The story of Mary East is a pitiful one, and gives a picture of
the civil life of the eighteenth century which cannot be lightly
forgotten. The condition of things has so changed that already we
almost need a new terminology in order that we may understand as our
great-grandfathers did. Take for instance the following sentence and
try individually how many points in it there are, the full meaning of
which we are unable to understand:
“A young fellow courted one Mary East, and for him she conceived the
greatest liking; but he going upon the highway, was tried for a robbery
and cast, but was afterwards transported.”
The above was written by an accomplished scholar, a Doctor of Divinity,
rector of an English parish. At the time of its writing, 1825, every
word of it was entirely comprehensible. If a reader of that time could
see it translated into modern phraseology he would be almost as much
surprised as we are when we look back upon an age holding possibilities
no longer imaginable.
“Going upon the highway” was in Mary East’s time and a hundred years
later a euphemism for becoming a highway robber; “cast” meant condemned
to death; “transported” meant exiled to a far distant place where one
was guarded, and escape from which was punishable with death. Moreover
robbery was at this time a capital offence.
In 1736, when Mary East was sixteen, life was especially hard on women.
Few honest occupations were open to them, and they were subject to all
the hardships consequent on a system in which physical weakness was
handicapped to a frightful extent. When this poor girl was bereft of
her natural hope of a settlement in life she determined, as the least
unattractive form of living open to her, to remain single. About the
same time a friend of hers arrived at the same resolution but by a
different road, her course being guided thereto by having “met with
many crosses in love.” The two girls determined to join forces; and
on consulting as to ways and means decided that the likeliest way to
avoid suspicion was to live together under the guise of man and wife.
The toss of a coin decided their respective rôles, the “breeches part”
as it is called in the argot of the theatre, falling to East. The
combined resources of the girls totalled some thirty pounds sterling,
so after buying masculine garb for Mary they set out to find a place
where they were unknown and so might settle down in peace. They found
the sort of place they sought in the neighbourhood of Epping Forest
where, there being a little public-house vacant, Mary--now under the
name of James How--became the tenant. For some time they lived in peace
at Epping, with the exception of a quarrel forced by a young gentleman
on the alleged James How in which the latter was wounded in the hand.
It must have been a very one-sided affair, for when the injured “man”
took action he was awarded £500 damages--a large sum in those days
and for such a cause. With this increase to their capital the two
women moved to Limehouse on the east side of London where they took at
Limehouse-hole a more important public-house. This they managed in so
excellent a manner that they won the respect of their neighbours and
throve exceedingly.
After a time they moved from Limehouse to Poplar where they bought
another house and added to their little estate by the purchase of other
houses.
Peace, hard work, and prosperity marked their life thence-forward, till
fourteen years had passed since the beginning of their joint venture.
Peace and prosperity are, however, but feeble guardians to weakness.
Nay, rather are they incentive to evil doing. For all these years
the two young women had conducted themselves with such rectitude,
and observed so much discretion, that even envy could not assail
them through the web of good repute which they had woven round their
masquerade. Alone they lived, keeping neither female servant nor male
assistant. They were scrupulously honest in their many commercial
dealings and, absolutely punctual in their agreements and obligations.
James How took a part in the public life of his locality, filling in
turn every parish office except those of Constable and Churchwarden.
From the former he was excused on account of the injury to his hand
from which he had never completely recovered. Regarding the other his
time had not yet come, but he was named for Churchwarden in the year
following to that in which a bolt fell from the blue, 1730. It came
in this wise: A woman whose name of coverture was Bently, and who was
now resident in Poplar, had known the alleged James How in the days
when they were both young. Her own present circumstances were poor
and she looked on the prosperity of her old acquaintance as a means
to her own betterment. It was but another instance of the old crime
of “blackmail.” She sent to the former Mary East for a loan of £10,
intimating that if the latter did not send it she would make known the
secret of her sex. The poor panic-stricken woman foolishly complied
with the demand, thus forcing herself deeper into the mire of the other
woman’s unscrupulousness. The forced loan, together with Bently’s
fears for her own misdeed procured immunity for some fifteen years from
further aggression. At the end of that time, however, under the renewed
pressure of need Bently repeated her demand. “James How” had not the
sum by her, but she sent £5--another link in the chain of her thraldom.
From that time on there was no more peace for poor Mary East. Her
companion of nearly thirty-five years died and she, having a secret
to guard and no assistance being possible, was more helpless than
ever and more than ever under the merciless yoke of the blackmailer.
Mrs. Bently had a fair idea of how to play her own despicable game.
As her victim’s fear was her own stock-in-trade she supplemented the
sense of fear which she knew to exist by a conspiracy strengthened by
all sorts of schemes to support its seeming _bona fides_. She took
in two male accomplices and, thus enforced, began operations. Her
confederates called on James How, one armed with a constable’s staff,
the other appearing as one of the “thief-takers” of the gang of the
notorious magistrate, Fielding--an evil product of an evil time. Having
confronted How they told him that they had come by order of Mr. Justice
Fielding to arrest him for the commission of a robbery over forty years
before, alleging that they were aware of his being a woman. Mary East,
though quite innocent of any such offence but acutely conscious of her
imposture of manhood, in her dismay sought the aid of a friend called
Williams who understood and helped her. He went to the magistrates
of the district and then to Sir John Fielding to make inquiries and
claim protection. During his absence the two villains took Mary East
from her house and by threats secured from her a draft on Williams
for £100. With this in hand they released their victim who was even
more anxious than themselves not to let the matter have greater
publicity than it had already obtained. However, Justice demanded a
further investigation, and one of the men being captured--the other
had escaped--was tried, and being found guilty, was sentenced to
imprisonment for four years together with four appearances in the
pillory.
Altogether Mary East and her companion had lived together as husband
and wife for nearly thirty-five years, during which time they had
honestly earned, and by self-denial saved, over four thousand pounds
sterling and won the good opinion of all with whom they had come in
contact. They were never known to cook a joint of meat for their own
use, to employ any help, or to entertain private friends in their
house. They were cautious, careful, and discreet in every way and
seemed to live their lives in exceeding blamelessness.