under a strong guard to Newgate, and chained down in the hold, with such precaution as to make escape impracticable. On Friday, October 1 5th, he was arraigned at the bar of the Old Bailey, to receive his former sentence ; and on Tuesday, the second of the next month, Novem ber, 1736, was executed with two other convicts, at Tyburn.
George ii. ]
VOL. IV.
MEMOIRS OF [georce u.
THE FEMALE BONE-SETTER.
Mrs. Sarah Mapp, a female of masculine habits, distinguished herself by some extraordinary cure she effected, merely resulting from personal courage. — She was called the bone-setter, or shape mistress. Her maiden name was Wallin. Her father was also a bone-setter, at Hindon, Wilts; but, quarrelling with
him, she wandered about the country, calling herself
crazy Sally. On her success in her profession she married, August 11, 1736, Hill Mapp, a servant to Mr. Ibbetson, mercer; on Ludgate-hill. In most cases her success was rather owing to the strength of her arms, and the boldness of her undertakings, than to any knowledge of anatomy or skill in chirurgical operations. The following particulars relative to her are collected from the Grub-street Journal, &c. and serve at least to shew, that she was a character consi derable enough to deserve the satire of Hogarth.
August 19, 1736. —" We hear that the husband of
MR. S SARAH MAPP
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 71
Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter, at Epsom, ran away from her last week, taking with him upwards of one hundred guineas, and such other portable things as lay next at hand. Several letters from Epsom mention, that the footman, whom the female bone-
setter married the week before, had taken a sudden journey from thence with what money his wife had earned ; and that her concern at first was very great ; but soon as the surprise was over, she grew gay, and seemed to think the money well disposed of, as it was like to rid her of a husband. He took just one hundred and two guineas. "
The following verses were addressed to her in
george ii. ]
August,
1736: —
" Of late, without the least pretence to skill, " Ward's grown a fam'd physician by a pill ; " Yet he can but a doubtful honour claim,
" While envious death oft blasts his rising fame. " Next travell'd Taylor, fill'd us with surprise, " Who pours new light upon the blindest eyes ; " Each journal tells his circuit thro' the land ; " Each journal tells the blessing of his hand :
" And lest some hireling scribbler of the town " Injures his history, he writes his own.
" We read the long accounts with wonder o'er ; " Had he wrote less, we had believ' him more. " Let these, O Mapp ! thou wonder of the age ! " With dubious arts endeavour to engage :
L2
MEMOIRS OF [georgeii.
72
September 2, 1736. —" On Friday, several persons, who had the misfortune of lameness, crowded to the White-hart Inn, in Whitechapel, on hearing Mrs.
Mapp, the famous bone-setter, was there. Some of them were admitted to her, and were relieved as they apprehended. But a gentleman who happened to come by, declared Mrs. Mapp was at Epsom, on which the woman thought proper to move off. "
ADVERTISEMENT.
September 9, 1736.
" WheFeas it has been industriously (I wish I could
say truly) reported, that I had found great benefit from a certain female bone-setter's performance, and that it was to a want of resolution to undergo the operation, that I did not meet with a perfect cure : this is therefore to give notice, that any persons afflicted with lameness (who are willing to know what good or harm others may receive, before they venture
on desperate measures themselves) will be welcome
* While you, irregularly strict to rules,
" Teach dull collegiate pedants they are fools :
" By merit, the sure path to fame pursue ;
" For all who see tby art, must own it true. "
george ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 73
any morning to see the dressing of my leg, which was sound before the operation, and they will then be able to judge of the performance, and to whom I owe my present unhappy confinement to my bed and chair.
" Thomas Barber, Tallow-chandler,
" Saffron-hill. "
September 16th, 1736. —" On Thursday, Mrs. Mapp's plate of ten guineas was run for at Epsom. A mare called " Mrs. Mapp" won the first heat, when Mrs. Mapp gave the rider a guinea, and swore if he won the plate she would give him 100 ; but the second and third heats were won by a chesnut-mare.
