ilants at the turnpike selected for
attack. They were mounted on horseback, and generally appeared in
considerable force. The leader, who gave the word of command, and
directed the motion of those whom she called her daughters, was attired
in a female dress of some description, wearing, also, a bonnet, or
head-dress, which served the purpose of disguise. Her bodyguard were
dressed up in similar manner.

Immediately on arriving at the gate, they commenced the business of the
night, and proceeded to raze gate, posts, and tollhouse, with an alacrity
and perseverance which soon accomplished its purpose. They, generally,
sawed off the gate posts close to the ground, broke the gate to
fragments, and pulled down the toll-house to its foundations. To show
that the abatement of the specific grievance was their only object, they,
commonly, dealt very leniently with the toll-keeper, offering him, except
in rare cases, no personal violence, and allowing him to remove his
furniture and property, which they never attempted to destroy or plunder.
The work was no sooner done than the mysterious assailants galloped off,
firing their guns, and blowing their horns, as before. No trace nor clue
was to be found of the quarter whence they had come, or of the retreats
to which they dispersed themselves; nor did anything in the outward
appearance of the country, by day, even when these nightly outrages were
at their height, give sign of the extension and compact organization
which evidently subsisted among the population.

[Picture: Rebecca and her Daughters. Ill. Lon. News, 11 Feb., 1843]

The first notice I can find (in this year) of these riots is in the
_Times_ of 10 Jan., in which is the following paragraph from the
_Welshman_:

"The state of society in Wales may surprise some of our English
readers, especially when we acquaint them with the fact, that there
has been, for some months past, in the neighbourhood of St. Clear, a
mob of lawless depredators, amounting to about 600, who assembled
nightly, for the purpose of destroying the turnpike gates on the
various lines of road in the neighbourhood of St. Clear. These
ruffians are headed by a very tall man, dressed, for disguise, as a
female, who goes by the name of Rebecca; and, as many of his
associates are likewise dressed as females, the whole gang have been
christened 'Rebecca and her daughters.' These men are nearly all
ably