Now! Then! William Perigo of Bramley finds that Mary Bateman defrauded him in promising to cure his wife Rebecca’s palpitations, and suspects she died of poisoning

19 October 1808: William Perigo of Bramley finds that Mary Bateman defrauded him in promising to cure his wife Rebecca’s palpitations, and suspects she died of poisoning

Anon. 1811. Extraordinary Life and Character of Mary Bateman, the Yorkshire Witch, 12th Ed. Leeds: Davies and Company. Get it:

Excerpt

On the 19th of October, 1808, he opened the bed in which all the bags were sewed up, and having opened the whole of them, he found no money whatever. In the bags in which he expected to find guinea notes he found only waste paper, and where he expected to find gold he found only a halfpenny or a farthing. But the four silk bags in which he saw four guinea notes put, he could not find at all, nor could he give any account how or where they were gone. Upon making this discovery, the witness went to Leeds, and saw Mary Bateman, and said to her, “I am sorry to think you should use me in this manner,” to which she replied “How?” He then said, “I have opened the bags and there is nothing in them but bits of lead, plain paper, bad halfpennies and bad farthings,” at which she did not seem at all surprised, but said, “You have opened them too soon,” and he answered, “I think it is too late.” He then said he would come down to her house in the morning with two or three men and have things settled. The prisoner begged that he would not, and said if he would appoint a time and place to meet alone, she would satisfy him. To this the witness consented, and the Leeds and Liverpool canal bank near the bridge was fixed as the place of meeting. The witness was here asked if he had at the last meeting given the prisoner any bottle, and he said he had not. The witness then proceeded to state that he met the prisoner the next morning, and that two persons accompanied him, who kept at some distance. When he saw the prisoner he told her he had brought two persons with him. Prisoner then sat down upon a stone, and pretended to vomit, and said, “That bottle which you gave me yesterday night has almost poisoned me and my husband, who is ill in bed in consequence of taking it.” Then turning to a woman that was near, she said, “Did not you see him give it to me?” but the woman walked away without speaking, and witness told the prisoner he would scorn to give a dog such a bottle as she described. At this moment William Duffield, the chief constable, came up and took the prisoner into custody. The witness went with William Duffield to search the prisoner’s house, when the following articles, being his property, were found: a camp-bed, a tea-caddy, a set of china, a barrel and a piece of cloth, a gown and a gown skirt, and a pair of pincers, two or three hatboxes, and a fender, and part of a sack in which some malt had been sent to her. Witness also stated, that he brought with him to Leeds, at the time the search was made, the honey pot which he took from the place where he had originally placed it, being apprehensive of falling, he gave it to Joseph Stockdale to bring with him; the honey was subsequently given by another witness into the hands of Mr. Chorley. On the conclusion of his examination, the prisoner asked several questions as to some money, which she stated to have paid for some of the articles found in his possession; but Wm. Perigo said, he had never received a single shilling for them: the prisoner also said that she had never given his wife any powders, or him any honey. The judge asked Wm. Perigo if he was certain of what he had advanced on these points, to whom he replied, “I’ll abide by it while I live, and I will abide by it in another world for ever.”

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:

ER: East Riding
GM: Greater Manchester
NR: North Riding
NY: North Yorkshire
SY: South Yorkshire
WR: West Riding
WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

A flacking is a palpitation, e.g. in Marshall’s Rural economy: “To FLACK: to flicker as a bird; to throb as a wound” (Marshall 1788). Vlacken is apparently used in more or less that sense in (late) medieval Dutch, but I only know it from later with an interpolated r, cognate with our flicker:

Hoe schoon blinckt daer den diamant,
Hoe soetjens flackeren de Saphieren,
Oock den Carbonckel triumphant,
Geeft licht in duysende manieren.
(Bybelsche historie liedekens (1655))

Bateman was hung on 20 March 1809 at York, despite falsely claiming to be pregnant. The only contemporary sympathy for her related to her daughter:

As soon as she returned to her cell [following sentence], she took her infant child and gave it breast, a circumstance which considerably affected the gaoler who attended her on this melancholy occasion… At five o’clock on Monday morning, she was removed from her cell, from her infant child–it lay asleep on the bed, unconscious of the dreadful fate of its mother. She stopt a moment, and kissed it for the last time; at this moment, if ever, she must have felt; her emotion might not be apparent, she might, by long habit, have been able to conceal the workings of her heart, but it must have been a moment of unutterable anguish (op. cit.).