" We hear that the husband of Mrs. Mapp is re turned, and has been kindly received. "
September 23d, 1736. —" Mrs. Mapp continues making extraordinary cures ; she has now set up an equipage, and on Sunday waited on her majesty. "
Saturday, October 16, 1736. —"Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter, with Dr. Taylor, the oculist, was at the
play-house in Lincoln's-inn-Jields, to see a comedy called ' The Husband's Relief, with the Female Bone-setter and Worm-doctor which occasioned a full house, and the following epigram :—
74
MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
" While Mapp to th' actors shew'd a kind regard,
" On one side Taylor sat, on th' other Ward:
" When their mock persons of the drama came
" Both Ward and Taylor thought it hurt their fame ; " Wonder"d how Mapp cou'd in good humour be —
" Zounds!
cries the manly dame, it hurts not me, " Quacks without art may either blind or kill,
" But* demonstration shews that mine is skill. "
And the following was sung upon the stage: —
" You surgeons of London, who puzzle your pates, " To ride in your coaches, and purchase estates ;
" Give over, for shame, for your pride has a fall,
" And the doctress of Epsom has out-done you all.
Derry down, &c.
" What signifies learning, or going to school,
" When a woman can do, without reason or rule, "What puts you to nonplus, and baffles your art, " For petticoat-practice has now got the start.
Derry down, &c.
* This alludes to some surprising cures she performed before Sir Hans Sloane, at the Grecian Coffee-house; (where she came once a week from Epsom, in her chariot drawn by four horses) viz. , a man of War dour -street, whose back had been broke nine
years, and stuck out two inches; a niece of Sir Hans Sloane in the like condition ; and a gentleman who went with one shoe-heel six inches high, having been lame twenty years of his hip and knee, whom she set straight, and brought his leg down even with the other.
george i! . ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 75
" In physics, as well as in fashions, we find,
" The newest has always the run with mankind :
" Forgot is the bustle 'bout Taylor and Ward;
" Now Mapp's all the cry, and her fame's on record.
Derry down, &c.
" Dame nature has given her a doctor's degree,
" She gets all the patients, and pockets the fee ;
" So if you don't instantly prove it a cheat,
" She'll loll in her chariot whilst you walk the street.
Derry down," &c.
October 19, 1736, London Daily Post. —" Mrs. Mapp being present at the acting of the Wife's Relief, concurred in the universal applause of a crowded audience. This play was advertised by the desire of Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter, from Epsom. "
October 21st, 1736. —" On Saturday evening there was such a concourse of people at the Theatre Royal, in Lincoln s-inn-Jie Ids, to see the famous Mrs. Mapp, that several gentlemen and ladies were obliged to
return for want of room. The confusion at going out was so great, that several gentlemen and ladies had their pockets picked, and many of the latter lost their fans, &c. Yesterday she was elegantly entertained by Dr. Ward, at his house in Pall-mall. "
" On Saturday and yesterday Mrs. Mapp per formed several operations at the Grecian Coffee
76 MEMOIRS OF [oeorge il
house, particularly one upon a niece of Sir Hans Shane, to his great satisfaction and her credit. The patient had her shoulder-bone out for about nine years. "
" On Monday, Mrs. Mapp performed two extraordi nary cures ; one on a young lady of the Temple, who had several bones out from the knees to her toes, which she put in their proper places : and the other on a butcher, whose knee-pans were so misplaced that he walked with his knees knocking one against another. Yesterday she performed several other sur prising cures ; and about one set out for Epsom, and carried with her several crutches, which she calls tro phies of honour. ''
November 18, 1736. —" Mrs. Mapp, the famous bone-setter, has taken lodgings in Pall-Mall, near
Mr. Joshua Ward's," &c.
November 25, 1736.
" In this bright age three wonder-workers rise, " Whose operations puzzle all the wise ;
" To lame and blind, by dint of manual slight,
" Mapp gives the use of limbs, and Taylor sight. " But greater Ward," &c.
December 16, 1736. — " On Thursday, Polly
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 77
Peachum, Miss Warren, (that was sister to the fa mous Mrs. Mapp) was tried at the Old Bailey, for marrying Mr. Nicholas; her former husband, Mr. Somers, being living. "
December 22, 1737- —" Died last week, at her lodgings, near the Seven Dials, the much-talked-of Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter, so miserably poor, that the parish was obliged to bury her. "
george ii. ]
VOL. IV. m
MEMOIRS OF [georgr ii.
