| Reference Number | t18160110-36 |
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| Verdict | Guilty |
| Sentence | Transportation |
| Related Material |  |
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| Actions | Cite this text Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 10 December 2023), January 1816, trial of ELIZABETH HAZELTON (t18160110-36). | Print-friendly version | Report an error |
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202. ELIZABETH HAZELTON was indicted for that she on the 14th of December , feloniously, knowingly, and willingly, had in her custody and possession, three counterfeit bank-notes, made with intent to resemble the bank-notes issued by the Governour and company of the Bank of England , she well knowing the same to be counterfeit .
JOHN FOY . I am an officer of the public office,Marlborough-street. On the 14th of December last, I was in company with Mr. Glover, who is an inspector of the Bank. In consequence of information which I received, I went to Ward's-row, Bethnell Green. I had watched the prisoner there a day or two before; I saw her coming from No. 9, Ward's-row. Upon seeing her, I took her into custody, I told her she was in custody, and I must search her; she said very well. I found on her a purse, in which was upwards of thirty pounds in good notes, some gold, and a key of a box; we were at this time at a public-house. I told her to sit down, whilst I examined the notes; she did so, and on finding the notes were good, I asked her if she had any other notes good or bad in her possession? she said not any. I proceeded to search her I was about to unbutton her pelisse, when she drew a small paper parcel from her bosom, and gave it to me saying, there sir, here they are, take them. Before I opened the parcel, I asked her what it contained? and she said forged notes, I have not had them in my possession above three minutes. I asked her if she had got any more, and she said not any. I told her I must proceed in searching her, and I did so. Underneath the underpart of her stays I found another small parcel, which contained twelve one-pound notes; they were all bad notes. I then sent her to the office, and I went to No. 9, Ward's-row, and saw Mr. Nightingale; I asked him where the prisoner's room was, describing her to him; he pointed out the room, and unlocked the door, he did in point of fact open the door. In that room I found a box, which I unlocked with the key I found on the prisoner; and in it I found two hundred and fifty four one-pound bad notes; and ninety nine two pound notes all bad. I took them and the box and Mr. Nightingale to the office in Marlborough-street. On Nightingales going into the room where she was, he taxed her with having brought him into trouble, by placing forged notes in his house. She said you have nothing to do with it, the room, the box, and the notes are mine, and I will take all consequences on myself. She requested I would let him out of custody; she said she had hired the room of him, under a pretence of putting contraband goods there. I marked the notes I took from her person. (Notes put into the hand of witness.) These are the ten one-pound notes I took from her bosom, I marked them, and delivered them to Mr. Glover. (Other notes put into the hand of the witness.) These are the twelve, I took from under her stays; they are also marked. (Other notes put into the hands of the witness.) These are the notes I found in her room, in her box; they are also marked. I asked her where she procured them, and she said that she would never tell.
THOMAS GLOVER. I am inspector of the Banknotes, of the Bank of England. I accompained the last witness Foy; I saw the notes taken from her person, but did not see those found that were in the box.(Three notes taken from the parcel found in the prisoner's bosom, and put into the hands of the witness.) These are all forged; the remaining seven of this parcel are also forged; also the twelve in the other parcel are forged. All the notes are of the same kind of filling up. All the signatures are the same hand writing; all the two-pound notes are from the same plate, and all filled up alike; they are all forged.
JOHN NIGHTINGALE . I lived at No. 9, Ward's-row, Bethnell Green; I keep a chandler's shop there. The prisoner at the bar came to take a room about three weeks before she was taken; she had a three pair back room in my house. In two or three days she brought a box. She told me she was a widow woman, and dealt in shawls and handkerchiefs, as a pedlar, and was very seldom in London.
Prisoner's Defence. I am entirely innocent of the charge; I found the parcel, and when I discovered it contained Bank-notes, I thought I had found a fortune. I advertized them, and when nobody answered, I kept them as my own. When I went out in the day in question, I put the two parcels in my bosom, which Mr. Foy found,
GUILTY , aged 34.
Transported for fourteen Years .
First Middlesex jury, before Mr. Justice Dallas.