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diff --git a/13097-0.txt b/13097-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a84b6a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/13097-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28623 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13097 *** + +[Illustration: HIGHWAY MURDER ON HOUNSLOW HEATH + +The assailant is strangling his victim with a whip-thong; nearby is a +typical roadside gallows with two highwaymen dangling from the +cross-tree + +(_From the Newgate Calendar_)] + + + + +LIVES OF THE + +MOST REMARKABLE + +CRIMINALS + +Who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, +Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining or other offences + +_Collected from Original Papers and Authentic Memoirs, and +Published in 1735_ + +EDITED BY + +ARTHUR L. HAYWARD + + + +CONTENTS + + +Introduction + +Volume One + +Preface--Jane Griffin--John Trippuck, Richard Cane and Richard +Shepherd--William Barton--Robert Perkins--Barbara Spencer--Walter +Kennedy--Matthew Clark--John Winship--John Meff--John Wigley--William +Casey--John Dykes--Richard James--James Wright--Nathaniel Hawes--John +Jones--John Smith--James Shaw, _alias_ Smith--William Colthouse--William +Burridge--John Thomson--Thomas Reeves--Richard Whittingham--James +Booty--Thomas Butlock--Nathaniel Jackson--James Carrick--John +Molony--Thomas Wilson--Robert Wilkinson and James Lincoln--Mathias +Brinsden--Edmund Neal--Charles Weaver--John Levee--Richard Oakey and +Matthew Flood--William Burk--Luke Nunney--Richard Trantham--John Tyrrell +and William Hawksworth--William Duce--James Butler--Captain John +Massey--Philip Roche--Humphrey Angier--Captain Stanley--Stephen +Gardiner--Samuel Ogden, John Pugh, William Frost, Richard Woodman and +William Elisha--Thomas Burden--Frederick Schmidt--Peter Curtis--Lumley +Davis--James Harman--John Lewis--The Waltham Blacks--Julian, a Black +Boy--Abraham Deval--Joseph Blake, _alias_ Blueskin--John Shepherd--Lewis +Houssart--Charles Towers--Thomas Anderson--Joseph Picken--Thomas +Packer--Thomas Bradely--William Lipsat--John Hewlet--James Cammell and +William Marshal--John Guy--Vincent Davis--Mary Hanson--Bryan +Smith--Joseph Ward--James White--Joseph Middleton + + +Volume Two + +Preface--William Sperry--Robert Harpham--Jonathan Wild--John +Little--John Price--Foster Snow--John Whalebone--James Little--John +Hamp--John Austin, John Foster and Richard Scurrier--Francis +Bailey--John Barton--William Swift--Edward Burnworth, etc.--John +Gillingham--John Cotterel--Catherine Hayes--Thomas Billings--Thomas +Wood--Captain Jaen--William Bourn--John Murrel--William Hollis--Thomas +Smith--Edward Reynolds--John Claxton--Mary Standford--John +Cartwright--Frances Blacket--Jane Holmes--Katherine Fitzpatrick--Mary +Robinson--Jane Martin--Timothy Benson--Joseph Shrewsberry--Anthony +Drury--William Miller--Robert Haynes--Thomas Timms, Thomas Perry and +Edward Brown--Alice Green--An Account of the Murder of Mr. Widdington +Darby--Joshua Cornwall + + +Volume Three + +John Turner, _alias_ Civil John--John Johnson--James Sherwood, George +Weldon and John Hughs--Martin Bellamy--William Russell, Robert Crough and +William Holden--Christopher Rawlins, etc.--Richard Hughes and Bryan +MacGuire--James How--Griffith Owen, Samuel Harris and Thomas +Medline--Peter Levee, etc.--Thomas Neeves--Henry Gahogan and Robert +Blake--Peter Kelley--William Marple and Timothy Cotton--John +Upton--Jephthah Bigg--Thomas James Grundy--Joseph Kemp--Benjamin +Wileman--James Cluff--John Dyer--William Rogers, William Simpson and +Robert Oliver--James Drummond--William Caustin and Geoffrey +Younger--Henry Knowland and Thomas Westwood--John Everett--Robert +Drummond and Ferdinando Shrimpton--William Newcomb--Stephen +Dowdale--Abraham Israel--Ebenezer Ellison--James Dalton--Hugh +Houghton--John Doyle--John Young--Thomas Polson--Samuel +Armstrong--Nicholas Gilburn--James O'Bryan, Hugh Morris and Robert +Johnson--Captain John Gow + +Appendix + +Index + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +Murder on Hounslow Heath +Matthew Clark cutting the throat of Sarah Goldington +A Prisoner Under Pressure in Newgate +The Hangman arrested when attending John Meff to Tyburn +Stephen Gardiner making his dying speech at Tyburn +Jack Sheppard in the Stone Room in Newgate +Trial of a Highwayman at the Old Bailey +Jonathan Wild pelted by the mob on his way to Tyburn +A Condemned Man drawn on a Sledge to Tyburn +The Murder of John Hayes: + Catherine Hayes, Wood and Billings cutting off the head + John Hayes's Head exhibited at St. Margaret's, Westminster + Catherine Hayes burnt for the murder of her husband +Joseph Blake attempting the life of Jonathan Wild +An Execution in Smithfield Market +Highway Robbery of His Majesty's Mail +A Gang of Men and Women Transports being marched from + Newgate to Blackfriars + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + _To close the scene of all his actions he + Was brought from Newgate to the fatal tree; + And there his life resigned, his race is run, + And Tyburn ends what wickedness begun._ + +If there be a haunted spot in London it must surely be a few square +yards that lie a little west of the Marble Arch, for in the long course +of some six centuries over fifty thousand felons, traitors and martyrs +took there a last farewell of a world they were too bad or too good to +live in. From remote antiquity, when the seditious were taken _ad furcas +Tyburnam_, until that November day in 1783 when John Austin closed the +long list, the gallows were kept ever busy, and during the first half of +the eighteenth century, with which this book deals, every Newgate +sessions sent thither its thieves, highwaymen and coiners by the score. + +There has been some discussion as to the exact site of Tyburn gallows, +but there can be little doubt that the great permanent three-beamed +erection--the Triple Tree--stood where now the Edgware Road joins Oxford +Street and Bayswater Road. A triangular stone let into the roadway +indicates the site of one of its uprights. In 1759 the sinister beams +were pulled down, a moveable gibbet being brought in a cart when there +was occasion to use it. The moveable gallows was in use until 1783, when +the place of execution was transferred to Newgate; the beams of the old +structure being sawn up and converted to a more genial use as stands for +beer-butts in a neighbouring public-house. + +The original gallows probably consisted of two uprights with a +cross-piece, but when Elizabeth's government felt that more adequate +means must be provided to strengthen its subjects' faith and enforce the +penal laws against Catholics, a new type of gibbet was sought. So in +1571 the triangular one was erected, with accommodation for eight such +miscreants on each beam, or a grand total of twenty-four at a +stringing. It was first used for the learned Dr. John Story, who, upon +June 1st, "was drawn upon a hurdle from the Tower of London unto Tyburn, +where was prepared for him a new pair of gallows made in triangular +manner". There is rather a gruesome tale of how, when in pursuance of +the sentence the executioner had cut him down and was "rifling among his +bowels", the doctor arose and dealt him a shrewd blow on the head. +Doctor Story was followed by a long line of priests, monks, laymen and +others who died for their faith to the number of some three thousand. +And the Triple Tree, the Three-Legged Mare, or Deadly Never-green, as +the gallows were called with grim familiarity, flourished for another +two hundred years. + +In the early eighteenth century it appears to have been the usual custom +to reserving sentencing until the end of the sessions, but as soon as +the jury's verdict of guilty was known steps were taken to procure a +pardon by the condemned man's friends. They had, indeed, much more +likelihood of success in those times when the Law was so severe than in +later days when capital punishment was reserved for the most heinous +crimes. On several occasions in the following pages mention is made of +felons urging their friends to bribe or make interest in the right +quarters for obtaining a pardon, or commutation of the sentence to one +of transportation. It was not until the arrival of the death warrant +that the condemned man felt that the "Tyburn tippet" was really being +drawn about his neck. + +No better description can be given of the ride to Tyburn tree, from +Newgate and along Holborn, than that furnished by one of the _Familiar +Letters_ written by Samuel Richardson in 1741: + + I mounted my horse and accompanied the melancholy cavalcade from + Newgate to the fatal Tree. The criminals were five in number. I was + much disappointed at the unconcern and carelessness that appeared in + the faces of three of the unhappy wretches; the countenance of the + other two were spread with that horror and despair which is not to + be wondered at in men whose period of life is so near, with the + terrible aggravation of its being hastened by their own voluntary + indiscretion and misdeeds. The exhortation spoken by the Bell-man, + from the wall of St. Sepulchre's churchyard is well intended; but + the noise of the officers and the mob was so great, and the silly + curiosity of people climbing into the cart to take leave of the + criminals made such a confused noise that I could not hear the + words of the exhortation when spoken, though they are as follows: + + All good people pray heartily to God for these poor sinners, who are + now going to their deaths; for whom this great bell doth toll. + + You that are condemned to die, repent with lamentable tears. Ask + mercy of the Lord for the salvation of your own souls through the + merits, death and passion of Jesus Christ, Who now sits at the right + hand of God, to make intercession for as many of you as penitently + return unto Him. + + Lord, have mercy upon you! Christ have mercy upon you! + + Which last words the Bell-man repeats three times. + + All the way up to Holborn the crowd was so great as at every twenty + or thirty yards to obstruct the passage; and wine, notwithstanding a + late good order against this practice, was brought to the + malefactors, who drank greedily of it, which I thought did not suit + well with their deplorable circumstances. After this the three + thoughtless young men, who at first seemed not enough concerned, + grew most shamefully wanton and daring, behaving, themselves in a + manner that would have been ridiculous in men in any circumstances + whatever. They swore, laughed, and talked obscenely, and wished + their wicked companions good luck with as much assurance as if their + employment had been the most lawful. + + At the place of execution the scene grew still more shocking, and + the clergyman who attended was more the subject of ridicule than of + their serious attention. The Psalm was sung amidst the curses and + quarrelling of hundreds of the most abandoned and profligate of + mankind, upon them (so stupid are they to any sense of decency) all + the preparation of the unhappy wretches seems to serve only for + subject of a barbarous kind of mirth, altogether inconsistent with + humanity. And as soon as the poor creatures were half dead, I was + much surprised to see the populace fall to hauling and pulling the + carcasses with so much earnestness as to occasion several warm + rencounters and broken heads. These, I was told, were the friends of + the persons executed, or such as, for the sake of to-night, chose to + appear so: as well as some persons sent by private surgeons to + obtain bodies for dissection. The contests between these were fierce + and bloody, and frightful to look at; so I made the best of my way + out of the crowd, and with some difficulty rode back among the large + number of people who had been upon the same errand as myself. The + face of every one spoke a kind of mirth, as if the spectacle they + had beheld had afforded pleasure instead of pain, which I am wholly + unable to account for.... + + One of the bodies was carried to the lodging of his wife, who not + being in the way to receive it, they immediately hawked it about to + every surgeon they could think of; and when none would buy it they + rubbed tar all over it, and left it in a field scarcely covered with + earth. + +In a few words, too, Swift draws a vivid picture of a rogue on his last +journey through the London streets: + + His waistcoat, and stockings, and breeches were white; + His cap had a new cherry ribbon to tie't. + The maids to the doors and the balconies ran, + And said, "Lack-a-day, he's a proper young man!" + But as from the windows the ladies he spied, + Like a beau in a box, he bow'd low on each side. + + Execution day, or Tyburn Fair, as it was jocularly called, was not + only a holiday for the ragamuffins and idlers of London; folk of all + classes made their way thither to indulge a morbid desire of seeing + the dying agonies of a fellow being, criminal or not. There were + grand stands and scaffoldings from which the more favoured could + view the proceedings in comfort, and every inch of window space and + room on the neighbouring roofs was worth a pretty penny to the + owners. In his last scene of the career of the Idle Apprentice + Hogarth drew a picture of Tyburn Tree which no description can + amplify. + + As the procession drew near the hangman clambered to the cross-piece + of the gallows and lolled there, pipe in mouth, until the first cart + drew up beneath him. Then he would reach down, or one of his + assistants would pass up, one after the other, the loose ends of the + halters which the condemned men had had placed round their necks + before leaving Newgate. When all were made fast Jack Ketch climbed + down and kicked his heels until the sheriff, or maybe the felons + themselves, gave him the sign to drive away the cart and leave its + occupants dangling in mid-air. The dead men's clothes were his + perquisite, and now was his time to claim them. There is a graphic + description of how, on one occasion, when the murderer "flung down + his handkerchief for the signal for the cart to move on, Jack Ketch, + instead of instantly whipping on the horse, jumped on the other side + of him to snatch up the handkerchief, lest he should lose his + rights. He then returned to the head of the cart and jehu'd him out + of the world". + + As the cart drew away a few carrier pigeons, which were released + from the galleries, flew off City-ward to bear the tidings to + Newgate. + +Perhaps as good a description of the actual event as can be obtained is +contained in a letter from Anthony Storer to his friend George Selwyn, a +morbid cynic whose cruel and tasteless bon-mots were hailed as wit by +Horace Walpole and his cronies. The execution was that of Dr. Dodd, the +"macaroni parson", whose unfortunate vanity led him to forgery and +Tyburn. The date--June 27, 1777--is considerably after the period of our +book, but the description applies as well as if it had been written +expressly for it. + + Upon the whole, the piece was not very full of events. The doctor, + to all appearances, was rendered perfectly stupid from despair. His + hat was flapped all round, and pulled over his eyes, which were + never directed to any object around, nor even raised, except now and + then lifted up in the course of his prayers. He came in a coach, and + a very heavy shower of rain fell just upon his entering the + executioner's cart, and another just at his putting on his nightcap. + During the shower an umbrella was held over his head, which Gilly + Williams, who was present, observed was quite unnecessary, as the + doctor was going to a place where he might be dried. + + He was a considerable time in praying, which some people standing + about seemed rather tired with; they rather wished for a more + interesting part of the tragedy. The wind, which was high, blew off + his hat, which rather embarrassed him, and discovered to us his + countenance, which we could scarcely see before. His hat, however, + was soon restored to him, and he went on with his prayers. There + were two clergymen attending on him, one of whom seemed very much + affected. The other, I suppose, was the Ordinary of Newgate, as he + was perfectly indifferent and unfeeling in everything he did and + said. + + The executioner took both the hat and wig off at the same time. Why + he put on his wig again I do not know, but he did; and the doctor + took off his wig a second time, and then tied on the nightcap which + did not fit him; but whether he stretched that or took another, I + did not perceive. He then put on his nightcap himself, and upon his + taking it he certainly had a smile on his countenance, and very soon + afterwards there was an end of all his hopes and fears on this side + of the grave. He never moved from the place he first took in the + cart; seemed absorbed in despair and utterly dejected; without any + other sign of animation but in praying. I stayed until he was cut + down and put in the hearse. + +But the hangman's work was not always done when he had turned off his +man. The full sentence for high treason, for example, provided him with +much more occupation. In the first place, the criminal was drawn to the +gallows and not carried or allowed to walk. Common humanity had +mitigated this sentence to being drawn upon a hurdle or sledge, which +preserved him from the horrors of being dragged over the stones. Having +been hanged, the traitor was then cut down alive, and Jack Ketch set +about disembowelling him and burning his entrails before he died. The +head was then completely severed, the body quartered and the dismembered +pieces taken away for exhibition at Temple Bar and other prominent +places. + +Here is the account of one such execution. "After the traitor had hung +six minutes he was cut down, and having life in him, as he lay upon the +block to be quartered, the executioner gave him several blows on his +breast, which not having the effect designed, he immediately cut his +throat; after which he took his head off; then ripped him open and took +out his bowels and heart, and then threw them into a fire which consumed +them. Then he slashed his four quarters and put them with the head into +a coffin.... His head was put on Temple Bar and his body and limbs +suffered to be buried." + +Such proceedings were exceptional, however. In the majority of +executions the body was taken down when life was considered to be +extinct, and carried away to Surgeon's Hall for dissection. Sometimes +the relatives used their influence to have the corpse handed over to +them (often not even in a coffin) and they then carried it away in a +coach for decent burial, or to try resuscitation. Occasionally, indeed, +hanged men came to life again. In 1740 one Duel, or Dewell, was hanged +for a rape, and his body taken to Surgeons' Hall in the ordinary +routine. As one of the attendants was washing it he perceived signs of +life. Steps were taken immediately and Duel was brought to, and +eventually taken away in triumph by the mob, who had got wind of the +affair and refused to allow the Law to re-hang their man. A little +earlier something of the same sort had happened to John Smith, who had +been hanging for five minutes and a quarter, during which time the +hangman "pulled him by the legs and used other means to put a speedy +period to his life", when a reprieve arrived and he was cut down. He was +hurried away to a neighbouring tavern where restoratives were given, +blood was let, and after a time he came to himself, "to the great +admiration of the spectators". According to his own account of the +affair, he felt a terrible pain when first the cart drew away and left +him dangling, but that ceased almost at once, his last sensation being +that of a light glimmering fitfully before his eyes. Yet all his +previous agony was surpassed when he was being brought to, and the blood +began to circulate freely again. A last ignominy, and one strangely +dreaded by some of the most hardened criminals, was hanging in irons. +When life was extinct the corpse was placed in a sort of iron cage and +thus suspended from a gibbet, usually by the highway or near the place +where the crime had been committed. There it hung until it fell to +pieces from the effects of Time and the weather, and only a few hideous +bones and scraps of dried flesh remained as evidence of the strong hand +of the Law. + + + + +With the exception of minor alterations in punctuation and spellings +this book is a complete reprint of three volumes printed and sold by +John Osborn, at the Golden Ball, in Paternoster Row, 1735. + +A. L. H. + + + + +LIVES OF THE CRIMINALS + +VOLUME ONE + + + + +THE PREFACE + + +_The clemency of the Law of England is so great that it does not take +away the life of any subject whatever, but in order to the preservation +of the rest both by removing the offender from a possibility of +multiplying his offences, and by the example of his punishment intending +to deter others from such crimes as the welfare of society requires +should be punished with the utmost severity of the Law. My intention in +communicating to the public the lives of those who, for about a dozen +years past have been victims to their own crimes, is to continue to +posterity the good effects of such examples, and by a recital of their +vices to warn those who become my readers from ever engaging in those +paths which necessarily have so fatal an end. In the work itself I have, +as well as I am able, painted in a proper light those vices which induce +men to fall into those courses which are so justly punished by the +Legislature._ + +_I flatter myself that however contemptible the_ Lives of the Criminals, +_etc., may seem in the eyes of those who affect great wisdom and put on +the appearance of much learning, yet it will not be without its uses +amongst the middling sort of people, who are glad to take up with books +within the circle of their own comprehension. It ought to be the care of +all authors to treat their several subjects so that while they are read +for the sake of amusement they may, as it were imperceptibly, convey +notions both profitable and just. The adventures of those who, for the +sake of supplying themselves with money for their debaucheries, have +betaken themselves to the desperate trade of knights of the road, often +have in them circumstances diverting enough and such as serve to show us +what sort of amusements they are by which vice betrays us to ruin, and +how the fatal inclination to gratify our passions hurries us finally to +destruction._ + +_I would not have my readers imagine however, because I talk of +rendering books of this kind useful, that I have thrown out any part of +what may be styled interesting. On the contrary, I have carefully +preserved this and as far as the subject would give me leave, improved +it, but with this caution always, that I have set forth the +entertainments of vice in their proper colours, lest young people might +be led to take them for innocent diversions, and from figures not +uncommon in modern authors, learn to call lewdness gallantry, and the +effects of unbridled lust the starts of too warm an imagination. These +are notions which serve to cheat the mind and represent as the road of +pleasure that which is indeed the highway to the gallows. This, I +conceived, was the use proper to be made of the lives, or rather the +deaths of malefactors, and if I have done no other good in writing them, +I shall have at least this satisfaction, that I have preserved them from +being presented to the world in such a dress as might render the_ +Academy of Thieving _their proper title, a thing once practised before, +and if one may guess from the general practice of mankind, might +probably have been attempted again, with success. How a different method +will fare in the world, time only can determine, and to that I leave it. +Yet considering the method in which I treat this subject, I readily +forsaw one objection which occasioned my writing so long a preface as +this, in order that it might be fully obviated._ + +_Though in the body of the work itself I have carefully traced the rise +of those corrupt inclinations which bring men to the committing of facts +within the cognizance of the Law, it still remains necessary that my +readers also become acquainted, at least in general, with what those +facts are which are so severely punished. In doing this I shall not +speak of matters in the style of a lawyer, but preserve the same +plainness of language which, as I thought it the most proper, I have +endeavoured throughout the whole piece._ + +_The order of things requires that I should first of all take notice how +the Law comes to have a right of punishing those who live under it with +Death or other grievous penalties, and this in a few words arises thus. +We enter into society for the sake of protection, and as this renders +certain laws necessary, we are justly concluded by them in other cases +for the protection of others; but of all the criminal institutions which +have been settled in any nation, never was any more just, more +reasonable, or fuller of clemency, than that which is called the Crown +Law in England. In speaking of this it may not be improper to explain +the meaning of that term, which seems to take its rise from the +conclusion of indictments, which run always_ contra pacem dicti domini +regis, coronam et dignitatem suam _(against the peace of our Sovereign +Lord the King, his Crown and Dignity) and therefore, as the Crown is +always the prosecutor against such offenders, the Law which creates the +offence is with propriety enough styled the Crown Law._ + +_The first head of Crown Law is that which concerns offences committed +against God, and anciently there were three which were capital, viz., +heresy, witchcraft and sodomy; but the law passed in the reign of King +Charles the Second for taking away the writ_ de Hæretica comburendo, +_leaves the first not now punishable with death, even in its highest +degree. However, by a statute made in the reign of King William, persons +educated in the Christian religion who are convicted of denying the +Trinity, the Christian religion, or the authority of the Scriptures, are +for the first offence to be adjudged incapable of office, for the second +to be disabled from suing in any action, and over and above other +incapacities to suffer three years' imprisonment. As to witchcraft, it +was formerly punished in the same manner as heresy. In the time of +Edward the Third, one taken with the head and face of a dead man and a +book of sorcery about him, was brought into the King's Bench, and only +sworn that he would not thenceforth be a sorcerer, and so dismissed, the +head, however, being burnt at his charge. There was a law made against +conjurations, enchantments and witchcraft, in the days of Queen +Elizabeth, but it stands repealed by a statute of King James's time, +which is the law whereon all proceedings at this day are founded. By +this law, any person invoking or conjuring any evil spirit, covenanting +with, employing, feeding, or rewarding them, or taking up any dead +person out of their grave, or any part of them, and making use of it in +any witchcraft, sorcery, etc., shall suffer death as a felon, without +benefit of clergy, and this whether the spirits appear, or whether the +charm take effect or no. By the same statute those who take upon them by +witchcraft, etc., to tell where treasure is hid, or things lost or +stolen should be found, or to engage unlawful love, shall suffer for the +first offence a year's imprisonment, and stand in the pillory once every +quarter in that year six hours, and if guilty a second time, shall +suffer death; even though such discoveries should prove false, or +charms, etc., should have no effect. Executions upon this Act were +heretofore frequent, but of late years, prosecutions on these heads in +which vulgar opinion often goes a great way have been much discouraged +and discontinued. As for the last head it remains yet capital, by virtue +of a statute made in the reign of Henry VIII, which had been repealed in +the first of Queen Mary, and was revived in the fifth of Queen +Elizabeth, by which statute, after reciting that the laws then in being +in this realm were not sufficient for punishing that detestable vice, it +is enacted that such crimes for the future, whether committed with +mankind or beasts, should be punished as felonies without benefit of +clergy._ + +_It is wide of my purpose to dwell any longer on those crimes which are +by the laws styled properly against God, seeing none of the persons +mentioned in the following work were executed for doing anything against +them. Let us therefore pass on to the second great branch of the Crown +Law, viz., offences immediately against the King, and these are either +treasons or felonies. Of treasons there are four kinds, all settled by +the Statute of the 25th of Edward the Third. The two latter only, viz., +offences against the King's great or privy seal, and offences in +counterfeiting money, have anything to do with our present design, and +therefore we shall speak particularly of them. Not only the persons who +actually counterfeit those seals, but even the aiders and consenters to +such counterfeiting, are within the Act, and by a statute made in the +reign of Queen Mary, counterfeiting the sign manual or privy signet, is +also made high treason. By the same statute of Edward the Third, the +making of false money, or the bringing it into this realm, in deceit of +our Lord the King and his people, was also declared to be high treason, +but this Act being found insufficient, clippers being not made guilty +either of treason or of misprison of treason, it was helped in that +respect by several other Acts; but the fullest of all was the Act made +in the reign of the late King William, and rendered perpetual by a +subsequent Law made in the reign of her late Majesty [Anne], whereby it +is enacted, that whoever shall make, mend, buy, sell, or have in his +possession, any mould or press for coining, or shall convey such +instruments out of the King's Mint, or mark on the edges of any coin +current or counterfeit, or any round blanks of base metal, or colour or +gild any coin resembling the coin of this kingdom, shall suffer death as +in case of high treason. At the time when these laws were made coining +and clipping were at a prodigious height, and practised not only by mean +and indigent persons but also by some of tolerable character and rank, +insomuch that these executions were numerous for some years after +passing the said Act, which as it created some new species of high +treason, so it also made felony some other offences against the coin +which were not so, or at least were not clearly so before, viz., to +blanch copper for sale; or to mix blanch copper with silver, or +knowingly or fraudulently to buy any mixture which shall be heavier than +silver, and look, touch, and wear like gold, but be manifestly worse; or +receive, or pay any counterfeit money at a lower rate than its +denomination doth import, shall be guilty of felony._ + +_A third head under which, in this cursory account of Crown Law, I shall +range other offences that are punished capitally, are those against our +fellow subjects, and they are either committed against their lives, +their goods or their habitations. With respect to those against life, if +one person kill another without any malice aforethought, then that +natural tenderness of which the Law of England is full, interposes for +the first fact, which in such a case is denominated manslaughter. Yet +there is a particular kind of manslaughter which, by the first of King +James, is made felony without benefit of clergy, and that is, where a +person shall stab or thrust any person or persons that have not any +weapon drawn (or that have not first struck the party which shall so +stab or thrust), so that the person or persons so stabbed or thrust +shall die within six months next following, though it cannot be proved +that the same was done of malice aforethought. This Act it is which is +commonly called the Statute of Stabbing._ + +_As to murder properly so called, and taking it as a term in the English +Law, it signifies the killing of any person whatsoever from malice +aforethought, whether the person slain be an Englishman or not, and this +may not only be done directly by a wound or blow, but also by +deliberately doing a thing which apparently endangers another's life, so +that if death follow thereon he shall be adjudged to have killed him. +Such was the case of him who carried his sick father from one town to +another against his will in a frosty season. It would be too long for +this Preface, should I endeavour to distinguish the several cases which +in the eye of the Law come under this denomination; having, therefore, a +view to the work itself, I shall distinguish two points only from which +malice prepense is presumed in Law._ + +_(1) Where an express purpose appears in him who kills, to do some +personal injury to him who is slain; in which case malice is properly to +be expressed._ + +_(2) Where a person in the execution of an unlawful action kills +another, though his principal intent was not to do any personal injury +to the person slain; in which case the malice is said to be implied._ + +_As to duels where the blood has once cooled, there is no doubt but he +who kills another is guilty of wilful murder; or even in case of a +sudden quarrel, if the person killing appear by any circumstance to be +master of his temper at the time he slew the other, then it will be +murder. Not that the English Law allows nothing to the frailties of +human nature, but that it always exerts itself where there appears to +have been a person killed in cool blood. Far this reason the seconds at +a premeditated duel have been held guilty of murder, nor will the +justice of the English Law be defeated where a person appears to have +intended a less hurt than death, if that hurt arose from a desire of +revenge in cool blood; for if the person dies of the injury it will be +murder. So, also, where the revenge of a sudden provocation is executed +in a cruel manner, though without intention of death, yet if it happen, +it is murder._ + +_We come now to those kinds of killing in which the Law, from the second +method of reasoning we have spoken of, implies malice, and into which +slaying of others, those unfortunate persons of whom we speak in the +following sheets were mostly led either through the violence of their +passions, or through the necessity into which they are often drawn by +the commission of thefts and other crimes. Thus, were a person to kill +another in doing a felony, though it be by accident, or where a person +fires at one who resists his robbing him and by such firing kills +another against whom he had no design, yet from the evil intention of +the first act, he becomes liable for all its consequences, and the fact, +by an implication of malice, will be adjudged murder. Nay, though there +be no design of committing felony, but only of breaking the peace, yet +if a man be slain in the tumult they will all be guilty of murder, +because their first act was a deliberate breach of the Law. There is yet +another manner of killing which the Law punishes with the utmost +severity, which is resisting an officer, civil or criminal, in the +execution of his office (arresting a person) so that he be slain, yet +though he did not produce his warrant, the offence will be adjudged +murder. And if persons who design no mischief at all, do unadvisedly +commit any idle wanton act which cannot but be attended with manifest +danger, such as riding with a horse known to kick amongst a crowd of +people, merely to divert oneself by putting them in a fright, and by +such riding a death ensues, there such a person will be judged guilty of +murder. Yet some offences there are of so transcendent a cruelty that +the Law hath thought fit to difference them from the other murders, and +these are of three sorts, viz., where a servant kills his master; where +a wife kills her husband; where an ecclesiastical man kills his prelate +to whom he owes obedience. In all these cases the Law makes the crimes +Petit Treason._ + +_From crimes committed against the lives of men we descend next to +offences against their goods, in which, that we may be the more clearly +understood, we shall begin with the lowest kind of thefts. The Law calls +it larceny where there is felonious and fraudulent taking and carrying +away the mere personal goods of another, so long as it be neither from +his person nor out of his house. If the value of such goods be under +twelvepence, then it is called petty larceny, and is punishable only by +whipping or other corporal punishments; but if they exceed that value, +then it is grand larceny, and is punishable with death, where benefit of +clergy is not allowed._ + +_There are a multitude of offences contained under the general title of +grand larceny, and, therefore, as I intend only to give my readers such +a general idea of Crown Law as may serve to render the following pages +more intelligible, so I shall dwell on such particulars as are more +especially useful in that respect, and leave the perfect knowledge of +the pleas of the Crown to be attained by the study of the several books +which treat of them directly and fully. There was until the reign of +King William, a doubt whether a lodger who stole the furniture of his +lodgings were indictable as a felon, inasmuch as he had a special +property in the goods, and was to pay the greater rent in consideration +of them. To clear this, a Statute was made in the afore-mentioned reign, +by which it is declared larceny and felony for any person to steal, +embezzle, or purloin any chattel or furniture which by contract he was +to have the use of in lodging; and by a Statute made in the reign of +Henry VIII, it is enacted that all servants being of the age of eighteen +years, and not apprentices, to whom goods and chattels shall be +delivered by their masters or mistresses for them to keep, if they shall +go away with, or shall defraud or embezzle any part of such goods or +chattels, to the value of forty shillings or upwards, then such false +and fraudulent act be deemed and adjudged felony._ + +_But besides simple larceny, which is divided into grand and petty, +there is a mixed larceny which has a greater degree of guilt in it, as +being a taking from the person of a man or from his house. Larceny from +the person of a man either puts him in fear, and then it is a robbery, +or does not put him in fear, and then it is a larceny from the person, +and of this we shall speak first. It is either committed without a man's +knowledge, and in such a case it is excluded from benefit of clergy, or +it is openly done before the person's face, and then it is within the +benefit of clergy, unless it be in a dwelling-house and to the value of +forty shillings, in which case benefit is taken away by an Act made in +the reign of the late Queen. Larceny from the house is at this day in +several cases excluded from benefit of clergy, but in others it is +allowed._ + +_Robbery is the taking away violently and feloniously the goods or money +from the person of a man, putting him in fear; and this taking is not +only with the robber's own hands, but if he compel, by the terror of his +assault, the person whom he robs to give it himself, or bind him by such +terrible oaths, that afterwards in conscience he thinks himself obliged +to give it, is a taking within the Law, and cannot be purged from any +delivery afterwards. Yea, where there is a gang of several persons, only +one of which robs, they are all guilty as to the circumstance of putting +in fear, wherever a person attacks another with circumstances of terror, +as though fear oblige him to part with his money though it be without +weapons drawn, and the person taking it pretend to receive it as an +alms. And in respect of punishment, though judgment of death cannot be +given in any larceny whatsoever, unless the goods taken exceed twelve +pence in value, yet in robbery such judgment is given, let the value of +the goods be ever so small._ + +_As to crimes committed against the habitations of men, there are two +kinds, viz., burglary and arson._ + +_Burglary is a felony at Common Law, and consists in breaking and +entering the mansion house of another in the night time with an intent +of committing a felony therein, whether that intention be executed or +not. Here, from the best opinions, is to be understood such a degree of +darkness as hinders a man's countenance from being discerned. The +breaking and entering are points essential to be proved in order to make +any fact burglary; the place in which it is committed must be a dwelling +house, and the breaking and entering such a dwelling house must be an +intent of committing felony, and not a trespass; and this much I think +is sufficient to define the nature of this crime, which notwithstanding +the many examples which have been made of it, is still too much +practised. As to arson, by which the Law understand maliciously and +voluntarily burning the house of another by night or by day; to make a +man guilty of this it must appear that he did it voluntarily and of +malice aforethought._ + +_Besides these, there are several other felonies which are made so by +Statute, such as rapes committed on women by force, and against their +will. This offence was anciently punished by putting out the eyes and +cutting off the testicles of the offenders; it was afterwards made a +felony, and by a statute in Queen Elizabeth's reign, excluded from +benefit of clergy. By an Act made in the reign of King Henry the +Seventh, taking any woman (whether maid, wife or widow) having any +substance, or being heir apparent to her ancestors, for the lucre of +such substance, and either to marry or defile the said woman against her +will, then such persons and all those procuring or abetting them in the +said violence, shall be guilty of felony, from which, by another Act in +Queen Elizabeth's reign, benefit of clergy is taken. Also by an Act in +the reign of King James the First, any person marrying, their former +husband or wife being then alive, such persons shall be deemed guilty of +felony, but benefit of clergy is yet allowed for this offence._ + +_As it often happens that boisterous and unruly people, either in frays +or out of revenge, do very great injuries unto others, yet without +taking away their lives, in such a case the Law adjudges the offender +who commits a mayhem to the severest penalties. The true definition of a +mayhem is such a hurt whereby a man is rendered less able in fighting, +so that cutting off or disabling a man's hand, striking out his eye, or +foretooth, were mayhems at Common Law. But by the Statute of King +Charles the Second, if any person or persons, with malice aforethought, +by lying in wait, unlawfully cut out or disable the tongue, put out an +eye, slit the nose, or cut off the nose or lip of any subject of his +Majesty, with an intention of maiming or disfiguring, then the person +so offending, their counsellors, aiders and abetters, privy to the +offence, shall suffer death, as in cases of felony, without benefit of +clergy; which Act is commonly called the Coventry Act, because it was +occasioned by the slitting of the nose of a gentleman of that name, for +a speech made by him in Parliament.[1]_ + +_As nothing is of greater consequence to the commonwealth than public +credit, so the Legislature hath thought fit, by the highest punishments, +to deter persons from committing such facts for the lucre of gain, as +might injure the credit of the nation. For this purpose, an Act was made +in the reign of the late King William, by which forging or +counterfeiting the common seal of the Governor and Company of the Bank +of England, or of any sealed bank-bill given out in the name of the said +Governor and Company for the payment of any sum of money, or of any +bank-note whatsoever, signed by the said Governor and Company of the +Bank of England, or altering or raising any bank-bill, or note of any +sort, is declared to be felony, without benefit of clergy. Upon this +Statute there have been several convictions, and it is hoped men are +pretty well cured of committing this crime, by that care those in the +direction of the Bank have always taken to bring offenders of this kind +to justice._ + +_By an Act also passed in the reign of King William, persons who +counterfeit any stamp which by its mark relates to the Revenue, shall be +guilty of felony without benefit of clergy, and upon this also there +have been some executions._ + +_But as the public companies established in this kingdom have often +occasion to borrow money under their common seal, which bonds, so +sealed, are transferable and pass currently from hand to hand as ready +money, so for the greater security of the subject the counterfeiting the +common seal of the South Sea Company, or altering any bond or obligation +of the said company, is rendered felony without benefit of clergy. Some +other statutes of the same nature in respect to lottery tickets, etc., +have been made to create felonies of the counterfeiting thereof, but of +these and some other later Statutes, I forbear mentioning here, because +I have spoken particularly of them in the cases where persons have been +punished for transgressing them._ + +_As I have already exceeded the bounds which I at first intended should +have restrained my Preface, so I forbear lengthening it in speaking of +lesser crimes, few of which concern the persons whose lives are to be +found in the following volume. Therefore I shall conclude here, only +putting my readers once more in mind that by this work the intent of the +Law, in punishing malefactors, is more perfectly fulfilled, since the +example of their deaths is transmitted in a proper light to posterity._ + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Sir John Coventry, M. P. for Weymouth, in the course of a + debate on a proposed levy on playhouses, asked "whether did the + king's pleasure lie among the men or the women that acted?" This + open allusion to Charles's relations with Nell Gwynn and Moll + Davies enraged the Court party, and on Dec. 21, 1670, as Sir + John was going to his house in Suffolk Street, he was waylaid by + a brutal gang under Sir Thomas Sandys, dragged from his + carriage, and his nose slit to the bone. This outrage caused + great indignation, and the Coventry Act mentioned in the text + was passed, 22 & 23 Car. II. The perpetrators of the deed + escaped. + + + + +The Life of JANE GRIFFIN, who was Executed for the Murder of her Maid, +January 29, 1719-20 + + +Passion, when it once gains an ascendant over our minds, is often more +fatal to us than the most deliberate course of vice could be. On every +little start it throws us from the paths of reason, and hurries us in +one moment into acts more wicked and more dangerous than we could at any +other time suffer to enter our imagination. As anger is justly said to +be a short madness, so, while the frenzy is upon us, blood is shed as +easily as water, and the mind is so filled with fury that there is no +room left for compassion. There cannot be a stronger proof of what I +have been observing than in the unhappy end of the poor woman who is the +subject of this chapter. + +Jane Griffin was the daughter of honest and substantial parents, who +educated her with very great tenderness and care, particularly with +respect to religion, in which she was well and rationally instructed. As +she grew up her person grew agreeable, and she had a lively wit and a +very tolerable share of understanding. She lived with a very good +reputation, and to general satisfaction, in several places, till she +married Mr. Griffin, who kept the Three Pigeons in Smithfield[2]. + +She behaved herself so well and was so obliging in her house that she +drew to it a very great trade, in which she managed so as to leave +everyone well satisfied. Yet she allowed her temper to fly out into +sudden gusts of passion, and that folly alone sullied her character to +those who were witnesses of it, and at last caused a shameful end to an +honest and industrious life. + +One Elizabeth Osborn, coming to live with her as a servant, she proved +of a disposition as Mrs. Griffin could by no means agree with. They were +continually differing and having high words, in which, as is usual on +such occasions, Mrs. Griffin made use of wild expressions, which though +she might mean nothing by them when she spoke them, yet proved of the +utmost ill consequence, after the fatal accident of the maid's death. +For being then given in evidence, they were esteemed proofs of malice +prepense, which ought to be a warning to all hasty people to endeavour +at some restraint upon their tongues when in fits of anger, since we are +not only sure of answering hereafter for every idle word we speak, but +even here they may, as in this case, become fatal in the last degree. + +It was said at the time those things were transacted that jealousy was +in some degree the source of their debates, but of that I can affirm +nothing. It no way appeared as to the accident which immediately drew on +her death, and which happened after this manner. + +One evening, having cut some cold fowl for the children's supper, it +happened the key of the cellar was missing on a sudden, and on Mrs. +Griffin's first speaking of it they began to look for it. But it not +being found, Mrs. Griffin went into the room where the maid was, and +using some very harsh expression, taxed her with having seen it, or laid +it out of the way. Instead of excusing herself modestly, the maid flew +out also into ill language at her mistress, and in the midst of the +fray, the knife with which she had been cutting lying unluckily by her, +she snatched it up, and stuck it into the maid's bosom; her stays +happening to be unluckily open, it entered so deep as to give her a +mortal wound. + +After she had struck her Mrs. Griffin went upstairs, not imagining that +she had killed her, but the alarm was soon raised on her falling down, +and Mrs. Griffin was carried before a magistrate, and committed to +Newgate. When she was first confined, she seemed hopeful of getting off +at her trial, yet though she did not make any confession, she was very +sorrowful and concerned. As her trial drew nearer, her apprehensions +grew stronger, till notwithstanding all she could urge in her defence, +the jury found her guilty, and sentence was pronounced as the Law +directs. + +Hitherto she had hopes of life, and though she did not totally +relinquish them even upon her conviction, yet she prepared with all due +care for her departure. She sent for the minister of her own parish, who +attended her with great charity, and she seemed exceedingly penitent +and heartily sorry for her crime, praying with great favour and emotion. + +And as the struggling of an afflicted heart seeks every means to vent +its sorrow, in order to gain ease, or at least an alleviation of pain, +so this unhappy woman, to soothe the gloomy sorrows that oppressed her, +used to sit down on the dirty floor, saying it was fit she should humble +herself in dust and ashes, and professing that if she had an hundred +hearts she would freely yield them all to bleed, so they might blot out +the stain of her offence. By such expression did she testify those +inward sufferings which far exceed the punishment human laws inflict, +even on the greatest crimes. + +When the death warrant came down and she utterly despaired of life, her +sorrow and contrition became greater than before, and here the use and +comfort of religion manifestly appeared; for had not her faith in Christ +moderated her afflictions, perhaps grief might have forestalled the +executioner, but she still comforted herself with thinking on a future +state, and what in so short an interval she must do to deserve an happy +immortality. + +The time of her death drawing very near, she desired a last interview +with her husband and daughter, which was accompanied with so much +tenderness that nobody could have beheld it without the greatest +emotion. She exhorted her husband with great earnestness to the practice +of a regular and Christian life, begged him to take due care of his +temporal concerns, and not omit anything necessary in the education of +the unhappy child she left behind her. When he had promised a due regard +should be had to all her requests she seemed more composed and better +satisfied than she had been. Continuing her discourse, she reminded him +of what occurred to her with regard to his affairs, adding that it was +the last advice she should give, and begging therefore it might be +remembered. She finished what she had to say with the most fervent +prayers and wishes for his prosperity. + +Turning next to her daughter, and pouring over her a flood of tears, _My +dearest child_, she said, _let the afflictions of thy mother be a +warning and an example unto thee; and since I am denied life to educate +and bring thee up, let this dreadful monument of my death suffice to +warn you against yielding in any degree to your passion, or suffering a +vehemence of temper to transport you so far even as indecent words, +which bring on a custom of flying out in a rage on trivial occasions, +till they fatally terminate in such acts of wrath and cruelty as that +for which I die. Let your heart, then, be set to obey your Maker and +yield a ready submission to all His laws. Learn that Charity, Love and +Meekness which our blessed religion teaches, and let your mother's +unhappy death excite you to a sober and godly life. The hopes of thus +are all I have to comfort me in this miserable state, this deplorable +condition to which my own rash folly has reduced me._ + +The sorrow expressed both by her husband and by her child was very great +and lively and scarce inferior to her own, but the ministers who +attended her fearing their lamentations might make too strong an +impression on her spirits, they took their last farewell, leaving her to +take care of her more important concern, the eternal welfare of her +soul. + +Some malicious people (as is too often the custom) spread stories of +this unfortunate woman, as if she had been privy to the murder of one +Mr. Hanson, who was killed in the Farthing-Pie House fields[3]; and +attended this with so many odd circumstances and particulars, which +tales of this kind acquire by often being repeated, that the then +Ordinary of Newgate thought it became him to mention it to the prisoner. +Mrs. Griffin appeared to be much affected at her character being thus +stained by the fictions of idle suspicions of silly mischievous persons. +She declared her innocence in the most solemn manner, averred she had +never lived near the place, nor had heard so much as the common reports +as to that gentleman's death. + +Yet, as if folks were desirous to heap sorrow on sorrow, and to embitter +even the heavy sentence on this poor woman, they now gave out a new +fable to calumniate her in respect to her chastity, averring on report +of which the first author is never to be found, that she had lived with +Mr. Griffin in a criminal intimacy before their marriage. The Ordinary +also (though with great reluctance) told her this story. The unhappy +woman answered it was false, and confirmed what she said by undeniable +evidence, adding she freely forgave the forgers of so base an +insinuation. + +When the fatal day came on which she was to die, Mrs. Griffin +endeavoured, as far as she was able, to compose herself easily to submit +to what was not now to be avoided. She had all along manifested a true +sense of religion, knowing that nothing could support her under the +calamities she went through but the hopes of earthly sufferings atoning +for her faults, and becoming thereby a means of eternal salvation. Yet +though these thoughts reconciled this ignominious death to her reason, +her apprehensions were, notwithstanding, strong and terrible when it +came so near. + +At the place of execution she was in terrible agonies, conjuring the +minister who attended her and the Ordinary of Newgate, to tell her +whither there was any hopes of her salvation, which she repeated with +great earnestness, and seeming to part with them reluctantly. The +Ordinary entreated her to submit cheerfully to this, her last stage of +sorrow, and in certain assurance of meeting again (if it so pleased God) +in a better slate. + +The following paper having been left in the hands of a friend, and being +designed for the people, I thought proper to publish it. + + I declare, then, with respect to the deed for which I die, that I + did it without any malice or anger aforethought, for the unlucky + instrument of my passion lying at hand, when first words arose on + the loss of the key, I snatched it up suddenly, and executed that + rash act which hath brought her and me to death, without thinking. + + I trust, however, that my most sincere and hearty repentance of this + bloody act of cruelty, the sufferings which I have endured since, + the ignominious death I am now to die, and above all the merits of + my Saviour, who shed His blood for me on the Cross, will atone for + this my deep and heavy offence, and procure for me eternal rest. + + But as I am sensible that there is no just hope of forgiveness from + the Almighty without a perfect forgiveness of those who have any way + injured us, so I do freely and from the bottom of my soul, forgive + all who have ever done me any wrong, and particularly those who, + since my sorrowful imprisonment, have cruelly aspersed me, earnestly + entreating all who in my life-time I may have offended, that they + would also in pity to my deplorable state, remit those offences to + me with a like freedom. + + And now as the Law hath adjudged, and I freely offer my body to + suffer for what I have committed, I hope nobody will be so unjust + and so uncharitable as to reflect on those I leave behind me on my + account, and for this, I most humbly make my last dying request, as + also that ye would pray for my departed soul. + +She died with all exterior marks of true penitence, being about forty +years of age, the 29th of January, 1719-20. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [2] This tavern was in Butcher Hall Lane (now King Edward + Street, Newgate Street), and was a favourite resort of the + Paternoster Row booksellers. + + [3] The Farthing-Pie House was a tavern in Marylebone. It was + subsequently re-christened The Green Man. + + + + +The Lives of JOHN TRIPPUCK, the Golden Tinman, a Highwayman; RICHARD +CANE, a Footpad; THOMAS CHARNOCK, a thief; and RICHARD SHEPHERD, a +Housebreaker, who were all executed at Tyburn, the 29th of January, +1719-20 + + +The first of these offenders had been an old sinner, and I suppose had +acquired the nickname of the Golden Tinman as a former practitioner in +the same wretched calling did that of the Golden Farmer.[4] Trippuck had +robbed alone and in company for a considerable space, till his character +was grown so notorious that some short time before his being taken for +the last offence, he had, by dint of money and interest, procured a +pardon. However, venturing on the deed which brought him to his death, +the person injured soon seized him, and being inexorable in his +prosecution, Trippuck was cast and received sentence. However, having +still some money, he did not lose all hope of a reprieve, but kept up +his spirits by flattering himself with his life being preserved, till +within a very few days of the execution. If the Ordinary spoke to him of +the affairs of the soul, Trippuck immediately cut him short with, _D'ye +believe I can obtain a pardon? I don't know that, indeed_, says the +doctor. _But you know one Counsellor Such-a-one_, says Trippuck, +_prithee make use of your interest with him, and see whether you can get +him to serve me. I'll not be ungrateful, doctor._ + +The Ordinary was almost at his wits' end with this sort of cross +purposes; however, he went on to exhort him to think of the great work +he had to do, and entreated him to consider the nature of that +repentance which must atone for all his numerous offences. Upon this, +Trippuck opened his breast and showed him a great number of scars +amongst which were two very large ones, out of which he said two musket +bullets had been extracted. _And will not these, good doctor_, quoth he, +_and the vast pains I have endured in their cure, in some sort lessen +the heinousness of the facts I may have committed? No_, said the +Ordinary, _what evils have fallen upon you in such expeditions, you have +drawn upon yourself, and do not imagine that these will in any degree +make amends for the multitude of your offences. You had much better +clear your conscience by a full and ingenious confession of your crimes, +and prepare in earnest for another world, since I dare assure you, you +need entertain no hopes of staying in this._ + +As soon as be found the Ordinary was in the right, and that all +expectation of a reprieve or pardon were totally in vain, Trippuck +began, as most of those sort of people do, to lose much of that +stubbornness they mistake for courage. He now felt all the terrors of an +awakened conscience, and persisted no longer in denying the crime for +which he died, though at first he declared it altogether a falsehood, +and Constable, his companion, had denied it even to death. As is +customary when persons are under their misfortune, it had been reported +that this Trippuck was the man who killed Mr. Hall towards the end of +the summer before on Blackheath, but when the story reached the Golden +Tinman's ears he declared it was an utter falsity; repeating this +assertion to the Ordinary a few moments before his being turned off, and +pointing to the rope about him, he said, _As you see this instrument of +death about me, what I say is the real truth._ He died with all outward +signs of penitence. + +Richard Cane was a young man of about twenty-two years of age, at the +time he suffered. Having a tolerable genius when a youth, his friends +put him apprentice twice, but to no purpose, for having got rambling +notions in his head, he would needs go to sea. There, but for his +unhappy temper, he might have done well, for the ship of war in which he +sailed was so fortunate as to take, after eight hours sharp engagement, +a Spanish vessel of immense value; but the share he got did him little +service. As soon as he came home Richard made a quick hand of it, and +when the usual train of sensual delights which pass for pleasures in low +life had exhausted him to the last farthing, necessity and the desire of +still indulging his vices, made him fall into the worst and most +unlawful methods to obtain the means which they might procure them. + +Sometime after this, the unhappy man of whom we are speaking fell in +love (as the vulgar call it) with an honest, virtuous, young woman, who +lived with her mother, a poor, well-meaning creature, utterly ignorant +of Cane's behaviour, or that he had ever committed any crimes punishable +by Law. The girl, as such silly people are wont, yielded quickly to a +marriage which was to be consummated privately, because Cane's relations +were not to be disobliged, who it seems did not think him totally ruined +so long as he escaped matrimony. But the unhappy youth not having enough +money to procure a licence, and being ashamed to put the expense on the +woman and her mother, in a fit of amorous distraction went out from +them one evening, and meeting a man somewhat fuddled in the street, +threw him down, and took away his hat and coat. The fellow was not so +drunk but that he cried out, and people coming to his assistance, Cane +was immediately apprehended, and so this fact, instead of raising him +money enough to be married, brought him to death in this ignominious +way. + +While he lay in Newgate, the miserable young creature who was to have +been his wife came constantly to cry with him and deplore their mutual +misfortunes, which were increased by the girl's mother falling sick, and +being confined to her bed through grief for her designed son-in-law's +fate. When the day of his suffering drew on, this unhappy man composed +himself to submit to it with great serenity. He professed abundance of +contrition for the wickedness of his former life and lamented with much +tenderness those evils he had brought upon the girl and her mother. The +softness of his temper, and the steady affection he had for the maid, +contributed to make his exit much pitied; which happened at Tyburn in +the twenty-second year of his age. He left this paper behind him, which +he spoke at the tree. + + Good People, + + The Law having justly condemned me for my offence to suffer in this + shameful manner, I thought it might be expected that I should say + something here of the crime for which I die, the commission of which + I do readily acknowledge, though it was attended with that + circumstance of knocking down, which was sworn against me. I own I + have been guilty of much wickedness, and am exceedingly troubled at + the reflection it may bring upon my relations, who are all honest + and reputable people. As I die for the offences I have done, and die + in charity forgiving all the world, so I hope none will be so cruel + as to pursue my memory with disgrace or insult an unhappy young + woman on my account, whose character I must vindicate with my last + breath, as all the justice I am able to do her, I die in the + communion of the Church of England and humbly request your prayers + for my departing soul. + +Richard Shepherd was born of very honest and reputable parents in the +city of Oxford, who were careful in giving him a suitable education, +which he, through the wickedness of his future life, utterly forgot, +insomuch that he knew scarce the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, at the +time he had most need of them. When he grew a tolerable big lad his +friends put him out as apprentice to a butcher, where having served a +great part of his time, he fell in love, as they call it, with a young +country lass hard by, and Dick's passion growing outrageous, he attacked +the poor maid with all the amorous strains of gallantry he was able. The +hearts of young uneducated wenches, like unfortified towns, make little +resistance when once beseiged, and therefore Shepherd had no great +difficulty in making a conquest. However the girl insisted on honourable +terms, and unfortunately for the poor fellow they were married before +his time was out; an error in conduct, which in low life is seldom +retrieved. + +It happened so here. Shepherd's master was not long before he discovered +this wedding. He thereupon gave the poor fellow so much trouble that he +was at last forced to give him forty shillings down, and a bond for +twenty-eight pounds more. This having totally ruined him, Dick unhappily +fell into the way of dishonest company, who soon drew him into their +ways of gaining money and supplying his necessities at the hazard both +of his conscience and his neck; in which, though he became an expert +proficient, yet could he never acquire anything considerable thereby, +but was continually embroiled in debt. His wife bringing every year a +child, contributed not a little thereto. However, Dick rubbed on mostly +by thieving and as little by working as it was possible to avoid. + +When he first began his robberies, he went housebreaking, and actually +committed several facts in the city of Oxford itself. But those things +not being so easily to be concealed there as at London, report quickly +began to grow very loud about him, and Dick was forced to make shift +with pilfering in other places; in which he was (to use the manner of +speaking of those people) so unlucky that the second or third fact he +committed in Hertfordshire, he was detected, seized, and at the next +assizes capitally convicted. Yet out of compassion to his youth, and in +hopes he might be sufficiently checked by so narrow an escape from the +gallows, his friends procured him first a reprieve and then a pardon. + +But this proximity to death made little impression on his heart, which +is too often the fault in persons who, like him, receive mercy, and have +notwithstanding too little grace to make use of it. Partly driven by +necessity, for few people cared after his release to employ him, partly +through the instigations of his own wicked heart, Dick went again upon +the old trade for which he had so lately been like to have suffered, +but thieving was still an unfortunate profession to him. He soon after +fell again into the hands of Justice, from whence he escaped by +impeaching Allen and Chambers, two of his accomplices, and so evaded +Tyburn a second time. Yet all this signified nothing to him, for as soon +as he was at home, so soon to work he went in his old way, till +apprehended and executed for his wickedness. + +No unhappy criminal had more warning than Shepherd of his approaching +miserable fate, if he would have suffered anything to have deterred him; +but alas! what are advices, terrors, what even the sight of death +itself, to souls hardened in sin and consciences so seared as his. He +had, when taken up and carried before Col. Ellis, been committed to New +Prison for a capital offence. He had not remained there long before he +wrote the Colonel a letter in which (provided he were admitted an +evidence) he offered to make large discoveries. His offers were +accepted, and several convicted capitally at the Old Bailey by him were +executed at Tyburn, whither for his trade of housebreaking, Shepherd +quickly followed them. + +While in Newgate Shepherd had picked up a thoughtless resolution as to +dying, not uncommon to those malefactors who, having been often +condemned, go at last hardened to the gallows. When he was exhorted to +think seriously of making his peace with God, he replied 'twas done and +he was sure of going to Heaven. + +With these were executed Thomas Charnock, a young man well and +religiously educated. By his friends he had been placed in the house of +a very eminent trader, and being seduced by ill-company yielded to the +desire of making a show in the world. In order to do so, he robbed his +master's counting-house, which fact made him indeed conspicuous, but in +a very different manner from what he had flattered himself with. They +died tolerably submissive and penitent, this last malefactor, +especially, having rational ideas of religion. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [4] William Davis, the Golden Farmer, was a notorious + highwayman, who obtained his sobriquet from a habit of always + paying in gold. He was hanged in Fleet Street, December 20, + 1689. His adventures are told at length in Smith's _History of + the Highwaymen_, edited by me and published in the same series + as this volume. