The Lady's Magazine for April, 1800Account of the Trial of Mrs. Leigh Perrot, charged with stealing a card of lace in the shop of Elizabeth Gregory, haberdasher and milliner, at Bath, which came on Saturday morning the 29th of March, 1800, at the Somerset assizes, held at Taunton, before Mr. Justice Lawrence.
(Embellished with an elegant portrait of Mr. Leigh Perrot.)
About half past seven o'clock, the prisoner, attended by a number of ladies, walked from their lodgings at the London inn, in two or three different parties, to the Assize-hall, about a quarter of a mile, where they waited, in the anti-room to the grand-jury-room, till the judge came, about eight o'clock. She then went into the prisoner's pen, accompanied by her husband, Mrs. Winstone, and Mrs. Chumbley, of Bath, and some other ladies. Mrs. Leigh Perrot appeared very pale and emaciated, between fifty and sixty years of age, and rather thin. She was dressed in a very light lead-colour pelisse, a muslin handkerchief on her neck, with a cambric cravat. Her hair of a dark-brown, curled on her forehead; a small black bonnet, round which was a purple ribband, and over it a black lace veil, which was thrown up over her head. While the jury were called and sworn, and other steps taken preparatory to the trial, she appeared perfectly calm and collected, talking with her counsel and friends.
The indictment consisted of four counts, varying the owner of the property charged to have been stolen. Her counsel requested she might be allowed a chair, which was granted.
The counsel for the prosecution were Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Burrough; for the prisoner Mr. Bond, Mr. Dallas, Mr. Jekyll, and Mr. Pell.
The prosecution having been opened by Mr. Burrough -
Mr. Gibbs then addressed the jury. In his speech he confined himself to stating the situation of the parties, of the prosecutor's shop, and the evidence that he was about to adduce in support of the prosecution, and then proceeded to call his witnesses in the following order:
Elizabeth Gregory deposted, that in August last she kept a haberdasher's shop in Bath-street, in the city of Bath; that she had an apprentice of the name of Sarah Raines; another person as shop-woman, named Leeson; and also a journey-man, whose name is Charles Filby. That Filby had been with her about six months. That the shop fronts Bath-street. (Here she described the situation of the shop.) On Thursday the eighth of August last, remembers prisoner coming to the shop between one and two o'clock, and asked to look at the black lace she had seen the day before; but before asking that, the prisoner inquired, if the lace which was expected from London was arrived; witness told her it was not. The black lace was in a box at the bottom of the shop, upon the counter, near the brass-rail, which rail was covered with veils and handkerchiefs, which hung down, so as to interrupt the view of any person who should be behind them. Mrs. Leigh Perrot was standing outside of the counter, and witness withinside; in the box there were several parcels of black lace, which witness showed to the prisoner, who fixed on buying a part of it. Filby the shopman was at that time at the upper part of the counter, nearest the door on the left-hand side; we were taking stock when prisoner came into the shop, and Filby was measuring white lace withinside the counter; witness called him' when he came, told him to measure the black lace which she had sold to the prisoner, which he began doing, and being then standing at the bottom of the counter, withinside on the left hand, and the prisoner withoutside, witness went down to the desk, leaving Filby measuring the lace so sold; witness called to Sarah Raines to clear away the black-lace box, which had been left on the counter, and sat down at the desk, with her face towards the door, till S. Raines had done it. While sitting there, she head Mrs. Perrot say to Filby, "Can you give change for a five-pound bank-note?" Filby then left Mrs. Perrot, and brought the note to her for change, which she gave him, and saw him take back to the prisoner. As soon as witness had given Filby the change, she went down the stairs to dinner, and observed, as she looked round, that the prisoner was moved from the bottom of the counter; but she did not know where to. Prisoner was to pay one pound ineteen shillings for the black lace she had purchased. This was at a time of the year when very little business is done at Bath. There were no goods on the counter on the right-hand side of the shop, nor any on the left, excepting the box of black lace, that of white lace, and the veils and handkerchiefs on the brass rod. Miss Raines was down at the desk when witness went to dinner; witness went up again into the shop in about ten minutes afterwards, in consequence of information she had received from Filby; and in about a quarter of an hour after so coming into the shop, she saw the prisoner pass by on the other side the way with her husband; witness went across to her, and saic, "Pray, madam, have not