DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0084
66
EXAMINATION OF BOWERS, &C.
not, begging for charity. His general habits of life, and
those of his family, were to sleep, when they could get
leave, in the farmers barns or out-houses; when they
could not obtain leave, they pitched their tents in some
lane near a farm-house, for the convenience of getting
a little straw to make their beds with.
On Sunday, the 26th of December, they were en-
camped in the lane by the Half Moon, at Streatham :
early on Monday, they struck their tents and marched
on to Sydenham Common; the women and the children
went with the beasts of burthen, the men and boys
coming on round to look for work. Bowers and his wife
going through Dulwich, where, as' he could not get
any work to do, they begged their way, got some few
pence, some broken victuals, and some mutton, which a
butcher in the town cut off and gave her. At four
o’clock, and no later, he was certain Spragg and the
whole of the family were at their little encampment;
that about five o’clock, just about dark, his wife sent the
boy into the village to buy some tea and sugar; as he
did not immediately return, Spragg and his wife went, as
they said, in search of him, and staid away about half an
hour; in the mean time the boy returned alone. From
their return then, till eight in the evening, the family
were engaged in cooking, eating, and drinking their tea
and supper, when they all went to bed. About one
o’clock, as he considers it, from the time he had been in
bed, and being very ill, he was attentive to the hours,
Spragg got up, and asked what time it was; he was
told it could not be more than one or two o’clock ; he
said it must be more, for it looked as light as four or five
o’clock, and he was afraid, if they staid too late, they
should lose their job. He was still restless and uneasy,
and calling the boy, who very reluctantly got up, they
went out together. He never saw them again till they
came
EXAMINATION OF BOWERS, &C.
not, begging for charity. His general habits of life, and
those of his family, were to sleep, when they could get
leave, in the farmers barns or out-houses; when they
could not obtain leave, they pitched their tents in some
lane near a farm-house, for the convenience of getting
a little straw to make their beds with.
On Sunday, the 26th of December, they were en-
camped in the lane by the Half Moon, at Streatham :
early on Monday, they struck their tents and marched
on to Sydenham Common; the women and the children
went with the beasts of burthen, the men and boys
coming on round to look for work. Bowers and his wife
going through Dulwich, where, as' he could not get
any work to do, they begged their way, got some few
pence, some broken victuals, and some mutton, which a
butcher in the town cut off and gave her. At four
o’clock, and no later, he was certain Spragg and the
whole of the family were at their little encampment;
that about five o’clock, just about dark, his wife sent the
boy into the village to buy some tea and sugar; as he
did not immediately return, Spragg and his wife went, as
they said, in search of him, and staid away about half an
hour; in the mean time the boy returned alone. From
their return then, till eight in the evening, the family
were engaged in cooking, eating, and drinking their tea
and supper, when they all went to bed. About one
o’clock, as he considers it, from the time he had been in
bed, and being very ill, he was attentive to the hours,
Spragg got up, and asked what time it was; he was
told it could not be more than one or two o’clock ; he
said it must be more, for it looked as light as four or five
o’clock, and he was afraid, if they staid too late, they
should lose their job. He was still restless and uneasy,
and calling the boy, who very reluctantly got up, they
went out together. He never saw them again till they
came