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM BARTON, a Highwayman + + +This William Barton was born in Thames Street, London, and seemed to +have inherited a sort of hereditary wildness and inconstancy, his father +having been always of a restless temper and addicted to every species of +wickedness, except such as are punished by temporal laws. While this son +William was a child, he left him, without any provision, to the care of +his mother, and accompanied by a concubine whom he had long convened +with, shipped himself for the island of Jamaica, carrying with him a +good quantity of goods proper for that climate, intending to live there +as pleasantly as the place would give him leave. His head being well +turned, both for trading and planting, it was, indeed, probable enough +he should succeed. + +Now, no sooner was his father gone on this unaccountable voyage, but +William was taken home and into favour by his grandfather, who kept a +great eating-house in Covent Garden. Here Will, if he would, might +certainly have done well. His grandfather bound him to himself, treated +him with the utmost tenderness and indulgence, and the gentlemen who +frequented the house were continually making him little presents, which +by their number were considerable, and might have contented a youth like +him. + +But William, whose imagination was full of roving as his father's, far +from sitting down pleased and satisfied with that easy condition into +which Fortune had thrown him, began to dream of nothing but travels and +adventures. In short, in spite of all the poor old man, his grandfather, +could say to prevent it, to sea he went, and to Jamaica in quest of his +father, who he fancied must have grown extravagantly rich by this time, +the common sentiments of fools, who think none poor who have the good +luck to dwell in the West Indies. + +On Barton's arrival at Jamaica he found all things in a very different +condition from what he had flattered himself with. His father was dead +and the woman who went over with him settled in a good plantation, 'tis +true, but so settled that Will was unable to remove her; so he betook +himself to sea again, and rubbed on the best way he was able. But as if +the vengeance of Heaven had pursued him, or rather as if Providence, by +punishments, designed to make him lay aside his vices, Barton had no +sooner scraped a little money together, but the vessel in which he +sailed was (under the usual pretence of contraband goods) seized by the +Spaniards, who not long after they were taken, sent the men they made +prisoners into Spain. The natural moroseness of those people's temper, +makes them harsh masters. Poor Barton found it so, and with the rest of +his unfortunate companions, suffered all the inconveniences of hard +usage and low diet, though as they drew nearer the coast of Spain that +severity was a little softened. + +When they were safely landed, they were hurried to a prison where it was +difficult to determine which was worst, their treatment or their food. +Above all the rest Barton was uneasy, and his head ever turned towards +contriving an escape. When he and some other intriguing heads had +meditated long in vain, an accident put it in their power to do that +with ease which all their prudence could not render probable in the +attempt, a thing common with men under misfortune, who have reason, +therefore, never to part with hope. + +Finding an old wall in the outer court of the prison weak, and ready to +fall down, the keeper caused the English prisoners, amongst others, to +be sent to repair it. The work was exceedingly laborious, but Barton and +one of his companions soon thought of a way to ease it. They had no +sooner broke up a small part of the foundation which was to be new laid, +but stealing the Spanish soldiers' pouches, they crowded the powder into +a small bag, placing it underneath as far as they could reach, and then +gave it fire. This threw up two yards of the wall, and while the +Spaniards stood amazed at the report, Barton and his associates marched +off through the breach, without finding the slightest resistance from +any of the keeper's people, though he had another party in the street. + +But this would have signified very little, if Providence had not also +directed them to a place of safety by bringing them as soon as they +broke out of the door to a monastery. Thither they fled for shelter, and +the religious of the place treated them with much humanity. They +succoured them with all necessary provision, protected them when +reclaimed by the gaoler, and taking them into their service, showed them +in all respects the same care and favour they did to the rest of their +domestics. + +Yet honest labour, however recompensed, was grating to these restless +people, who longed for nothing but debauchery, and struggled for liberty +only as a preparative to the indulging of their vices; and so they began +to contrive how they should free themselves from hence. Barton and his +fellow engineer were not long before they fell on a method to effect it, +by wrenching open the outer doors in the night, and getting to an +English vessel that lay in the harbour ready to sail. + +They had not been aboard long ere they found that the charitable friars +had agreed with the captain for their passage, and so all they gained by +breaking out was the danger of being reclaimed, or at least going naked +and without any assistance, which to be sure they would have met with +from their masters, if they could but have had a little patience. But +the passion of returning home, or rather a vehement lust after the +basest pleasures, hurried them to whatever appeared conducive to that +end, however fatal in its consequence it might be. + +When they were got safe into their native country again, each took such +a course for a livelihood as he liked best. Whether Barton then fell +into thievery, or whether he learned not that mystery before he had +served an apprenticeship thereto in the Army I cannot say, but in some +short space after his being at home 'tis certain that he listed himself +a soldier, and served several campaigns in Flanders, during the last +War. Being a very gallant fellow, he gained the love of his officers, +and there was great probability of his doing well there, having gained +at least some principle of honour in the service, which would have +prevented him doing such base things as those for which he afterwards +died. But, unhappily for him, the War ended just as he was on the point +of becoming paymaster-sergeant, and his regiment being disbanded, poor +Will became broke in every acceptation of the word. He retained always a +strong tincture of his military education, and was peculiarly fond of +telling such adventures as he gained the knowledge of, while in the +Army. + +Amongst other stories that he told were one or two which may appear +perhaps not unentertaining to my readers. When Brussels came towards the +latter end of the War to be pretty well settled under the Imperialists, +abundance of persons of distinction came to reside there and in the +neighborhood from the advantage natural to so fine a situation. Amongst +these was the Baron De Casteja, a nobleman of a Spanish family, who +except for his being addicted excessively to gaming, was in every way a +fine gentlemen. He had married a lady of one of the best families in +Flanders, by whom he had a son of the greatest hopes. The baron's +passion for play had so far lessened their fortune that they lived but +obscurely at a village three leagues from Brussels, where having now +nothing to support his gaming expenses, he grew reformed, and his +behaviour gained so high and general esteem that the most potent lord in +the country met not with higher reverence on any occasion. The great +prudence and economy of the baroness made her the theme of general +praise, while the young Chevalier de Casteja did not a little add to the +honours of the family. + +It happened the baron had a younger brother in the Emperor's service, +whose merit having raised him to a considerable rank in his armies, he +had acquired a very considerable estate, to the amount of upwards of one +hundred thousand crowns, which on his death he bequeathed him. Upon this +accession of fortune, the Baron Casteja, as is but too frequent, fell to +his old habit, and became as fond of gaming as ever. The poor lady saw +this with the utmost concern, and dreaded the confounding this legacy, +as all the baron's former fortune had been consumed by his being the +dupe of gamesters. In deep affliction at the consideration of what +might in future times become the Chevalier's fortune, she therefore +entreated the baron to lay out part of the sum in somewhat which might +be a provision for his son. The baron promised both readily and +faithfully that he would out of the first remittance. A few weeks later +he received forty thousand crowns and the baroness and he set out for +Brussels, under pretence of enquiring for something proper for his +purpose, carrying with him twenty thousand crowns for the purchase. But +he forgot the errand upon the road, and no sooner arrived at Brussels, +but going to a famous marquis's entertainment, in a very few hours lost +the last penny of his money. Returning home after this misfortune, he +was a little out of humour for a week, but at the end of that space, +making up the other twenty thousand privately he intended to set out +next day. + +The poor lady, at her wit's end for fear this large sum should go the +same way as the other, bethought herself of a method of securing both +the cash and her son's place. She communicated her design to her major +domo, who readily came into it, and having taken three of the servants +and the baroness's page into the secret, he sent for Barton and another +Englishman quartered near them, and easily prevailed on them for a very +small sum, to become accomplices in the undertaking. In a word, the lady +having provided disguises for them, and a man's suit for herself, caused +the touch-holes of the arms which the baron and two servants carried +with him to be nailed up, and then towards evening sallying at the head +of her little troop from a wood, as he passed on the road, the baron +being rendered incapable of resistance, was robbed of the whole twenty +thousand crowns. With this she settled her son, and the baron was so far +touched at the loss of such a provision for his family, that he made a +real and thorough reformation, and Barton from this exploit fell in love +with robbing ever after. + +Another adventure he related was this. Being taken prisoner by the +French, and carried to one of their frontier garrisons, a treaty shortly +being expected to be settled, to relieve the miseries he endured, Barton +got into the service of a Gascon officer who proved at bottom almost as +poor as himself. However, after Barton's coming he quickly found a way +to live as well as anybody in the garrison, which he accomplished thus. +All play at games of chance was, in the score of some unlucky accidents +proceeding from quarrels which it had occasioned, absolutely forbidden, +and the provosts were enjoined to visit all quarters, in order to bring +the offenders to shameful punishments. The Gascon captain took advantage +of the severity of this order, and having concerted the matter with a +countryman and comrade of his, a known gamester, plundered all the rest +who were addicted to that destructive passion; for gaining intelligence +of the private places where they met, from his friend, he putting +himself, Barton and another person into proper habits, attacked these +houses suddenly almost every night with a crowd of the populace at his +heels, and raised swinging contributions on those who being less wicked +than himself never had any suspicion of his actions, but took him and +his comrades for the proper officer and his attendants. + +Barton's greatest unhappiness was his marriage. He was too uxorious, and +too solicitous for what concerned his wife, how well so ever she +deserved of him; for not enduring to see her work honestly for her bread +he would needs support her in an easy state of life, though at the +hazard of the gallows. There is, however, little question to be made but +that he had learned much in his travels to enable him to carry on his +wicked designs with more ease and dexterity, for no thief, perhaps, in +any age, managed his undertakings with greater prudence and economy. And +having somewhere picked up the story of the Pirate and Alexander the +Great, it became one of Will's standing maxims that the only difference +between a robber and a conqueror was the value of the prize. + +Being one day on the road with a comrade of his, who had served also +with him abroad in the Army, and observing a stage coach at a distance, +in right of the seniority of his commission as a Knight of the Pad, +Barton commanded the other to ride forward in order to reconnoitre. The +young fellow obeyed him as submissively as if he had been an aide de +camp, and returning, brought him word that the force of the enemy +consisted of four beau laden with blunderbusses, two ladies and a +footman. _Then_, quoth Will, _we may e'en venture to attack them. Let us +make our necessary disposition. I will ride slowly up to them, while you +gallop round that hill, and as soon as you come behind the coach, be +sure to fire a pistol over it, and leave the rest to me._ + +Things thus adjusted, each advanced on his attack. Barton no sooner +stopped the coach and presented his pistol at one window, than his +companion, after firing a brace of balls over the coachman's head, did +the like at the other, which so surprised the fine gentlemen within, +that without the least resistance they surrendered all they had about +them, which amounted to about one hundred pounds, which Barton put up. +_Come, gentlemen_, says he, _let us make bold with your fire-arms too, +for you see we make more use of them than you._ So, seizing a brace of +pistols inlaid with silver, and two fine brass blunderbusses, Will and +his subaltern rode off. + +But alas, Will's luck would not last (as his rogueship used to express +it). For, attempting a robbery in Covent Garden, where he was too well +known, he was surprised, committed to Newgate and on his conviction +ordered to be transported for seven years to his Majesty's Plantations, +whither he was accordingly carried. + +When he was landed, a planter bought him after the manner of that +country, and paid eighteen pounds for him. Barton wanting neither +understanding nor address, he soon became the darling of his master, who +far from employing him in those laborious works which are usually talked +of here, put upon him nothing more than merely supervising his slaves +and taking care of them, when business obliged him to be absent. + +One would have thought that so easy a state of life, after the toil and +miseries such a man as him of whom we are speaking must have run +through, would have been pleasing, and that it might have become a means +of reclaiming him from those vices so heinous in the sight of God, and +for which he had barely escaped the greatest punishment that can be +inflicted by man. At first, it indeed made some impressions not very +different from these; Barton owning that his master's treatment was such +that if a man had not absolutely bent his mind on such courses as +necessarily must make him unhappy, he might have enjoyed all he could +have hoped for there. Of which he became so sensible that for some time +he remained fully satisfied with his condition. + +But alas! Content, when its basis rests not upon virtue, like a house +founded on a sandy soil is incapable of continuing long. No sooner had +Barton leisure and opportunity to recollect home, his friends, and above +all his wife, but it soon shocked his repose, and having awhile +disturbed and troubled him, it pushed him at last on the unhappy +resolution or returning to England, before the expiration of his time +for which he was banished. This project rolled for a very considerable +space in the fellow's head. Sometimes the desire of seeing his +companions, and above all things his wife, made him eager to undertake +it; at others, the fear of running upon inevitable death in case of a +discovery, and the consideration of the felicity he now had in his power +made him timorous, at least, if not unwilling to return. + +At last, as is ordinary amongst these unhappy people, the worst opinion +prevailed, and finding a method to free himself from his master, and to +get aboard a ship, he came back to his dearly beloved London, and to +those measures which had already occasioned so great a misfortune, and +at last brought him to an ignominious death. On his return, his first +care was to seek out his wife, for whom he had a warm and never ceasing +affection, and having found her, he went to live with her, taking his +old methods of supporting them, though he constantly denied that she was +either a partner in the commission, or even so much as in the knowledge +of his guilt. But this quickly brought him to Newgate again, and to that +fatal end to which he, like some other flagitious creatures of this +stamp, seem impatient to arrive; since no warning, no admonition, no +escape is sufficient to deter them from those crimes, which they are +sensible the laws of their country with Justice have rendered capital. + +Barton's return from transportation was sufficient to have brought him +to death had he committed nothing besides; but he, whether through +necessity, as having no way left of living honestly, or from his own +evil inclinations, ventured upon his old trade, and robbing amongst +others the Lord Viscount Lisbourn, of the Kingdom of Ireland, and a lady +who was with him in the coach, of a silver hilted sword, a snuff-box and +about twelve shillings in money, he was for this fact taken, tried and +convicted at the Old Bailey. + +He immediately laid by all hopes of life as soon as he had received +sentence, and with great earnestness set himself to secure that peace in +the world to come, which his own vices had hindered him from in this. He +got some good books which he read with continual devotion and attention, +submitted with the utmost patience to the miseries of his sad condition, +and finding his relations would take care of his daughter and that his +wife, for whom he never lost the most tender concern, would be in no +danger of want, he laid aside the thoughts of temporal matters +altogether expressing a readiness to die, and never showing any weakness +or impatience of the nearest approach of death. + +Much of that firmness with which he behaved in these last moments of his +life might probably be owing to natural courage, of which certainly +Barton had a very large share. But the remains of virtue and religion, +to which the man had always a propensity, notwithstanding that he gave +way to passions which brought him to all the sorrows he knew, yet the +return he made, when in the shadow of death, to piety and devotion, +enabled him to suffer with great calmness, on Friday the 12th of May, +1721, aged about thirty-one years. + + + + +ROBERT PERKINS, Thief + + +I should never have undertaken this work without believing it might in +some degree be advantageous to the public. Young persons, and especially +those in a meaner state, are, I presume, those who will make up the +bulk of my readers, and these, too, are they who are more commonly +seduced into practices of this ignominious nature. I should therefore +think myself unpardonable if I did not take care to furnish them with +such cautions as the examples I am giving of the fatal consequences of +vice will allow, at the same time that I exhibit those adventures and +entertaining scenes which disguise the dismal path, and make the road to +ruin pleasing. They meet here with a true prospect of things, the tinsel +splendour of sensual pleasure, and that dreadful price men pay for +it--shameful death. I hope it may be of use in correcting the errors of +juvenile tempers devoted to their passions, with whom sometimes danger +passes for a certain road to honour, and the highway seems as tempting +to them as chivalry did to Don Quixote. Such and some other such like, +are very unlucky notions in young heads, and too often inspire them with +courage enough to dare the gallows, which seldom fails meeting with them +in the end. + +As to the particulars of the person's life we are now speaking of, they +will be sufficient to warn those who are so unhappy as to suffer from +the ill-usage of their parents not to fall into courses of so base a +nature, but rather to try every honest method to submit rather than +commit dishonest acts, thereby justifying all the ill-treatment they +have received, and by their own follies blot out the remembrance of +their cruel parents' crimes. For though it sometimes happens that they +are reduced to necessities which force them, in a manner, on what brings +them to disgrace, yet the ill-natured world will charge all upon +themselves, or at most will spare their pity till it comes too late; and +when the poor wretch is dead will add to their reflections on him, as +harsh ones as on those from whom he is descended. + +Robert Perkins was the son of a very considerable innkeeper, in or near +Hempsted, in Hertfordshire, who during the life-time of his wife treated +him with great tenderness and seeming affection, sending him to school +to a person in a neighbouring village, who was very considerable for his +art of teaching, and professing his settled resolution to give his son +Bob a very good education. + +But no sooner had death snatched away the poor woman by whom Mr. Perkins +had our unhappy Robin, then his father began to change his measures. +First of all the unfortunate lad experienced the miseries that flow from +the careless management of a widower, who forgetting all obligations to +his deceased wife, thought of nothing but diverting himself, and getting +a new helpmate. But Robin continued not long in this state; his +hardships were quickly increased by the second marriage of his father, +upon which he was fetched home and treated with some kindness at first. +But in a little time perceiving how things were going, and perhaps +expressing his suspicions too freely, his mother-in-law soon prevailed +to have him turned out, and absolutely forbidden his father's house, the +ready way to force a naked uninstructed youth on the most sinful +courses. Whether Robin at that time did anything dishonest is not +certain, but being grievously pinched with cold one night, and troubled +also with dismal apprehensions of what might come to his sister, he got +a ladder and by the help of it climbed in at his mother's window. This +was immediately exaggerated into a design of cutting her throat, and +poor Bob was thereupon utterly discarded. + +A short time after this, old Mr. Perkins died and left a fortune of +several thousand pounds behind him, for which the poor young man was +never a groat the better, being bound out 'prentice to a baker, and +left, as to everything else, to the wide world. His inclination, joined +to the rambling life which he had hitherto led, induced him to mind the +vulgar pleasures of drinking, gaming, and idling about much more than +his business, which to him appeared very laborious. There are everywhere +companions enough to be met with who are ready to teach ignorant youths +the practice of all sorts of debauchery. Perkins fell quickly among such +a set, and often rambled abroad with them on the usual errands of +whoring, shuffle-board, or skittle-playing, etc. The thoughts of that +estate which in justice he ought to have possessed, did not a little +contribute to make him thus heedless of his business, for as is usual +with weak minds, he affected living at the rate his father's fortune +would have afforded him, rather than in the frugal manner which his +narrow circumstance actually required; methods which necessarily pushed +him on such expeditions for supply as drew on those misfortunes which +rendered his life miserable and his death shameful. + +One day, having agreed with some young lads in the neighbourhood to go +out upon the rake, they steered their course to Whitechapel, and going +into a little alehouse, began to drink stoutly, sing bawdy songs, and +indulge themselves in the rest of those brutal delights into which such +wretches are used to plunge under the name of pleasure. In the height, +however, of all their mirth, the people of the house missing out of the +till a crown piece with some particular marks, they sent for a constable +and some persons to assist him, who caused all the young fellows +instantly to be separated and searched one by one; on which the marked +crown was found in Robert Perkin's pocket, and he was thereupon +immediately carried before a Justice, who committed him to Newgate. The +sessions coming on soon after, and the case being plain, he was cast +and ordered for transportation, having time enough, however, before he +was shipped, to consider the melancholy circumstances into which his +ill-conduct had reduced him, and to think of what was fitting for him to +do in the present sad state he was in. At first nothing ran in his head +but the cruelties which he had met with from his family, but as the time +of his departure drew nearer he meditated how to gain the captain's +favour, and to escape some hardships in the voyage. + +Robin had the good luck to make himself tolerably easy in the ship. His +natural good nature and obliging temper prevailing so far on the captain +of the vessel that he gave him all the liberty and afforded him whatever +indulgence it was in his power to permit with safety. But our young +traveller had much worse luck when he came on shore at Jamaica, where he +was immediately sold to a planter for ten pounds, and his trade of baker +being of little use there, his master put him upon much the same labour +as he did his negroes, Robin's constitution was really incapable of +great fatigue; his master, therefore, finding in the end that nothing +would make him work, sold him to another, who put him upon his own +employment of baking, building an oven on purpose. But whether this +master really used him cruelly or whether his idle inclinations made him +think all labour cruel usage, is hard to say, but however it was, Bob +ran away from this master and got on board a ship which carried him to +Carolina, from whence he said he travelled to Maryland and shipped +himself there, in a vessel for England. After being taken by the +Spaniards, and enduring many other great hardships, he at last with much +difficulty got home, as is too frequently the practice of these unhappy +wretches who are ready to return from tolerable plenty to the gallows. + +After his arrival in England, he wrought for near two years together at +his own business, and had the settled intention to live honestly and +forsake that disorderly state of life which had involved him in such +calamities; but the fear he was continually in of being discovered, +rendered him so uneasy and so unable to do anything, that at last he +resolved to go over into the East Indies. For this purpose he was come +down to Gravesend, in order to embark, when he was apprehended; and +being tried on an indictment for returning from transportation, he was +convicted thereon, and received sentence of death. During the time he +lay under conviction, the principles of a good education began again to +exert themselves, and by leading him to a thorough confidence in the +mercies of Christ weaned him from that affection which hitherto he had +for this sinful and miserable world, in which, as he had felt nothing +but misery and affliction, the change seemed the easier, so that he at +last began not only to shake off the fear of death, bur even to desire +it. Nor was this calmness short and transitory, but he continued in it +till the time he suffered, which was on the 5th of July, 1721, at +Tyburn. He said he died with less reluctance because his ruin involved +nobody but himself, he leaving no children behind him, and his wife +being young enough to get a living honestly. + + + + +BARBARA SPENCER, Coiner, etc. + + +Before we proceed to mention the particulars that have come to our hands +concerning this unhappy criminal, it may not be amiss to take notice of +the rigour with which all civilised nations have treated offenders in +this kind, by considering the crime itself as a species of treason. The +reason of which arises thus. As money is the universal standard or +measure of the value of any commodity, so the value of money is always +regulated, in respect of its weight, fineness, etc., by the public +authority of the State. To counterfeit, therefore, is in some degree to +assume the supreme authority, inasmuch as it is giving a currency to +another less valuable piece of metal than that made current by the +State. The old laws of England were very severe on this head, and +carried their care of preventing it so far as to damage the public in +other respects, as by forbidding the importation of bullion, and +punishing with death attempts made to discover the Philosopher's Stone +which forced whimsical persons who were enamoured of that experiment to +go abroad and spend their money in pursuit of that project there. These +causes, therefore, upon a review of the laws on this head, were +abrogated; but the edge in other respects was rather sharpened than +abated. For as the trade of the nation increased, frauds in the coin +became of worse consequence and not only so, but were more practised. + +In the reign of King William and Queen Mary, clipping and coining grew +so notorious and had so great and fatal influences on the public trade +of the nation, that Parliament found it necessary to enter upon that +great work of a recoinage[5] and in order to prevent all future +inconveniences of a like nature, they at the same time enacted that not +only counterfeiting, chipping, scaling, lightening, or otherwise +debasing the current specie of this realm, should be deemed and punished +as high treason, but they included also under the same charge and +punishment the having any press, engine, tool, or implement proper for +coining, the mending, buying, selling, etc., of them; and upon this Act, +which was rendered perpetual by another made in the seventh year of the +reign of Queen Anne, all our proceedings on this head are at this day +grounded. Many executions and many more trials happened on these laws +being first made, dipping, especially, being an ordinary thing, and some +persons of tolerable reputation in the world engaged in it; but the +strict proceedings (in the days of King William, especially) against +all, without distinction, who offended in that way, so effectually +crushed them that a coiner nowadays is looked upon as an extraordinary +criminal, though the Law still continues to take its course, whenever +they are convicted, the Crown being seldom or never induced to grant a +pardon. + +As to this poor woman, Barbara Spencer, she was the daughter of mean +parents and was left very young to the care of her mother, who lived in +the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate. This old creature, as is common +enough with ordinary people, indulged her daughter so much in all her +humours, and suffered her to take so uncontrolled a liberty that all her +life-time after, she was incapable of bearing restraint, but, on every +slight contradiction flew out into the wildest excesses of passion and +fury. When but a child, on a very slight difference at home, she must +needs go out 'prentice, and was accordingly put to a mantua-maker, who +having known her throughout her infancy, fatally treated her with the +same indulgence and tenderness. She continued with her about two years, +and then, on a few warm words happening, went away from so good a +mistress, and came home again to her mother, who by that time had set up +a brandy shop. + +On Miss Barbara's return, a maid had to be taken, for she was much too +good to do the work of the house. The servant had not been there long +before they quarrelled, the mother taking the wench's part. Away went +the young woman, but matters being made up and the old mother keeping an +alehouse in Cripplegate parish, she once more went to live with her. +This reconciliation lasted longer, but was more fatal to Barbara than +her late falling out. + +One day, it seems, she took into her head to go and see the prisoners +die at Tyburn, but her mother meeting her at the door, told her that +there was too much business for her to do at home, and that she should +not go. Harsh words ensuing on this, her mother at last struck her, and +said she should be her death. However, Barbara went, and the man who +attended her to Tyburn, brought her afterwards to a house by St. Giles's +Pound[6] where after relating the difference between herself and her +mother, she vowed she would never return any more home. In this +resolution she was encouraged, and soon after was acquainted with the +secrets of the house, and appointed to go out with their false money, in +order to vend, or utter it; which trade, as it freed her from all +restraint, she was at first mightily pleased with. But being soon +discovered she was committed to Newgate, convicted and fined. + +About this time she first became acquainted with Mrs. Miles, who +afterwards betrayed her, and upon this occasion was, it seems, so kind +as to advance some money for her. On the affair for which she died, the +evidence could have hardly done without Miles's assistance, which so +enraged poor Barbara that even to the instant of death, she could hardly +prevail with herself to forgive her, and never spoke of her without a +kind of heat, very improper and unbecoming in a person in her +distressful state. + +The punishment ordained by our laws for treasons committed by women, +whether high or petty, is burning alive.[7] This, though pronounced upon +her by the judge, she could never be brought to believe would be +executed, but while she lay under sentence, she endeavoured to put off +the thoughts of the fatal day as much as she could, always asserting +that she thought the crime no sin, for which she was condemned. It seems +her mother died at Tyburn before midsummer, and this poor wretch would +often say that she little thought she should so soon follow her, when +she attended her to death, averring also that she suffered unjustly. As +for this poor woman, her temper was exceedingly unhappy, and as it had +made her uneasy and miserable all her life, so at her death it +occasioned her to be impatient, and to behave inconsistently. For which, +sometimes, she would apologise, by saying that though it was not in her +power to put on grave looks, yet her heart was as truly affected as +theirs who gave greater outward signs of contrition; a manner of +speaking usually taken up by those who would be thought to think +seriously in the midst of outward gaiety, and of whose sincerity in +cases like these. He only can judge who is acquainted with the secrets +of all hearts and who, as He is not to be deceived, so His penetration +is utterly unknown to us, who are confined to appearances and the +exterior marks of things. + +She lost all her boldness at the near approach of death and seemed +excessively surprised and concerned at the apprehension of the flames. +When she went out to die, she owned her crime more fully than she had +ever done. She said she had learnt to coin of a man and woman who had +now left off and lived very honestly, wherefore she said she would not +discover them. At the very slake she complained how hard she found it to +forgive Miles, who had been her accomplice and then betrayed her, adding +that though she saw faggots and brushes ready to be lighted and to +consume her, yet she would not receive life at the expense of another's +blood. She averred there were great numbers of London who followed the +same trade of coining, and earnestly wished they might take warning by +her death. At the instant of suffering, she appeared to have reassumed +all her resolution, for which she had, indeed, sufficient occasion, when +to the lamentable death by burning was added the usual noise and clamour +of the mob, who also threw stones and dirt, which beat her down and +wounded her. However, she forgave them cheerfully, prayed with much +earnestness and ended her life the same day as the last mentioned +malefactor, Perkins, aged about twenty-four years. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [5] A commission was appointed to consider the debased state of + the currency and, not without considerable opposition, a bill + was passed in 1696, withdrawing all debased coin from + circulation. This incurred an expense of some £1,200,000, which + the Government met by imposing a window tax. + + [6] This was at the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford + Street. It was an old London landmark, from which distances were + measured as from the Standard in Cornhill. It was demolished in + 1765. + + [7] In practice, criminals were strangled before being burned. + The last case in which this penalty was inflicted was in 1789; + it was abolished the following year. + + + + +WALTER KENNEDY, a Pirate + + +Piracy was anciently in this kingdom considered as a petty treason at +Common Law; but the multitude of treasons, or to speak more properly of +offences construed into treason, becoming a very great grievance to the +subject, this with many others was left out in the famous Statute of the +25th Edward the Third, for limiting what thenceforth should be deemed +treason. From that time piracy was regarded in England only as a crime +against the Civil Law, by which it was always capital; but there being +some circumstances very troublesome, as to the proofs therein required +for conviction, by a statute in the latter end of the reign of Henry the +Eighth it was provided that this offence should be tried by +commissioners appointed by the king, consisting of the admiral and +certain of his officers, with such other persons as the reigning prince +should think fit, after the common course of the laws of this realm for +felonies and robberies committed on land, in which state it hath +continued with very small alterations to this day. + +Offenders of this kind are now tried at the Sessions-house in the Old +Bailey, before the judge of the Court of Admiralty, assisted by certain +other judges of the Common Law by virtue of such a commission as ts +before mentioned, the silver oar (a peculiar ensign of authority +belonging to the Court of Admiralty) lying on the table. As pirates are +not very often apprehended in Britain, so particular notice is always +given when a Court like this, called an Admiralty Sessions, is to be +held, the prisoners until that time remaining in the Marshalsea, the +proper prison of this Court. + +On the 26th of Jury, 1721, at such a sessions, Walter Kennedy and John +Bradshaw were tried for piracies committed on the high seas, and both of +them convicted. This Walter Kennedy was born at a place called Pelican +Stairs in Wapping. His father was an anchor-smith, a man of good +reputation, who gave his son Walter the best education he was able; and +while a lad he was very tractable, and had no other apparent ill quality +than that of a too aspiring temper. When he was grown up big enough to +have gone out to a trade, his father bound him apprentice to himself, +but died before his son was out of his time. Leaving his father's +effects in the possession of his mother and brothers, Walter then +followed his own roving inclinations and went to sea. He served for a +considerable time on board a man-of-war, in the reign of her late +Majesty Queen Anne, in the war then carried on against France; during +which time he often had occasion to hear of the exploits of the pirates, +both in the East and West Indies, and of their having got several +islands into their possession, wherein they were settled, and in which +they exercised a sovereign power. + +These tales had wonderful effect on Walter's disposition, and created in +him a secret ambition of making a figure in the same way. He became more +than ordinarily attentive whenever stories of that sort were told, and +sought every opportunity of putting his fellow sailors upon such +relations. Men of that profession have usually good memories with +respect, at least, to such matters, and Kennedy, therefore, without much +difficulty became acquainted with the principal expeditions of these +maritime desperadoes, from the time of Sir Henry Morgan's commanding the +Buccaneers in America, to Captain Avery's more modern exploits at +Madagascar[8]; his fancy insinuating to him continually that he might be +able to make as great a figure as any of these thievish heroes, whenever +a proper opportunity offered. + +It happened that he was sent with Captain Woodes Rogers,[9] Governor of +Providence [Bahama Islands], when that gentleman first sent to recover +that island by reducing the pirates, who then had it in possession. At +the time of the captain's arrival these people had fortified themselves +in several places, and with all the care they were able, had provided +both for their safety and subsistence. + +It happened that some time before, they had taken a ship, on board of +which they found a considerable quantity of the richest brocades, for +which having no other occasion, they tore them up, and tying them +between the horns of their goats, made use of them to distinguish herds +that belonged to one settlement and those that belonged to another, and +sight of this, notwithstanding the miserable condition which in other +respects these wretches were in, mightily excited the inclination +Kennedy had to following their occupation. + +Captain Rogers having signified to the chiefs of them the offers he had +to make of free grace and pardon, the greater number of them came in and +submitted very readily. Those who were determined to continue the same +dissolute kind of life, provided with all the secrecy imaginable for +their safety, and when practicable took their flight out of the island. +The captain being made Governor, fitted out two sloops for trade, and +having given proper directions to their commanders, manned them out of +his own sailors with some of these reformed pirates intermixed. Kennedy +went out on one of these vessels, in which he had not long been at sea +before he joined in a conspiracy some of the rest had formed of seizing +the vessel, putting those to death who refused to come into their +measures, and then to go, as the sailors phrase it, "upon the account", +that is in plain English, commence pirates. + +This villainous design succeeded according to their wish. They emptied +the other vessel of whatever they thought might be of use, and then +turned her adrift, as being a heavy sailer, and consequently unfit for +their purpose. A few days after their entering on this new course of +life, they made themselves masters of two pretty large ships, having +fitted which for their purpose, they now grew strong enough to execute +any project that in their present circumstances they were capable of +forming. Thus Kennedy was now got in to that unhappy state of living +which from a false notion of things he had framed so fair an idea of and +was so desirous to engage in. + +Kennedy took a particular delight in relating what happened to him in +these expeditions, even after they had brought him to misery and +confinement. The account he gave of that form of rule which these +wretches set up, in imitation of the legal government, and of those +regulations there made to supply the place of moral honesty was in +substance this. + +They chose a captain from amongst themselves, who in effect held little +more than that title, excepting in an engagement, when he commanded +absolutely and without control. Most of them having suffered formerly +from the ill-treatment of their officers, provided carefully against any +such evil, now they had the choice in themselves. By their orders they +provided especially against any quarrels which might happen among +themselves, and appointed certain punishments for anything that tended +that way; for the due execution thereof they constituted other officers +besides the captain, so very industrious were they to avoid putting too +much power into the hands of one man. The rest of their agreement +consisted chiefly in relation to the manner of dividing the cargo of +such prizes as they should happen to take, and though they had broken +through all laws divine and human, yet they imposed an oath to be taken +for the due observance of these, so inconsistent a thing is vice, and so +strong the principles imbibed from education. + +The life they led at sea was rendered equally unhappy from fear and +hardship, they never seeing any vessel which reduced them not to the +necessity of fighting, and often filled them with apprehensions of being +overcome. Whatever they took in their several prizes could afford them +no other pleasure but downright drunkenness on board, and except for two +or three islands there were no other places where they were permitted to +come on shore, for nowadays it was become exceedingly dangerous to land, +either at Jamaica, Barbadoes, or on the islands of the Bermudas. In this +condition they were when they came to a resolution of choosing one +Davis[10] as captain, and going under his command to the coast of +Brazil. + +This design they put in execution, being chiefly tempted with the hopes +of surprising some vessel of the homeward bound Portuguese fleet, by +which they hoped to be made rich at once, and no longer be obliged to +lead a life so full of danger. Accordingly they fell in with twenty sail +of those ships and were in the utmost danger of being taken and treated +as they deserved. However, on this occasion their captain behaved very +prudently, and taking the advantage of one of those vessels being +separated from the rest, they boarded her in the night without firing a +gun. They forced the captain, when they had him in one of their own +ships, to discover which of the fleet was the most richly laden, which +he having done through fear, they impudently attacked her, and were very +near becoming masters of her, though they were surrounded by the +Portuguese ships, from whence they at last escaped, not so much by the +swiftness of their own sailing, as by the cowardice of the enemy. In +this attempt, though they miscarried as to the prize they had proposed, +yet they accounted themselves very fortunate in having thus escaped from +so dangerous an adventure. + +Being some time after this in great want of water, Davis at the head of +about fifty of his men, very well armed, made a descent in order to fill +their casks, though the Portuguese governor of the port near which they +landed easily discovered them to be pirates; but not thinking himself in +a condition strong enough to attack them, he thought fit to dissemble +that knowledge. + +Davis and his men were no sooner returned on board than they received a +message by a boat from shore, that the Governor would think himself +highly honoured if the captain and as many as he pleased of his ship's +company would accept of an entertainment the next day at the castle +where he resided. Their commander, who had hitherto behaved himself like +a man of conduct, suffered his vanity to overcome him so far as to +accept of the proposal, and the next morning with ten of his sailors, +all dressed in their best clothes, went on shore to this collation. But +before they had reached half way, they were set upon by a party of +Indians who lay in ambuscade, and with one flight of their poisoned +arrows laid them all upon the ground, except Kennedy and another, who +escaped to the top of a mountain, from whence they leaped into the sea, +and were with much difficulty taken up by a boat which their companions +sent to relieve them. + +After this they grew tired of the coast of Brazil. However, in their +return to the West Indies they took some very considerable prizes, upon +which they resolved unanimously to return home, in order, as they +flattered themselves, to enjoy their riches. The captain who then +commanded them was an Irishman, who endeavoured to bring the ship into +Ireland, on the north coast of which a storm arising, the vessel was +carried into Scotland and there wrecked. At that time Kennedy had a +considerable quantity of gold, which he either squandered away, or had +stolen from him in the Highlands. He afterwards went over into Ireland, +where being in a low and poor condition he shipped himself at length for +England, and came up to London. He had not been long in town before he +was observed by some whose vessel had been taken by the crew with whom +he sailed. They caused him to be apprehended, and after lying a +considerable time in prison, he was, as I have said before, tried and +convicted. + +After sentence, he showed much less concern for life than is usual for +persons in that condition. He was so much tired with the miseries and +misfortune which for some years before he had endured, that death +appeared to him a thing rather desirable than frightful. When the +reprieve came for Bradshaw, who was condemned with him, he expressed +great satisfaction, at the same time saying that he was better pleased +than if he himself had received mercy. _For_, continued he, _should I be +banished into America as he is, 'tis highly probable I might be tempted +to my old way of life, and so instead of reforming, add to the number of +my sins._ + +He continued in these sentiments till the time of his death, when, as he +went through Cheapside to his execution, the silver oar being carried +before him as is usual, he turned about to a person who sat by him in +the cart, and said, _Though it is a common thing for us when at sea to +acquire vast quantities both of that metal which goes before me, and of +gold, yet such is the justice of Providence that few or none of us +preserve enough to maintain us; but as you see in me, when we go to +death, we have not wherewith to purchase a coffin to bury us._ He died +at Execution Dock, the 21st[11] of July, 1721, being then about +twenty-six years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [8] Avery was one of the best known pirates of his time and + told of his wonderful wealth, his capturing and marrying the + daughter of the Great Mogul, and his setting up a kingdom in + Madagascar. He was even the hero of a popular play--_The + Successful Pirate_, produced at Dray Lane in 1712. The true + story of his life and how he died in want, is related at length + in Captain Charles Johnson's _History of the Pirates_ edited by + me, and published in the same edition as the present volume. + + [9] Woodes Rogers (d. 1732) sailed on Dampier's voyages and + made a large sum of money which he devoted to buying the Bahama + Islands from the proprietors on a twenty-one years' lease. He + was made governor, but found himself unable to cope with the + pirates and Spaniards who infested the islands, and went back to + England in 1721. He returned as governor in 1728, and remained + there until his death. + + [10] This was Howel Davis, whose adventures are related at + length in Johnson's _History of the Pirates_, chap. ix. + + [11] _The History of the Pirates_ gives the date as 19th of July. + This book gives an interesting account of Kennedy, pp. 178-81. + + + + +The Life of MATTHEW CLARK, a Footpad and Murderer + + +Perhaps there is nothing to which we may more justly attribute those +numerous executions which so disgrace our country, than the false +notions which the meaner sort, especially, imbibe in their youth as to +love and women. This unhappy person, Matthew Clark, of whom we are now +to speak, was a most remarkable instance of the truth of this +observation. He was born at St. Albans, of parents in but mean +circumstances, who thought they had provided very well for their son +when they had procured his admission into the family of a neighbouring +gentleman, equally distinguished by the greatness of his merit and +fortune. + +In this place, certainly, had Matthew been inclined in any degree to +good, he might have acquired from the favour of his master all the +advantages, even of a liberal education; but proving an incorrigible, +lazy and undutiful servant, the gentleman in whose service he was, after +bearing with him a long time, turned him out of his family. He then went +to plough and cart, and such other country work, but though he had been +bred to this and was never in any state from which he could reasonably +hope better, yet was he so restless and uneasy at those hardships which +he fancied were put upon him, that he chose rather to rob than to +labour; and leaving the farmer in whose service he was, used to skulk +about Bushey Heath, and watch all opportunities to rob passengers. + +Matthew was a perfect composition of all the vices that enter into low +life. He was idle, inclined to drunkenness, cruel and a coward; nor +would he have had spirit enough to attack anybody on the road had it not +been to supply him with money for merry meetings and dancing bouts, to +which he was carried by his prevailing passion for loose women. And +these expeditions keeping him continually bare, robbing and junketting, +desire of pleasure and fear of the gallows were the whole round of both +his actions and his thoughts. + +At last the matrimonial maggot bit his brain, and alter a short +courtship, he prevailed on a young girl in the neighbourhood to go up +with him to London, in order to their marriage. When they were there, +finding his stock reduced so low that he had not even money to purchase +the wedding ring, he pretended that a legacy of fifteen pounds was just +left him in the country, and with a thousand promises of a quick return, +set out from London to fetch it. When he left the town, full of uneasy +thoughts, he travelled towards Neasden and Willesden Green, where +formerly he had lived. He intended to have lurked there till he had an +opportunity of robbing as many persons as to make up fifteen pounds from +their effects. In pursuance of this resolution, he designed in himself +to attack every passenger he saw, but whenever it came to the push, the +natural cowardice of his temper prevailed and his heart failed him. + +[Illustration: MATTHEW CLARK CUTTING THE THROAT OF SARAH GOLDINGTON + +(_From the Annals of Newgate_)] + +While he loitered about there, the master of an alehouse hard by took +notice of him and asked him how he came to idle about in haytime, when +there was so much work, offering at the same time to hire him for a +servant. Upon this discourse Clark immediately recollected that all the +persons belonging to this man's house must be out haymaking, except the +maid, who served his liquors and waited upon guests. As soon, therefore, +as he had parted from the master and saw he was gone into the fields, he +turned back and went into his house, where renewing his former +acquaintance with the maid, who as he had guessed, was there alone, and +to whom he formerly had been a sweetheart, he sat near an hour drinking +and talking in that jocose manner which is usual between people of their +condition in the country. But in the midst of all his expressions of +affection, he mediated how to rob the house, his timorous disposition +supposing a thousand dangers from the knowledge the maid had of him. + +He resolved, in order absolutely to secure himself, to murder her out of +the way; upon which, having secretly drawn his knife out of his sheath, +and hiding it under his coat, he kissed her, designing at the same time +to dispatch her; but his heart failed him the first time. However, +getting up and kissing her a second time, he darted it into her +windpipe; but its edge being very dull, the poor creature made a shift +to mutter his name, and endeavoured to scramble after him. Upon which he +returned, and with the utmost inhumanity cut her neck to the bone quite +round; after which he robbed the house of some silver, but being +confounded and astonished did not carry off much. + +He went directly into the London Road, and came as far as Tyburn, the +sight of which filled him with so much terror that he was not able to +pick up courage enough to go by it. Returning back into the road again, +he met a waggon, which, in hopes of preventing all suspicion, he +undertook to drive up to town (the man who drove it having hurt his +leg). But he had not gone far before the persons who were in pursuit of +the murderer of Sarah Goldington (the maid before mentioned) came up +with him, and enquired whether he had seen anybody pass by his waggon +who looked suspicious, or was likely to have committed the fact. This +enquiry put him into so much confusion that he was scarce able to make +an answer, which occasioned their looking at him more narrowly and +thereby discovering the sleeve of his shirt to be all bloody. At first +he affirmed with great confidence that a soldier meeting him upon the +road had insulted him, and that in fighting with him he had made the +soldier's mouth bleed, which had so stained his shirt. But in a little +time perceiving this excuse would not prevail, but that they were +resolved to carry him back, he fell into a violent agony and confessed +the fact. + +At the next sessions at the Old Bailey he was convicted, and after +receiving sentence of death, endeavoured all he could to comfort and +compose himself during the time he lay under condemnation. His father, +who was a very honest industrious man came to see him, and after he was +gone Matthew spoke with great concern of an expression which his father +had made use of, viz., That if he had been to die for any other offence, +he would have made all the interest and friends he could to have served +for his life, but that the murder he had committed was so cruel, that he +thought that nothing could atone for it but his blood. The inhumanity +and cruel circumstances of it did indeed in some degree affect this +malefactor himself, but he seemed much more disturbed with the +apprehension of being hanged in chains, a thing which from the weakness +of vulgar minds terrifies more than death itself, and the use of which I +confess I do not see, since it serves only to render the poor wretches +uneasy in their last moments, and instead of making suitable impressions +on the minds of the spectators, affords a pretence for servants and +other young persons to idle away their time in going to see the body so +exposed on a gibbet. + +At the place of execution, Clark was extremely careful to inform the +people that he was so far from having any malice against the woman whom +he murdered that he really had a love for her. A report, too, of his +having designed to sell the young girl he had brought out of the country +into Virginia had weight enough with him to occasion his solemn denying +of it at the tree, though he acknowledged at the same time that he had +resolved to leave her. He declared also, to prevent any aspersions on +some young men who had been his companions, that no person was ever +present with, or privy to any of the robberies he had committed; and +having thus far discharged his conscience, he suffered on the 28th of +July, 1721, in the twenty-fourth year of his age. + + + + +The Life of JOHN WINSHIP, Highwayman and Footpad + + +That idleness in which youths are suffered to live in this kingdom till +they are grown to that size at which they are usually put apprentice (a +space of time in which they are much better employed, in many other +countries of Europe) too often creates an inaptitude to work and allows +them opportunity of entering into paths which have a fatal termination. + +John Winship, of whom we are now to treat, was born of parents in +tolerable circumstances in the parish of St. Paul's, Covent Garden. They +gave him an education rather superior to his condition, and treated him +with an indulgence by which his future life became unhappy. At about +fourteen, they placed him as an apprentice with a carpenter, to which +trade he himself had a liking. His master used him as well as he could +have expected or wished, yet that inclination to idleness and loitering +which he had contracted while a boy, made him incapable of pursuing his +business with tolerable application. The particular accident by which he +was determined to leave it shall be the next point in our relation. + +It happened that returning one day from work, he took notice of a young +woman standing at a door in a street not far distant from that in which +his master lived. He was then about seventeen, and imagining love to be +a very fine thing, thought fit, without further enquiry, to make this +young woman the object of his affection. The next evening he took +occasion to speak to her, and this acquaintance soon improving into +frequent appointments, naturally led Winship into much greater expenses +than he was able to support. This had two consequences equally fatal to +this unhappy young man, for in the first place he left his master and +his trade, and took to driving of coaches and like methods, to get his +bread; but all the ways he could think of, proving unable to supply his +expenses, he went next upon the road, and raised daily contributions in +as illegal a manner as they were spent at night, in all the excesses of +vice. + +It is impossible to give either a particular or exact account of the +robberies he committed, because he was always very reserved, even after +conviction, in speaking as to these points. + +However, he is said to have been concerned in robbing a Frenchman of +quality in the road to Hampstead, who in a two-horsed chaise, with the +coachman on his box, was attacked in the dusk of the evening by three +highwaymen. They exchanged several pistols and continued the fight, +till, the ammunition on both sides being exhausted, the foreigner +prepared to defend himself with his sword. The rogues were almost out of +all hopes of obtaining their booty, when one of them getting behind the +chaise secretly cut a square hole in its back, and putting in both his +arms, seized the gentleman so strongly about the shoulders that his +companions had an opportunity of closing in with him, disarming him of +his sword, rifling and taking a hundred and twenty pistoles. Not +content with this they ripped the lace off his clothes, and took from +the coachmen all the money he had about him. + +Winship had been concerned in divers gangs, and being a fellow of +uncommon agility of body, was mighty well received and much caressed by +them, as was also another companion of his, whom they called +Clean-Limbed Tom, whose true name was never known, being killed in a +duel at Kilkenny in Ireland. This last mentioned person had been bred +with an apothecary, and sometimes travelled the country in the high +capacity of a quack doctor, at others, in the more humble station of a +merry-andrew. Travelling once down into the west, with a little chest of +medicines which he intended to dispose of in this matter at West +Chester, at an inn about twenty miles short of that city he overtook a +London wholesale dealer, who had been that way collecting debts. Tom +made a shift to get into his company overnight, and diverted him so much +with his facetious conversation that he invited him to breakfast with +him the next morning. Tom took occasion to put a strong purge into the +ale and toast which the Londoner was drinking, he himself pretending +never to take anything in the morning but a glass of wine and bitters. +When the stranger got on horseback, Tom offered to accompany him, _For_, +says he, _I can easily walk as fast as your horse will trot._ They had +not got above two miles before, at the entrance of a common, the physic +began to work. The tradesman alighting to untruss a point, Tom leaped at +once into his saddle, and galloped off both with his horse and +portmanteau. He baited an hour at a small village three miles beyond +Chester, having avoided passing through that city, then continued his +journey to Port Patrick, from whence he crossed to Dublin with about +four score pounds in ready money, a gold watch, which was put up in a +corner of a cloak bag, linen, and other things to a considerable value +besides. + +But to return to Winship. His robberies were so numerous that he began +to be very well known and much sought after by those who make it their +business to bring men to justice for rewards. There is some reason to +believe that he had been once condemned and received mercy. However, on +the 25th of May, 1721, he stopped one Mr. Lowther in his chariot, +between Pancras Church and the Halfway House, and robbed him of his +silver watch and a purse of ten guineas; for which robbery being quickly +after apprehended, he was convicted at the Old Bailey, on the evidence +of the prosecutor and the voluntary information of one of his +companions. + +While he lay under sentence, he could not help expressing a great +impatience at the miserable condition to which his follies had reduced +him, and at the same time to show the most earnest desire of life, +though it were upon the terms of transportation for the whole +continuance of it; though he frequently declared it did not arise so +much from a willingness in himself to continue in this world, as at the +grief he felt for the misfortunes of his aged mother, who was ready to +run distracted at her son's unhappy fate. + +As he was a very personable young man strangers, especially at chapel, +took particular notice of him, and were continually inquiring of his +adventures; but Winship not only constantly refused to give them any +satisfaction, but declared also to the Ordinary that he did not think +himself obliged to make any discoveries which might affect the lives of +others, showing also an extraordinary uneasiness whenever such questions +were put to him. When he was asked, by the direction of a person of some +rank, whether he did not rob a person dressed in such a manner in a +chaise as he was watering his horse before the church door, during the +time of Divine service, Winship replied, he supposed the crime did not +consist in the time or place, and as to whether he was guilty of it or +no, he would tell nothing. + +In other respects he appeared penitent and devout, suffering at Tyburn +at the same time with the afore-mentioned Matthew Clark, in the +twenty-second year of his age, leaving behind him a wife, who died +afterwards with grief for his execution. + + + + +The Life of JOHN MEFF, _alias_ MERTH, a Housebreaker and a Highwayman + + +The rigid execution of felons who return from transportation has been +found so necessary that few or none who have been tried for such illegal +returning have escaped, though 'tis very hard to convince those who +suffer for that offence that there is any real crime in their evading +their sentence. It was this which brought John Meff, _alias_ Merth, of +whom we are now to speak, to an ignominious death, after he had once +before escaped it in a very extraordinary manner, as in the process of +his story shall be related. + +This unhappy man was born in London of French parents, who retired into +England for the sake of their religion, when Louis XIV began his furious +persecution against the Protestants in his dominions. This John Meff +was educated with great care, especially as to the principles of +religion, by a father who had very just notions of that faith for which +in banishment he suffered. When his son John grew up, he put him out +apprentice to a weaver, whom he served with great fidelity, and after he +came out of his time, married; but finding himself incapable to maintain +his family by his labour, he unfortunately addicted himself to +ill-courses. In this he was yet more unlucky, for having almost at his +first setting out broke open a house, he was discovered, apprehended, +tried, convicted, and put in the cart, in order to go to execution +within the fortnight; but the hangman being arrested as he was going to +Tyburn, he and the rest who were to have suffered with him were +transported through the clemency of the Government. + +On this narrow escape from death, Meff was full of many penitent +resolutions, and determined with himself to follow for the future an +honest course of life, however hard and laborious, as persons are +generally inclined to believe all works in the plantations are. Yet no +sooner was he at liberty (that is, on board the transport vessel, where +he found means to make the master his friend) than much of these honest +intentions were dissolved and laid aside, to which perhaps the behaviour +of his companions and of the seamen on board the ship, did not a little +contribute. At first their passage was easy, the wind fair and +prosperous. They began to comfort one another with the hopes of living +easily in the Plantations, greedily enquiring of the seamen how persons +in their unhappy condition were treated by their masters, and whether +all the terrible relations they had had in England were really facts, or +invented only to terrify those who were to undergo that punishment. + +But while these unhappy persons were thus amusing themselves a new and +unlooked for misfortune fell upon them, for in the height of Bermuda +they were surprised by two pirate sloops, who though they found no +considerable booty on board, were very well satisfied by the great +addition they made to their force, from most of those felons joining +with them in their piratical undertakings. Meff, however, and eight +others, absolutely refused to sign the paper which contained the +pirate's engagement and articles for better pursuing their designs. +These nine were, according to the barbarous practice of those kind of +people, marooned, that is, set on shore on an uninhabited island. +According to the custom of the people in such distress, they were +obliged to rub two dry sticks together till they took fire, and with +great difficulty gathered as many other sticks as made a fire large +enough to yield them some relief from the inclemency of the weather. +They caught some fowls with springes made of an old horsehair wig, +which were very tough and of a fishy taste, but after three or four +days, they became acquainted with the springes and were never afterwards +to be taken by that means. Their next resource for food was an animal +which burrowed in the ground like our rabbits, but the flesh of these +proving unwholesome, threw them into such dangerous fluxes that five out +of the nine were scarce able to go. They were then forced to take up +with such fish as they were able to catch, and even these were not only +very rank and unpleasant, but very small also, and no great plenty of +them either. + +At last, when they almost despaired of ever getting off that +inhospitable island, they espied early one morning an Indian canoe come +on shore with seven persons. They hid themselves behind the rocks as +carefully as they could, and the Indians being gone up into the heart of +the island, they went down and finding much salt provisions in the boat, +they trusted themselves to the mercy of the waves. + +By the providence of God they were driven in two days into an English +settlement, where Meff, instead of betaking himself to any settled +course, resolved to turn sailor, and in that capacity made several +voyages, not only to Barbadoes, Jamaica, and the rest of the British +Islands, but also to New England, Virginia, South Carolina, and other +plantations. On the main, there is no doubt but he led a life of no +great satisfaction in this occupation, which probably was the reason he +resolved to return home to England at all hazards. He did so, and had +hardly been a month in this kingdom before he fell to his old practices, +in which he was attended with the same ill-fortune as formerly; that is +to say, he was apprehended for one of his first acts, and committed to +Newgate. Out of this prison he escaped by the assistance of a certain +bricklayer, and went down to Hatfield in Hertfordshire to remain in +hiding, but as he affirmed and was generally believed, being betrayed by +the same bricklayer he was retaken, conveyed again to Newgate and +confined the utmost severity. + +At his trial there arose a doubt whether the fact he had committed was +not pardoned by the Act of Indemnity then lately granted. However, the +record of his former conviction being produced, the Court ordered he +should be indicted for returning without lawful cause, on which +indictment he was convicted upon full proof, condemned and shortly after +ordered for execution. + +During the space he lay under sentence he expressed much penitence for +his former ill-spent life, and together with James Reading, who was in +the same unhappy state with himself, read and prayed with the rest of +the prisoners. This Reading had been concerned in abundance of +robberies, and, as he himself owned, in some which were attended with +murder; he acknowledged he knew of the killing of Mr. Philpot, the +surveyor of the window-lights, at the perpetration of which fact Reading +said there were three persons present, two of which he knew, but as to +the third he could say nothing. This malefactor, though but thirty-five +years of age, was a very old offender, and had in his life-time been +concerned with most of the notorious gangs that at that time were in +England, some of whom he had impeached and hanged for his own +preservation; but he was at last convicted for robbing (in company with +two others) George Brownsworth of a watch and other things of a +considerable value, between Islington and the turnpike, and for it was +executed at Tyburn, the 11th of September, 1721, together with John Meff +aforesaid, then in the fortieth year of his age. + + + + +The Life of JOHN WIGLEY, a Highwayman + + +It is an observation which must be obvious to all my readers, that few +who addict themselves to robbing and stealing ever continue long in the +practice of those crimes before they are overtaken by Justice, not +seldom as soon as they set out. + +This man had been bred a plasterer, but seems to have fallen very early +into ill courses and felonious methods of getting money, in which horrid +practice he spent his years, till taking up with an old woman who sold +brandy upon Finchley Common, she sometimes persuaded him, of late years, +to work at his trade. + +There has been great suspicions that he murdered the old husband to this +woman, who was found dead in a barn or outhouse not far from Hornsey; +but Wigley, though he confessed an unlawful correspondence with the +woman, yet constantly averred his innocency of that fact, and always +asserted that though the old man's death was sudden, yet it was natural. +He used to account for it by saying that the deceased was a great +brandy-drinker, by which he had worn out his constitution, and that +being one evening benighted in his return home from London, he crawled +into that barn where he was found dead next morning, and was currently +reported to have been murdered. + +Though this malefactor had committed a multitude of robberies, yet he +generally chose to go on such expeditions alone, having always great +aversion for those confederacies in villainy which we call gangs, in +which he always affirmed there was little safety, notwithstanding any +oaths, by which they might bind themselves to secrecy. For +notwithstanding some instances of their neglecting rewards when they +were to be obtained by betraying their companions, yet when life came to +be touched, they hardly ever failed of betraying all they knew. Yet he +once receded from the resolution he had made of never robbing in +company, and went out one night with two others of the same occupation +towards Islington, there they met with one Symbol Conyers, whom they +robbed of a watch, a pair of silver spurs, and four shillings in money, +at the same time treating him very ill, and terrifying him with their +pistols. + +For this fact, soon after it was done, Wigley was apprehended, and +convicted at the ensuing sessions. When all hopes of life were lost, he +seemed disposed to suffer with cheerfulness and resignation that death +to which the Law had doomed him. He said, in the midst of his +afflictions it was some comfort to him that he had no children who might +be exposed by his death to the wide world, not only in a helpless and +desolate condition, but also liable to the reflections incident from his +crimes. He also observed that the immediate hand of Providence seemed to +dissipate whatever wicked persons got by rapine and plunder, so as not +only to prevent their acquiring a subsistence which might set them above +the necessity of continuing in such courses, but that they even wanted +bread to support them, when overtaken by Justice. He was near forty +years of age at the time of his death, which happened on the same day as +the malefactors last mentioned. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM CASEY, a Robber + + +William Casey, whose life is the subject of our present discourse, was a +son of one of the same name, a soldier who had served his Majesty long, +and with good reputation. As is usual amongst that sort of people, the +education he gave his son was such as might fit him for the same course +of life, though at the same time he took care to provide him with a +tolerable competency of learning, that is, as to writing and reading +English. When he was about fifteen years of age, his father caused him +to be enlisted in the same company in which he served for some small +time before my Lord Cobham's expedition into Spain,[12] in which he +accompanied him. That expedition being over, Casey returned into +England, and did duty as usual in the Guards. + +One night he, with some others, crossing the park a fray happened +between them and one John Stone, which as Casey affirmed at his death, +was occasioned by the prosecutor Stone offering very great indecencies +to him, upon which they in a fury beat and abused him, from the +abhorrence they pretended to have for that beastly and unnatural sin of +sodomy. Whether this was really the case or no is hard to determine; all +who were concerned in it with Casey being indicted (though not +apprehended) with him, and their evidence consequently taken. However +that matter was, Stone the prosecutor told a dreadful story on Casey's +trial. He said the four men attacked him crossing the Park, who +attacked, beat and cruelly trod upon and wounded him, taking from him at +the same time his hat, wig, neck-cloth and five shillings in money; and +that upon his arising and endeavouring to follow them, they turned back, +stamped upon him, broke one of his ribs, and told him that if he +attempted to stir, they would seize him and swear sodomy upon him. On +this indictment Casey was convicted and ordered for execution, +notwithstanding all the intercession his friends could make. + +While under sentence he complained heavily of the pains a certain +corporal had taken in preparing and pressing the evidence against him. +He said his diligence proceeded not from any desire of doing justice, or +for his guilt, but from an old grudge he owed their family, from Casey's +father threatening to prosecute him for a rape committed on his +daughter, then very young, and attended with very cruel circumstances; +and which even the corporal himself had in part owned in a letter which +he had written to the said Casey's father. However, while he lay in +Newgate, he seemed heartily affected with sorrow for his misspent life, +which he said was consumed as is too frequent among soldiers, either in +idleness or vice. He added, that in Spain he had made serious +resolutions of amendment with himself, but was hindered from performing +them by his companions, who were continually seducing him into his old +courses. When he found that all hopes of life were lost, he disposed +himself to submit with decency to his fate, which disposition he +preserved to the last. + +At the place of execution he behaved with great composure and said that +as he had heard he was accused in the world of having robbed and +murdered a woman in Hyde Park, he judged it proper to discharge his +conscience by declaring that he knew nothing of the murder, but said +nothing as to the robbery. At the time of his death, which was on the +11th of September, 1721, he was about twenty years of age, and according +to the character his officers gave him, a very quiet and orderly young +man. He left behind him a paper to be published to the world, which as +he was a dying man he averred to be the truth. + + A copy of a paper left by William Casey. + + Good People, I am now brought to this place to suffer a shameful and + ignominious death, and of all such unhappy persons, 'tis expected by + the world that they should either say something at their death, or + leave some account behind them. And having that which more nearly + concerns me, viz., the care of my immortal soul, I choose rather to + leave these lines behind me than to waste my few precious moments in + talking to the multitude. First, I declare, I die like a member, + though a very unworthy one, of the Church of England as by Law + established, the principles of which my now unhappy father took an + early care to instruct me in. And next for the robbery of Mr. Stone, + for which I am now brought to this fatal place. I solemnly do + declare to God and the world, that I never had the value of one + halfpenny from him, and that the occasion of his being so ill-used + was that he offered to me that detestable and crying sin of sodomy. + + I take this opportunity, with almost my last breath, to give my + hearty thanks to the honourable Col. Pitts, and Col. Pagitt, for + their endeavours to save my life, and indeed I had some small hopes + that his Majesty, in consideration of the services of my whole + family, having all been faithful soldiers and servants to the Crown + of England, would have extended one branch of his mercy to me, and + have sent me to have served him in another country. But welcome be + the Grace of God, I am resigned to His will, and die in charity with + all men, forgiving, hoping to be forgiven myself, through the merits + of my blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. I hope, and make it my earnest + request that nobody will be so little Christian as to reflect on my + aged parents, wife, brother, or sisters, for my untimely end. And I + pray God, into whose hands I commend my spirit, that the great + number of sodomites in and about this City and suburbs, may not + bring down the same judgement from Heaven as fell on Sodom and + Gomorrah. + + William Casey. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [12] Sir Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, was a distinguished + general who had served under Marlborough. In 1719 he led an + expedition to the north coast of Spain and seized Vigo and the + neighbouring towns and harbours. + + + + +The Life of JOHN DYKES, a Thief and Highwayman + + +It is a reflection almost too common to be repeated that of all the +vices to which young people are addicted, nothing is so dangerous as a +habit and inclination to gaming. To explain this would be to swell a +volume. Instances which are so numerous do it much better. Perhaps this +unhappy person John Dykes is as strong a one as is anywhere to be met +with. His parents were persons in middling circumstances, but he being +their eldest child, they treated him with great indulgence, and to the +detriment of their own fortune afforded him a necessary education. When +he grew up and his friends thought of placing him out apprentice, he +always found some excuse or other to avoid it, which arose only from his +great indolence of temper, and his continual itching after gaming. When +he had money, he went to the gaming tables about town, and when reduced +by losses sustained there, would put on an old ragged coat and get out +to play at chuck, and span-farthing, amongst the boys in the street, by +which, sometimes he got money enough to go to his old companions again. +But this being a very uncertain recourse, he made use more frequently of +picking pockets; for which being several times apprehended and committed +to Bridewell, his friends, especially his poor father, would often +demonstrate to him the ignominious end which such practices would +necessarily bring on, entreating him while there was yet time, to +reflect and to leave them off, promising to do their utmost for him, +notwithstanding all that was past. In the course of this unhappy life +the youth had acquired an extraordinary share of cunning, and an unusual +capacity of dissembling; he employed it more than once to deceive his +family into a belief of his having made a thorough resolution of +amendment. + +Once, after having suffered the usual discipline of the horsepond, Dykes +was carried before a Justice of Peace, and committed to Tothill Fields +Bridewell[13]. Here he became acquainted with one Jeddediah West, a +Quaker's son, who had fallen into the like practices, and for them +shared the same punishment with himself. They were pretty much of a +temper, but Jeddediah was the elder and much the more subtle of the two, +and in this unhappy place they contracted a strict and intimate +friendship. Out of shame Jeddediah forbore for two or three days to +acquaint his relations, and during that time for the most part subsisted +out of what Dykes got from home. But at last West picked up courage +enough to send to his brother, a very eminent man in business, and by +telling him a plausible story, procured not only pity and relief, but +even prevailed on him to believe that he was innocent of the fact for +which he was committed. He so well tutored his friend Dykes that though +he could not persuade his parents into the same degree of credulity, yet +his outward appearance of penitence induced them not only to pardon him +but to take him home, give him a new suit of clothes, and to promise +him, if he continued to do well, whatever was in their power to do for +him. + +Dykes and his companion being in favour with their friends, and having +money in their pockets, continued their correspondence and went often to +the gaming tables together. At first they had a considerable run of luck +for about three weeks, but Fortune then forsaking them, they were +reduced to be downright penniless, without any hopes of relief or +assistance from their friends sufficient to carry on their expenses. +West at last proposed an expedient for raising money, which lay +altogether upon himself, and which he the next day executed in the +following manner. + +About the time that he knew his brother was to come home from the +Exchange to dinner, he went to his house equipped in a sailor's +pea-jacket, his hair cropped short to his ears, his eyebrows coloured +black, and a handkerchief about his neck. As soon as he saw him in the +counting-house, his brother started back, and cried, _Bless me! +Jeddediah, how came you in this pickle?