you a card of white lace as well as of black?" Mrs. Leigh Perrot said, "No, I have not a bit of white lace about me." Witness then said to her, "See in your pocket, madam." Mrs. Perrot then took her arm from under her cloak, and presented a paper which she had in her hand, saying, "If I have, your young man must have put it up in mistake." Witness then described and represented with paper the condition the paper parcel was in when prisoner so produced it - it was rumpled, and appeared to have had something folded up in it, but the ends were then both of them open, and not folded. The prisoner trembled very much, looked very red, and appeared much frightened. Witness took the paper, and folding down one corner of it, saw the end of the card with white lace on it, and the black lace on a card over it. The card with black lace was about an inch shorter than that with white lace. Witness took out the white lace and looked at it, and said, "Yes, it is mine; I'll swear to it;" there was a private mark on it, it was Filby's hand-writing; witness said she would swear to the shop-mark. - Prisoner told witness the lace was in the paper, and that the man had given it to her in mistake; witness said, " 'Tis no such thin! 'tis no such thing! - You stole it." Mr. Leigh Perrot then called after witness, and said, "She did not," or words to that effect. Witness took the white lace out of the parcel, and carried it home. Within about half an hour later, witness, and Filby with her, went to the Town-hall, for the purpose of laying an information before the magistrates. The mayor had left the hall, but they saw Mr. Jeffery the town-clerk, and Mr. George, the deputy town-clerk, to whom they related the circumstance, and who directed them to come next day, at eleven o'clock; -- witness went accordingly on the next day, and also on the Tuesday; but the magistrates being particularly hurried in business that week, respecting soldiers who were passing through Bath, they could not see the magistrates till Wednesday. - The card of white lace was then produced in court. She swore to its being the same lace, and on the same card as delivered to her by Mrs. Perrot. - On cross-examination, it appeared that witness had been in the shop nearly five years; and that her sister, whose name is Smith, kept it previous to that time. At the time she accorsted Mrs. Perrot she was walking publicly in the street; that several persons were near, but that she does not think any person heard the conversation except herself; that she never saw or heard any thing of the prisoner from the day that this happened until the Wednesday following.
Charles Filby - on the eighth of August last lived as shopman with miss Gregory, with whom he had been about six months; remembers prisoner's coming to the shop on the eighth of August, before which time he never recollects to have seen her; witness was at that time behind the counter, on the left hand side, measuring cards of white lace; and as he measured the pieces, he made a private shop-mark on the card, and fixed a ticket to it, denoting the number of yards thereon. There was no other customer in the shop when prisoner came in; but one person came in soon after, and after saying four or five minutes, was served and went out again. - Miss Gregory called him, and desired that he would com enad measure over the lace which the prisoner had fixed upon; that he then went to the other end of the counter, and measured the black lace for the prisoner; that miss Raines was called at the same time by miss Gregory, to put the remainder of the black lace into the box, which she did; it was on the further side of the counter, and prisoner stood on the outside of the counter opposite to her. Witness rolled up the lace on a small piece of card, and taking up a small piece of paper close by him, he folded up the card of black lace so purchased by the prisoner in the paper. Witness then described and showed to the court the manner in which he had folded up the lace, which was by folding down the corners of the paper in which it was contained, in right angles, and doubling over each end twice; that he delivered it to the prisoner so folded, who gave him in return a five-pound bank-note, desiring to have it changed. Miss Gregory was at the bottom of the shop, and witness was four yards from where she stood; that in carrying the five-pound note to miss Gregory, who was at the desk, to get cash for it, his back was towards the prisoner; that the desk is four yards from the place where the black lace had been delivered to the prisoner. Miss Gregory, after giving him the change, went down the stairs to the kitchen. Witness says, that on turning round, he observed that the prisoner had moved from where he left her to the further end of the shop, her face towards the desk at the bottom of the shop, and her left hand towards the box. - Witness passed up on the inside the counter, when he went with the change; and the shawls and handkerchiefs, which were on the brass rail, obscured the prisoner from his sight while he