Assessment Task 2: Write a short narrative focussing on one person, place time or event from your family history. I wrote about Uriah Moses.
Word limit 1,000 words.
Point of no return
One silly mistake
changed my life. It should have been easy. Just cut a hole in the window, retrieve
as many items as possible, then take the goods to the Benjamin
house.
When Mrs Benjamin suggested
the idea to the three of us we jumped at the opportunity to earn a little
money. Finding a job was not an easy task. For three years I worked for Henry
Jacobs learning about glass, including how to cut glass with a diamond. But
once I turned fifteen I was out on the street looking for work once more.
The chosen time was six
o’clock on Friday evening, 8 December 1798 to be exact. A date I will not
forget. Being winter, it was totally dark as sunset was before four o’clock.
Most people were indoors, especially in this Jewish community where the Sabbath
was usually strictly observed. It was unlikely that we would be noticed.
Cutting a hole in the window with a diamond rather than breaking the glass
would also reduce the chance of anyone hearing us.
What could go wrong?
I cut the glass and
reached through the hole to collect items to pass to the other two lads who
were my accomplices. It all went well until I misjudged the opening in the
glass and cut my hand. There was blood everywhere. The other two disappeared
into the night but I decided to finish the job. Taking as many items as I could
carry I hurried to the Benjamin house as planned.
Mrs Benjamin ran a
lodging house and I rushed upstairs to hide the items in the designated spot. I
then set out to find Mrs Benjamin. When she saw
my cut hand she cursed as she bandaged it quickly in an old, not too clean,
shawl and told me to hurry to the hospital.
I managed to make my
way to the river, crossed the bridge and finally arrived at Guy’s Hospital. My
hand was cut in several places and there was a lot of blood on the shawl. I was
in bed in a room with many other people when a constable arrived to arrest me. Mrs Benjamin had told him where I had gone.
Someone must have seen
me leave Mr Holmes’ shop and followed me to the house where most of the stolen
items were found. The constable asked me how I cut my hand and I told him that I
had had a fall when crossing London Bridge. The teapot I was carrying broke
when I fell and I cut my hand. He did not believe me.
When I arrived at the
hospital I hid the one card of lace that I kept under the mattress. I did not
see it again.
Newgate Prison was a
dismal place. Although the prison building had recently been rebuilt, for those
of us incarcerated within these walls it was dreary, crowded and dirty. And
then there was the noise and the smell… So many people crowded together in
unsanitary conditions. I was used to crowds in the streets and laneways in
Whitechapel. I was used to living in crowded lodgings. But in here there was no
escape from people. Occasionally we were allowed out in the prison courtyard
for a short time and no matter what the weather it was good to have some fresh
air. Food in the prison was also an issue. Prisoners with money were given
better treatment and food while the rest of us had to exist on the slops
provided.
It took a while for my
family to find out what had happened and where I was. My father visited me but I did not know what
to say. We did not know what would happen to me but the future did not look
good.
I had been in prison
for a month when one morning a group of us was called to go to court. We were
taken down a narrow passage connecting the prison to a dingy, crowded room
beneath the court where we waited to be summoned.
The courtroom was a
different world compared to the prison. The room was huge and from the high
ceiling hung four chandeliers. I had never seen anything like it. I was told to
stand where everyone could see me. Mrs Benjamin was there too. A mirror was angled to reflect daylight on my
face. During the trial there were lots of people talking about what had
happened at Mr Holmes’ shop, at the Benjamin house and at the hospital. They asked a lot of questions. When I was
asked about events I said, 'I know nothing at all of it'.
Kitty Jacobs and three
other witnesses were called to testify about my character. I don’t think that
they knew that Kitty is my sister. Kitty said that I was honest when I worked
with her husband.
Then the verdict was given
- Guilty with Death as the penalty. I stood there shaking and was hustled back
to prison.
We had all seen
prisoners leave down a narrow passage leading to the gallows outside the
prison, never to return. We also knew that watching a hanging was considered a
public entertainment. So this was to be my fate. I as only eighteen and would
lose my life because I stole a few cards of lace and some cloth.
Then my luck changed. I
was to be transported to another country for the rest of my life. I knew I
would never see my family again but I was to be given a second chance.
Another year and the
prison gates are closed behind us. Chains on, we are loaded into a cart. Our
destination is a hulk in Portsmouth. Eventually a ship will take us to the
other side of the world with no hope of returning to England, home.
