Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux/Volume 2/Chapter 8

by James Hardy Vaux

CHAPTER VIII.

Discover that I have been betrayed.—Examined at Bow-street, and committed for Trial.—Sent to Newgate.—Prepare for my Defence.—My Trial and Conviction.

ABOUT an hour after the officers had left me, they returned to the watch-house, bringing in prisoner, a well-dressed gentleman in a state of ebriety, accompanied by several of his friends, who it seemed, had been taken in custody for riotous conduct at the Haymarket theatre. As soon as they had given charge of this person, and again withdrawn, the gentleman, whose friends had also taken their leave, seated himself near the fire, and entered into conversation with me on the subject of his apprehension. He informed me, that having in the beginning of the evening had a quarrel with another gentleman in the boxes, and their altercation disturbing the audience, he had been taken into custody by these officers as the aggressor; but that having apologized for his conduct, and made his peace with his opponent, he had been liberated, and the officers had suddenly quitted him; that about ten o'clock, however, to his great surprise, the two rascally constables (as he termed them,) had again apprehended him, under colour of the original charge, and conveyed him to the watch-house; and that in their way, they stated that they should have done so on his first apprehension, but that they were suddenly sent for to the other end of the town, for the express purpose of taking a notorious thief, of whom they had received information! The gentleman here continued, (little supposing he was speaking to the identical person,) "some d——d house-breaker, or highwayman, I suppose. I don't know who the rascal was." The reader may be sure I took no pains to inform him; but commiserating his case, and condemning the base conduct of the officers, we conversed together on indifferent subjects for about an hour, and were then shewn to separate beds in the same room, where we were locked up till morning. It now appeared evident that I had been betrayed; but by whom, I am to this day ignorant; sometimes suspecting the landlord; at others the young man I have before mentioned; and sometimes, one of the company who sat at table with me; as I was afterwards informed that the whole room being much alarmed at my sudden apprehension, and the manner in which it took place, some one remarked that I must certainly have been villanously betrayed. Upon which this man (whose name was Bill White, otherwise, Conky-beau,) immediately changed colour, and said, "I hope nobody suspects me, I certainly did leave the room, but it was only for a few minutes, in order to get a little tobacco at the next shop." At all events, there must have been much expedition used, for I was not above half an hour in the house, and the distance from thence to the Haymarket theatre is at least a mile. Indeed the officers confessed to me afterwards, that I had been sold, (as the phrase is,) but declared that no bribe should induce them to disclose the party.

