There was, it will be seen, but very little doubt of Sarah Malcolm's
guilt. According to the reports of her trial, however, she fought
fiercely for her life, questioning the witnesses closely. Some of them,
such as could remember small points against her, but who failed in
recollection of the colour of her dress or of the exact number of the
coins said to be lost, she vehemently denounced.
One of the Newgate turnkeys told how some of the missing money was
discovered. Being brought from the Compter to Newgate, Sarah happened to
see a room in which debtors were confined. She asked the turnkey, Roger
Johnson, if she could be kept there. Johnson replied that it would cost
her a guinea, but that from her appearance it did not look to him as if
she could afford so much. Sarah seems to have bragged then, saying that
if the charge was twice or thrice as much she could send for a friend
who would pay it. Her attitude probably made the turnkey suspicious.
At any rate, after Sarah had mixed for some time with the felons in the
prison taproom, Johnson called her out and, lighting the way by use of a
link, led her to an empty room.
"Child," he said, "there is reason to suspect that you are guilty of
this murder, and therefore I have orders to search you." He had, he
admitted, no such orders. He felt under her arms; whereupon she started
and threw back her head. Johnson clapped his hand on her head and felt
something hard. He pulled off her cap, and found a bag of money in her
hair.
"I asked her," Johnson said in the witness-box, "how she came by it,
and she said it was some of Mrs Duncomb's money. 'But, Mr Johnson,' says
she, 'I'll make you a present of it if you will keep it to yourself, and
let nobody know anything of the matter. The other things against me
are nothing but circumstances, and I shall come well enough off. And
therefore I only desire you to let me have threepence or sixpence a
day till the sessions be over; then I shall be at liberty to shift for
myself.'"
To the best of his knowledge, said this turnkey, having told the money
over, there were twenty moidores, eighteen guineas, five broad pieces,
a half-broad piece, five crowns, and two or three shillings. He
thought there was also a twenty-five-shilling piece and some others,
twenty-three-shilling pieces. He had sealed them up in the bag, and
there they were (producing the bag in court).
The court asked how she said she had come by the money.
Johnson's answer was that she had said she took the money and the bag
from Mrs Duncomb, and that she had begged him to keep it secret. "My
dear," said this virtuous gaoler, "I would not secrete the money for the
world.
"She told me, too," runs Johnson's recorded testimony, "that she had
hired three men to swear the tankard was her grandmother's, but could
not depend on them: that the name of one was William Denny, another was
Smith, and I have forgot the third. After I had taken the money away she
put a piece of mattress in her hair, that it might appear of the same
bulk as before. Then I locked her up and sent to Mr Alstone, and told
him the story. 'And,' says I, 'do you stand in a dark place to be
witness of what she says, and I'll go and examine her again."'
Sarah interrupted: "I tied my handkerchief over my hair to hide the
money, but Buck,[19] happening to see my hair fall down, he told
Johnson; upon which Johnson came to see me and said, 'I find the cole's
planted in your hair. Let me keep it for you and let Buck know nothing
about it.' So I gave Johnson five broad pieces and twenty-two guineas,
not gratis, but only to keep for me, for I expected it to be returned
when sessions was over. As to the money, I never said I took it from
Mrs Duncomb; but he asked me what they had to rap against me. I told him
only a tankard. He asked me if it was Mrs Duncomb's, and I said yes."
The Court: "Johnson, were those her words: 'This is the money and bag
that I took'?"