The Proceedings of the Old Bailey

 

1437.   ELIZA DILLING , alias DILLON, alias BRIDGET HORGAN , was indicted for stealing, on the 2d of September , from the person of   Henry Browning , one canvas bag, value 1 d.; ten 10 l.; twenty 5 l.; two 1 l.; one 1 l. 1 s. promissory notes; ten 10 l.; twenty 5 l.; two 1 l.; and one 1 l. 1 s. bills of exchange , his property.

SECOND COUNT, stating them to be stamped papers.

THIRD COUNT, for stealing thirty-three pieces of paper, duly stamped as required by the statute in that case made and provided, value 2 l. 3 s. 9 d., the property of   Henry Browning .

  HENRY BROWNING . I live at Cambridge. On the morning of the 2d of September, between three and four o'clock, I went into a public-house at the corner of Cow-lane, Smithfield - the business was just beginning. I then had 203 l. 1 s. in notes - there were ten 10 l. and twenty 5 l. Cambridge Bank; two 1 l. Cambridge Old Bank, and a guinea note of the Newmarket Bank.

Q. Have you ever seen the prisoner before - A. She was standing in the public-house when I went in. I had not been in more than two minutes before she accosted me, and asked for something to drink. I found from her talk that she was Irish - I refused to give her any, telling her she had better ask her countryman, Captain O'Connor, who was with me - I believe he gave her a glass, if not two; then he and I, and Mr. Warburton, left the house together. Bryan was sitting on a seat behind the prisoner, among the drovers of the market - she appeared to be a woman of the town. The prisoner followed us out; it was getting daylight. We had got about twenty yards down  Cow-lane , and were  going towards the White Horse, Fetter-lane - I was on the outside of them. The prisoner asked me to go home with her - I would not. I felt her feeling about my person - my notes were in a canvas purse in my left-hand breeches-pocket. She took me up a small court on the right side of the lane; my companions

stopped at the end of the court. We stopped there not more than five minutes.

Q. What passed between you - A. She felt about my person several times. We came all the way down Cow-lane together, and were together about ten minutes after we left the house. She left me at the bottom of Holborn-hill; I there met a person whom I knew, got into conversation with him, and she disappeared. I saw no more of her.

Q. When did you miss your notes - A. In about half an hour after. I walked back with the person to Cow-lane again, without suspecting any thing. I had been in communication with nobody but that person and the prisoner, until I missed them.

Q. In what way had you known that person - A. I had met him before. I am positive I had my notes when I was in the public-house. I was perfectly sober.

Cross-examined by MR. ALLEY. Q. You was not acquainted with her before - A. Never till that morning. I am a married man. I met no other woman but her - there was nobody in company with her at the time.

Q. I understand you went to see the fair proclaimed - A. I intended to see it. I did not take the numbers of the notes.

Q. Had you been drinking - A. No, I had not taken a bottle of wine from dinner-time till then. I had not been to bed, I had been to Astley's.

Q. Had you been in a little row before this - A. There was a dispute between two gentlemen and a coachman two hours before. We went in a coach from the White Horse - two other gentlemen came in another coach. The other coachman wanted 6 s., there was a scuffle between them; the gentleman was taken into custody.

Q. Did you not pretend that you was a special constable, and would take care of the man; then take him to the end of the street and let him go - A. No, I did not.

Q. Did not the man escape - A. No.

Q. Did you go to the watch-house - A. They took Mr. Candler to the watch-house. He resisted, and we persuaded him to go.

Q. The notes made a large bundle - A. Yes; they were in my left-hand breeches pocket; thirty were in a roll, and the other three by the side of them - they were all in the bag, and the bag rolled round. I did not feel them taken from me.

Q. Where were you and she together - A. I went into a little court on the right-hand side of Cow-lane, as you go to Fleet-market. She followed me out of the house.

Q. You and she separated from them - A. Yes, they stood at the end of the court. I met no other girls before I missed my money. The bag was never found.

Q. You advertised the property as lost - A. Yes. It is impossible that I could have dropped it.

COURT. Q. Are you sure the bundle of notes were in your pocket when you entered the public-house - A. It was, my Lord. The dispute with the coachman was two hours before that.

