Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-11-19
Harry Stokes, tho Man-Woman.

Jury was ftaFry stokes the Drlcksctler,
who committed suicide in the sluice Of the
river Irwell, at Mode Wheel. England late
ly. For about thirty years this extraordna-
~ person lived in Manchester and Stafford
aS Il Journeyman and master br.ckSetter, had
been twice married to other women: had
kept beer houses and served customers ut the
trade As Jolly landlord" had worked at
her trade as bricksetter, and erected many
important buildings in both towns, and had
obtained the reputation of being the most
skilltul hre-grate-setter and chimney doc
tor" in the neighborhood. She always dress
ed as man, in the clothing peculiar to her
trade; invarlablUsuperinteuded the men IN
her employment; and could lift weight,
spread the mortar, and set brick with the
best of them. Her habits were those of a
man. She attended daily ordinary i'll the
town along with other brickSettcrs, drank,
smoked and jjoked with the hardest, and
joined in the evening carousalS. Yet, with
all this constant and close intimacy with the
opposite sex, this strons-minded woman con
trived to keep her own great secret; and
there is every reason to believe that she has
gone down into the grave at the advanced
age of GO, or thereabouts, having throughout
the whole of her remarkable life maintain
ed an unbroken check upon those passions
which crowd the streets of every large town
with the unfortunate of her sex. Her great
endeavor was on all occasions 10 keep up the
manly character she had assumed. From Il
child she had been accustomed to the severe
work Of one of the most iabOriouS ucrupa-
tons in which man is engaged, and the skill
she had attained in the trade reveals an n
mount of perscvering energy which made
her worthy of better fate than that Of the
wretched suicide.
She was the daughter of a bricklayer in a
village in the neighborhood Of Doncaster.-
Before she could well balance her own little
body. she was made useful" in the house:
and ere many years had passed over her
head she was brought into acquaintance
with some of the toughest and toughest work
in those hard wrought days. Little Harriet
Stokes lines had not been laid in pleasant
placeS. She was 50 ground down by the iron
hand III home that, when she was about eight
years old. she put on tattered suit of boys
clothing and walked forth into the wide.
wide world" Arrived at the village of W hit
hv, she looked about for work. She had not
run away from her fathers house because
she did not like work and preferred to eat
the bread of idleness. The hard treatment
of parents ignorant of their responsibility,
had driven her from the protection Of home,
and from all home associations. That she
was not afraid of hard work was appar
ent when she offered her services to q brick
setter in Whitby. Though somewhat I'M
dersized, she appeared i bruadsct, active,
useful lad, and was speedily set To work
Her first etfo: Is to please were attended with
success. and she was soon taken ~ an APP
prentice.
From this point We must drop the temi-
nine appelative and speak Of Harry Stokes"
as boy who had worked his way to the
dignity OF a journeyman bricksetter. For
something Ike twenty years from this point
we lose the connecting links which join this
Yorkshire experience to his Manchester life.
About twenty-five years ago he was brought
prominently under the notice of the public by
the consequences of an eccentric excursion
which he had taken into the domains OF mat
rimony. Harry Stokes, wantinga compan-
ion in life, executed matrimonial c"nt'"-
te!nps True to his role as Il man-ior hc
had reached the age when the average OF
bricksetters are fathers AZ well "a journey
men. he cast about and fixed his choice upon
plump little widow who kept beer-house
in Cupid's Alley, otf Dcansgate, Manchester.
He had been accustomed to take his pot of
beer and smoke his short pipe under Betsy's
roof and had ut last taken decided fancy
to Betsy herself. lie was good.looking
Young man. was Harry Stokes. for, although
still understood and innocent of whiskers,
face n smooth rs IA woman'S, he was stoutly
built. had capacious depth of chest and Il
pair Of hips which gave an unusual profit to
his tailor Betsy then looked with favor On
IIarry'S suit, for he had the reputation Of
being good. steady workman and was do
Ing pretty well rs brirksettcr. Ii was re-
solved that the twain should become one
flesh: and 50 to the church they HE'D. lIar
nv discharged the duties of bridegroom at
church "a perfection: but when the widow
rot him home there was terrible row.
The night was spent in downright quarrel
and fight: and the lamentable result was Il
summons taken out by Betsy against her
husband for IN assault, for which he was
condemned to the New Bailey for one or two
months During the hearing Of the case,
Betsy. with great rehemence, declared that
her husband was not man, and that shr,
therefore. would not live with him. The
case created great amusement and gossip 1T
the time. and formed the subject OF popular
ballads. which were sung and hawked about
the streets OF Manchester Harry Stokes,
ON issuing from the New Bailey, was CON
sidernbly prosecuted By those little gamns
who know so well how to torment street
celebrities. while he was also the object
of much curious speculation among his
brethren of the trowel. lie. however,
maintained discreet silence az 10 his
sex, threw out hints that the woman he
had married was mad. and as the most etfec-
tive proof that she was malevolent libeller
he soon afterwards married another widow,
rejoicing in the name of Francis Collins who
was some fifteen or twenty years hls senior.
ami who had grown-ap son and daughter
living with her. His connection with this
woman until he committed suicide. is the
most mysterious phase Of this mysterious
history She declares with solemn earnest
ness that she did not know. until informed
the other day, that the person with whom
she had been living for the last twenty-five
years, sleeping together night after night IN
the same bed, was woman, and her own chill
dren looked upon Stokes as their steptather.
She asserts that she took Stokes into her
house in the first instance out OF pity, to
shield him from the persecution to which he
was subjected. il may be that. although
out uf a sense OF shame the Old woman thus