In January 1838, Thomas Way was summoned to the Exeter Guildhall by Caroline McDermott who lived in Exe Lane :
"for having wantonly entered her room, and producing a toad, placed it, or attempted to place it on her bosom, which produced such a degree of terror on her mind that she was seized with fits, and for several days was under the care of a medical gentleman.
"The Magistrates condemned the defendant for his cruel act, but willing to afford him an opportunity to compromise, permitted the case to stand over, suggesting the payment on his part of £3, in order to cover the surgeon's bill, &c., allowing also a trifle out of it to complainant for loss of time; the defendant having failed to do this the Mayor sentenced him to a fine of £5, or to be commited for two months to the House of Correction - when, unprepared with the cash he was taken into custody."
I would guess most women these days would be unfazed by a toad to the bosom and would either make a pet of it or cook it for supper but it would seem that Caroline McDermott and the Mayor of Exeter took Thomas Way's cruel act very seriously. Perhaps the old superstition that toads are the familiars of witches was still lurking in the minds of mayors and maidens.
I suspect institutionalised sexism here. Had it been a male bosom...!
The House of Correction was no less a prison than the prison. Two months in jail for messing with a toad seems a bit stiff.
Source: The Western Times, 3rd Febuary 1838.
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