Scheduled maintenance: access to eresources and image viewers will be unavailable on Monday 11 December between 8pm and midnight AEDT. We apologise for any inconvenience.
State Library of NSW
Collection Item
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
[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