She did not, however, die in vain:

The curiosity excited by the singularity and atrocity of her crimes, extended to the viewing of her lifeless remains; though the hearse did not reach Leeds until near midnight, it was met by a considerable number of people ; and so great was the general curiosity to see her, that the sum of thirty pounds was raised for the use of the General Infirmary, by receiving from each of the visitors the sum of threepence (op. cit.).

Wikipedia unfortunately makes much of Knipe, but I believe the following to be true:

Her body was dissected by William Hey, who spread the event across three days. On day one medical students paid to view the corpse, on day two “about 100 tickets were available to gentlemen [professional Leeds men] who paid five guineas”, and on day three women could buy a day ticket to attend Hey’s lectures on the body. Strips of her skin were tanned into leather and sold as magic charms to ward off evil spirits. The tip of her tongue was collected by the governor of Ripon Prison. Two books from the library of Mexborough House were covered in her skin – Sir John Cheeke’s Hurt of Sedition: How Grievous it is to a Common Welth (1569) and Richard Braithwaite’s Arcadian Princess (1635); the books went missing in the mid-nineteenth century (Wikipedia contributors 2021).

Susan Grace’s doctoral dissertation looks interesting (Grace 1998), but I haven’t had time.

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Original

[Trial evidence.]

William Perigo stated, that he lived at Bramley, was, or rather had been a clothier, and was 48 years of age; that his wife’s name was Rebecca Perigo; that he had been married twenty years to her, and that she was the same age as himself within a month; that his wife had, in general a very good state of health; was never confined a week to her bed on account of illness since they were married. In the spring of 1806, his wife complained of a flacking in her breast, whenever she lay down; remembers his niece, Mary Stead, calling at his house, and that in consequence of what she had told them, he went to the prisoner’s house, taking with him the under garment of his wife; that he found the prisoner at the door of her house, and on his inquiring for her said, she was the person. That this first meeting was at the latter end of July, 1806. Prisoner desired him to walk into the house, and asked him if he was Sarah Stead’s uncle, and if he had brought the flannel petticoat, to which he replied in the affirmative. Prisoner then said she would send it to Scarbro’ by that night’s post, to a lady she called Miss Blythe, and he, the witness, was to call again on Tuesday of Wednesday following. The first meeting was on a Saturday. Accordingly the witness went again to her house on the day appointed, when the prisoner informed him that she had received a letter from Miss Blythe of Scarbro,’ of what his wife was to do. The prisoner then read the letter to him, which directed Mary Bateman to go to W. Perigo’s house, at Bramley, and take with her four guinea notes, which she, Miss Blythe, had sent to her, and put them in the bed which Perigo and his wife slept in, one in each corner, and they were to remain there 18 months, or they would do no good at all; and that Wm. Perigo was to give her, the prisoner, four other guinea notes for them, which were to be sent to Miss Blythe, at Scarbro.’ The letter also stated, that his wife had broke the former charm by talking about it; and that she, Miss Blythe, would not take her under hand unless she would make her a promise never to mention a word of what was going on. This letter he said, was signed Miss Blythe. At this meeting, the prisoner agreed to meet the wife of the witness on Kirkstall-bridge, on the 4th of August, his wife went at the time appointed to meet her, but did not see her, and in the absence of his wife, Mary Bateman arrived. William Perigo went out to seek his wife, leaving the prisoner a considerable time in the house alone. (which time she probably employed in making an inventory of his furniture.) On the return of the witness and his wife, Mary Bateman said she was come to fulfil the directions of Miss Blythe’s letter; that she had brought with her four guinea notes, which she gave into the hands of Wm. Perigo, who examined them and saw they were real guinea notes, and William Perigo gave her four notes of the same value in return. Mary Bateman then proceeded, in the presence of Wm. Perigo and his wife, to sew the notes which were supposed to come from Miss Blythe, in four small silk bags. Witness was sure the notes were put into these small bags, and his wife opened the bed-tick and put in two of the silk bags, one in each corner, and himself did the same with the other two bags, conformable to the directions of the letter. Witness said he accompanied the prisoner part of the way home, who told him to call occasionally at her house when he came to Leeds, as there might be another letter from Miss Blythe. Witness proceeded to state, that in about a fortnight he received another letter from Miss Blythe, brought by the prisoner’s son to his house. This letter was unsealed. The letter stated, that Mary Bateman would come in a few days to his house, and that he was to get two small pieces of iron made in the shape of a horse shoe, but they were not to be made in the town of Bramley; that these horse-shoes were to be nailed on the door threshold by Mary Bateman, not with a hammer, but with the back part of a pair of pincers, which pincers were to be sent to Miss Blythe to Scarbro’. The prisoner came in a few days to execute these directions, and as William Perigo had not got the iron prepared, he went to Stanningley, a neighbouring village, and got them prepared during her stay, and on his return, Mary Bateman nailed them on in the manner directed by the letter, and W. Perigo carried the pincers to Leeds, to be sent by Mary Bateman to the place of their destination, where they were to remain until the expiration of the 18 months. In a fortnight or three weeks, the witness received another letter, to the following effect, which came by the postboy from Leeds, signed either M. Blythe or Miss Blythe, he could not say which, directed for Wm. Perigo, Bramley, near Leeds.

