Facts About These Notorious Law Breakers and Their Criminal History

Facts About These Notorious Law Breakers and Their Criminal History

Khalid Elhassan - May 20, 2020

Facts About These Notorious Law Breakers and Their Criminal History
Advertisement by Sarah Wilson’s indentured servitude contract holder, offering a reward for her capture. Pennsylvania Historical Society

26. The “Royal” Conwoman

Sarah Wilson grifted many out of considerable sums by promising them royal appointments or telling them that she would put in a good word for them with her sister and brother in the law, the Queen and King of Britain. She also took out numerous loans, and bought many luxury items on credit from merchants and shopkeepers eager for royal patronage and the custom of a princess.

The scam ended when her master finally caught her and took her back to Baltimore. In 1775, she escaped again, and made her way northwards, where she met and married a British Army officer during the American Revolution. After the war, the couple stayed in the newly independent United States, after which Sarah vanished from the historic record.

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