Page:Life and exploits of Jack Sheppard.pdf/6

 and Sykes secretly sent for a conslable, who having taken the robber into custody, conveyed him before a magistrate, by whom he was remanded to St. Giles's watch-house till the next morning for further examination. He was confined in the upper part of the place, being two stories from the ground, but before many hours were over, by the help of a razor, and the stretcher of a chain, he broke through the roof, and tying together a sheet and blanket, descended into the church-yard.

On the evening of the 19th of May, Sheppard, with another robber named Benson, were passing through Leicester Fields, where a gentleman stood accusing a woman with an attempt to steal his watch. Sheppard's companion got in among the crowd, and picked the gentleman's pocket in earnest of the article in question. Benson escaped, but Sheppard was seized and conveyed to St. Ann's watch-house, where Edgeworth Bess coming to see him was also arrested. They were carried before a magistrate, who committed them to the New Prison, preparatory to sending them to Newgate. Sheppard and his female companion, now found