About the middle of Oct. 1806, he received the following Letters:

MY DEAR FRIEND.—You must go down to Mary Bateman’s, at Leeds, on Tuesday next, and carry two guinea notes with you and give her them and she will give you other two that I have sent to her from Scarbro’; and you must buy me a small cheese about six or eight pound weight, and it must be of your buying for it is for a particular use and it is to be carried down to Mary Bateman’s, and she will send it to me by the coach.—This letter is to be burnt when you have done reading it.

MY DEAR FRIEND.—You must go down to Mary Bateman’s on Tuesday next, and take four guineas notes with you and she will give you other four in exchange for them, which I have sent, and when you have read this letter it must be burned.

From the beginning of December, 1806, to the time he received the letter next inserted, he received a letter similar to the above about once a fortnight, sometimes by the prisoner’s son, and sometimes by the post, in which he was requested by Miss Blythe, (by which name they were all signed) to deliver various articles of furniture, wearing apparel, and other property; and also to pay different sums of money to the prisoner, to be sent to Miss Blythe, at Scarbro’, all of which were to be returned at the end of eighteen months from the 4th of August, 1806. During the above period, the witness paid to the prisoner various sums of money, amounting in the whole to about 70l.; and also delivered to her during the same period, the following articles:

LIST OF ARTICLES
Extorted from WILLIAM PERIGO by MARY BATEMAN, from December 1806, to April 1807.

One Goose.
Two Pairs of Men’s Shoes.
A Goose Pye.
A Tea Caddy.
Several Shirts.
A Counterpane.
A Piece of Woollen Cloth.
A Silk Handkerchief.
A Silk Shawl.
A Light Colored Gown skirt.
A Light Colored Cotton Gown.
Two Pillow Slips.
A New Waistcoat.
Sixty Pounds of Butter.
Seven Strokes of Meaļ.
Six Strokes of Malt.
A Quantity of Tea and Sugar.
Two or Three Hundred Eggs.
A Pair of Worsted Stockings.
A Pair of new Shoes.
A Pair of Black Silk Stockings.
Three Yards of Knaresbro’ Linen Cloth.
Ten Stones of Malt.
A piece of Beef.
Three Bottles of Spirits.
Two Table Cloths.
Two Barrels.
Two Napkins.

For all the money so paid, he received a small bag sewed up, containing, as he supposed, a sum equal to that he had paid. For instance; if he paid Mary Bateman two guineas, he received a bag containing the same sum; if a guinea in gold, the same, and so on; and that these bags were put into the bed as they were received, with a strict injunction that they were not to be looked at until the expiration of the stipulated period, or it might kill them all.

(The Judge here said, he thought it was not necessary to go into the whole transactions of the eighteen months, but that the Council for the prosecution had better select such instances as they thought most for their purpose.)

