| Reference Number | t17931030-32 |
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| Verdict | Not Guilty |
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| Actions | Cite this text Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 04 October 2023), October 1793, trial of ELIZABETH MORLEY (t17931030-32). | Print-friendly version | Report an error |
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704. ELIZABETH MORLEY was indicted for stealing, on the 8th of October , three linen shirts, value 5 s. a damask table cloth, value 1 s. 6 d. a damask napkin, value 1 s. a cotton gown, value 9 d. a marseilles petticoat, value 3 s. a pair of dimity pockets, value 6 d. a linen shift, value 2 s. the goods of Mabel Charlton .
I am a widow ; I live at No. 15, Brownlow-street, just by St. Giles's , pretty near by the workhouse; I am a lodger there, all the articles in the indictment were in the kitchen.
Q. Did you see the prisoner take them? - Yes, she took them between six and seven on Tuesday night that I lost them, and I went to the pawnbroker's.
Q. Do you mean to say that you see her take them? - I did not see her take them out; it was the 8th of October; I see them again the next day, the 9th, at Mr. Wooden's, a pawnbroker, I found nothing at the pawnbroker's but this petticoat; I found the other things at Mrs. Morley's house, I saw there a table cloth and a shirt.
Q. How did you know it was her house? - The officers went to search her house; she did not send the petticoat to pawn herself, she sent another person, and they stopped her, and the woman took them to Mrs. Morley's house.
Mr. Knowlys. I believe whoever stole these things got them by force, they broke off a padlock? - No, they did not, the padlock was not broke at all.
Q. Oh, the staple was taken off? - No, they wrenched open the door at the bottom.
Q. Then it was more likely to be done by a man than a woman?
Court. Was you out or at home at the time the things were taken away? - I was at home.
Q. Did you hear the alarm at the door? - No.
I am a married woman; I washed at Mrs. Charlton's that day, when I went up to tea I believe it was six o'clock, I locked the kitchen door, when I came down I believe it was near seven, the door was wrenched out at the bottom and the property gone.
Q. Were all the things in the indictment missing? - Yes.
Q. Did you recover any of them at Bow-street? - I saw the petticoat and table cloth at Bow-street.
Q. Is it a marseilles petticoat? - It is a mock marseilles.
Q. Do you ever hear women call it a marseilles petticoat? - No.
Q. Do not women call it so in general? - No, they do not.
Q. Is it a damask table cloth? - I don't know.
Q. Have you seen any thing else? - Yes, but I don't know whether they are Mrs. Charlton's or no.
I sent some things to be washed by Mrs. Charlton, Mrs. Charlton fetched them from my house, some of the things in the indictment; I lost two shirts, one of my husband's shirts, a small damask table cloth, a damask napkin, a callico bed gown, it is cotton, a mock marseilles petticoat, and a pair of dimity pockets; I should know them again if I was to see them.
I go out a washing; I carried the petticoat to the pawnbroker's for Mrs. Morley.
Q. Did you carry any thing else? - I did not.
Court. Then that is out of the question now.
I am a servant to a pawnbroker, there was a petticoat pledged with me.
On Wednesday the 9th of October, between eight and nine in the evening, I was sent for to Mr. Wooden's, the pawnbroker, to take Mrs. Tollin into custody for a coat that she had brought there to pawn, and I went with her to Mrs. Morley's house, in King-street, Drury-lane; Mrs. Morley was not at home at first, she came in a few minutes afterwards.
Q. Who was it you first took into custody? - I took Tollin first, and I went with her to Mrs. Morley's house; the prisoner she was not at home, she came in about two or three minutes afterwards; when Mrs. Morley came in Mrs. Tollin said, I am stopped with this petticoat, Mrs. Morley said I sent her to pawn it for me; then I asked her if she had any objection for the prosecutrix to see if there were any other things of her's in the house, she said no, she immediately pulled out her keys and opened her drawers, and pulled out a shirt and this napkin, or small table cloth, and Mrs. Hawkes said they were her's.
Q. Who was present at this time? - Mrs. Hawkes and Mrs. Charlton, and Tollin was there.
Mr. Knowlys. This woman is a married woman? - Yes, the husband was in the house at the time, and her two sons, they have kept a house there this seven years; I knew the house directly as Tollin mentioned it.
Q. I believe you told Mrs. Morley, I have no search warrant, will you let me search? - It was so.
Q. What is her husband? - Her husband is a cabinet maker, he used to live in Hog-lane.
Not GUILTY .
Tried by the second Middlesex Jury before Mr. RECORDER.