The ensuing morning, about ten, the officers conducted me to Bow-street, where Mr. Justice Graham presided. On being put to the bar, I observed Mr. Bilger, senior, and the perfidious pawnbroker, in waiting; the former viewed me with attention, and seemed immediately convinced of my identity, of which he informed the magistrate. Having then stated the particulars of his charge, against me, (which I need not here repeat,) the pawnbroker produced the fatal ring, stating that he received it from a woman, whom I afterwards acknowledged to be my wife; he also produced a pearl and amethyst broach, set in gold, which he deposed to purchasing from me among some other articles of the like nature. Mr. Bilger swore that he believed the former to be his property, and the working jeweller, who had supplied the three rings for my inspection, swore positively to its being one of them; as to the broach, Mr. Bilger would not positively swear, but fully believed it to be the one he lost. In this, however, he was mistaken; for I have already stated that I kept that broach for my own wear, and it was at this moment in pledge for one pound in the Borough; but I had, a few days previous to my robbing Mr. Bilger, purloined, among other trinkets, from a shop in the city, a broach so exactly similar, that on comparing the two together, I was in doubt which to retain; but the pearls, in Bilger's, being rather larger, I preferred the latter, and disposed of the other to Turner, as he had truly said. When asked if I had any defence to offer, I merely answered that I was not the person, having never seen Mr. Bilger or his shop in my life. Mr. Graham observed, the case was so clear that he should immediately commit me; but having understood that many jewellers, &c., who had been robbed, were in attendance to identify me, he inquired for them; the officers, however, stated that none were present, except a shopman of Mr. Chandler in Leicester-fields, who had been a considerable sufferer; but on this young man viewing me, he declared I was not the person who had been at his master's shop; in which, by-the-by, he was egregiously mistaken. The magistrate then committed me for trial, on Mr. Bilger's charge; and ordered that I should be brought up again on that day se'ennight, (the 8th of February,) in order that the different shop-keepers might have notice to attend. I was now conveyed to Tothill-fields Bridewell, where I continued a week. My first object was to establish a communication with my wife; but I was afraid of suffering her to visit me, lest she might have been detained as an accomplice. She, however, sent her sister to me daily, who brought me every needful requisite for my use and comfort in the prison; and among the rest, a change of apparel of a very different kind from that in which I was apprehended. Having put on these clothes, I sent the others back by the bearer; and the same day, a barber attending, whom I had sent for to shave me, I requested him to cut off my whiskers, and to crop my hair close. He did so, and I now cut so different a figure, that no person could possibly identify me, unless intimately acquainted with my features. Had I been enabled to take these measures before I appeared at Bow-street, it is probable Mr. Bilger would not have ventured to swear to me; but unfortunately they were adopted too late to render me any essential service. When the officers came to the prison, and saw the metamorphose I had undergone, they were, however, highly enraged; charged the turnkeys with gross neglect of duty, and want of vigilance in suffering the means to be admitted, and threatened to represent the circumstances to the magistrate. I laughed heartily at their chagrin, and said all I could to heighten their vexation. On the day appointed, I was brought up for re-examination; but it seemed the tradesmen who were expected, had not thought it worth their while to attend, for none made their appearance. Mr. Graham viewed me with evident surprise, demanding why I was so differently dressed, and what I had done with my whiskers^[1]. I answered, that I wore whatever I found most convenient to myself, and as to whiskers, I never had any. His Worship stared at this assertion, and declared, that when he first examined me, I had very large whiskers, and my hair dressed in the fashionable mode. "However," added he, "I see through your design; but it has been executed too late, and this stratagem will not now serve your turn." I was then finally committed to Newgate, as the Session was to commence on that day week (the 15th). My unhappy wife was waiting the issue of my examination, in the neighbourhood of the public office, and on learning the result, took coach, and was at the door of Newgate as soon as myself. The officers who escorted me having retired, both my wife and I were very kindly received by the principal turnkey, who instantly recognised us as Mr. and Mrs. Hardy, and expressed his concern at my so soon becoming again an inmate of Newgate. He then ordered me to have a light iron put on; and requesting to know what ward I wished to go into, I chose the same I had before been a member of, and to this room my wife accompanied me. After receiving the compliments of such of the prisoners as were before my fellow-lodgers, (among whom were the two brothers,) all of whom vied with each other in contributing to our accommodation, we partook of some tea; and having been a fortnight separated from my beloved wife, I would not suffer her to quit me until the next morning.

I had now but a few days to prepare for my approaching trial; and though I entertained no hopes of escaping conviction, I determined to employ a counsel; and who so proper (thought I,) as my good friend Mr. Knapp, who had so adroitly brought me off on a late occasion. I, therefore, drew a brief, in which I dwelt strongly on some particular points both of law and fact, and enclosed it, with the customary fee, in a letter to that gentleman, reminding him of my being his client in November session, and trusting he would do all in his power to extricate me from my present embarrassment. Mr. Knapp assured my wife that I might depend on his best exertions, and I now waited with patience for the event. My affectionate partner was unremitting in her attention to me, being never absent but when she had occasion to look into our affairs at home, and her sister having undertaken the care of our house till my fate was determined, she slept with me every night, as I had reason to fear I should soon be removed to a place where I could not have this indulgence. It was something singular that my poor friend Bromley, whom I had not seen for two months before, was brought into Newgate the very day after myself, being committed on a capital charge of house-breaking. Being, however, unable to pay the fees required on the master's side, where I was situated, he was obliged to put up with the common side, as it is termed; but the two yards being contiguous, I had an opportunity of seeing him every day.

