The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.Pelham, Camden
History
The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.
Pelham, Camden
Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England)
This unhappy young woman, who at the period of her death was only
twenty-two years of age, was born of respectable parents, in the county
of Durham, in the year 1711; but her father having, through his
extravagance, spent the whole of the property which he possessed, she
was at length compelled to resort to what is commonly called
"servitude," for the means of subsistence. In this condition for several
years she conducted herself extremely well; but at length being employed
at the Black Horse, a low public-house in Boswell-court, near
Temple-bar, which up to the present day has been constantly the
notorious resort of persons of bad character, she formed connexions of
no very creditable class, by whom she was led on to her ruin. Having at
length quitted the Black Horse, she was recommended as a laundress to
take charge of chambers in the Inns of Court; and amongst those for whom
she there worked, was a Mrs. Lydia Duncomb, a lady nearly eighty years
of age, who occupied a set of chambers in the Temple; Elizabeth
Harrison, aged sixty, and Ann Price, aged seventeen, living with her in
the capacity of servants. This lady being reputed to be very rich, a
scheme was formed by Sarah Malcolm of robbing her chambers; her object
being, it was supposed, by the acquisition of wealth, to make herself a
fitting match for a young man named Alexander, who she hoped would marry
her.
The night of Saturday, 3d February, 1733, was fixed upon by her for the
commission of the robbery; and Martha Tracy, a woman of light character,
her paramour Alexander, and his brother, were to be her assistants in
the execution of the project. Malcolm, by means of her acquaintance with
the chambers, obtained possession of the keys of the outer door in the
course of the day, and at night the robbery was effected, but with it
the murder also of Mrs. Duncomb and her servants Harrison and Price. On
the Sunday morning some surprise was excited on its being observed that
none of Mrs. Duncomb's family were to be seen; and at length, as the day
advanced, great alarm was exhibited, and suspicions were entertained
that all was not right. Mrs. Love, Mrs. Rhymer, and Mrs. Oliphant,
friends of Mrs. Duncomb, assembled in the afternoon at the door of her
chambers, in obedience to an invitation which they had received to
dinner; but being unable to gain admittance by knocking, they at length
determined to force an entrance. One of the windows was resorted to for
this purpose, to which access was obtained from a neighbouring set of
chambers; and then, on Mrs. Oliphant going into Mrs. Duncomb's bed-room,
the old lady was found there strangled, while her servant Harrison was
discovered in an adjoining apartment also strangled, and the girl Price
was seen lying on her bed with her throat cut from ear to ear. The news
of this diabolical crime soon became published through the
neighbourhood; and the chambers of the deceased being examined, it was
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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