very bad. I stayed a little while with her, and
went down, and Mary Tracey and the two
Alexanders came to me about ten o'clock, according
to appointment. She would have gone about the
robbery just then, but I said it was too soon.
Between ten and eleven she said, 'We can do it
now.' I told her I would go and see, and so I
went up-stairs, and they followed me. I met
the young maid on the stairs with a blue mug;
she was going for some milk to make a sack
posset. She asked me who those were that came
after me? I told her they were people going to
Mr. Knight's below. As soon as she was gone,
I said to Mary Tracey, 'Now do you and Tom
Alexander go down; I know the door is left
ajar, because the old maid is ill, and can't get
up to let the young maid in when she comes
back.' Upon that, James Alexander, by my
order, went in and hid himself under the
bed; and, as I was going down myself, I
met the young maid coming up again.
She asked me if I had spoke to Mrs.
Betty? I told her no; though I should
have told her otherwise, but only that I was
afraid she might say something to Mrs. Betty
about me, and Mrs. Betty might tell her I had
not been there, and so they might have a
suspicion of me. I passed her and went down,
and spoke with Tracey and Alexander, and then
went to my master's chambers, and stirred up
the fire. I stayed about a quarter of an hour,
and when I came back, I saw Tracey and Tom
Alexander sitting on Mrs. Duncomb's stairs,
and I sat down with them. At twelve
o'clock we heard some people walking, and by-
and-by Mr. Knight came home, went to his room,
and shut the door. It was a very stormy night;
there was hardly anybody stirring abroad, and
the watchmen kept up close, except just when
they cried the hour. At two o'clock another
gentleman came and called the watch to light
his candle, upon which I went further up-stairs,
and soon after this I heard Mrs. Duncomb's
door open; James Alexander came out, and
said, 'Now is the time.' Then Mary Tracey
and Thomas Alexander went in, but I stayed
upon the stairs to watch. I had told them
where Mrs. Duncomb's box stood. They came
out between four and five, and one of them
called to me softly, and said, 'Hip! how shall I
shut the door?' Says I, 'Tis a spring lock; pull
it to, and it will be fast;' and so one of them
did. They would have shared the money and
goods upon the stairs, but I told them we had
better go down; so we went under the arch by
Fig-tree-court, where there was a lamp; I
asked them how much they had got. They said,
they had found fifty guineas and some silver in
the maid's purse; about one hundred pounds in
the chest of drawers, besides the silver tankard,
and the money in the box, and several other
things; so that all in all they had got to the value
of about three hundred pounds in money and
goods. They told me they had been forced to
gag the people; they gave me the tankard, with
what was in it, and some linen, for my share,
and they had a silver spoon and a ring, and the
rest of the money among themselves. They
advised me to be cunning, and plant the money
and goods underground, and not be seen to be
flush; then we appointed to meet at Greenwich,
but we did not go.

"I was taken in the manner the witnesses
have sworn, and carried to the watch-house,
from whence I was sent to the Compter, and so
to Newgate. I own that, I said the tankard
was mine, and that it was left me by my mother:
several witnesses have swore what account I
gave of the tankard being bloody; I had hurt
my finger, and that was the occasion of it. I
am sure of death, and therefore have no
occasion to speak anything but the truth. When I
was in the Compter, I happened to see a young
man, whom I knew, with a fetter on: I told
him I was sorry to see him there, and I gave
him a shilling, and called for half a quartern of
rum to make him drink. I afterwards went
into my room, and heard a voice call me, and
perceived something poking behind the curtain.
I was a little surprised, and looking to see what
it was, I found a hole in the wall, through
which the young man I had given the shilling
to spoke to me, and asked me if I had sent for
my friends; I told him, no. He said he would
do what he could for me, and so went away;
and some time after he called to me again, and
said, 'Here's a friend.' I looked through, and
saw Will Gibbs come in; says he, 'Who is
there to swear against you?' I told him my two
masters would be the chief witnesses; 'And
what can they charge you with?' says he. I
told him the tankard was the only thing, for
there was nothing else that I thought could
hurt me. 'Never fear, then,' says he, 'we'll do
well enough; we will get them that will rap
the tankard was your grandmother's, and that
you was in Shoreditch the night the fact was
committed; and we'll have two men that shall
shoot your two masters.' 'But,' says he, 'one
of the witnesses is a woman, and she won't
swear under four guineas; but the men will
swear for two guineas apiece,' and he brought
a woman and three men; I gave them ten
guineas, and they promised to wait for me at
the Bull Head, in Bread-street; but when I
called for them, when I was going before Sir
Richard Brocas, they were not there. Then I
found I should be sent to Newgate, and I was
full of anxious thoughts; but a young man
told me I had better go to the Whit (Newgate)
than to the Compter.

"When I came to Newgate, I had but
eighteen-pence in silver, besides the money
in my hair, and I gave eighteen-pence for my
garnish; I was ordered to a high place in the
jail. Buck, as I said before, having seen my
hair loose, told Johnson of it, and Johnson
asked me if I had got any cole planted there?
He searched and found the bag, and there was in
it thirty-six moidores, eighteen guineas, five
crown-pieces, two half crowns, two broad pieces
of twenty-five shillings, four of twenty-three
shillings and one half broad piece. He told
me I must be cunning and not be seen