CHAPTER XIX

_BITSHADO PAWDEL_ (TRANSPORTED)

THICKLY sprinkled with Gypsy names are the “Transportation Lists” (1787–1867) reposing on the shelves of the Public Record Office in London; yet as your eye scans those lists of names, how dull and ordinary they look. It is not until you embark upon the arduous task of tracking individuals in old newspaper files that you realize the charm of unearthing buried romances in which the Gypsies played a part.

If, on the one hand, the wildness and roughness of the times are fully impressed upon your mind, there arises also the unedifying spectacle of British justices vieing with one another in their ardour for dispatching Gypsies across the sea on the most trivial pretexts. In the Transportation Lists both sexes are well represented, and occasionally one obtains the _aliases_ borne by Gypsies at the time of their arrest. From a study of these _aliases_, it becomes possible to trace the origin of some of our modern Gypsy families, for it is quite in keeping with Romany usage for the children of an expatriated father to adopt his _alias_.

I have never yet known an elderly Gypsy whose memory lacked a store of what may be called transportation tales, and, listening to their recital, I have sometimes been saddened, if not angered. What can we of the twentieth century think of the “justice” (!) which sent a Romany mother across the sea for stealing a lady’s comb valued at sixpence, or banished for seven years a middle-aged Gypsy man for the crime of appropriating three penny picture-books from a cottage doorway?

Over a few crimson embers on the ground I listened one summer evening to tales from the lips of one of the old Herons, as we sat together under a thorn hedge. For a theft of harness Solli Heron (my informant’s uncle) was sentenced to a lengthy residence in an over-sea colony. The time came when he and a few Gypsy comrades were led out of prison and placed in chains on board the coach which was to convey them to the convict ship. By some means Solli had become possessed of a small file, wherewith, during the journey by coach, he managed to cut through his irons and make his escape into a wood. After an exciting chase through brake and brier, the Gypsy was recaptured and duly shipped across the sea.

The following story shows that sometimes, when two Gypsies were implicated in a crime, one of them would endeavour to screen his companion. From the stables at Claremont House, Esher, during the period of the Princess (afterwards Queen) Victoria’s residence, a horse and a mare were stolen by two Gypsies, an elderly man and a younger one. Early one foggy morning these fellows broke open the stable door and took the animals away. A hue-and-cry was set up, and, within a few days of the theft, the red-breasted “Runners” had made an arrest. In court, the Princess’s coachman declared that he had seen two men near the stable, but the elder Gypsy persistently affirmed that he had done the business entirely alone, and his endeavour to screen his mate proved effectual. The young Gypsy was acquitted, but his companion was transported for life to Van Diemen’s Land.

The same spirit of self-sacrifice is seen in another incident—

A Gypsy tinker and a sweep were arrested for stealing a pony at a time when the penalty for horse-stealing was death. Said the sweep to the tinker—

“Why need two of us be hanged for this job? I’ll swear that you know nothing about it.”

When the two were brought up for trial, the sweep, while readily admitting his own guilt, asserted the tinker’s innocence with such vehemence that the judge and jury believed his tale. The tinker got twelve months in jail, but the sweep was hanged.

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In his _Romany Word-Book_, Borrow mentions the transportation of Fighting Jack Cooper, “once the terror of all the Light Weights of the English Ring, who knocked West Country Dick to pieces, and killed Paddy O’Leary, the fighting pot-boy, Jack Randall’s pet.” Jack Cooper and his brother Tom were transported under peculiar circumstances. Tom was the first to be sent away. It appears that the brothers went to a ball where, in the course of the evening, Jack “pinched” a silver snuff-box, and without meaning any harm dropped it into his brother’s pocket. Presently the snuff-box was missed by its owner, and suspicion fell upon the Gypsies. A policeman was called in, and, while conversing with Tom, offered him a pinch of snuff. As the Gypsy removed a handkerchief from his pocket, out flew the snuff-box to his great astonishment, for he was unaware of the trick played by his brother. Speedily the handcuffs were slipped upon Tom’s wrists, and in due course he was brought to trial. Before the judge, Jack swore that Tom was innocent, as indeed he was, but he was nevertheless sentenced to transportation.

However, Jack’s fate was not long delayed. “Infatuated with love for his paramour,” (says Borrow), “he bore the blame of a crime which she had committed, and suffered transportation to save her.” On the expiration of his lengthy term, he preferred to stay in Australia, where he made money by teaching young gentlemen the pugilistic art.

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There are more stories of this kind showing that innocent persons were at times sent across the water.

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Well-known to the Gypsies of our Midland counties is the story of Absalom Boswell’s transportation. One night the Gypsy father and his two sons sat talking in their tent, and, in order to rest his weary feet, the old man removed his shoes and soon fell asleep on the straw. One of the lads donned his father’s footgear, and set off with his brother to _latsher_ a bit of _bokro-mas_, which, being interpreted, means that they went to steal “mutton.” Their errand was successful, but morning light brought a policeman to the camp, for the sheep had been missed and suspicion had fallen upon the Gypsies. An early riser, Absalom had put on his shoes and was walking abroad. He and his two sons were arrested. There were no witnesses to the theft, but a footprint had been discovered on a patch of clay in the farmer’s field from which the sheep had been taken, and Absalom’s shoe fitted the footprint exactly. On this shred of circumstantial evidence the old man was transported for seven years, while his sons were lodged in jail for twelve months.

