The Potato Factory

'You may stand down, Mrs Solomon.' The magistrate was not in the least affected by Ha

'Robert Matthew Marley will take the stand!'

Ha

The charges against Marley were summarily dismissed and the magistrate called for Ha

Ha

'And you did not think to ask Mr Marley for a receipt as proof that he'd made a legitimate purchase as you requested?'

'Yer worship, I were most pleased what Mr Marley 'ad done, knowin' as 'ow I 'ad served me 'usband's request wif promptness and exactitude. I am not accustomed to the ways o' doin' business, bein' a poor woman what knows nuffink about such things as bills and receipts and the general goin's on o' commerce!'

The magistrate snorted loudly. Ha

Ha

Finally the magistrate picked up a document and began to read.

'Ha

'Thank you, yer worship,' Ha

But the magistrate held up his hand to stay her. 'If you please…' He picked up another document and began to read again. 'Ha

Ha

'Not guilty, yer worship,' she said, then added in a whisper, 'Oh, me Gawd!'

Chapter Twenty-two

The first of the autumn leaves were starting to turn in Hyde Park and the geese on the Serpentine, plump with summer feeding, were increasingly feeling the primal urge to migrate to a warmer clime. On the 13th of September 1827, Ha

If her sentence at the Old Bailey to fourteen years' transportation appears rather too harsh, for a crime so small, it may be supposed that much frustration had gone before it in the many unsuccessful attempts to trap both Ha

Ikey's escape to New York, as proved by the evidence of his letter to his wife, was reported in The Times and was blown up to exaggerated proportions in the pe

To Ha

On hearing her sentence Ha

Whereupon the judge, to prove that the severity of the law may be tempered by compassion, gave permission for her children to accompany her to Australia so as to be under her fostering care.

The Mermaid, carrying Ha

The voyage proved no better or worse than most. There was the usual sea sickness, bouts of catarrh and rheumatism brought about by the dampness between decks on the voyage to Tenerife. These ailments soon yielded with the coming of the sun, though an obstinate form of constipation remained. This was thought to be due to the fact that the Irish women on board, as was the custom in Irish prisons, received only gruel and milk. Now the introduction of salt and beef and pork to their shipboard diet proved most deleterious to their unaccustomed stomachs.

As is always the case, bickering, fights, bad behaviour and thieving among the women prisoners were much in evidence. In the matter of whoring, though, which was known to plague even the most watchful of voyages, Ha

This 'co-operation' had come about when Ha

Other than in matters of punishment, there are only two other aspects of life on board a convict ship which it is in the power of someone to improve, these being the daily tasks allocated to the prisoners and the nature of the food. Ha

It was a relatively easy matter for her to be appointed a monitor in charge of the more profligate and wayward of the female prisoners. The next step was one to which she was most accustomed as a whore mistress and governess of a brothel. She quickly organised a discreet service in which the chief steward acted as go-between and which both the co-operating prisoners and crew soon found to be greatly advantageous. The officers and crew received sexual favours which were arranged with a simple payment to the steward, and the prisoner-prostitutes were allocated pleasant duties and extra rations of food and beverages.