The False Princess: Excuses & Reasons – Part 6/7 (1791-1865)
At the workhouse, Mary was persuaded to turn the child over to the Foundling Hospital. In order to do so, she was required to give up personal facts and details – all of which are still on record in the hospital archives – to explain why she could not support the child. What she told the hospital was probably as close to the truth as she had ever revealed: her name was given as Mary Wilcox, unmarried, 25 years old, and the father had been a bricklayer named John Baker who had deserted her after they walked to London together.
For the next several months Mary worked for a family near the hospital, visiting her son every week until he died in October of 1816. He was only about 9 months old. Mary didn’t tell the people she was working for that the child had been in hospital, instead choosing to explain he had died at Mary’s mother’s house. Regardless, the Starling family thought she was an excellent servant, albeit somewhat ‘out of her mind’ – apparently her eccentric behavior manifested itself in terrifying stories about gypsies, which she told to the children each night.
Oddly enough, Mary was eventually fired for the reason that she had set fire to the beds! So, she returned to Devon with money she had saved, and told her parents that her baby was dead and she was going to sail for the East Indies. Ten days later, she sent a trunk with her belongings ahead and departed for Bristol, where she planned to leave on her voyage. However, instead of heading to Bristol, she ended up begging toward Plymouth and – according to Mary herself – stayed for awhile with some gypsies. Finally, in March of 1817, she made it to Bristol.
As she looked for a ship heading to Philadelphia, Mary found that she could leave on one in 15 days if she could only raise the passage money of five guineas. She was able to find lodging in a house run by a woman named Mrs. Neale, where she also made friends with a young Jewish girl. Apparently, Mary and her new friend Eleanor went begging together each day, and on one occasion, Eleanor convinced Mary to make a turban out of her black shawl to “make her look more interesting” – after all, French lace-makers were receiving more interest from people because of their high lace headwear.
Mary kept up her farce as a ‘French beggar’ for awhile, but eventually restlessness set in again, and she left Bristol. She frequently used her own made-up language to entertain people or convince them to give her more money, which worked wonderfully until she inevitably met someone who actually spoke French. Quickly improvising, Mary claimed that she was Spanish… and it was around this time that she met the wheelwright’s son who would eventually give the second testimony against her disguise as Princess Caraboo.
Speaking to the wheelwright’s son and many others in her strange language, Mary found that people were eager to assist her and would offer her food and drink for free. At the pub where she met the wheelwright’s son, she refused most of what she was offered, and eventually managed to escape the attention by heading up the road toward Clifton – wheelwright’s son in tow. As they traveled, they met two men, one who claimed to speak perfect Spanish… forcing Mary to talk to him in her ‘language’. Amazingly, the man said he understood it as Spanish, ‘translating’ her words as saying that her parents were behind her on the road, following along. This, of course, gave Mary an understanding in how to use people’s ‘expertise’ to her own advantage.
Tired and bored of the wheelwright’s son, they had a final dinner together when he purchased steak and tea for himself and Mary, and subsequently Mary managed to lose him in the crowds along the quay in Bristol. She stayed in a local lodging house that night, and the next morning, began her journey toward Gloucester – and international fame as Princess Caraboo.
So, how did she actually pull the whole thing off?
…to be continued…
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Tomorrow: The conclusion of the story!
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