On Wednesday the 15th of February, 1809, I was taken down to the sessions-house for trial; and four persons having been successively tried for capital offences, all of whom were convicted, I was next put to the bar, and stood indicted "for feloniously stealing, on the 9th of December, &c., a double-rowed brilliant half-hoop ring, value 16l. 16s.; a diamond ring for hair, value 9l. 9s.; a rose diamond and ruby ring, with serpent-chased shank, value 6l. 6s.; and a pearl and amethyst broach, value 2l. 2s., the goods of Matthias Bilger the elder, and Matthias Bilger the younger, privately in their shop." The reader will observe that I was here indicted upon a certain act of parliament, which makes it a capital offence to steal "goods, wares, or merchandise, to the value of five shillings, privately in a shop." My indictment having been read over, I looked round for Mr. Knapp, whom I expected to have found prepared with his brief; but not observing him among the other counsellors, I inquired of the turnkeys near me, who informed me that he was not in court. I then requested of the judge that my trial might be deferred, on account of the absence of my counsel. The court inquiring who was my counsel, I answered, Mr. Knapp; upon which Mr. Gurney, another counsellor, rising from his seat, said, "My lord, I am authorized to plead for Mr. Knapp." This satisfied me, not doubting but Mr. Gurney had my brief, and would do all in his power; and I suffered the trial to proceed. The indictment having been read as I have before described, to my no small surprise, Mr. Raine, the counsellor who had been retained by my prosecutors, rose, and proceeded to state the case to the jury; in doing which, according to custom, he gave so clear a view of the facts attending my offence, and so artfully and eloquently coloured the whole, that I saw the jury had more than half convicted me already, and would only listen to the subsequent evidence as a requisite matter of form. The counsel concluded his statement with this observation; "If, gentlemen, these facts are clearly proved to you in evidence, (as I persuade myself they will be,) no doubt can remain in your minds as to the verdict you will give." He then proceeded to examine the witnesses. Mr. Bilger, senior, deposed what the reader is already in possession of, with these additions; that, a few minutes after my quitting the shop, he missed the articles named in the indictment; and that having, on my second visit, received my final instructions for a ring, and the address I have before mentioned, he went himself next day to Curzon-street, and found No. 13 to be an empty house! Mr. Bilger having concluded, and Mr. Gurney not offering to cross-examine him, conformable to the suggestions in my brief, and as I fully expected he would, I was extremely surprised, and was soon afterwards convinced that he had not received any brief at all, or had any grounds to plead upon. I, therefore, requested to ask Mr. Bilger a question, namely, "Why he did not apprehend me on the Tuesday night, on which he swears I came the second time to his shop, after having missed the property on the preceding Friday, and suspected me for it?" Ans. "My lord, he had so much the appearance of a gentleman that I thought I might be mistaken. He was very differently dressed then from what he is now. He wore whiskers, and an eye-glass, and was very nicely powdered^[2]. My son went to the door in order to get a constable, but he observed an accomplice." (What Mr. Bilger meant by this last assertion, or what he would deduce from it, I have no idea.) The next evidence was that of Turner the pawnbroker; and I had in my brief given such hints, that I hoped Mr. Knapp would have effectually put this fellow out of countenance, by making him confess that he had, at his own request, repeatedly bought such things of me. But here Mr. Gurney was still silent, and I saw that it would be useless for me to ask Turner any questions. The working-jeweller was then called to depose to the ring, which he did in the strongest terms. Mr. Gurney barely asked him, if he could undertake to swear that he had not made rings exactly similar for other shops? He replied, that he was positive it was one of the three which he sent to Mr. Bilger on the 9th of December. Next came the scoundrel who took me, George Donaldson, a constable of St. Martin's parish; who stated that himself and Smith, one of the Bow-street patrole, from information they had received, apprehended me at the Butchers' Arms in Clare-market, in company with a