DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0462
416
ACCOUNT OF JAMES HOW.
her demand for the same sum, which James happened
not to have in the house; but still fearing a discovery,
sent her back five-pounds.
About this time the supposed wife of James How was
taken ill and died, and Mrs. B. now formed a plan to
increase her depredations. For this purpose she pro-
cured two fellows to assist her in its execution; one of
these, a mulatto, passed for a police officer, and the other
was equipped with a pocket staff as a constable. In these
characters they repaired to the White Horse, and en-
quired for Mr. How, who answered to the name. They
informed her that they were come from Justice Fielding
to apprehend her for a robbery committed thirty years
before, and that they were acquainted with the secret of
her sex. She was terrified to the highest degree on ac-
count of this discovery, but conscious of her innocence
with regard to the robbery; and an intimate acquaintance,
one Mr. Williams a pawn-broker, happening to pass by,
she called him in and acquainted him with the business
of the two men, adding that she was really a woman, but
was innocent of the crime with which she was charged.
Mr. Williams, as soon as he had recovered from the sur-
prize occasioned by this disclosure, told her she should
not be carried before Sir John Fielding, but before her
own bench of justices, adding that he would just step
home, and return in a few minutes to accompany her.
On his departure, the ruffians renewed their threats, but
at the same time told her if she would give them one
hundred pounds, they would cause her no farther
trouble, if not, she should be hanged in six days, and
they would receive forty pounds a piece for bringing her
to justice. Notwithstanding their menaces, she firmly
resisted their demand, waiting with the utmost im-
patience for the return of Mr. Williams. Persisting in
her refusal, they at length forced her out of the house,
carried
ACCOUNT OF JAMES HOW.
her demand for the same sum, which James happened
not to have in the house; but still fearing a discovery,
sent her back five-pounds.
About this time the supposed wife of James How was
taken ill and died, and Mrs. B. now formed a plan to
increase her depredations. For this purpose she pro-
cured two fellows to assist her in its execution; one of
these, a mulatto, passed for a police officer, and the other
was equipped with a pocket staff as a constable. In these
characters they repaired to the White Horse, and en-
quired for Mr. How, who answered to the name. They
informed her that they were come from Justice Fielding
to apprehend her for a robbery committed thirty years
before, and that they were acquainted with the secret of
her sex. She was terrified to the highest degree on ac-
count of this discovery, but conscious of her innocence
with regard to the robbery; and an intimate acquaintance,
one Mr. Williams a pawn-broker, happening to pass by,
she called him in and acquainted him with the business
of the two men, adding that she was really a woman, but
was innocent of the crime with which she was charged.
Mr. Williams, as soon as he had recovered from the sur-
prize occasioned by this disclosure, told her she should
not be carried before Sir John Fielding, but before her
own bench of justices, adding that he would just step
home, and return in a few minutes to accompany her.
On his departure, the ruffians renewed their threats, but
at the same time told her if she would give them one
hundred pounds, they would cause her no farther
trouble, if not, she should be hanged in six days, and
they would receive forty pounds a piece for bringing her
to justice. Notwithstanding their menaces, she firmly
resisted their demand, waiting with the utmost im-
patience for the return of Mr. Williams. Persisting in
her refusal, they at length forced her out of the house,
carried