Q. Are you sure it was in your pocket when you left the public-house - A. Nobody touched me in the public-house.

Q. Did the prisoner, when she left you, ask for any money - A. No. She left without taking leave of me.

Q. Did you perceive her feel about your person after you left the court - A. No, my Lord.

  GEORGE WARBEUTON . On the 2d of September last, at night, I went to Smithfield with the prosecutor; there was a row in the street about a hackney-coach. I did not hear him represent himself as a special constable. I went to the public-house in Cow-lane with him, and remained there about ten minutes; I observed the prisoner there, and am sure of her person;   Hannah Bryant was there also. I, the prosecutor, and O'Connor all three came away together. I saw the prisoner take hold of Mr. Browning's arm in Cow-lane, we went on. I saw them turn up a passage by themselves. The prosecutor was sober.

Cross-examined. Q. Had you been with him all the evening - A. I met him after he came from Astley's. I do not recollect whether I dined him with that day; we did not sup together.

Q. After you left Astley's, where did you go - A. To the White Horse, and from thence to Smithfield. The prosecutor was not at all drunk. We talked with no girls; we went in a coach to the fair.

 Q. What had you to drink - A. I had nothing; O'Connor gave the prisoner something to drink. I never saw the prosecutor's money.

Q. Do you mean to persist in saying, he did not tell the watchman he would take care of Candler, and then let him escape - A. I did not hear him.

COURT. Q. Did the prisoner come out of the house with Browning - A. She followed him out, and came up to him immediately.

Q. How far is the passage from the public-house - A. Perhaps fifty yards. We stopped a few minutes for the prosecutor, and then went away; he did not overtake us.

HANNAH EAGLETON. I have gone by the name of Bryant and Manley. I and a man named Manley lived at No. 4, Pitt's-place, Drury-lane - the prisoner also lived there with her daughter, who is fifteen or sixteen years old. I have known the prisoner three or four months.

Q. On the evening of the 2d of September did you and she go out together - A. We went to see Lady Holland's mob; we were about there until two or three o'clock in the morning, then went to a public-house at the top of Cow-lane, and saw Mr. Browning there with three or four more friends, and a gentleman with one arm.

MR. BROWNING. Captain O'Connor has but one arm.

  HANNAH EAGLETON (in contination). The prisoner asked the prosecutor to treat her, he referred her to the Captain. They staid no great while; she followed them out - I came out directly after her, and followed; she went up the first turning on the right in Cow-lane with Mr. Browning.

Q. Before the prisoner went with him did she say any thing to you - A. She desired me to stay at the top of the court till she came back - I staid there for twenty minutes or half an hour; she came out of the court then, and the gentleman went over the road. She said,

"I have picked his pocket!" and shewed me a bundle in a bag, and two half-crowns. She said,

"You b - g - r, if you don't run we shall both be hung!" We ran through courts and places until daylight; we went to the bottom of Holborn, by the church, and she there stripped the bag of the notes, put them into her pocket, and threw the bag down in the

street in Shoe-lane. She shewed me one of the notes in particular, it was a Newmarket guinea note, with the number torn off at the bottom - I told her it was of no use. She said she had plenty more in her possession, enough to support us for five weeks.

Q. Where did you then go - A. We walked about; it rained very hard; we went about till near six o'clock, and then went to a wine vaults at the end of Gray's Inn-lane, in Holborn; I should know the landlord if I saw him; we went in with a man whom I do not know - he was not in our company, he only went in at the same time. The landlord served us; the prisoner said she wished to pay him 9 s. or 10 s. which she owed him. The stranger treated me with a glass of liquor, and she had something to drink. I did not see the money she paid the landlord.

Q. From the time your left your house what had you to drink -  A. Not above two glasses of spirits. We then went to a public-house in Drury-lane, and had two or three glasses each there to drink; then the man that I lived with found me there, and took me home.

Cross-examined. Q. You told the Lord Mayor that man was your husband - A. I acknowledge him as my husband.