great many notorious thieves. The evidence for the prosecution being now closed, Mr. Gurney inquired of Mr. Bilger, senior, how many partners he had; who answered none but his son. Then, what other persons were in the shop, (meaning assistants,) besides his son and himself, when he lost his property? Ans. "Only a porter, who was cleaning some plate at the further end of the counter, at some distance from where the prisoner stood." All that Mr. Gurney, therefore, said or asked, any other person might have said without reference to a brief; and having put these simple questions, or at least put them in a simple and careless manner, Mr. Gurney sat himself down. The last question, indeed, was of a most important nature, and if properly handled, and enforced with becoming spirit, would, I have little doubt, have rendered me the most essential service. To explain my meaning, I must briefly expound a point of law, with which nine readers out of ten may be unacquainted. The Act, under which I was indicted, provides, or is interpreted to mean, that where there are two or more persons employed as shopmen, &c., it is not sufficient for one alone to attend upon the prisoner's trial; but that every one, if there was a dozen, must personally appear, to swear that he or she did not see or suspect the prisoner to commit the act of robbery; because the law (always favourable to the culprit,) presumes, that if one person out of the whole number is absent, that very person might possibly have suspected the prisoner; and then such suspicion, however slight, if confessed, proves that the robbery was not effected so privately as to come within the meaning of the Act; consequently, there is an end of the capital part of the charge, and the prisoner can only be transported for seven years. The reader will see, in the next Chapter, my reason for being thus particular in this explanation. The judge now summed up the evidence, and what was most extraordinary, I was not even called on for my defence; so much were the court prejudiced against me, from the eloquent opening of the learned counsel, the clear and decisive evidence of the witnesses; and, perhaps, (above all,) from some little private intimation they had received of my real character and past life. However, as I felt that no defence I could make, was likely to prevent my conviction, I was not much concerned on the occasion; and the jury after two minutes' consideration returned the fatal verdict of "Guilty." This verdict was no sooner pronounced, than the villain Donaldson, standing up in the witness-box, said, "My lord, I think it my duty to inform the court what I know of the prisoner at the bar. I have been given to understand that he is a very old offender, and that he has been but a few months returned from Botany-Bay!" At this malicious address, there was a general murmur of indignation throughout the whole court; and Mr. Gurney (to do him justice,) rose with much warmth, saying, "Mr. Donaldson, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for having made such a disclosure; you acknowledge you only have this circumstance from hearsay, and had you known it to be true, after the prisoner being capitally convicted, it is most shameful and unmanly conduct of you to mention it." The malicious rascal was justly confounded at this rebuff, and sneaked away amidst the execrations of the auditors.

After my conviction I was double-ironed, and detained in the dock until the evening, my trial having occupied about two hours; and at eight o'clock, I was escorted to the press-yard, and locked up in one of the condemned cells. My poor wife remained in the ward of the prison, to which I belonged, until she saw me pass by, and I had only time to console her in a few words through the bars of the window, and take leave of her till the morning.

1. The public papers, in describing my second examination, had the following paragraph. "The prisoner, on his first examination, was dressed in the most fashionable style; but he was now completely metamorphosed, being dressed in a drab great-coat, jockey-boots, and a Belcher handkerchief, so as to have the appearance of a stage-coachman!"
2. Subjoined to the report of my trial, in the public prints, was this remark. "The prisoner, on his trial, had left off his false whiskers, his powdered head-dress, and his eye-glass, and appeared in a loose great-coat and silk handkerchief!!" Indeed there were many similar pieces of wit at my expense, and some compliments paid me on the dexterity with which I exercised my vocation.