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On Mitcham Common I once heard the following story from one of the Dightons. Seated on the wayside was a Gypsy making pegs, with his children playing around him, and, looking up from his work, he was surprised to see a well-dressed _gawji_ (non-Gypsy) woman staring hard at him. She stood there without saying a word, until at last she moved slowly away. Then came a policeman to where the peg-maker sat—

“You must come along with me.”

“What for?”

“You’ll know when we get to the police station.”

A report had been handed in that a young woman had been found half-murdered in a green lane. She said a Gypsy had done it, and described the man to a detail, giving the colour of his hair, particulars of his dress, and the number of his children. “I am an innocent man,” said the Gypsy, “and the Lord’ll make her tell the truth before she dies.” He was transported for seven years. Two years afterwards the lady fell ill, and confessed that the man was innocent. He was liberated, but on the homeward voyage he died.

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Yet another tale from the “tents of Egypt”—

John Chilcot was _bitshado pawdel_ (transported), and his wife took it so much to heart that she would sit on the tent floor cutting up straw into pieces about an inch in length. At last she could endure it no longer. She craved for the sight of her husband, so she _tshor_’d _tshumani_ (stole something), and was sent away too. The strange part of the story is, that the same farmer who employed Chilcot on his farm in Van Diemen’s Land, went and hired John’s wife when she was sent out there. The woman came to John’s cottage one day about sundown, and, looking through the open door, she saw him lacing his heavy boots, as he muttered to himself, “I must _tshiv mi tshokaw oprê_ an’ _jaw te __dik de bokrê_” (I must put my boots on and go to see the sheep).

“_Âwa_, _mi mush_, _tshiv len oprê_ and _kèr sig_” (Yes, my man, put them on and make haste). John looked up, and, seeing his own wife standing there, opened his arms and she dropped into them. The two worked together for months without the farmer knowing who the woman was, then one day John told him that she was his lawful wife, and they lived together till their time expired, when they came back to England.

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A story is told of one of the old Herons who had been transported, and, his term having expired, he wrote to his wife and family in England asking them to send fifty pounds. This they did, and a reply was received announcing the time of his arrival at a certain port. As a means of identification, he promised, on landing, to carry a small bundle of sticks on his right shoulder. His sons met him, and according to his promise he had the sticks on his shoulder. Now these sons were only tiny children when their father had been sent away, and did not remember what his features were like, but of course they were willing to accept him as their father, and rejoiced accordingly. Then came the meeting between the old man and his wife. But so completely had his features changed during the long years of absence that she failed to recognize him as her husband, even though he pointed to his old bottle green coat still in her possession. It is said that he turned away sorrowfully, and died soon after of a broken heart.

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Moses Heron was on the Thames in a convict ship going to Australia for _grai-tshor_in (horse-stealing). Some of his relatives went out in a boat to see the last of him, as his ship was anchored off shore. Moses took out his knife and cut his _diklo_ (kerchief) from his neck and threw it overboard for them to take the knot back to his sweetheart. He cut the _diklo_ from under his ear so that the knot was undisturbed but remained just as he had tied it.

Stories of this character might be multiplied indefinitely, but the instances given will suffice to show how pathetic are the annals of the Gypsies.

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In a lecture delivered before the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, my friend, Mr. R. A. Scott Macfie, has justly estimated the character of the Anglo-_Romanitshel_s of to-day.

“In Great Britain the Gypsies are at present exposed to a petty persecution, inflicted ostensibly for their good by illogical persons, who pretend to believe that they live unnatural lives and should be driven into town slums for the benefit of their health and morals. They are harassed by prosecutions on such curious pretexts as sleeping-out, overcrowding (in tents every inch of which admits the free passage of God’s fresh air), possessing no dustbin, or neglecting to provide a proper water supply for their habitations. Yet, on the whole, in this country they have for the last century received less unpleasant attention and more sympathy than elsewhere, and it is very noteworthy that they have responded to this kindness by adopting the civilized conception of their duty towards their neighbour. I have many hundreds of press cuttings from British newspapers published during the last few years. They prove that the Gypsies of this country are never guilty of the greater crimes. The majority of the convictions are for almost inevitable offences, such as halting in the road or allowing horses to stray. Gypsies have, of course, rather primitive views as to rights of property, especially in respect of what grows or moves upon the earth in a more or less wild state, yet, while there are an appreciable number of instances of poaching, fortune-telling, and of certain traditional Gypsy swindles, most of the cases of so-called theft are very insignificant petty larcenies—a handful of fruit taken from an orchard, a few swedes from a field, or a stick or two from the hedge. So conspicuous is the law-abiding character of the British Gypsies in my records, and in my personal experience, that I do not hesitate to assert, that, in spite of their reputation, they are as superior in honesty to the lower classes of our native population as they are in morality and cleanliness.”