Margaret Brown (criminal)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Margaret Brown (b. 1828), also known as Old Mother Hubbard, was a New York criminal and thief during the late 19th century. Among her aliases included the surnames Young and Haskins.
Born in Ireland, she became a prominent shoplifter and pickpocket specializing in handbags. Although employed as a housekeeper at times, she enjoyed a career lasting over fifty years. She was eventually arrested in Chicago, Illinois and sentenced to three years imprisonment at Joliet prison where she would suffer serious injuries in a failed escape attempt.
After being discharged from Joliet prison in 1878, she resumed her criminal career in major cities including St. Louis, Philadelphia and New York before her arrest in Boston on March 24, 1883. Arrested while attempting to steal a handbag from R.H. White's dry goods store, she served a six month prison sentence in the Boston House of Corrections.
After her release, she traveled to New York where she was again apprehended for stealing a pocketbook from Brooklyn resident Mrs. H.S. Dennison while in Macy's on Fourteenth Street on March 26, 1884. She was again convicted and sentenced to three months at Blackwell's Island.
Released on July 2, she returned to Boston where she was arrested for stealing a satchel containing $250 from a nearby store and convicted of larceny. Although sentenced to two years in Boston House of Correction in late July, she was eventually transferred to Deer Island due to her old age and infirmity.
[edit] References
- Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. ISBN 1-56025-275-8
- Asbury, Herbert. All around the town: The Sequel to the Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1929. ISBN 1-56025-521-8
- Byrnes, Thomas. 1886 Professional Criminals of America. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1969.