In March 1807, he received a letter purporting (as all the letters did,) to come from Miss Blythe, to the following effect:

MY DEAR FRIENDS.–I will be obliged to you if you will let me have half a dozen of your china, three silver spoons, half a pound of tea, two pounds of loaf sugar, and a tea cannister to put the tea in, or else it will not do–I durst not drink out of my own china, You must burn this with a candle.*

About the beginning of April, 1807, he received the following letter, with the Scarbro’ post mark:

MY DEAR FRIENDS.—I will be obliged to you if you will buy me a camp bedstead, bed and bedding, a blanket, a pair of sheets, and a long bolster must come from your house.—You need not buy the best feathers, common ones will do.—I have laid on the floor for three nights, and I cannot lay on my own bed owing to the planets being so bad concerning your wife, and I must have one of your buying or it will not do.-You must bring down the china, the sugar, the caddy, the three silver spoons and the tea at the same time when you buy the bed, and pack them up altogether.—My brother’s boat will be up in a day or two, and I will order my brother’s boatman to call for them all at Mary Bateman’s, and you must give Mary Bateman one shilling for the boatman, and I will place it to your account. Your wife must burn this as soon as it is read or it will not do.*

In compliance with the directions of the above letter, he stated, that he purchased the articles therein-mentioned; that the prisoner went with him; that he bought the bed and bedstead of a Mr. Dobbin, in Kirkgate, and the furniture, &c. of a Mr. Musgrave, of the same place; that the bed was sent to Mr. Sutton’s, Lion and Lamb, Kirkgate, where it was to remain until called for by a boatman of the brother of Miss Blythe, who was to convey it to her. The person of whom it was purchased, observed, that it was a strange thing to send a bed so far. A set of china was also sent to Miss Blythe, and a tea-caddy, and a number of other articles, amounting in the whole to 15 or 10l, the bed cost 8l., these articles were all sent previous to the middle of April, 1807; and all the letters referred to had been burnt either by himself or by Mary Bateman, at her house, in his presence. The witness proceeded to state, that he received a letter brought by the prisoner’s boy, about the middle of April, 1807. This letter was to the following effect:

MY DEAR FRIENDS,—I am sorry to tell you, you will take an illness in the month of May next, either t’one or both, but I think both, but the works of God must have its course—You will escape the chambers of the grave, tho’ you seem to be dead yet you will live—Your wife must take half a pound of honey down from Bramley to Mary Bateman’s at Leeds, and it must remain there till you go down yourself, and she will put in such like stuff as I have sent from Scarbro’ to her, and she will put it in when you come down, and see her yourself or it will not do. You must eat pudding for six days, and you must put in such like stuff as I have sent to Mary Bateman from Scarbro’, and she will give your wife it, but you must not begin to eat of this pudding while I let you know. If ever you find yourselves sickly at any time, you must take each of you a tea-spoonful of this honey, I will remit 20l. to you on the 20th day of May, and it will pay a little of what you owe.—You must bring this down to Mary Bateman’s and burn it at her house when you come down the next time.*

In consequence of the destruction of this letter not being proved, and no notice to produce it having been given to the prisoner, the judge said the contents of the letter could not be given in evidence. The same informality prevented all the letters marked with an asterisk from being received.

Pursuant to the directions in this letter, witness stated, that his wife took the honey to Mary Bateman’s, that when she returned she brought six powders with her; the witness went to Mary Bateman’s house, and talked to her about the letter he had received, and said it was a queerish thing that Miss Blythe should be able to foresee that they should be ill; Mary Bateman said, the Miss Blythe knew every thing relating to him, but if they followed her directions all would be well. The prisoner also told him that they were to do with the powders each day as they were marked, or it would kill them all. The prisoner then mixed a powder in the honey in his presence, and he took the honey home.