Stephen UfautomteU
Stephen Macdaniel was one of those detes table villains that no epithet is vile enough to brand their infamy. This fellow, in conjunction with John Berry, James Egan, and James Salmon, followed the profession of swearing away the lives of innocent unsuspecting persons, for the sake of the reward given by government, for the conviction of capital offenders : —the young, friendless, and destitute, were sure to become their prey ; and father and motherless lads, of from sixteen to eighteen years of age, were their most favourite game. This profitable merchandise was carried on for a series of years, undiscovered and indeed unsuspected. Macdaniel had kept a public- house, (the sign of the Angel) in Scroop's-court, facing St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, frequented mostly by thieves, thief-takers, women of abandoned character, and pick-pockets. It was during his re sidence in this house that he became acquainted with the thief-taker Berry, and shortly after adopted the
Stephen Macdaniel,. (Thief Taker. )
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 79
same profession ; and, when thieves sufficient could not be found to answer the purpose of these in dustrious gentlemen, rather than be idle, they fur nished a few thieves of their own manufacturing.
Two lads, named Ellis and Kelly, were unfortunate enough to be seduced, and drawn into the toils of the thief-takers, by a kind of underling, or scout, they
called Thomas Blee. This Blee pre vailed on the two boys to accompany him on a scheme he pretended of stealing linen ; but this was merely a device to lead the lads to an adventure, already planned to entrap them, and ensure the re ward. James Salmon, a breeches-maker, one of the confederates, was the person fixed upon to be robbed ; and the place appointed was between New-cross turnpike and Deptford, to entitle them to an addi tional reward offered by that parish. Every thing succeeded agreeable to the plan proposed ; Salmon was met on the road by Blee, Ellis, and Kelly, and robbed of a bundle containing a pair of leather-bree ches, and from his waistcoat-pocket a clasp-knife, a tobacco-box, two shillings and sixpence, and a
pocket-piece. Blee now takes the lads with him into the Borough, and safely lodges them in Kent- street ; and the following morning leads them to the M2
georgb ii. ]
employed,
80 MEMOIRS OF [george ».
Spread-eagle public-house, where he had agreed with Macdaniel, Berry, Salmon, and Egan, to meet and take them : first, however, taking care to secure his own retreat. It happened that Mr. Joseph Cox, chief-constable of the lower half-hundred of Black- heath, received information that a breeches-maker had been robbed in the parish of Deptford, by three
footpads, and that two of them were taken by Macdaniel and others, and sent to Maidstone-gaol ; and that the third person concerned in this robbery was Tom Blee, who had frequently been seen in
company with Macdaniel.
Mr. Cox, with laudable anxiety for Blee's apprehen
sion, resolved to proceed in search of him himself, and, after two or three days looking about, he very fortunately, with the help of a constable, took him into custody, very early in the morning of the 9th of August, 1754, in Newgate-street. He conveyed him directly to the water-side, in order to carry him to Greenwich ; when, as soon as he had got him into the boat, he said he would discover all he knew
concerning the robbery of the breeches-maker. Mr. Cox and the constable advised him not to divulge any thing in presence of the waterman, but reserve what he had to say until he went before a magistrate ;
george ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 81
when, being taken to Justice Bell, at Greenwich, he made a full and clear confession of the whole nefa rious transaction, from the beginning to the end.
