This was a common imposture in Victorian Devon: you forged a 'brief' or certificate from a magistrate to the effect that you were a sailor who had survived a shipwreck and were now in need of charity.and you carried this from door to door in country places, waved the piece of paper at the credulous and collected, sometimes, large sums of money.
The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette (18th July, 1840) cautioned that four such 'sailors' were operating in Broadclyst. The newspaper had corresponded with the Ilfracombe magistrate, who was in London at the time, whose name appeared on the brief. The next week their Ottery correspondent was able, triumphantly, to report:
"The paragraph which appeared in your paper of Saturday last, relative to 'four men calling themselves Sailors and stating that a Vessel bound from St Cuba to this country, and to which they belonged, was struck by lightning on her passage, wrecked and nearly all the crew perished, &c.' has been the means of bringing one of the four delinquents this day (Wednesday) to justice.
"A man calling himself George Jones introduced himself to Mr.Jos. Cock, of this place, gamekeeper to Sir J. Kennaway, Bart.. (who had just noticed the paragraph alluded to,) and solicited alms of him, afterwards producing him a brief or certificate purporting to be drawn up and signed by 'N.V. Lee' of Ilfracombe, one of the Magistrates of this county.
"Mr. Cock immediately charged the man with being an imposter, and, after a scuffle, took him into custody. Mr, Cock who was desirous to compare the particulars of the certificate with the Newspaper report, was about to do so, when the man exclaimed, with an oath, 'You shall not overhaul my papers' and immediately snatched the certificate from Mr. Cock's hands, and tore it into pieces, the whole of which was immediately collected, and has since been pasted together on a sheet of paper. The man endeavoured to eat some of the pieces, but Mr. Cock prevented him.
"After a great deal of difficulty he was taken before the Rev. George Smith, the Vicar of Ottery St. Mary, who, after hearing the complaint, on oath, convicted the imposter as a rogue and vagabond, and commited him for 3 months to hard labour.
"The certificate bears the signature of many respectable subscribers who have given to the amount of nearlt £10....
"Great credit is due to Mr. Cock for his spirited exertions in preventing this imposter, who is a very powerful fellow, from collecting alms under such fraudulent pretences."
19th century benefit fraud! :D
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