On the fifth of May witness received another letter from Miss Blythe, which after reading once or twice over and copying a few lines from it, he afterwards destroyed; he said the copy he had taken was also destroyed, the witness was then desired to state the contents of this letter, which he recited as he did all the letters that had been destroyed, from memory, as follows:

MY DEAR FRIENDS – You must begin to eat pudding on the 11th of May, and you must put one of the powders in every day as they are marked, for six days—and you must see it put in yourself every day or else it will not do. If you find yourselves sickly at any time you must not have no doctor, for it will not do, and you must not let the boy that used to eat with you eat of that pudding for six days; and you must make only just as much as you can eat yourselves, if there is any left it will not do. You must keep the door fast as much as possible or you will be overcome by some enemy. Now think on and take my directions or else it will kill us all. About the 25th of May I will come to Leeds and send for your wife to Mary Bateman’s; your wife will take me by the hand and say, “God bless you that I ever found you out.” It has pleased God to send me into the world that I might destroy the works of darkness; I call them the works of darkness because they are dark to you.–now mind what I say whatever you do.–This letter must be burnt in straw on the hearth by your wife.

The witness proceeded to state, that in consequence of these directions on the 11th of May, Monday, they began to eat of the pudding, a powder being put in each day as marked on the paper, and that they found no particular taste in the pudding for five days. And that on Saturday the witness was coming to Leeds, without seeing the powder put in, when his wife reminded him, that it was necessary he should see it put in. Witness said his wife had made the pudding earlier than usual for that purpose. Witness saw the powder put in which was four or five times larger than any other powders. On his return from Leeds, about twenty minutes after twelve o’clock, his wife had prepared a small cake from some of the dough, which was left after making the pudding, which she broke in two pieces, and one of which he eat. Witness said the cake tasted very keen, and observed to his wife, if the pudding tasted as bad he would not eat it. When the pudding was ready he eat a single mouthful, but it was so nauseous that he could eat no more of it, his wife however swallowed three or four mouthfuls, but was unable to eat more, and she carried the pudding into the cellar, and was there seized with the most violent vomitings. His wife said this was the illness predicted by Miss Blythe, and they should take the honey. Witness took two spoonfuls of it, and his wife took six or seven, this made them worse than before. The vomiting continued incessantly for twenty-four hours; his wife would not hear of a Doctor being sent for, as that was contrary to Miss Blythe’s directions, who had assured them that their sickness should not be unto death, and though they might seem to be dead, yet should they live, for that she was to destroy the works of darkness. Witness said a violent heat came out of his month, which was very sore, that his lips were black, and that he had a most violent pain in his head twenty times worse than a common head-ache, every thing appeared green to him. Witness had also a violent complaint in his bowels: he could eat nothing for several days, and began to get better only by hair breadths. The witness then proceeded to detail the symptoms of his wife, which were similar to his own, only more violent, her tongue swelled so that she could not shut her mouth, she was constantly thirsty, entirely lost her strength, and expired on Sunday the 24th of May. Before she died he sent for Mr. [Thomas] Chorley, a surgeon from Leeds, but as she died before his arrival, a messenger was sent to acquaint him with this circumstance, and therefore he did not come. His wife before she died made him promise, not to be rash with Mary Bateman, but to wait the appointed time. Witness himself went to Mr. Chorley on the day after the death of his wife; Mr. Chorley having examined him, and heard his account of the symptoms, expressed his opinion that he had received poison into his stomach. Witness said his wife was perfectly well immediately before eating of the pudding, on Saturday. By the directions of Mr. Chorley a paste was made of the flour of which their pudding had been made from, and given to a fowl, but it received no injury, and the witness said it was alive to this day. A part of the fatal pudding was also given to a cat, which it poisoned, but the result of this experiment was detailed by another witness.

Witness now went into a detail of transactions subsequent to the death of his wife. In the month of June, a short time after that event the witness went to the prisoner’s house, and acquainted her with the death of his wife, and told her he was sorry they had not a doctor when they were sick, but they did according to the directions of the letter; Mary Bateman said, “Perhaps you did not lick up all the honey as directed in the letter” and I said, “no, I’am afraid it is that honey that has done our job.” Prisoner asked what he meant, he replied if they had not been directed to apply to the honey; that he should have got a doctor. Prisoner said he had made her very unhappy, and that if he would bring the honey down she would lick it up before his face and satisfy him.