As soon as the confession of Blee was taken and sworn to, Mr. Cox was advised to attend the trial of Ellis and Kelly, and not to discover he had Blee in custody till after the trial. Mr. Cox accordingly went to Maidstone, taking Blee with him still in custody, and arriving there in the night, stopt short of the town, leaving him in safe keeping, while he attended the trial the following day; but nobody knew that Blee was in custody, or so near the town. Henry Serjeant, a constable of Deptford parish,
to conduct Ellis and Kelly to Maid- stone-gaol, and, while on the road, they told him Tom Blee was concerned with them in the robbery, where he lived, and what sort of clothes he wore ;
this he took down in writing, and shewed it to Justice Bell on his return from Maidstone, who de sired him to go and take him. Serjeant replied, he would give directions to a thief-catcher, and applied to one Ralph Mitchell ; but he refusing to act in Mr. Cox was informed of the circumstance, and lost no time in accomplishing Blee's apprehension. On the trial of the two lads, Ellis and Kelly, Macdanjel,
was employed
it,
82 MEMOIRS OP fGEORGE H.
Salmon, and Egan, severally gave evidence, but Berry did not appear in Court. The circumstance of the robbery being clearly proved, and the prisoners not being able to deny the leading facts, were found guilty. But immediately after the trial, the whole gang of blood-money gentry was taken into custody, by virtue of a warrant sent purposely down to Maid stone, by the magistrate of Greenwich, Colonel Bell, who had kept the confession of Blee, and his deten tion in custody, a secret.
At the following Old Bailey sessions, Macdaniel, Berry, Egan, and Salmon, were indicted as acces saries, before the felony was committed, in feloni ously and maliciously abetting, assisting, counselling, hireing, and commanding Peter Kelly and John Ellis to commit a robbery on the highway. There was a second count in the indictment, as an offence
at common law.
Joseph Cox produced a copy of the record of the
conviction of Peter Kelly and John Ellis, and swore he had it of Mr. Knapp's clerk, with whom he ex amined it with the record, the purport of which is, " That Peter Kelly and John Ellis were tried the 13th of August, 17,54, at Maidstone assizes, before
Sir Dudley Rider, Knt. and Sir Michael Foster, Knt.
GEORGE ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 83
for the said robbery on the defendant Salmon, and
found guilty. "
Thomas Blee being sworn, developed the whole
of the abominable transaction, and being corrobo rated by several other witnesses, in respect of the close connection and subsequent conduct of the defendants, the jury found the whole four guilty of all the facts charged in the indictment; but, whether the facts charged were within the 4th and 5th statutes of Philip and Mary they knew not, and therefore prayed the assistance of the Court, so it was made special.
This. special verdict was afterwards argued by counsel before the twelve judges, at Serjeants'-inn- hall, in Chancery-lane. Their lordships being of opinion, that the facts charged were not within the statutes of the 4th and 5th of Philip and Mary, and the 3d and 4th of William and Mary ; an order was given that they should be indicted for a conspi racy, in which the facts with which the prisoners were charged might be more clearly explained ; and they to receive such punishment as might be inflicted on them by law.
Accordingly, February 28, 1755, they were again arraigned at the sessions at the Old Bailey, in the
84 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
mayoralty of Slingsby Bethel, Esq. , upon an indict ment for combining and conspiring together, that one Thomas Blee should procure two persons, namely, Peter Kelly, and John Ellis, to go to Deptford in Kent, and to take divers goods and money from the person of James Salmon, on the king's highway, who should be waiting there for that purpose ; with intent that they should cause the said two persons to be apprehended, and convicted for robbing the said
Salmon on the king's highway, and so unjustly and wickedly procure to themselves the rewards men tioned in the act of parliament, proclamation, and other parochial rewards, for the apprehending of high waymen, July 24, 1754.
Tom Blee was the chief witness against the pri soners in this, as he was upon the former trial ; and the evidence he gave upon both was to the same purport, with this addition, that Berry told him, that
when he, Kelly, and Ellis, robbed Salmon on the Deptford-road, he, Berry, lay behind the four mile stone, and saw the robbery committed.
The prisoners having nothing material to say in their defence, the jury found them guilty. The sentence pronounced against them by the Court was, to be imprisoned in Newgate for the term of seven years ;
oeorge ii. ]
and, in that time, to be each of them set in the pillory twice, in manner following; Macdaniel and Berry in Holborn, near Hatton-garden ; Egan, or
Gahagan,
HEMARKABLE PERSONS. 8&
and Salmon in the middle of Smithfield. Afterwards, Macdaniel and Berry at the end of King- street, Cheapside ; and Gahagan and Salmon again
in Fleet-street, near Fetter-lane ; and, at the end of that time, to find sureties for their good behaviour for three years, and to pay a fine of one mark each.