Q. Do you know Mr. Milstone, in Berkshire - A. No. I never went by that name. I was once married.

Q. What was the name of the man who married you - A. Perju; he left me. I have now come from Clerkenwell prison.

Q. What were you there for - A. For a few words. I am not there on a charge of felony.

Q. On a charge of attempting to murder a man; for cutting and stabbing, and feloniously wounding a man - A. No, the man was tipsy, and the knife fell out of his hand. He does not charge me with doing it. I have been in custody a month; I was let out on bail. I was only examined once.

Q. You was not committed to prison for robbing the prosecutor - A. No, I was not taken into custody for that, neither was I charged with aiding and assisting in robbing him. I go by the name of   Bryant Manley .

Q. The man you live with was not with you - A. No; I went out unknown to him.

Q. You staid half an hour or twenty minutes at the top of the court, waiting for the prisoner - A. Yes. I did not rob the prosecutor.

Q. How came she to tell you to run, or you would both be hung - A. She said if we were both caught together, we should. She said she took the two half-crowns from him.

Q. Can you read - Q. Yes.

Q. She shewed you the notes, and among them you saw a Newmarket note - A. Yes; after that. She shewed me the whole of the notes in Shoe-lane.

Q. Did you not swear that in that ane you saw a Newmarket guinea note - A. I did see it in Shoe-lane.

Q. Did she give it you to look at - A. I had it in my hand.

Q. Did you read it - A. Yes.

Q. On your oath, did you not say to the magistrate that you never read it - A. I did not; I read it several days afterwards, for I saw it in her possession several days afterwards.

Q. Did you not tell the magistrate, that the first time you saw the Newmarket note was at her own place, in the presence of her daughter - A. No.

Q. What reward was offered - A. I do not know. I did not give this information for the sake of the reward.

Q. What is the reward - A. Fifty pounds, I believe; but I did not lay the information; I never saw the handbills. I did not know there was a reward, until after I was taken. A woman laid the information. I told the officer the truth - I had mentioned it before. I did not know of the reward until she was taken to Guildhall. I was taken to Hatton-garden twice with her before that, about it. I was never out with her before that night.

MR. BOLLAND. Q. Before you was taken up about killing a man unknown, had you been before the magistrate about the prisoner - A. Yes, Manley is the man I am charged with stabbing; he is here.

COURT. Q. How far did they go together after they came out of the court - A. He went off down the lane as he came out - the prisoner did not follow him any further.

HENRY BROWNING re-examined. Q. When you came out of the court, where did you first miss her - A. Near the end of Fleet-market.

JAMES BRYANT MANLEY. I live at No. 4, Pitt's-place, Drury-lane; the prisoner lived in the same house, in the one pair front room.

Q. Do you remember the morning of the 3d of September - A. Yes, I saw my wife and the prisoner together at the Black Dog, public-house, Drury-lane, between eight and nine o'clock in the morning - in my opinion they were both drunk. The prisoner's daughter lived with her.

Q. Did her daughter say any thing to you in the presence of the prisoner - A. Yes, her daughter shewed me a Newmarket guinea note. I said it was a bad one, because there was no number on it - it was torn where the number should be. The prisoner told me to hold my noise, for she had plenty more - this was the same day. I saw it again next day.

Cross-examined. Q. That was the day they were drunk - A. Yes, I do not exactly know what time I got up that morning. To the best of my opinion I went to look for her at the public-house between eight and nine o'clock.

Q. On your oath, did she not come home by herself - A. She did not, I fetched her home, and told her she ought to be house at work - she went home.

Q. Where did you see the Newmarket note - A. The first day I saw it in her daughter's hand in my room, next day I saw it in the prisoner's room, in her daughter's hand - it was the same that I had seen before,; to the best of my opinion it was torn in the same place - one guinea was written on it. It was torn at the corner.

  JOSEPH FIRTH . I keep a wine vaults, the sign of the George, at the end of Middle-row, opposite Gray's Inn-lane; I have known the prisoner five or seven years - she frequented my house. In September last she owed me some money. On the 3d of September, near seven o'clock, in the morning, she came with the witness, Eagleton, and a man; she had two or three glasses of liquor - Eagleton had a glass of liquor, which the man treated her with. The prisoner owed me 10 s. or 11 s.; she gave me a Cambridge 1 l. Bank note, Mortlock's Bank. I saw a roll of notes in her possession, and one was loose,

which was similar to the one she gave me. The roll was bulky.