About the beginning of June, Perigo received a letter to the following effect, purporting to be from Miss Blythe:

MY DEAR FRIEND.—I am sorry to tell you that your wife should touch of those things which I ordered her not, and for that reason it has caused her death; it had likened to have killed me at Scarbrough and Mary Bateman at Leeds, and you and all, and for this reason, she will rise from the grave, she will stroke your face with her right hand, and you will lose the use of one side, but I will pray for you. I would not have you to go to no doctor for it will not do. I would bave you to eat and drink what you like and you will be better. Now, my dear friend, take my directions, do, and it will be better for you.–Pray God bless you. Amen. Amen. You must burn this letter immediately after it is read.*

Soon after this witness was ordered by Mr Chorley to Buxton, and having on his return called on the prisoner, she expressed her surprise that he should have gone to a doctor, contrary to Miss Blythe’s command, and had she known he had been going to Buxton, she would have given him a bottle that would have cured him on the road.

After his return from Buxton he received a letter in substance as follows:

MY DEAR FRIEND.–I was looking at your planet and I saw you was coming home from Buxton, if you had stopped a few days longer there I should have had the pleasure of seeing you there. I have happened a misfortune at Scarbro’. A air balloon was setting off there, I was riding with my brother in a whiskey [a one-horse shay], and the horse took fright and threw us over and I got lamed in the hip, and I saw it good for me to go to Buxton, my sister is going with me and we shall take shipping at Scarboro’ to go to Liverpool for my sister comes from there, and I sent to Mary Bateman’s for the veil that covered Mary Bateman’s child’s face when it was born, for no ship will sink when they have such a thing in it for the roads between Liverpool and Scarbro’ are so difficult. I will send you a few lines when I get there. This letter must be burned as the other.*

In September 1807, he received a letter to the following effect, dated Buxton:

MY DEAR FRIEND.—I will be obliged to you to send me one of your wife’s gowns, and you must carry it down to Mary Bateman’s at Leeds, and an express officer’s servant from Buxton will call for it there, and I shall get it safe. I have sent this letter in another I sent to my cousin Wilkinson near Wibsey, and told him to put it into the Post Office at Bradford, and I knew you would get it soon.

In October he received the following:

MY DEAR FRIEND.—I am sorry to tell you, that you should send me such a shabby gown as this; when I know you had better, for I want one to appear in company in at times; owing to the planets, concerning your wife’s death, I will be obliged to you if you will send me one of your wife’s best gowns, a petticoat, or a skirt, whether you please, and your family bible, for it is for me to sit upon in the coach, when I come from Buxton to Manchester to meet you there, and I will let you know when you are to come, you must send the parcel down to Leeds, by the carrier, and an express officer’s servant from Buxton will send a woman for it, and he will enter it in at Leeds, and I shall get it safe.

The next demand was made in the following letter received in the same month:

MY DEAR FRIEND.—I will be obliged to you if you will let the old woman have a guinea and a half to buy a waggon of coals with to warm my house, and they are to be bought at Mr. Penton’s, near Leeds, or else it will not do.*

Another demand was made in October in the following letter:

MY DEAR FRIEND.—I will be obliged to you if you will let the old woman have one stone and a half of four; four ounces of tea, a pound or two of sugar, and a quantity of eggs, and you must blow one of the eggs and put a guinea note into the inside of the shell, it is for a particular use, I have sent this letter in the inside of a box of clothes to the old woman at my house.*

The only two letters which Perigo had preserved were produced in court for the purpose of proving the handwriting of Mary Bateman, which was done by Mr. Wright, wheelwright, of Leeds who said he had known the prisoner 17 years, and was acquainted wih her handwriting, and that the letters shown to him were of her writing. These letters purported to come from Miss Blythe; the following are literal copies of them:

August 12, 1808.
MY DEAR FRIEND.–I send you these few lines to let you know that I shall get to Wittwell in Boland on Friday next, so I could wish make yourself happy thou love of mine, till thou see me tap thy shoulder for it would not do for the to know the moment, for it would put the in such fear and do not let Mary reed this letter of freedoms, for I have not wrote to her of a long time, and for her husband is not likely to get no better and he says it is long of you and wont hardly let her stur, you may tell her to make her self easy on me not sending to her, it is for a reason, now mind and bury this near the other. I have sent this by a drover, which he promised me to put into the post. I gave him a shilling, he is going to shear in the low country and I told him I would see him near Leeds as he came back, now mind what I say and be looking for me and do not seam fluttered when I hit you the tap. God bless you. Amen and Amen.