Pursuant to their sentence, Macdaniel and Berry,
on the 5th of March, stood in the pillory in Holborn,
near Hatton-garden, and were so severely handled by the populace, that it was with the utmost difficulty that one of the sheriffs and the keeper of Newgate, who stood in a balcony just by, prevented their being utterly destroyed ; and so great was the mob, that the peace-officers found it impossible to protect the
prisoners from its fury.
March 8th. — Egan, or Gahagan, and Salmon stood
in the pillory in the middle of Smithfield rounds; they were instantly assaulted with showers of oyster- shells, stones, &c. and had not stood above half-an- hour before Gahagan was struck dead, (supposed by a marble, or stone shot from a cross-bow, which en tered his forehead,) and Salmon so dangerously
VOL. IV. N
86 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
wounded in the head, that it was thought impossible he could recover. Thus, though the law could not find a punishment adequate to the horrid nature of their crimes, yet they met with their deserts from the
rage of the people.
Four gentlemen of the same profession were, a
short time since, capitally convicted for similar of fences, viz. Vaughan, Ben Johnson, Brock, and Pelham ; and, notwithstanding the public indignation against these miscreants was raised to the highest pitch, they found means to escape the hands of jus tice, without undergoing the slightest punishment.
This appeared more extraordinary, when compared with the fate of the unfortunate Eliza Fenning.
— ******.
S Mc. LEAN ESQ? ( The Ladies Hero. )
of. orgk ii. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 87
Same* Jftacleatte.
James Macleane was a native of Monahan, in the north of Ireland, where his father, who was de scended from a very honorable family in the High lands of Scotland, had settled. Being a younger son, he was bred up a divine of the church of Scot
land ; and, going over to Ireland, became preacher to a dissenting congregation at Monahan, where he was universally esteemed as a gentleman of
probity, piety, and humanity. He married into a reputable family in those parts, and left only two sons, the eldest of which was brought up to the
church ; and who, at the time ofhis brother's misfor tune, was pastor of a Protestant congregation at the Hague, and living in the highest esteem and respect.
The second son, the subject of this article, had received a very decent education, being designed for some mercantile employment so soon as he should be of age proper to place him in a counting-house ;
but, unfortunately, his father dying before he was quite eighteen, and what little patrimony he was n 'i
88 MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
entitled to coming under his own management, was soon squandered, without a reflection on his future settlement in life.
Mr. Macleane's property being entirely exhausted, his mother's friends, who were the only relations he had in Ireland, quarrelled with him for his extrava gance; and refused him either advice, shelter, or sub sistence. He then applied to them for the means of fitting him out for sea, which being refused, he was under the necessity of hiring himself as servant to a Mr. Howard, then on his way to England. With this gentleman he continued some time; but keeping company with the lowest of his countrymen, he con tracted habits which displeased his master.
They consequently separated ; and he returned to Ireland,
once more to solicit his friends to do something for him suitable to his birth and expectations ; but. either his manners or their circumstances not agreeing, they refused to see him, or to afford him any countenance or support. On this disappointment he applied to his brother at the Hague, from whom he frequently received remittances, and advice that might have been of great service to him. But the money soon being dissipated, he was once more under the necessity of seeking employment in a gentleman's service ; and
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 89
was fortunately received into that of a Colonel F n, who had some knowledge of his father's family. With this gentleman he lived a few years as butler; but, at last, was detected in some pilfering embezzle ments in his trust, and was dismissed without a cha racter. He remained some time out of place, and had thoughts of going over to serve in the Irish brigade in the French service; but understanding, that unless he conformed to the Popish religion his encouragement would be trifling, he conscientiously relinquished the project.
george ii. ]
about this time, that his late master, Colonel F n, intended shortly to visit England, and presuming on that gentleman's known humanity,
he addressed him in as pathetic terms as he could devise, on the necessity of his circumstances, which so wrought on his feelings, that he was once more taken into his service, and entrusted with the care of his baggage to London, with an allowance of one shilling a day for subsistence; though he had only presumed to request his passage to England. Soon after his arrival in town, he had the audacity to request the loan of a sum of money from his master, to purchase a pair of colours, desirous of
equipping himself on the expedition of a fortune
Learning,
90 MEMOIRS OF [georc. e n.
hunter being prepossessed with the perfections of his person, which he had the vanity to think only re quired dress to engage some lady to raise him from his present obscurity. Foiled in this application to the colonel for money, he enlisted himself in Lord Albemarle's troop of horse-guards, but again he was at a loss for money, and as ten guineas was all he required, his liberal master generously supplied him.
