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Thomas Scott - 'Life of a Convict named "Isaacs" a Jew in Van Diemen's Land taken down from his own dictation in the year 1821 at Elizabeth River where he then was - Servant to Govr. Sorell as his Stock Keeper' - p31821

by Michael Isaacs
Transcript: 

[Page 3]

Regt they were ordered then for to march farther up the country After 
arriving in the Camp I fell in with a Corpl belong to another regt he said 
ne knew me very well, & if I would go with him he cd take me to a Spanh 
womans house where we could get something worth - I told him I did not care 
much when we came to the house it seemed a poor place - we went in & found 
very little money only about £5; that I took & shared it wh him - I soon 
found out he was no judge of houses; I wd have nothg to do with him any 
more.

2 nights before the Action of Toulouse we lay in a village where I saw 
the door of a house open I went in and found an old woman who asked me in 
Spanh what I wanted I wanted money she went to the cupbd & brought me to 
the amount of 9 1/2d and said it was all she had, & then I stamped on the 
floor & as much as to say it was not enough & I wd have more till I 
searched the house all over I could find nothing but a pair of sheets of any 
value them I took & the 9 1/2d - the sheets I sold to a woman in the Regt she gave me only 4/6 for them

When the Action commenced at sunrise in the morning I was at my old trade 
the same as at Salamanca I was very fortunate in the midst of the battle I 
fell in with an officer who was killed - I searched his pockets - I took his 
purse & watch & epulets - in the purse was 10 guineas in gold 5 dols 2 
Crowns, then I thought for fear of being catched it was time for me to leave off 
I went up and joined my regt one or 2 of my comrades asked me where I 
had been - but I made them no answer and the action was then very near upon 
a closure - after the action we advanced into France and were quartd in the 
country villages - I was quartered in a house by myself, where there was an 
old woman with 2 daughters &1 son - the one daughter was 22 & the other 19 
both unmarried the boy 16 - when they asked me what religion I was I told 
them I was a Catholic as I understood they liked all to be of their own 
religion - the soon learnt me to talk French - I was 2 months with them 
before I did anything amiss until I found out all corners - The first that I 
took from them was 7 francs out of a basin in the cupbd they did not blame 
me for it - but I heard them breiding a disturbance with the son about it - 
one day I was watching the oldest daughter as she was counting out some 
money & saw her tye it up in a piece of cloth and hide it underneath the 
cupbd -- at night when they were all gone to bed I got up softly and took 
the bag. And in the morning the young girl went to look for it - I heard her 
tell her