  JAMES WOOD . I am cashier in Messrs. Jones, Loyd, and Co's. banking-house, Lothbury; Mortlock, of Cambridge, banks at our house. On the 14th of September, 130 l. of their notes were brought to our house. I refer to my book, there were ten 5 l. and eight 10 l. notes. I gave forty 1 l. notes, Nos. 73656 and 73695 were among them, dated August 17, 1819. I also gave four 10 l. notes, Nos. 17472 to 17475, dated August 23, 1819, and one 50 l., No. 4866, dated August 20, 1819.

THOMAS LUCAS, JUN. I transact business for my father, who is a stock-broker. On Tuesday, the 14th of September, I was in the Rotunda, the porter called me to the prisoner - I am sure she is the person; a man was with her. She said she wanted to put 100 l. in the Bank - I asked her what stock? she did not appear to understand the business, and left me in a great hurry - she came back in about five minutes, and said she would do it. I told her 104 l. would buy 100 l. 5 per cent.; she consented. I bought of   James Hawtic ; the amount was 104 l. 5 s. and 2 s. 6 d. commission.

Q. Who paid you for it - A. I do not know, either me or my brother took the money; I gave her the stock receipt, and she went away. I saw the receipt in the possession of Read on the Saturday after.

A. What name did she tell you to enter it in - A. Horgan Bridget; the person who was with her said,

"That is not your name," and she said, No, it was   Bridget Horgan . I am sure she is the person.

  MICHAEL LUCAS . I am brother to the last witness. On the 14th of September I was with him; the prisoner said her name was Horgan Bridget - I am sure she is the person. To the best of my recollection, the man who was with her took the notes from the prisoner's handkerchief, counted them out, put them on the desk, and I took them. I paid the notes to Edward Cuell, with other notes, which were very trifling. I remember there was a 50 l. note, and some 10 l. among the notes, but how many I cannot tell.

  EDWARD CUELL . I am clerk to Mr. Hawtie. I received some notes from the last witness - about 120 l. I gave them to Mr. Toms, who is Mr. Hawtie's partner. I wrote Lucas on them.

MR.   JAMES TOMS . I remember Cuell paying me about 120 l. in notes, on the 14th of September - he wrote on them by my desire. I paid them into Ladbroke's.

  FRANCIS WHITE . I am clerk to Messrs. Ladbroke and Co. I find by my book that among other notes, No. 4866, dated August 20, 1819, 50 l. was paid in; there were twenty-six 10 l. notes, of which I do not know the numbers, but they were all pinned together and sent to the Bank. The 50 l. note was re-issued to a person for a draft drawn by T. and F. Raster.

  GEORGE DYER . I am a clerk in the Bank. I produce a 50 l. note, No. 4866, dated August 20, 1819; also four 10 l. Nos. 17472 to 17475, dated August 23, 1819. The four 10 l. notes were paid in by Ladbroke's on the 14th of September, pinned in a bundle with some others. The 50 l. note was brought in the same day by a person named Galley, of Austin Friars.

  EDWARD CUELL re-examined. My hand-writing is on all the notes. They are five of the notes that I received from Lucas.

  EDWARD READ . I am an officer of Hatton-garden. On the 18th of September I went to No. 4, Pitt's-place, apprehended the prisoner, and found two 1 l. Bank notes on her, Nos. 73687 and 73675, dated August 17, 1819. I produce them, also a Bank stock receipt for 100 l., which I found in a drawer in the front room on the first floor. I also found a quantity of new clothes, new gowns, and pieces of flannel; also two pair of silk stockings, all new. The gowns were not made up.

  WILLIAM SCOTT . I am the landlord of No. 4, Pitt's-place; the prisoner was my tenant - she had the one pair front room, furnished, at 6 s. per week. She came about the latter end of July.

Q. About the 3d of September, did you see any thing in the room more than usual - A. About a week or a fortnight after, I saw she had furniture in the room which did not belong to me. On the 3d of September she came in very much in liquor between ten and eleven o'clock at night. Her daughter paid me a 1 l. note and 7 s.; she said she would lend me 40 l. or 50 l. if I liked - she produced no money. Her daughter told her not to bother me.