The colonel, at his importunity, was prevailed upon to lodge the money in the hands of an officer belong ing to the troop, with which Macleane seemed satis
fied : but after his pass and other credentials for joining the troop, then in Flanders, were made out, his inclination for a military life vanished ; and he enlisted himself into the service of the fair sex, with many of whom, at this time, he became acquainted.
Through the liberality of the ladies, he procured a contribution of fifty pounds, under pretence of ship ping himself for the West-Indies ; but, being once pos sessed of the cash, and his mind changing as to travel ing, he laid it out in fine clothes, and made suit to the
daughter of Mr. Macglegno, a dealer in horses, with whom he was so lucky as to succeed, and with her received about 5001. as a marriage-port ion.
george ir. ]
With this sum he set up a grocer and chandler's shop, in Wellbeck-street, near Cavendish-square; and while his wife lived he kept even with the world, and maintained his family in decency, though with much difficulty ; for he was more the man of pleasure than
of business. Those who knew him at that generally spoke of him as a harmless inoffensive man; but were often surprised at his way of life, and apt to suggest strange things of him ; though nothing wicked or notorious was laid to his charge while he lived in that neighbourhood.
His wife died about three years after their marriage, leaving him two daughters, of which her mother took the charge, as she afterwards did of the one that sur vived him. Deprived of his wife, who had managed all the affairs of the shop and business, he was too
much addicted to idleness and pleasure to confine himself to the occupation of a grocer ; so sold off all his goods, and with the remains of his effects, which he had not augmented by trade, he once more com
menced gentleman fortune-hunter.
He was scarce six months embarked in this project,
before he had, by folly and extravagance, exhausted all that remained of his late wife's fortune ; and was at a loss how to raise any more to supply present neces
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 91
time,
92 MEMOIRS OF [georqe h.
sities, much less to support the figure he made. It was grievous to him to descend again from the fine gentleman to the menial servant, and he soon grew melancholy on the dreadful prospect of being obliged to dispose of his clothes and equipage for mere bread. He was in this gloomy disposition, when he received a visit from a countryman of his, Plunket, an apo thecary, who, in a familiar way, asked the cause of his melancholy ; on which the other stated his real circumstances, yet he was by no means quite a
stranger to them before. To which Plunket replied, " I thought Macleane had spirit and resolution ; with some knowledge of the world, a brave man cannot want; he has a right to live, and need not want the conveniences of life; while the dull, plodding, busy knaves carry cash in their pockets we must draw upon them to supply our wants ; there need only impu dence, and getting the better of a few idle scruples ; courage is scarcely necessary, all we have to deal with are such mere poltroons. " This discourse was
soon understood by Macleane, who, though at first
shocked at the bare mention of yet the necessity
his pride and indolence suggested so strongly, that he yielded to the temptation and from that time, which might be about eight months after his wife's death,
;
it,
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 93
entered into a particular intimacy with Plunket, agreed to run all risks together, and, present or ab sent at any enterprise, to share all profits ; of which, until the fatal discovery, they kept a fair and regular account.
Though Macleane believed himself possessed of as much courage as any man, yet, on his first attempt (nor could even long practice obdurate,) he felt every symptom of fear and cowardice, aggravated by the stings of conscience, which vice could not harden. However, the success of the first enterprise (on a grazier coming from Smithfield-market, from whom, on Hounslow-heath, they took above 60/. ) encou raged him to stifle the checks of conscience, and to
persevere in a way which, though it appeared to him wicked, yet was found so lucrative. In this transac tion he was no more than passive, stood by without speaking a word, or so much as drawing his pistols, but inwardly in greater agony than the man that was robbed ; so that if any resistance had been made, he would certainly have taken the first hint of trusting to his heels.
