The Maid Who Conned Colonial America by Impersonating a Princess
Until well into the nineteenth century, Britain routinely got rid of convicted criminals via penal transportation – a system whereby undesirables were shipped to far away colonies. An alternative sentence for felonies, transportation was usually imposed for offenses for which the death penalty was deemed too severe. Upon arrival at their destination, the convicts were sold into indentured servitude for a fixed term. The prisoners were free once their sentence term was over, but in practice, lack of funds usually meant that they were stuck where they had been transported, unable to return to Britain.
To British authorities, the fact that the transported convicts were unable to return was not an unfortunate bug in the program, but a prominent and desirable feature. In the eighteenth century, Britain’s American Colonies and the West Indies were the most popular dumping grounds for such undesirables. That is how Sarah Wilson (circa 1754 – circa 1865) arrived in colonial Baltimore in 1771. Sarah had exhibited a knack for the con from early on. As a teenager, she had roamed England and took advantage of the credulity and compassion of people.