  JAMES WOOD re-examined. The notes 73675 and 73687, are two of the notes that I paid, in exchange for the Cambridge notes, on the 14th of September.

Prisoner's Defence. I am quite innocent. I have a great deal of money from gentlemen. I can prove that I had a great deal of money before the prosecutor lost his - I went to the Bank with a friend. I can prove that I had had the clothes a month before; I have had money in the stocks several times. The stock-broker could not spell my name right. If I had stolen it I should not have put it into the Bank; as to the woman who has sworn against me, she had on my gown at the time; I never saw the prosecutor in my life. I have witnesses to call.

  JAMES WILLIAMS . I am watchman of St. Sepulchre. On the 3d of September I had been calling the hour of one, when a chariot came to the Bull's Head, public-house, with two gentlemen; the coachman let them out, and charged them 6 s. 6 d. or 8 s. 6 d. for driving them from Fetter-lane, and waiting for them. The gentlemen said if he did not like to take 18 d. he might go and be b - g - d. He said he would take them to the Compter, and they said they would go. He opened the coach-door for them, but they refused to go in. Another coach drove up with Browning and others. The coachman called for an officer; Browning ran up, took hold of the man with his left arm, and said,

"I am an officer, I take him in charge." He took him to Long-lane, and then shoved him adrift. The coachman said he gave me charge of him; I followed the man up Duke-street, and there laid hold of him. Browning tried to stop me from taking him; I sprang my rattle, assistance came, and I took him to the watch-house. Browning followed us to the watch-house with a man named O'Connor. I told the coachman to state his charge, which he did - he was rather in liquor. The gentleman, whom the coachman gave in charge, pulled out a handful of notes, and gave the constable of the night a 1 l. note to pay the fare. I desired the constable of the night to take Browning in charge for acting as an officer. Browning was in liquor.

COURT. Q. Do you mean to swear Browning was in liquor - A. I do, and after a long time the man wanted to

give charge of him for threatening him, and pushing him about - they were turned out of the watch-house. I went to Smithfield-bars to take the number of the chariot. I said I should report the constable of the night to somebody else, for not taking charge.

Q. Did you ever see the prisoner - A. No, but when I sprang my rattle there was a crowd. I do not know how far Browning went.

Q. How came they to find you out - A. I happened to be at Guildhall at the time of the examination.

  WILLIAM PETLEY , I am an independent man, and live on my fortune at Wander, in Derbyshire. I am not a housekeeper, but lodge with a person named   James Frost , who is a farmer.

Q. How long have you lodged with him - A. At different times, for several years. I reside there when I am in the country, but I am frequently in London.

Q. What is your business in London - A. My own pleasure. I sometimes stay longer and sometimes shorter.

Q, Where do you live in London - A. At the British coffee-house, Castle-court, Strand. I have known the prisoner two years. She lived in Compton-street when I first knew her, but lately in Pitt's-place; I visited her there, and have been in her company when I have had serious sums of money, and never lost any. On the night of the 2d of September, or rather on the morning of the 3d, between two and three o'clock, I was in her company in the neighbourhood of Smithfield.

Q. Where did you join her - A. I met her in Fleet-market, between two and three o'clock - we walked up Cow-lane, to Smithfield.

Q. Where did you leave her - A. In fact I did not leave her. I did not go into the public-house with her.

Q. Where did you leave her - A. At the top of Cow-lane; in fact, she left me, for a dirty sort of a woman came up to her, and I declined going into the public-house with her. I should know the woman again.

Q. Perhaps you had seen her living in the same house with her - A. No.

(Eagleton was ordered to stand up.)

Q Is that the woman you mean - A. Yes; but she was much dirtier than she is now, and was very tipsy - very drunk.

Q. Did you remonstrate with the prisoner for joining company with her - A. I did.

Q. Where did you go - A. I waited outside the house; she come out to me, and I walked up Holborn with her.

Q. Then she was not in company with any one - A. Not except myself and the woman. I walked away with her.

Q. Perhaps you was the person who went into the wine vaults with her - A. No; the woman joined us in Holborn.

Q. Were you wandering about all night with her - A. Yes; I did not see Mr. Browing or Warburton (looks at them) - I did not see them.