August 28, 1808.
MY DEAR FRIEND.–I could wish you to make yourself content as possible you can aboute your concerns, for I will right all when I come to you which I hope will be soon but I want to settle some Business with my unckiel Wilkinson as soon as he comes out of Iarland, for if I was to come before he would not settle my rightings and I have expected him a month, but as soon as he lands I can tell by his planet, but not till then, so you may look for a leter end of next week after and then me, for as soon as he come I will satle and come to you, with Goy never to part, with 1000 pounds for you. God bless you and comfort you in distress, now look for the leter for your relations is the worst. I sent a line to Mary at the same time By the same Man and desired him to get mary son to come and show him were you live that came for Aples to Leeds; now look for my tap when you get the other leter.

The last letter witness received was in September 1808, and was to the following effect:

MY DEAR FRIEND–I am sorry to tell you, that you should think so much evil of Mary Bateman, when she has been such a trusty servant to you. I wonder that you should think that I have destroyed your property, to think what I have done for you, it has cost mě many a hundred pounds; and it is the last time that I shall take any one under hand again for it has nearly killed me. You must burn this letter at some public house in Leeds, and get a pint of beer, and burn the letter in the same fire at the house you get the beer.*

William Perigo proceeded to relate, that on the 19th of October, 1808, he opened the bed in which all the bags were sewed up, and having opened the whole of them, he found no money whatever. In the bags in which he expected to find guinea notes he found only waste paper, and where he expected to find gold he found only a halfpenny or a farthing. But the four silk bags in which he saw four guinea notes put, he could not find at all, nor could he give any account how or where they were gone. Upon making this discovery, the witness went to Leeds, and saw Mary Bateman, and said to her, “I am sorry to think you should use me in this manner,” to which she replied “How?” He then said, “I have opened the bags and there is nothing in them but bits of lead, plain paper, bad halfpennys and bad farthings,” at which she did not seem at all surprised, but said, “you have opened them too soon,” he answered, “I think it is too late.” He then said he would come down to her house in the morning with two or three men and have things settled. The prisoner begged that he would not, and said, if he would appoint a time and place to meet alone, she would satisfy him; to this the witness consented, and the Leeds and Liverpool canal bank near the bridge, was fixed as the place of meeting. The witness was here asked if he had at the last meeting given the prisoner any bottle, he said he had not. The witness then proceeded to state, that he met the prisoner the next morning, and that two persons accompanied him, who kept at some distance. When he saw the prisoner he told her he had brought two persons with him. Prisoner then sat down upon a stone, and pretended to vomit, and said, “that bottle which you gave me yesterday night has almost poisoned me and my husband, who is ill in bed in consequence of taking it;” then turning to a woman that was near, she said, “did not you see him give it to me?” but the woman walked away without speaking, and witness told the prisoner he would scorn to give a dog such a bottle as she described; at this moment Wm. Duffield, the chief constable, came up and took the prisoner into custody. The witness went with Wm. Duffield to search the prisoner’s house, when the following articles, being his property, were found: a camp-bed, a tea-caddy, a set of china, a barrel and a piece of cloth, a gown and a gown skirt, and a pair of pincers, two or three hatboxes, and a fender, and part of a sack in which some malt had been sent to her. Witness also stated, that he brought with him to Leeds, at the time the search was made, the honey pot which he took from the place where he had originally placed it, being apprehensive of falling, he gave it to Joseph Stockdale to bring with him; the honey was subsequently given by another witness into the hands of Mr. Chorley. On the conclusion of his examination, the prisoner asked several questions as to some money, which she stated to have paid for some of the articles found in his possession; but Wm. Perigo said, he had never received a single shilling for them: the prisoner also said that she had never given his wife any powders, or him any honey. The judge asked Wm. Perigo if he was certain of what he had advanced on these points, to whom he replied, “I’ll abide by it while I live, and I will abide by it in another world for ever.” The examination of Wm. Perigo occupied upwards of four hours.

5635 words.