DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0412
368 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF
come of the girl. No place was left unsearched by tire
afflicted mother; even gaols and hospitals were not omit-
ted, lest peradventure some mistake or accident might
have brought her daughter into one or other of them ; but
all in vain, and week after week rolled on in this miser-
able state of suspense, without the least news of the girl,
till the 29th day of January, W’hen she returned to her
mother’s house about ten o’clock at night; in a most fright-
ful and miserable condition, and gave the account we have
just stated.
We now proceed to relate what followed the girl’s
■coming home. Her absence had made so much noise,
and appeared so unaccountable, that as soon as the news
of her being returned was known, a great many people
went to her mother’s house to see and talk with her ; but
her weak condition would not permit her to answer a great
many questions. In answer to the general enquiry, if she
could not tell where she had been, she answered that it
(was somewhere upon the Hertford Road, because she had
seen the coachman who used to carry her mistress to Hert-
ford, go by, and that she had once heard the name of
Wills or Wells mentioned in the house :—Upon this some
of those who came to see her, said, “ It must certainly
be Mother Wells, at Enfield Wash, a house of very ill-
fame.” This appearing probable to her friends, and the
rest of the company who were present* it was determined
that the girl, though in a most weak condition* should g»
before the sitting alderman, and make affidavit of the affair,
in order to obtain a warrant for the apprehending of
Mother Wells. Accordingly, on the 31st of January, the
girl was carried before him, and her deposition taken ; in
which she declared, the room she was confined in was a
darkish little square room ; that she lay upon the boards,
that there was nothing in the room except a grate with
a gown in it, and that there was a picture over the
chimney. ■ ;
come of the girl. No place was left unsearched by tire
afflicted mother; even gaols and hospitals were not omit-
ted, lest peradventure some mistake or accident might
have brought her daughter into one or other of them ; but
all in vain, and week after week rolled on in this miser-
able state of suspense, without the least news of the girl,
till the 29th day of January, W’hen she returned to her
mother’s house about ten o’clock at night; in a most fright-
ful and miserable condition, and gave the account we have
just stated.
We now proceed to relate what followed the girl’s
■coming home. Her absence had made so much noise,
and appeared so unaccountable, that as soon as the news
of her being returned was known, a great many people
went to her mother’s house to see and talk with her ; but
her weak condition would not permit her to answer a great
many questions. In answer to the general enquiry, if she
could not tell where she had been, she answered that it
(was somewhere upon the Hertford Road, because she had
seen the coachman who used to carry her mistress to Hert-
ford, go by, and that she had once heard the name of
Wills or Wells mentioned in the house :—Upon this some
of those who came to see her, said, “ It must certainly
be Mother Wells, at Enfield Wash, a house of very ill-
fame.” This appearing probable to her friends, and the
rest of the company who were present* it was determined
that the girl, though in a most weak condition* should g»
before the sitting alderman, and make affidavit of the affair,
in order to obtain a warrant for the apprehending of
Mother Wells. Accordingly, on the 31st of January, the
girl was carried before him, and her deposition taken ; in
which she declared, the room she was confined in was a
darkish little square room ; that she lay upon the boards,
that there was nothing in the room except a grate with
a gown in it, and that there was a picture over the
chimney. ■ ;