Q. How long did the woman remain in the public-house before she joined you again - A. Not more than ten minutes.

Q. And, excepting the time she was in the public-house, you was always in her company - A. I was always in her company until near seven o'clock.

Q. Then she could not have been with Browning or Warburton - A. Not without my seeing them - I did not see them.

Q. Then you mean to swear that this woman was not in company with Browning or Warburton, after she came out of the public-house - A. I do.

Q. Here are three witnesses who have positively sworn it, and I put you on your guard; where did you go with her all this time - A. Walked in different parts of the street.

Q. From three till seven o'clock - A. Yes, we did not go into any house.

Q, What time did the drunken woman join you again - A. I should think between six and seven o'clock.

Q. Had the prisoner any notes with her - A. She asked me for some money, when I first saw her going up Cow-lane. I was sober.

Q. What money had you about you at that time - A. Probably 10 l.

Q. Do not tell me probably, do you mean to say you had 10 l. - A. Yes; it was in country and Bank notes. That day I had received three Cambridge 1 l. bank notes from   Charles Holder , who keeps the British Coffee-house, where I lodge. I received three Cambridge, and three Bank notes.

Q. Which Cambridge bank - A. Mortlock's. I received them in change for a 10 l. Bank of England note, on the morning of the 2d of September. I do not know whether he is here.

Q. Where did you sleep last night - A. At his house.

Q. You knew what you were coming here for - A. Yes; I did not desire him to come. I paid him his bill, which came to nearly 4 l. out of the 10 l. note.

Q. What did you give the prisoner - A. She asked me for some money, and I gave her a 1 l. Cambridge Bank note.

Q. And only one - A. Only one; she then told me she owed a small sum, and that was not sufficient; I then gave her a 1 l. Bank of England note. She said she had no money then.

Q. When you left her at six o'clock in the morning, as far as you learnt from her, she had only these two notes which you gave her - A. She had not.

Q. Have you been here and heard the whole evidence - A. I have not. I came in when you was reading the evidence over.

Q. What became of you afterwards; have you been at the British Coffee-house ever since - A. Yes. I have retired from business; I was a grocer at Nottingham. I did not set up in trade - I was an apprentice. I had a fortune left me by my uncle, whose name was Williams. I have lived on that fortune ever since. I am twenty-six years of age.

Q. Were you at the banker's in Lothbury - A. I was not.

Q. Did you go to the Bank with the prisoner, and purchase stock - A. I did not; she did not shew me the stock receipt. I have not been to see her since the 3d of September.

Q. How came you here - A. I heard of this business after she was committed.

Cross-examined by MR. BALLENTINE. Q. What public-house did you go to with her - A. I went to none. She went to the public-house at the corner of Cow-lane and Smithfield.

Q. Are there any ladies kept at this coffee-house - A.

There is not; it is a very respectable house. I never saw any ladies there.

Q. On your oath, is it not a common brothel - A. It is not.

MR. BROWNING re-examined. Q. Was that man in company with the woman when you was - A. No; he could not have been in her company from the time she joined me till she left me; it is impossible. I positively swear he never was with her at that time.

MR. WARBURTON re-examined. Q. Was that man in company with the prisoner, or near Browning, from the time she left the public-house till you left them at the end of the passage - A. He was not; he could not have been without my seeing him.

  HANNAH EAGLETON re-examined. Q. Do you know that man - A. No; I never saw him in company with the prisoner at all. I never saw him in my life. I was not drunk when I was with her.

Q. Was any man in your company at the time you joined the prisoner - A. No.

Q. How long before you went into the liquor-shop opposite Gray's Inn-lane, did the man join you - A. Not many minutes. It was not this man.

  JOSEPH FIRTH re-examined. Q. At the time the two women came into the shop, did Bryant appear intoxicated - A. I thought she was rather so; that was at seven o'clock in the morning. Petley is not the man who came in with them. I never saw him in my life. The man was much older than him.

GUILTY . Aged 34.

Transported for Life .

London Jury, before Mr. Common Sergeant.

(The witness Petley, was committed by the COURT for perjury.)