The next robbery they committed was on a coach in the road from St. Albans. By agreement, Macleane was to stop the coachman, and present his pistol on
VOL. IV. O
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94 MEMOIRS OF [george it
one side, while Plunket did the same on the other. But though he rode frequently up with intention to give the word, yet his heart failed him; and Plunket, lest they should miss the booty, did it himself; and it
was with some faultering Macleane demanded their money after the coach was stopt, and no danger seemed near. However, he grew more resolute, and, to redeem his credit with Plunket, who began to rally him on his pusillanimity, he once by himself robbed a gentleman in Hyde-park, on horseback, of his watch and money; and was the acting man in the robbery of Horatio Walpole, which indeed he owned, and declared the firing of the pistol was accidental.
He reigned long and successfully, and was never but once afraid of discovery ; to avoid which, he went over to Holland, till the storm was blown over ; pre tending a friendly visit to his brother, to. whom. he gave a feigned account of the manner of his living; and was by him introduced to many very genteel assemblies, and where, it was said, some purses and gold watches were lost ; which, since Macleane's con finement, suspicion has fixed the theft on him, though at the time no such thing was thought of.
By such means, however, he supplied all the extra vagance of his disposition ; yet he never once thought
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PERSONS. 95
of his daughter, and seldom visited his mother-in-law,
fearing she might make inquiries respecting his way of living, and residence, which he ever carefully concealed from her knowledge; indeed, he was con tinually shifting his lodgings, to avoid impertinent questions from other persons.
Justice at length overtook him, for having robbed the Salisbury coach, and Lord Eglington in his car riage, on the same morning, June 26, 1730, when
taking from the former a cloak-bag, containing wearing-apparel, &c. the property of a passenger, named Higden, he had the imprudence to strip the lace from off the clothes, and to sell them to a sales man, to whom he had given directions where he might call on him to view them, although at the very time they were particularly advertised. This circum stance led to his apprehension ; and, upon his first examination, he confessed to have committed the robbery in company with William Plunket, who had absconded ; though upon his trial he retracted his con fession, but was found guilty on the clearest evidence.
James Macleane, aged 26, was in his person of a middle size, well limbed, of a sandy complexion, broad open countenance, and pitted with the small pox ; but, though he had been called the gentleman
o2
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highwayman, and in his dress and equipage affected the fine gentleman, yet to a man acquainted with
good-breeding, and can distinguish it from impudence and affectation, there was very little in his address or behaviour that could entitle him to that character.
He was so much in favor with the fair sex, that many presented him with money while confined in the Gate-house ; and the notice taken of him by some persons of distinction, gave him hopes of life after conviction, which he cherished until the warrant arrived for his execution. He was hung at Tyburn, 1750.
SAMUEL. MY IMIHKSOX .
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REMARKABLE PERSONS. 97
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Samuel
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Samuel M'Pherson was a man possessing, in the highest degree, prejudices in favor of his national character, custom, and manners; which impelled him, in company with many of his fellow-soldiers and
to the desperate attempt of reaching their native Highlands from the vicinity of London, through a country at that period strongly armed, and
prejudiced against the meditated plans of invasion from a Popish Pretender.
In the reign of King George the First, the rebellion revived the fame of the Highlanders; and it is well recorded how deeply they were engaged on both sides ; but on the one part, many were found of the Scots' nation to join the standard of rebellion; an equal por
tion of the same country were found, at least, to assemble round that of the royal cause. When these disturbances subsided, and the whole country was in
state of uninterrupted peace, sudden resolution was taken to put an end to the celebrity and power of
countrymen,
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if,
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the Highland clans, by disarming them absolutely ; and it was at first proposed to strip them of their clothing, and prevent them going in their ordinary dress. This was in the year 1725, and the motion for bringing this bill into parliament, which was entitled, " For more effectually disarming the High landers in that part of Great Britain called Scotland ; and for the better securing the peace and quiet of that part of the kingdom," was made by a general-officer, and seconded by Mr. Duncan Forbes.