was passing behind them; when he got far enough on to see the prisoner, he saw her taking her left hand out of the box in which the white lace had been put by him as before described, with a card of lace in her hand; she drew her left hand under her cloak with the card of lace in it, and from the quickness of drawing her hand under her cloak, she had drawn the cloak on one side, so that witness swears he saw the corner of the blue card, a part of which was concealed under the cloak; that the prisoner then had the paper with the black lace in her right hand; that he laid down the change of the note upon the end of the counter nearest the door, which the prisoner took up with her right hand, holding the parcel in which the black lace was in the same hand; that she then made inquiries about Mrs. Smith, who had formerly kept the shop, and then went away. Miss Gregory was then gone down stairs, as before stated; and it appears that witness having mentioned what he observed to miss Raines, and miss Leeson, went into the kitchen and communicated it to miss Gregory, who immediately went up stairs, and as before stated, went in search of the prisoner. Soon after witness came up stairs into the shop, where he found miss Gregory with the card of white lace in her hand, upon which he had placed the shop-mark as before-mentioned. Witness swore positively that it was the identical card and lace upon which he had so put the shop-mark and measured. That after consulting with miss Gregory he went out to look for the prisoner, whom he immediately saw with her husband on turning the corner of the Abbey church-yard. That they were then together, but soon after separated, when witness ran after the prisoner, upon seeing which she ran back to her husband. Witness came up to him, and asked him his name; he told him that he lived at No. 1, Paragon-buildings, and that his name was upon the door. Witness went there immediately, and found the name. That about half an hour after he went with miss Gregory to the Town-hall to give information, which they could not complete till the Wednesday following, for reasons before stated by miss Gregory. Witness was then cross-examined with respect to his connection with Smith, &c. and it appeared that about eight years ago he was a journeyman in a shop in St. Paul's Church-yard; was brought up in the haberdashery line; said that he had no dealings with a man of the name of Crouch, a pawnbroker in London, but that he was very intimate with him; that he was afterwards in partnership with one Terry; that the partners were bankrupts, and about five months afterwards he entered into another partnership with one Croup, and at the end of eighteen months they became bankrupts; that his business at Gregory's was to keep the goods in order, to serve the customers, and to put the goods in their places again; he does not know that he ever put up more than was purchased; that he might have done so; has heard of a lady named Blagrave, who bought a veil of him, after the prisoner's business, which he took home in her hand. She came again the next day and told the witness he ought to be very careful considering what had happened with Mrs. Perrot. She brought back one veil, and delivered it to witness; witness did not believe it was put up by him in the parcel with the other; he knew that he veil brought back belonged to the shop, or he should not have taken it; witness says he does not know of any other instance where he had put up more articles than were purchased, or ever having been charged with it. Swears that he marked the card as before stated, and upon coming back and looking into the box, found the vacancy in the left-hand corner of it, where he recollected having put it; that when he saw the prisoner's left hand in the box, misses Raines and Leeson were in the shop; swears he saw her hand in the box, and also the card of lace in her hand under the cloak; saw it distinctly hanging out under the cloak; it was a black mode cloak - not a long one, but hanging just below the elbows. The distance from Paragon-buildings to Bath-street is about a quarter of a mile; thinks there might have been time between the period of prisoner's leaving the shop, and witness meeting her in the Abbey church-yard, for her to have gone home if she had pleased. Witness swore positively that he put nothing in the paper with the black lace.
Sarah Raines, apprentice to miss Gregory, confirmed Filby's evidence with respect to his situation, whilst measuring the black lace, and that he did not move from the place until he had given it to the prisoner; that Filby wrapped up the lace in a piece of paper as before stated, and that there was nothing else in the paper. That she saw him deliver the paper into the prisoner's hand, and was then within half a yard of him, and was about four yards from where the white lace was. On her cross-examination, she swore that she saw Filby put in the black lace only.
Mr. Justice Lawrence - "Are you certain of that?"
"Yes, my lord, I am."
Here the evidence for the crown was closed.
The judge then addressed the prisoner, and told her that was her time, if she had any thing to say in her defence. She was extremely agitated, and, attempting to address the court, her voice failed her so frequently, that Mr. Jekyll, one of her counsel, was requested to sit by her, and repeat what she wished to say to the court, which he did to the following purport:
"My lord, and gentlemen of the jury,
"I am informed by my counsel that they cannot be permitted to offer any observations to you on my case. The circumstances of it do not render it necessary to detain you long, I shall therefore take this opportunity of troubling you with a few words.
"Placed in a situation the most eligible that any woman could desire, with supplies so ample that I was left rich after every wish was gratified - blessed in the affections of the most generous man as a husband, what could induce me to commit such a crime? Depraved indeed must the mind be, that under such circumstances could be so culpable. You will hear from my noble and truly respectable friends what have been my conduct and character for a long series of years; you will hear what has been, and what is now, their opinion of me. Can you supposed that disposition so totally altered as to lose all recollection of the situation I held in society, to hazard for this meanness character and reputation, or to endanger the health and peace of mind of a husband whom I would die for? You have heard their evidence against me, I shall make no comments upon it. I shall leave the task where I am certain it will be executed with justice and mercy. I know my own oath, in this case, is inadmissible; but I call upon that God who you all adore, to attest that I am innocent of this charge, and may he reward or punish me as I speak true or false, in denying it! I call that God to witness, that I did not know that I had the lace in my possession; nor did I know it when miss Gregory accosted me in the street. - I have nothing more to add."
During the time of dictating this address, the prisoner and her husband were frequently excessively affected and distressed. Her counsel then proceeded to call witnesses on her behalf; the first of whom was -
John Crouch, a pawnbroker in London, who was called to disprove Filby's evidence, as to not having transactions with him in business. He proved that he knew Filby, and that once he had a transaction with him in the way of business as a pawnbroker.
Miss Blagrave was then called, who swore, that on the nineteenth of September last, at five o'clock in the evening, she went to prosecutor's shop to buy a veil, which she received folded up in paper by a tall shop-man, and paid for it; that she put it in her pocket, and when she came to her lodgings, found there were two veils in it; and that the next day she went and delivered back one to him again; that she did not know the prisoner, and never spoke to her.
The witnesses then called to the character of the prisoner were - George Vansittart, esq. M.P. for Berkshire; lord Braybrook; Francis Annesley, esq. M.P. for Reading; John Grant, esq.; the rev. Mr. Nind, vicar of Wargrave in the county of Berks; rev. Mr. Wake, of Bath; William Hayward Winstone, esq. of Bath; doctor Maitland, M.D. Bath; Mrs. Winstone, and Mrs. Chumley; all of whom dposed, that they had, for many years past, some from thirty or forty years, been intimately acquainted with the prisoner and her husband, and visited them at their different places of abode in Berkshire and at Bath. - They all spoke in the highest terms that it is possible to express of the exemplary character of the prisoner; that from the attention of her and her husband to religious and moral duties, they were considered and spoken of as being persons as strictly honourable and respectable as any in the different neighbourhoods where they resided.
Three or four tradesmen of Bath, with whom the prisoner had frequent dealings, also deposed to the strict honour and punctuality which they had always observed in her conduct.
Mr. Justice Lawrence then summed up the evidence to the jury with that candour and humanity which he is ever known to exercise; and the jury having retired about a quarter of an hour, brought in a verdict of - Not Guilty.
The trial lasted seven hours, and the scene at the acquittal was extremely affecting. The agitation and embraces of Mr. and Mrs. Perrot may be more easily conceived than described. - The court was crowded with elegantly dressed women.
Mr. Leigh Perrot is a gentleman about sixty years of age, who has a handsome seat at Hare-hatch, near Reading, at a short distance from the London road. He has been a frequent visitor to Bath upwards of thirty years, and for several years has resided wholly there. He possesses a handsome fortune, and a mind benevolent and liberal. - When his lady was taken into custody, he left his house, though severely affected with the gout, and was her constant companion during her long confinement in Ilchester gaol, which was upwards of five months.