_ With all signs of grief and +confusion, he threw himself at his brother's feet, and told him with a +flood of tears that two coiners who had accidentally seen him in +Bridewell had sworn against him and three others on their apprehension, +in order on the merit thereof to be admitted evidences to get off +themselves. _So that, dear brother_, he continued, _I have been obliged +to take a passage in a vessel that does down next tide to Gravesend, for +I have ran the hazard of my life to come and beg your charitable +assistance._ + +The poor honest man was so much amazed and concerned at this melancholy +tale, that bursting out into tears, and hanging about his brother's +neck, he begged him to take a coach and begone to Billingsgate, giving +him ten guineas in hand and telling him that his bills should not be +protested if he drew within the compass of a hundred pounds from Dieppe, +whither he said the ship was bound. West was no sooner out of the street +where his brother lived, but he ordered the coach to drive to a certain +place where he had appointed Dykes to meet him, and there they expressed +a great deal of mutual satisfaction at the trick West had played his +brother. However, the latter was no great gainer in the end, for Mr. +West, senior, soon finding out the contrivance, forever renounced him, +and Jeddediah being soon after arrested for twelve pounds due to his +tailor, was carried to prison and remained there without the least +assistance from his brother, till after his friend Dykes was hanged. + +The last mentioned malefactor, unmoved by all the tender entreaties of +his friends, and the glaring prospect before him of his own ruin, went +still on at the old rate, and whenever gaming had brought him low in +cash, took up with the road, or some such like dishonest method to +recruit it. At last he had the ill-luck to commit a robbery in Stepney +parish, in the road between Mile End and Bow, upon one Charles Wright, +to whose bosom clapping a pistol, he commanded him to deliver +peacefully, or he would shoot him through the body. The booty he took +was very inconsiderable, being only a penknife, an ordinary seal, and +five shillings and eightpence in money. A poor price for life, since two +days after he was apprehended for this robbery, committed to Newgate and +condemned the next sessions. + +His behaviour under these unhappy circumstances was very mean, and such +as fully showed what difference there is between courage and that +resolution which is necessary to support the spirits and calm our +apprehensions at the certain approach of a violent death. I forbear +attempting any description of those unutterable torments which the +exterior marks of a distracted behaviour fully showed that this poor +wretch endured. And as I have nothing more to add of him, but that he +confessed his having been guilty of a multitude of ill acts, he +submitted at last with greater cheerfulness than he had ever shown +during his confinement to that shameful death which the Law had ordained +for his crimes, on the 23rd of October, 1721, when he was about +twenty-three years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [13] This Bridewell occupied the site adjoining the north side + of the Green Coat School, on the west: side of Artillery Place. + Although originally intended for vagrants, early in the 18th + century it was turned into a house of detention for criminals. + + + + +The Life of RICHARD JAMES, a Highwayman + + +The misfortune of not having early a virtuous education is often so +great a one as never to be retrieved, and it happens frequently (as far +as human capacity will give us leave to judge) that those prove +remarkably wicked and profligate for want of it who if they had been so +happy as to have received it, would probably have led an honest and +industrious life. I am led to this observation at present by the +materials which lay before me for the composition of this life. + +Richard James was the son of a nobleman's cook, but he knew little more +of his father than that he left him to the wide world while very young; +and so at about twelve years of age he was sent to sea. There he had the +misfortune to be taken prisoner by the Spaniards, who he acknowledged +treated him with great humanity, and a house-painter taking a great +liking to him, received him into his house, taught him his profession, +and used him with the same tenderness as if he had been his nearest +relation. + +But fondness for his country exciting in him a continual desire of +seeing England again, at last he found a means to return before he was +seventeen; and after this, being in England but a very small time, he +totally disobliged what few friends he had left, by his silly marriage +to a poor girl younger than himself. As is common enough in such mad +adventures, the woman's friends were as much disobliged as his, and so +not knowing how to subsist together, Richard was obliged to betake him +to his old profession of the sea. + +The first voyage he made was to the West Indies, where he had the +misfortune to be taken by pirates, and by them being set on shore, he +was reduced almost to downright starving. However, begging his way to +Boston in New England, he from thence found a method of returning home +once again. The first thing he did was to enquire for his wife. But she, +under a pretence of having received advice of his death from America, +had gotten another husband; and though poor James was willing to pass +that by, yet the woman, it seems, knew better when she was well, and +under pretence of affection for two children which she had by this last +husband, absolutely refused to leave him and return back to Dick, her +first spouse. However, he did not seem to have taken this much to heart, +for in a short time he followed her example and married another wife; +but finding no method of procuring an honest livelihood, he took a short +method of living, viz., to thieving after every manner that came in his +way. + +He committed a vast number of robberies in a very short space, chiefly +upon the waggoners in the Oxford Road, and sometimes, as if there were +not crime enough in barely robbing them, he added to it by the cruel +manner in which he treated them. At this rate he went on for a +considerable space, till being apprehended for a robbery of a man on +Hanwell Green, from whom he took but ten shillings, he was shortly after +convicted; and having no friends, from that time he laid aside all hope +of life. + +During the space he had to prepare himself for death, he appeared so +far from being either terrified, or even unwilling to die, that he +looked upon it as a very happy relief from a very troublesome and uneasy +life, and declared, with all outward appearance of sincerity, that he +would not, even if it were in his power, procure a reprieve, or avoid +that death which could alone prove a remedy for those evils which had so +long rendered life a burden. He was very earnest to be instructed in the +duties of religion, and seemed to desire nothing else than to prepare +himself, as well as time and his melancholy circumstances would allow +him, and never from the time of his conviction showed any change in his +disposition but continued still rather to wish for his death than to +fear it. He made a very ample confession of all the robberies he had +ever done, and seemed sorrowful enough, above all, for the inhumanity +and incivility with which he had sometimes treated people. + +Amongst other particulars he said that once, with his companions, having +robbed a lady in some other company of a whip, and a tortoiseshell +snuff-box with a silver rim, she earnestly desired to have them +returned, saying that as to the money they had taken they were heartily +welcome; the other thieves seemed inclinable to grant her request, but +James absolutely declared that she should not have them. However, as a +very extraordinary mark of his generosity, he took the snuff out of the +box, and putting it into a paper, gave it her back again. + +At the place of execution he repeated what he had formerly said as to +his readiness of dying, adding, that if the people pitied the misfortune +he fell under of dying so ignominious a death, he no less pitied them in +the dangers and misfortunes they were sure to run through in this +miserable world. At the time of his death he was about thirty years of +age, and suffered on the same day with the criminal last mentioned. + + + + +The Life of JAMES WRIGHT, a Highwayman + + +James Wright, the malefactor whose life we are going to relate at +present, was born at Enfield, of very honest and industrious parents, +who, that he might get a living honestly, put him apprentice to a +peruke-maker. At this trade, after having served his time, he set up in +the Old Bailey, and lived there for some time in very good credit. But +being much given up to women, and an idle habit of life, his expenses +quickly outwent his profits, and thus in the space of some months +reduced him to downright want. This put him upon the illegal ways he +afterwards took to support himself in the enjoyment of those pleasures +which even the evils he had already felt could not make him wise enough +to shun. + +He was very far from being a hardened criminal, hardly ever robbing a +passenger without tears in his eyes, and always framing resolutions to +himself of quitting that infamous manner of life, as soon as ever it +should be in his power. He fancied that as the rich could better spare +it than the poor, there was less crime in taking it from them, and +valued himself not a little that he had never injured any poor man, but +always singled out those who from their equipage were likeliest to yield +him a good booty, and at the same time not be much the worse for it +themselves. He had gone on for a considerable space in the commission of +villainies with impunity, but at last being apprehended for a robbery +committed by him in the county of Surrey, he was thereupon indicted and +tried at the ensuing assizes at Kingston, and by some means or other, +was so lucky as to be acquitted, no doubt to his very great joy; and on +this deliverance he again renewed his vows of amendment. + +After this acquittal a friend of his was so kind as to take him down to +his house in the country, in hopes of keeping him out of harm's way; and +indeed 'tis highly probable that he had totally given over all evil +intention of that sort, when he was unfortunately impeached by Hawkins, +one of his old companions, and on his evidence and that of the +prosecutor whom he found out, Wright was taken up, tried and convicted +at the Old Bailey. When he perceived there was no hope of life he +applied himself to the great business of his soul, and behaved with the +greatest composure imaginable. He declared himself a Roman Catholic, yet +frequented the chapel all the time he was in Newgate, and seemed only +studious how to make peace with God. + +When the fatal day of execution approached, he was far from seeming +amazed, notwithstanding that after mature deliberation he refused to +declare his associates, or how they might be found, saying that perhaps +they might repent, and he hoped some of them had done so, and he would +not bring them to the same ignominious death with himself. The fact he +died for, viz., robbing Mr. Towers, with some ladies in a coach in +Marlborough Street, he confessed, also that his companion called out to +him, _What, do they resist? Shoot 'em._ He suffered with all the outward +signs of penitence, on the 22nd of December, 1721, being about +thirty-four years of age. + + + + +The Life of NATHANIEL HAWES, a Thief and a Robber + + +Amongst many odd notions which are picked up by the common people, there +is none more dangerous, both to themselves and unto others, than the +idea they get of courage, which with them consists either in a furious +madness, or an obstinate perseverence, even in the worst cause. + +Nathaniel Hawes was a very extraordinary instance of this, as the +following part of his life will show. He was, as he said himself, the +son of a very rich grazier in Norfolk, who dying when he was but a year +old, he afterwards pretended that he was defrauded of a greater part of +his father's effects which should have belonged to him. However, those +who took care of his education put him out apprentice to an upholsterer, +with whom having served about four years, he then fell into very +expensive company, which reduced him to such straits as obliged him to +make bold with his master's cash, by which he injured him for some time +with impunity. But proceeding, at last, to the commission of a downright +robbery, he was therein detected, tried and convicted, but being then a +very young man, the Court had pity on him, and he had the good luck to +procure a pardon. + +Natt made the old use of mercy, when extended to such sort of people, +that is, when he returned to liberty he returned to his old practices. +His companions were several young men of the same stamp with himself, +who placed all their delight in the sensual and brutal pleasures of +drinking, gaming, whoring and idling about, without betaking themselves +to any business. Natt, who was a young fellow naturally sprightly and of +good parts, from thence became very acceptable to these sort of people, +and committed abundance of robberies in a very small space of time. The +natural fire of his temper made him behave with great boldness on such +occasions, and gave him no small reputation amongst the gang. Seeing +himself extravagantly commended on such occasions, Hawes began to form +to himself high notions of heroism in that way, and from the warmth of a +lively imagination, became a downright Don Quixote in all their +adventures. He particularly affected the company of Richard James, and +with him robbed very much on the Oxford Road, whereon it was common for +both these persons not only to take away the money from passengers, but +also to treat them with great inhumanity, which for all I might know +might arise in a great measure from Hawes's whimsical notions. + +This fellow was so puffed up with the reputation he had got amongst his +companions in the same miserable occupation, that he fancied no +expedition impracticable which he thought fit to engage, and indeed the +boldness of his attempts had so often given him success that there is no +wonder a fellow of his small parts and education should conceive so +highly of himself. It was nothing for Hawes singly to rob a coach full +of gentlemen, to stop two or three persons on the highway at a time, or +to rob the waggons in a line as they came on the Oxford Road to London, +nor was there any of the little prisons or Bridewells that could hold +him. + +There was, however, an adventure of Natt's of this kind that deserves a +particular relation. He had, it seems, been so unlucky as to be taken +and committed to New Prison,[14] on suspicion of robbing two gentlemen +in a chaise coming from Hampstead. Hawes viewed well the place of his +confinement, but found it much too strong for any attempts like those he +was wont to make. In the same place with himself and another man mere +was a woman very genteelly dressed, who had been committed for +shoplifting. This woman seemed even more ready to attempt something +which might get her out of that confinement than either Hawes or her +other companion. The latter said it was impracticable, and Natt that +though he had broken open many a prison, yet he saw no probability of +putting this in the number. + +_Well_, said the woman _have you courage enough to try, if I put you in +the way? Yes_, quoth Hawes, _there's nothing I won't undertake for +liberty;_ and said the other fellow, _If I once saw a likelihood of +performing it, there's nobody has better hands at such work than myself. +In the first place_, said this politician in petticoats, _we must raise +as much money amongst us as will keep a very good fire. Why truly_, +replied Hawes, _a fire would be convenient in this cold weather, but I +can't, for my heart, see how we should be nearer our liberty for it, +unless you intend to set the gaol in flames. Tush! Tush!_ answered the +woman, _follow but my directions, and let's have some faggots and coals, +and I warrant you by to-morrow morning we shall be safe oat of these +regions._ The woman spoke this with so much assurance that Hawes and the +other man complied, and reserving but one shilling, laid out all their +money in combustibles and liquor. While the runners of the prison were +going to and fro upon this occasion, the woman seemed so dejected that +she could scarce speak, and the two men by her directions sat with the +same air as if the rope already had been about them at Tyburn. At last, +as they were going to be locked up; _Pray_, says the woman, with a +faint voice, _Can't you give me something like a poker? Why, yes_, says +one of the fellows belonging to the gaol, _if you'll give me twopence, +I'll bring you one of the old bars that was taken out of the window when +these new ones were put in._ The woman gave him the halfpence, he +delivered the bar, and the keepers having locked them up, barred and +bolted the doors, and left them until next morning. + +As soon as ever the people of the gaol were gone, up starts madam. _Now, +my lads_, says she, _to work_; and putting her hands into her pockets +and shaking her petticoats, down drops two little bags of tools. She +pointed out to them a large stone at the corner of the roof which was +morticed into two others, one above and the other below. After they had +picked all the mortar from between them, she heated the bar red hot in +the fire, and putting it to the sockets into which the irons that held +the stones were fastened with lead, it quickly loosened them, and then +making use of the bars as of a crow, by two o'clock in the morning they +had got them all three out, and opened a fair passage into the streets, +only that it was a little too high. Upon this the woman made them fasten +the iron bar strongly at the angle where the three stones met, and then +pulling off her stays, she unrolled from the top of her petticoats four +yards of strong cord, the noose of which being fastened on the iron, the +other end was thrown out over the wall, and so the descent was rendered +easy. The men were equally pleased and surprised at their good fortune, +and in gratitude to the female author of it, helped her to the top of +the wall, and let her get safe over before they attempted to go out +themselves. + +It was not long after this that Hawes committed a robbery on Finchley +Common, upon one Richard Hall, from whom he took about four shillings in +money; and to make up the badness of the booty, he took from him his +horse, in order to be the better equipped to go in quest of another +which might make up the deficiency. For this robbery, being shortly +after detected and apprehended, he was convicted and received sentence +of death. When first confined, he behaved himself with very great +levity, and declared he would merit a greater reputation by the boldness +of his behaviour than any highwayman that had died these seven years. +Indeed, this was the style he always made use of, and the great +affectation of intrepidity and resolution which he always put on would +have moved anybody (had it not been for his melancholy condition) to +smile at the vanity of the man. + +At the time he was taken up, he had, it seems, a good suit of clothes +taken from him, which put him so much out of humour, because he could +not appear, as he said, like a gentleman at the sessions-house, that +when he was arraigned and should have put himself upon his trial, he +refused to plead unless they were delivered to him again. But to this +the Court answered that it was not in their power, and on his persisting +to remain mute, after all the exhortations which were made to him, the +Court at last ordered that the sentence of the press should be read to +him, as is customary on such occasions; after which the Judge from the +Bench spoke to him to this effect + + Nathaniel Hawes, + + The equity of the Law of England, more tender of the lives of its + subjects than any other in the world, allows no person to be put to + death, either unheard or without the positive proof against him of + the fact whereon he stands charged; and that proof, too, must be + such as shall satisfy twelve men who are his equals, and by whose + verdict he is to be tried. And surely no method can be devised + fuller than this is, as well of compassion, as of Justice. But then + it is required that the person to be tried shall aver his innocence + by pleading Not Guilty to his indictment, which contains the charge. + You have heard that which the grand jury have found against you. You + see here twelve honest men ready to enquire impartially into the + evidence that shall be given against you. The Court, such is the + humanity of our constitution, is counsel for you as you are a + prisoner. What hinders then, that you should submit to so fair, so + equal a trial; and wherefore will you, by a brutish obstinacy, draw + upon you that heavy judgement which the Law has appointed for those + who seem to have lost the rational faculties of men? + +To this Hawes impudently made answer, that the Court was formerly a +place of Justice, but now it was become a place of injustice; that he +doubted not but that they would receive a severer sentence than that +which they had pronounced upon him; and that for his part, he made no +question of dying with the same resolution with which he had often +beheld death, and would leave the world with the same courage with which +he had lived in it. + +Natt thought this a most glorious instance of his courage, and when some +of his companions said jestingly, that he chose pressing because the +Court would not let him have a good suit of clothes to be hanged in, he +replied, with a great deal of warmth, that it was no such thing, but +that as he had lived with the character of the boldest fellow of his +profession he was resolved to die with it, and leave his memory to be +admired by all the gentlemen of the road in succeeding ages. This was +the rant which took up the poor fellow's head, and induced him to bear +250 pound weight upon his breast for upwards of seven minutes, and was +much the same kind of bravery as that which induced the French lacquey +to dance a minuet immediately before he danced his last upon the wheel, +an action which made so much noise in France as engaged the Duke de +Rochefoucauld to compare it with the death of Cato. + +Hawes, indeed, did not persist quite so long, but submitted to that +justice which he saw was unavoidable, after he had endured, as I have +said before, so great a weight in the press. The bruises he received on +the chest pained him so exceedingly during the short remainder of his +life that he was hardly able to perform those devotions which the near +approach of death made him desirous to offer up for so profligate a +life. He laid aside, then, those wild notions which had been so fatal to +him through the whole course of his days, and so remarkably unfortunate +to him in this last age of life. He confessed frankly what crimes he +could remember and seemed very desirous of acquitting some innocent +persons who were at that time imprisoned, or suspected, for certain +villainies which were committed by Hawes and his gang; particularly a +footman, then in the Poultry Compter, and a man's son at an alehouse, +who, though Hawes declared he knew no harm of him, yet at the place of +execution he said that as he desired his death might be a warning to all +in general, so he wished it might be particularly considered by him. +Though, as I have said, he was fully convinced of the folly of those +notions which he had formerly entertained, yet he did not, as most of +those braves do, go from one degree of extravagance to the other, that +is, from daring everything to sinking into the meanest cowardice, for +Hawes went to his death very composedly, as he had received the +Sacrament the day before, with all the outward marks of devotion. He +suffered on the 22nd day of September, 1721, at which time he was scarce +twenty years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [14] This was the Clerkenwell House of Detention, where + prisoners were sent after being sentenced, pending their + disposal at a House of Correction. It was originally intended + for the overflow from Newgate. The prison stood in Clerkenwell + Close. + + + + +The Life of JOHN JONES, a Pickpocket + + +There is not, perhaps, a greater misfortune to young people than that +too great tenderness and compassion with which they are treated in their +youth, and those hopes of amendment which their relations flatter +themselves with as they grow up. If they could suffer themselves to be +guided by experience, they would quickly find that sagacious minds do +but increase in wickedness as they increase in years. Timely services, +therefore, and proper restraints are the only methods with which such +persons are to be treated, for minds disposed to such gross impurities +as those which lead to such wickednesses or are rendered capital by Law, +are seldom to be prevailed on by gentleness, or admonitions unseconded +by harsher means. I am very far from being an advocate for great +severities towards young people, but I confess in cases like these, I +think they are as necessary as amputations, where the distemper has +spread so far that no cure is to be hoped for by any other means. If the +relations of John Jones had known and practised these methods, it is +highly probable he had escaped the suffering and the shame of that +ignominious death to which, after a long persisting in his crimes, he at +last came. + +[Illustration: A PRISONER UNDER PRESSURE IN NEWGATE + +Accused men who refused to plead to their indictment might be pressed to +death. Edward Burnworth carried 424 lb. on his chest for an hour and +three minutes before he consented to plead + +_(From the Newgate Calendar)_] + +This malefactor was born in the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, of +parents in tolerable circumstances, who, while a boy, indulged him in +all his little humours from a wise expectation of their dropping from +him all at once when he grew up. But this expectation not succeeding, as +it must be owned there was no great probability it should, they were +then for persuading him to settle in business. That he might do this +with less reluctancy they were so kind as to put him out upon liking to +three or four trades; but it happening unluckily that there was work to +be done in all of them, Jones could not be brought to go apprentice to +any, but idled on amongst his companions, without ever thinking of +applying himself to any business whatever. His relations sent him to +sea, another odd academy to learn honesty at, and on his return from +thence, and refusing to go any more, his relations refused to support +him any longer. + +Jack was very melancholy on this score, and having but eighteenpence in +the world when he received the comfortable message of his never being to +expect a farthing more from his friends, he went out to take a walk in +Hyde Park to divert his melancholy, when he ruminated on what he was to +do next for a livelihood. In the midst of these reflections he espied an +old schoolfellow of his, who used to have the same inclinations with +himself. There had been a great intimacy between them; it was quickly +renewed, and Jack Jones unburdened to him the whole budget of his +sorrows. _And is this all?_ says the young fellow. _Why, I will put you +in a way to ease this in a minute, if you will step along with me to a +house hard by, where I am to meet with some of my acquaintance._ Jones +readily consented, and to a little blind alehouse in a dark lane they +went. The woman of the house received them very kindly, and as soon as +Jack's companion had informed her that he was a newcomer, she conducted +him into a little room, where she entertained him with a good dinner and +a bowl of punch after it. Jack was mightily taken with the courtesy of +his landlady, who promised him he should never want such usage and his +friend would teach him in the evening how to earn it. + +Evening came, and out walked the two young men. Jack was put upon +nothing at that time, but to observe how his companion managed. He was a +very dexterous youth, and at seven o'clock prayers picked up, in half an +hour's time, three good handkerchiefs, and a silver snuff-box. Having +this readily shown him the practice, he was no less courteous in +acquainting Jones with the theory of his profession, and two or three +night's work made Jones a very complete workman in their way. + +He lived at this rate for some months, until going with his instructor +through King Street, Westminster, and passing by a woman pretty well +dressed, says the other fellow to Jones, _Now mind, Jack, and while +jostle her against the wall, do you whip off her pocket._ Jones +performed tolerably well, though the woman screamed out and people were +thick in the street. He gave the pocket, as soon as he had plucked it +off, to his comrade, but having felt it rather weighty, would trust him +no farther than the first by-alley before they stopped to examine its +contents. + +They had scarce found their prize consisted of no more than a small +prayer-book, a needle case, and a silver thimble, when the woman with a +mob at her heels bolted upon them and seized them. Jones had the pocket +in his hand when they laid hold of him, and his associate no sooner +perceived the danger, but he clapped hold of him by the collar and cried +out as loud as any of the mob, _Ay, ay, this is he, good woman, is not +this your pocket?_ By this strategem he escaped, and Jones was left to +feel the whole weight of the punishment which was ready to fall upon +them. He was immediately committed to prison, and the offence being +capital in its nature, he was condemned at the next sessions, and though +he always buoyed himself up with hopes to the contrary, was ordered for +execution. He was dreadfully amazed at death, as being, indeed, very +unfit to die. However, when he found it was inevitable, he began to +prepare for it as well as he was able. His relations now afforded him +some little relief, and after having made as ample a confession as he +was able, he suffered at Tyburn with the two above-mentioned +malefactors, Hawes and Wright, being then but a little above nineteen +years of age. + + + + +The Life of JOHN SMITH, a Murderer + + +As idleness is fatal to youth, so it and ill-company become not seldom +so even to persons in years. John Smith, of whose extraction we can say +nothing, had served with a very good character in a regiment of foot, +during Queen Anne's wars in Flanders. His captain took a particular +liking to him, and from his boldness and fierce courage, to which he +himself was also greatly inclined, they did abundance of odd actions +during the War, some of which may not be unentertaining to the reader, +if I mention. + +The army lying encamped almost over against that of the French king, +foraging was become very dangerous, and hardly a party went out without +a skirmish. John's master, the captain, having been out with a party, +and being over powered by the French, were obliged to leave their +trusses behind them. When they returned to the camp, Smith was ordered +to lead his master's horse out into the field between the two camps, +that the poor creature might be able to pick up a little pasture. John +had not attended his horse long before, at the distance of about half a +mile, he saw a boy leading two others, at the foot of a hill which +joined to the French fortification. As John's livery was yellow, and he +spoke Walloon bad enough to be taken for a Frenchman, he ventured to +stake the Captain's horse down where it was feeding, and without the +least apprehension of the risk he ran, went across to the fellow who was +feeding his horses under the French lines. He proceeded with so much +caution that he was within a stone's throw of the boy, before he +perceived him. From the colour of his clothes, and the place where they +were, immediately under the French camp, the lad took him for one of +their own people, and therefore answered him very civilly when he asked +what o'clock it was, and whom he belonged to. But John no sooner +observed from the boy's turning his horses, that the hill lay again +between them and the French soldiers, than clapping his hand suddenly +upon the boy's throat and tripping up his heels, he clapped a gag in his +mouth, which he had cut for that purpose; and leaving him with his hands +tied behind him upon the ground, he rode clear off with the best of the +horses, notwithstanding that the boy had alarmed the French camp, and he +had some hundred shot sent after him. + +The captain and Smith were out one day a-foraging, and one of the +officers of their party who was known to have a hundred pistoles about +him, was killed in a skirmish, and neither party dared to bring off the +body for fear of the other, it being just dark, each expected a +reinforcement from the camp. Smith told his captain that if he'd give +him one half of the gold for fetching, he would venture; and his offer +being gladly accepted, he accordingly crept two hundred yards upon his +belly, and after he had picked the purse out of the dead man's pockets, +returned without being either seen or suspected. + +When the army was disbanded, Smith betook himself to the sea, and served +under Admiral Byng,[15] in the fight at Messina; but on the return of +that fleet from the Mediterranean, being discharged he came up to +London, where having squandered his money, he did some petty thefts to +get more. To this he was induced chiefly by the company of one Woolford, +who was executed, and at whose execution Smith was present, and soon +after cohabited with his wife. But not long after this, Smith meeting +with one Sarah Thompson, an old acquaintance of his, who had it seems +left him to live with another fellow, he took it into his head thereupon +to use her very roughly, and clapping a pistol to her breast, threatened +with abundance of ill-language to shoot her. This occasioned a great +fray in the place where it happened, which was near the Hermitage +towards Wapping, and several persons running to take the woman away, and +to seize him, in order to prevent murder, Smith fired his pistol, and +unhappily killed one Matthew Walden, who was amongst the number. The mob +immediately crowded upon him and seized him, and the fact appearing very +clear on his trial, he was convicted at the next sessions at the Old +Bailey. + +He behaved himself with great resolution, professed himself extremely +sorry, as well for the many vices he had been guilty of as for that last +bloody act which brought him to his shameful end. He especially +recommended to all who spoke to him, to avoid the snares and delusions +of lewd women; and at the place of execution delivered the following +paper. He was about forty years of age when he died, being the 8th day +of February, 1722, at Tyburn. + + The paper delivered by John Smith at the place of execution + + I was born of honest parents, bred to the sea, and lived honest, + 'till I was led aside by lewd women. I then robbed on ships, and + never robbed on shore. I had no design to kill the woman who jilted + me, and left me for another man, but only to terrify her, for I + could have shot her when the loaded pistol was at her breast, but I + curbed my passion, and only threw a candle-stick at her. I confess + my cruelty towards my wife, who is a woman too good for me, but I + was at first forced to forsake her for debt, and go to sea. I hope + in God none will reflect on her, or my poor innocent children, who + could not help my sad passion, and more sad death. Written by me, + + John Smith + +FOOTNOTES: + + [15] George Byng, later created Viscount Torrington, was sent + with a fleet for the protection of Sicily against the Spaniards. + He found them besieging Messina, whereupon he gave their fleet + battle and gained a smashing victory at Cape Passaro, 31 July, + 1718. + + + + +The Life of JAMES SHAW, _alias_ SMITH, a Highwayman and Murderer + + +James Shaw, otherwise Smith (for by both these names he went, nor am I +able to say which was his true one) was the son of parents both of +circumstances and inclination to have given him a very good education if +he would have received it. The unsettledness of his temper was +heightened by that indulgence with which he was treated by his +relations, who permitted him to make trial of several trades, though he +could not be brought to like any. Indeed, he stayed so long with a +forger of gun-locks, as to learn something of his art, which sometimes +he practised and thereby got money; but generally speaking he chose +rather to acquire it by easier means. + +I cannot take upon me to say at what time he began to rob upon the road, +or take to any other villainy of that sort, but 'tis certain that if he +himself were to be believed, it was in a great measure owing to a bad +wife; for when he, by his labour, got nine shillings a week, and used to +return home very weary in the evening, he generally found nobody there +to receive him, or to get ready his supper, but everything in the +greatest confusion, without any person to take care of what little he +had. This, as he would have had it believed, was the source of his +misfortunes and necessities, as it was also the occasion of his taking +such fatal methods to relieve them. + +The Hampstead Road was that in which he chiefly robbed, and he could not +be persuaded that there was any great crime in taking away the +superfluous cash of those who lavish it in vanity and luxury, or from +those who procure it by cheating and gaming; and under these two classes +Shaw pretended to rank all who frequented the Wells or Belsize, and it +is to be much feared that in this respect he was not very far out. +Amongst the many adventures which befell him in his expeditions on the +road, there are one or two which it may not be improper to take notice +of. + +One evening, as he was patrolling thereabouts, he came up to a chariot +in which there was a certain famous justice, who happened to have won +about four hundred pounds at play, and Count Ui----n, a famous foreign +gamester, that has made many different figures about this town. No +sooner was the coach stopped by Shaw and another person on horseback, +but the Squire slipped the money he had won behind the seat of the +coach, and the Count having little to lose, seemed not very uneasy at +the accident. The highwaymen no sooner had demanded their money, but the +Count gave two or three pieces of foreign gold, and the gentleman, in +hopes by this means of getting rid of them, presented them with twenty +guineas. + +_Why, really, sir_, said Shaw, on the receipt of the gold, _this were a +handsome compliment from another person, but methinks you might have +spared a little more out of the long bag you brought from the gaming +table. Come, gentlemen, get out, get out, we must examine the nest a +little, I fancy the goldfinches are not yet flown._ Upon this, they both +got out of the chariot, and Shaw shaking the cushion that covered the +seat hastily, the long bag fell out with its mouth open, and all its +bright contents were scattered on the ground. The two knights of the +road began to pick them up as fast as they could, and while the justice +cursed this unlucky accident which had nicked him, after he had nicked +all the gamesters at the Wells, the Count, who thought swearing an +unprofitable exercise, began to gather as fast as they. A good deal of +company coming in sight just as they had finished, and while they were +calling upon the Count to refund, they were glad to gallop away. But +returning to London they were taken, and about three hours after +committing the fact, they, together with the witnesses against them, +were brought before a Middlesex magistrate, who committed them. + +_But, pray, Sir_, says Shaw, before he was taken out of the room; _Why +should not that French fellow suffer as well as we? He shared the booty, +and please your Worship, 'tis but reasonable he should share the +punishment. Well, what say you, Sir?_ quoth the Justice to his brother +magistrate. _What is this outlandish man they talk of? He is a count, +Sir_, replied he, _returned from Naples, whither he went on some affairs +of importance. He makes a very good figure here sometimes, though I do +not know what his income is. I do not apprehend your Worship has +anything to do with that, since I do not complain. However_, replied +this dispenser of justice, _I have had but a very sorry account of you, +yet as you are in company with my brother here, I shall take no further +notice of what these men say._[16] + +Shaw being after this got out of prison and having no money to purchase +a horse, he endeavoured to carry on his old profession of a footpad. In +this shape he robbed also several coaches and single passengers, and +that with very great inhumanity, which was natural, he said, from that +method of attacking, for it was impossible for a footpad to get off, +unless he either maimed the man, or wounded his horse. + +Meeting by chance, as he was walking across Hampstead Road, an old +grave-looking man, he thought there was no danger in making up to him, +and seizing him, since he himself was well armed. The old gentleman +immediately begged that he would be civil and told him that if he would +be so, he would give him an old pair of breeches which were filled with +money and effects worth money, and, as he said, lay buried by such a +tree, pointing at the same time to it with his hand. Shaw went thither +directly, in hopes of gaining the miser's great prize, for the old +fellow made him believe he had buried it out of covetousness, and came +there to brood over it. But no sooner were they come to the place, and +Shaw looping down, began to look for three pieces of tobacco pipe, which +the old man pretended to have stack where they were buried, but the +gentleman whipped out his sword, and made two or three passes at Shaw, +wounding him in the neck, side and breast. + +As the number of his robberies were very great, so it is not to be +expected that we should have a very exact account of them, yet as Shaw +was not shy in revealing any circumstance that related to them, we may +not perhaps have been as particular in the relation of his crimes as our +readers would desire, and therefore it will be necessary to mention some +other of his expeditions. + +At his usual time and place, viz., Hampstead Road, in the evening, he +overtook a dapper fellow, who was formerly a peruke-maker but now a +gamester. This man taking Shaw for a bubble, began to talk of play, and +mentioned All Fours and Cribbage, and asked him whether he would play a +game for a bottle or so at the Flask. Shaw pretended to be very willing, +but said he had made a terrible oath against playing for anything in any +house; but if to avoid it, the gentleman would tie his horse to a tree +and had any cards in his pocket, he'd sit down on the green bank in +yonder close, and hazard a shilling or two. The gamester, who always +carried his implements in his pocket, readily accepted of the offer, and +tying their horses to a post of a little alehouse on the road, over they +whipped into the fields. But no sooner were they set down, and the +sharper began to shuffle the cards, but Shaw starting up, caught him by +the throat, and after shaking out three guineas and a half from his +breeches' pocket, broke to pieces two peep boxes, split as many pair of +false dice, and kicked the cards all about the ground. He left him tied +hand and foot to consider ways and means to recruit his stock by methods +just as honest as those by which he lost it. + +The soldiers that at that time were placed on the road, passed for a +great security amongst people in town, but those who had occasion to +pass that way found no great benefit from their protection, for +robberies were as frequent as ever, and the ill-usage of persons when +robbed more so, because the rogues thought themselves in greater danger +of being taken, and therefore bound or disabled those they plundered, +for fear of their pursuing them. + +For a fact of this kind it was that Shaw came to his death, for one +Philip Pots, being robbed on horseback by several footpads and knocked +off his horse near the tile kilns by Pancras, and wounded in several +places of his body with his own sword, which one of the villains had +taken from him, some persons who passed by soon after took him up, and +carried him to the Pinder of Wakefield.[17] There, on the Monday +following (this accident happening on Saturday night) he in great +agonies expired. For this murder and another robbery between Highgate +and Kentish Town, Shaw was taken up and soon after convicted. At first +he denied all knowledge of the murder, but when his death grew near, he +did acknowledge being privy to it, though he persisted in saying he had +no hand in its commission. + +At the time he was under condemnation, the afore-mentioned John Smith, +William Colthouse, and Jonah Burgess were in the same condition. They +formed a conspiracy for breaking out of the place where they were +confined and to force an escape against all those who should oppose +them. For this purpose they had procured pistols, but their plot being +discovered, Burgess in great rage, cut his own throat and pretended that +Shaw designed to have dispatched himself with one of the pistols. But +Shaw, himself, absolutely denied this, and affirmed on the contrary that +when Burgess said his enemies should never have the satisfaction (as +they had bragged they would have) of placing themselves upon Holborn +Bridge, to see him go by Tyburn, he (Shaw) exhorted him never to think +of self-murder, and by that means give his enemies a double revenge in +destroying both body and soul. + +As Shaw had formerly declared his wife's ill-conduct had been the first +occasion of his falling into those courses which had proved so fatal to +him, he still retained so great an antipathy to her on that account, as +not to be able to pardon her, even in the last moments of his life, in +which he would neither confess, nor positively deny the murder for which +he died. He was then about twenty-eight years of age, and died the same +day with the last-mentioned malefactor, Smith. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [16] This discourse between the magistrates is obscure. I have + been unable to clear it. + + [17] This was the public-house at the Battle Bridge (King's + Cross) end of Gray's Inn Road. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM COLTHOUSE, a Thief and Highwayman + + +William Colthouse was born in Yorkshire, had a very good education for a +person of his rank and especially with regard to religious principles, +of which he retained a knowledge seldom to be met with among the lower +class of people; but he was so unhappy as to imbibe in his youth strange +notions in regard to civil government, hereditary rights having been +much magnified in the latter end of the late Queen's reign. William +amongst others was violent attached thereto, and fancied it was a very +meritorious thing to profess his sentiments, notwithstanding they were +directly opposite to those of persons then in power. Some declarations +of this sort occasioned his being confined in Newgate, and prosecuted +for speaking seditious words in the beginning of King George the First's +reign. His Newgate acquaintances taught him quickly their arts of +living, and he was no sooner at liberty than he put them into execution, +he and his brother living like gentlemen on their expeditions on the +road; till unfortunately committing a robbery on Hounslow Heath +together, they were both closely pursued, the other taken, and William +narrowly escaped by creeping into a hollow tree. + +After the execution of his brother, Colthouse being terribly affected +therewith, retired to Oxford, and there worked as a journeyman joiner, +determining with himself to live honestly for the future, and not by a +habit of ill-actions go the same way as one so nearly related to him had +done before. But as his brother's death in time grew out of his +remembrance, so his evil inclinations again took place, and he came up +to London with a full purpose of getting money at an easier rate than +working. + +Soon after his arrival his Jacobite principles brought him into a great +fray at an alehouse in Tothill Fields, Westminster, where some soldiers +were drinking, and who on some disrespectful words said of the Prince, +caught up Colthouse and threw him upon a red-hot gridiron, thereby +making a scar on his cheek and under his left eye. By this he came to be +taken for a person who murdered a farmer's son in Philpot Lane, in +Hampshire, when he was charged with which he not only denied, but by +abundance of circumstances rendered it highly probable that he did not +commit it, there being, indeed, no other circumstance which occasioned +that suspicion but the likeness of the scar in his face, which happened +in the manner I told you. + +While he lay under condemnation, a report reached his ear that his two +brothers in the country were also said to be highwaymen; he complained +grievously of the common practice that was made by idle people raising +stories to increase the sorrows of families which were so unhappy as to +have any who belonged to them come to such a death as his was to be. As +to his brothers, he declared himself well satisfied that the younger was +a sober and religious lad, and as for the elder, though he might have +been guilty of some extravagance, yet he hoped and believed they were +not of the same kind with those which had brought him to ruin. However, +that he might do all the good which his present sad circumstance would +allow, he wrote the following letter to his brethren in the country. + + Dear Brothers, + + Though the nearness of my approaching death ought to shut out from + my thoughts all temporal concerns, yet I could not compose my mind + into that quietness with which I hope to pass from this sinful world + into the presence of the Almighty, before I had thus exorted you to + take particular warning from my death, which the intent of the Law + to deter others from wickedness hath decreed to be in a public and + ignominious manner. Amidst the terrors which the frailty of human + nature (shocked with the prospect of so terrible an end) makes my + afflicted heart to feel, even these sorrows are increased, and all + my woes doubled by a story which is spread, I hope without the least + grounds of truth, that ye, as well as I, have lived by taking away + by force the property of others. + + Let the said examples of my poor brother, who died by the hand of + Justice, and of me, who now follow him in the same unhappy course, + deter you not only from those flagrant offences which have been so + fatal unto us, but also from those foolish and sinful pleasures in + which it is but too frequent for young persons to indulge + themselves. Remember that I tell you from a sad experience, that the + wages of sin, though in appearance they be sometimes large and what + may promise outward pleasure, yet are they attended with such inward + disquiet as renders it impossible for those to have received them + to enjoy either quiet or ease. Work, then, hard at your employments, + and be assured that sixpence got thereby will afford you more solid + satisfaction than the largest acquisitions at the expense of your + conscience. That God may, by His grace, enable you to follow this my + last advice, and that He may bless your honest labour with plenty + and prosperity is the earnest prayer of your dying brother + + William Colthouse + +Till the day of his execution he had denied his being accessory to the +intended escape by forcing the prison, but when he came to Tyburn, he +acknowledged that assertion to be false, and owned that he caused the +two pistols to be provided for that purpose. He was about thirty-four +years of age at the time he suffered, which was on the 8th of February, +1722, with Burgess, Shaw and Smith. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM BURRIDGE, a Highwayman + + +In the course of these lives I have more than once observed that the +vulgar have false notions of courage, and that applause is given to it +by those who have as false notions of it as themselves, and this it was +in a great measure which made William Burridge take to those fatal +practices which had the usual termination in an ignominious death. He +was the son of reputable people, who lived at West Haden in +Northamptonshire, who after affording him a competent education, thought +proper to bind him to his father's trade of a carpenter. But he, having +been pretty much indulged before that time, could not by any means be +brought to relish labour, or working for his bread. + +Burridge was a well-made fellow, and of a handsome person, as well as +great strength and dexterity, which he had often exercised in wrestling +and cudgel-playing which gained him great praise amongst the country +fellows at wakes and fairs, where such prizes are usually given. +Therefore giving himself up almost wholly to such exercises, he used +frequently to run away from his parents, and lie about the country, +stealing poultry, and what else he could lay his hands on to support +himself. His father trying all methods possible to reclaim him and +finding them fruitless, as his last refuge turned him over to another +master, in hopes that having there no mother to plead for him, a course +of continued severities might perhaps reclaim him. But his hopes were +all disappointed, for instead of mending under his new master, William +gave himself over to all sorts of vices, and more especially became +addicted to junketting with servant-wenches in the neighbourhood, who +especially on Sundays when their masters were out, were but too ready to +receive and entertain him at their expense. + +But these adventures made him very obnoxious to others, as well as his +master, who no longer able to bear his lying out of night, and other +disorderly practices, turned him off, and left him to shift for himself. +He went home to his friends, but going on still in the same way, they +frankly advised him to ship himself on board a man-of-war in order to +avoid that ill-fate which they then foresaw, and which afterwards +overtook him. William, though not very apt to follow good counsel, yet +approved of this at last when he saw some of his companions had already +suffered for those profligate courses to which they were addicted. + +He shipped himself, therefore, in a squadron then sailing for Spain +under the command of Commodore Cavendish, on board whose ship he was +when an engagement happened with the Spaniards in Cadiz Bay. The dispute +was long and very sharp, and Burridge behaved therein so as to meet with +extraordinary commendations. These had the worst effect upon him +imaginable, for they so far puffed him up, that he thought himself +worthier of command than most of the officers on the ship, and therefore +was not a little uneasy at being obliged to obey them. This hindered +them from doing him any kindness, which they would otherwise perhaps +have done in consideration of his gallant behaviour against the enemy. +At his return into England he was extremely ambitious of living without +the toil of business, and therefore went upon the highway with great +diligence, in order to acquire a fortune by it, which when he had done, +he designed to have left it off, and to have lived easily and honestly +upon the fruits of it. But, alas! these were vain hopes and idle +expectations, for instead of acquiring anything which might keep him +hereafter, he could scarce procure a present livelihood at the hazard +both of his neck and his soul, for he was continually obliged to hide +himself, through apprehension, and not seldom got into Bridewell or some +such place, for brawls and riots. + +This William Burridge was the person who with Nat Hawes made their +escape out of New Prison, by the assistance of a woman, as the life of +that malefactor is before related.[18] And as he saved himself then from +the same ignominious death which afterwards befell him, so he escaped it +another time by becoming evidence against one Reading, who died for the +life offences. As to Burridge, he still continued the same trade, till +being taken for stealing a bay gelding belonging to one Mr. Wragg, he +was for that offence finally condemned at the Old Bailey. While under +sentence, as he had been much the greatest and oldest offender of any +that were under the same fate, so he seemed to be by much the most +affected and the most penitent of them all; and with great signs and +sorrow for the many crimes he had committed, he suffered on the 14th of +March, 1722, with five other persons at Tyburn, being then about +thirty-four years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [18] See page 59. + + + + +The Life of JOHN THOMSON, a thief, Highwayman, etc. + + +John Thomson was born at Carlisle, but was brought with his friends to +London. They, it seems, were persons of no substance, and took little +care of their son's education, suffering him, while a lad, to go often +to such houses as were frequented by ill-people, and such as took +dishonest methods to get money. Such are seldom very dose in their +discourse when they meet and junket together, and Thomson, then a boy, +was so much pleased with their jovial manner of life, eating well and +drinking hard, that he had ever a bias that way, even when he was +otherways employed, till he was fifteen years old, leading such an idle +and debauched life that, as he himself expressed it, he had never heard +of or read a Bible or other good book throughout all that space. + +A friend of his was then so kind as to put him out apprentice to a +weaver, and he might have had some chance of coming into the world in an +honest and reputable way, but he had not continued with his master any +long time before he listed himself in the sea service, during the Wars +in the late Queen's time, and served on board a squadron which was sent +up the Baltic to join the Danes. This cold country, with other hardships +he endured, made him so out of humour with a sailor's life that though +he behaved himself tolerably well when on board, yet he resolved never +to engage in the same state, if once discharged and safe on shore. + +Upon his coming back to England, he went to work at his trade of a +weaver, and being for a while very sensible of the miseries he had run +through on board the man-of-war, he became highly pleased with the quiet +and easy way in which he got his bread by his business, thinking, +however, that there was no way so proper to settle him as by marrying, +which accordingly he did. But he was so unfortunate that though his wife +was a very honest woman, yet the money he got not being sufficient to +maintain them, he was even obliged to take to the sea again for a +subsistence, and continued on board several ships in the Straits and +Mediterranean for a very considerable space, during which he was so +fortunate as to serve once on board an enterprising captain, who in less +than a year's space, took nineteen prizes to a very considerable value. +And as they were returning from their cruise, they took a French East +India ship on the coast of that kingdom, whose cargo was computed at no +less than a hundred thousand pounds sterling. Thomson might certainly, +if he would, have saved money enough to have put himself into a +creditable method of life as many of his shipmates had done, and so well +did the captain improve his own good fortune that on his return he +retired into the country, where he purchased an estate of fifteen +hundred pounds _per annum._ + +But Thomson being much altered from the usual bent of his temper by his +being long accustomed at sea to blood and plunder, so when he returned +home, instead of returning to an honest way of living, he endeavoured to +procure money at the same rate by land which he had done at sea, and for +that purpose associated himself with persons of a like disposition, and +in their company did abundance of mischief. At last he and one of his +associates passing over Smithfield between twelve and one in the +morning, on the second of March, they perceived one George Currey going +across that place very much in drink. Him they attacked, though at first +they pretended to lead him safe home, drawing him to a proper place out +of hearing of the houses, where they took from him a shirt, a wig and a +hat, in doing which they knocked him down, stamped upon his breast, and +in other respects used him very cruelly. Being apprehended soon after +this fact, he was for it tried and convicted. + +In the space between that and his death, he behaved himself very +penitently, and desired with great earnestness that his wife would +retire into the country to her friends, and learn by his unhappy example +that nothing but an honest industry could procure the blessing of God. +This he assiduously begged for her in his prayers, imploring her at the +same time that he gave her this advice, to be careful of her young son +she had then at her breast, not only as to his education, but also that +he might never know his father's unhappy end, for that would but damp +his spirits, and perhaps force him upon ill-courses when he grew up, +from an apprehension that people might distrust his honesty and not +employ him. He professed himself much afflicted at the past follies of +his life, and with an outward appearance of true penitence, died on the +fourth of May, 1722, in the thirty-third year of his age, at Tyburn. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS REEVES, a Notorious Highwayman and Footpad + + +As it is not to be denied that it is a singular blessing to a nation +where no persecution is ever raised against persons for their religion, +so I am confident that the late Free Thinking principles (as they have +been called) have by their being spread amongst the vulgar, contributed +greatly to the many frauds and villainies which have been so much +complained of within these thirty years, and not a little to encouraging +men in obtaining a subsistence and the gratification of their pleasures +by rapines committed upon others rather than live in a laborious state +of life, in which, perhaps, both their birth and circumstances concurred +to fix them. + +Thomas Reeves was a very remarkable as well as very unfortunate instance +of that depravity in moral principles of which I have been speaking. By +his friends he was bred a tinman, his father, who was of that +profession, taking him as an apprentice but using him with the most +indulgent fondness and never suffering him to want anything which was in +his power to procure for him, flattered himself with the hopes of his +becoming a good and happy man. It happened very unfortunately for Reeves +that he fell, when young, into the acquaintance of some sceptical +persons who made a jest of all religion and treated both its precepts +and its mysteries as inventions subservient to priestcraft. Such notions +are too easily imbibed by those who are desirous to indulge their +vicious inclinations, and Reeves being of this stamp, greedily listened +to all discourses of such a nature. + +Amongst some of these companions who had cheated him out of his +religion, he found some also inclined to practise the same freedom they +taught, encouraged both by precept and example. Tom soon became the most +conspicuous of the gang. His boldness and activity preferred him +generally to be a leader in their adventures, and he had such good luck, +in several of his first attempts, that he picked up as much as +maintained him in that extravagant and superfluous manner of life in +which he most of all delighted. One John Hartly was his constant +companion in his debauches, and generally speaking an assistant in his +crimes. Both of them in the evening of the ninth of March, 1722, +attacked one Roger Worebington, near Shoreditch, as he was going across +the fields on some business. Hartly gave him a blow on the head with his +pistol, after which Reeves bid him stand, and whistling, four more of +the gang came up, seized him, and knocked him down. They stripped him +stark naked and carried away all his clothes, tying him hand and foot in +a cruel manner and leaving him in a ditch hard by. However he was +relieved, and Reeves and Hartly being soon after taken, they were both +tried and convicted for this fact. + +After the passing sentence, Reeves behaved himself with much +indifference, his own principles stuck by him, and he had so far +satisfied himself by considering the necessity of dying, and coined a +new religion of his own, that he never believed the soul in any danger, +but had very extensive notions of the mercy of God, which he thought was +too great to punish with eternal misery those souls which He had +created. This criminal was, indeed, of a very odd temper, for sometimes +he would both pray and read to the rest of the prisoners, and at other +times he would talk loosely and divert them from their duty, often +making enquiries as to curious points, and to be informed whether the +soul went immediately into bliss or torment, or whether, as some +Christians taught, they went through an intermediate state? All which he +spoke of with an unconcernedness scarce to be conceived, and as it were +rather out of curiosity than that he thought himself in any danger of +eternal punishment hereafter. + +Hartly, on the other hand, was a fellow of a much softer disposition, +showed very great fear, and looked in great confusion at the approach of +death. He got six persons dressed in white to go to the Royal Chapel and +petition for a pardon, he being to marry one of them in case it had been +procured, but they failed in the attempt, and he appeared less sensible +than ever when he found that death was not to be evaded. + +At the place of execution, Reeves not only preserved that resolution +with which he had hitherto borne up against his misfortunes, but when +the mob pushed down one of the horses that drew the cart, and it leaning +sideways so that Reeves was thereby half hanged, to ease himself of his +misery he sprung over at once and finished the execution. + +Hartly wept and lamented exceedingly his miserable condition, and the +populace much pitied him, for he was not twenty years of age at the time +he died; but Reeves was about twenty-eight years of age, when he +suffered, which was at the same time with John Thomson, before +mentioned. + + + + +The Life of RICHARD WHITTINGHAM, a Footpad and Street robber + + +Though there have been some instances of felons adhering so closely +together as not to give up one another to Justice, even for the sake of +saving life, yet are such instances very rare, and examples of the +contrary very common. + +Richard Whittingham was a young man of very good natural inclinations, +had he not been of too easy a temper, and ready to yield to the +inducements of bad women. His friends had placed him as an apprentice to +a hot-presser, with whom he lived very honestly for some time; but at +last, the idle women with whom he conversed continually pressing him for +money in return for their lewd favours, he was by that means drawn in to +run away from his master, and subsist by picking pockets. In the +prosecution of this trade, he contracted an infamous friendship with +Jones, Applebee and Lee, three notorious villains of the same stamp, +with whom he committed abundance of robberies in the streets, especially +by cutting off women's pockets, and such other exploits. This, he +pretended, was performed with great address and regularity, for he said +that after many consultations, 'twas resolved to attack persons only in +broad streets for the future, from whence they found it much less +troublesome to escape than when they committed them in alleys and such +like close places, whereupon a pursuit once begun, they seldom or never +missed being taken. He added, that when they had determined to go out to +plunder, each had his different post assigned him, and that while one +laid his leg before a passenger, another gave him a jolt on the +shoulders, and as soon as he was down a third came to their assistance, +whereupon they immediately went to stripping and binding those who were +so unlucky as thus to fall into their hands. Upon Applebee's being +apprehended, and himself impeached, Whittingham withdrew to Rochester, +with an intent to have gone out of the kingdom, but after all he could +not prevail with himself to quit his native country. + +On his return to London, he fled for sanctuary to the house of his +former master, who treated him with great kindness, supplied him with +work, sent up his victuals privately, and did all in his power to +conceal him. But Jones and Lee, his former companions, found means to +discover him as they had already impeached him, and so, on their +evidence and that of the prosecutor, he was convicted of robbing William +Garnet, in the area of Red Lion Square, when Applebee knocked him down, +and Jones and Lee held their hands upon his eyes, and crammed his own +neck-cloth down his throat. + +When he found he was to die, he was far from behaving himself +obstinately, but as far as his capacity would give him leave, +endeavoured to pray, and to fit himself for his approaching dissolution. +He had married a young wife, for whom he expressed a very tender +affection, and seemed more cast down with the thoughts of those miseries +to which she would be exposed by his death, than he was at what he +himself was to suffer. + +During the time he lay in the condemned hold, he complained often of the +great interruptions those under sentence of death met with from some +prisoners who were confined underneath, and who, through the crevice, +endeavoured as usual, by talking to them lewdly and profanely, to +disturb them even in their last moments. At the place of execution he +wept bitterly, and seemed to be much affrighted at death and very sorry +for his having committed those crimes which brought him thither. He was +but nineteen years old when he suffered, which was on the 21st of May, +1722. + + + + +The Life of JAMES BOOTY, a Ravisher + + +Such is the present depravity of human nature that we have sometimes +instances of infant criminals and children meriting death by their +crimes, before they know or can be expected to know how to do anything +to live. Perhaps there was never a stronger instance of this than in +James Booty, of whom we are now speaking. He was a boy rather without +capacity than obstinate, whose inclinations, one would have expected, +could hardly have attained to that pitch of wickedness in thought, which +it appeared both by evidence and his own confessions, he had actually +practised. His father was a peruke-maker in Holborn, and not in so bad +circumstances but that he could have afforded him a tolerable education, +if he had not been snatched away by death. Thus his son was left to the +care of his mother, who put him to a cabinet-maker, where he might have +been bound apprentice if the unhappy accident (for so indeed I think it +may be called) had not intervened. It seemed his master had taken a +cousin of his, a girl of about fifteen or somewhat more, for a servant. +This girl went into the workshop where the boy lay, under pretence of +mending his coat, which he had torn by falling upon a hook as he +stumbled over the well of the stairs; but instead of darning the hole, +she went to bed to the boy, put out the candle, and gave him the foul +distemper. + +Not knowing what was the matter with him, but finding continual pains in +his body, he made a shift at last to learn the cause from some of the +workmen. Not daring to trust even his mother with what was the matter +with him, instead of applying to a proper person to be cured, he +listened as attentively as he could to all discourses about that +distemper, which happened frequently enough amongst his master's +journeymen. There he heard some of the foolish fellows say that lying +with any person who was sound would cure those who were in such a +condition. The extreme anguish of body he was in excited him to try the +experiment, and he injured no less than four or five children, between +four years old and six, before he committed that act for which he was +executed. + +He one day carried his master's daughter, Anne Milton, a girl of but +five years and two months old, to the top of the house, and there with +great violence abused her and gave her the foul disease. The parents +were not long before they made the discovery of it, and the child +telling them what Booty had done to her, they sent for a surgeon who +examined him, and found him in a very sad condition with venereal +disease. Upon this he was taken up and committed to Newgate, and upon +very full evidence was convicted at the next sessions, and received +sentence of death; from which time to the day before he was executed, he +was afflicted with so violent a fever as to have little or no sense. But +then coming to himself, he expressed a confused sense of religion and +penitence, desired to be instructed how to go to Heaven, and showed +evident marks of his inclination to do anything which might be for the +good of his soul. + +At the place of execution he wept and looked dejected, said his mother +had sought diligently for the wench who did him the injury, and was the +cause of his doing it to so many others; but that although the girl was +known to live in Westminster after she left his master, yet his mother +was never able to find her. Thus was this young creature removed from +the world by an ignominious death at Tyburn, on the 21st May, 1722, +being then somewhat above fifteen years old. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS BUTLOCK, _alias_ BUTLOGE, a Thief + + +The foolish pride of wearing fine clothes and making a figure has +certainly undone many ordinary people, both by making them live beyond +what their labour or trade would allow, and by inducing them to take +illegal methods to procure money for that purpose. + +Thomas Butlock, otherwise Butloge, which last was his true name, was +born in the kingdom of Ireland, about thirty miles east of Dublin, +whither his parents had gone from Cheshire (which was their native +country) with a gentleman on whom they had a great dependence, and who +was settled in Ireland. Though their circumstances were but indifferent, +yet they found means to raise as much as put their son apprentice to a +vintner in Dublin, and probably, had he ever set up in that business +they would have done more. But he had not been long ere what little +education he had was lost, and his morals corrupted by the sight of such +lewd scenes as passed often in his master's house. However the man was +very kind to him, and in return Thomas had so great esteem and affection +for his master that when he broke and come over to hide himself at +Chester, Butloge frequently stole over to him with small supplies of +money and acquainted him with the condition of his family, which he had +left behind. + +In this precarious manner of life, he spent some time, until finding it +impossible for him to subsist any longer by following his master's +broken fortunes, he began to lay out for some new employment to get his +bread. But after various projects had proved unsuccessful when they came +to be executed, he was forced to return into Ireland again, where not +long after, he had the good fortune to marry a substantial man's +daughter which retrieved his circumstances once more. + +But Butloge had always, as he expressed it, an aspiring temper, which +put him upon crossing the seas again upon the invitation of a gentleman +who, he pretended was a relation, and belonged to the Law, by whose +interest he was in hopes of getting into a place. Accordingly, when he +came to London, he took lodgings and lived as if he was already in +possession of his expectation, which bringing his pocket low, he +accepted the service of Mr. Claude Langley, a foreign gentleman, who had +lodged in the same house. It cannot be exactly determined how long he +had been in his service before he had committed the fact for which he +died, but as to the manner it happened thus. + +Mr. Langley, as well as all the rest of the family, being out at church, +Butloge was sitting by himself in his master's room, looking at the +drawers, and knowing that there was a good sum of ready money therein. +It then came into his head what a figure he might cut if he had all that +money. It occurred to him, at the same time, that his master was scarce +able to speak any English, and was obliged to go over to France again in +a month's time; so that he persuaded himself that if he could keep out +of the way for that month, all would be well, and he should be able to +live upon the spoil, without any apprehension of danger. These +considerations took up his mind for half an hour; then he put his scheme +into execution, broke open the drawers and took from thence twenty-seven +guineas, four _louis d'ors_, and some other French pieces. As soon as he +completed the robbery, and was got safe out of town, he went directly to +Chester, that he might appear fine (as he himself said) at a place where +he was known. His precaution being so little, there is no wonder that he +was taken, or that the fact appearing plain, he should be convicted +thereon. + +After sentence was passed, he laid aside all hopes of life, and without +flattering himself as too many do, he prepared for his approaching end. +Whatever follies he might have committed in his life, yet he suffered +very composedly on the 22nd day of July, 1722, being then about +twenty-three years of age. + + + + +The Life of NATHANIEL JACKSON, a Highwayman + + +The various dispositions of men make frequent differences in their +progress, either in virtue or vice; some being disposed to cultivate +this or that branch of their duty with peculiar diligence, and others, +again, plunging themselves in some immoralities they have no taste for. + +But as for this unfortunate criminal, Nathaniel Jackson, he seemed to +have swept all impurities with a drag net, and to have habituated +himself to nothing but wickedness from his cradle. He was the son of a +person of some fortune at Doncaster, in Yorkshire, who died when his son +Nat was very young, but not, however, till he had given him some +education. He was bound by a friend, in whose hands his father left his +fortune, to a silk-weaver at Norwich, with whom he lived about three +years; but his master restraining his extravagancies, and taking great +pains to keep him within the bounds of moderation, Jackson at last grew +so uneasy that he ran away from his master, and absconded for some time. +But his guardian at last hearing where he was, wrote to him, and advised +him to purchase some small place with his fortune, whereon he might live +with economy, since he perceived he would do no good in trade. Jackson +despised this advice, and instead of thinking of settling, got into the +Army, and with a regiment of dragoons went over into Ireland. + +There he indulged himself in all the vices and lusts to which he was +prone, living in all those debaucheries to which the meanest and most +licentious of the common soldiers are addicted; but he more especially +gave himself up to lewdness and the conversation of women. This, as it +led him into abundance of inconveniences, so at last it engaged him in a +quarrel with one of his comrades which ended in a duel. Jackson had the +advantage of his antagonist and hacked and wounded him in a most cruel +manner. For this, his officers broke him, and he thereby lost the +fifteen guineas which he had given to be admitted into the troop; and as +men are always apt to be angry with punishment, however justly they +receive it, so Jackson imputed his being cashiered to the officers' +covetousness, the crime he had committed passing in his own imagination +for a very trivial action. + +Having from this accident a new employment to seek, he came over to his +guardian and stayed with him a while. But growing very soon weary of +those restraints which were put upon him there, as he had done at those +under his Norwich master, he soon fell into his old courses, got into an +acquaintance with lewd women and drunken fellows, with whom he often +stayed out all night at the most notorious bawdy houses. This making a +great noise, his friends remonstrated in the strongest terms, pointing +out to him the wrong he did himself; but finding all their persuasions +ineffectual, they told him plainly he must remove. Upon this he came up +to London, not without receiving considerable presents from his so much +abused friends. + +The town was an ill place to amend a man who came into it with +dispositions like his. On the contrary, he found still more +opportunities for gratifying his lustful inclinations than at any time +before, and these lewd debaucheries having reduced him quickly to the +last extremity, he was in a fair way to be prevailed on to take any +method to gain money. He was in these said circumstances when he met +accidentally with John Morphew, an old companion of his in Ireland, and +soon after, as they were talking together, they fell upon one O'Brian in +a footman's garb, also their acquaintance in Ireland. + +He invited them both to go with him to the camp in Hyde Park, and at a +sutler's tent there, treated them with as much as they would drink. When +he had paid the reckoning, turning about, _d'ye see, boys_, says he, +_how full my pockets are of money? Come, I'll teach you to fill yours, +if you are but men of courage._ Upon this out they walked towards +Hampstead, between which place and St. Pancras they met one Dennet, whom +they robbed and stripped, taking from him a coat and a waistcoat, two +shirts, some hair, thirteen pence in money, and other things. This did +not make O'Brian's promise good, all they got being but of +inconsiderable value, but it cost poor Jackson his life, though he and +Morphew had saved Dennet's when O'Brian would have killed him to prevent +discoveries; for Jackson being not long after apprehended, was convicted +of the fact, but O'Brian, having timely notice of his commitment, made +his escape into Ireland. + +As soon as sentence was passed, Jackson thought of nothing but how to +prepare himself for another world, there being no probability that +interest his friends could make to save him. He made a very ingenious +confession of all he knew, and seemed perfectly easy and resigned to +that end which the Law had appointed for those who, like him, had +injured society. He was about thirty years old at the time of his death, +which was on the 18th of July, 1722, at Tyburn. + + + + +The Life of JAMES, _alias_ VALENTINE CARRICK, a Notorious Highwayman and +Street Robber + + +Though it has become a very common and fashionable opinion that honour +may supply the place of piety, and thereby preserve a morality more +beneficial to society than religion, yet if we would allow experience to +decide, it will be no very difficult matter to prove that when persons +have once given way to certain vices (which in the polite style pass +under the denomination of pleasures) rather than forego them they will +quickly acquire that may put it in their power to enjoy them, though +obtained at the rate of perpetrating the most ignominious offences. If +there had not been too much truth in this observation we should hardly +find in the list of criminals persons who, like James Carrick, have had +a liberal education, and were not meanly descended, bringing themselves +to the most miserable of all states and reflecting dishonour upon those +from whom they were descended. + +This unfortunate person was the son of an Irish gentleman, who lived not +far from Dublin, and whom we must believe to have been a man of +tolerable fortune, since he provided as well for all his children as to +make even this, who was his youngest, an ensign. James was a perfect boy +at the time when his commission required him to quit Ireland to repair +to Spain, whither, a little before, the regiment wherein he was to serve +had been commanded. As he had performed his duty towards the rest of his +children, the father was more than ordinarily fond of this his youngest, +whom therefore he equipped in a manner rather beyond that capacity in +which he was to appear upon his arrival at the army. In his person James +was a very beautiful well-shaped young man, of a middle size, and +something more than ordinarily genteel in his appearance, as his father +had taken care to supply him abundantly for his expenses; so when he +came into Spain he spent his money as freely as any officer of twice his +pay. His tent was the constant rendezvous of all the beaux who were at +that time in the camp, and whenever the army were in quarters, nobody +was handsomer, or made a better figure than Mr. Carrick. + +Though we are very often disposed to laugh at those stories for fictions +which carry in them anything very different from what we see in daily +experience, yet as the materials I have for this unfortunate man's life +happen both to be full and very exact, I shall not scruple mentioning +some of his adventures, which I am persuaded will neither be unpleasant, +nor incapable of improving my readers. + +The regiment in which Carrick served was quartered at Barcelona, after +the taking of that place by the English troops[19] who supported the +title of the present Emperor to the crown of Spain. The inhabitants were +not only civil, but to the last degree courteous to the English, for +whom they always preserved a greater esteem than for any other nation. +Carrick, therefore, had frequent opportunities for making himself known +and getting into an acquaintance with some of the Spanish cavaliers, who +were in the interest of King Charles. Amongst these was Don Raphael de +Ponto, a man of fortune and family amongst the Catalans, but, as is +usual with the Spaniards, very amorous and continually employed in some +intrigue or other. He was mightily pleased with Carrick's humour, and +conceived for him a friendship, in which the Spaniards are perhaps more +constant and at the same time more zealous, than any other nation in +Europe. As Carrick had been bred a Roman Catholic and always continued +so, notwithstanding his professing the contrary to those in the Army, so +he made no scruple of going to Mass with his Spanish friend, which +passed with the English officers only as a piece of complaisance. + +Vespers was generally the time when Don Raphael and his English +companion used to make their appointments with the ladies, and therefore +they were very punctual at those devotions, from a spirit which too +often takes up young minds. It happened one evening, when after the +Spanish custom they were thus gone forth in quest of adventures, a +duenna slipped into Don Raphael's hand a note, by which he was appointed +to come under such a window near the convent, in the street of St. +Thomas, when the bell of the convent rang in the evening, and was +desired to bring his friend, if he were not afraid of a Spanish lady. +Don Raphael immediately acquainted his friend, who you may be sure was +ready to obey the summons. + +When the hour came, and the convent bell rang, our sparks, wrapped up in +their cloaks, slipped to their posts under a balcony. They did not wait +long there, before the same woman who delivered the note to Don Raphael +made her appearance at the window, and throwing down another little +billet, exhorted them to be patient a little, and they should not lose +their labour. The lovers waited quiet enough for about a quarter of an +hour, when the old woman slipped down, and opened a door behind them, at +which our sparks entered with great alacrity. The old woman conduced +them into a very handsome apartment above stairs, where they were +received by two young ladies, as beautiful as they could have wished +them. Compliments are not much used on such occasions in Spain, and +these gentlemen, therefore, did not make many before they were for +coming to the point with the ladies, when of a sudden they heard a great +noise upon the stairs, and as such adventures make all men cautious in +Spain, they immediately left the ladies, and retiring towards the +window, drew their swords. They had hardly clapped their backs against +it, before the noise on the stairs ceasing, they felt the floor tremble +under their feet, and at last giving way, they both fell into a dark +room underneath, where without any other noise than their fall had made, +they were disarmed, gagged and bound by some persons placed there for +that purpose. When the rogues had finished their search, and taken away +everything that was valuable about them, even to ripping the gold lace +off Carrick's clothes, they let them lie there for a considerable time, +and at last removed them in two open chests to the middle of the great +marketplace, where they left them to wait for better fortune. They had +not remained there above a quarter of an hour, before Carrick's sergeant +went the rounds with a file of musketeers. Carrick hearing his voice, +made as much noise as he was able, and that bringing the sergeant and +his men to the place where they were set, their limbs and mouths were +immediately released from bondage. + +The morning following, as soon as Carrick was up, the Spanish +gentleman's major domo came to wait upon him, and told him that his +master being extremely ill, had desired him to make his compliments to +his English friend in order to supply the defects of the letter he sent +him, which by reason of his indisposition was very short. Having said +this, the Spaniard presented him with a letter, and a little parcel, +and then withdrew. Carrick did not know what to make of all this, but as +soon as the stranger was withdrawn, opened his packet in order to +discover what it contained. He found in it a watch, a diamond ring, and +a note on a merchant for two hundred pieces-of-eight, which was the sum +Carrick (to make himself look great) said he had lost by the accident. +The note at the same time informing him that Don Raphael de Ponto +thought it but just to restore to him what he had lost by accompanying +him in the former night's adventures. + +After Carrick returned into England, though he had no longer his +commission, or indeed any other way of living, yet he could not lay +aside those vices in which hitherto he had indulged himself. When he had +any money he entertained a numerous train of the most abandoned women of +the town, and had also intrigues at the same time with some of the +highest rank of those prostitutes. To the latter he applied himself when +his pocket first began to grow low, and they supplied him as long, and +as far as they were able. But, alas! their contributions went but a +little way towards supporting his expenses. Happening about that time to +fall into an acquaintance with Smith, his countryman, after a serious +consultation on ways and means to support their manner of living, they +came at last to a resolution of taking a purse on the road, and joined +company soon afterwards with Butler, another Irish robber, who was +executed some time before them on the evidence of this very Carrick. +When Carrick's elder brother heard of this in Ireland, he wrote to him +in the most moving terms, beseeching him to consider the sad end to +which he was running headlong, and the shame and ignominy with which he +covered his family and friends, exhorting him at the same time not to +cast away all hopes of doing well, but to think of returning to Dublin, +where he assured him he would meet him, and provide handsomely for him, +notwithstanding all that was past. + +But Carrick little regarded this good advice, or the kind overtures made +him by his brother. No sooner had he procured his liberty but he +returned to his old profession, and committed a multitude of robberies +on Finchley Common, Hounslow and Bagshot Heaths, spending all the money +he got on women of the town, at the gaming table, and in fine clothes, +which last was the thing in which he seemed most to delight. But money +not coming in very quick by these methods, he with Molony, Carrol and +some others of his countrymen, began to rob in the streets, and by that +means got great sums of money. They continued this practice for a long +space of time with safety, but being one night out in Little Queen +Street, by Lincoln's Inn Fields, between one and two in the morning they +stopped a chair in which was the Hon. William Young, Esq., from whom +they took a gold watch, valued at £50, a sword, and forty guineas in +money. Carrick thrust his pistol into the chair, Carrol watched at a +distance, while Molony, perceiving the gentleman hesitate a little in +delivering, said with a stern voice, _Your money, sir! Do you trifle?_ +It was a very short time after the commission of this robbery that both +he and his companion Molony were taken, Carrol making a timely escape to +his native kingdom. While James Carrick remained in Newgate, his +behaviour was equally singular and indecent, for he affected to pass his +time with the same gaiety in his last moments as he had spent it in the +former part of his days. + +Throngs of people, as it is but too much the custom, came to see him in +Newgate, to whom, as if he had intended that they should not lose their +curiosity, he told all the adventures of his life, with the same air and +gaiety as if he had been relating them at some gaming ordinaries. This +being told about town, drew still greater heaps of company upon him, +which he received with the same pleasantness; by which means he daily +increased them, and by that means the gain of the keepers at Newgate, +who took money to show him. Upon this he said to them merrily one day: +_You pay, good folks, for seeing me now, but if you had suspended your +curiosity 'till I went to Tyburn, you might have seen me for nothing._ +This was the manner in which he talked and lived even to the last, +conversing until the time of his death with certain loose women who had +been his former favourites, and whom no persuasions could engage him to +banish from his presence while he yet had eyes, and could behold them in +his sight. + +At the place of execution, where it often happens that the most daring +offenders drop that resolution on which they foolishly value themselves, +Carrick failed not in the least. He gave himself genteel airs (as Mr. +Purney, the then Ordinary, phrases it) in placing the rope about his +neck, smiled and bowed to everybody he knew round him, and continued +playing a hundred little tricks of the same odd nature, until the very +instant the cart drove away, declaring himself to be a Roman Catholic, +and that he was persuaded he had made his peace with God in his own way. +In this temper he finished his life at Tyburn, on the 18th of July, +1722, being then about twenty-seven years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [19] This was in 1705, by an expedition commanded by the Earl + of Peterborough. + + + + +The Life of John MOLONY, a Highwayman and Street Robber + + +John Molony was an Irishman likewise, born at Dublin and sent to sea +when very young. He served in the fleets which during the late Queen's +reign sailed into the Mediterranean, and happening to be on board a ship +which was lost, he with some other sailors, was called to a very strict +account for that misfortune, upon some presumption that they were +accessory thereto. Afterwards he sailed in a vessel of war which was +fitted out against the pirates, and had therein so good luck that if his +inclinations had been honest, he might certainly have settled very +handsomely in the world. But that was far from his intention; he liked a +seaman's pleasures, drinking and gaming, and when on shore, lewd women, +the certain methods of being brought to such ways of getting money as +end in a shameful death. + +When abroad, his adventures were not many, because he had little +opportunity of going on shore, yet one happened in Sicily which made a +very great impression upon him, and which it may not therefore be +improper to relate. There were two merchants at Palermo, both young men, +and perfectly skilled in the arts of traffic; they had had a very +liberal education, and had been constant friends and companions +together. The intimacy they had so long continued was cemented by their +marriage with two sisters. They lived very happily for the space of +about two years, and in all probability might have continued to do so +much longer, had not the duenna who attended one of their wives, died, +and a new one been put in her place. Not knowing the young ladies' +brothers, upon their speaking to them at Church, she gave notice of it +to the husband of her whom she attended, and he immediately posting to +his neighbour, the woman told them both that their wives, +notwithstanding all she could say, were talking to two well-dressed +cavaliers, which the duenna who waited on the other, notwithstanding the +duties of her post, saw without taking any notice. This so exasperated +the jealousy of the Sicilians that without more ado they ran to the +church, and meeting with their spouses coming out from thence with an +air of gaiety, seized them, and stabbed them dead with a little dagger, +which for that purpose each had concealed under his coat. Then flying +into the church for sanctuary, they discovered their mistake, when one +of them, seized with fury at the loss of a wife of whom he was so +extravagantly fond, stabbed the other, though not mortally, and with +many repeated wounds murdered the duenna, whose rash error had been the +occasion of spilling so much blood. + +Upon Molony's return to England, he was totally out of all business, +and minded nothing but haunting the gaming tables, living on the +charity of his fortunate countrymen when his luck was bad, and relieving +them, in turn, when he had a favourable run at dice. It was at one of +these houses that he became acquainted with Carrick, and the likeness of +their tempers creating a great intimacy, after a short knowledge of one +another they joined with Carrol, a fellow as wicked as themselves, but +much more cruel, and were all concerned in that robbery for which +Carrick and Molony died. + +When these two criminals came to be tried at the Old Bailey, their +behaviour was equally ludicrous, silly and indecent; affecting to rally +the evidence that was produced against them, and to make the people +smile at their premeditated bulls. Carrick, was a lean, fair man, and +stood at the left hand corner of the bar; Molony was a larger built man, +who wore a browner wig. Carrick took occasion to ask Mr. Young, when he +stood up to give his evidence, which side of the chair it was he stood +on, when he robbed him. Mr. Young answered him, that he stood on the +right side. _Why now, what a lie that is_, returned Carrick, _you know +Molony, I stood on the left._ Before the people recovered themselves +from laughing at this, Molony asked him what coloured wig he took him to +have on at the time the robbery was committed; being answered it was +much the same colour with that he had on then, _There's another story_, +quoth Molony, _you know, Carrick, I changed wigs with you that morning, +and wore it all day._ + +Yet after sentence was passed, Molony laid aside all airs of gaiety, and +seemed to be thoroughly convinced he had mistaken the true path of +happiness. He did not care to see company, treated the Ordinary civilly +when he spoke to him, though he professed himself a Papist, and was +visited by a clergymen of that Church. + +As he was going to the place of execution, he still looked graver and +mote concerned; though he did not fall into those agonies of sighing and +tears as some do, but seemed to bear his miserable state with great +composedness and resignation, saying he had repented as well as he could +in the short time allowed him, suffering the same day with the two last +mentioned malefactors. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS WILSON, a Notorious Footpad + + +It happens so commonly in the world, that I am persuaded that none of my +readers but must have remarked that there is a certain settled and +stupid obstinacy in some tempers which renders them capable of +persevering in any act, how wicked and villainous soever, without +either reluctancy at the time of its commission, or a capacity of +humbling themselves so far as to acknowledge and ask pardon for their +offences when detected or discovered. Of this rugged disposition was the +criminal we are now to speak of. + +Thomas Wilson was born of parents not in the worst of circumstances, in +the neighbourhood of London. They educated him both in respect of +learning and other things as well as their capacity would give them +leave; but Thomas, far from making that use of it that they desired, +addicted himself wholly to ill practices, that is to idleness, and those +little crimes of spoiling others, and depriving them of their property, +which an evil custom has made pass for trivial offences in England. But +it seems the parents of Wilson did not think so, but both reprimanded +him and corrected him severely whenever he robbed orchards, or any other +such like feats as passed for instances of a quick spirit and ingenuity +in children with less honest and religious parents. + +But these restraints grew quickly so grievous to Thomas's temper, that +he, observing that his parents, notwithstanding their correction, were +really fond of him, bethought himself of a method of conquering their +dislike to his recreations. Therefore stealing away from his home, he +rambled for a considerable space in the world, subsisting wholly upon +such methods as he had before used for his recreation. But this project +was so far from taking effect, that his parents, finding him +incorrigible, looked very coldly upon him, and instead of fondling him +the more for this act of disobedience, treated him as one whom they +foresaw would be a disgrace to their family and of whom they had now +very little or no hope. + +Wilson perceiving this, out of the natural sourness of his temper +resolved to abandon them totally, which he did, and went to sea without +their consent or notice. But men of his cast being very ill-suited to +that employment, where the strictest obedience is required towards those +who are in command, Wilson soon brought himself into very unhappy +circumstances by his moroseness and ill-behaviour; for though he was but +thirteen when he went to sea, and never made but one voyage to the +Baltic, yet in that space he was fourteen times whipped and pickled and +six times hung by the heels and lashed for the villainies he committed +on the ship. + +Upon this return into England, he was so thoroughly mortified by this +treatment that he went home to his friends, and as far as his surly +humour would give him leave, made his submission and promised more +obedience and better behaviour for the future. They then took him in, +and were in some hopes that they should now reclaim him. Accordingly +they placed him with a sawyer, by Fleet Ditch, which at his first coming +to the business seemed to him to be a much lighter work than that he had +endured in the space of his being at sea. He served four years honestly, +indeed, and with as much content as a person of his unsettled mind could +enjoy in any state; but at the end of that space, good usage had so far +spoiled him that he longed to be at liberty again, though at the expense +of another sea voyage. Accordingly, leaving his master, he went away +again on board of a merchantman bound for the Straits. During the time +which the ship lay in port for her loading, he contracted some distemper +from the heat of the country, and his immoderate love of its wine and +the fruits that grow there. These brought him very low, and he falling +at the same time into company of some bad women, made an addition to his +former ails by adding one of the worst and most painful of all +distempers to the miseries he before endured. + +In this miserable condition, more like a ghost than a man, he shipped +himself at last for England in a vessel, the captain of which out of +charity gave him his passage home. The air of that climate in which he +was born, recovered him to a miracle. Soon after which being, I suppose, +cured also of those maladies which had attended the Spanish women's +favours, he fell in love with a very honest industrious young woman, and +quickly prevailed with her to marry him. But her friends discovering +what a profligate life he led, resolved she should not share in the +misfortunes such a measure would be sure to draw upon him, wherefore +they took her away from him. How crabbed soever this malefactor might be +towards others, yet so affectionately fond was he of his wife that the +taking of her away made him not only uneasy and melancholy, but drove +him also into distraction. To relieve his grief, at first he betook +himself to those companies that afterwards led him to the courses which +brought on his death, and in almost all the villainies he committed +afterwards he was hardly ever sober, so much did the loss of his wife, +and the remorse of his course of the life he led affect him, whenever he +allowed himself coolly to reflect thereon. + +The crew he had engaged himself in were the most notorious and the most +cruel footpads which for many years had infested the road. The robberies +they committed were numerous and continual, and the manner in which they +perpetrated them base and inhuman. For, seldom going out with pistols +(the sight of which serves often to terrify passengers out of their +money, without offering them any other injury than what arises from +their own apprehensions) these villains provided themselves with large +sticks, loaded at the end with lead; with these, from behind a hedge, +they were able to knock down passengers as they walked along the road, +and then starting from their covert, easily plunder and bind them if +they thought proper. They had carried on this detestable practice for a +long space in almost all those roads which lead to the little villages +whither people go for pleasure from the hurry and noise of London. + +Amongst many other robberies which they committed, it happened that in +the road to Bow they met a footman, whom without speaking to, they +knocked down as soon as they had passed him. The fellow was so stunned +with the fall, and so frighted with their approach, that be made not the +least resistance while they took away his money and his watch, stripped +him of his hat and wig, his waistcoat and a pair of silver buckles; but +when one of them perceiving a ring of some value upon his finger, went +to tear it off, he begged him in the most moving terms to leave it, +because it had been given to him by his lady, who would never forgive +the loss of it. However it happened, he who first went to take it off, +seemed to relent at the fellow's repeated entreaties, but Wilson +catching hold of the fellow's hand, dragged it off at once, saying at +the same time, _Sirrah, I suppose you are your lady's stallion, and the +ring comes as honestly to us as it did to you._ + +A few days after this adventure, Wilson being got very drunk, thought he +would go out on the road himself, in hopes of acquiring a considerable +booty without being obliged to share it with his companions. He had not +walked above half an hour, before he overtook a man laden with several +little glazed pots and other things, which being tied up in a cloth, he +had hung upon the end of a stick and carried on his shoulder. Wilson +coming behind him with one of those loaded sticks that I have mentioned, +knocked him down by the side of the ditch, and immediately secured his +bundle. But attempting to rifle him farther, his foot slipped, he being +very full of liquor, and he tumbled backwards into the ditch. The poor +man took that opportunity to get up and run away, and so soon as he +could recover himself, Wilson retreated to one of those evil houses that +entertain such people, in order to see what great purchase he had got; +but upon opening the cloth, he was not a little out of humour at finding +four pots, each filled with a pound of rappee snuff, and as many galley +pots of scented pomatum. + +Some nights after this expedition, he and one of his companions went out +on the like errand, and had not been long in the fields before they +perceived one Mr. Cowell, near Islington. Wilson's companion immediately +resolved to attack him, but Wilson himself was struck with such a +terror that he begged him to desist, from an apprehension that the man +knew him; but that not prevailing with his associate, they robbed him of +a hat and wig, and about a shilling in money. Wilson was quickly +apprehended, but his companion having notice thereof, saved himself by a +flight into Holland. At the ensuing sessions Wilson was indicted, not +only for this fact, but for many others of a like nature, to all of +which he immediately pleaded guilty, declaring that as he had done few +favours to mankind, so he would never expect any. + +After sentence of death was pronounced upon him, he laid aside much of +his stubbornness, and not only applied himself to the duties of religion +which are recommended to persons in his unhappy condition to practice, +but also offered to make any discoveries he was able which might tend to +satisfying the Justice of his country or the benefit of society. In +pursuance of which he wrote a paper, which he delivered with much +ceremony at the place of execution, and which though penned in none of +the best styles, I have yet thought convenient to annex in his own +words. + +Being questioned with respect of several of his companions who are very +well known, but whom, notwithstanding all the search had been made after +them, no discovery could be made so as they might be apprehended and +brought to justice, Wilson declared that as for three of the most +notorious, they had made their escape into Holland some time before he +was apprehended; two others were in Newgate for trivial offences, and +another (whom he would not name) was retired into Warwickshire, had +married there, and led a very honest and industrious life. + +At the place of execution he seemed less daunted than any of the +malefactors who suffered with him, showed himself several times by +standing up to the spectators, before the rope was fastened about his +neck, and told them that he hoped they would give no credit to any +spurious accounts which might be published of him; because whatever he +thought might be necessary for them to know, he had digested in a paper +which he had delivered the Sunday before he died, in order to be +communicated to the public. He added, that since he had been in the +cart, he had been informed that one Phelps had been committed to Newgate +for a robbery mentioned by him in his paper. He said, as he was a dying +man, he knew nothing of Phelps, and that he was not in any manner +whatsoever concerned in that robbery for which he had been apprehended. +He then put the rope about his neck, and submitted to his death with +great resolution, being then about twenty years of age, and the day he +suffered the 26th of July, 1722. + +The Paper delivered by the above mentioned criminal the day before his +execution. + + I, Thomas Wilson, desire it may be known that I was in a horse-way + that lies between Highgate and Hornsey, where meeting a man and a + woman, they enquired the way to Upper Holloway. We directed them + across the fields; meantime we drank two pints of ale to hearten us, + then followed them, and robbed them of two shillings and some half + pence, the woman's apron, her hat and coloured handkerchief. We left + them without misusing them, though there were thoughts of doing it. + My companion that robbed with me is gone to Holland upon hearing I + was taken up, though I should not have impeached him, but his + friends lived in Holland. Another robbery we committed was by a barn + in the footpath near Pancras Church of a hat and tie-wig, and cane, + and some goods he was carrying, but we heard he had a considerable + sum of money about him; but he ran away and I ran after him, but I + being drunk he escaped, and I was glad to get off safe. We robbed + two other men near Copenhagen House of a coat and waistcoat. I + committed many street robberies about Lincoln's Inn. For these and + for all other sins, I pray God and Man to pardon me, especially for + shooting the pistol off before Justice Perry, at my friend's + adversary, and am very glad I did not kill him. + + + + +The Lives of ROBERT WILKINSON and JAMES LINCOLN, Murderers and Footpads + + +Robert Wilkinson, like abundance of other unhappy young men, contracted +in his youth a liking to idleness, and an aversion to all sorts of work +and labour, and applied himself for a livelihood hardly to anything that +was honest. The only employment he ever pretended to was that of a prize +fighter or boxer at Hockley-in-the-Hole,[20] where, as a fellow of +prodigious dexterity, though low in stature, and very small limbed, he +was much taken notice of. And as is usual for persons who have long +addicted themselves to such a way of living, he had contracted an +inhumanity of temper which made him little concerned at the greatest +miseries be saw others suffer, and even regardless of what might happen +to himself. The set of villains into whose society he had joined +himself, viz., Carrick who was executed, Carrol who made his escape into +Ireland, Lincoln of whom we shall speak afterwards, Shaw and Burridge +before mentioned, and William Lock, perpetrated together a prodigious +number of villainies often attended with cruel and bloody acts. + +Some of these fellows, it seems, valued themselves much on the ferocity +they exerted in the war they carried on against the rest of mankind, +amongst which Wilkinson might be justly reckoned, being ever ready to +second any bloody proposal, and as unwilling to comply with any +good-natured one. An instance of this happened in the case of two +gentlemen whom Shaw, he and Burridge attacked near Highgate. Not +contented with robbing them of about forty shillings, their watches and +whatever else about 'em was valuable, Wilkinson, after they were +dismounted, knocked one of them into a ditch, where he would have +strangled him with his hand if one of his comrades had not hindered him. +The man pleaded all the while the other held him, that he was without +arms, incapable of making any resistance, and that it was equally base +and barbarous to injure him, who neither could, nor would attempt to +pursue him. Though this fact was very fully proved, yet Wilkinson +strongly denied it, as indeed he did almost everything, though nothing +was more notorious than that he had lived by these wicked courses for a +very considerable time. + +Having had occasion to mention this gang with whom Wilkinson was +concerned, it may not be improper to acquaint my readers with an +adventure of one Calhagan and Disney, two Irish robbers of the same +crew. One of them had persuaded a gentleman's housekeeper, of about +thirty-five, that he was extremely in love with her, passing at the same +time for a gentleman of fortune in the kingdom of Ireland, the brogue +being too strong upon his tongue for him to deny his country. He met her +frequently, and made her not a few visits, even at her master's house, +taking care all the while to keep up the greatest form of ceremony, as +though to a person whom he designed to make his wife. His companion +attended on him with great respect as his tutor or gentleman, appearing +at first very much dissatisfied with his making his addresses to a woman +so much beneath him, but as the affair went on pretending to be so much +taken with her wit, prudence and genteel behaviour, that he said his +master had made an excellent choice, and advised him to delay his +marriage no longer than till he had settled his affairs with his +guardian, naming as such a certain noble lord of unquestioned character +and honour. These pretences prevailing on the credulity of an old maid, +who like most of her species was fond of the company of young fellows, +and in raptures at the thoughts of a lover, she thought it a prodigious +long while till these accounts were made up, enquiring wherever she +went, when such a lord would come to town. She heard, at last, with +great satisfaction, that he would certainly come over from Ireland that +summer. + +The family in which she lived, going out of town as usual, left her in +charge of the house; as there was nobody but herself and an under maid, +her lover often visited her, and at last told her that on such a day my +Lord had appointed to settle his affairs and to deliver up all his +trust. The evening of this day, the gentleman and his tutor came and +brought with them a bundle of papers and parchments, which they +pretended were the instruments which had been signed on this occasion. +After making merry with the housekeeper and the maid on a supper which +they had sent from the tavern, the elder of them at last pulls out his +watch, and said, _Come, 'tis time to do business, 'tis almost one +o'clock._ Upon which the other arose, seized the housekeeper, to whom he +had so long paid his addresses, and clapped an ivory gag into her mouth, +while his companion did the same thing by the other. Then putting out +all the candles, having first put one into a dark lanthorn they had +brought on purpose, they next led the poor creatures up and down the +house, till they had shown them the several places where the plate, +linen, jewels and other valuable things belonging to the family were +laid. After having bundled up these they threw them down upon the floor, +tied their ankles to one another, and left them hanging, one on one +side, and the other on the other side of the parlour door; in which +posture they were found the next day at noon, at the very point of +expiring, their blood having stagnated about their necks, which put them +into the greatest danger. + +But to return to Wilkinson. One night, he with his companions Lincoln +and William Lock came up with one Peter Martin, a poor pensioner of +Chelsea College, whom they stopped. Wilkinson held him down and Lincoln +knocked him down on his crying out for help; afterwards taking him up, +he would have led him along, and Wilkinson pricked him with his sword in +the shoulders and buttocks for some time, to make him advance, till +William Lock cried out to them, _How should ye expect the man to go +forward when he is dead._ + +For this murder and for a robbery committed by them with Carrick and +Carrol they were both capitally convicted. Wilkinson behaved himself to +the time of his execution very morosely, and when pressed, at the place +of execution, to unburden his conscience as to the crime for which he +died, he answered peremptorily that he knew nothing of the murder, nor +of Lincoln who died with him, until they were apprehended; adding, that +as to hanging in chains he did not value it, but he had no business to +tell lies, to make himself guilty of things he never did. Three days and +three nights before the time of his death, he abstained totally from +meat and drink, which rendered him so faint that he had scarce strength +enough to speak at the tree. + +James Lincoln, who died with him for the aforesaid cruel murder, was a +fellow of a more docile and gentle temper than Wilkinson, owned +abundance of the offences he had been guilty of, and had designed, as he +himself owned, to have robbed the Duke of Newcastle of his gaiter +ornaments, as he returned from the instalment. Notwithstanding these +confessions, he persisted, as well as Wilkinson, in utterly denying that +he knew anything of the murder of the pensioner, and saying that he +forgave William Lock who had sworn himself and them into it. Wilkinson +was at the time of his execution about thirty-five years old, and James +Lincoln somewhat under. They died at the same time with the +afore-mentioned malefactor, Wilson, at Tyburn. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [20] This was near Clerkenwell Green. It was a famous Bear + Garden and the scene of various prize-fights to which public + challenges were issued. Cunningham quotes a curious one for the + year 1722:--"I, Elizabeth Wilkinson, of Clerkenwell, having had + some words with Hannah Hyfield, and requiring satisfaction, do + invite her to meet me on the stage and box with me for three + guineas, each woman holding half-a-crown in each hand, and the + first woman that drops her money to lose the battle" (this was + to prevent scratching). The acceptance ran, "I, Hannah Hyfield, + of Newgate Market, hearing of the resoluteness of Elizabeth + Wilkinson, will not fail, God willing, to give her more blows + than words, desiring home blows and from her no favour." + + + + +The Life of MATTHIAS BRINSDEN, a Murderer + + +Though all offences against the laws of God and the land are highly +criminal in themselves, as well as fatal in their consequences, yet +there is certainly some degree in guilt; and petty thieveries and crimes +of a like nature seem to fall very short in comparison of the atrocious +guilt of murder and the imbrueing one's hands in blood, more especially +when a crime of so deep a dye in itself is heightened by aggravating +circumstances. + +Matthias Brinsden, who is to be the subject of our present narration, +was a man in tolerable circumstances at the time the misfortune happened +to him for which he died. He had several children by his wife whom he +murdered, and with whom he had lived in great uneasiness for a long +time. The deceased Mrs. Brinsden was a woman of a great spirit, much +addicted to company and not a little to drinking. This had occasioned +many quarrels between her and her husband on the score of those +extravagancies she was guilty of, Mr. Brinsden thinking it hard that she +should squander away his money when he had a large family, and scarce +knew how to maintain it. + +Their quarrels frequently rose to such a height as to alarm the +neighbourhood, the man being of a cruel, and the woman of an obstinate +temper, and it seemed rather a wonder that the murder had not ensued +before than that it happened when it did, they seldom falling out and +fighting without drawing blood, or having some grievous accident or +other happening therefrom. Once he burnt her arms with a red-hot iron, +and but a week before her death he ran a great pair of scissors into her +skull, which covered her with blood, and made him and all who saw her +think he had murdered her then. But after bleeding prodigiously she came +a little to herself, and on the application of proper remedies +recovered. Brinsden, in the meanwhile fled, and was hardly prevailed +with to return, upon repeated assurances that she was in no danger, +promising himself that if she escaped with life then, he would never +suffer himself to be so far transported with passion as to do her an +injury again. + +The fatal occasion of that quarrel which produced the immediate death of +the woman, warm with liquor, and in the midst of passion, and which soon +after brought on a shameful and ignominious end to the man himself, +happened by Mrs. Brinsden's drinking cheerfully with some company at +home, and after their going away, demanding of her husband what she +should have for supper? He answered, bread and cheese; to which the +deceased replied that she thought bread and cheese once a day was +enough, and as she had eaten it for dinner, she would not eat it for +supper. Brinsden said, she should have no better than the rest of his +family, who were like to be contented with the same, except his eldest +daughter for whom he had provided a pie, and towards whom on all +occasions he showed a peculiar affection, occasioned as he said, from +the care she took of his other children and of his affairs, though +malicious and ill-natured people gave out that it sprang from a much +worse and, indeed, the basest of reasons. + +On the discourse I have mentioned between him and his wife, Mrs. +Brinsden in a violent passion declared she would go to the general shop +and sup with her friends, who were gone from her but a little before. +He, therefore, having got between her and the door, having the knife in +his hand with which he cut the bread and cheese, and she still +persisting with great violence in endeavouring to go out, he threw her +down with one hand and stabbed her with the other. This is the account +of this bloody action as it was sworn against him at his trial by his +own daughter, though he persisted in it that what she called throwing +down was only gently laying her on the bed after she received the blow, +which as he averred happened only by chance, and her own pressing +against him as the knife was in his hand. However that was, he sent for +basilicon and sugar to dress the wound, in hopes she might at least +recover so far as to declare there was no malice between them, but those +endeavours were in vain, for she never spoke after. + +In the meanwhile, Brinsden took occasion during the bustle that this sad +accident occasioned, and fled to one Mr. Kegg's at Shadwell Dock, where, +though for some small space he continued safe, yet the terrors and +apprehensions he was under were more choking and uneasy than all the +miseries he experienced after his being taken up. Such is the weight of +blood, and such the dreadful condition of the wicked. + +At his trial he put on an air of boldness and intrepidity, saying that +though the clamour of the town was very strong against him, yet he hoped +it would not make an impression to his disadvantage on the jury, since +the death of his wife happened with no premeditated design. The surgeon +who examined the wound, having deposed that it was six inches deep, he +objected to his evidence by observing that the knife, when produced in +Court, was not quite so long. He pleaded also, very strongly, the +insupportable temper of his wife, and said she was of such a disposition +that nothing would do with her but blows. But all this signifying +little, the evidence of this daughter appearing also full and direct +against him, the jury showed very small regard to his excuses, and after +a short reflection on the evidence, they found him guilty. + +Under sentence he behaved himself indolently and sottishly, doing +nothing but eat his victuals and doze in his bed; thinking it at the +same time a very great indignity that he should be obliged to take up +with those thieves and robbers who were in the same state of +condemnation with himself, always behaving himself towards then very +distantly, and as if it would have been a great debasement to him if he +had joined with them in devotion. + +His daughter who had borne witness against him at his trial, came to him +at chapel and begged his forgiveness, even for having testified the +truth. At first he turned away from her with much indignation; the +second day she came, after great entreaty and persuasion of his friends, +he at last muttered out, _I forgive you._ But the girl coming the third +day and earnestly desiring he would kiss her, which at first he refused, +and at last turning to her and weeping lamentably, he took her in his +arms, and said: _For Christ's sake, my child, forgive me. I have robbed +you of your own mother. Be a good child, rather die than steal, never be +in a passion, but curb your anger. Honour your mistress, for she will be +both a father and a mother to you. Pray for your father and think of him +as well as you can._ + +At the place of execution he composed himself to suffer with as much +patience as he could, and while the rest threw books and handkerchiefs +to their friends, he seemed wrapped up in a profound meditation, out of +which he drew himself as soon as prayers began and assisted with much +cheerfulness and attention. When they were ended he stood up and +desiring the Ordinary to repeat after him the following speech, which he +dictated word for word as I have transcribed it, seeming most +passionately affected with the reflection the world had cast on himself +and daughter, as my readers will perceive from the speech itself. After +the making of which, he was immediately turned off, on the sixteenth of +July, 1722. + + The last speech of Matthias Brinsden + + I was born of kind parents, who gave me learning, and went + apprentice to a fine-drawer. I had often jars which might increase a + natural waspishness in my temper. I fell in love with Hannah, my + late wife, and after much difficulty won her, she having five + sisters at the same time. We had ten children (half of them dead) + and I believe we loved each other dearly, but often quarrelled and + fought. Pray good people mind, I had no malice against her, nor + thought to kill her, two minutes before the deed, but I designed + only to make her obey me thoroughly, which the Scripture says all + wives should do. This I thought I had done, when I cut her skull on + Monday, but she was the same again by Tuesday. + + Good people, I request you to observe that though the world has + spitefully given out that I carnally and incestuously lay with my + eldest daughter, I here solemnly declare, as I am entering into the + presence of God, I never knew whether she was man or woman, since + she was a babe. I have often taken her in my arms, often kissed her, + sometimes given her a cake or a pie, when she did any particular + service beyond what came to her share, but never lay with her, or + carnally knew her, much less had a child by her. But when a man is + in calamities and is hated like me, the women will make surmises + into certainties. Good Christians pray for me, I deserve death, I am + willing to die, for though my sins are great, God's mercies are + greater. + + + + +The Life of EDMUND NEAL, a Footpad + + +Of all the unhappy wretches whose ends I have recorded that their +examples may be of the more use to mankind, there is none perhaps which +be more useful, if well considered, than this of Edmund Neal Though +there be nothing in it very extraordinary, yet it contains a perfect +picture of low pleasures for which men sacrifice reputation and +happiness, and go on in a voluptuous dream till they awake to temporal +and, but for the mercy of God, to eternal death. + +This Edmund Neal was the son of a father of the same name, a blacksmith +in a market town in Warwickshire. He was one of those mechanics who, +from a particular observance of the foibles of human nature, insinuate +themselves into the good graces of those who employ them, and from being +created as something even beneath a servant, grow up at last into a +confidence to which it would not be improper to affix the name of a +friend. This Edmund Neal senior had by this method climbed (by a little +skill he had in horses) from paring off their hoofs, to directing of +their riders, until in short there was scarce a sporting squire in the +neighbourhood but old Edmund was of his privy council. Yet though he got +a vast deal of money, he took very little care of the education of his +son, whom he scarce allowed as much learning as would enable him to read +a chapter; but notwithstanding this, he carried him about with him +wherever he went, as if the company of gentlemen, though he was unable +to converse with them, would have been sufficient to improve him. + +The scenes young Neal saw at the houses whither his father carried him, +filled him with such a liking to debauchery and such an irreclaimable +passion for sensual pleasures, as was the source from whence his +following misfortunes flowed. For what, as he himself complained, first +gave him occasion to repine at his condition, and filled him with +wandering inclinations of pursuing an idle and extravagant life, was the +forcing of him to go apprentice to a tailor, a trade for which he had +always the greatest aversion, and contempt. No sooner, therefore, was he +placed out apprentice, but the young fellows of that occupation whom he +had before derided and despised, now ridiculed him in their turns, and +laughed at the uneasiness which they saw his new employment caused him. +However, he lived about four years with his master, being especially +induced thereto by the company of a young man who worked there, and who +used to amuse him with stories of intrigues in London, to which Neal +listened with a very attentive ear. + +This London companion more and more inclined him to vice, and the +history he gave of his living with a woman--who cheated her other +cullies to maintain him, and at last for the sake of a new sweetheart, +stripped him of all he had one night while he slept, and left him so +much in debt that he was obliged to fly into the country--the relation, +I say, of these adventures made such an impression on young Neal that he +was never at rest until he fell into a method of copying them. And as +ill-design seldom waits long for an opportunity, so the death of his +first master, and his being turned over to a second, much less careful +and diligent to his business, furnished Neal with the occasion he +wanted. This master he both cheated of his money and defrauded of his +goods, letting in loose and disorderly persons in the night, and finding +a way for their going out again in the morning before his master was +awake, and consequently without the least suspicion. + +These practices quickly broke the man with whom he lived, and his +breaking turned Edmund upon the wide world, equally destitute of money, +friends and capacity, not knowing what to do, and having but two +shillings in his pocket. He took a solitary walk to that end of the town +which went out upon the London Road, and there by chance he met a woman +who asked him to go with her to London. He not knowing what to do with +himself accepted her offer, and without any more words to the bargain +they set out together. The woman was very kind to him on the road, and +poor Edmund flattered himself that money was so plentiful in London as +to render it impossible for him to remain without it. But he was +miserably mistaken when he arrived there. He went to certain +public-houses of persons whom he had known in the country, who instead +of using him civilly, in a day or two's time were thrusting him out of +doors. Some common whores, also, finding him to be a poor country +fellow, easily seduced him and kept him amongst them for a stallion, +until, between their lust and their diseases, they had put him in a fair +road to the grave. + +Tired out with their vices, which were even too gross for a mind so +corrupted as his was, he chose rather to go and live with a brewer and +carry out drink. But after living for some time with two masters of that +occupation, his mind still roving after an easier and pleasanter life, +he endeavoured to get it at some public-house; which at last he with +much ado effected at Sadlers Wells.[21] This appeared so great a +happiness that he thought he should never be tired of a life where there +was so much music and dancing, to which he had been always addicted; +and, as he phrased it himself, he thought he was in another world when +he got with a set of men and maids in a barn with a fiddle among them. + +However, he at last grew tired of that also; and resolving to betake +himself to some more settled and honest employment, he hired himself to +a man who kept swine, and there behaved himself both with honesty and +diligence. But his master breaking a little time after he had been with +him, though as he affirmed without his wronging him in the least, he was +reduced to look for some new way of maintaining himself. This being +about the time of the late Rebellion,[22] and great encouragement being +then offered for those who would enter themselves in the late king's +service at sea, Neal accepted thereof, and shipped himself on board the +_Gosport_ man-of-war, which sailed to the Western Islands of Scotland. +What between the cold and the hard fare he suffered deeply, and never, +as be said, tasted any degree of comfort till he returned to the West of +England The Rebellion being then over, Neal with very great joy accepted +his discharge from the service, and once more in search of business came +up to London. + +The reputation of an honest servant he had acquired from the hog +merchant he had formerly lived with, quickly procured him a place with +another of the same trade, with him he lived too (as was said) very +honestly; and having been trusted with twenty or thirty pounds at a +time, was always found very trusty and faithful. But happening, +unluckily, to work here with one Pincher, who in the course of his life +had been as unhappy as himself, they thereupon grew very intimate +together, and being a couple of fellows of very odd tempers, after +having got half drunk at the Hampshire Hog, they took it into their +heads that there was not in the world two fellows so unhappy as +themselves. The subject began when they were maudlin, and as they grew +quite drunk, they came to a resolution to go out and beat everybody they +met, for being happier than themselves. + +The first persons they met in this expedition were a poor old man whose +name was Dormer and his wife. The woman they abused grossly, and Pincher +knocked the man down, though very much in years, Neal afterwards +rolling him about, and either took or shook out of his pocket all the +money he had, which was but three pence farthing. For this unaccountable +action they were both apprehended, tried and convicted, with three other +persons, in the November sessions, 1722. But their inhuman behaviour to +the old man made such an impression on the Court to their disadvantage, +that when the death warrant came down, they two only were appointed for +execution. + +At the near approach of death, Neal appeared excessively astonished, and +what between fear and concern, his senses grew disordered. However, at +the place of execution he seemed more composed than he had been before, +and said that it was very fit he should die, but added he suffered +rather for being drunk than any design he had either to rob or use the +man cruelly. As for William Pincher, his companion both in the robbery +and its punishment, he seemed to be the counterpart of Neal, a downright +Norfolk clown, born within six miles of Lynn and by the kindness of a +master of good fortune, taken into his house with an intent to breed him +up, on his father's going for a soldier. At first he behaved himself +diligently and thereby got much into the favour of his master, but +falling into loose company and addicting himself to sotting in +alehouses, his once kind and indulgent master, finding him incorrigible, +dismissed him from his service, and having given him some small matter +by way of encouragement, he set out for London. Here he got into the +business before mentioned, and said himself, that he might have lived +very comfortably thereon, if he had been industrious and frugal; but +that addicting himself to his old custom of sitting continually in an +alehouse had drawn him into very great inconveniences. In order to draw +himself out of these he thought of following certain courses, by which, +as he had heard some company where he used say, a young man might get as +much money as he could spend, let him live as extravagantly as he would. +This occasioned his persuading Neal into that fatal undertaking which +cost them their lives. His behaviour under sentence was irreproachable, +being always taken up either in reading, praying or singing of Psalms, +performing all things that so short a space would give him leave to do, +and showing as evident marks of true repentance as perhaps any unhappy +person ever did in his condition. + +Thus these two companions in misfortune suffered together on die last +day of the year 1722, Edmund Neal being then about thirty years of age, +and Pincher about twenty-six. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [21] This was opened, about 1680, by a certain Sadler, as a + public music-room and house of entertainment. The discovery of a + spring of mineral water in the garden attracted general + attention and the place soon became a place of popular resort. + + [22] The Jacobite rising of 1715. + + + + +The Life of CHARLES WEAVER, a Murderer + + +Hastiness of temper and yielding to all the rash dictates of anger, as +it is an offence the most unworthy a rational creature, so it is +attended also with consequences as fatal as any other crime whatever. A +wild expression thrown out in the heat of passion has often cost men +dearer than even a real injury would have done, had it been offered to +the same person. A blow intended for the slightest has often taken away +life, and the sudden anger of a moment produced the sorrow of years, and +has been, after all, irreparable in its effect. + +Charles Weaver, of whom we are now speaking, was the son of parents in +very good circumstances in the city of Gloucester, who put him +apprentice to a goldsmith. He served about four years of his time with +his master, and having in that space run out into so much lewdness and +extravagance that his friends refused any longer to supply or to support +him, he then thought fit to go into the service of the Queen, as a +soldier, and in that capacity went over with those who were sent into +America to quell the Indians. These people were at that time instigated +by the French to attack our plantations on the main near which they lay. +The greater part of these poor creatures were without European arms, yet +several amongst them had fusees, powder and ball from the French, with +which, being very good marksmen, they did abundance of mischief from +their ambuscades in the woods. + +At the time Weaver served against them, they were commanded by one +Ouranaquoy, a man of a bloody disposition, great courage and greater +cunning. He had commanded his nation in war against another Indian +nation, from whom he took about forty prisoners, who according to the +Indian custom were immediately destined to death; but being prevailed +upon, by the presence of the French, to turn his arms against the +English, on the confines of whose plantations he had gained his last +victory, Ouranaquoy having sent for the prisoners he had taken before +him, told them that if they would fall upon a village about three miles +distant, he would not only give them their liberty, but also such a +reward for the scalp of every Englishman, woman or child, they brought. +They readily agreed on these terms and immediately went and plundered +the village. + +The English army lay about seven miles off, and no sooner heard of such +an outrage committed by such a nation, but they immediately attacked the +people to whom the prisoners belonged, marching their whole army for +that purpose against the village, which if we may call it so, was the +capital of their country. By this policy Ouranaquoy gained two +advantages, for first he involved the English in a war with the people +with whom they had entertained a friendship for twenty years, and in the +next place gained time, while the English army were so employed, to +enter twenty-five miles within their country, destroying fourscore +whites and three hundred Indians and negroes. But this insult did not +remain long unrevenged, for the troops in which Weaver served arriving +immediately after from Europe, the army (who before they had done any +considerable mischief to the people against whom they marched, had +learnt the stratagem by which they had been deceived by Ouranaquoy) +returned suddenly into his country, and exercised such severities upon +the people thereof that to appease and make peace with the English the +chiefs sent them the scalps of Ouranaquoy, his three brothers and nine +sons. + +On Weaver's return into England from this expedition, he shipped himself +again as a recruit for that army which was then commanded by the Earl of +Peterborough in Spain. He served also under the Duke of Ormond when his +grace took Vigo, and Weaver had the good luck to get some hundred pounds +for his share in the booty, but that money which he, in his thoughts, +had designed for setting himself up in England, being insensibly +squandered and decayed, he was obliged to list himself again, and so +became a second time spectator of the taking of Vigo under the Lord +Cobham.[23] + +While he served in the second regiment of Foot-guards, he behaved +himself so well as to engage his officer to take him into his own house, +where he lived for a considerable space; and he had been twice actually +reviewed in order to his going into the Life-guards, when he committed +the act for which he died, which according to the evidence given at his +trial happened thus. He was going into a boat in company with Eleanor +Clark, widow, and Edward Morris. After they were in the boat, some words +arising, the woman bid Weaver pay Morris what he owed him, upon which +Weaver in a great passion got up, and endeavoured to overturn the boat +with them all. But Thomas Watkins, the waterman, preventing that, Weaver +immediately drew his sword, and swore he would murder them all, making +several passes at them as if he had firmly intended to be as good as his +word. The men defended themselves so well as to escape hurt, and +endeavoured all they could to have preserved the woman, but Weaver +making a pass, the sword entered underneath her left shoulder, and +thereby gave her a wound seven inches deep, after which she gave but one +groan and immediately expired. For this bloody fact Weaver was tried and +convicted, and thereupon received sentence of death. + +During the space between the passing of sentence and its execution an +accident happened which added grievously to all his misfortunes. His +wife, big with child, coming about a fortnight before his death to see +him in Newgate, was run over by a dray and killed upon the spot. Weaver +himself, though in the course of the life he had led he had totally +forgot both reading and writing, yet came duly to prayers, and gave all +possible marks of sorrow and repentance for his misspent life, though he +all along pretended that the woman's death happened by accident, and +that he had had no intent to murder her. He suffered the 8th day of +February, 1722-3, being at that time about thirty years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [23] See page 49. + + + + +The Life of JOHN LEVEE, a Highwayman, Footpad, etc. + + +There is a certain busy sprightliness in some young people which from I +know not what views, parents are apt to encourage in hopes of its one +day producing great effects. I will not say that they are always +disappointed in their expectations, but I will venture to pronounce that +where one bold spirit has succeeded in the world, five have been ruined, +by a busy turbulent temper. + +This was the case with this criminal, John Levee, who, to cover the +disgrace his family suffered in him, called himself Junks. His father +was a French gentleman, who came over with King Charles II at the +Restoration, taught French to persons of distinction in court, and +particularly to some of that prince's natural children. For the +convenience of his scholars, he kept a large boarding-school in Pall +Mall, whereby he acquired such a fortune as enabled him to set up for a +wine merchant. In this capacity he dealt with France for many years to +the amount of thousands _per annum._ His children received the best +education that could be given them and never stirred out of doors but +with a footman to attend them. + +But Mr. Levee, the merchant, falling into misfortunes by some of his +correspondents' failures, withdrew from his family into Holland; and +this son John being taken by the French Society, in order to be put out +apprentice and provided for, being induced thereto by the boy's natural +vivacity and warmth of temper in which he had been foolishly encouraged, +they sent him to sea with a captain of a man-of-war. He was on board the +_Essex_ when Sir George Byng, now Viscount Torrington, engaged the +Spaniards at Messina.[24] He served afterwards on board the squadron +commanded by Sir John Norris in the Baltic, and when he returned home, +public affairs being in a more quiet state, his friends thought it +better for him to learn merchants' accounts than to go any more voyages, +where there was now little prospect of advantage. + +But book-keeping was too quiet an employment for one of Levee's warm +disposition, who far from being discouraged at the hardships of sea, +only complained of his ill-luck in not being in an engagement. And so, +to amuse this martial disposition, he with some companions went upon the +road, which they practised for a very considerable time, robbing in a +very genteel manner, by putting a hat into the coach and desiring the +passengers to contribute as they thought proper, being always contented +with what they gave them, though sometimes part of it was farthings. +Nay, they were so civil that Blueskin and this Levee, once robbing a +single gentlewoman in a coach, she happening to have a basket full of +buns and cakes, Levee took some of them, but Blueskin proceeded to +search her for money, but found none. The woman in the meanwhile +scratched him and called him a thousand hard names, giving him two or +three sound slaps in the face, at which they only laughed, as it was a +woman, and went away without further ill-usage, a civility she would +hardly have met with from any other gentlemen of their profession. + +In October, he and his great companion Blueskin,[25] met a coach with +two ladies and a little miss riding between their knees, coming from the +Gravel Pits at Kensington.[26] Levee stopped the coach and without more +ado, ordered both the coachmen and footman to jump the ditch, or he'd +shoot them. They then stripped the ladies of their necklaces, cut a gold +girdle buckle from the side of the child, and took away about ten +shillings in money, with a little white metal image of a man, which they +thought had been solid silver, but proved a mere trifle. + +At a grand consultation of the whole gang, and a report of great booties +that were to be made (and that, too, with much safety) on Blackheath, +they agreed to make some attempts there. Accordingly they set out, +being six horsemen well armed and mounted; but after having continued +about six hours upon the Heath, and not meeting so much as one person, +and the same ill luck being three or four times repeated, they left off +going on that road for the future. In December following, he and another +person robbed a butcher on horseback, on the road coming from Hampstead. +He told them he had sold two lambs there. Levee's companion said +immediately, _Then you have eight-and-twenty shillings about you, for +lambs sold to-day at fourteen shillings apiece._ After some grumbling +and hard words they made him deliver and by way of punishment for his +sauciness, as they phrased it, they took away his great coat into the +bargain, and had probably used him worse had not Levee seen a Jew's +coach coming that way, and been conscious to himself that those within +it knew him; whereupon he persuaded his associates to go off without +robbing it. + +Levee never used anybody cruelly in any of his adventures, excepting +only one Betts, who foolishly struck him three or four blows on the +head, whereupon Levee with one blow of his pistol struck his eye out. +One night, upon the same road, Blake and Matthew Flood being in company +with this unhappy youth, they stopped the chariot of Mr. Young, the same +person who hanged Molony and Carrick.[27] Blake calling out to lay hold, +and Flood stopping the horses, Levee went into the coach and took from +Mr. Young a gold watch and chain, one Richard Oakey also assisting, who +died likewise for this fact. They robbed also Col. Cope, who was in the +same chariot, of his gold watch, chain and ring, and twenty-two +shillings in money. Levee said it would have been a very easy matter for +the gentleman to have taken him, he going into the coach without arms, +and his companions being on the other side of the hedge; but they gave +him the things very readily, and it was hard to say who behaved +themselves most civilly one towards the other, the gentlemen or he. One +of them desired to have a cornelian ring returned, which Levee inclined +to do, but that his companions would not permit him. + +As they were going home after taking this booty, they met a poor man on +horseback. Notwithstanding the considerable sum they had taken just +before, they turned out of the road, carried him behind two haycocks +because the moon shone light, and there finding that he had but two +shillings in the world, the rest of his companions were for binding and +beating him, but upon the man's saying that he was very sick and +begging earnestly that they would not abuse him, Levee prevailed with +them not only to set him on his horse again, but to restore him his two +shillings, and lead him into the road where they left him. + +Levee, Flood and Oakey were soon apprehended and Blake turning evidence, +they were convicted the next sessions at the Old Bailey, and ordered for +execution. Levee behaved himself while under condemnation very seriously +and modestly, though before that time, he had acted too much the bravo, +from the mistaken opinion that people are apt to entertain of courage +and resolution. But when death approached near, he laid aside all this, +and applied himself with great seriousness and attention to prayers and +other duties becoming a person in his condition. + +At the place of execution he fell into a strange passion at his hands +being to be tied, and his cap pulled over his face. Passion signifying +nothing there, he was obliged to submit as the others did, being at the +time of his execution, aged about twenty-seven. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [24] See page 66. + + [25] His real name was Joseph Blake, see page 177. + + [26] This was a portion of what is now the Bayswater Road, + roughly between Petersburgh Place and the Notting Hill Tube + Station. Swift had lodgings there and it was a fairly + fashionable residential spot. + + [27] See page 89. + + + + +The Lives of RICHARD OAKEY and MATTHEW FLOOD, Street-Robbers and +Footpads + + +The first of these criminals, Richard Oakey, had been by his friends put +apprentice to a tailor. In about two years his master failed, and from +thence to the day of his unhappy death, Oakey continually followed +thieving in one way or other. At first he wholly practised picking of +women's pockets, which he said he did in a manner peculiar to himself; +for being dressed pretty genteelly, he passed by the person he intended +to rob, took up their upper petticoat and cut off the pocket at once, +tripping them down at the same time. Then he stepped softly on the other +side of the way, walked on and was never suspected. He said that while a +lad, he had committed several hundred robberies in this way. As he grew +older he made use of a woman to assist him, by pushing the people +against the wall, while he took the opportunity of cutting their +pockets; or at other times this woman came behind folks as they were +crossing the way, and catching them by the arm, cried out, _There's a +coach will run over ye_; while Oakey, in the moment of their surprise, +whipped off their pocket. + +This woman, who had followed the trade for a considerable time, happened +one night at a bawdy-house to incense her bully so far as to make him +beat her; she thereupon gave him still more provoking language, till +at last he used her so cruelly, that she roared out _Murder_; and not +without occasion, for she died of the bruises, though the people of the +house concealed it for fear of trouble, and buried her privately. Upon +this Oakey was obliged to go on his old way by himself. + +[Illustration: THE HANGMAN ARRESTED WHEN ATTENDING JOHN MEFF TO TYBURN + +(_From the Annals of Newgate_)] + +The robberies he committed being numerous and successful, he bethought +himself of doing something, as he called it, in a higher way; upon +which, scraping acquaintance with two as abandoned fellows as himself, +they took to housebreaking. In this they were so unlucky as to be +detected in their second adventure, which was upon a house in Southwark +near the Mint, where they stole calicoes to the value of twenty pounds +and upwards. For this his two associates were convicted at Kingston +assizes, he himself being the witness against them, by which method he +at that time escaped. And being cured of any desire to go +a-housebreaking again, he fell upon his old trade of picking pockets, +till he got into the acquaintance of another as bad as himself, whom +they called Will the Sailor. This fellow's practice was to wear a long +sword, and then by jostling the gentleman whom they designed to rob, +first created a quarrel, and while the fray lasted, gave his companion +the opportunity of rubbing off with the booty. But whether Will grew +tired of his companion, or of the dangerous trade which he was engaged +in, certain it is that he left it off, and got again out of England on +ship-board. + +Oakey then got acquainted with Hawes, Milksop, Lincoln, Reading, +Wilkinson, and half a dozen others, with whom one way or other he was +continually concerned while they reigned in their villainies. And as +they were in a short space all executed, he became acquainted with +Levee, Flood, Blake and the rest of that gang, in whose association he +continued until his crimes and theirs brought them together to the +gallows. After condemnation his behaviour was such as became his +condition, getting up in the night to pray so often and manifesting all +the signs of a sincere repentance. + +Matthew Flood was the son of a man who kept the Clink Prison[28] in the +parish of St. Mary Overys, who had given him as good an education as was +in his power, and bound him apprentice to one Mr. Williams, a +lighterman. In this occupation he might certainly have done well, if he +had not fallen into the company of those lewd persons who brought him to +his fate. He had been about three months concerned with Blake, Levee, +etc., and had committed many facts. + +His behaviour under sentence was very penitent and modest, nor did he +suffer the continual hopes his friends gave him of a reprieve ever to +make him neglect his devotions. At the place of execution he said he was +more particularly concerned for a robbery he had committed on a woman in +Cornhill, not only because he took from her a good many guineas which +were in her pocket, but that at the same time also he had taken a will +which he burnt, and which he feared would be more to her prejudice than +the loss of her money. + +Oakey was about twenty-five years old at the time of his death, and +Matthew Flood somewhat younger. They suffered on the same day with +Weaver and the last-mentioned malefactor Levee, at Tyburn. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [28] The Clink Prison was, until 1745, at the corner of Maid + Lane, Southwark. It was originally used as a house of detention + for heretics and offenders against the bishop of Winchester, + whose palace stood nearby. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM BURK, a Footpad and Highwayman + + +As indulgence is a very common parent of wickedness and disobedience, so +immoderate correction and treating children as if they were Stocks is as +likely a method as the other to make them stubborn and obstinate, and +perhaps even force upon them taking ill methods to avoid usage which +they cannot bear. + +William Burk, the unfortunate criminal whose enterprises are to be the +subject of our present narration, was born towards Wapping of parents +honest and willing to give him education, though their condition in the +world rendered them not able. He was thereupon put to the charity +school, the master of which being of a morose temper and he a boy of +very indifferent disposition, the discipline with which he was treated +was so severe that it created in him an aversion towards all learning; +and one day, after a more severe whipping than ordinary, he determined +(though but eleven years of age) to run away. + +He sought out, therefore, for a captain who might want a boy, and that +being no difficult matter to find in their neighbourhood, he went on +board the _Salisbury_, Captain Hosier, then lying at the Buoy in the +Nore, bound for Jamaica. His poor mother followed him in great +affliction, and endeavoured all she could to persuade him to return, but +her arguments were all in vain, for he had contracted so great an +antipathy to school, from his master's treatment, that instead of being +glad to go back, he earnestly intreated the captain to interpose his +authority and keep him on board. His request was complied with, and the +poor woman was forced to depart without her son. + +It was the latter end of Queen Anne's War when they sailed to Jamaica, +and during the time they were out, took two Spanish galleons very richly +laden. Their first engagement was obstinate and bloody, and he, though a +boy, was dangerously hurt as he bustled about one way or another as the +captain commanded him. The second prize carried 74 guns and 650 men, yet +the _Salisbury_ (but a 60-gun ship) took her without the loss of a +single man; only a woman, who was the only one on board, going to peep +at the engagement, had her head and shoulders shot off. Burk said the +prize money of each sailor came but to £15, but some of the officers +shared so handsomely as never to be obliged to go to sea again, being +enabled to live easily on shore. + +Three years he continued in the West Indies, and there (especially in +Jamaica) he learned so much wickedness that when he came home, hardly +any of the gangs into which he entered were half so bad, though inured +to plunder, as he when he came amongst them a fresh man. From this +voyage he went another in the slave trade to the coast of Guinea. Here +he endured very great hardships, especially when he had the misfortune +to be on board where the negroes rose upon the English, and had like to +have overcome them; but at last having been vanquished, and tied down in +a convenient place, they were used with severity enough. Upon his return +into England from this voyage, he went into the Baltic in the +_Worcester_ man-of-war, in which he suffered prodigious hardships from +the coldness of the climate and other difficulties he went through. + +The many miseries he had experienced in a life at sea might possibly +have induced him to the resolution he made of never going on ship-board +any more. How he came to take to robbing does not very clearly appear, +further than that he was induced thereto by bad women; but he behaved +himself with very great cruelty, for going over the first field from +Stepney, armed with a hedging-bill, he attacked one William Fitzer, and +robbed him of his jacket, tobacco-box, a knife and fork, etc. He robbed, +also, one James Westwood, of a coat and ten shillings in money; last of +all, attacking John Andrews and Robert his son, coming over the fields, +he dove the old man down. His son taking up the stick boldly attacked +Burk, and a neighbour, one Perkinson, coming in at the noise, he was +overpowered and apprehended. As the fact was very plainly proved, he was +on a short trial convicted, and the barbarity of the fact being so +great, left no room for his being omitted in the warrant for execution. + +As he lay a long time under condemnation, and had no hopes of life, from +the moment of his confinement he applied himself to make his peace with +that Being whom he had so much offended by his profligate course of +life. On all occasions he expressed his readiness to confess anything +which might be for the promoting of justice or public good, in all +respects manifesting a thorough sorrow and penitence for that cruelty +with which he had treated poor old Andrews. At the tree he stood up in +the car, beckoned for silence, and then spoke to the multitude in these +terms. + + Good People, + + I never was concerned but in four robberies in my life. I desire all + men who see my fatal end to let my death teach them to lead a sober + and regular life, and above all to shun the company of ill-women, + which has brought me to this shameful end and place. I desire that + nobody may reflect upon my wife after my decease, since she was so + far from having any knowledge of the ills I committed, that she was + continually exciting me to live a sober and honest life. Wherefore I + hope God will bless her, as I also pray He may do all of you. + +This malefactor, William Burk, was in the twenty-second year of his age +when executed at Tyburn, April the 8th, 1723. + + + + +The Life of LUKE NUNNEY, a murderer + + +Though drunkenness in itself is a shocking and beastly crime, yet in its +consequences it is also often so bloody and inhuman that one would +wonder persons of understanding should indulge themselves in a sin at +once so odious and so fatal both to body and soul. The instances of +persons who have committed murders when drunk, and those accompanied +with circumstances of such barbarity as even those persons themselves +could not have heard without trembling, are so many and so well known to +all of any reading, or who have made any reflection, that I need not +dwell longer than the bare narration of this malefactor's misfortunes +will detain me, to warn against a vice which makes them always monsters +and often murderers. + +Luke Nunney, of whom we are to speak, was a young fellow of some parts, +and of a tolerable education, his father, at the time of his death, +being a shoemaker in tolerable circumstances, and very careful in the +bringing up of his children. He was more particularly zealous in +affording them due notions of religion, and took abundance of pains +himself to inculcate them in their tender years, which at first had so +good an effect upon this Luke that his whole thoughts ran upon finding +out that method of worship in which he was most likely to please God. +Sometimes, though his parents were at the Church of England, he slipped +to a Presbyterian Meeting-house, where he was so much affected with the +preacher's vehemency in prayer and his plain and pious method of +preaching that he often regretted not being bred up in that way, and the +loss his parents sustained by their not having a relish for religion +ungraced with exterior ornaments. These were his thoughts, and his +practice was suitable to them, until the misfortunes of his father +obliged him to break up the house, and put Luke out to work at another +place. + +The men where Nunney went to work were lewd and profligate fellows, +always talking idly or lewdly, relating stories of what had passed in +the country before they came up to work in London, the intrigues they +had had with vicious women, and such loose and unprofitable discourses. +This quickly destroyed the former good inclinations of Luke, who first +began to waver in religion, and as he had quitted the Church of England +to turn to the Dissenters, so now he had some thoughts of leaving them +for the Quakers; but after going often to their meetings he professed he +thought their behaviour so ridiculous and absurd as not to deserve the +name either of religion or Divine worship. + +His instability of mind pressed him also to go out into the world, for +it appeared to him a great evil that while all the rest of his +companions were continually discoursing of their adventures, he should +have none to mention of his own. Some of them, also, having slightingly +called him Cockney and reproaching him with never having been seven +miles from London, he remembered that his father had some near relations +in the west of England, so he took a sudden resolution of going down +thither to work at his trade. Full of these notions he went over one +evening pretty late with his brother to Southwark, and meeting there +with an acquaintance who would needs make him drink, they stayed pretty +long at the house, insomuch that Luke got very drunk, and being always +quarrelsome when he had liquor, insulted and abused everybody in the +room. As he was quarrelling particularly with one James Young, William +Bramston who stood by, came up and desired him to be quiet, advised him +to go home with his company, and not stay and make a disturbance where +nobody had a mind to quarrel but himself. Without making any reply Luke +struck him a blow on the face. Bramston thereupon held up his fist as if +he would have struck him, but did not. However Nunney struck him again +and pushed him forwards, upon which Bramston reeled, cried out he was +stabbed and a dead man, that Nunney was the person who gave him the +wound, and Luke thereupon (drunk as he was) attempted to run away. + +Upon this he was apprehended, committed prisoner to Newgate, and the +next sessions, on the evidence of such of his companions as were +present, he was convicted and received sentence of death. He behaved +himself from that time as a person who had as little desire as hopes of +continuing in the world, enquired diligently both of the Ordinary and of +the man who was under sentence with him, how he should prepare himself +for his latter end, coming constantly to chapel, and praying regularly +at all times. Yet at the place of execution he declared himself a +Papist. He added, that at the time the murder was committed he had no +knife nor could he imagine how it was done, being so drunk that he knew +nothing that had happened until the morning, when he found himself in +custody. He was about twenty years of age at the time of his suffering +on the 25th of May, 1723. + + + + +The Life of RICHARD TRANTHAM, a Housebreaker + + +Though vices and extravagancies are the common causes which induce men +to fall into those illegal practices which lead to a shameful death, yet +now and then it happens we find men of outward gravity and serious +deportment as wicked as those whose open licenciousness renders their +committing crimes of this sort the less amazing. + +Of the number of these was Richard Trantham, a married man, having a +wife and child living at the time of his death, keeping also a tolerable +house at Mitcham in Surrey. He had been apprehended on the sale of some +stolen silk, and the next sessions following was convicted of having +broken the house of John Follwell, in the night-time, two years before, +and taking thence a silver tankard, a silver salver, and fifty-four +pounds of Bologna silk, valued at £74 and upwards. During the time which +passed between the sentence and execution he behaved in a manner the +most penitent and devout, not only making use of a considerable number +of books which the charity of his friends had furnished him with, but +also reading to all those who were in the condemned hold with them. + +The morning he was to die, after having received the Sacrament, he was +exhorted to make a confession of those crimes which he had committed, +particularly as to housebreaking, in which he was thought to have been +long concerned; thereupon he recollected himself a little, and told of +six or seven houses which he had broken open, particularly General +Groves's near St. James's; a stone-cutter in Chiswell Street; and Mr. +Follwell's in Spitalfields, for which he died. At the place of +execution, whither he was conveyed in a mourning coach, he appeared +perfectly composed and submissive to that sentence which his own +misdeeds and the justice of the Law had brought upon him. Before the +halter was put about his neck, he spoke to those who were assembled at +the gallows to see his death, in the following terms: + + Good People, + + Those wicked and unlawful methods by which, for a considerable time, + I have supported myself, have justly drawn upon me the anger of God, + and the sentence of the Law. As I have injured many and the + substance I have is very small, I fear a restitution would be hard + to make, even if it should be divided. I therefore leave it all to + my wife for the maintenance of her and my child. I entreat you + neither to reflect on her nor on my parents, and pray the blessing + of God upon you all. + +He was thirty years old when he died and was executed the same day with +the malefactor afore-mentioned. + + + + +The Lives of JOHN TYRRELL, a Horse-dealer, and WILLIAM HAWKSWORTH, a +Murderer + + +John Tyrrell, the first of these malefactors, was convicted for stealing +two horses in Yorkshire, but selling them in Smithfield he was tried at +the Old Bailey. It seem she had been an old horse-stealer as most people +conjecture, though he himself denied it, and as he pretended at his +trial to have bought those two for which he died at Northampton Fair, so +he continually endeavoured to infuse the same notions into all persons +who spoke to him at the time of his death. He had practised carrying +horses over into Flanders and Germany, and there selling them to persons +of the highest rank, with whom he always dealt so justly and honourably +that, as it was said, his word would have gone there for any sum +whatsoever that was to be laid out in horse-flesh. + +He had been bred up a Dissenter, and above all things affected the +character of a religious and sober man, which excepting the instances +for which he died, he never seemed to have forfeited; for whatever else +was said against him after he was condemned, arose merely from +conjectures occasioned by the number of horses he had sold in foreign +parts. He himself professed that he had always led a most regular and +devout life, and in the frequent voyages he made by sea, exhorted the +sailors to leave that dissolute manner of life which too generally they +led. During the whole time he lay under sentence, he talked of nothing +else but his own great piety and devotion, which though, as he +confessed, it had often been rewarded by many singular deliverances +through the hand of Providence, yet since he was suffered to die this +ignominious death and thereby disgrace his family and altogether +overturn that reputation of sanctity with which so much pains himself +had been setting up, he inclined to atheistic notions, and a wavering +belief as to the being of a God at all. + +As for the other malefactor, William Hawksworth, he was a Yorkshireman +by birth. His parents, reputable people who took a great care in his +reputation, intended to breed him to some good trade, but a regiment of +soldiers happening to come into the town, Hawksworth imagining great +things might be attained to in the army, would needs go with them, and +accordingly listed himself. But having run through many difficulties and +much hardships, finding also that he was like to meet with little else +while he wore a red coat, he took a great deal of pains and made much +interest to be discharged. At last he effected it, and a gentleman +kindly taking him to live with him as a footman, he there recovered part +of that education which he had lost while in the army. There, also, he +addicted himself for some time to a sober and quiet life, but soon after +giving way to his old roving disposition, he went away from his master, +and listed himself again in the army in one of the regiments of Guards. + +His behaviour the last time of his being in the service was honest and +regular, his officers giving him a very good character, and nobody else +a bad one; but happening to be one day commanded on a party to mount +guard at the Admiralty Office, by Charing Cross, they met a man and +woman. The man's name was John Ransom, and this Hawksworth stepping up +to the woman and going to kiss her, Ransom interposed and pushed him +off, upon which Hawksworth knocked him down with the butt end of his +piece, by which blow about nine o'clock that evening he died. + +The prisoner insisted continually that as he had no design to kill the +man it was not wilful murder. He and Tyrrell died with less confusion +and seeming concern than most malefactors do. Tyrrell was about thirty +and Hawksworth in the twenty-eighth year of his age, on the 17th of +June, 1723. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM DUCE, a Notorious Highwayman and Footpad + + +However hardened some men may appear during the time they are acting +their crimes and while hopes of safety of life remains, yet when these +are totally lost and death, attended with ignominy and reproach, stares +them in the face, they seldom fail to lay aside their obstinacy; or, if +they do not, it is through a stupid want of consideration, either of +themselves or of their condition. + +William Duce, of whom we are now to speak, was one of the most cruel and +abandoned wretches that ever went on the road. He was born at +Wolverhampton, but of what parents, or in what manner he lived until his +coming up to London, I am not able to say. He had not been long here +before he got in debt with one Allom, who arrested him and threw him +into Newgate, where he remained a prisoner upwards of fifteen months; +here it was that he learnt those principles of villainy which he +afterwards put in practice. + +His companions were Dyer, Butler, Rice and some others whom I shall have +occasion to mention. The first of December, 1722, he and one of his +associates crossing Chelsea Fields, overtook a well-dressed gentleman, a +tall strong-limbed man, who having a sword by his side and a good cane +in his hand they were at first in some doubt whether they should attack +him. At last one went on one side and the other on the other, and +clapping at once fast hold of each arm, they thereby totally disabled +him from making a resistance. They took from him four guineas, and tying +his wrists and ankles together, left him bound behind the hedge. + +Not long after he, with two others, planned to rob in St. James's Park. +Accordingly they seized a woman who was walking on the grass near the +wall towards Petty France, and after they had robbed her got over the +wall and made their escape. About this time his first acquaintance began +with Dyer, who was the great occasion of this poor fellow's ruin, whom +he continually plagued to go out a-robbing, and sometimes threatened him +if he did not. In Tottenham Court Road, they attacked a gentleman, who +being intoxicated with wine, either fell from his horse, or was thrown +off by them, from whom they took only a gold watch. Then Butler and Dyer +being in his company, they robbed Mr. Holmes of Chelsea, of a guinea and +twopence, the fact for which he and Butler died. + +Thinking the town dangerous after all these robberies, and finding the +country round about too hot to hold them, they went into Hampshire and +there committed several robberies, attended with such cruelties as have +not for many years been heard of in England; and though these actions +made a great noise, yet it was some weeks before any of them were +apprehended. + +On the Portsmouth Road it happened they fell upon one Mr. Bunch, near a +wood side, where they robbed and stripped him naked; yet not thinking +themselves secure, Duce turned and fired at his head. He took his aim so +true that the bullet entered the man's cheek, upon which he fell with +the agony of pain, turning his head downwards that the bullet might drop +out of his mouth. Seeing that, Butler turned back and began to charge +his pistol. The man fell down on his knees and humbly besought his life. +Perceiving the villain was implacable, he took the advantage before the +pistol was charged to take to his heels, and being better acquainted +with the way than they, escaped to a neighbouring village which he +raised, and soon after it the whole country; upon which they were +apprehended. Mead, Wade and Barking, were condemned at Winchester +assizes, but this malefactor and Butler were removed by an _Habeas +Corpus_ to Newgate. + +While under sentence of death, Duce laid aside all that barbarity and +stubbornness with which he had formerly behaved, with great frankness +confessed all the villainies he had been guilty of, and at the place of +execution delivered the following letter for the evidence Dyer, who as +he said, had often cheated them of their shares of the money they took +from passengers, and had now sworn away their lives. + + The Letter of William Duce to John Dyer + + It is unnecessary for me to remind you of the many wicked and + barbarous actions which in your company and mostly by your advice, + have been practised upon innocent persons. Before you receive this, + I shall have suffered all that the law of man can inflict for my + offences. You will do well to reflect thereon, and make use of that + mercy which you have purchased at the expense of our blood, to + procure by a sincere repentance the pardon also of God; without + which, the lengthening of your days will be but a misfortune, and + however late, your crimes if you pursue them, will certainly bring + you after us to this ignominious place. + + You ought especially to think of the death of poor Rice, who fell in + the midst of his sins, without having so much as time to say, _Lord + have mercy on me._ God who has been so gracious as to permit it to + you, will expect a severe account of it, and even this warning, if + neglected, shall be remembered against you. Do not however think + that I die in any wrath or anger with you, for what you swore at my + trial. I own myself guilty of that for which I suffer, and I as + heartily and freely forgive you, as I hope forgiveness for myself, + from that infinitely merciful Being, to whose goodness and + providence I recommend you. + + WILLIAM DUCE + +He also wrote another letter to one Mr. R. W., who had been guilty of +some offences of the like nature in his company, but who for some time +had retired and lived honestly and privately, was no longer addicted to +such courses, nor as he hoped would relapse into them again. At the time +of his execution he was about twenty-five years of age, and suffered at +Tyburn on the 5th of August, 1723. + + + + +The Life of JAMES BUTLER, a Most notorious Highwayman, Footpad, etc. + + +James Butler was the son of a very honest man in the parish of St. +Ann's, Soho, who gave him what education it was in his power to bestow, +and strained his circumstances to the utmost to put him apprentice to a +silversmith. James had hardly lived with him six months when his roving +inclination pushed him upon running away and going to sea, which he did, +with one Captain Douglass in a man-of-war. + +Here he was better used than most young people are at the first setting +out in a sailor's life. The captain being a person of great humanity and +consideration, treated James with much tenderness, taking him to wait on +himself, and never omitting any opportunity to either encourage or +reward him. But even then Butler could not avoid doing some little +thieving tricks, which very much grieved and provoked his kind +benefactor, who tried by all means, fair and foul, to make him leave +them off. One day, particularly, when he had been caught opening one of +the men's chests and a complaint was thereupon made to the captain, he +was called into the great cabin, and everybody being withdrawn except +the captain, calling him to him, he spoke in these terms. + +_Butler, I have always treated you with more kindness and indulgence +than perhaps anybody in your station has been used with on board any +ship. You do, therefore, very wrong by playing such tricks as make the +men uneasy, to put it out of my power to do you any good. We are now +going home, where I must discharge you, for as I had never any +difference with the crew since I commanded the_ Arundel, _I am +determined not to let you become the occasion of it now. There is two +guineas for you, I will take care to have you sent safe to your mother._ + +The captain performed all his promises, but Butler continued still in +the same disposition, and though he made several voyages in other ships, +yet still continued light-fingered, and made many quarrels and +disturbances on board, until at last he could find nobody who knew him +that would hire him. The last ship he served in was the _Mary_, Capt. +Vernon commander, from which ship he was discharged and paid off at +Portsmouth, in August, 1721. + +Having got, after this, into the gang with Dyer, Duce, Rice and others, +they robbed almost always on the King's Road, between Buckingham House +and Chelsea. On the 27th of April, 1723, after having plundered two or +three persons on the aforesaid road, they observed a coach coming +towards them, and a footman on horseback riding behind it. As soon as +they came in sight Dyer determined with himself to attack them, and +forced his companions into the same measures by calling out to the +coachman to stop, and presenting his pistols. The fellow persisted a +little, and Dyer was cocking his pistol to discharge it at him, when the +ladies' footman from behind the coach, fired amongst them, and killed +Joseph Rice upon the spot. + +This accident made such an impression upon Butler that though he +continued to rob with them a day or two longer, yet as soon as he had an +opportunity he withdrew and went to hard labour with one Cladins, a very +honest man, at the village called Wandsworth, in Surrey. He had not +wrought there long, before some of his gang had been discovered. His +wife was seized and sent to Bridewell in order to make her discover +where her husband was, who had been impeached with the rest. This +obliged him to leave his place, and betake himself again to robbing. + +Going with his companions, Wade, Meads, Garns and Spigget, they went +into the Gravesend Road, and there attacking four gentlemen, Meads +thought it would contribute to their safety to disable the servant who +rode behind, upon which he fired at him directly, and shot him through +the breast. Not long after, they set upon another man, whom Meads +wounded likewise in the same place, and then setting him on his horse, +bid him ride to Gravesend. But the man turning the beast's head the +other way, Meads went back again, and shot him in the face, of which +wound he died. + +When Butler lay under sentence of death he readily confessed whatever +crimes he had committed, but he, as well as the before-mentioned +criminal, charged much of his guilt upon the persuasions of the evidence +Dyer. He particularly owned the fact of shooting the man at Farnham. +Having always professed himself a Papist, he died in that religion, at +the same time with the afore-mentioned criminal, at Tyburn. + + + + +The Life of CAPTAIN JOHN MASSEY, who died for Piracy + + +The gentleman of whom we are now to speak, though he suffered for +piracy, was a man of another turn of mind than any of whom we have +hitherto had occasion to mention. Captain John Massey was of a family I +need not dwell on, since he hath at present two brothers living who make +a considerable figure in their respective professions. + +This unhappy person had a natural vivacity in his temper, which +sometimes rose to such a height that his relations took it for a degree +of madness. They, therefore, hoping by a compliance with his humours to +bring him to a better sense of things, sent him into the army then in +Flanders, under the command of the Duke of Marlborough; and there he +assisted at the several sieges which were undertaken by the Confederate +army after his arrival, viz., Mons, Douai, Bouchain, and several others. +Yet though he was bold there, even to temerity, he never received so +much as one wound through the whole course of the war, in which, after +the siege of Lille, he commanded as a lieutenant, and that with great +reputation. + +On his return into England he at first wholly addicted himself to a +religious sober life, the several accidents of the war having disposed +him to a more serious temper by making him plainly perceive the hand of +Providence in protecting and destroying, according as its wisdom seeth +fit. But after a short stay in London, he unhappily fell into the +acquaintance of a lewd woman, who so besotted him that he really +intended to marry her, if the regiment's going to Ireland had not +prevented it. But there the case was not much mended, since Captain +Massey gave too much way to the debaucheries generally practised in that +nation. + +On his coming back from thence, by the recommendation of the Duke of +Chandois, he was made by the Royal African Company a lieutenant colonel +in their service, and an engineer for erecting a fort on the Coast of +Africa. He promised himself great advantage and a very honourable +support from this employment, but he and the soldiers under his command +being very ill used by the person who commanded the ship in which he +went over (being denied their proportion of provisions and in all other +respects treated with much indignity) it made a great impression on +Captain Massey's mind, who could not bear to see numbers of those poor +creatures perish, not only without temporal necessities, but wanting +also the assistance of a divine in their last moments. For the chaplain +of the ship remained behind in the Maderas, on a foresight perhaps, of +the miseries he should have suffered in the voyage. + +In this miserable condition were things when the Captain and his +soldiers came into the River Gambia, where the designed fort was to be +built. Here the water was so bad that the poor wretches, already in the +most dreadful condition, were many of them deprived of life a few days +after they were on shore. The Captain was excessively troubled at the +sight of their misfortunes and too easily in hopes of relieving them +gave way to the persuasion of a captain[29] of a lighter vessel than his +own, who arrived in that port, and persuaded him to turn pirate rather +than let his men starve. + +After repeated solicitations, Captain Massey and his men went on board +this ship, and having there tolerable good provisions, soon picked up +their strength and took some very considerable prizes. At the plundering +of these Massey was confused and amazed, not knowing well what to do, +for though he was glad to see his men have meat, yet it gave him great +trouble when he reflected on the methods by which they acquired it. In +this disconsolate state his night was often so troublesome to him as his +days, for, as he himself said, he seldom shut his eyes but he dreamt +that he was sailing in a ship to the gallows, with several others round +him. + +After a considerable space, the ship putting into the island of Jamaica +for necessary supply of water and provision, he made his escape to the +Governor, and gave him such information that he took several vessels +thereby; but not being easy there, he desired leave of Sir Nicholas Laws +to return home. Sir Nicholas gave him letters of recommendation, but +notwithstanding those, he no sooner returned in England but he was +apprehended and committed for piracy. Soon after which he was bailed; +but the persons who became security growing uneasy, he surrendered in +their discharge, soon after which he was tried, convicted and +condemned. + +During the space he remained in prison under condemnation he behaved +with so much gravity, piety and composedness, as surprised all who saw +him, many of whom were inclined to think his case hard. No mercy was to +be had and as he did not expect it, so false hopes never troubled his +repose; but as death was to cut him off from the world, so he beforehand +retired all his affections from thence and thought of nothing but that +state whither he was going. + +In his passage to execution he pointed to the African House,[30] said, +_They have used me severely, but I pray God prosper and bless them in +all their undertakings._ + +Mr. Nicholson, of St. Sepulchre's, attended him in his last moments. +Just before he died he read the following speech to the people. + + Good People, + + I beg of you to pray for my departing soul. I likewise pray God to + forgive all the evidences that swore against me, as I do from my + heart. I challenge all the world to say I ever did a dishonourable + act or anything unlike a gentleman, but what might be common to all + young fellows in this age. This was surely a rash action, but I did + not designedly turn pirate. I am sorry for it, and I wish it were in + my power to make amends to the Honourable African Company for what + they have lost by my means. I likewise declare upon the word of a + dying man that I never once thought of molesting his Grace the Duke + of Chandois, although it has been maliciously reported that I always + went with two loaded pistols to dispatch his Grace. As for the Duke, + I was always, while living, devoted to his service, for his good + offices done unto me, and I humbly beg Almighty God, that He would + be pleased to pour down His blessings upon his good family. Good + people, once more I beg of you to pray for my departing soul. I + desire my dying words to be printed, as for the truth and sincerity + of it, I sign them as a man departing this world. + + John Massey + +After he had pronounced these words, he signified it as his last request +that neither his wife, nor any of his relations might see his body after +it was in the coffin. Then praying a few moments to himself he submitted +to his fate, being at the time of his death twenty-eight years old. He +suffered at high-water mark, Execution Dock, on the 26th of July, 1723, +his unhappy death being universally pitied. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [29] This was Captain George Lowther, a redoubtable pirate. A + more complete Story of Massey's adventures is given in Johnson's + _History of the Pirates._ + + [30] In Leadenhall Street, along which he would pass on the way + to Wapping. + + + + +The Life of PHILIP ROCHE, a Pirate, etc. + + +As in the life of Captain Massey, my readers cannot but take notice of +those great evils into which men are brought by over-forwardness and +inconsideration, so in the life of the malefactor we are now to speak +of, they will discern what a prodigious pitch of wickedness, rapine and +cruelty, human nature is capable of reaching unto, when people abandon +themselves to a desire of living after their own wicked inclinations, +without considering the injuries they do others while they gratify their +own lusts and sensual pleasures. + +Philip Roche[31] was the son of a person of the same name in Ireland. +His father gave him all the education his narrow circumstances would +permit which extended however to reading and writing a tolerable good +hand, after which he sent him to sea. Philip was a lad of ingenious +parts, and instead of forgetting, as many do, all they have learnt, he +on the contrary took all imaginable care to perfect himself in +whatsoever he had but a slight notion of before he went to sea. He made +abundance of coasting voyages about his native island, went once or +twice to Barbadoes, and being a saving and industrious young fellow, +picked up money enough to become first mate in a trading vessel to +Nantes in France, by which being suffered to buy goods himself, he got +considerably, and was in a fair way to attaining as great a fortune as +he could reasonably expect. But this slow method of getting money did by +no means satisfy Roche; he was resolved to grow rich at once, and not +wait till much labour and many voyages had made him so. + +When men once form to themselves such designs, it is not long before +they find companions fit for their purpose. Roche soon met with one +Neal, a fisherman of no education, barbarous but very daring, a fellow +who had all the qualities that could conspire to make a dangerous +villain, and who had already inured himself to the commission of +whatever was black or bloody, not only without remorse but without +reluctance. Neal recommended him to one Pierce Cullen, as a proper +associate in those designs they were contriving; for this Cullen, as +Neal informed him, was a fellow of principles and qualifications much +like himself, but had somewhat a better capacity for executing them, and +with Neal had been concerned in sinking a ship, after insuring her both +in London and Amsterdam. But Providence had disappointed them in the +success of their wicked design for Cullen having been known, or at +least suspected of doing such a thing before, those with whom they had +insured at London, instead of their paying the money, caused him to be +seized and brought to a trial, which demolished all their schemes for +cheating insurance offices. + +Cullen brought in his brother to their confederacy, and after abundance +of solicitation induced Wise to come in likewise. The project they had +formed was to seize some light ship, and turn pirates in her, conceiving +it no difficult matter afterwards to obtain a stronger vessel, and one +better fitted for their purpose. + +The ship they pitched on to execute this their villainous purpose was +that of Peter Tartoue, a Frenchman of a very generous disposition, who +on Roche and his companions telling him a melancholy story, readily +entertained them; and perceiving Roche was an experienced sailor, he +entrusted him upon any occasion with the care and command of the ship. +Having done so one night, himself and the chief mate with the rest of +the French who were on board went to rest, except a man and a boy, whom +Roche commanded to go up and furl the sails. He then called the rest of +his Irish associates to him upon the quarter-deck. There Roche, +perceiving that Francis Wise began to relent, and fearing he should +persuade others in the same measures, he told them that if every +Irishman on board did not assist in destroying the French, and put him +and Cullen in a capacity of retrieving the losses they had had at sea, +they would treat whoever hesitated in obeying them with as little mercy +as they did the Frenchmen; but if they would all assist, they should all +fare alike, and have a share in the booty. + +Upon this the action began, and two of them running up after the +Frenchman and boy, one tossed the lad by the arm into the water, and the +other driving the man down upon the deck he there had his brains dashed +out by Roche and his companions. They fell next upon those who were +retired to their rest, some of whom, upon the shrieks of the man and boy +who were murdered, rising hastily out of their beds and running up upon +deck to see what occasioned those dismal noises, were murdered +themselves before they well knew where they were. The mate and the +captain were next brought up, and Roche went immediately to binding them +together, in order to toss them overboard, as had been consulted. 'Twas +in vain for poor Tartoue to plead the kindness he had done them all and +particularly Roche. They were deaf to all sentiments, either of +gratitude or pity, and though the poor men entreated only so much time +as to say their prayers, and recommend themselves to God, yet the +villains (though they could be under no apprehensions, having already +murdered all the rest of the men) would not even yield to this, but +Cullen hastened Roche in binding them back to back, to toss them at once +into the sea. Then hurrying down into the cabin, they tapped a little +barrel of rum to make themselves good cheer, and laughed at the cries of +the two poor drowned men, whom they distinctly heard calling upon God, +until their voices and their breaths were lost in the waves. + +After having drunk and eaten their fill, with as much mirth and jollity +as if they had been at a feast, they began to plunder the vessel, +breaking open the chests, and taking out of them what they thought +proper. Then to drinking they went again, pleasing themselves with the +barbarous expedition which they resolved to undertake as soon as they +could get a ship proper to carry them into the West Indies, intending +there to follow the example the buccaneers had set them, and rob and +plunder all who fell into their hands. From these villainies in +intention, the present state of their affairs called upon them to make +some provision for their immediate safety. They turned therefore into +the Channel, and putting the ship into Portsmouth, there got her new +painted and then sailed for Amsterdam, Roche being unanimously +recognised their captain, and all of them promising faithfully to submit +to him through the course of their future expeditions. + +On their arrival in Holland, they had the ship a second time new +painted, and thinking themselves now safe from all discovery began to +sell off Captain Tartoue's cargo as fast as they could. No sooner had +they completed this, but getting one Mr. Annesley to freight them with +goods to England (himself also going as a passenger) they resolved with +themselves to make prise of him and his effects, as they had also done +with the French captain. Mr. Annesley, poor man, little dreaming of +their design, came on board as soon as the wind served; and the next +night a brisk gale blowing, they tore him suddenly out of his bed and +tossed him over. Roche and Cullen being with others in the great cabin, +he swam round and round the ship, called out to them, and told them they +should freely have all his goods if they would take him in and save his +life, for he had friends and fortunes enough in England to make up that +loss. But his entreaties were all vain to a set of wretches who had long +ago abandoned all sentiments of humour and mercy. They therefore +caroused as usual, and after sharing the booty, steered the vessel for +England. + +Some information of their villainies had by that time reached thither, +so that upon a letter being stopped at the post office, which Roche, as +soon as they had landed, had written to his wife, a messenger was +immediately sent down, who brought Philip up in custody. Being brought +to the Council table, and there examined, he absolutely denied either +that himself was Philip Roche, or that he knew of any one of that name. +But his letters under his own hand to his wife being produced, he was +not able any longer to stand in that falsehood. + +Yet those in authority knowing that there was not legal proof sufficient +to bring these abominable men to justice, offered Roche his life, +provided he gave such information that they might be able to apprehend +and convict any three of his companions more wicked than himself; but he +was so far from complying therewith that he suffered those of his crew +who were taken to perish in custody rather than become an evidence +against them. This was the fate of Neal, who perished of want in the +Marshalsea, having in vain petitioned for a trunk in which was a large +quantity of money, clothes and other things to a considerable value, +which had been seized in Ireland by virtue of a warrant from the Lord +Justice of that Kingdom, on the account of the detention of which, while +he perished for want of necessaries and clothes, Neal most heavily +complained, forgetting that these very things were the plunder of those +unhappy persons whom they had so barbarously murdered, after having +received so much kindness and civility from them. + +In the meanwhile Roche, being confined in Newgate, went constantly to +the chapel and appeared of so obliging a temper that many persuaded +themselves he could not be guilty of the bloody crimes laid to his +charge; and taking advantage of these kind thoughts of theirs, he framed +a new story in defence of himself. He said that there happened a quarrel +on board the ship between an Irishman and a Frenchman, and that Tartoue +taking part with his own nation, threatened to lash the Irishman +severely, though he was not in any way in the wrong. This, he pretended, +begat a general quarrel between the two nations, and the Irish being the +stronger, they overpowered and threw the French overboard in the heat of +their anger, without considering what they did. + +Throughout the whole time he lay in Newgate, he very much delighted +himself with the exercise of his pen, continually writing upon one +subject or other, and often assisting his fellow prisoners in writing +letters or whatever else they wanted in that kind. When he was told that +Neal, who died in the Marshalsea, gushed out at all parts of his body +with Wood, so that before he expired he was as if he had been dipped in +gore, Roche replied, it was a just judgment that he who had always +lived in blood, should die covered with it. + +Sometime afterwards, being told that one of his companions had poisoned +himself he said, Alas! that so evil an end should follow so evil a life; +for his part he would suffer Providence to take its course with him, and +rather die the most ignominious death than to his other crimes add that +of self-murder. The rest who had been apprehended dying one by one in +the same dreadful condition with Neal, that is, with the blood gushing +from every part of their body, which looked so much like a judgment that +all who saw it were amazed, he (Roche) began to think himself perfectly +safe after the death of his companions, supposing that now there was +nobody to bear any testimony against him; and therefore, instead of +appearing in any way dismayed, he most earnestly desired the speedy +approach of an Admiralty sessions. It was not long before it happened +and when he found what evidence would be produced against him, he +appeared much less solicitous about his trial than anybody in his +condition would have been expected to be, for he very well knew it was +impossible for them to prove him guilty of the murders and as impossible +for him to be acquitted of the piracy. + +After receiving sentence of death, he declared himself a Papist, and +said that he could no longer comply with the service of the Church of +England, and come to the chapel. He did not, however, think that he was +in any danger of death, but supposed that the promises which had been +made him on this first examination would now take place and prevent the +execution of his sentence. When, therefore, the messenger returned from +Hanover[32], and brought an express order that he should die, he +appeared exceedingly moved thereat, and without reflecting at all on the +horrid and barbarous treatment with Which he had used others, he could +not forbear complaining of the great hardship he suffered in being put +into the death warrant, after a promise had been made him of life, +though nothing is more certain than that he never performed any part of +those conditions upon which it was to have taken place. + +At the place of execution he was so faint, confused, and in such a +consternation that he could not speak either to the people, or to those +who were nearer at hand, dying with the greatest marks of dejection and +confusion that could possibly be seen in any criminal whatever. He was +about thirty years old at the time of his execution, which was at +high-water mark, Execution Dock, on the 14th of August, 1723. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [31] A detailed account of this villain is given in Johnson's + _History of the Pirates._ + + [32] Where the warrant had evidently been taken for the + signature of the king or a minister. + + + + +The Life of HUMPHRY ANGIER, a Highwayman and Footpad + + +From the life of Roche, the course of those papers from which I extract +these accounts leads me to mention this criminal, that the deaths of +malefactors may not only terrify those who behold them dying, but also +posterity, who, by hearing their crimes and the event which they brought +on, may avoid falling into the one, for fear of feeling the other. + +Humphry Angier was by birth of the Kingdom of Ireland, his father being +a man in very ordinary circumstances in a little town a few miles +distant from Dublin. As soon as this son was able to do anything, he +sent him to the city of Cork, and there bound him apprentice to a +cooper. His behaviour while an apprentice was so bad that his master +utterly despaired to do any good with him, and therefore was not sorry +that he ran away from him. However, he found a way to vex him +sufficiently, for he got into a crew of loose fellows, which so far +frightened the old cooper that he was at a considerable expense to hire +persons to watch his house for the four years that Angier loitered about +that city. At last his father even took him from thence, and brought him +over into England where he left him at full liberty to do what he +thought fit; resolving with himself that if his son would take to +ill-courses, it should be where the fame of his villainies might not +reflect upon him and his family. + +He was now near eighteen years of age and being in some fear that some +persons whom he had wronged might bring him into danger, he listed +himself in the king's service, and went down with a new raised regiment +into Scotland, where he hoped to make something by plundering the +inhabitants, it being in the time of the Rebellion[33]. But he did not +succeed very well there, and on his return fell into the company of +William Duce, whom we have mentioned before. His conversation soon +seduced him to follow the same course of life, and that their intimacy +might be the more strongly knit, he married Duce's sister. Then engaging +himself with all that gang, he committed abundance of robberies in their +company, but was far from falling into that barbarous manner of beating +the passengers which was grown customary and habitual to Mead, Butler, +and some others of his and Duce's companions. + +Angier told a particular story of them, which made a very great +impression upon him, and cannot but give my readers of an idea of that +horrible spirit which inspired those wretches. Mead and Butler came one +evening to him very full of their exploits, and the good luck they had +had. Mead particularly, having related every circumstance which had +happened since their last parting, said that amongst others whom they +had robbed they met a smooth-faced shoemaker, who said he was just +married and going home to his friends. They persuaded him to turn out of +the road to look in the hedge for a bird's nest, whither he was no +sooner got, but they bound, gagged and robbed him, and afterwards +turning back, barbarously clapped a pistol to his head and shot out his +brains. After this Angier declared he would never drink in the company +of Mead, and when Butler sometimes talked after the same manner, he used +to reprove him by telling him that cruelty was no courage, at which +Butler and some of his companions sometimes laughed, and told him he had +singular notions of courage. + +After this, he and his wife (Duce's sister) set up a little alehouse by +Charing Cross, which soon against his will, though not without his +consent, became a bawdy-house, a receptacle for thieves, etc. This sort +of company rendered his house so suspicious and so obnoxious to the +magistrates for the City of Westminster, that he quickly found the +necessity of moving from thence. He then went and set up a brandy-shop, +where the same people came, though as he pretended much to his +dissatisfaction. While he kept the alehouse, there were two odd +accidents befell him, which brought him for the first time to Newgate. +It happened that while he was out one day, a Dutch woman picked up a +gentleman and brought him to Angier's house, where, while he was asleep, +she picked his pocket and left him. For this Angier and his maid were +taken up, and tried at the Old Bailey. He was also at the same time +tried for another offence, viz., an Irishwoman coming to his house and +drinking pretty hard there, he at last carried her upstairs, and +throwing her upon a bed pretended a great affection for her person; but +his wife coming in and pretending to be jealous of the woman, pulled her +off the bed and in so doing picked her pocket of four guineas. But of +this there being no direct evidence against him, he was also acquitted. +However, it ruined his house and credit, and drove him upon what was too +much his inclination, the taking money by force upon the road. + +He now got into an acquaintance with Carrick, Carrol, Lock, Kelly, and +many others of that stamp, with whom he committed several villainies, +but always pretending to be above picking pockets, which he said was +practised by none of their crew but Hugh Kelly, who was a very dextrous +fellow in his way. However, when Angier was in custody, abundance of +people applied to him to help them to their gold watches, snuff-boxes, +etc.; but as he told them, so he persisted in it always, that he knew +nothing of the matter; and Kelly being gone over into America and there +settled, there was no hopes of getting any of them again. + +One evening he and Milksop, one of his companions, being upon the road +to St. Albans, a little on this side of it, met a gentleman's coach, and +in it a young man and two ladies. They immediately called to the +coachman to stop, but he neglecting to obey their summons, they knocked +him off from the box, having first prevented him from whipping off, by +shooting one of his horses. They then dragged him under the coach, which +running over him hurt him exceedingly and even endangered his life. Then +they robbed the young gentleman and the ladies of whatever they had +about them valuable, using them very rudely and stripping things off +them in a very harsh and cruel way. Angier excused this by saying at the +time he did it he was much in liquor. + +In the beginning of the year '20, Angier, who had so long escaped +punishment for the offences which he had committed, was very near +suffering for one in which he had not the least hand; for a person of +quality's coachman being robbed of a watch and some money, a woman of +the town, whom Angier and one of his companions had much abused, was +thereupon taken up, having attempted to pawn the fellow's watch after he +had advertised it. She played the hypocrite very dexterously upon her +apprehension, and said that the robbery was not committed by her, but +that Angier, Armstrong and another young man were the persons who took +it, and by her help they were seized and committed to Newgate. At the +ensuing sessions the woman swore roundly against them, but the fellow +being more tender, and some circumstances of their innocence plainly +appearing, they were acquitted by the jury and that very justly in this +case in which they had no hand. + +During the time he lay under sentence, he behaved himself with much +penitence for another offence, always calling earnestly to God for His +assistance and grace to comfort him under those heavy sorrows which his +follies and crimes had so justly brought upon him. + +At the place of execution he did not appear at all terrified at death, +but submitted to it with the same resignation which for a long space he +had professed since his being under confinement. Immediately before he +suffered he recollected his spirits and spoke in the following terms to +that crowd which always attends on such melancholy occasions. + + Good People, + + I see many of you here assembled to behold my wretched end. I hope + it will induce you to avoid those evils which have brought me + hither. Sometime before my being last taken up, I had formed within + myself most steady purposes of amendment, which it is a great + comfort to me, even here that I never broke them, having lived at + Henley upon Thames, both with a good reputation, and in a manner + which deserved it. I heartily forgive and I hope God would do the + same to Dyer, whose evidence hath taken away my life. I hope he will + make a good use of that time which the price of my blood and that of + others has procured him. I heartily desire pardon of all whom I have + injured and declare that in the several robberies I have committed, + I have been always careful to avoid committing any murder. + +After this he adjusted the rope about his own neck, and submitted to +that sentence which the Law directed, being at that time about +twenty-nine years of age. He suffered on the 9th of September, 1723. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [33] The Jacobite rising of 1715. + + + + +The Life of CAPTAIN STANLEY, a Murderer + + +There cannot be a greater misfortune than to want education, except it +be the having a bad one. The minds of young persons are generally +compared to paper on which we may write whatever we think fit, but if it +be once blurred and blotted with improper characters, it becomes much +harder to impress proper sentiments thereon, because those which were +first there must be totally erased. This seems to have been too much the +case with the unhappy person of whom the thread of these narrations +requires that I should speak, viz., Captain Stanley. + +This unhappy young gentleman was the son of an officer in the army who +married the sister of Mr. Palmer, of Duce Hill, in Essex, where she was +brought to bed of this unfortunate son John, in the year 1698. The first +rudiments he received were those of cruelty and blood, his father at +five years old often parrying and thrusting him with a sword, pricking +him himself and encouraging other officers to play with him in the same +manner, so that his boy, as old Stanley phrased it, might never be +afraid of a point--a wretched method of bringing up a child and which +was highly likely to produce the sad end he came to. + +He served afterwards in the army with his father in Spain and Portugal, +where he suffered hardships enough, but they did not very much affect +him, who acquired by his hopeful education so savage a temper as to +delight in nothing so much as trampling on the dead carcasses in the +fields after an engagement. + +Returning into England with his father, old Stanley had the misfortune +to slab a near relation of my Lord Newbury's, in the Tilt Yard,[34] for +which he was committed prisoner to Newgate. Afterwards being released +and commanded into Ireland, he carried over with him this son John and +procured for him an ensign's commission in a regiment there. Poor young +Stanley's sprightly temper gained him abundance of acquaintance and (if +it be not to profane the name) of friends amongst the young rakes in +Ireland, some of whom were persons of very great quality, and had such +an affection for him as to continue their visits and relieve his +necessities when under his last misfortunes in Newgate. But such company +involving him at that time in expenses he was no way able to support, he +was obliged shortly to part for ready money with his ensign's +commission, which gave his father great pain and uneasiness. + +Not long after, he came again into England and to London, where he +pursued the same methods, though his father importuned him to apply to +General Stanhope, as a person he was sure would assist him, having been +always a friend to their family, and particularly to old Stanley +himself. But Jack was become a favourite with the ladies, and had taken +an easier road to what he accounted happiness, living either upon the +benevolence of friends, the fortune of the dice, or the favours of the +sex. A continual round of sensual delights employed his time, and he was +so far from endeavouring to attain any other commission or employment in +order to support him, that there was nothing he so much feared as his +being obliged to quit that life he loved; for old Stanley was +continually soliciting for him, and as he had very good interest, +nothing but his son's notorious misbehaviour made him not prevail. In +the current of his extravagancies Jack fixed himself often upon young +men coming into the world, and under pretence of being their tutor in +the fashionable vices of the town, shared in their pleasures and helped +them squander their estates. + +Of this stamp was a gay young Yorkshire squire, who by the death of an +uncle and by the loss of his father while a boy, had had so little +education as not to know how to use it. Him Stanley got hold of, and +persuaded him that nothing was so advantageous to a young gentleman as +travel, and drew him to make a tour of Flanders and Holland in his +company. Though a very wild young fellow, Stanley gave a very tolerable +account of the places, especially the fortifications which he had seen, +and sufficiently demonstrated how capable he might have been of making +an exalted figure in the world, if due care had been taken to furnish +him with any principles in his youth. But the neglect of that undid him, +and every opportunity which he afterwards had of acquiring anything, +instead of making him an accomplished gentleman, did him mischief. Thus +his journey to Paris in company with the afore-mentioned gentleman +helped him to an opportunity of learning to fence to the greatest +perfection, so that the skill he was sensible he had in the sword made +him ever ready to quarrel and seek occasions to use it. + +Amongst the multitude of his amours he became acquainted and +passionately fond of one Mrs. Maycock, whose husband was once an eminent +tradesman upon Ludgate Hill. By her he had a child of which also he was +very fond. This woman was the source of the far greater part of his +misfortunes, for when his father had procured him a handsome commission +in the service of the African Company, and he had received a +considerable sum of money for his voyage, appearing perfectly satisfied +himself, and behaving in so grave and decent a manner as filled his +family and relations with very agreeable hopes, they were all blasted by +Mrs. Maycock's coming with her child to Portsmouth, where he was to +embark. She so far prevailed upon his inclinations as to get him to give +her one half of the Company's money and to return to town with the other +half himself. On his coming up to London he avoided going to his +father's, who no sooner heard how dishonourably his son had behaved, but +laying it more to heart than all the rest of his misfortunes, grief in a +short time put an end to them all by his death. + +When the news of it came to young Stanley, he fell into transports of +grief and passion, which as many of his intimate companions said, so +disturbed his brain that he never afterwards was in a right temper. +This, indeed, appeared by several accidents, some of which were sworn at +his trial, particularly that while he lodged in the house of Mr. +Underhill, somebody having quoted a sentence of Latin in his company, he +was so disturbed at the thoughts of his having had such opportunities of +acquiring the knowledge of that language and yet continuing ignorant +thereof, through his negligence and debauchery, that it made at that +time so strong an impression on his spirits, that starting up, he drew +a penknife and attempted to stab himself, without any other cause of +passion. At other times he would fall into sudden and grievous rages, +either at trifles, or at nothing at all, abuse his best friends, and +endeavour to injure himself, and then coming to a better temper, begged +them to forgive him, for he did not know what he did. + +During the latter part of his life, his circumstances were so bad that +he was reduced to doing many dirty actions which I am persuaded +otherwise would not have happened, such as going into gentlemen's select +companies at taverns, without any other ceremony than telling them that +his impudence must make him welcome to a dinner with them, after which, +instead of thanking them for their kindness, he would often pick a +quarrel with them, though strangers, drawing his sword and fighting +before he left the room. Such behaviour made him obnoxious to all who +were not downright debauchees like himself, and hindered persons of rank +conversing with him as they were wont. + +In the meantime his favourite Mrs. Maycock, whom he had some time lived +with as a wife and even prevailed with his mother to visit her as such, +being no longer able to live at his rate, or bear with his temper, +frequented a house in the Old Bailey, where it was supposed, and perhaps +with truth, that she received other company. This made Stanley very +uneasy, who like most young rakes thought himself at liberty to pursue +as many women as he pleased, but could not forgive any liberties taken +by a woman whom he, forsooth, had honoured with his affections. + +One night therefore, seeing her in Fleet Street with a man and a woman, +he came up to her and gently tapped her on the shoulder. She turning, +cried, _What! My dear Captain!_ And so on they went walking to his house +in the Old Bailey. There some words happened about the mutual +misfortunes they had brought upon one another. Mrs. Maycock reproached +him with seducing her, and bringing on all the miseries she had ever +felt; Stanley reflected on her hindering his voyage to Cape Coast, the +extravagant sums he had spent upon her, and her now conversing with +other men, though she had had three or four children by him. At last +they grew very high, and Mrs. Maycock, who was naturally a very +sweet-tempered woman, was so far provoked, as Stanley said, that she +threw a cup of beer at him; upon which some ill-names passing between +them, Stanley drew his sword and stabbed her between the breasts eight +inches deep; immediately upon which he stopped his handkerchief into the +wound. + +He was quickly secured and committed to Wood Street Compter,[35] where +he expressed very little concern at what had happened, laughing and +giving himself abundance of airs, such as by no means became a man in +his condition. On his commitment to Newgate, he seemed not to abate the +least of that vivacity which was natural to his temper, and as he had +too much mistaken vice for the characteristic of a fine gentleman, so +nothing appeared to him so great a testimony of gallantry and courage as +behaving intrepidly while death was so near its approach. He therefore +entertained all who conversed with him in the prison, and all who +visited him from without, with the history of his amours and the favours +that had been bestowed on him by a multitude of fine ladies. Nay, his +vanity and impudence was so great as to mention some of their names, and +especially to asperse two ladies who lived near Cheapside Conduit.[36] +But there is great reason to believe that part of this was put on to +make his madness more probable at his trial, where he behaved very +oddly, and when he received sentence of death, took snuff at the bar, +and put on abundance of airs that were even ridiculous anywhere, and +shocking and scandalous upon so melancholy an occasion. + +After sentence, his carriage under his confinement altered not so much +as one would have expected; he offering to lay wagers that he should +never be hanged, notwithstanding his sentence, for he was resolved not +to die like a dog on a string, when he had it in his power always to go +out of the world a nobler way, by which he meant either a knife or +opium, which were the two methods by one of which he resolved to prevent +his fate. But when he found that all his pretences of madness were like +to produce nothing, and that he was in danger of dying in every respect +like a brute, he laid aside much of his ill-timed gaiety, and began to +think of preparing for death after another manner. + +These gentlemen who assisted him while in Newgate, were so kind as to +offer to make up a considerable sum of money, if it could have been of +any use; but finding that neither that nor their interest could do +anything to save him, they frankly acquainted him therewith and begged +him not to delude himself with false hopes. All the while he was in +Newgate, a little boy whom he had by Mrs. Maycock, continued with him, +and lay constantly in his bosom. He manifested the utmost tenderness +and concern for that poor child, who by his rashness had been deprived +of his mother, and whom the Law would, by its just sentence, now +likewise deprive of its father. Being told that Mr. Bryan, Mrs. +Maycock's brother on Tower Hill was dead, merely through concern at his +sister's misfortunes and the deplorable end that followed them, Stanley +clapped his hands together and cried, _What, more death still? Sure I am +the most unfortunate wretch that was ever born._ + +Some few days before his execution, talking to one of his friends, he +said, _I am perfectly convinced that it is false courage to avoid the +just sentence of the Law, by executing the rash dictates of one's rage +by one's own head. I am heartily sorry for the rash expression I have +been guilty of, of that sort, and am determined to let the world see my +courage fails me no more in my death than it has done in my life; and, +my dear friend_, added he, _I never felt so much ease, quiet and +satisfaction in all my life, as I have experienced, since my coming to +this resolution._ + +But though he sometimes expressed himself in a serious and religious +manner yet passion would sometimes break in upon him to the last and +make him burst out into frightful and horrid speeches. Then again he +would grow calm and cool, and speak with great seeming sense of God's +providence in his afflictions. + +He was particularly affected with two accidents which happened to him +not long before his death, and which struck him with great concern at +the time they happened. The first of these was a fall from his horse +under Tyburn, in which he was stunned so that he could not recover +strength enough to remount, but was helped on his horse again by the +assistance of two friends. Not long after which, he had as bad an +accident of the same kind under Newgate, which he said, made such an +impression on him, that he did not go abroad for many mornings +afterwards, without recommending himself in the most serious manner to +the Divine protection. + +Another story he also told, with many marks of real thankfulness for the +narrow escape he then made from death, which happened thus. At a +cider-cellar in Covent Garden he fell out with one Captain Chickley, and +challenging him to fight in a dark room, they were then shut up together +for some space. But a constable being sent for by the people of the +house, and breaking the door open, delivered him from being sent +altogether unprepared out of the world, Chickley being much too hard for +him, and having given him a wound quite through the body, himself +escaping with only a slight cut or two. + +As the day of execution drew near, Mr. Stanley appeared more serious +and much more attentive to his devotions than hitherto he had been. Yet +could he not wholly contain himself even then, for the Sunday before he +died, after sermon, at which he had behaved himself decently and +modestly, he broke out into this wild expression, that he was only sorry +he had not fired the whole house where he killed Mrs. Maycock. When he +was reproved for these things he would look ashamed, and say, 'twas +true, they were very unbecoming, but they were what he could not help, +arising from certain starts in his imagination that hurried him into a +short madness, for which he was very sorry as soon as he came to +himself. + +At the place of execution, to which he was conveyed in a mourning coach, +he turned pale, seemed uneasy, and complained that he was very sick, +entreating a gentleman by him to support him with his hand. He desired +to be unbound that he might be at liberty to pray kneeling, which with +some difficulty was granted. He then applied himself to his devotions +with much fervency, and then submitted to his fate, but when the cap was +drawn over his eyes he seemed to shed tears abundantly. Immediately +before he was turned off he said his friends had provided a hearse to +carry away his body and he hoped nobody would be so cruel as to deny his +relations his dead limbs to be interred, adding, that unless he were +assured of this, he could not die in peace. + +Such was the end of a young man in person and capacity every way fitted +to have made a reputable figure in the world, if either his natural +principles, or his education had laid any restraint upon his vices; but +as his passions hurried him beyond all bounds, so they brought a just +end upon themselves, by finishing a life spent in sensual pleasures with +an ignominious death, which happened at Tyburn in the twenty-fifth year +of his age, on the 23rd of December, 1722. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [34] This was an open space, facing the banquetting-house of + old Whitehall, and included part of what is now Horse Guards' + Parade. + + [35] This was one of the sheriff's compters--the other was in + the Poultry--and served for debtors as well as criminals. It + stood about half-way up Wood Street, on the east side. + + [36] There were two conduits in Cheapside; the Great, which + stood in the middle of the street, near its junction with the + Poultry, and the Little, which was at the other end, facing + Foster Lane and Old Change. + + + + +The Life of STEPHEN GARDINER, a Highwayman and Housebreaker + + +Stephen Gardiner was the son of parents of middling circumstances, +living at the time of his birth in Moorfields. This, perhaps, was the +immediate cause of his ruin, since he learnt there, while a boy, to idle +away his time, and to look on nothing as so great a pleasure as gaming +and cudgel playing. This took up equally his time and his thoughts, till +he grew up to about fourteen years old, when his friends placed him out +as an apprentice to a weaver. + +While he was with his master he did so many unlucky tricks as +occasioned not only severe usage at home, but incurred also the dislike +and hatred of all the neighbours; so that instead of interposing to +preserve him from his master's correction, they were continually +complaining and getting him beaten; nay, sometimes when his master was +not ready enough to do it, would beat him themselves. Stephen was so +wearied out with this kind of treatment, notwithstanding it arose solely +from his own fault, that he determined to run away for good and all, +thinking it would be no difficult matter for him to maintain himself, +considering that dexterity with which he played at ninepins, skittles, +etc. But experience quickly convinced him of the contrary, so in one +month being much reduced after betaking himself to this life, by those +misfortunes which were evident enough (though his passion for liberty +and idleness hindered him from foreseeing them) that he had not so much +as bread to eat. + +In this distressed condition he was glad to return home again to his +friends, imploring their charity, and that, forgetting what was passed, +they would be so kind as to relieve him and put him in some method of +providing for himself. Natural affection pleading for him, +notwithstanding all his failings they took him home again, and soon +after put him as a boy on board a corn vessel which traded to Holland +and France; but the swearing, quarrelling and fighting of the sailors so +frightened him, being then very young and unable to cope with them, that +on his return he again implored the tenderness of his relations to +permit his staying in England upon any terms, promising to live in a +most sober and regular manner, provided that he might get his bread by +hard labour at home, and not be exposed to the injuries of wind and +weather and the abuses of seamen more boisterous than both. They again +complied and put him to another trade, but work, it seems, was a thing +no shape could reconcile to him, and so he ran away from thence, too, +and once more put himself for a livelihood upon the contrivance of his +own brain. + +He went immediately to his old employment and old haunt, Moorfields, +where as long as he had any money he played at cards, skittles, etc., +with the chiefs of those villainous gangs that haunt the place; and when +reduced to the want both of money and clothes, he attempted to pick +pockets, or by playing with the lads for farthings to recruit himself. +But pocket-picking was a trade in which he had very ill-luck, for taking +a wig out of a gentleman's pocket at the drawing of the state +lottery,[37] the man suffered him totally to take it out, then seized +him and cried out _Pickpocket._ The boy immediately dropped it, and +giving it a little kick with his foot protected his innocence which +induced a good-natured person there present to stand so far his friend +that he suffered no deeper that bout. But a month after, being taken in +the same manner, and delivered over to the mob, they handled him with +such cruelty as scarce to leave him life, though he often upon his knees +begged them to carry him before a Justice and let him be committed to +Newgate. But the mob were not so to be prevailed on, and this severity, +as he said, cured him effectually of that method of thieving. + +But in the course of his rambling life, becoming acquainted with two +young fellows, whose names were Garraway and Sly, they invited him to go +with them upon some of their expeditions in the night. He absolutely +refused to do anything of that kind for a long time, but one evening, +having been so unlucky as to lose not only his money but all his clothes +off his back, he went in search of Sly and Garraway, who received him +with open arms, and immediately carried him with them upon those +exploits by which they got their living. Garraway proposed robbing of +his brother for their first attempt, which succeeded so far as to their +getting into the house; but they found nothing there but a few clothes +of his brother and sister, which they took away. But Garraway bid them +not be discouraged at the smallness of the booty, for his father's house +was as well furnished as most men's, and their next attack should be +upon that. To this they agreed, and plundered it also, taking away some +spoons, tankards, salts and several other pieces of plate of +considerable value; but a quick search being made, they were all three +apprehended, and Gardiner being the youngest was admitted an evidence +against the other two, who were convicted. + +Some weeks after, Gardiner got his liberty, but being unwarned, he went +on still at the same rate. The first robbery he committed afterwards was +in the house of the father of one of his acquaintances on Addle Hill, +where Gardiner stole softly upstairs into the garret, and stole from +thence some men's apparel to a very considerable value. A while after +this, he became acquainted with Mr. Richard Jones, and with him went +(mounted upon a strong horse) into Wales upon what in the canting +dialect is called "the Passing Lay," which in plain English is thus: +They get countrymen into an alehouse, under pretence of talking about +the sale of cattle, then a pack of cards is found as if by accident, and +the two sharpers fall to playing with one another until one offering to +lay a great wager on the game, staking the money down, the other shows +his hand to the countryman, and convinces him that it is impossible but +he must win, offering to let him go halves in the wager. As soon as the +countryman lays down the money, these sharpers manage so as to pass off +with it, which is the meaning of their cant, and this practice he was +very successful in; the country people in Wales, where they travelled, +having not had opportunity to become acquainted with such bites as those +who live in the counties nearer London have, where the country fellows +are often as adroit as any of the sharpers themselves. + +It happened that the person with whom Stephen travelled had parted with +his wife and at Bristol had received a gold watch and chain, laced +clothes and several other things of value. This immediately put it into +Gardiner's head that he might make his fortune at once, by murdering him +and possessing himself of his goods; knowing also that besides these +valuable things, he had near a hundred guineas about him. In order to +effect this, he stole a large brass pestle out of a mortar, at the next +inn, and carried it unperceived in his boots, intending as he and his +companion rode through the woods to dash his brains out with it. Twice +for this purpose he drew it, but his heart relenting just when he was +going to give the stroke he put it up again. At last it fell out of his +boot and he had much ado to get it pulled up unperceived by his +companion. The next day it dropped again, and Gardiner was so much +afraid of Jones's perceiving it, and himself being thereupon killed from +a suspicion of his design, that he laid aside all further thoughts of +that matter. + +But he took occasion a day or two after to part with him, whereupon the +other as Stephen was going away, called out to him, _Hark ye, you +Gardiner! I'll tell you somewhat._ Gardiner therefore turning back. _You +are going up to London?_ said Jones. _Yes_, replied Gardiner. _Then +trust me_, said the other, _you're going up to be hanged._ + +Between Abergavenny and Monmouth, Gardiner took notice of a little +house, the windows of which were shut up, but the hens and cocks in the +back yard showed that it was inhabited. Gardiner thereupon knocked at +the door several times, to see if anybody was at home, but perceiving +none, he ventured to break open some wooden bars that lay across the +window, and getting in thereat found two boxes full of clothes, and +writings relating to an estate. He took only one gown, as not daring to +load himself with clothes, for fear of being discovered on the road, +being then coming up to London. + +A very short space after his return he committed that fact for which he +died, which was by breaking open the house of Dorcas Roberts, widow, and +stealing thence a great quantity of linen; and he was soon after +apprehended in bed with one of the fine shirts upon his back and the +rest of the linen stowed under the bed. When carried before the Justice, +he said that one Martin brought the linen to him, and gave him two fine +shirts to conceal it in his brandy-shop; but this pretence being thought +impossible both by the magistrate who committed him, and by the jury who +tried him, he was convicted for that offence, and being an old offender +he had no hopes of mercy. + +He applied himself, therefore, with all the earnestness he was able, to +prepare himself sufficiently for that change he was about to make. He +said that an accident which happened about a year before gave him great +apprehension, and for some time prevented his continuing in that wicked +course of life. The accident he mentioned was this: being taken up for +some trivial thing or other, and carried to St. Sepulchre's Watch-House, +the constable was so kind as to dismiss him, but the bellman[38] of the +parish happening to come in before he went out, the constable said, +_Young man, be careful, I am much afraid this bellman will say his +verses over you_; at which Gardiner was so much struck, he could scarce +speak. + +Stephen had a very great notion of mortifying his body, as some +atonement for the crimes he had committed. He therefore fasted some time +while under sentence, and though the weather was very cold, yet he went +to execution with no other covering on him but his shroud. At Tyburn he +addressed himself to the people and begged they would not reflect upon +his parents, who knew nothing of his crimes. Seeing several of his old +companions in the crowd, he called out to them and desired them to take +notice of his death and by amending their lives avoid following him +thither. He died the 3rd of February, 1723-4. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [37] In 1720 a State Lottery was launched, with 100,000 tickets + of £10 each. The prizes were converted into 3 per cent. stock. + The issue was a failure and a loss of some £7,000 was incurred. + + [38] A parishioner of St. Sepulchre's bequeathed a sum of money + for paying a bellman to visit condemned criminals in Newgate, on + the night before their execution, and having rung his bell, to + recite an admonitory verse and prayer. He was likewise to accost + the cart on its way to the gallows, the following day, and give + its inmates a similar admonition. The bell is still to be seen + in the church. + + + + +The Lives of SAMUEL OGDEN, JOHN PUGH, WILLIAM FROST, RICHARD WOODMAN, +and WILLIAM ELISHA, Highwaymen, Footpads, Housebreakers, etc. + + +Samuel Ogden was the son of a sailor in Southwark, who bred him to his +own employment, in which he wrought honestly for many years until he +fell very ill of dropsy, for the cure of which, being carried to St. +Thomas's Hospital, he after his recovery applied himself to selling +fish, instead of going again to sea. How he came to be engaged in the +crimes he afterwards perpetrated we cannot well learn, and therefore +shall not pretend to relate. However, he associated himself with a very +numerous gang, such as Mills, Pugh, Blunt, Bishop, Gutteridge, and +Matthews, who became the evidence against him. He positively averred +that one of the robberies for which he was convicted, was the first he +ever committed. He expressed the greatest horror and detestation for +murder imaginable, protesting he was no ways guilty of that committed on +Brixton Causeway. + +[Illustration: STEPHEN GARDINER MAKING HIS DYING SPEECH AT TYBURN + +This plate gives an excellent representation of an execution. The +condemned man is in his shroud; the hangman is adjusting the knot, and +at a signal the cart will drive away; nearby is the sheriff in his state +carriage; and gazing on is a curious, morbid crowd of spectators. + +(_From the Newgate Calendar_)] + +At the time of his trial at Kingston he behaved himself very insolently +and audaciously; but when sentence had been passed upon him, most of +that unruly temper was lost, and he began to think seriously of +preparing for another world. He confessed that his sins were many, and +that judgment against him was just, meekly accepting his death as the +due rewards of his deeds. He was the example of seriousness and +penitence to the other twelve malefactors who suffered with him, being +about thirty-seven years of age at the time of his decease. + +John Pugh, otherwise Blueskin, was born at Morpeth near +Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His father was a carrier in tolerable business and +circumstance, who put him to be a servant in a silver-spinner's in +Moorfields, where he soon learnt all sorts of wickedness, beginning with +defrauding his master and doing any other little tricks of that kind, as +opportunity would give him leave. We are told of him what perhaps can be +hardly said of any other criminal who hath died in the same way for many +years past, that though he was but twenty-two years of age, he had spent +twelve of them in cheating, pilfering, and robbing. At last he fell into +the gang that brought him to his death, for a robbery committed by +several of them in the county of Surrey. Pugh, though so young a fellow, +was so unaccountably stupid and wicked that though he made a large and +particular confession of his guilt, yet it was done in such a manner as +plainly showed his crimes made no just impression upon his heart; all he +said, being in the language of the Kingston Ordinary, the sleepy +apprehensions of unawakened ignorance, in which condition he continued +to the last. + +William Frost, a cripple, was the son of a pin-maker in Christ Church +parish, Southwark, and as to his education, my account says it was in +hereditary ignorance. He had wrought, it seems, while a boy at his +father's trade of pin-making, but since he was thirteen or fourteen had +addicted himself to that preparative trade to the gallows, +shoeblacking. While he continued in this most honourable profession, +abundance of opportunities offered for robbing in the night season, and +we must do him the justice to say that they were not offered in vain. +Thus by degrees he came on to robbing on the road and in the streets +until he was apprehended, and upon the evidence of his companion was +convicted. + +The Sunday after this, he with the rest of the malefactors was brought +to the parish church, which was the first time, as he declared, he had +ever entered one, at least with an intention to hear and observe what +was said. There he made a blundering sort of confession, and would +perhaps have been more penitent if he had known well what penitence was; +but he was a poor stupid, doltish wretch, scarce sensible even of the +misfortune of being hanged. He was, however, very attentive in the cart +to the prayer of those who were a little better instructed than himself, +and finished a wretched life with an ignominious death at twenty-one +years of age. + +Richard Woodman was born at Newington, in Surrey. He got his bread some +years by selling milk about, but thinking labour too great a price for +victuals, he addicted himself to getting an easier livelihood by +thieving. In this course he soon got in with a gang who let him want no +instructions that were necessary to bring him to the gallows. Amongst +them the above-mentioned lame man was his principal tutor. The last +robbery but one that they ever committed was upon a poor man who had +laid out his money in the purchase of a shoulder of mutton to feast his +family, but they disappointed him by taking it away, and with it a +bundle of clothes and other necessaries, by which the unfortunate person +who lost them, though their value was not much in themselves, lost all +he had. + +His behaviour was pretty much of a piece with the rest of his +companions, that is, he was so unaffected either with the shamefulness +of his death or the danger of his soul that perhaps never any creatures +went to death in a more odd manner than these did, whose behaviour +cannot for all that be charged with any rudeness or want of decency. But +religion and repentance were things so wholly new to them, and so +unsuited to their comprehension, that there needed a much greater length +of time than they had to have given them any true sense of their duty, +to which it cannot be said they were so averse, as they were ignorant +and incapable. + +William Elisha was another of these wretches, but he seemed to have had +a better education than most of them, though he made as ill use of it as +any. He was once an evidence at Croydon assizes, where he convicted two +of his companions, but the sight of their execution, and the +consciousness of having preserved his own life merely by taking theirs, +did not in the least contribute to his amendment, for he was no sooner +at liberty but he was engaged in new crimes, until at last with those +malefactors before mentioned, and with eight others, he was executed at +Kingston, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, April 4th, 1724. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS BURDEN, a Robber + + +Thomas Burden was born in Dorsetshire, of parents in tolerable +circumstances, who being persons getting their living by seamen, they +bred up their son to that profession, and sent him very young to sea. It +does not appear that he ever liked that employment, but rather that he +was hurried into it when he was very young by the choice of his parents, +and therefore in no condition to choose better for himself. He was up in +the Straits several years, and while there in abundance of fights, at +which time he had so much religion as to apply himself diligently to God +in prayer for his protection, and made abundance of vows and resolutions +of amendment, if it pleased the providence of God to preserve his life. +But no sooner was the danger over, but all these promises were forgotten +until the next time he was in jeopardy. + +At this rate he went on until the war was over, and notwithstanding the +aversion he always had to a military kind of life, yet such was his +unconquerable aversion to labour, that he rather enlisted himself in the +land service than submit thereto. Going, however, one day to Hounslow to +the house of one of the staff officers of his regiment, and not finding +him at home, but only a corporal who had been left at the house to give +answers, with this corporal he sat chatting and talking until night; so +that being obliged to stay there until the next morning, a discourse +somehow or other happened between him and the person who entertained +him, about William Zouch, an old man who lived alone on the common. And +Burden having been drinking, it came into his head, how easily he might +rob such an old man. Upon which, he immediately went to his house, and +finding him sitting on the bench at his door, he began to talk with and +ask him questions. The old man answered him with great mildness, until +at last Burden drew an iron instrument out of his cane, threatening him +with death if he did not reveal where his money was. Zouch thereupon +brought it him in a pint pot, being but one-and-thirty shillings. Then +tying the old man in his chair, Burden left him. But it seems he did not +tie him so fast but that he easily got loose, and alarming the town, +Burden was quickly taken, having fled along the Common, which was open +to the eye for a long way, instead of taking into the town or the woods, +which if he had, in all probability he might have escaped. When +Whittington and Greenbury apprehended him, he did not deny the fact, but +on the contrary offered them money to let him go. + +After his conviction he manifested vast uneasiness at the thoughts of +death, appearing wonderfully moved that he who had lived so long in the +world with the reputation of an honest man, should now die with that of +a thief, and in the manner of a dog. But as death grew nearer, and he +saw there was no remedy, he began to be a little more penitent and +resigned, especially when he was comforting himself with the hopes that +his temporal punishment here might preserve him from feeling everlasting +misery. With these thoughts having somewhat composed himself, he +approached the place where he was to suffer, with tolerable temper and +constancy, entreating the people who were there in very great numbers to +pray for him, and begging that all by his example would learn to stifle +the first motions of wickedness and sin, since such was the depravity of +human nature that no man knew how soon he might fall. At the same place +he delivered a paper in which he much extenuated the crime for which he +suffered, and from whence he would feign have insinuated that it was a +rash action committed when in drink, and which he should certainly have +set right again when he was sober. In this frame of mind he suffered, on +the 29th of April, 1724, being then about fifty years of age. + + + + +The Life of FREDERICK SCHMIDT, Alterer of Bank-Notes + + +When persons sin out of ignorance there is great room for pity, and when +persons suddenly become guilty of evil through a precipitate yielding to +the violence of their passions there is still room for extenuation. But +when people sin, not only against knowledge but deliberately, and +without the incitement of any violent passion such as anger or lust, +even as nothing can be said in alleviation, so there is little or no +room left for compassion. + +Frederick Schmidt was a person born of a very honourable and wealthy +family at Breslau, the capital of the Duchy of Silesia in the north-east +of Germany. They educated this their son not only in such a manner as +might qualify him for the occupation they designed him, of a merchant, +but also gave him a most learned and liberal knowledge, such as suited a +person of the highest rank. He lived, however, at Breslau as a merchant +for many years, and at the request of his friends, when very young, he +married a lady of considerable fortune, but upon some disgust at her +behaviour they parted, and had not lived together for many years before +his death. + +He carried on a very considerable correspondence to Hamburg, Amsterdam +and other places, and above a year before had been over in England to +transact some affairs, and thought it, it seems, so easy a matter to +live here by his wits, that he returned hither with the Baron Vanloden +and the Countess Vanloden. It is very hard to say what these people +really were, some people taking Schmidt for the baron's servant, but he +himself affirmed, and indeed it seems most likely, that they were +companions, and that both of them exerted their utmost skill in +defrauding others to maintain her. + +The method they took here for that purpose was by altering bank-notes, +which they did so dexterously as absolutely to prevent all suspicion. +They succeeded in paying away two of them, but the fraud being +discovered by the cheque-book at the bank, Schmidt was apprehended and +brought to a trial. There it was sworn that being in possession of a +bank-note of £25 he had turned it into one of £85, and with the Baron +Vanloden tendered it to one Monsieur Mallorey, who gave him goods for +it, and another note of £20. It was deposed by the Baron Vanloden and +Eleanora Sophia, Countess Vanloden, that Schmidt took the last mentioned +note of £20 upstairs, and soon after brought it down again, the word +"twenty" being taken out; upon which they drew it through a plate of +gummed water, and then smoothing it between several papers with a box +iron, the words "one hundred" were written in its place. Then he gave it +to the Baron and the interpreter to go out with it and buy plate, which +they did to the amount of £40. It appeared also, by the same witnesses, +that Schmidt had owned to the Baron that he could write twenty hands, +and that if he had but three or four hundred pounds, he could swell them +to fifty thousand. It was proved also by his own confession that he had +written over to his correspondent in Holland, to know whether English +bank-notes went currently there or not. Upon which he was found guilty +by a party-jury, that singular favour permitted to foreigners by the +equitable leniency of the Law of England. Yet after this he could hardly +be persuaded that his life was in any danger; nay, when he came into the +condemned hold, he told the unhappy persons there, in as good English as +he could speak, that he should not be hanged with them. + +For the first two or three days, therefore, that he was under sentence, +he refused to look so much as on a book, or to say a prayer, employing +that time with unwearied diligence in writing a multitude of letters to +merchants, foreign ministers, and German men of quality and such like, +still holding fast his old opinion that his life was not in the least +danger; and when a Lutheran minister was so kind as to visit him, he +would hardly condescend to speak with him. But when he had received a +letter from him who had all along buoyed him up with hopes of safety, in +which he informed him that all those hopes were vain, he then began to +apply himself with a real concern to the Lutheran minister whom he had +before almost rejected, but did not appear terrified or much affrighted +thereat. However, quickly after, he fell into a fit of sickness and +became so very weak as not to be able to stand. He confessed, however, +to the foreign divine who attended him that he was really guilty of that +crime for which he was to die, though it did not appear that he +conceived it to be capital at the time he did it, nor, indeed, was he +easily convinced it was so, until within a few days of his execution. + +There had prevailed a report about the town that he had done something +of the like nature at Paris, for which he had been obliged to fly, but +he absolutely denied that, and seemed to think the story derived its +birth from the Baron, who, he said, was an apothecary's son, and from +his acquaintance with his father's trade, knew the secret of expunging +waters. He added, that his airs of innocence were very unjust, he having +been guilty of abundance of such tricks, and the Countess of many more +than he. Thus, as is very common in such cases, these unhappy people +blackened one another. But the Baron and the Countess had the advantage, +since by their testimony poor Schmidt was despatched out of the way, and +'tis probable their credit at the time of his execution, was not in any +great danger of being hurt by his character of them. + +When he came to Tyburn, being attended in the cart by the Lutheran +minister whom I have so often mentioned, he was forced to be held up, +being so weak as not to be able to stand alone. He joined with the +prayers at first, but could not carry on his attention to the end, +looking about him, and staring at the other prisoners, with a curiosity +that perhaps was never observed in any other prisoner in his condition +what-so ever; neither his looks not his behaviour seemed to express so +much terror as was struck into others by the sight of his condition. So +after recommending to the minister by letter, to inform his aged mother +in Germany of his unhappy fate, he requested the executioner to put him +to death as easily as he could. He then submitted to his fate on the 4th +of April, 1724, being in the forty-fifth year of his age. + + + + +The Life of PETER CURTIS, a Housebreaker, etc. + + +Peter Curtis, _alias_ Friend, was born of honest but industrious parents +in the country, at a very great distance from London. Finding a method +to get him put apprentice to a ship's carpenter, they were very much +pleased therewith, hoping that they had settled him in a trade in which +he might live well, and much beyond anything they could have expected to +have done for him. + +But Peter himself was of a very different opinion, for from the hour he +came to it he greatly disliked his profession, and though he went to sea +with his master once or twice, yet he failed not to take hold of the +first opportunity to set himself at liberty by running away from him. +From that time he devoted himself to live a life of pleasure, having +contracted an obstinate aversion to business and to everything which +looked like labour; though, as be acknowledged, the hand of Providence +hindered him from accomplishing his wish, making this life that he chose +a greater burden and hardship to him than that which he had +relinquished. + +He found means to get into gentlemen's service, and lived in them with +tolerable reputation and credit for the space of several years. At last +he was resolved to go to sea again, but he had so unconquerable an +aversion to his own trade that he chose rather going in the capacity of +a trumpeter, having learnt how to play on that instrument at one of his +services. He sailed on board the _Salisbury_, in that expedition Sir +George Byng made to the Straits of Messina, when he attacked and +destroyed the Spanish Fleet.[39] There Peter had the good luck to escape +without any hurt, though there were many killed and wounded on board +that ship. He afterwards served in a regiment of dragoons, where by +prudent management he saved no less than fourscore pounds. With this he +certainly had it in his power to have put himself in some way of doing +well, but he omitted it, and falling into the company of a lewd woman, +she persuaded him to take lodgings with her, and they lived together for +some space as man and wife. + +During this time he made a shift to be bound for one of his companions, +for a very considerable sum, which the other had the honesty to leave +him to pay. The creditor, upon information that Curtis was packing up +his awls[40] to go to sea, resolved to secure him for his debt. But not +being able to catch him upon a writ, he made up a felonious charge +against him, and having thereupon got him committed to the Poultry +Compter, as soon as the Justice had discharged him, he got him taken for +the debt, and recommitted to the same place. Here he was soon reduced to +a very melancholy condition, having neither necessaries of life not any +prospect of a release. The wretched company with which such prisons are +always full, corrupted him as to his honesty, and taught him first to +think of making himself rich by taking away the properties of others. + +When he came out of prison, upon an agreement with his creditor, he soon +got into service with Mr. Fluellen Aspley, a very eminent chinaman by +Stocks Market.[41] When he was there, the bad woman with whom he still +conversed, was continually dunning his ears with how easy a matter it +was for him to make himself and her rich and easy by pilfering from his +master, telling him that she and her friends in the country would help +him off with a thousand pounds worth of china, if need were, and baiting +him continually, not to lose such an opportunity of enriching them. The +fellow himself was averse to such practices, and nothing but her +continual teasing could have induced him ever to have entertained a +design of so base a nature. + +At last he condescended so far as to enquire how it might be done with +safety. _For that_, replied the woman, _trust to my management. I'll put +you in a way to bring off the most valuable things in the house, and yet +get a good character, and be trusted and valued by the family for having +robbed them._ At that Curtis stared, and said, if she'd but put him to +such a road he did not know but he might comply with her request. She +thereupon opened her scheme to him this: _Here's my son, you shall lift +him into the house, and after you have given him plate and what you +think proper and my boy, who is a very dexterous lad, is got off with +them, you have nothing to do but to put an end of a candle under the +Indian cabinet in the counting-house, and leave things to themselves. +The neighbourhood will soon be alarmed by the fire, and if you are +apparently honest in what you take away publicly, there will be no +suspicion upon you for what went before, which will be either thought to +be destroyed in the fire, or to be taken away by some other means._ + +This appeared so shocking a project to Curtis that he absolutely refused +to comply with the burning, though with much ado he was brought to +stealing a large quantity of plate, which he brought to this woman, but +in attempting to sell it she was stopped, and the robbery discovered. +However, there being no direct evidence at first against Curtis, he was +released from his confinement on suspicion, even by the intercession of +Mr. Aspley himself. But a little time discovering the mistake, and that +he was really the principal in the robbery, he was thereupon again +apprehended, and at the next sessions tried and convicted. + +While he lay under sentence of death, he behaved himself as if he had +totally resigned all thoughts of the world, or of continuing in it, +praying with great fervency and devotion, making full and large +confession, and doing every other act which might induce men to believe +that he was a real penitent, and sincerely sorry and affected for the +crime he had committed. + +But it seems that this was all put on, for the true source of his +easiness and resignation was the assurance he had in himself of escaping +death either by pardon, or by an escape; for which purpose, he and those +who were under sentence with him had provided all necessaries, loosened +their irons and intended to have effected it at the expense of the lives +of their keepers. But their design being discovered the Saturday before +their deaths, and Curtis perceiving that his hopes of pardon were +ill-founded, began to apply himself to repenting in earnest. Yet there +was very little time left for so great a work, especially considering +that nothing but the necessity of the thing inclined him thereto, and +that he had spent that respite allowed him by the clemency of the Law to +prepare for death in contriving to fly from justice at the expense of +the blood of others. How he performed this it is impossible for us to +know, and must be left to be decided by the Great Judge to whom the +secrets of all hearts are open. However, at his death he appeared +tolerably composed and cheerful, and turning to the people said, _You +see, they who contrived to burn the house and the people in it escaped, +but I, who never consented to any such thing, die as you see._ Some +discourse there was of his having buried a portmanteau and about +fourteen hundred pounds; he was spoke to about it, and did not deny he +had it. He said he hid it upon Finchley Common and that by the arms, +which was the Spread Eagle, he took to be an ambassador's. As to the +diamond ring he had been seen to wear, he did not affirm he came very +honestly by it, but would not give any direct answer concerning it, and +seemed uneasy that he should have such questions put to him at the very +point of death. He suffered the 15th of June, 1724, about thirty years +of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [39] See note, page 49. + + [40] An old-fashioned play on the words "awl" and "all," and + means, of course, packing up all his possessions. + + [41] A busy market for fish and vegetables, which occupied the + site on which the present Mansion House stands. The market was + moved, in 1737, to Farringdon Street. + + + + +The Life of LUMLEY DAVIS, a Highwayman + + +Such is the frailty of human nature that neither the best examples nor +the most liberal education can warrant an honest life, or secure to the +most careful parents the certainty of their children not becoming a +disgrace to them, either in their lives or by their deaths. + +This malefactor, of whom the course of our memoirs now obliges us to +make mention, was the son of a man of the same name, viz., Lumley Davis, +who was, it seems, in circumstances good enough to procure his sons +being brought up in one of the greatest and best schools in England. +There his proficiency procured him an election upon the establishment, +and he became respected as a person whose parts would do honour even to +that remarkable seminary of learning where he had been bred. But +unaccountably growing fond, all on a sudden, of going to some trade or +employment and absolutely refusing to continue any longer at his +studies, his friends were obliged to comply with the ardency of his +request and accordingly put him apprentice to an eminent vintner at the +One Tun Tavern, in the Strand. + +He continued there but a little while before he was as much dissatisfied +with that as he had been with learning, so that leaving his master, and +leading an unsettled kind of life, he fell into great debts, being +unable to satisfy which, when demanded, he was arrested and thrown into +the Marshalsea. There for some time he continued in a very deplorable +condition, till by the charitable assistance of a friend, his debt was +paid and the fees of the prison discharged. After this he went into the +Mint,[42] where drinking accidentally at one of the tap-houses in that +infamous place, and being very much out of humour with the low and +profligate company he was obliged to converse with there, he took notice +of a very genteel man, who sat at the table by himself. He inquired of +some persons with whom he was drinking, who that man was. They answered +that they could not tell themselves; he was lately come over for shelter +amongst them; he was a gentleman, as folks said, of much learning, and +though he never conversed with anybody, yet was kind enough to afford +them his assistance, either with his pen, or by his advice when they +asked it. On this character Davis was very industrious to become his +acquaintance, and Harman, which was the other man's name, not having +been able to meet with anybody there with whom he could converse, he +very readily embraced the society of Davis; with whom comparing notes, +and finding their case to be pretty much the same, they often condoled +one another's misfortunes and as often projected between themselves how +to gain some supply without depending continually upon the charity of +their friends. + +In the meantime, Davis was so unfortunate as to fall ill of a +languishing distemper, which brought him so low as to oblige him to +apply for relief to that friend who had discharged him out of the +Marshalsea. He was so good as to get him into St. Thomas's Hospital, and +to supply him while there with whatever was necessary for his support. +When he was so far recovered as to be able to go abroad, this kind and +good friend provided for him a country habitation, where he might be +able to live in privacy and comfort and indulge himself in those +inclinations which he began again to show towards learning. + +Some time after he had been there, not being able to support longer that +quiet kind of life which before he did so earnestly desire, +notwithstanding the entreaties of his friends, he came up to London +again, where falling into idle company, he became addicted to the vices +of drinking and following bad women, things which before he had both +detested and avoided. Not long after this, he again found out Mr. +Harman, and renewed his acquaintance with him. He enquired into his past +adventures and how he had supported himself since they last had been +together, and on perceiving that they were far from being on the mending +hand with him, the fatal proposal was at last made of going upon the +road, and there robbing such persons as might seem best able to spare +it, and at the same time furnish them with the largest booty. + +The first person they attacked was one John Nichols, Esq., from whom +they took a guinea and seventeen shillings, with which they determined +to make themselves easy a little, and not go that week again upon any +such hazardous exploits. But alas, their resolutions had little success, +for that very evening they were both apprehended and on full evidence at +the next sessions were convicted and received sentence of death, within +a very short time after they had committed the crime. + +Davis all along flattered himself with the hopes of a pardon or a +reprieve and therefore was not perhaps so serious as he ought, and as he +otherwise would have been. Not that those hopes made him either +licentious or turbulent, but rather disturbed his meditations and +hindered his getting over the terrors which death always brings to the +unprepared. But when, on his name being in the death warrant, he found +there was no longer any hopes, he then, indeed, applied himself without +losing a moment to the great concern of saving his soul, now there was +no hopes of preserving his body. + +However, neither his education nor all the assistance he could receive +from those divines that visited him, could bring him to bear the +approach of death with any tolerable patience. Even at the place of +execution, he endeavoured as much as he could to linger away the time, +spoke to the Ordinary to spin out the prayers, and to the executioner to +forbear doing his office as long as it was possible. However, he spoke +with great kindness and affection to his companion, Mr. Harman, shook +hands with those who were his companions in death, and at last submitted +to his fate, being then about twenty-three years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [42] The Southwark Mint was a sanctuary for insolvent debtors + and a nest of infamy in general. It stood over against St. + George's church. + + + + +The Life of JAMES HARMAN, Highwayman + + +James Harman was the son of a merchant in the City of London, who took +care to furnish his son with such an education as enabled him, when +about fourteen years of age, to be removed to the University. His +behaviour there was like that of too many others, spent in diversities +instead of study, and in a progression of vice, instead of improving in +learning. After having been there about three years, and having run into +such debts as he saw no probability of discharging, he was forced to +leave it abruptly; and his father, much grieved at this behaviour, +bought him an ensign's commission in the army, where he continued in +Jones's Regiment till it was disbanded. Then, indeed, being forced to +live as he could, and the assistance of friends, though large, yet no +ways suited to his expenses, he became so plunged in debt and other +misfortunes that he was in necessity of going over to the Mint, where +reflecting on his own follies, he became very reserved and melancholy. +He would probably have quite altered his course of life if opportunity +had offered, or if he had not fallen in that company which by a +similarity of manner induced him to fall into the commission of such +crimes as would not probably have otherwise entered his head. + +The fact which he and the before-mentioned Davis committed, was their +first and last attempt, but Mr. Harman, all the time he lay under +sentence (without suffering himself to be amused by expectations of +success from those endeavours which he knew his friends used to save his +life,) accustomed himself to the thoughts of death, performing all the +duties requisite from a person of his condition for atoning the evils +of a misspent life, and making his peace with that Being from whom he +had received so great a capacity of doing well, and which he had so much +abused. + +Having spent the whole time of his confinement after this manner, he did +not appear in any degree shocked or confounded when his name being to +the death warrant left him no room to doubt of what must be his fate. At +the place of execution he appeared not only perfectly easy and serene, +but with an air of satisfaction that could arise only from the peace he +enjoyed within. Being asked if he had anything to say to the people, he +rose up, and turning towards them said, _I hope you will all make that +use of my being exposed to you as a spectacle which the Law intends, and +by the sight of my death avoid such acts as may bring you hither, with +the same Justice that they do me._ + +He suffered about the twenty-fifth year of his age, the 28th of August, +1724, at Tyburn. + + + + +The Life of JOHN LEWIS, _alias_ LAURENCE, a Thief, Highwayman, etc. + + +One great cause of that degeneracy we observe amongst the lower part of +the human species arises from a mistake which has generally prevailed in +the education of young people throughout all ages. Parents are sometimes +exceedingly assiduous that their children should read well and write a +good hand, but they are seldom solicitous about their making a due use +of their reason, and hardly ever enquire into the opinions which, while +children, they entertain of happiness or misery, and the paths which +lead to either of them. This is the true and natural intent of all +education whatsoever, which can never tend to anything but teaching +persons how to live easily and seducing their affections to the bounds +prescribed them by the law of God and their country. + +John Lewis, _alias_ Laurence, had doubtless parents who bred him +somewhere, though the papers I have do not afford me light enough to say +where. This indeed, I find, that he was bred apprentice to a butcher, +took up his freedom in the City, and worked for a considerable space as +a journeyman. For his honesty we have no vouchers for any part of that +time, for in his apprenticeship he fell into the use of profligate +company, who taught him all those vices which were destructive to his +future life. He grew fond of everything which looked like lewdness and +debauchery, drank hard, was continually idling about; above all, +strumpets the most abandoned, both in their manner and discourse, were +the very ultimate end of his wishes, insomuch that he would often say he +had nothing to answer for in debauching modest women, for they were a +set of creatures he could never so much as endure to converse with. + +His usual method of living with his mistresses was this: as soon as the +impudence and lewdness of a woman had made her infamous, even amongst +the hackney coachmen, pickpockets, footpads and such others of his +polite acquaintance, then Lewis thought her a fit person for his turn, +and used to live with her for the space of perhaps a month; then growing +tired of her, he went to look for another. + +This practice of his grew at last so well known that he found it a +little difficult to get women who would take up with him upon his terms; +but there was one Moll Davis, who for her dexterity in picking of +pockets amongst those of her own tribe went by the name of Diver, who +was so great a scandal to her sex that the most abandoned of that low +crew with whom he conversed, hated and despised her. With her Lewis went +to live after his usual manner, and was very fond of her after his way, +for about a fortnight; at the end of which he grew fractious, and in +about nine weeks' time more he beat her. Moll wept and took on at a sad +rate for his unkindness and told him that if would but promise +faithfully never to live with any other woman, she should fairly present +him with a brace of hundred pounds, which she had lodged in the hands of +an uncle who knew nothing of her way of life, but lived reputably at +such a place. + +This was the right way of touching Lewis's temper. He began to put on as +many good looks as his face was capable of wearing, and made use of as +many kind expressions as he could remember out of the _Academy of +Compliments_, until the day came that she was to meet her uncle at +Smithfield Market. They then went very lovingly together to an inn upon +the paven stones, where Moll asked very readily at the bar if Mr. +Tompkins (which was the name of her uncle) was there. The woman of the +house made her a low curtsy and said he was only stepped over the way to +be shaved, and she would call him. She went accordingly and brought the +grave old man, who as soon as he came into the room said, _Well, Mary, +is this thy husband? Yes, sir_, answered she, _this is the person I have +promised to bring you._ Upon which the old man thrust out his hand and +said, _Come, friend, as you have married my niece, you and I must be +better acquainted._ Lewis scraped him a good bow as he could, and giving +his hand in return, the old fellow laid hold on him somewhat above the +wrist, stamped with his right foot, and then closing with him got him +down. + +In the meanwhile, half a dozen fellows broke into the room and one of +them seizing him by the arms another pulled out a small twine, and bound +him; then shoving him downstairs, they had no sooner got into +Smithfield, then the mob cried out, _Here's the rogue! Here's the dog +that held a penknife to the old grazier's throat, while a woman and +another man robbed him._ It seems the story was true of Moll, who by +thus taking and then swearing it upon Lewis, who had never so much as +heard of it, escaped with impunity, and besides that got five guineas +for her pains from the brother of the old man, who upon this occasion +played the part of her uncle. If the grazier had been a hasty, rash man, +Lewis had certainly hanged for the fact, but looking hard upon him at +his trial, he told the Court he was sure that Lewis was not the man, for +though his eyes were not very good, he could easily distinguish his +voice, and added that the man who robbed him was taller than himself, +whereas Lewis was much shorter. By which means he had the good luck to +come off, though not without lying two sessions in Newgate. + +As soon as be came abroad be threatened Moll Davis hard for what she had +done, and swore as soon as he could find her to cut her ears off; but +she made light of that, and dared him to come and look for her at the +brandy-shop where she frequented. Lewis hearing that resolved to go +thither and beat her, and knowing the usual time of her coming thither +to be about eleven o'clock at night, he chose that time to come also. +But Moll, the day before, had made one of her crew who had turned +evidence, put him into his information, and the constables and their +assistants being ready planted, they seized him directly and carried him +to his old lodgings in Newgate. + +He was acquitted upon this next sessions, there being no evidence +against him but the informer, but the Court ordered him to find security +for his good behaviour. That proved two months' work, so that in all it +was a quarter of a year before he got out of Newgate for the second +time. Then, hearing Davis had picked a gentleman's pockets of a +considerable sum, and kept out of the way upon it, he resolved to be +even with her for the trouble she had cost him, and for that purpose +hunted through all her old places of resort, in order to find out how to +have her apprehended. Moll hearing of it, got her sister, who followed +the same trade with herself, to waylay him at the brandy-shop in Fleet +Street. There Susan was very sweet upon him, and being as impudent as +her sister, Lewis resolved to take up with her, at least for a night; +but she pretended reasons why he could not go home with her, and he +complaining that he did not know where to get a lodging, she gave him +half a crown and a large silver medal, which she said would pawn for +five shillings, and appointed to meet him the next night at the same +place. In the morning Lewis goes with the silver piece to a pawnbroker +at Houndsditch; the broker said he would take it into the next room and +weigh it, and about ten minutes after returned with a constable and two +assistants, the medal having been advertised in the papers as taken with +eleven guineas in a green purse out of a gentleman's pocket, and was the +very robbery for which Moll Davis kept out of the way. + +When he got over this, he went down into the country, and having been so +often in prison for naught, he resolved to merit it now for something. +So on the Gravesend Road he went upon the highway, and having been, as I +told you, bred up a butcher, the weapon he made use of to rob with was +his knife. The first robbery he attempted was upon an old officer who +was retired into that part of the country to live quiet. Lewis bolted +out upon him from behind the corner of a hedge, and clapping a sharp +pointed knife to his breast, with a volley of oaths commanded him to +deliver. This was new language to the gentleman to whom it was offered, +yet seeing how great an advantage the villain had of him, he thought it +the most prudent method to comply, and gave him therefore a few +shillings which were in his coat-pocket. Lewis very highly resented +this, and told him he did not use him like a gentleman; that he would +search him himself. In order to do this, clapping his knife into his +mouth as he used to do when preparing a sheep for the shambles, he fell +to ransacking the gentleman's pockets. He had hardly got his hand into +one of them, but the gentleman snatched the knife out of his mouth and +in the wrench almost broke his jaw. Lewis hereupon took to his heels, +but the country being raised upon him, he was apprehended just as he was +going to take water at Gravesend. But his pride in refusing the +gentleman's silver happened very luckily for him here, for on his trial +at the next assizes, the indictment being laid for a robbery, the jury +acquitted him and he was once more put into a road of doing well, which +according to his usual method he made lead towards the gallows. + +The first week he was out, he broke open a house in Ratcliff Highway, +from whence he took but a small quantity of things, and those of small +value, because there happened to be nothing better in the way. In a few +days after this, he snatched off a woman's pocket in the open street, +for which fact being immediately apprehended, he was at the next +sessions at the Old Bailey, tried and convicted, but by the favour of +the Court ordered for transportation. + +A woman whom at this time he called his wife, happened to be under the +like sentence at the same time. They went therefore together, and were +each of them such turbulent dispositions that the captain of the +transport thought fit to promise them their liberty in a most solemn +manner, as soon as they came on shore in Carolina, provided they would +be but quiet. To this they agreed, and they kept their words so well, +that the captain performed his promise and released them at their +arrival in South Carolina, upon which they made no long stay there, but +found a method to come back in the same ship. Upon arrival in England +they were actually married, but they did not live long together, Lewis +finding that she conversed with other men, and being in fear, lest in +hopes of favour, she should discover his return from transportation, and +by convicting him save herself. + +Upon these apprehensions, he thought fit to go again to sea, in a ship +bound for the Straits; but falling violently sick at Genoa, they left +him there. And though he might afterwards have gone to his vessel, his +old thought and wishes returned and he took the advantage of the first +ship to return to England. Here he found many of his old acquaintances, +carrying on the business of plunder in every shape. He joined with them, +and in their company broke open with much difficulty an alehouse in Fore +Street, at the sign of the King of Hearts, where they took a dozen of +tankards, which they apprehended to be of silver; but finding upon +examination they were no better than pewter well scoured, they judged +there would be more danger in selling them than they were worth. +Therefore having first melted them, they threw them away; but being a +little fearful of robbing in company, he took to his old method of +robbing by himself in the streets. But the first attempt he made to do +this was in the old Artillery Ground,[43] where he snatched a woman's +pocket; and she crying out raised the neighbourhood. They pursued him, +and after wounding two or three persons desperately, he was taken and +committed to his old mansions in Newgate, and being tried at the next +sessions was found guilty and from that time could not enjoy the least +hopes of life. But he continued still very obdurate, being so hardened +by a continual series of villainous actions that he seemed to have no +idea whatsoever of religion, penitence or atoning by prayers, for the +numerous villainies he had committed. + +At the place of execution he said nothing to the people, only that he +was sorry he had not stayed in Carolina, because if he had, he should +never have come to be hanged, and so finished his life in the same +stupid manner in which he had lived. He was near forty years of age at +the time he suffered, which was on the 27th of June, 1720. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [43] This was the exercising ground of the Train Bands and the + Honourable Artillery Company. It was on the west side of + Finsbury Square. + + + + +The History of the WALTHAM BLACKS and their transactions to the death of +RICHARD PARVIN, EDWARD ELLIOT, ROBERT KINGSHELL, HENRY MARSHALL, JOHN +PINK and EDWARD PINK, and JAMES ANSELL _alias_ PHILLIPS, at Tyburn, +whose lives are also included + + +Such is the unaccountable folly which reigns in too great a part of the +human species, that by their own ill-deeds, they make such laws +necessary for the security of men's persons and properties, as by their +severity, unless necessity compelled them, would appear cruel and +inhuman, and doubtless those laws which we esteem barbarous in other +nations, and even some which appear so though anciently practised in our +own, had their rise from the same cause. + +I am led to this observation from the folly which certain persons were +guilty of in making small insurrections for the sake only of getting a +few deer, and going on, because they found the leniency of the laws +could not punish them at present, until they grew to that height as to +ride in armed troops, blacked and disguised, in order the more to +terrify those whom they assaulted, and wherever they were denied what +they thought proper to demand, whether venison, wine, money, or other +necessaries for their debauched feasts, would by letter threaten plunder +and destroying with fire and sword, whomever they thought proper. + +These villainies being carried on with a high hand for some time in the +years 1722 and 1723, their insolence grew at last so intolerable as to +oblige the Legislature to make a new law against all who thus went armed +and disguised, and associated themselves together by the name of Blacks, +or entered into any other confederacies to support and assist one +another in doing injuries and violences to the persons and properties of +the king's subjects. + +By this law it was enacted that after the first day of June, 1723, +whatever persons armed with offensive weapons, and having their faces +blacked, or otherwise disguised, should appear in any forest, park or +grounds enclosed with any wall or fence, wherein deer were kept, or any +warren where hares or conies are kept, or in any highway, heath or down, +or unlawfully hunt, kill or steal any red or fallow deer, or rob any +warren, or steal fish of any pond, or kill or wound cattle, or set fire +to any house or outhouses, stack, etc., or cut down or any otherway +destroy trees planted for shelter or profit, or shall maliciously shoot +at any person, or send a letter demanding money or other valuable +things, shall rescue any person in custody of any officer for any such +offences, or by gifts or promise, procure any one to join with them, +shall be deemed guilty of felony without benefit of clergy, and shall +suffer pains of death as felons so convicted. + +Nor was even this thought sufficient to remedy those evils, which the +idle follies of some rash persons had brought about, but a retrospect +was also by the same Act had to offences heretofore committed, and all +persons who had committed any crimes punishable by this Act, after the +second of February, 1722, were commanded to render themselves before the +24th of July, 1723, to some Justice of his Majesty's Court of King's +Bench, or to some Justice of the Peace for the county where they lived, +and there make a full and exact confession of the crimes of such a +nature which they had committed, the times when, and the places where, +and persons with whom, together with an account of such persons' places +of abode as had with them been guilty as aforesaid, in order to their +being thereupon apprehended, and brought to judgment according to Law, +on pain of being deemed felons, without benefit of clergy, and suffering +accordingly; but were entitled to a free pardon and forgiveness in case +that before the 24th of July they surrendered and made such discovery. + +Justices of Peace by the said Act were required on any information being +made before them by one or more credible persons, against any person +charged with any of the offences aforesaid, to transmit it under their +hands and seals to one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, +who by the same Act is required to lay such information and return +before his Majesty in Council; whereupon an order is to issue for the +person so charged to surrender within forty days. And in case he refuse +or neglect to surrender within that time, then from the day in which the +forty days elapsed, he is to be deemed as a felon convict, and execution +may be awarded as attainted of felony by a verdict. + +Every person who, after the time appointed for the surrender of the +person, shall conceal, aid or succour him, knowing the circumstances in +which he then stands, shall suffer death as a felon, without benefit of +clergy, and that people might the more readily hazard their persons for +the apprehending such offenders, it is likewise enacted that if any +person shall be wounded so as to lose an eye, or the use of any limb in +endeavouring to take persons charged with the commission of crimes +within this law, then on a certificate from the Justices of the Peace +of his being so wounded, the sheriff of the county, if commanded within +thirty days after the sight of such certificate, to pay the said wounded +persons £50 under pain of forfeiting £10 on failure thereof, and in case +any person should be killed in seizing such persons as aforesaid, then +the said £50 is to be paid to the executors of the person to be killed. + +It cannot seem strange that in consequence of so extraordinary an act of +legislature, many of these presumptious and silly people should be +apprehended, and a considerable number of them having upon their +apprehension been committed to Winchester gaol, seven of them were by +_Habeas Corpus_, removed for the greater solemnity of their trial to +Newgate, and for their offence brought up and arraigned at the King's +Bench Bar, Westminster. There being convicted on full evidence, all of +them of felony, and three of murder, I shall inform ye, one by one, of +what has come to my hand in relation to their crimes, and the manner and +circumstances with which they were committed. + +Richard Parvin was master of a public-house at Portsmouth, a man of dull +and dogmatic disposition, who continually denied his having been in any +manner concerned with these people, though the evidence against him at +his trial was as full and as direct as possibly could have been +expected, and he himself evidently proved to have been on the spot where +the violences committed by the other prisoners were transacted. In +answer to this, he said that he was not with them, though indeed he was +upon the forest, for which he gave this reason. He had, he said, a very +handsome young wench who lived with him, and for that reason being +admired by many of his customers, she took it in her head one day to run +away. He hearing that she had fled across the forest, pursued her, and +in that pursuit calling at the house of Mr. Parford, who keeps an +alehouse in the forest, this man being an evidence against the other +Blacks, took him it seems into the number, though as he said, he could +fully have cleared himself if he had had any money to have sent for some +witnesses out of Berkshire. But the mayor of Portsmouth seizing, as soon +as he was apprehended, all his goods, put his family into great distress +and whether he could have found them or not, hindered his being able to +produce any witnesses at his trial. + +He persevered in these professions of his innocency to the very last, +still hoping for a reprieve, and not only feeding himself with such +expectations while in prison, but also gazed earnestly when at the tree, +in hopes that pardon would be brought him, until the cart drew away and +extinguished life and the desire of life together. + +Edward Elliot, a boy of about seventeen years of age, whose father was a +tailor at a village between Petworth and Guildford, was the next who +received sentence of death with Parvin. The account he gave of his +coming into this society has something very odd in it, and which gives a +fuller idea of the strange whims which possessed these people. The boy +said that about a year before his being apprehended, thirty or forty men +met him in the county of Surrey and hurried him away. He who appeared to +be the chief of them told him that he enlisted him in the service of the +King of the Blacks, in pursuance of which he was to disguise his face, +obey orders of whatsoever kind they were, such as breaking down fish +ponds, burning woods, shooting deer, taking also an oath to be true to +them, or they by their art magic would turn him into a beast, and as +such make him carry their burdens, and live like a horse upon grass and +water. + +He said, also, that in the space of time he continued with them, he saw +several experiments of their witchcraft, for that once when two men had +offended them by refusing to comply in taking their oath and obeying +their orders, they caused them immediately to be blindfolded and +stopping them in holes of the earth up to their chin, ran at them as if +they had been dogs, bellowing and barking as it were in their ears; and +when they had plagued them awhile in this ridiculous manner they took +them out, and bid them remember how they offended any of the Black +Nation again, for if they did, they should not escape so well as they +had at present. He had seen them also, he said, oblige carters to drive +a good way out of the road, and carry whatsoever venison or other thing +they had plundered to the places where they would have them; that the +men were generally so frightened with their usage and so terrified with +the oaths they were obliged to swear, that they seldom complained, or +even spoke of their bondage. + +As to the fact for which they died, Elliot gave this account: that in +the morning when that fact was committed for which he died, Marshall, +Kingshell and four others came to him and persuaded him to go to Farnham +Holt, and that he need not fear disobliging any gentlemen in the +country, some of whom were very kind to this Elliot. They persuaded him +that certain persons of fortune were concerned with them and would bear +him harmless if he would go. He owned that at last he consented to go +with them, but trembled all the way, insomuch that he could hardly reach +the Holt. While they were engaged in the business for which they came, +viz., killing the deer, the keepers came upon them. Elliot was wandered +a considerable way from his companions after a fawn which he intended +to send as a present to a young woman at Guildford; him therefore they +quickly seized and bound, and leaving him in that condition, went in +search of the rest of his associates. It was not long before they came +up with them. The keepers were six, the Blacks were seven in number, so +they fell to it warmly with quarter-staffs. The keepers unwilling to +have lives taken, advised them to retire, but upon their refusing, and +Marshall's firing a gun, by which one of the keepers belonging to the +Lady How was slain, they discharged a blunderbuss and shattered the +thigh of one Barber, amongst the Blacks. Upon this three of his +associates ran away, and the two others, Marshall and Kingshell were +likewise taken, and so the fray for the present ended. + +Elliot lay bound all the while within hearing, and in the greatest +agonies imaginable, at the consideration that whatever blood was spilt +he should be as much answerable for it as these who shed it; in which he +was not mistaken, for the keepers returning after the fight was over, +carried him away bound and he never had his fetters off after, till the +morning of his execution. He behaved himself very soberly, quietly and +with much seeming penitence and contrition. He owned the justice of the +Law in punishing him, and said he more especially deserved to suffer, +since at the time of the committing this fact, he was servant to a widow +lady, where he wanted nothing to make him happy or easy. + +Robert Kingshell was twenty-six years old, and lived in the same house +with his parents, being apprentice to his brother a shoemaker. His +parents were very watchful over his behaviour and sought by every method +to prevent his taking to ill courses, or being guilty of any debauchery +whatever. The night before this unhappy accident fell out, as he and the +rest of the family were sleeping in their beds, Barber made a signal at +his chamber window, it being then about eleven o'clock. Upon this +Kingshell arose and got softly out of the window; Barber took him upon +his horse, and away they went to the Holt, twelve miles distant, calling +in their way upon Henry Marshall, Elliot and the rest of their +accomplices. He said it was eight o'clock in the morning before the +keepers attacked them, he owned they bid them retire, and that he +himself told them they would, provided the bound man (Elliot) was +released and delivered into their hands, but that proposition being +refused, the fight at once grew warm. Barber's thigh was broken, and +Marshall killed the keeper with a shot; being thereupon very hard +pressed, three of their companions ran away, leaving him and Marshall to +fight it out. Elliot being already taken, and Barber disabled, it was +not long before they were in the same unhappy condition with their +companions. From the time of their being apprehended, Kingshell laid +aside all hopes of life, and applied himself with great fervency and +devotion to enable him in what alone remained for him to do, viz., dying +decently. + +Henry Marshall, about thirty-six years of age, the unfortunate person by +whose hand the murder was committed, seemed to be the least sensible of +any of the evils he had done, although such was the pleasure of Almighty +God that till the day before his execution, he neither had his senses, +nor the use of his speech. When he recovered it, and a clergyman +represented to him the horrid crime of which he had been guilty, he was +so far from showing any deep sense of that crime of shedding innocent +blood, that he made light of it, said he might stand upon his own +defence, and was not bound to run away and leave his companions in +danger. This was the language he talked for the space of twenty-four +hours before his death, in which he enjoyed the use of speech; and so +far was he from thanking those who charitably offered him their +admonitions, that he said he had not forgot himself, but had already +taken care of what he thought necessary for his soul. However, he did +not attempt in the least to prevaricate, but fairly acknowledged that he +committed the fact for which he died, though nothing could oblige him to +speak of it in any manner as if he was sorry for or repented of it, +farther than for having occasioned his own misfortunes; so strong is the +prejudice which vulgar minds acquire by often repeating to themselves +and in company certain positions, however ridiculous and false. And +sure, nothing could be more so than for a man to fancy he had a right to +imbrue his hands in the blood of another, who was in the execution of +his office, and endeavouring to hinder the commission of an illegal act. + +These of whom I have last spoken were all concerned together in the +before-mentioned fact, which was attended with murder; but we are now to +speak of the rest who were concerned in the felony only, for which they +with the above-mentioned Parvin suffered. Of these were two brothers, +whose names were John and Edward Pink, carters in Portsmouth, and always +accounted honest and industrious fellows before this accident happened. +They did not, however, deny their being guilty, but on the contrary +ingenuously confessed the truth of what was sworn, and mentioned some +other circumstances that had been produced at the trial which attended +their committing it. They said they met Parvin's housekeeper upon that +road, that they forced her to cut the throat of a deer which they had +just taken upon Bear Forest, gave her a dagger which they forced her to +wear, and to ride cross-legged with pistols before her. + +In this dress they brought her to Parvin's house upon the forest, where +they dined upon a haunch of venison, feasted merrily and after dinner +sent out two of their companions to kill more deer, not in the King's +Forest, but in Waltham Chase, belonging to the Bishop of Winchester. One +of these two persons they called their king, and the other they called +Lyon. Neither of these brothers objected anything, either to the truth +of the evidence given against them, or the justice of that sentence +which had passed upon them, only one insinuating that the evidence would +not have been so strong against him and Ansell, if it had not been for +running away with the witness's wife, which so provoked him that they +were sure they should not escape when he was admitted a witness. + +These like the rest were hard to be persuaded that the things they had +committed were any crimes in the eyes of God. They said deer were wild +beasts, and they did not see why the poor had not as good a right to +them as the rich. However, as the Law condemned them to suffer, they +were bound to submit, and in consequence of that notion, behaved +themselves very orderly, decently and quietly, while under sentence. + +James Ansell, _alias_ Stephen Philips, the seventh and last of these +unhappy persons, was a man addicted to a worse and more profligate life +than any of the rest had ever been; for he had held no settled +employment, but had been a loose disorderly person, concerned in all +sorts of wickedness for many years, both at Portsmouth, Guildford, and +other country towns, as well as at London. Deer were not the only things +that he had dealt in; stealing and robbing on the highway had been +formerly his employment, and in becoming a Black, he did not as the +others ascend in wickedness, but came down on the contrary, a step +lower. Yet this criminal as his offences were greater, so his sense of +them was much stronger than in any of the rest, excepting Kingshell, for +he gave over all manner of hopes of life and all concerns about it as +soon as he was taken. + +Yet even he had no notion of making discoveries, unless they might be +beneficial to himself, and though he owned the knowledge of twenty +persons who were notorious offenders in the same kind, he absolutely +refused to name them, since such naming would not procure himself a +pardon; talking to him of the duty of doing justice was beating the air. +He said, he thought there was no justice in taking away other people's +lives, unless it was to save his own, yet no sooner was he taxed about +his own going on the highway than he confessed it, said he knew very +well bills would have been preferred against him at Guildford assizes, +in case he had got off at the King's Bench, but that he did not greatly +value them. Though formerly he had been guilty of some facts in that +way, yet they could not all now be proved, and he should have found it +no difficult matter to have demonstrated his innocence of those then +charged upon him, of which he was not really guilty, but owed his being +thought so to the profligate course of life he had for some time led, +and his aversion to all honest employments. + +Bold as the whole gang of these fellows appeared, yet with what +sickness, what with the apprehension of death, they were so terrified +that not one of them but Ansell, _alias_ Philips, was able to stand up, +or speak at the place of execution, many who saw them affirming that +some of them were dead even before they were turned off. + +As an appendix to the melancholy history of these seven miserable and +unhappy persons, I will add a letter written at that time by a gentleman +of the county of Essex, to his friend in London, containing a more +particular account of the transactions of these people, than I have seen +anywhere else. Wherefore, without any further preface, I shall leave it +to speak for itself. + + A letter to Mr. C. D. in London. + + Dear Sir, + + Amongst the odd accidents which you know have happened to me in the + course of a very unsettled life, I don't know any which hath been + more extraordinary or surprising than one I met with in going down + to my own house when I left you last in town. You cannot but have + heard of the Waltham Blacks, as they are called, a set of whimsical + merry fellows, that are so mad to run the greatest hazards for the + sake of a haunch of venison, and passing a jolly evening together. + + For my part, though the stories told of these people had reached my + ears, yet I confess I took most of them for fables, and I thought + that if there was truth in any of them it was much exaggerated. But + experience (the mistress of fools) has taught me the contrary, by + the adventure I am going to relate to you, which though it ended + well enough at last, I confess at first put me a good deal out of + humour. To begin, then; my horse got a stone in his foot, and + therewith went so lame just as I entered the forest, that I really + thought his shoulder slipped. Finding it however impossible to get + him along, I was even glad to take up at a little blind alehouse + which I perceived had a yard and a stable behind it. + + The man of the house received me very civilly, but when he + perceived my horse was so lame as scarce to be able to stir a step, + I observed he grew uneasy. I asked him whether I could lodge there + that night, he told me no, he had no room, I desired him, then, to + put something to my horse's foot, and let me sit up all night; for I + was resolved not to spoil a horse which cost me twenty guineas by + riding him in such a condition in which he was at present. The man + made me no answer, and I proposed the same questions to the wife. + She dealt more roughly and freely with me, and told me that truly I + neither could, nor should stay there, and was for hurrying her + husband to get my horse out. However, on putting a crown into her + hand and promising another for my lodging, she began to consider a + little; and at last told me that there was indeed a little bed above + stairs, on which she should order a clean pair of sheets to be put, + for she was persuaded I was more of a gentleman than to take any + notice of what I saw passed there. + + This made me more uneasy than I was before. I concluded now I was + got amongst a den of highwaymen, and expected nothing less than to + be robbed and my throat cut. However, finding there was no remedy, I + even set myself down and endeavoured to be as easy as I could. By + this time it was very dark, and I heard three or four horsemen + alight and lead their horses into the yard. As the men returned and + were coming into the room where I was, I overheard my landlord say, + _Indeed, brother, you need not be uneasy, I am positive the + gentleman's a man of honour_, to which I heard another voice reply, + _What could our death do to any stranger? Faith, I don't apprehend + half the danger you do. I dare say the gentleman would be glad of + our company, and we should be pleased with his. Come, hang fear, + I'll lead the way._ So said, so done, in they came, five of them, + all disguised so effectually that I declare, unless it were in the + same disguise, I should not be able to distinguish any one of them. + + Down they sat, and he who I suppose was constituted their captain + _pro hac vice_, accosted me with great civility, and asked me if I + would honour them with my company to supper. I acknowledge I did not + yet guess the profession of my new acquaintances, but supposing my + landlord would be cautious of suffering either a robbery or a murder + in his own house, I know not how, but by degrees my mind grew + perfectly easy. About ten o'clock I heard a very great noise of + horses, and soon after men's feet tramping in a room over my head. + Then my landlord came down and informed us supper was just ready to + go upon the table. + + Upon this we were all desired to walk up, and he whom I before + called the captain, presented me, with a humorous kind of ceremony, + to a man more dignified than the rest who sat at the end of the + table, telling me at the same time, he hoped I would not refuse to + pay my respects to Prince Oroonoko, King of the Blacks. It then + immediately struck into my head who those worthy persons were, into + whose company I was thus accidentally fallen. I called myself a + thousand blockheads for not finding out before, but the hurry of + things, or to speak the truth, the fear I was in, prevented my + judging even from the most evident signs. + + As soon as our awkward ceremony was over, supper was brought in; it + consisted of eighteen dishes of venison in every shape, roasted, + boiled with broth, hashed collops, pasties, umble pies, and a large + haunch in the middle, larded. I easily saw that of three ordinary + rooms of which the first floor of the house consisted, ours (by + taking down the partitions) was very large, and the company in all + twenty-one persons. At each of our elbows there was set a bottle of + claret, and the man and woman of the house sat down at the lower + end. Two or three of the fellows had good natural voices, and so the + evening was spent as merrily as the rakes pass theirs in the King's + Arms, or the City apprentices with their master's maids at Sadler's + Wells. About two the company seemed inclined to break up, having + first assured me that they should take my company as a favour any + Thursday evening, if I came that way. + + I confess I did not sleep all night with reflecting on what had + passed, and could not resolve with myself whether these humorous + gentlemen in masquerade were to be ranked under the denomination of + knight-errants, or plain robbers. This I must tell you, by the by, + that with respect both to honesty and hardship, their life resembles + much that of the hussars, since drinking is all their delight, and + plundering their employment. + + Before I conclude my epistle, it is fit I should inform you that + they did me the honour (with a design perhaps to have received me + into their order) of acquainting me with those rules by which their + society was governed. + + In the first place their Black Prince assured me that their + government was perfectly monarchial, and that when upon expeditions + he had an absolute command; _but in the time of peace_, continued + he, _and at the table, government being no longer necessary, I + condescend to eat and drink familiarly with my subjects as friends. + We admit no man_, continued he, _into our society until he has been + twice drunk with us, that we may be perfectly acquainted with his + temper, in compliance with the old proverb--women, children and + drunken folks speak truth. But if the person who sues to be + admitted, declares solemnly he was never drunk in his life, and it + plainly appears to the society in such case, this rule is dispensed + with, and the person before admission is only bound to converse with + us a month. As soon as we have determined to admit him, he is then + to equip himself with a good mare or gelding, a brace of pistols, + and a gun of the size of this, to lie on the saddle bow. Then he is + sworn upon the horns over the chimney, and having a new name + conferred by the society, is thereby entered upon the roll, and from + that day forward, considered as a lawful member._ + + He went on with abundance more of their wise institutions, which I + think are not of consequence enough to tell you, and shall only + remark one thing more, which is the phrase they make use of in + speaking of one another, viz., _He is a very honest fellow and one + of us._ For you must know it is the first article in their creed + that there's no sin in deer-stealing. + + In the morning, having given my landlady the other crown piece, I + found her temper so much altered for the better, that in my + conscience I believe she was not in the humour to have refused me + anything, no, not even the last favour; and so walking down the yard + and finding my horse in pretty tolerable order, I speeded directly + home, much in amaze at the new people I had discovered. You see I + have taken a great deal of pains in my letter; pray, in return, let + me have as long a one from you, and let me see if all your London + rambles can produce such another adventure. + + I am, yours, etc. + +Before I leave these people, I think it proper to acquaint my readers +that their folly was not to be extinguished by a single execution. There +were a great many young fellows of the same stamp, who were fools enough +to forfeit their lives upon the same occasion. However, the humour did +not run very long, though some of them were impudent enough to murder a +keeper or two afterwards. Yet in the space of a twelvemonth, the whole +nation of Blacks was extinguished, and these country rakes were +contented to play the fool upon easier terms. The last blood that was +shed on either side was that of a keeper's son at Old Windsor, whom some +of these wise people fired at as he looked out of the window, by which +means they drew on their own ruin and that of several numerous families +by which the country was put in such terror that we have heard nothing +of them since, though this Act of Parliament[44] as I shall tell you, +has been by construction extended to some other criminals, who were not +strictly speaking of the same kind as the Waltham Blacks. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [44] The Black Act (9 Geo. I, cap. 2) was repealed so late as 1827. + + + + +The Life of JULIAN, a Black Boy and Incendiary + + +From speaking of artificial blacks, I come now to relate the unhappy +death of one who was naturally of that colour. This poor creature's +Julian. At the time of his execution he seemed to be about sixteen years +of age, he had been stolen while young from his parents at Madras. He +still retained his pagan ignorance both in respect to religion and our +language. + +He was brought over by one Captain Dawes, who presented him to Mrs. +Elizabeth Turner, where he was used with the greatest tenderness and +kindness, she often calling him to dance and sing after his manner +before company; and he himself acknowledged that he had never been so +happy in his life as he was there. Yet, on a sudden, he stole about +twenty or thirty guineas, and then placing a candle under the sheets +left it burning to fire the house, and consume the inhabitants in it. Of +this, upon proof and his own confession made before Sir Francis Forbes +and Mr. Turner, he was convicted. + +While he remained under sentence, he was often heard to mumble in +reproach and revengeful terms to himself. However, before his death he +learned the Lord's Prayer, and when it was demanded whether he would be +a Christian, he assented with great joy, which arose, it seems, from his +having heard the common foolish opinion that when christened Blacks are +to be set free. However, christened he was, and received at his baptism +the name of John. + +The place in which he was confined being very damp, the boy having +nothing to lie on but a coat, caught so great a cold in his limbs that +he almost lost the use of them before his death, and continued in a +state of great pain and weakness; insomuch that when he was told he +must prepare for his execution, he determined with himself to forestall +it, and for that purpose desired one of the prisoners to lend him a +penknife, but the man, it seems, had more grace than to grant his +request, and he ended his life at Tyburn, according to his sentence. + + + + +The Life of ABRAHAM DEVAL, a Lottery Ticket Forger + + +Abraham Deval, who had been a clerk to the Lottery Office, at last took +it into his head to coin tickets for himself, and had such good luck +therein that he at one time counterfeited a certificate for £52 12s. +0d., for seven blank lottery tickets, in the year 1723. Two or three +other facts of the same nature he perpetrated with the like success, but +happening to counterfeit two blank tickets of the lottery in the year in +which he died, they were discovered, and he thereupon apprehended and +tried at the Old Bailey. On the first indictment, for want of evidence +he was acquitted, upon which he behaved himself with great insolence, +lolled out his tongue at the Court, and told them he did not value the +second indictment. But herein he happened to be mistaken, for the jury +found him guilty of that indictment and thereupon he received sentence +of death accordingly. + +Notwithstanding that impudence with which he had treated the Court at +his trial, he complained very loudly of their not showing him favour; +nay, he even pretended that he had not justice done him. This he +grounded upon the score that the ticket he was indicted for was No. 39, +in the 651st course of payment. Now it seems that in searching of his +brother-in-law Parson's room, the original ticket was found, though very +much torn, from whence Deval would have had it taken to be no more than +a duplicate, and much blamed his counsel for not insisting long enough +upon this point, which if he had done, Deval entertained a strong +opinion that he could not have been convicted. + +The apprehension of this and the uneasiness he was under with his irons +made him pass his last moments with great unquietness and discontent. He +said it was against the law to put men in irons, that fettering English +subjects (except they attempted to break prisons) was altogether +illegal. But after having raved at this rate for a small space, when he +found it did him no good, and that there were no hopes of a reprieve, he +even began to settle himself to the performance of those duties which +became a man in his sad condition and when he did apply himself +thereto, nobody could appear to have a juster sense than he of that +miserable and sad condition into which the folly and wickedness of his +life had brought him. + +It is certain the man did not want parts, though sometimes he applied +them to the worst of purposes, and was cursed with an insolent and +overbearing temper which hindered him from being loved or respected +anywhere, and which never did him any service but in the last moments of +his life, where if it had not been for the severity of his behaviour, +Julian, the black boy, would have been very troublesome, both to him and +to the other person who was under sentence at the same time. + +At the place of execution Deval owned the fact, but wished the +spectators to consider whether for all that he was legally convicted, +and so suffered in the thirtieth year of his age. + + + + +The Life of JOSEPH BLAKE, _alias_ BLUESKIN, a Footpad and Highwayman + + +As there is impudence and wickedness enough in the lives of most +malefactors to make persons of a sober education and behaviour wonder at +the depravity of human nature, so there are sometimes superlative rogues +who, in the infamous boldness of their behaviour, as far exceed the +ordinary class of rogues as they do honest people; and whenever such a +monster as this appears in the world, there are enough fools to gape at +him, and to make such a noise and outcry about his conduct as is sure to +invite others of the gang to imitate the obstinacy of his deportment, +through that false love of fame, which seems inherent to human nature. +Amongst the number of these, Joseph Blake, better known by his nickname +of Blueskin, always deserves to be remembered as one who thought +wickedness the greatest achievement, and studiously took the paths of +infamy in order to become famous. + +By birth he was a native of this City of London. His parents being +persons in tolerable circumstances kept him six years at school, where +he did not learn half as much good from his master as he did evil from +his schoolfellow, William Blewitt, from whose lessons he copied so well +that all his education signified nothing. When he came from school he +absolutely refused to go to any employment, but on the contrary set up +for a robber when he was scarce seventeen, but from that time to the day +of his death was unsuccessful in all his undertakings, hardly ever +committing the most trivial fact but he experienced for it, either the +humanity of the mob, or of the keepers of Bridewell, out of which or +some other prison, he could hardly keep his feet for a month together. + +He fell into the gang of Lock, Wilkinson, Carrick[45] Lincoln and Daniel +Carroll, which last having so often been mentioned, perhaps my readers +may be desirous to know what became of him. I shall therefore inform +them that after Carrick and Molony were executed for robbing Mr. Young, +as has been before related, he fled home to his own native country of +Ireland, where for a while making a great figure till he had exhausted +what little wealth he had brought over with him from England, he was +obliged to go again upon the old method to supply him. But +street-robbing being a very new thing at Dublin, it so alarmed that city +that they never ceased pursuing him, and one or two more who joined with +him, till catching them one night at their employment, they pursued +Carrol so closely that he was obliged to come to a close engagement with +a thief-taker, so he was killed upon the spot. + +But to return to Blake, _alias_ Blueskin. Being one night out with his +gang, they robbed one Mr. Clark of eight shillings and a silver hilted +sword, just as candles were going to be lighted, and a woman looking +accidentally out of a window, perceived it, and cried out, _Thieves._ +Wilkinson fired a pistol at her which, very luckily, upon her drawing in +her head, grazed upon the stone of the window, and did no other +mischief. Blake was also in the company of the same gang when they +attacked Captain Langley, at the corner of Hyde Park Road, as he was +going to the Camp[46]; but the Captain behaved himself so well that +notwithstanding they shot several times through and through his coat, +yet they were not able to rob him. + +Not long after this Wilkinson being apprehended impeached a large number +of persons, and with them Joseph Blake and William Lock. Blake hereupon +made a fuller discovery than the other before Justice Blackerby; in +which information there was contained no less than seventy robberies, +upon which he also was admitted a witness. And having named Wilkinson, +Lincoln, Carrick, Carrol, and himself to have been the five persons who +murdered Peter Martin the Chelsea pensioner, by the Park wall, Wilkinson +was apprehended, tried and convicted, notwithstanding the information he +had before given (which was thereby totally set aside); so that Blake +himself became now an evidence against the rest of his companions, and +discovered about a dozen robberies which they had committed. + +Amongst these there was one very remarkable one. Two gentlemen in +hunting caps were together in a chariot on the Hampstead Road, and they +took from them two gold watches, rings, seals and other things to a +considerable value. Junks, _alias_ Levee, laid his pistol down by the +gentleman all the while he searched him, yet he wanted either the +courage or the presence of mind to seize and prevent their losing things +of so great value. Not long after this, Oakey, Junks and this Blake, +stopped a single man with a link before him in Fig Lane; and he not +surrendering so easily as they expected, Junks and Oakey beat him over +the head with their pistols, and then left him wounded in a terrible +condition, taking from him one guinea and one penny. A very short time +after this, Junks, Oakey and Flood were apprehended and executed for +robbing Colonel Cope and Mr. Young of that very watch for which Carrick +and Molony had been before executed, Joseph Blake being the evidence +against them. + +After this hanging work of his companions, he thought himself not only +entitled to liberty but reward. Herein, however, he was mightily +mistaken, for not having surrendered willingly and quietly, but being +taken after long resistance and when he was much wounded, there did not +seem to be the least foundation for this confident demand, he still +remaining a prisoner in the Wood Street Compter, obstinately refusing to +be transported for seven years, but insisting that as he had given +evidence he ought to have his liberty. However, the magistrates were of +another opinion, until at last by procuring two men to be bound for his +good behaviour, he was carried before a wealthy alderman of the City and +there discharged. At which time, somebody there present asking how long +time might be given him before they should see him again at the Old +Bailey, a gentleman made answer in about three sessions, in which time +it seems he guessed very right, for the third session from thence, Blake +was indeed brought to the Bar. + +For no sooner were his feet at liberty but his hands were employed in +robbing, and having picked up Jack Shepherd for a companion, they went +out together to search for prey in the fields. Near the half-way house +to Hampstead they met with one Pargiter, a man pretty much in liquor, +whom immediately Blake knocked down into the ditch, where he must have +inevitably perished if John Shepherd had not kept his head above the mud +with great difficulty. For this fact, the next sessions after it +happened the two brothers Brightwell in the Guards were tried, and if a +number of men had not sworn them to have been upon duty at the time the +robbery was committed, they had certainly been convicted, the evidence +of the prosecutor being direct and full. Through the grief of this the +elder Brightwell died a week after he was released from his confinement, +and so did not live to see his innocence fully cleared by the confession +of Blake. + +A very short space after this, Blake and his companion Shepherd +committed the burglary together in the house of Mr. Kneebone, where +Shepherd getting into the house, let in Blake at the back door and +stripped the house of a considerable value. For this, both Shepherd and +he were apprehended, and the sessions before Blake was convicted his +companion received sentence of death; but at the time Blake was taken +up, he had made his escape out of the condemned hold. + +He behaved with great impudence at his trial, and when he found nothing +would save him, he took the advantage of Jonathan Wild coming to speak +with him, to cut the said Wild's throat, making a large gash from the +ear beyond the windpipe.[47] Of this wound Wild languished a long time, +and happy had it been for him if Blake's wound had proved fatal, for +then Jonathan had escaped death by a more dishonourable wound in the +throat than that of a penknife; but the number of his crimes and the +spleen of his enemies procured him a worse fate. Whatever Wild might +deserve of others, he seems to have merited better usage from this +Blake, for while he continued a prisoner in the Compter, Jonathan was at +the expense of curing his wound, allowing him three shillings and +sixpence a week, and after his last misfortune promised him a good +coffin, actually furnishing him with money to support him in Newgate, +and several good books, if he would have made any use of them; but +because he freely declared to Blueskin that there was no hopes of +getting him transported, the bloody villain determined to take away his +life, and was so far from showing any signs of remorse when he was +brought up again to Newgate, that he declared if he had thought of it +before, he would have provided such a knife as should have cut his head +off. + +At the time that he received sentence there was a woman also condemned, +and they being placed as usual in what is called the Bail Dock at the +Old Bailey, Blake offered such rudeness to the woman that she cried out +and alarmed the whole Bench. All the time he lay under condemnation he +appeared utterly thoughtless and insensible of his approaching fate. +Though from the cutting of Wild's throat, and some other barbarities of +the same nature, he acquired amongst the mob the character of a brave +fellow, yet he was in himself but a mean-spirited timorous wretch, and +never exerted himself but either through fury and despair. His cowardice +appealed manifestly in his behaviour at his death; he wept much at the +chapel in the morning he was to die, and though he drank deeply to drive +away fear, yet at the place of execution he wept again, trembled and +showed all the signs of a timorous confusion, as well he might, who had +lived wickedly and trifled with his repentance to the grave. + +There was nothing in his person extraordinary. A dapper, well-set fellow +of great strength, and great cruelty, equally detested by the sober part +of the world for his audacious wickedness of his behaviour, and despised +by his companions for the villainies he committed even against them. He +was executed in the twenty-eighth year of his age, on the 11th of +November, 1724. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [45] See page 85. + + [46] An encampment was formed in Hyde Park, about 1714. Writing + to Martha Blount, Pope says "The tents are carried there this + morning, new regiments with new clothes and furniture, far + exceeding the late cloth and linen designed by his Grace (the + Duke of Marlborough) for the soldiery." + + [47] See also the Life of Jonathan Wild, subsequently related. + + + + +The Life of the Famous JOHN SHEPHERD, Footpad, Housebreaker and +Prison-breaker + + +Amongst the prodigies of ingenious wickedness and artful mischief which +have surprised the world in our time, perhaps none has made so great a +noise as John Shepherd, the malefactor of whom we are now to speak. His +father's name was Thomas Shepherd, who was by trade a carpenter, and +lived in Spitalfields, a man of an extraordinary good character, and who +took all the care his narrow circumstances would allow, that his family +might be brought up in the fear of God, and in just notions of their +duty towards their neighbour. Yet he was so unhappy in his children that +both his son John and another took to evil courses, and both in their +turns have been convicted at the bar at the Old Bailey. + +After the father's death, his widow did all she could to get this +unfortunate son of hers admitted into Christ's Hospital, but failing of +that, she got him bred up at a school in Bishopsgate Street, where he +learned to read. He might in all probability have got a good education +if he had not been too soon removed, being put out to a trade, viz., +that of a cane-chair-maker, who used him very well, and with whom +probably he might have lived honestly. But his mother dying a short time +afterwards, he was put to another, a much younger man, who used him so +harshly that in a little time he ran away from him, and was put to +another master, one Mr. Wood in Wych Street. From his kindness and that +of Mr. Kneebone (whom he robbed) he was taught to write and had many +other favours done by that gentleman whom he so ungratefully treated. +But good usage or bad, it was grown all alike to him now; he had given +himself up to all the sensual pleasures of low life. Drinking all day, +and getting to some impudent and notorious strumpet at night, was the +whole course of his life for a considerable space, without the least +reflection on what a miserable fate it might bring upon him here, much +less the judgment that might be passed upon him hereafter. + +Amongst the chief of his mistresses there was one Elizabeth Lion, +commonly called Edgeworth Bess, the impudence of whose behaviour was +shocking even to the greatest part of Shepherd's companions, but it +charmed him so much that he suffered her for a while to direct him in +every thing, and she was the first who engaged him in taking base +methods to obtain money wherewith to purchase baser pleasures. This Lion +was a large masculine woman, and Shepherd a very little slight-limbed +lad, so that whenever he had been drinking and came to her quarrelsome, +Bess often beat him into better temper, though Shepherd upon other +occasions manifested his wanting neither courage nor strength. Repeated +quarrels, however, between Shepherd and his mistress, as it does often +with people of better rank, created such coldness that they spoke not +together sometimes for a month. But our robber could not be so long +without some fair one to take up his time, and drive his thoughts from +the consideration of his crimes and the punishment which might one day +befall them. + +The creature he picked out to supply the place of Betty Lion was one +Mrs. Maggott, a woman somewhat less boisterous in her temper, but full +as wicked. She had a very great contempt for Shepherd, and only made use +of him to go and steal money, or what might yield money, for her to +spend in company that she liked better. One night when Shepherd came to +her and told her he had pawned the last thing he had for half a crown, +_Prithee_, says she, _don't tell me such melancholy stories but think +how you may get more money. I have been in Whitehorse Yard this +afternoon. There's a piece-broker there worth a great deal of money; he +keeps his cash in a drawer under the counter, and there's abundance of +good things in his shop that would be fit for me to wear. A word, you +know, to the wise is enough, let me see now how soon you'll put me in +possession of them._ This had the effect she desired; Shepherd left her +about one o'clock in the morning, went to the house she talked of, took +up the cellar window bars, and from thence entered the shop, which he +plundered of money and goods, to the amount of £22. He brought it to his +doxy the same day before she was stirring, who thereupon appeared very +satisfied with his diligence, and helped him in a short time to squander +what he had so dearly earned. + +However, he still retained some affection for his old favourite, Bess +Lion, who being taken up for some of her tricks, was committed to St. +Giles's Round-house. Shepherd going to see her there, broke the doors +open, beat the keeper, and like a true knight-errant, set his distressed +paramour at liberty. This heroic act got him so much reputation amongst +the fair ladies in Drury Lane that there was nobody of his profession so +much esteemed by them as John Shepherd, with his brother Thomas, who had +taken to the same trade. Observing and being in himself in tolerable +estimation with that debauched part of the sex, he importuned some of +them to speak to his brother John to lend him a little money, and for +the future to allow him to go out robbing with him. To both these +propositions Jack (being a kind brother as he himself said) consented at +the first word, and from thence forward the two brothers were always of +one party: Jack having, as he impudently phrased it, lent him forty +shillings to put himself in a proper plight, and soon after their being +together having broke open an alehouse, where they got a tolerable +booty, in a high fit of generosity, John presented it all to his +brother, as, soon after, he did clothes to a very considerable extent, +so that the young man might not appear among the damsels of Drury +unbecoming Mr. Shepherd's brother. + +About three weeks after their coming together, they broke open a +linen-draper's shop, near Clare Market, where the brothers made good use +of their time; for they were not in the house above a quarter of an hour +before they made a shift to strip it of £50. But the younger brother +acting imprudently in disposing of some of the goods, he was detected +and apprehended, upon which the first thing he did was to make a full +discovery to impeach his brother and as many of his confederates as he +could. Jack was very quickly apprehended upon his brother's information, +and was committed by Justice Parry to the Round-house, for further +examination. But instead of waiting for that, Jack began to examine as +well as he could the strength of the place of his confinement, which +being much too weak for a fellow of his capacity, he marched off before +night, and committed a robbery into the bargain, but vowed to be +revenged on Tom who had so basely behaved himself (as Jack phrased it) +towards so good a brother. However, that information going off, Jack +went on in his old way as usual. + +One day in May he and F. Benson being in Leicester Fields, Benson +attempted to get a gentleman's watch, but missing his pull, the +gentleman perceived it and raised a mob. Shepherd passing briskly to +save his companion, was apprehended in his stead, and being carried +before Justice Walters, was committed to New Prison, where the first +sight he saw was his old companion, Bess Lion, who had found her way +thither upon a like errand. Jack, who now saw himself beset with danger, +began to exert all his little cunning, which was indeed his masterpiece. +For this purpose he applied first to Benson's friends, who were in good +circumstances, hoping by their mediation to make the matter up, but in +this he miscarried. Then he attempted a slight information, but the +Justice to whom he sent it, perceiving how trivial a thing it was, and +guessing well at the drift thereof, refused it. Whereupon Shepherd, when +driven to his last shift, communicated his resolution to Bess Lion. They +laid their heads together the fore part of the night, and then went to +work to break out, which they effected by force, and got safe off to one +of Bess Lion's old lodgings, where she kept him secret for some time, +frightening him with stories of great searches being made after him, in +order to detain him from conversing with any other woman. + +But Jack being not naturally timorous, and having a strong inclination +to be out again in his old way with his companions, it was not long +before he gave her the slip, and lodged himself with another of his +female acquaintances, in a little by-court near the Strand. Here one +Charles Grace desired to become an associate with him. Jack was very +ready to take any young fellow in as a partner of his villainies, and +Grace told him that his reason for doing such things was to keep a +beautiful woman without the knowledge of his relations. Shepherd and he +therefore getting into the acquaintance of one Anthony Lamb, an +apprentice of Mr. Carter, near St. Clement's Church, they inveigled the +young man to consent to let them in to rob his master's house. He +accordingly performed it, and they took from Mr. Barton, who lodged +there, to a very considerable value. But Grace and Shepherd quarrelling +about the division, Shepherd wounded Grace in a violent manner, and on +this quarrel betraying one another, they were all taken, Shepherd only +escaping. But the misfortune of poor Lamb who had been drawn in, being +so very young, so far prevailed upon several gentlemen who knew him, +that they not only prevailed to have his sentence mitigated to +transportation, but also furnished him with all necessaries, and +procured an order that on his arrival there he should not be sold as the +other felons were, but that he should be left at liberty to provide for +himself as well as he could. + +It seems that Shepherd's gang (which consisted of himself, his brother +Tom, Joseph Blake, _alias_ Blueskin, Charles Grace, James Sikes, to +whose name his companions tacked their two favourite syllables, Hell and +Fury) not knowing how to dispose of the goods they had taken, made use +of one William Field for that purpose, who Shepherd in his ludicrous +style, used to characterise thus: that he was a fellow wicked enough to +do anything, but his want of courage permitted him to do nothing but +carry on the trade he did, which was that of selling stolen goods when +put into his hands. + +But Blake and Shepherd finding Field somewhat dilatory, not thinking it +always safe to trust him, they resolved to hire a warehouse and lodge +their goods there, which accordingly they did, near the Horseferry in +Westminster. There they placed what they had taken out of Mr. Kneebones' +house, and the goods made a great show there, whence the people in the +neighbourhood really took them for honest persons, who had so great a +wholesale business on their hands as occasioned their taking a place +where they by convenient for the water. + +Field, however, importuned them (having got scent they had such a +warehouse) that he might go and see the goods, pretending that he had it +just now in his power to sell them at a very great price. They +accordingly carried him thither and showed him the things. Two or three +days afterwards, though he had not courage enough to rob anybody else, +Field ventured to break open the warehouse, and took every rag that had +been lodged there; and not long after, Shepherd was apprehended for the +fact and tried at the next sessions of the Old Bailey. + +His appearance there was very mean, and all the defence he offered to +make was that Jonathan Wild had helped to dispose of part of the goods +and he thought it was very hard that he should not share in the +punishment. The Court took little notice of so insignificant a plea and +sentence being passed upon him, he hardly made a sensible petition for +the favour of the Court in the report, but behaved throughout as a +person either stupid or foolish, so far was he from appearing in any +degree likely to make the noise he afterwards did. + +When put into the condemned hold, he prevailed upon one Fowls, who was +also under sentence, to lift him up to the iron spikes placed over the +door which looks into the lodge. A woman of large make attending +without, and two others standing behind her in riding hoods, Jack no +sooner got his head and shoulders through between the iron spikes, than +by a sudden spring his body followed with ease, and the women taking him +down gently, he was without suspicion of the keepers (although some of +them were drinking at the upper end of the lodge) conveyed safely out of +the lodge door, and getting a hackney coach went clear off before there +was the least notice of his escape, which, when it was known, very much +surprised the keepers, who never dreamt of an attempt of that kind +before. + +As soon as John breathed the fresh air, he went again briskly to his old +employment, and the first thing he did was to find out one Page, a +butcher of his acquaintance in Clare Market, who dressed him up in one +of his frocks, and then went with him upon the business of raising +money. No sooner had they set out, but Shepherd remembering one Mr. +Martin, a watchmaker near the Castle Tavern in Fleet Street, he +prevailed upon his companion to go thither, and screwing a gimlet fast +into the post of the door, they then tied the knocker thereto with a +spring, and then boldly breaking the windows, they snatched three +watches before a boy that was in the shop could open the door, and so +marched clear off, Shepherd having the impudence, upon this occasion, to +pass underneath Newgate. + +However, he did not long enjoy his liberty, for strolling about Finchley +Common, he was apprehended and committed to Newgate, and was put +immediately in the Stone Room, where they put him on a heavy pair of +irons, and then stapled him fast down to the floor. Being left there +alone in the sessions time (most of the people in the gaol then +attending at the Old Bailey) with a crooked nail he opened the lock, and +by that means got rid of his chain, and went directly to the chimney in +the room, where with incessant working he got out a couple of stones and +by that means climbed up into a room called the Red Room, where nobody +had been lodged for a considerable time. Here he threw down a door, +which one would have thought impossible to have been done by the +strength of man (though with ever so much noise); from hence with a +great deal to do, he forced his passage into the chapel. There he broke +a spike off the door, forcing open by its help four other doors. Getting +at last upon the leads, he from thence descended gently (by the help of +the blanket on which he lay, for which he went back through the whole +prison) upon the leads of Mr. Bird, a turner who lives next door to +Newgate; and looking in at the garret window, he saw the maid going to +bed. As soon as he thought she was asleep, he stepped downstairs, went +through the shop, opened the door, then into the street, leaving the +door open behind him. + +In the morning, when the keepers were in search after him, hearing of +this circumstance by the watchman, they were then perfectly satisfied of +the method by which he went off. However, they were obliged to publish +a reward and make the strictest enquiry after him, some foolish people +having propagated a report that he had not got out without connivance. +In the meanwhile, Shepherd found it a very difficult thing to get rid of +his irons, being obliged to lurk about and lie hid near a village not +far from town, until with much ado he fell upon a method of procuring a +hammer and taking his irons off. + +[Illustration: JACK SHEPPARD IN THE STONE ROOM IN NEWGATE + +_(From the Annals of Newgate)_] + +He was no sooner freed from the encumbrance that remained upon him, than +he came secretly into the town that night, and robbed Mr. Rawlin's +house, a pawnbroker in Drury Lane. Here he got a very large booty, and +amongst other things a very handsome black suit of clothes and a gold +watch. Being dressed in this manner he carried the rest of the goods and +valuable effects to two women, one of whom was a poor young creature +whom Shepherd had seduced, and who was imprisoned on this account. No +sooner had she taken care of the booty but he went among his old +companions, pickpockets and whores in Drury Lane and Clare Market. There +being accidentally espied fuddling at a little brandy-shop, by a boy +belonging to an alehouse, who knew him very well, the lad immediately +gave information upon which he was apprehended, and reconducted, with a +vast mob, to his old mansion house of Newgate, being so much intoxicated +with liquor that he was hardly sensible of his miserable fate. However, +they took effectual care to prevent a third escape, never suffering him +to be alone a moment, which, as it put the keepers to a great expense, +they took care to pay themselves with the money they took of all who +came to see him. + +In this last confinement it was that Mr. Shepherd and his adventures +became the sole topic of conversation about town. Numbers flocked daily +to behold him, and far from being displeased at being made a spectacle +of, he entertained all who came with the greatest gaiety that could be. +He acquainted them with all his adventures, related each of his +robberies in the most ludicrous manner, and endeavoured to set off every +circumstance of his flagitious life as well as his capacity would give +him leave, which, to say truth, was excellent at cunning, and +buffoonery, and nothing else. + +Nor were the crowds that thronged to Newgate on this occasion made up of +the dregs of the people only, for then there would have been no wonder; +but instead of that they were persons of the first distinction, and not +a few even dignified with titles.[48] 'Tis certain that the noise made +about him, and this curiosity of persons of so high a rank, was a very +great misfortune to the poor wretch himself, who from these +circumstances began to conceive grand ideas of himself, as well as +strong hopes of pardon, which encouraged him to play over all his airs +and divert as many as thought it worth their while by their presence to +prevent a dying man from considering his latter end, who instead of +repenting of his crimes, gloried in rehearsing them. + +Yet when Shepherd came up to chapel, it was observed that all his gaiety +was laid aside, and he both heard and assisted with great attention at +Divine Service, though upon other occasions he avoided religious +discourse as much as he could; and depending upon the petitions he had +made to several noblemen to intercede with the king for mercy, he seemed +rather to aim at diverting his time until he received a pardon, than to +improve the few days he had to prepare himself for his last. + +On the 10th of November, 1724, he was by _Certiorari_ removed to the bar +of the Court of King's Bench, at Westminster. An affidavit being made +that he was the same John Shepherd mentioned in the record of conviction +before him, Mr. Justice Powis awarded judgment against him, and a rule +was made for his execution on the 16th. + +Such was the unaccountable fondness this criminal had for life, and so +unwilling was he to lose all hopes of preserving it, that he framed in +his mind resolutions of cutting the rope when he should be bound in the +cart, thinking thereby to get amongst the crowd, and so into Lincoln's +Inn Fields, and from thence to the Thames. For this purpose he had +provided a knife, which was with great difficulty taken from him by Mr. +Watson, who was to attend him to death. Nay, his hopes were carried even +beyond hanging, for when he spoke to a person to whom he gave what money +he had remaining out of the large presents he had received from those +who came to divert themselves at Shepherd's Show, or Newgate Fair, he +most earnestly entreated him that as soon as possible his body might be +taken out of the hearse which was provided for him, put into a warm bed, +and if it were possible, some blood taken from him, for he was in great +hopes that he might be brought to life again; but if he was not, he +desired him to defray the expenses of his funeral, and return the +overplus to his poor mother. Then he resumed his usual discourse about +his robberies and in the last moments of his life endeavoured to divert +himself from the thoughts of death. Yet so uncertain and various was he +in his behaviour that he told one whom he had a great desire to see on +the morning that he died, that he had then a satisfaction at his heart, +as if he were going to enjoy two hundred pounds _per annum_. + +At the place of execution, to which he was conveyed in a cart, with iron +handcuffs on, he behaved himself very gravely, confessing his robbery of +Mr. Philips and Mrs. Cook, but denied that he and Joseph Blake had +William Field in their company when they broke open the house of Mr. +Kneebone. After this he submitted to his fate on the 16th of November, +1724, much pitied by the mob.[49] + +FOOTNOTES: + + [48] While in Newgate he sat for his portrait to Sir James Thornhill. + + [49] Over 200,000 persons witnessed his execution at Tyburn, + and a riot which broke out concerning the disposal of his corpse + was quelled by soldiers with fixed bayonets. + + + + +The Life of LEWIS HOUSSART, the French Barber, a Murderer + + +As there is not any crime more shocking to human nature or more contrary +to all laws human and divine than murder, so perhaps there has been few +committed in these last years accompanied with more odd circumstances +than that for which this criminal suffered. + +Lewis Houssart was born at Sedan, a town in Champaigne in the kingdom of +France. His own paper says that he was bred a surgeon and qualified for +that business. However that were, he was here no better than a penny +barber, only that he let blood, and thereby got a little and not much +money. As to the other circumstances of his life, my memoirs are not +full enough to assist me in speaking thereto. All I can say of him is +that while his wife, Anne Rondeau, was living, he married another woman, +and the night of the marriage before sitting down to supper, he went out +a little space. During the interval between that and his coming in, it +was judged from the circumstances that I shall mention hereafter, that +he cut the throat of the poor woman who was his first wife, with a +razor. For this being apprehended he was tried at the Old Bailey, but +for want of proof sufficient was acquitted. + +Not long after he was indicted for bigamy, i.e., for marrying his second +wife, his first having been yet alive. Scarce making any defence upon +this indictment he was found guilty. He said thereupon, it was no more +than he expected, and that he did not trouble himself to preserve so +much as his reputation in this respect; for in the first place he knew +they were resolved to convict him, and in the next, he said, where there +was no fault, there was no shame; that his first wife was a Socinian, an +irrational creature, and was entitled to the advantages of no nation nor +people because she was no Christian, and accordingly the Scripture says, +with such a one have no conversation, no, not so much as to eat with +them. But an appeal was lodged against him by Solomon Rondeau, brother +and heir to Anne his wife, yet that appearing to be defective, it was +quashed, and he charged upon another, whereunto joining issue upon six +points they came to be tried at the Old Bailey, where the following +circumstances appeared upon the trial. + +First, that at the time he was at supper at his new wife's house, he +started on a sudden, looked aghast and seemed to be very much +frightened. A little boy deposed that the prisoner gave him money to go +to his own house in a little court, and fetch the mother of the deceased +Anne Rondeau to a gentleman who would be at such a place and wait for +her. When the mother returned from that place and found nobody wanting +her, or that had wanted her, she was very much out of humour at the +boy's calling her; but that quickly gave way to the surprise of finding +her daughter murdered as soon as she entered the room. This boy who +called her was very young, yet out of the number of persons who were in +Newgate he singled out Lewis Houssart, and declared that he was the only +man among them who gave him money to go on the errant for old Mistress +Rondeau. + +Upon this and several other corroborating proofs, the jury found him +guilty, upon which he arraigned the justice of a Court which hitherto +had been preserved without a taint, declaring that he was innocent, and +that they might punish if they would, but they could not make him +guilty, and much more to the like effect; but the Court were not +troubled with that, so he scarce endeavoured to make any other defence. + +While in the condemned hold amongst the rest of the criminals, he +behaved himself in a very odd manner, insisted upon it that he was +innocent of the fact laid to his charge, threw out most opprobious +language against the Court that condemned him, and when he was advised +to lay aside such heats of passionate expressions, he said he was sorry +he did not more fully expose British justice upon the spot at the Old +Bailey, and that now since they had tied up his hands from acting, he +would at least have satisfaction in saying what he pleased. + +When this Houssart was first apprehended he appeared to be very much +affected with his condition, was continually reading good books, praying +and meditating, and showing the utmost signs of a heart full of concern, +and under the greatest emotions, but after he had once been convicted, +it made a thorough change in his temper. He quite laid aside all the +former gravity of his temper and gave way, in the contrary, to a very +extraordinary spirit of obstinacy and unbelief. He puzzled himself +continually, and if Mr. Deval, who was then under sentence, would have +given leave, attempted to puzzle him too, as to the doctrines of a +future state, and an identical resurrection of the body. He said he +could not be persuaded of the truth thereof in a literal sense; that +when the individual frame of flesh which he bore about him was once +dead, and from being flesh became again clay, he did not either conceive +or believe that it, after lying in the earth, or disposed of otherwise +perhaps for the space of a thousand years, should at the last day be +reanimated by the soul which possessed it now, and become answerable +even to eternal punishment for crimes committed so long ago. It was, he +said, also little agreeable to the notions he entertained of the +infinite mercy of God, and therefore he chose rather to look upon such +doctrines as errors received from education, than torment and afflict +himself with the terrors which must arise from such a belief. But after +he had once answered as well as he could these objections, Mr. Deval +refused to harken a second time to any such discourses and was obliged +to have recourse to harsh language to oblige him to desist. + +In the meanwhile his brother came over from Holland, on the news of this +dreadful misfortune, and went to make him a visit in the place of his +confinement while under condemnation, going to condole with him on the +heavy weight of his misfortunes. Upon which, instead of receiving the +kindness of his brother in the manner it deserved, Houssart began to +make light of the affair, and treated the death of his wife and his own +confinement in such a manner that his brother leaving him abruptly, went +back to Holland more shocked at the brutality of his behaviour than +grieved for the misfortune which had befallen him. + +It being a considerable space of time that Houssart lay in confinement +in Newgate and even in the condemned hold, he had there, of course, +abundance of companions. But of them all he affected none so much as +John Shepherd, with whom he had abundance of merry and even loose +discourse. Once particularly, when the sparks flew very quickly out of +the charcoal fire, he said to Shepherd, _See, see! I wish these were so +many bullets that might beat the prison down about our ears, and then I +might die like Sampson._ + +It was near a month before he was called up to receive sentence, after +which he made no scruple of saying that since they had found him guilty +of throat-cutting, they should not lie, he would verify their judgment +by cutting his own throat. Upon which, when some who were in the same +sad state with himself, pointed out to him how great a crime self-murder +was, he immediately made answer that he was satisfied it was no crime at +all; and upon this he fell to arguing in favour of the mortality of the +soul, as if certain that it died with the body, endeavouring to cover +his opinions with false glosses on that text in Genesis where it is +said, that God breathed into man a living soul. From hence he would have +inferred that when a man ceased to live, he totally lost that soul, and +when it was asked of him where then it went, he said, he did not know, +nor did it concern him much. + +The standers-by, who notwithstanding their profligate course of life had +a natural abhorrence of this theoretical impiety, reproved him in very +sharp terms for making use of such expression, upon which he replied, +_Ay! would you have me believe all the strange notions that are taught +by the parsons? That the devil is a real thing? That our good God +punishes souls for ever and ever? That Hell is full of flames from +material fire, and that this body of mine shall feel it? Well, you may +believe it if you please, but it is so with me that I cannot._ + +Sometimes, however, he would lay aside these sceptical opinions for a +time, talk in another strain, and appear mightily concerned at the +misfortunes he had drawn upon his second wife and child. He would then +speak of Providence, and the decrees of God with much seeming +submission, would own that he had been guilty of many and grievous +offences, say that the punishment of God was just, and desire the +prayers of the minister of the place, and those that were about him. + +When he reflected on the grief it would give his father, near ninety +years old, to hear of his misfortunes and that his son should be +shamefully executed for the murder of his wife, he was seen to shed +tears and to appear very much affected; but as soon as these thoughts +were a little out of his head, he resumed his former temper and was +continually asking questions in relation to the truth of the Gospel +dispensation, and the doctrines therein taught of rewards and +punishments after this life. + +Being a Frenchman and not perfectly versed in our language, a minister +of the Reformed Church of that nation was prevailed upon to attend him. +Houssart received him with tolerable civility, seemed pleased that he +should pray by him, but industriously waved aside all discourses of his +guilt, and even fell out into violent passions if confession was pressed +upon him as a duty. In this strange way he consumed the time allowed him +to prepare for another world. + +The day before his execution he appeared more than ordinarily attentive +at the public devotions in the chapel. A sermon was then made with +particular regard to that fact for which he was to die; he heard that +also seemingly with much care, but when he was asked immediately after +to unburden his conscience in respect of the death of his wife, he not +only refused it, but also expressed a great indignation that he should +be tormented as he called it, to confess a thing of which he was not +guilty. + +In the evening of that day the foreign minister and he whose duty it was +to attend him, both waited upon him at night in order to discourse with +him on those strange notions he had of the mortality of the soul, and a +total cessation of being after this life. But when they came to speak to +him to this purpose, he said they might spare themselves any arguments +upon that head, for he believed a God and a resurrection as firmly as +they did. They then discoursed to him of the nature of a sufficient +repentance, and of the duty incumbent upon him to confess that great +crime for which he was condemned, and thereby give glory unto God. He +fell at this into his old temper, and said with some passion, _If you +will pray with me, I'll thank you, and pray with you as long as you +please; but if you come only to torture me with my guilt, I desire you +would let me alone altogether._ + +His lawyers having pretty well instructed him in the nature of an +appeal, and he coming thereby to know that he was now under sentence of +death, at the suit of the subject and not of the King, he was very +assiduous to learn where it was he was to apply for a reprieve; but +finding it was the relations of his deceased wife from whom he was to +expect it, he laid aside all those hopes, as conceiving it rightly a +thing impossible to prevail upon people to spare his life, who had +almost undone themselves in prosecuting him. + +In the morning of the day of execution he was very much disturbed at +being refused the Sacrament, which as the minister told him, could not +be given him by the canon without his confession. Yet this did not +prevail; he said he would die without receiving it, as he had before +answered a French minister, who said, _Lewis Houssart, since you are +condemned on full evidence, and I see no reason but to believe you +guilty, I must, as a just pastor, inform you that if you persist in this +denial, and die without confession, you can look for nothing but to be +d----;_ to which Houssart replied, _You must look for damnation to +yourself for judging me guilty, when you know nothing of the matter._ + +This confused frame of mind he continued in until he entered the cart +for his execution, persisting in a like declaration of innocence all the +way he went, though sometimes intermixed with short prayers to God to +forgive his manifold sins and offences. + +At the place of execution he turned very pale and grew very sick. The +ministers told him they would not pray by him unless he would confess +the murder for which he died. He said he was very sorry for that, but +if they would not pray by him he could not help it, he would not confess +what he was totally ignorant of. Even at the moment of being tied up he +persisted and when such exhortations were again repeated, he said: _Pray +do not torment me, pray cease troubling me. I tell you I will not make +myself worse than I am._ And so saying, he gave up the ghost without any +private prayer when left alone or calling upon God or Christ to receive +his spirit. He delivered to the minister of Newgate, however, a paper, +the copy which follows, from whence my readers will receive a more exact +idea of the man from this, his draught of himself, than from any picture +I can draw. + + The Paper delivered by Lewis Houssart at his death. + + I, Lewis Houssart, am forty years old, and was born in Sedan, a town + in Champaigne, near Boullonois. I have left France above fourteen + years. I was apprentice to a surgeon at Amsterdam, and after + examination was allowed by the college to be qualified for that + business, so that I intended to go on board a ship as surgeon, but I + could never have my health at sea. I dwelt sometime at Mæstricht, in + the Dutch Brabant, where my aged father and brother now dwell. I + travelled through Holland and was in almost every town. My two + sisters are in France and also many of my relations, for the earth + has scarce any family more numerous than ours. Seven or eight years + have I been in London, and here I met with Anne Rondeau, who was + born at the same village with me, and therefore I loved her. After I + had left her, she wrote to me, and said she would reveal a secret. I + promised her to be secret, and she told me she had not been chaste, + and the consequence of it was upon her, upon which I gave her my + best help and assistance. Since she is dead I hope her soul is + happy. + + Lewis Houssart + + + + +The Life of CHARLES TOWERS, a Minter in Wapping + + +Notwithstanding it must be apparent, even to a very ordinary +understanding, that the Law must be executed both in civil and criminal +cases, and that without such execution those who live under its +protection would be very unsafe, yet it happens so that those who feel +the smart of its judgment (though drawn upon them by their own misdeeds, +follies or misfortunes which the Law of man cannot remedy or prevent) +are always clamouring against its supposed severity, and making dreadful +complaints of the hardships they from thence sustain. This disposition +hath engaged numbers under these unhappy circumstances to attempt +screening themselves from the rigour of the laws by sheltering in +certain places, where by virtue of their own authority, or rather +necessities, they set up a right of exemption and endeavour to establish +a power of preserving those who live within certain limits from being +prosecuted according to the usual course of the Law. + +Anciently, indeed, there were several sanctuaries which depended on the +Roman Catholic religion, and which were, of course, destroyed when +popery was done away by Law. However, those who had sheltered themselves +in them kept up such exemption, and by force withstood whatever civil +officers attempted to execute process for debt, and that so vigorously +that at length they seemed to have established by prescription what was +directly against Law. These pretended privileged places increased at +last to such an extent that in the ninth year of King William, the +legislature was obliged to make provision by a clause in an Act of +Parliament, requiring the sheriffs of London, Middlesex, and Surrey, the +head bailiff of the Dutchy Liberty, or the bailiff of Surrey, under the +penalty of one hundred pounds, to execute with the assistance of the +_posse comitatus_ any writ or warrant directed to them for seizing any +person within any pretended privilege place such as Whitefriars, the +Savoy, Salisbury Court, Ram Alley, Mitre Court, Fuller's Rents, +Baldwin's Gardens, Montague Close or the Minories, Mint, Clink, or Dead +Man's Place.[50] At the same time they ordered the assistance for +executing the Law, of any who obey the sheriff or other person or +persons in such places as aforesaid, with very great penalties upon +persons who attempt to rescue persons from the hands of justice in such +place. + +This law had a very good effect with respect to all places excepting +those within the jurisdiction of the Mint, though not without some +struggle. There, however, they still continued to keep up those +privileges they had assumed, and accordingly did maintain them by so far +misusing persons who attempted to execute processes amongst them, by +ducking them in ditches, dragging them through privies or "lay stalls," +accompanied by a number of people dressed up in frightful habits, who +were summoned upon blowing a horn. All which at last became so very +great a grievance that the legislature was again forced to interpose, +and by an act of the 9th of the late King, the Mint, as it was commonly +called, situated in the parish of St. George's, Southwark, in the county +of Surrey, was taken away, and the punishment of transportation, and +even death, inflicted upon such who should persist in maintaining there +pretended privileges. + +Yet so far did the Government extend its mercy, as to suffer all those +who at the time of passing the Act were actually shelterers in the Mint +(provided that they made a just discovery of their effects) to be +discharged from any imprisonment of their persons for any debts +contracted before that time. By this Act of Parliament, the privilege of +the Mint was totally taken away and destroyed. + +The persons who had so many years supported themselves therein were +dissipated and dispersed. But many of them got again into debt, and +associating themselves with other persons in the same condition, with +unparalleled impudence they attempted to set up (towards Wapping) a new +privileged jurisdiction under the title of the Seven Cities of Refuge. +In this attempt they were much furthered and directed by one Major +Santloe, formerly a Justice of Peace, but being turned out of +commission, he came first a shelterer here, and afterwards a prisoner in +the Fleet. These people made an addition to these laws which had +formerly been established in such illegal sanctuaries, for they provided +large books in which they entered the names of persons who entered into +their association, swearing to defend one another against all bailiffs +and such like. In consequence of which, they very often rescued +prisoners out of custody, or even entered the houses of officers for +that purposes. Amongst the number of these unhappy people, who by +protecting themselves against the lesser judgments of the Law involved +themselves in greater difficulties, and at last drew on the greatest and +most heavy sentence which it could pronounce, was him we now speak of. + +Charles Towers was a person whose circumstances had been bad for many +years, and in order to retrieve them he had turned gamester. For a +guinea or two, it seems, he engaged for the payment of a very +considerable debt for a friend, who not paying it at his time, Towers +was obliged to fly for shelter into the Old Mint, then in being. He went +into the New, which was just then setting up, and where the Shelterers +took upon them to act more licentiously and with greater outrages +towards officers of Justice than the people in any other places had +done. Particularly they erected a tribunal on which a person chosen for +that purpose sat as a judge with great state and solemnity. When any +bailiff had attempted to arrest persons within the limits which they +assumed for their jurisdiction, he was seized immediately by a mob of +their own people, and hurried before the judge of their own choosing. +There a sort of charge or indictment was preferred against him, for +attempting to disturb the peace of the Shelterers within the +jurisdiction of the Seven Cities of Refuge. Then they examined certain +witnesses to prove this, and thereupon pretending to convict such +bailiff as a criminal, he was sentenced by their judge aforesaid to be +whipped or otherwise punished as he thought fit, which was executed +frequently in the most cruel and barbarous manner, by dragging him +through ditches and other nasty places, tearing his clothes off his +back, and even endangering his life. + +One West, who had got amongst them, being arrested by John Errington, +who carried him to his house by Wapping Wall, the Shelterers in the New +Mint no sooner heard thereof, but assembling on a Sunday morning in a +great number, with guns, swords, staves, and other offensive weapons, +they went to the house of the said John Errington, and there terrifying +and affrighting the persons in the house rescued John West, pursuant, as +they said, to their oaths, he being registered as a protected person in +their books of the Seven Cities of Refuge. In this expedition Charles +Towers was very forward, being dressed with only a blue pea-jacket, +without hat, wig or shirt, with a large stick like a quarter-staff in +his hand, his face and breast being so blackened that it appeared to be +done with soot and grease, contrary to the Statute made against those +called The Waltham Blacks, and done after the first day of June, 1723, +when that Statute took place. + +Upon an indictment for this, the fact being very fully and dearly +proved, notwithstanding his defence, which was that he was no more +disguised than his necessity obliged him to be, not having wherewith to +provide himself clothes, and his face perhaps dirty and daubed with mud, +the jury found him guilty, and he thereupon received sentence of death. + +Before the execution of that sentence, he insisted strenuously on his +innocence as to the point on which he was found guilty and condemned, +viz., having his face blacked and disguised within the intent and +meaning of the Statute, but he readily acknowledged that he had been +often present and assisted at such mock courts of justice as were held +in the New Mint, though he absolutely denied sitting as judge when one +Mr. Westwood, a bailiff, was most abominably abused by an order of that +pretended court. He seemed fully sensible of the ills and injuries he +had committed by being concerned amongst such people, but often said +that he thought the bailiffs had sufficiently revenged themselves by the +cruel treatment they had used the riotous persons with, when they fell +within their power, particularly since they hacked and chopped a +carpenter's right arm in such a manner that it was obliged to be cut +off; had abused others in so terrible a degree that they were not able +to work, or do anything for their living. He himself had received +several large cuts over the head, which though received six weeks +before, yet were in a very bad condition at the time of his death. + +As to disguises, he constantly averred they were never practised in the +New Mint. He owned they had had some masquerades amongst them, to which +himself amongst others had gone in the dress of a miller, and his face +all covered with white, but as to any blacking or other means to prevent +his face being known when he rescued West he had none, but on the +contrary was in his usual habit as all the rest were that accompanied +him. He framed as well as he could a petition for mercy, setting forth +the circumstances of the thing, and the hardship he conceived it to be +to suffer upon the bare construction of an Act of Parliament. He set +forth likewise, the miserable condition of his wife and two children +already, she being also big of a third. This petition she presented to +his Majesty at the Council Chamber door, but the necessity there was of +preventing such combinations for obstructing justice, rendered it of no +effect. Upon her return, and Towers being acquainted with the result, he +said he was contented, that he went willingly into a land of quiet from +a world so troublesome and so tormenting as this had been to him. Then +he kneeled down and prayed with great fervency and devotion, after which +he appeared very composed and showed no rage against the prosecutor and +witnesses who had brought on his death, as is too often the case with +men in his miserable condition. + +On the day appointed for his execution, he was carried in a cart to a +gallows whereon he was to suffer in Wapping, the crowd, as is not common +on such occasions, lamenting him, and pouring down showers of tears, he +himself behaving with great calmness and intrepidity. After prayers had +been said, he stood up in the cart, and turning towards the people, +professed his innocence in being in a disguise at the time of rescuing +Mr. West, and with the strongest asserverations said that it was Captain +Buckland and not himself who sat as judge upon Mr. Jones the bailiff, +though, as he complained, he had been ill-used while he remained a +prisoner upon that score. To this he added that for the robberies and +thefts with which he was charged, they were falsities, as he was a dying +man. Money indeed, be said, might be shaken out of the breeches pocket +of the bailiff when he was ditched, but that whether it was or was not +so, he was no judge, for he never saw any of it. That as to any design +of breaking open Sir Isaac Tilliard's house, he was innocent of that +also. In fine, he owned that the judgment of God was exceeding just for +the many offences he committed, but that the sentence of the Law was too +severe, because, as he understood it, he had done nothing culpable +within the intent of the Statute on which he died. After this, he +inveighed for some time against bailiffs, and then crying with vehemency +to God to receive his spirit, he gave up the ghost on the 4th of +January, 1724-5. + +However the death of Towers might prevent people committing such acts as +breaking open the houses of bailiffs, and setting prisoners at liberty, +yet it did not quite stifle or destroy those attempts which necessitous +people made for screening themselves from public justice, insomuch that +the Government were obliged at last to cause a Bill to be brought into +Parliament for the preventing such attempts for the future, whereupon in +the 11th year of the late King, it passed into a law to this effect: + +That if any number of persons not less than three, associate themselves +together in the hamlet of Wapping, Stepney, or in any other place within +the bills of mortality, in order to shelter themselves from their debts, +after complaint made thereof by presentment of a grand jury, and should +obstruct any officer legally empowered and authorised in the execution +of any writ or warrant against any person whatsoever, and in such +obstructing or hindering should hurt, wound or injure any person; then +any offender convicted of such offence, should suffer as a felon and be +transported for seven years in like manner as other persons are so +convicted. And it is further enacted by the same law that upon +application made to the judge of any Court, out of which the writs +therein mentioned are issued, the aforesaid judge, if he see proper, may +grant a warrant directly to the sheriff, or other person proper to raise +the _posse comitatus_, where there is any probability of resistance. And +if in the execution of such warrant any disturbance should happen, and a +rescue be made, then the persons assisting in such rescue, or who +harbour or conceal the persons so rescued, shall be transported for +seven years in like manner as if convicted of felony, but all +indictments upon this statute are to be commenced within six months +after the fact committed. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [50] Ram Alley was on the south side of Fleet Street, between + Sergeants' Inn and Mitre Court; Fuller's Rents is now Fulwood + Place, Holborn; Baldwin's Gardens runs from Gray's Inn Road to + Leather Lane; Montague Close was on the Southwark side, near + London Bridge; Dead Man's Place was a crooked street at the east + end of Bankside. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS ANDERSON, a Scotch Thief + + +Amongst a multitude of tragical adventures it is with some satisfaction +that I mention the life of a person who was of the number of those few +which take warning in time, and having once felt the rod of affliction, +fear it ever afterwards. + +Thomas Anderson was the son of reputable parents in the city of +Aberdeen, in Scotland. His father was of the number of those unhappy +people who went over to Darien when the Scots made their settlement +there in the reign of the late King William, his son Thomas being left +under the care of his mother then a widow. By this his education +suffered, and he was put apprentice to a glazier, although his father +had been a man of some fashion, and the boy always educated with hopes +of living genteelly. However, he is not the first that has been so +deceived, though he took it so to heart that at first going to his +master his grief was so great as had very nigh killed him. He continued, +however, with his master two years, and then making bold with about nine +guineas of his, and thirteen of his mother's, he procured a horse and +made the greatest speed he could to Edinburgh. + +Tom was sensible enough that he should be pursued, and hearing of a ship +ready to sail from Leith for London, he went on board it, and in five +days' time having a fair wind they arrived in the river of Thames. As +soon as he got on shore Tom had the precaution to take lodging in a +little street near Bur Street in Wapping, there he put his things; and +his stock now being dwindled to twelve guineas, he put two of them in +his fob, with his mother's old gold watch, which he had likewise brought +along with him, and then went out to see the town. He had not walked far +in Fleet Street, whither he had conveyed himself by boat, but he was +saluted by a well-dressed woman, in a tone almost as broad as his own. +Conscious of what he had committed he thought it was somebody that knew +him and would have taken him up. He turned thereupon pale, and started. +The woman observing his surprise, said, _Sir, I beg your pardon I took +you for one Mr. Johnson, of Hull, my near relation; but I see you are +not the same gentleman, though you are very like him._ + +Anderson thereupon taking heart, walked a little way with her, and the +woman inviting him to drink tea at her lodgings, he accepted it readily, +and away they went together to the bottom of Salisbury Court, where the +woman lived. After tea was over, so many overtures were made that our +new-come spark was easily drawn into an amour, and after a considerable +time spent in parley, it was at last agreed that he should pass for her +husband newly come from sea; and this being agreed upon, the landlady +was called up, and the story told in form. The name the woman assumed +was that of Johnson, and Tom consequently was obliged to go by the same. +So after compliments expressed on all sides for his safe return, a +supper was provided, and about ten o'clock they went to bed together. + +Whether anything had been put in the drink, or whether it was only owing +to the quantity he had drunk, he slept very soundly until 11 o'clock in +the morning, when he was awakened by a knocking at the door; upon +getting up to open it, he was a little surprised at finding the woman +gone and more so at seeing the key thrown under the door. However, he +took it up and opened it: his landlady then delivered him a letter, +which as soon as she was gone he opened, and found it to run in these +terms: + + Dear Sir, + + You must know that for about three years I have been an unfortunate + woman, that is, have conversed with many of your sex, as I have done + with you. I need not tell you that you made me a present of what + money you had about you last night, after the reckoning over the way + at The George was paid. I told my landlady when I went out this + morning that I was going to bring home some linen for shirts; you + had best say so too, and so you may go away without noise, for as I + owe her above three pound for lodging, 'tis odds but that as you + said last night you were my husband, she will put you in trouble, + and that I think would be hard, for to be sure you have paid dear + enough for your frolic. I hope you will forgive this presumption, + and I am yours next time you meet me. + + Jane Johnson + +Tom was not a little chagrined at this accident, especially when he +found that not only the remainder of the two guineas, but also his +mother's gold watch, and a gold chain and ring was gone into the +bargain. However, he thought it best to take the woman's word, and so +coming down and putting on the best air he could, he told his landlady +he hoped his wife would bring the linen home time enough to go to +breakfast, and that in the meanwhile he would go to the coffee-house, +and read the news. The woman said it was very well, and Tom getting to +the waterside, directed them to row to the stairs nearest to his lodging +by Bur Street, ruminating all the way he went on the accident which had +befallen him. + +The rumours of Jonathan Wild, then in the zenith of his glory, had +somehow or other reached the ears of our North Briton. He thereupon +mentioned him to the watermen, who perceiving that he was a stranger, +and hoping to get a pot of drink for the relation, obliged him with the +best account they were able of Mr. Wild and his proceedings. As soon, +therefore, as Anderson came home, he put the other two guineas in his +pocket, and over he came in a coach to the Old Bailey, where Mr. Wild +had just then set up in his office, Mr. Anderson being introduced in +form, acquainted him in good blunt Scotch how he had lost his money and +his watch. Jonathan used him very civilly, and promised his utmost +diligence in recovering it. Tom being willing to save money, enquired of +him his way home by land on foot, and having received instructions he +set out accordingly. About the middle of Cheapside a well-dressed +gentleman came up to him. _Friend_, says he, _I have heard you ask five +or six people, as I followed you, your way to Bur Street. I am going +thither and so if you'll walk along with me, 'twill save you the labour +of asking further questions._ + +Tom readily accepted the gentleman's civility, and so on they trudged, +until they came within twenty yards of the place, and into Tom's +knowledge. _Young man_, then says the stranger, _since I have shown you +the way home you must not refuse drinking a pint with me at a tavern +hard by, of my acquaintance._ No sooner were they entered and sat down, +but a third person was introduced into their company, as an acquaintance +of the former. A good supper was provided, and when they had drunk about +a pint of wine apiece, says the gentleman who brought him thither to +Anderson, _You seem an understanding young fellow. I fancy your +circumstances are not of the best. Come, if you have a tolerable head +and any courage, I'll put you in a way to live as easy as you can wish._ + +Tom pricked up his ears upon this motion, and told him that truly, as to +his circumstances, he had guessed very right, but that he wished he +would be so good as to put him into any road of living like a gentleman. +_For to say the truth, sir_, says he, _it was with that view I left my +own country to come up to London._ + +_Well spoken, my lad_, says the other, _and like a gentleman thou shalt +live. But hark ye, are you well acquainted with the men of quality's +families about Aberdeen? Yes, sir_, says he. _Well then_, replied the +stranger, _do you know none of them who has a son about your age? Yes, +yes_, replied Tom, _My Lord J---- sent his eldest son to our college at +Aberdeen to be bred, and he and I an much alike, and not above ten days +difference in our ages. Why then_, replied the spark, _it will do, and +here's to your honour's health. Come, from this time forward, you are +the Honourable Mr. ----, son and heir apparent to the Right Honourable, +the Lord ----._ + +To make the story short, these sharpers equipped him like the person +they put him upon the town to be, and lodging him at the house of a +Scotch merchant who was in the secret, with no less than three footmen +all in proper livery to attend him. In the space of ten days' time, they +took up effect upon his credit to the amount of a thousand pounds. Tom +was cunning enough to lay his hands on a good diamond ring, two suits of +clothes, and a handsome watch, and improved mightily from a fortnight's +conversation with these gentlemen. He foresaw the storm would quickly +begin, the news of his arrival under the name he had assumed, having +been in the papers a week; so to prevent what might happen to himself, +he sends his three footmen on different errands, and making up his +clothes and some holland shirts into a bundle, called a coach and drove +off to Bur Street, where having taken the remainder of his things that +had been there ever since his coming to town, he bid the fellow drive +him to the house of a person near St. Catherine's, to whom he had known +his mother direct letters when in Scotland. + +Yet recollecting in the coach that by this means he might be discovered +by his relations, he called to the coachman before he reached there, and +remembering an inn in Holborn, which he had heard spoken of by the +Scotch merchant, where he had lodged in his last adventure, bid the +fellow drive thither, saying he was afraid to be out late, and if he +made haste he would give him a shilling. When he came thither and had +had his two portmanteaus carried into the inn, pretending to be very +sick he went immediately upstairs to bed, having first ordered a pint of +wine to be burnt and brought upstairs. + +Reflecting in the night on the condition he was in and the consequence +of the measures he was taking, he resolved with himself to abandon his +ill-courses at once and try to live honestly in some plantation of the +West Indies. These meditations kept him pretty much awake, so that it +was late in the morning before he arose. Having ordered coffee for his +breakfast, he gave the chamberlain a shilling to go and fetch the +newspapers, where the first thing he saw was an account of his own cheat +in the body of the paper, and at the end of it an advertisement with a +reward for apprehending him. This made him very uneasy, and the rather +because he had no clothes but those which he had taken up as aforesaid; +so he ordered the chamberlain to send for a tailor, and pretended to be +so much indisposed that he could not get out. When the tailor came, he +directed him to make him a riding suit with all the expedition he could. +The tailor promised it in two days' time. The next day, pretending to be +still worse, he sent the chamberlain to take a place for him in the +Bristol coach, which being done, he removed himself and his things early +in the morning to the inn where it lay, and set out the next day +undiscovered for Bristol. + +Three days after his arrival he met with a captain bound for the West +Indies, with whom having agreed for a passage, he set sail for Jamaica. +But a fresh gale at sea accidentally damaging their rudder, they were +obliged to come to an anchor in Cork, where the captain himself and +several other passengers went on shore. Anderson accompanied him to the +coffee-house, where calling for the papers that last came in, he had +like to have swooned at the table on finding himself to have been +discovered at Bristol, and to have sailed in such a ship the day before +the persons came down to apprehend him in order to his being carried +back to London. + +As soon as he came a little to himself, he stepped up to the man of the +house and asked him for the vault [privy], which being shown him, he +immediately threw the paper down; and as soon as he came out, finding +the captain ready to go, he accompanied him with great satisfaction on +board again, where things being set to rights, by the next day at ten +o'clock they sailed with a fair wind, and without any further cross +accident arrived safe at Jamaica. There Tom had the good luck to pick up +a woman with a tolerable fortune, and about three years later remitted +£300 home to the jeweller who had been defrauded of the watch and the +ring, and directed him to pay what was over, after deducting his own +debt, to the people who had trusted him with other things, and who upon +his going off had recovered most of them, and were by this means made a +tolerable satisfaction. + +He resided in the West Indies for about five years in all, and in that +time, by his own industry acquired a very handsome fortune of his own, +and therewith returned to Scotland. + +I should be very glad if this story would incline some people who have +got money in not such honest ways (though perhaps less dangerous) to +endeavour at extenuating the crimes they have been guilty of, by making +such reparation as in their power, by which at once they atone for their +fault, and regain their lost reputation; but I am afraid this advice may +prove both unsuccessful and unseasonable and therefore shall proceed in +my narrations as the course of these memoirs directs me. + + + + +The Life of JOSEPH PICKEN, a Highwayman + + +There cannot, perhaps, be a greater misfortune to a man than his having +a woman of ill-principles about him, whether as a wife or otherwise. +When they once lay aside principles either of modesty or honesty, women +become commonly the most abandoned; and as their sex renders them +capable of seducing, so their vices tempt them not often to persuade men +to such crimes as otherwise, perhaps, they would never have thought of. +This was the case of the malefactor, the story of whose misfortunes we +are now to relate. + +Joseph Picken was the son of a tailor in Clerkenwell, who worked hard at +his employment and took pleasure in nothing but providing for, and +bringing up his family. This unhappy son, Joseph, was his darling, and +nothing grieved him so much upon his death-bed, as the fears of what +might befall the boy, being then an infant of five years old. However, +his mother, though a widow, took so much care of his education, that he +was well enough instructed for the business she designed him, viz., that +of a vintner, to which profession he was bound at a noted tavern near +Billingsgate. + +He served his time very faithfully and with great approbation, but +falling in love, or to speak more properly, taking a whim of marriage in +his head, he accepted of a young woman in the neighbourhood as his +partner for life. Soon after this, he removed to Windsor, where he took +the tap at a well-accustomed inn, and began the world in a very probable +way of doing well. However, partly through his own misfortunes, and +partly through the extravagance of his wife, in a little more than a +twelve months' time he found himself thirty pound in debt, and in no +likelihood from his trade of getting money to pay it. This made him very +melancholy, and nothing added so great a weight to his load of +affliction as the uneasiness he was under at the misfortunes which might +befall his wife, to whom as yet this fall in his circumstances was not +known. + +However, fearing it would be soon discovered in another way, at last he +mentioned it to her, at the same time telling her that she must retrench +her expenses, for he was now so far from being able to support them that +he could hardly get him family bread. Her mother and she thereupon +removed to a lodging, where by the side of the bed, poor Picken used to +slumber upon the boards, heavily disconsolate with the weight of his +misfortunes. One day after talking of them to his wife, he said: _I am +now quite at my wits' end. I have no way left to get anything to support +us; what shall I do? Do_, answered she, _why, what should a man do that +wants money and has any courage, but go upon the highway._ + +The poor man, not knowing how else to gain anything, even took her +advice, and recollecting a certain companion of his who had once upon a +time offered the same expedient for relieving their joint misfortunes, +Picken thereupon found him out, and without saying it was his wife's +proposal, pretended that his sorrows had at last so prevailed upon him +that he was resolved to repair the injuries of Fortune by taking away +something from those she had used better than him. His comrade unhappily +addicted himself still to his old way of thinking, and instead of +dissuading him from his purpose, seemed pleased that he had taken such a +resolution. He told him that for his part he always thought danger +rather to be chosen than want, and that while soldiers hazarded their +lives in war for sixpence a day, he thought it was cowardice to make a +man starve, where he had a chance of getting so much more than those who +hazarded as much as they did. + +Accordingly Picken and his companion provided themselves that week with +all necessaries for their expedition, and going upon it in the beginning +of the next, set out and had success, as they called it, in two or three +enterprises. But returning to London in the end of the week, they were +apprehended for a robbery committed on one Charles Cooper, on Finchley +Common, for which they were tried the next sessions, and both capitally +convicted. + +Through fear of death and want of necessaries, Joseph Picken fell into a +low and languishing state of health, under which, however, he gave all +the signs of penitence and sorrow that could be expected for the crimes +he had committed. Yet though he loaded his wife with the weight of all +his crimes, he forebore any harsh or shocking reproaches against her, +saying only that as she had brought him into all the miseries he now +felt, so she had left him to bear the weight of them alone, without +either ever coming near him, or affording him any assistance. However, +he said he was so well satisfied of the multitude of his own sins, and +the need he had of forgiveness from God, that he thought it a small +condition to forgive her, which he did freely from his heart. + +In these sentiments he took the Holy Sacrament, and continued with great +calmness to wait the execution of his sentence. In the passage to +execution and even at the fatal tree, he behaved himself with amazing +circumstances of quietness and resignation, and though he appeared much +less fearful than any of those who died with him, yet he parted with +life almost as soon as the cart was drawn away. He was about twenty-two +years of age, or somewhat more, at the time he suffered, which was on +the 24th of February, 1724-5, much pitied by the spectators, and much +lamented by those that knew him. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS PACKER, a Highwayman + + +Thomas Packer, the companion of the last-named criminal both in his +crimes and in his punishment, was the son of very honest and reputable +parents, not far from Newgate Street. His father gave him a competent +education, designing always to put him in a trade, and as soon as he was +fit for it placed him accordingly with a vintner at Greenwich. There he +served for some years, but growing out of humour with the place, be made +continual instances to his friends to be removed. They, willing and +desirous to comply with the young man's honours, at length after +repeated solicitation prevailed with his master to consent, and then he +was removed to another tavern in town. There he completed his time, but +ever after being of a rambling disposition, was continually changing +places and never settled. + +Amongst those in which he had lived, there was a tavern where he resided +as a drawer for about six weeks. Here he got into acquaintance of a +woman, handsome, indeed, but of no fortune, and little reputation. His +affection for this woman and the money he spent on her, was the chief +occasion of those wants which prevailed upon him to join with Picken in +those attempts which were fatal to them both. It cannot, indeed, be said +that the woman in any degree excited him to such practices. On the +contrary, the poor creature really endeavoured by every method she could +to procure money for their support, and did all that in her lay (while +Packer was under his misfortunes) to prevent the necessities of life +from hindering him in that just care which was necessary to secure his +interest in that which was to come. + +Packer was in himself a lad of very great good nature, and not without +just principles if he had been well improved, but the rambling life he +had led, and his too tender affection for the before-mentioned woman, +led him into great crimes rather than he would see her sustain great +wants. The reflection which he conceived his death would bring upon his +parents, and the miseries which he dreaded it would draw upon his wife +and child, seemed to press him heavier than any apprehension for +himself to his own sufferings, which from the time of his commitment he +bore with the greatest patience, and improved to the utmost of his +power. As he was sensible there was no hopes of remaining in this world, +so he immediately removed his thought, his wishes and his hopes from +thence, applied himself seriously to his devotions, and never suffered +even the woman whom he so much loved to interfere or hinder them in any +degree. + +As it had been his first week of robbing, and his last too, he had +little confession to make in that respect. He acknowledged, however, the +fact which they had done in that space, and seemed to be heartily +penitent, ashamed and sorry for his offences. At the place of execution +he behaved with the same decency which accompanied him through all the +sorrowful stations of his sad condition. He was asked whether he would +say anything to the people, but he declined it, though he had a paper in +his hand which he had designed to read, which for the satisfaction of +the public, I have thought fit to annex. + + The paper left by Thomas Packer. + + Good People, + + I see a large number of you assembled here, to behold a miserable + end of us whom the Law condemns to death for our offence, and for + the sake of giving you warning, makes us in our last moments, public + spectacles. I submit with the utmost resignation to the stroke of + the Law, and I heartily pray Almighty God that the sight of my + shameful death, may inspire every one of you with lasting + resolutions of leading an honest life. The facts for which both + Picken and I die were really committed by us, and consequently the + sentence under which we suffer, is very just. Let me then press ye + again that the warnings of our deaths may not be in vain, but that + you will remember our fate, and by urging that against your depraved + wishes, prevent following our steps; which is all I have to say. + + Thomas Packer + +He was about twenty years of age at the time he suffered, which was with +the afore-mentioned malefactor at Tyburn, much pitied by all the +spectators. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS BRADLEY, a Street-Robber + + +One must want humanity and be totally void of that tenderness which +denominates both a man and a Christian if we feel not some pity for +those who are brought to a violent and shameful death from a sudden and +rash act, excited either by necessity or through the frailty of human +nature sinking under misfortune or hurried into mischief by a sudden +transport of passion. I am persuaded, therefore, that the greater part, +if not all of my readers will feel the same emotions of tenderness and +compassion for the miserable youth of whom I am now going to speak. + +Thomas Bradley was the son of an officer in the Custom-House at +Liverpool. The father took care of his education, and having qualified +him for a seafaring business in reading and writing, placed him therein. +He came up accordingly with the master of a vessel to London, where some +misfortunes befalling the said master, Thomas was turned out of his +employment and left to shift for himself. Want pinched him. He had no +friends, nor anybody to whom be might apply for relief, and in the +anguish with which his sufferings oppressed him, he unfortunately +resolved to steal rather than submit to starving or to begging. One fact +he committed, but could never be prevailed on to mention the time, the +person or the place. + +The robbery for which he was condemned was upon a woman carrying home +another woman's riding-hood which she had borrowed; and he assaulting +her on the highway took it from her, which was valued at 25s. Upon this +he was capitally convicted at the next sessions at the Old Bailey, nor +could never be prevailed on by a person to apply for a pardon. On the +contrary, he said it was his greatest grief that notwithstanding all he +could do to stifle it, the news would reach his father, and break his +heart. He was told that such thoughts were better omitted than suffered +to disturb him, when he was on the point of going to another (and if he +repented thoroughly) to a better life; at which he sighed and said their +reasoning was very right, and he would comply with it if he could. From +that time he appeared more composed and cheerful, and resigned to his +fate. This temper he preserved to the time of his execution, and died +with as much courage and penitence as is ever seen in any of those +unhappy persons who suffer at the same place. + +At the time of his death he was not quite nineteen years of age. He died +between the last mentioned malefactor and him whose life we are next to +relate. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM LIPSAT, a Thief + + +William Lipsat was the son of a person at Dublin, in very tolerable +circumstances, which he strained to the utmost to give this lad a +tolerable education. When he had acquired this he sent him over to an +uncle of his at Stockden, in Worcestershire, where he lived with more +indulgence than even when at home, his uncle having no children, and +behaving to him with all the tenderness of a parent. However, on some +little difference (the boy having long had an inclination to see this +great City of London) he took that occasion to go away from his uncle, +and accordingly came up to town, and was employed in the service of one +Mr. Kelway. He had not been long there before he received a letter from +his father, entreating him to return to Dublin with all the speed he was +able. This letter was soon followed by another, which not only desired, +but commanded him to come back to Ireland. He was not troubled at +thinking of the voyage and going home to his friends, but he was very +desirous of carrying money over with him to make a figure amongst his +relations, which not knowing how to get, he at last bethought himself of +stealing it from a place in which he knew it lay. After several +struggles with himself, vanity prevailed, and he accordingly went and +took away the things, viz., 57 guineas and a half, 25 Caroluses,[51] 5 +Jacobuses, 3 Moidores, six piece of silver, two purses valued at twelve +pence. These, as he said, would have made his journey pleasant and his +reception welcome, which was the reason he took them. The evidence was +very dear and direct against him, so that the jury found him guilty +without hesitation. + +From the time of his condemnation to the day he died, he neither +affected to extenuate his crime, nor reflect, as some are apt to do, on +the cruelty of the prosecutors, witnesses, or the Court that condemned +him. So far from it, that he always acknowledged the justice of his +sentence, seemed grieved only for the greatness of his sin and the +affliction of the punishment of it would bring upon his relations, who +had hitherto always born the best of characters, though by his failing +they were now like to be stigmatised with the most infamous crimes. +However, since his grief came now too late, he resolved as much as he +was able to keep such thoughts out of his head, and apply himself to +what more nearly concerned him, and for which all the little time he had +was rather too short. In a word, in his condition, none behaved with +more gravity, or to outward appearance with more penitence than this +criminal did. + +He suffered with the same resignation which had appeared in everything +he did from the time of his condemnation, on the 1st of February, +1724-5, with the before-mentioned malefactors, being then scarce +eighteen years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [51] Carolus was a gold coin of Charles I, worth 20s.-23s.; a + Jacobus, coined by James I, was of the same value; the moidore + was worth about 27s. + + + + +The Life of JOHN HEWLET, a Murderer + + +There are several facts which have happened in the world, the +circumstances attending which, if we compare them as they are related by +one or other, we can hardly fix in our own mind any certainty of belief +concerning them, such an equality is there in the weight of evidence of +one side and of the other. Such, at the time it happened, was the case +of the malefactor before us. + +John Hewlet was born in Warwickshire, the son of Richard Hewlet, a +butcher, and though not bred up with his father, he was yet bred to the +same employment at Leicester, from which, malicious people said he +acquired a bloody and barbarous disposition. However, he did not serve +his time out with his master, but being a strong, sturdy young fellow, +and hoping some extraordinary preferment in the army, with that view he +engaged himself in the First Regiment of the Guards, during the reign of +the late King William. + +In the war he gained the reputation of a very brave, but a very cruel +and very rough fellow, and therefore was relied on by his officers, yet +never liked by them. Persons of a similar disposition generally live on +good terms with one another. Hewlet found out a corporal, one Blunt, +much of the same humour with himself, never pleased when in safety, nor +afraid though in the midst of danger. + +At the siege of Namur, in Flanders, these fellows happened to be both in +the trenches when the French made a desperate sally and were beaten off +at last with much loss and in such confusion that their pursuers lodged +themselves in one of the outworks, and had like to have gained another, +in the attack on which a young cadet of the regiment in which Blunt +served was killed. Blunt observing it, went to the commanding officer +and told him that the cadet had nineteen pistoles in his pocket, and it +was a shame the French should have them. _Why, that's true, corporal_, +said the Colonel, _but I don't see at present how we can help it. No_, +replied Blunt, _give me but leave to go and search his pockets, and I'll +answer for bringing the money back. Why, fool_, said the Colonel, _dost +thou not see the place covered with French? Should a man stir from hence +they would pour a whole shower of small shot upon him. I'll venture +that_, says Blunt. _But how will you know the body?_ added the Colonel. +_I am afraid we have left a score besides him behind us. Why, look ye, +sir_, said the Corporal, _let me have no more objections, and I'll +answer that, he was clapped, good Colonel, do you see, and that to some +purpose; so that if I can't know him by his face, I may know him by +somewhat else. Well_, said the Colonel, _if you have a mind to be +knocked on the head, and take it ill to be denied, you must go, I +think._ + +On which Blunt, waiting for no further orders, marched directly in the +midst of the enemy's fire to the dead bodies, which law within ten yards +of the muzzle of their pieces, and turning over several of the dead +bodies, he distinguished that of the cadet, and brought away the prize +for which he had so fairly ventured. + +This action put Hewlet on his mettle. He resolved to do something that +might equal it, and an opportunity offered some time after, of +performing such a service as no man in the army would have undertaken. +It happened thus: the engineer who was to set fire to the train of a +mine which had been made under a bastion of the enemy's, happened to +have drank very hard over night, and mistaking the hour, laid the match +an hour sooner than he ought. A sentinel immediately came out, called +out aloud, _What, have you clapped fire to the train? There's twenty +people in the mine who will be all blown up; it should not have been +fired till 12 o'clock._ + +On hearing this Hewlet ran in with his sword drawn, and therewith cut +off the train the moment before it would have given fire to all the +barrels of powder that were within, by which he saved the lives of all +the pioneers who were carrying the mines still forward at the time the +wild fire was unseasonably lighted by the engineer. + +At the battle of Landau he had his skull broken open by a blow from the +butt end of a musket. This occasioned his going through the operation +called trepanning, which is performed by an engine like a coffee-mill, +which being fixed on the bruised part of the bone, is turned round, and +cuts out all the black till the edges appear white and sound. After this +cure had been performed upon him, he never had his senses in the same +manner as he had before, but upon the least drinking fell into a passion +which was but very little removed from madness. + +He returned into England after the Peace of Ryswick, and being taken +into a gentleman's service, he there married a wife, by whom he had nine +children. Happy was it for them that they were all dead before his +disastrous end. + +How Hewlet came to be employed as a watchman a little before his death, +the papers I have give me no account of, only that he was in that +station at the time of the death of Joseph Candy, for whose murder he +was indicted for giving him a mortal bruise on the head with his staff. + +On the 26th of December, 1724, upon full evidences of eye-witnesses, the +jury found him guilty, he making no other defence than great +asservations of his innocence, and an obstinate denial of the fact. +After his conviction, being visited in the condemned hold, instead of +showing any marks of penitence or contrition, he raved against the +witnesses who had been produced to destroy him, called them all +perjured, and prayed God to inflict some dreadful judgment on them. Nay, +he went so far as to desire that he ought himself have the executing +thereof, wishing that after his death his apparition might come and +terrify them to their graves. When it was represented to him how odd +this behaviour was, and how far distant from that calmness and +tranquillity of mind with which it became him to clothe himself before +he went into the presence of his Maker, these representations had no +effect; he still continued to rave against his accusers, and against the +witnesses who had sworn at his trial. As death grew nearer he appeared +not a bit terrified, nor seemed uneasy at all at leaving this life, only +at leaving his wife, and as he phrased it, some old acquaintance in +Warwickshire. However, he desired to receive the Sacrament, and said he +would prepare himself for it as well as he could. + +He went to the place of execution in the same manner in which he had +passed the days of his confinement till that time. At Tyburn he was not +satisfied with protesting his innocence to the people, but designing to +have one of the Prayer Books which was made use of in the cart, he +kissed it as people do when they take oath, and then again turning to +the mob, declared as he was a dying man, he never gave Candy a blow in +his life. Thus with many ejaculations he gave way to fate in an advanced +age at Tyburn, at the same time with the malefactors last mentioned. + + + + +The Lives of JAMES CAMMEL and WILLIAM MARSHAL, Thieves and Footpads + + +James Cammel was born of parents in very low circumstances, and the +misfortunes arising therefrom were much increased by his father dying +while he was an infant, and leaving him to the care of a widow in the +lowest circumstances of life. The consequence was what might be easily +foreseen, for he forgot what little he had learned in his youngest days, +loitering away his time about Islington, Hoxton, Moorfield, and such +places, being continually drinking there, and playing at cudgels, +skittles, and such like. He never applied himself to labour or honest +working for his bread, but either got it from his mother or a few other +friends, or by methods of a more scandalous nature--I mean pilfering and +stealing from others, for which after he had long practised it, he came +at last to an untimely death. + +He was a fellow of a froward disposition, hasty and yet revengeful, and +made up of almost all the vices that go to forming a debauchee in low +life. He had had a long acquaintance with the person that suffered with +him for their offences, but what made him appear in the worst light was +that he had endeavoured to commit acts of cruelty at the time he did the +robbery. Notwithstanding he insisted not only that he was innocent of +the latter part of the offence but that he never committed the robbery +at all, though Marshal his associate did not deny it. + +They had been together in these exploits for some time, and once +particularly coming from Sadlers Wells, they took from a gentlewoman a +basket full of bed-child linen to a very great value, which offering to +sell to a woman in Monmouth Street, she privately sent for a constable +to apprehend them. One of their companions who went with them observing +this, he tipped them the wink to be gone, which the old woman of the +house perceiving, caught hold of Marshal by the coat; and while they +struggled, the third man whipped off a gold watch, a silver collar and +bells, and a silver plate for holding snuffers, and pretending to +interpose in the quarrel slipped through them, and out at the door, as +Cammel and Marshal did immediately after him. + +Once upon a time it happened that Marshal had no money, and his credit +being at a par, and a warrant out to take him for a great debt, and +another to take him for picking of pockets, he was in a great quandary +how to escape both. He strolled into St. James's Park, and walking there +pretty late behind the trees, a woman came up to the seat directly +before him, when she fell to roaring and crying. Marshal being unseen, +clapped himself down behind the seat, and listened with great attention. +He perceived the woman had her pocket in her hand, and heard her +distinctly say that a rogue not to be contented with cutting one pocket +and taking it away, but he must cut the other and let it drop at her +foot. Then she wiped her eyes and laying down her pocket by her, began +to shake her petticoats to see if the other pocket had not lodged +between them as the former had done. So Marshal took the opportunity and +secretly conveyed that away, thinking one lamentation might serve for +both. Upon turning the pocket out, he found only a thread paper, a +housewife and a crown piece. Upon this crown piece he lived a fortnight +at a milk-house, coming twice a day for milk, and hiding himself at +nights in some of the grass plots, it being summer. + +But his creditor dying, and the person whose pocket he had picked going +to Denmark, he came abroad again, and soon after engaged with Cammel in +the fact for which they were both hanged. It was committed upon a man +and a woman coming through the fields from Islington, and the things +they took did not amount to above 30 shillings. After they were +convicted and had received sentence of death, Cammel sent for _The +Practice of Piety, The Whole Duty of Man_, and such other good books as +he thought might assist him in the performance of their duty. Yet +notwithstanding all the outward appearance of resignation to the Divine +Will, the Sunday before his execution, upon the coming in to the chapel +of a person whom he took to be his prosecutor, he flew into a very great +passion, and expressed his uneasiness that he had no instrument there to +murder him with; and notwithstanding all that could be said to him to +abate his passion, he continued restless and uneasy until the person was +obliged to withdraw, and then with great attention applied himself to +hear the prayers, and discourse that was made proper for that occasion. + +Marshal in the meanwhile continued very sick, but though he could not +attend the chapel, did all that could be expected from a true penitent. +In this condition they both continued until the time of their death, +when Marshal truly acknowledged the fact, but Cammel prevaricated about +it, and at last peremptorily denied it. They suffered on the 30th of +April, 1725, Cammel appearing with an extraordinary carelessness and +unconcern, desired them to put him out of the world quickly, and was +very angry that they did not do it in less time. + + + + +The Life of JOHN GUY, a Deer-stealer + + +One would have thought that the numerous executions which had happened +upon the appearance of those called the Waltham Blacks,[52] and the +severity of that Act of Parliament which their folly had occasioned, +would effectually have prevented any outrages for the future upon either +the forests belonging to the Crown, or the parks of private gentlemen; +but it seems there were still fools capable of undertaking such mad +exploits. + +It is said that Guy being at a public house with a young woman whom, as +the country people phrase it, was his sweetheart, a discourse arose at +supper concerning the expeditions of the deer-stealers, which Guy's +mistress took occasion to express great admiration of, and to regard +them as so many heroes, who had behaved with courage enough to win the +most obdurate heart, adding that she was very fond of venison, and she +wished she had known some of them. This silly accident proved fatal to +the poor fellow, who engaging with one Biddisford, an old deer-stealer, +they broke into such forests and parks and carried off abundance of deer +with impunity. But the keepers at last getting a number of stout young +fellows to their assistance, waylaid them one night, when they were +informed by the keeper of an alehouse that Guy and Biddisford intended +to come for deer. + +I must inform my reader that the method these young men took in +deer-stealing was this. They went into the park on foot, sometimes with +a crossbow, and sometimes with a couple of dogs, being armed always, +however, with pistols for their own defence. When they had killed a +buck, they trussed him up and put him upon their backs and so walked +off, neither of them being able to procure horses for such service. + +On the night that the keepers were acquainted with their coming, they +sent to a neighbouring gentleman for the assistance of two of his +grooms; the fellows came about 11 o'clock at night, and tying their +horses in a little copse went to the place where the keepers had +appointed to keep guard. This was on a little rising ground, planted +with a star grove, through the avenues of which they could see all round +them without being discerned themselves. No sooner, therefore, had Guy +and his companion passed into the forest, but suffering them to pass by +one of the entries of the grove where they were, they immediately issued +out upon them, and pursued them so closely that they were within a few +yards of them when they entered the coppice, where the two grooms had +left their horses. They did not stay so much as to untie them, but +cutting the bridles, mounted them and rode off as hard as they could, +turning them loose as soon as they were in safety, and got home secure, +because the keepers could not say they had done anything but walk across +the forest. + +This escape of theirs and some others of the same nature, made them so +bold that not contented with the deer in chases and such places, they +broke into the paddock of Anthony Duncombe, Esq., and there killed +certain fallow deer. One Charles George who was the keeper, and some of +his assistants hearing the noise they made, issued out, and a sharp +fight beginning, the deer-stealers at last began to fly. But a +blunderbuss being fired after them, two of the balls ripped the belly of +Biddisford, who died on the spot; and soon after the keepers coming up, +John Guy was taken. And being tried for this offence at the ensuing +sessions of the Old Bailey, he was convicted and received sentence of +death, though it was some days after before he could be persuaded that +he should really suffer. + +When he found himself included in the death warrant, he applied himself +heartily to prayer and other religious duties, seeming to be thoroughly +penitent for the crimes he had committed, and with great earnestness +endeavoured to make amends for his follies, by sending the most tender +letters to his companions who had been guilty of the same faults, to +induce them to forsake such undertakings, which would surely bring them +to the same fate which he suffered, for so inconsiderable a thing +perhaps as a haunch of venison. Whether these epistles had the effect +for which they were designed, I am not able to say, but the papers I +have by me inform me that the prisoner Guy died with very cheerful +resolution, not above twenty-five years of age, the same day with the +malefactors before mentioned. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [52] See page 164. + + + + +The Life of VINCENT DAVIS, a Murderer + + +It is an observation made by some foreigners (and I am sorry to say +there's too much truth in it) that though the English are perhaps less +jealous than any nation under the heavens, yet more men murder their +wives amongst us than in any other nation in Europe. + +Vincent Davis was a man of no substance and who for several years +together had lived in a very ill correspondence with his wife, often +beating and abusing her, until the neighbours cried out shame. But +instead of amending he addicted himself still more and more to such +villainous acts, conversing also with other women. And at last buying a +knife, he had the impudence to say that that knife should end her, in +which he was as good as his word; for on a sudden quarrel he slabbed her +to the heart. For this murder he was indicted, and also on the Statute +of Stabbing,[53] of both of which on the fullest proof he was found +guilty. + +When Davis was first committed, he thought fit to appear very melancholy +and dejected. But when he found there was no hopes of life, he threw off +all decency in his behaviour and, to pass for a man of courage, showed +as much vehemence of temper as a madman would have done, rattling and +raving to everyone that came in, saying it was no crime to kill a wife; +and in all other expressions he made use of, behaved himself more like a +fool or a man who had lost his wits than a man who had lived so long and +creditably in a neighbourhood as he had done, excepting in relation to +his wife. But he was induced, with the hopes of passing for a bold and +daring fellow, to carry on this scene as long as he could, but when the +death warrant arrived, all this intrepidity left him, he trembled and +shook, and never afterwards recovered his spirits to the time of his +death. + +The account he gave of the reason of his killing his wife in so +barbarous a manner was this; that a tailor's servant having kept him out +pretty late one night, and he coming home elevated with liquor abused +her, upon which she got a warrant for him and sent him to New Prison. +After this, the prisoner said, he could never endure her; she was poison +to his sight, and the abhorrence he had for her was so great and so +strong that he could not treat her with the civility which is due to +every indifferent person, much less with that regard which Christianity +requires of us towards all who are of the same religion. So that upon +every occasion he was ready to fly out into the greatest passions, which +he vented by throwing everything at her that came in his way, by which +means the knife was darted into her bosom with which she was slain. + +Notwithstanding the barbarity which seemed natural to this unhappy man, +the cruelty with which he treated his wife in her last moments, the +spleen and malice with which he always spoke of her, and the little +regret he showed for having imbrued his hands in her blood, he yet had +an unaccountable tenderness for his own person, and employed the last +days of his confinement in writing many letters to his friends, +entreating them to be present at his execution in order to preserve his +body from the hands of the surgeons, which of all things he dreaded. And +in order to avoid being anatomised, he affronted the court at the Old +Bailey, at the time he received sentence of death, intending as he said +to provoke them to hang him in chains, by which means he should escape +the mangling of the surgeon's knives, which to him seemed ten thousand +times worse than death itself. Thus confused he passed the last moments +of his life, and with much ado recollected himself so as to suffer with +some kind of decency, which he did on the 30th of April, at the same +time with the last-mentioned malefactor. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [53] 1 Jac. I, cap. 8, "When one thrusts or stabs another, not + then having a weapon drawn, or who hath not then first stricken + the party stabbing, so that he dies thereof within six months + after, the offender shall not have the benefit of clergy, though + he did it not of malice aforethought." Blackstone. + + + + +The Life of MARY HANSON, a Murderer + + +Amongst the many frailties to which our nature is subject, there is not +perhaps a more dangerous one than the indulging ourselves in ridiculous +and provoking discourses, merely to try the tempers of other people. I +speak not this with regard to the criminal of whom we are next to treat, +but of the person who in the midst of his sins drew upon himself a +sudden and violent death by using such silly kind of speeches towards a +woman weak in her nature, and deprived of what little reason she had by +drink. + +This poor creature, flying into an excess of passion with Francis +Peters, who was some distant relation to her by marriage, she wounded +him suddenly under the right pap with a knife, before she could be +prevented by any of the company; of which wound he died. The warm +expressions she had been guilty of before the blow, prevailed with the +jury to think she had a premeditated malice, and thereupon they found +her guilty. + +Fear of death, want of necessaries, and a natural tenderness of body, +brought on her soon after conviction so great a sickness that she could +not attend the duties of public devotion, and reduced her to the +necessity of catching the little intervals of ease which her distemper +allowed her, to beg pardon of God for that terrible crime for which she +had been guilty. + +There was at the same time, one Mary Stevens in the condemned hold +(though she afterwards received a reprieve) who was very instrumental in +bringing this poor creature to a true sense of herself and of her sins; +she then confessed the murder with all its circumstances, reproached +herself with having been guilty of such a crime as to murder the person +who had so carefully took her under his roof, allowed her a subsistence +and been so peculiarly civil to her, for which he expected no return but +what was easily in her power to make. This Mary Stevens was a +weak-brained woman, full of scruples and difficulties, and almost +distracted at the thoughts of having committed several robberies. After +receiving the Sacrament, she not only persuaded this Mary Hanson to +behave herself as became a woman under her unhappy condition, but also +persuaded two or three other female criminals in that place to make the +best use of that mercy which the leniency of the Government has extended +them. + +There was a man suffered to go twice a day to read to them, and probably +it was he who drew up the paper for Mary Hanson which she left behind +her, for though it be very agreeable to the nature of her case, yet it +is penned in the manner not likely to come from the hands of a poor +ignorant woman. Certain it is, however, that she behaved herself with +great calmness and resolution at the time of her death, and did not +appear at all disturbed at that hurry which, as I shall mention in the +next life, happened at the place of execution. The paper she left ran in +these words, viz.: + + Though the poverty of my parents hindered me from having any great + education, yet I resolve to do as I know others in my unhappy + circumstances have done, and by informing the world of the causes + which led me to that crime for which I so justly suffer, that by + shunning it they may avoid such a shameful end; and I particularly + desire all women to take heed how they give way to drunkenness, + which is a vice but too common in this age. It was that disorder in + which my spirits were, occasioned by the liquor I had drunk, which + hurried me to the committing a crime, at the thoughts of which on + any other time my blood would have curdled. I hope you will afford + me your prayers for my departing soul, as I offer up mine to God + that none of you may follow me to this fatal place. + +Having delivered this paper, she suffered at about thirty years old. + + + + +The Life of BRYAN SMITH, a Threatening Letter Writer + + +I have already observed how the Black Act was extended for punishing +Charles Towers,[54] concerned in setting up the New Mint, who as he +affirmed died only for having his face accidentally dirty at the time he +assaulted the bailiff's house. I must now put you in mind of another +clause in the same act, viz., that for punishing with death those who +sent any threatening letters in order to affright persons into a +compliance with their demands, for fear of being murdered themselves, or +having their houses fired about their ears. This clause of the Act is +general, and therefore did not extend only to offences of this kind when +committed by deer-stealers and those gangs against whom it was +particularly levelled at that time, but included also whoever should be +guilty of writing such letters to any person or persons whatsoever; +which was a just and necessary construction of the Act, and not only +made use of in the case of this criminal, but of many more since, +becoming particularly useful of late years, when this practice became +frequent. + +Bryan Smith, who occasions this observation, was an Irishman, of parts +so very mean as perhaps were never met with in one who passed for a +rational creature; yet this fellow, forsooth, took it into his head that +he might be able to frighten Baron Swaffo, a very rich Jew in the City, +out of a considerable sum of money, by terrifying him with a letter. For +this purpose he wrote one indeed in a style I daresay was never seen +before, or since. Its spelling was _à la mode de brogue_, and the whole +substance of the thing was filled with oaths, curses, execrations and +threatenings of murder and burning if such a sum of money was not sent +as he, in his great wisdom, thought it fit to demand. + +The man's management in sending this and directing how he would have an +answer was of a piece with his style, and altogether made the discovery +no difficult matter. So that Bryan being apprehended, was at the next +sessions at the Old Bailey tried and convicted on the evidence of some +of his countrymen, and when, after receiving sentence, there remained no +hopes for him of favour, to make up a consistent character he declared +himself a Papist, and as is usual with persons of that profession, was +forbidden by his priest to go any more to the public chapel. + +However, to do him justice as far as outward circumstances will give us +leave to judge, he appeared very sorry for the crime he had committed, +and having had the priest with him a considerable time the day before +his death, he would needs go to the place of execution in a shroud. + +As he went along he repeated the Hail Mary and Paternoster. + +But there being many persons to suffer, and the executioner thereby +being put into a confusion, Smith observing the hurry slipped the rope +over his head, and jumped at once over the corpses in the cart amongst +the mob. Had he been wise enough to have come in his clothes, and not in +a shroud, it is highly probable he had made his escape; but his white +dress rendering him conspicuous even at a distance, the sheriffs +officers were not long before they retook him and placed him in his +former situation again. + +Hope and fear, desire of life, and dread of immediate execution, had +occasioned so great an emotion of his spirits that he appeared in his +last moments in a confusion not to be described, and departed the world +in such an agony that he was a long time before he died, which was at +the same time with the malefactor before-mentioned, viz., on the 30th of +April, 1725. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [54] See page 198. + + + + +The Life of JOSEPH WARD, a Footpad + + +There are some persons who are unhappy, even from their cradles, and +though every man is said to be born to a mixture of good and evil +fortune, yet these seem to reap nothing from their birth but an entry +into woe, and a passage to misery. + +This unhappy man we are now speaking of, Joseph Ward, is a strong +instance of this, for being the son of travelling people, he scarce knew +either the persons to whom he owed his birth, or the place where he was +born. However, they found a way to instruct him well enough to read, and +that so well that it was afterwards of great use to him, in the most +miserable state of his life. + +He rambled about with his father and mother until the age of fourteen, +when they dying, he was left to the wide world, with nothing to provide +for himself but his wits; so that he was almost under necessity of going +into a gang of gipsies that passed by that part of the country where he +was. These gipsies taught him all their arts of living, and it happened +that the crew he got into were not of the worst sort either, for they +maintained themselves rather by the credulity of the country folks, than +by the ordinary practices of those sort of people, stealing of poultry +and robbing hedges of what linen people are careless enough to leave +there. I shall have another and more proper occasion to give my readers +the history of this sort of people, who were anciently formidable enough +to deserve an especial Act of Parliament[55] altered and amended in +several reigns for banishing them from the Kingdom. + +But to go on with the story of Ward; disliking this employment, he took +occasion, when they came into Buckinghamshire, to leave them at a common +by Gerrard's Cross, and come up to London. When he came here, he was +still in the same state, not knowing what to do to get bread. At last he +bethought himself of the sea, and prevailed on a captain to take with +him a pretty long voyage. He behaved himself so well in his passage, +that his master took him with him again, and used him very kindly; but +he dying, Ward was again put to his shifts, though on his arrival in +England he brought with him near 30 guineas to London. + +He look up lodgings near the Iron Gate at St. Catherine's, and taking a +walk one evening on Tower Wharf, he there met with a young woman, who +after much shyness suffered him to talk to her. They met there a second +and a third time. She said she was niece to a pewterer of considerable +circumstances, not far from Tower Hill, who had promised, and was able +to give her five hundred pounds; but the fear of disobliging him by +marriage, hindered her from thinking of becoming a wife without his +approbation of her spouse. + +These difficulties made poor Ward imagine that if he could once persuade +the woman to marriage, he should soon mollify the heart of her relation, +and so become happy at once. With a great deal to do, Madam was +prevailed upon to consent, and going to the Fleet they were there +married, and soon returned to St. Catherine's, to new lodgings which +Ward had taken, where he had proposed to continue a day or two and then +wait upon the uncle. + +Never man was in his own opinion more happy than Joseph Ward in his new +wife, but alas! all human happiness is fleeting and uncertain, +especially when it depends in any degree upon a woman. The very next +morning after their wedding, Madam prevailed on him to slip on an old +coat and take a walk by the house which she had shown him for her +uncle's. He was no sooner out of doors, but she gave the sign to some of +her accomplices, who in a quarter of an hour's time helped her to strip +the lodging not only of all which belonged to Ward, but of some things +of value that belonged to the people of the house. They were scarce out +of doors before Ward returned, who finding his wife gone and the room +stripped, set up such an outcry as alarmed all the people in the house. + +Instead of being concerned at Joseph's loss they clamoured at their own, +and told him in so many words that if he did not find the woman, or make +them reparation for their goods, they would send him to Newgate. But +alas! it was neither in Ward's power to do one, nor the other. Upon +which the people were as good as their word, for they sent for a +constable and had him before a Justice. There the whole act appearing, +the justice discharged him and told them they must take their remedy +against him at the Common Law. Upon this Ward took the advantage and +made off, but taking to drinking to drive away the sorrows that +encompassed him, he at last fell into ill-company, and by them was +prevailed on to join in doing evil actions to get money. He had been but +a short time at this trade, before he committed the fact for which he +died. + +Islington was the road where he generally took a purse, and therefore +endeavoured to make himself perfectly acquainted with many ways that +lead to that little town, which he effected so well, that he escaped +several times from the strictest pursuits. At last it came into his head +that the safest way would be to rob women, which accordingly he put into +practice, and committed abundance of thefts that way for the space of +six weeks, particularly on one Mrs. Jane Vickary, of a gold ring value +twenty shillings, and soon after of Mrs. Elizabeth Barker, of a gold +ring set with garnets. Being apprehended for these two facts, he was +committed to New Prison, where either refusing or not being able to make +discoveries, he remained in custody till the sessions at the Old Bailey. +There the persons swearing positively to his face, he was after a +trivial defence convicted, and received sentence of death accordingly. + +As he had no relations that he knew of, nor so much as one friend in the +world, the thoughts of a pardon never distracted his mind a moment. He +applied himself from the day of his sentence to a new preparation for +death, and having in the midst of all his troubles accustomed himself to +reading, he was of great use to his unhappy companions in reading the +Scripture, and assisting them in their private devotions. He made a just +use of that space which the mercy of the English Law allows to persons +who are to suffer death for their crimes to make their peace with their +Creator. + +[Illustration: TRIAL OF A HIGHWAYMAN AT THE OLD BAILEY + +The manacled rogue is seen in the foreground, his head bowed in despair, +as the witness by his side unfolds his damning evidence. Through one +window is shown the robbery for which he is being tried; the other +affords a prophetical glimpse of the villain's end at Tyburn Tree. + +(_From the Newgate Calendar_)] + +There was but one person who visited this offender while under the +sentence of the Law, and he, thinking that the only method by which he +could do him service was to save his life, proposed to him a very +probable method of escaping, which for reasons not hard to be guessed +at, I shall forbear describing. He pressed him so often and made the +practicability of the thing so plain that the criminal at last +condescended to make the experiment, and his friend promised the next +day to bring him the materials for his escape. + +That night Ward, who began then to be weak in his limbs with the +sickness which had lain upon him ever since he had been in the prison, +fell into a deep sleep, a comfort he had not felt since the coming on of +his misfortunes. In this space he dreamed that he was in a very barren, +sandy place, which was bounded before him by a large deep river, which +in the middle of the plain parted itself into two streams that, after +having run a considerable space, united again, having formed an island +within the branches. On the other side of the main river, there appeared +one of the most beautiful countries that could be thought of, covered +with trees, full of ripe fruit, and adorned with flowers. On the other +side, in the island which was enclosed, having a large arm of water +running behind it and another smaller before, the soil appeared sandy +and barren, like that whereon he stood. + +While he was musing at this sight, he beheld a person of a grave and +venerable aspect, in garb and appearance like a shepherd, who asked him +twice or thrice, if he knew the meaning of what he there saw, to which +he answered, _No. Well, then_, says the stranger, _I will inform you. +This sight which you see is just your present case. You have nothing to +resolve with yourself but whether you will prepare by swimming across +this river immediately, forever to possess that beautiful country that +lies before you; or by attempting the passage over the narrow board +which crosses the first arm of the river and leads into the island, +where you will be again amidst briars and thorns, and must at last pass +that deep water, before you can enter the pleasant country you behold on +the other side._ + +This vision made so strong an impression on the poor man's spirits that +when his friend came he refused absolutely to make his escape, but +suffered with great marks of calmness and true repentance, at Tyburn, in +the twenty-seventh year of his age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [55] This was the statute of 1530 (22 Hen. VIII, c, 10) + directed against "outlandish people calling themselves + Egyptians." It was amended 1 & 2 Ph. & Mary, c. 4 and 5 Eliz., + c. 10 and sundry other legislation was of a similar tenour. + + + + +The Life of JAMES WHITE, a Thief + + +Stupidity, however it may arise, whether from a natural imperfection of +the rational faculties, or from want of education, or from drowning it +wholly in bestial and sensual pleasures, is doubtless one of the highest +misfortunes which can befall any man whatsoever; for it not only leaves +him little better than the beasts which perish, exposed to a thousand +inconveniences against which there is no guard but that of a clear and +unbiased reason, but it renders him also base and abject when under +misfortunes, the sport and contempt of that wicked and debauched part of +the human species who are apt to scoff at despairing misery, and to add +by their insults to the miseries of those who sink under their load +already. + +James White, who is to be the subject of the following narration, was +the son of very honest and reputable parents, though their circumstances +were so mean as not to afford wherewith to put their son to school, and +they themselves were so careless as not to procure his admission into +the Charity School. By all which it happened that the poor fellow knew +hardly anything better than the beasts of the field, and addicted +himself like them, to filling his belly and satisfying his lust. +Whenever, therefore, either of those brutish appetites called, he never +scrupled plundering to obtain what might supply the first, or using +force that might oblige women to submit against their wills unto the +other. + +While he was a mere boy, and worked about as he could with anybody who +would employ him, he found a way to steal and carry off thirty pounds +weight of tobacco, the property of Mr. Perry, an eminent Virginian +merchant; for which he was at the ensuing assizes at the Old Bailey, +tried and convicted, and thereupon ordered for transportation, and in +pursuance of that sentence sent on board the transport vessel +accordingly. Their allowance there was very poor, such as the miserable +wretches could hardly subsist on, viz., a pint and a half of fresh +water, and a very small piece of salt meat _per diem_ each; but that +wherein their greatest misery consisted was the hole in which they were +locked underneath the deck, where they were tied two and two, in order +to prevent those dangers which the ship's crew often runs by the +attempts made by felons to escape. In this disconsolate condition he +passed his time until the arrival of the ship in America, where he met +with a piece of good luck (if attaining liberty may be called good luck) +without acquiring at the same time a means to preserve life in any +comfort. It happened thus. + +The super-cargo falling sick, under the usual distemper which visits +strangers at first coming if they keep not to the exact rules of +temperance and forbearance of strong liquors, ran quickly so much in +debt with his physician that he was obliged immediately to go off, by +doing which six felons became their own masters, of whom James White was +one. He retired into the woods and lived there in a very wretched manner +for some time, till he met with some Indian families in that retreat, +who according to the natural uncultivated humanity of that people +cherished and relieved him to the utmost of their power. + +Soon after this, he went to work amongst some English servants, in order +to ease them, telling them how things stood with him, viz., that he had +been transported, and that for fear of being seized he fled into the +woods, where he had endured the greatest hardships. The servants pitying +his desperate condition relieved him often, without the knowledge of +their mistress until they got him into a planter's service, where though +he worked hard he was sure to fare tolerably well. But at length being +ordered to carry water in large vessels over the rocks to the ship that +rode in the bay underneath it, his feet were thereby so intolerably cut +that he was soon rendered lame and incapable of doing it any longer. The +family thereupon grew weary of keeping him in that decrepit state he was +in, and so for what servile scullion-like labour he was able to do, a +master of a ship took him on board and carried him to England. + +On his return hither, he went directly to his friends in Cripplegate +parish and told them what had befallen him, and how he was driven home +again almost as much by force as he was hurried abroad. They were too +poor to be able to conceal him, and he was therefore obliged to go and +cry fruit about the streets publicly, that he might not want bread. He +went on in this mean but honest way, without committing any new acts +that I am able to learn, for the space of some months. Then being seen +and known by some who were at that employed (or at least employed +themselves) in detecting and taking up all such persons as returned from +transportation, White amongst the rest was seized, and the ensuing +sessions at the Old Bailey convicted on the Statute. He pleaded that he +was only a very young man, and if the Court would have so much pity on +him as to send him over again, he would be satisfied to stay all his +life-time in America; but the resolution which had been taken to spare +none who returned back into England, because such persons were more +bloody and dangerous rogues than any other, and when prompted by +despair, apt to resist the officers of justice, took place, and he was +put into the death warrant. + +Both before and after receiving sentence, he not only abandoned himself +to stupid, heedless indolence, but behaved in so rude and troublesome a +manner as occasioned his being complained of by those miserable wretches +who were under the same condemnation, as a greater grievance to them +than all their other misfortunes put together. He would sometimes +threaten women who came into the hold to visit modestly, tease them with +obscene discourse, and after his being prisoner there committed acts of +lewdness to the amazement and horror of the most wicked and abandoned +wretches in that dreadful place. Being however severely reprimanded for +continuing so beastly a course of life, when life itself was so near +being extinguished, he laid the crime to his own ignorance, and said +that if he were better instructed he would behave better, but he could +not bear being abused, threatened and even maltreated by those who were +in the same state with himself. From this time he addicted himself to +attend more carefully to religious discourses than most of the rest, and +as far as the amazing dullness of his intellects would give him leave, +applied to the duties of his sad state. + +Before his death he gave many testimonies of a sincere and unaffected +sorrow for his crimes, but as he had not the least notion of the nature, +efficacy or preparation necessary for the Sacrament, it was not given +him as is usually done to malefactors the day of their death. At the +place of execution he seemed surprised and astonished, looked wildly +round upon the people, and then asking the minister who attended him +what he must do now, the person spoke to instructed him; so shutting his +hands close, he cried out with great vehemence, _Lord receive my soul._ + +His age was about twenty-five at the time he suffered, which was on the +6th day of November, 1723. + + + + +The Life of JOSEPH MIDDLETON, Housebreaker and Thief + + +Amongst the numbers of unhappy wretches who perish at the gallows, most +pity seems due to those who, pressed by want and necessity, commit in +the bitter exigence of starving, some illegal act purely to support +life. But this is a very scarce case, and such a one as I cannot in +strictness presume to say that I have hitherto met with in all the loads +of papers I have turned over to this purpose, though as the best motive +to excite compassion, and consequently to obtain mercy, it is made very +often a pretence. + +Joseph Middleton was the son of a very poor, though honest, labouring +man in the county of Kent, near Deptford, who did all that was in his +power to bring up his children. This unfortunate son was taken off his +hand by an uncle, a gardener, who brought up the boy to his own +business, and consequently to labour hard enough, which would, to an +understanding person, appear no such very great hardship where a man had +continually been inured to it even from his cradle, and had neither +capacity nor the least probability of attaining anything better. Yet +such an intolerable thing did it seem to Middleton that he resolved at +any cost to be rid of it, and to purchase an easier way of spending his +days. + +In order to this, he very wisely chose to go aboard a man-of-war then +bound for the Baltic. He was in himself a stupid, clumsy fellow, and the +officers and seamen in the ship treated him so harshly, the fatigue he +went through was so great, and the coldness of the climate so pinching +to him, that he who so impatiently wished to be rid of the country work, +now wished as earnestly to return thereto. Therefore, when on the return +of Sir John Norris, the ship he was in was paid off and discharged, he +was in an ecstacy of joy thereat, and immediately went down again to +settle hard to labour as he had done before, experience having convinced +him that there were many more hardships sustained in one short ramble +than in a staid though laborious life. + +In order, as is the common phrase, to settle in the world, he married a +poor woman, by whom he had two children, and thereby made her as unhappy +as himself; what he was able to earn by his hands falling much short of +what was necessary to keep house in the way he lived, this reduced him +to such narrowness of circumstances that he was obliged (as he would +have it believed) to take illegal methods for support. + +His own blockish and dastardly temper, as it had prevented his ever +doing good in any honest way, so it as effectually put it out of his +power to acquire anything considerable by the rapine he committed; for +as he wanted spirit to go into a place where there was immediate danger, +so his companions, who did the act while he scouted about to see if +anybody was coming, and to give them notice, when they divided the booty +gave him just what they thought fit, and keep the rest to themselves. He +had gone on in this miserable way for a considerable space, and yet was +able to acquire very little, his wants being very near as great while he +robbed every night, as they were when he laboured every day, so that in +the exchange he got nothing but danger into the bargain. + +At last, he was apprehended for breaking into the house of John de Pais +and Joseph Gomeroon, and taking there jewels and other things to a +great value, though his innocence in not entering the place would +sufficiently excuse him, for he pleaded at his trial that he was so far +from breaking the house that he was not so much as on the ground of the +prosecutor when it was broke, but on the contrary, as appeared by their +own evidence, on the other side of the way. But it being very fully +proved by the evidence that Joseph Middleton belonged to the gang, that +he waited there only to give them an intelligence, and shared in the +money they took, the jury found him guilty. + +While he lay under conviction, he did his utmost to understand what was +necessary for him to do in order to salvation. He applied himself with +the utmost diligence to praying God to instruct him and enlighten his +understanding, that he might be able to improve by his sufferings and +reap a benefit from the chastisements of his Maker. In this frame of +mind he continued with great steadiness and calmness till the time of +his execution, at which he showed some fear and confusion, as the sight +of such a death is apt to create even in the stoutest and best prepared +breast. This Joseph Middleton, at the time of his exit, was in about the +fortieth year of his age. + + + + +The Life of JOHN PRICE,[56] a Housebreaker + + +A profligate life naturally terminates in misery, and according unto the +vices which it has most pursued, so are its punishments suited unto it. +Drunkenness besots the understanding, ruins the constitution, and leaves +those addicted to it in the last stages of life, in want and misery, +equally destitute of all necessaries, and incapable to procure them. +Lewdness and lust after loose women enervate both the vigour of the +brain and strength of the body, induce weaknesses that anticipate old +age, and afflict the declining sinner with so many evils, as makes him a +burden to himself and a spectacle to others. But if, for the support of +all these, men fall into rapacious and wicked courses, plundering others +who have frugally provided for the supply of life, in order to indulge +their own wicked inclinations, then indeed the Law of society interposes +generally before the Law of Nature, and cuts off with a sudden and +ignominious death those who would otherwise probably have fallen by the +fruits of their own sins. + +This malefactor, John Price, was one of these wretched people who act as +if they thought life was given them only to commit wickedness and +satiate their several appetites with gross impurities, without +considering how far they offend either against the institutions of God +or the laws of the land. It does not appear that this fellow ever +followed any employment that looked like honesty, except when he was at +sea. The terrors of a sick-bed alarmed even a conscience so hardened as +Price's, and the effects of an ill-spent life appeared so plainly in the +weak condition he found himself in, that he made, as he afterwards +owned, the most solemn vows of amendment, if through the favour of +Providence he recovered his former health. To this he was by the +goodness of God restored, but the resolutions he made on that condition +were totally forgotten. As soon as he returned home, he sought afresh +the company of those loose women and those abandoned wretches who by the +inconveniences into which they had formerly led him, had obliged him to +seek for shelter by a long voyage at sea. + +What little money he had received when the ship was paid off, was +quickly lavished away, so that on the 11th of August, 1725, he with two +others named Cliffe and Sparks, undertook, after having well weighed the +attempt, to enter the house of the Duke of Leeds by moving the sash, and +so plunder it of what was to be got. By their assistance Cliffe got in +at the window, and afterwards handed out a cloak, hat, and other things +to his companions Sparks and Price, but they were all immediately +apprehended. Cliffe made an information by which he discovered the whole +fact, and it was fully proved by Mr. Bealin that Price, when first +apprehended, owned that he had been with Cliffe and Sparks. Upon the +whole the jury found him guilty, upon which he freely acknowledged the +justice of their verdict at the bar. + +All the time he lay under conviction he behaved himself as a person +convinced of his own unworthiness of life, and therefore repined not at +the justice of that sentence which condemned him to death, though in his +behaviour before his trial there had appeared much of that rough and +boisterous disposition usual in fellows of no education, who have long +practised such ways of living. Yet long before his death he laid aside +all that ferocity of mind, appearing calm and easy under the weight of +his sufferings, and so much dissatisfied with the trouble he had met +with in the world that he appeared scarce desirous of remaining in it. +He was not able himself to give any account of his age, but as far as +could be guessed from his looks, he might be about thirty when executed, +which was at the same time with the malefactor last mentioned; Cliffe, +whose information had hanged him, being reprieved. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [56] A fuller account of this rogue will be found on page 276. + + + + +LIVES OF THE CRIMINALS + +VOLUME TWO + + + + +THE PREFACE + + +_In the Preface to my former volume I endeavoured to give my readers +some idea of the English Crown Law, in order to shew how consistent it +was with right reason, how perfectly just, and at the same time how full +of mercy. In this, I intend to pursue the thread of that discourse, and +explain the methods by which Justice in criminal cases is to be sought, +and the means afforded by our Law to accuse the guilty and to prevent +punishment from falling on the innocent. In order to do this the more +regularly, it is fit we begin with the apprehension of offenders, and +shew the care of the Legislature in that respect._ + +_In sudden injuries, such as assaults on the highway, attempts to murder +or to commit any felony whatsoever, there is no necessity for any legal +officer to secure the person who is guilty, for every private man hath +sufficient authority to seize and bring such criminal, either to a +constable or to a Justice of the Peace, in order to have the fact +clearly examined and such course taken therein as may conduce to the +impartial distribution of Justice. And because men are apt to be +scrupulous of interesting themselves in matters which do not immediately +concern either their persons or their properties, so the Law hath +provided punishments for those who, for fear of risking their private +safety or advantage, suffer those who offend against the public to +escape unpunished; hence hundreds are liable to be sued for suffering a +robber to escape, and that method of pursuit which is called hue and cry +is permitted, if no probable way may be left for felons to escape. Now a +hue and cry is raised thus: the person robbed, for example, goes to the +constable of the next town, tells him the case, described the felon, and +the way he went. Whereupon the constable, be it day or night, is to take +the assistance of those in his own town, and pursue him according to +those directions immediately, at the same time sending with the utmost +expedition to the neighbouring towns, who are to make like pursuit, and +to send like notice until the felon be found._ + +_So desirous is our Law of bringing offenders to Justice, and of +preserving the roads free from being infested with these vermin. For the +better effecting of this, besides those means prescribed by the customs +of our ancestors, of later times rewards have been given to such as +hazarded their own persons in bringing offenders to justice, and of +these, as far as they are settled by Acts of Parliament and thereby +rendered certain and perpetual, I shall speak here; though not of those +given by proclamation, because they being only for a stated time, people +must hereafter have been misled by our account, when that time is +expired._ + +_Highwaymen becoming, some time after the Revolution, exceedingly bold +and troublesome, by an Act made in the reign of William and Mary, a +reward of forty pounds is given for apprehending any one in England or +Wales, and prosecuting him so as he be convicted; which forty pounds is +to be paid by the sheriff on a certificate of the judge or justices +before whom such a felon was convicted. And in case a person shall be +killed in endeavouring to apprehend or making pursuit after such +robbers, the said forty pounds shall be paid to the executors or +administrators of such persons upon the like certificate. Moreover, +every person who shall take, apprehend, or convict such a person, shall +have as a reward the horse, furniture, arms, money or other goods of +such robber as shall be taken with him, the right or title of his +Majesty's bodies politic or corporate, lords of manors, or persons +lending or letting the same to such robber notwithstanding; excepting +only the right of those from whom such horses, furniture, arms, money, +or goods were before feloniously taken._ + +_A like reward of forty pounds was, by another Act in the same reign, +given to such as shall apprehend any person convicted of any capital +crime relating to the coin of this land._ + +_By an Act also made in the reign of the late King William, persons who +apprehend and prosecute to conviction any who feloniously steal goods to +the value of five shillings, out of any house, shop, warehouse, +coach-house or stable, or shall assist, hire or command any person to +commit such offence; then such person so taking as aforesaid, shall have +a certificate gratis from the Judge or Justices, expressing the parish +or place where such felony was committed; which certificate shall be +capable of being once assigned over, and shall exempt its proprietor or +assignee from all parish and ward offices, in the parish or ward wherein +the felony was committed._ + +_By an Act made in the fifth year of the late Queen, persons +apprehending one guilty of burglary, or of feloniously breaking into a +house in the day-time, and prosecuting to conviction, shall receive over +and above the certificate before mentioned, the sum of forty pounds, as +in the case of apprehending an Highwayman._ + +_By an Act passed in the sixth year of the late King, whoever shall +discover, apprehend, or prosecute to conviction without benefit of +clergy, any person for taking money or other reward, directly or +indirectly, to help persons to their stolen goods (such persons not +having apprehended the felon who stole the same, and brought him to +trial, and given evidence against him) shall be entitled to a reward of +forty pounds for every offender so convicted, and shall have the like +certificate, and like payment without fee, as persons may be entitled to +for apprehending highwaymen._ + +_The next point after offenders are once apprehended, is to carry them +before a proper magistrate, viz., a Justice of the Peace, and this leads +us to say something of the nature and authority of that office. My Lord +Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, the Lord High Steward of +England, the Lord Marshal, and the Lord High Constable, each of the +Justices of the King's Bench, and as some say, the Lord High Treasurer +of England, have, as incidental to their offices, a general authority to +keep the peace throughout the realm, and to award process for their +surety thereof, and to take recognizances for it. The Master of the +Rolls has also a like power, either incident to his office, or at least +by prescription. As to the ordinary constructors or Justices of the +Peace, they are constituted by the King's Commission, which is at +present granted on the same form as was settled by the Judges in the +33rd Year of Queen Elizabeth, by which they are appointed and assigned +every one of then jointly and separately to keep the King's peace in +such a county, and cause to be kept all statutes made for the good of +the peace and the quiet government of the Kingdom, as well within +liberties, as without, and to punish all those who shall offend against +the said statutes, and to cause all those to come before them, or any of +them, who threaten any people as to the burning their houses, in order +to compel them to be kept in prison until they shall find it. As to the +other powers committed to these justices, it would be too long for me to +explain them, and therefore after this general Act, I shall go on to +take notice of the manner in which the person accused is treated, when +brought before them._ + +_First the Justice of Peace examines as carefully as he can into the +nature of the offence, and the weight there is of evidence to persuade +him of the just ground there is for accusing the person before him; and +after he has thoroughly considered this, if the thing appear frivolous +or ill-grounded, he may discharge the person, or if he think the +circumstances strong enough to require it, he may take the bail of the +party accused, or if the nature of the crime be more heinous, and the +proof direct and clear, he is bound by an instrument under his hand and +seal called a_ Mittimus, _to commit the offender to safe custody until +he is discharged according to Law. In carrying to prison for any crime +whatsoever, if the party so carried escape himself, or if he be rescued +by others, he and they are guilty of a very high misdemeanor, and in +some cases, those who assist in making the rescue may be guilty of +felony or high treason. But if a prisoner be once committed to gaol for +felony, and afterwards break that prison and escape, such breach of +prison is felony, by the Statute_ De Frangentibus Prisonam, _and shall +be tried for the same as in other cases of felony, and suffer on +conviction. My readers will find mention made of a case of this nature +in respect to one Roger Johnson, who some years ago was tried for +breaking the prison of Newgate, while he remained a prisoner there under +a charge of felony, and making his escape; but so tender is the English +law that when there appeared a probability that one Fisher (not then +taken) broke down the wall of the prison and that Johnson took advantage +of that hole and made his escape, he was found not guilty, for want of +due proof that he actually did break that hole through which he +escaped._ + +_The prisoner being in safe custody, a bill is next to be preferred to +the grand jury of the county, in which the nature of the crime is +properly set forth, and after hearing the evidence brought by the +prosecutor to support the charge, they return the bill to the Court, +marked_ Billa Vera _or_ Ignoramus. _In the first case the prisoner is +required to be tried by the petit jury of twelve, and to abide their +verdict; in case of the latter, he is to be discharged and freed from +that prosecution. But the grand jury must find or not find the bill +entire, for a_ Billa Vera _to one part and an_ Ignoramus _to another +renders the whole proceeding void and is of the same use to the prisoner +as if they had returned an_ Ignoramus _upon the whole._ + +_Many without knowing the Law have taken occasion to be very free with +its precedents, and to treat them as things written in barbarous Latin, +in which an unreasonable, if not ridiculous nicety is sometimes +required. But when this comes to be thoroughly examined, we shall find +that their proceedings are exactly conformable to reason, for if care +and circumspection be necessary in deeds and writings relating to civil +affairs, ought it not a fortiori to be more so where the life, liberty, +reputation and everything that is dear and valuable to the subject is at +stake? Therefore, since there are technical words in all sciences, +surely the Law is not to be blamed for preserving certain words to which +they have affixed particular and determined meanings for the expressing +of such crimes as are made more or less culpable by the Legislature. +Thus_ Murdravit _is absolutely necessary in an indictment charging the +prisoner with a murder;_ Caepit _is the term made use of in indictments +of larceny._ Mayhemaivit _expresses the fact charged in an indictment of +maim;_ Felonice _is absolutely necessary in all indictments of felony of +what kind soever;_ Burglariter _is the Latin word made use of to express +that breaking which from particular circumstances our Law has called +burglary, and appointed certain punishment for those who are guilty +thereof._ Proditorie _expresses the Act in indictments of treason, and +even if these are not Latin words, justified by the usage of Roman +authors, the certainty which they give to those charges in which they +are used, and which could not be so well expressed by circumlocutions, +is a full answer to that objection, since the proceedings before a Court +aim not at elegancy, but at Justice. But let us now go on to the next +step taken to bring the offenders to Judgment._ + +_The bill having been found by the grand jury, the prisoner is brought +into the Court where he is to be tried, and set to the bar in the +presence of the judges who are to try him. Then he is usually commanded +to hold up his hand, but this being only a ceremony to make the person +known to the court it may be omitted, or the person indicted saying_ I +am here, _will answer the same end. Then the proper officer reads the +indictment which has been found against him, in English, and when he +hath so done, he demands of the prisoner whether he be guilty or not +guilty of the fact alleged against him, to which the prisoner answers as +he thinks fit, and this answer is styled his plea. That tenderness which +the English Law on all occasions expresses towards those who are to be +brought to answer for crimes alleged against them, requires that at his +arraignment, the prisoner be totally free from any pain or duress which +may disturb his thought and hinder his liberty of pleading as he thinks +fit, and for this reason, even in cases of high treason, irons are taken +off during the time the prisoner is at the bar, where he stands without +any marks of contumely whatsoever._ + +_But in case the prisoner absolutely refuses to answer, or in an +impertinent manner delay or trifle with the court, then he is deemed a +mute; but if he speaks not at all, nor gives any sign by which the Court +shall be satisfied that he is able to speak, then an inquest of +officers, that is of twelve persons who happen to be by, are to enquire +whether his standing mute arises from his contempt of the Court, or be +really an infirmity under which he labours from the hands of God. If it +be found the latter, then the Court, as counsel for the prisoner, shall +hear the evidence with relation to the fact, and proceed therein as if +the prisoner had pleaded not guilty; but if, on the contrary, the Court +or the inquest shall be satisfied that the prisoner remains a mute only +from obstinacy, then in some cases judgment shall be awarded against him +as if he had pleaded or were found guilty, and in others he shall be +remitted to his penance, that is to suffer what the Law calls_ Peine +forte et dure, _which is pressing, of which the readers will find an +account in the subsequent life of Burnworth_, alias _Frazier; and +therefore I shall not treat further of it here._ + +_If, from conviction of his own guilt and a consciousness that it may be +fully proved against him, the prisoner plead guilty to the indictment, +it is considered as the highest species of conviction, and as soon as it +is entered on record the Court proceeds to judgment without further +proceedings on the indictments. But if the prisoner plead not guilty, +and put himself for trial upon his country, then a jury of twelve men +are to pass upon the defendant, and upon their verdict he is either to +be acquitted or convicted._ + +_And with respect to this jury, the English Law appears again more +equitable than perhaps any other in the world, for in this case as the +jury comes severally to the Book to be sworn, to try impartially between +the King and the prisoner of the bar, according to the evidence that is +given upon the indictment, the prisoner is even then at liberty to +except against, or as the law term it, to challenge, twenty of the jury +peremptorily, and as many more as he thinks fit on showing just cause. +So also, if the prisoner be an alien, the jury are to be half aliens and +half English. So tender is our constitution, not only of the lives of +its natural born subjects, but, also of those who put themselves under +its protection, that it has taken every precaution which the wit of man +could devise to prevent prejudice, partiality, or corruption from +mingling in any degree with the sentences pronounced upon offenders, or +in the proceedings upon which they are founded._ + +_Last of all we are to speak of the evidence or testimony which is to be +given for or against the prisoner at the time of his trial. And first +with respect to the evidence offered for the Crown; if it shall appear +that the person swearing shall gain any great and evident advantage by +the event of the trial in which he swears, he shall not be admitted as a +good witness against the prisoner. Thus in the case of Rhodes, tried +some years ago for forging letters of attorney for transferring South +Sea Stock belonging to one Mr. Heysham, the prosecutor, Mr. Heysham, was +not admitted to swear himself against the prisoner because in case of +conviction six thousand pounds stock must have replaced to his account. +But to this, though a general rule, there are some exceptions on which +the compass of this discourse will not permit us to dwell. It is also a +rule that a husband or wife cannot be admitted to testify against the +prisoner, but to this also there are some exceptions, as in the Lord +Audley's case,[57] where he was charged with holding his lady until his +servant committed a rape upon her by his command. Also in marriages +contracted by force against the form of the Statute; in that case it is +provided that the woman, though a wife, may be admitted as evidence, as +also in some other cases which we have not room to mention._ + +_Persons convicted of perjury, forgery, etc., are not to be admitted as +legal witnesses, but that the record of their contrition must be +produced at the time the objection is made, for the Court mil take no +notice of hearsay and common fame in such respect. An infidel, also, +that is one who believes neither the Old nor New Testament, cannot be a +witness, and some other disabilities there are which being uncommon, we +shall not dwell upon here Yet it is necessary to take notice that +whatever is offered as proof against the defendant, shall be heard +openly before him, that he may have an opportunity of falsifying it, if +he be able; and as in all cases, except high treason, no council is +permitted to the prisoner except in matters of law, because every man is +supposed to be capable of defending himself as to matters of fact, yet +the Court is always council for the prisoner and never fails of +instructing and informing him of whatever may conduce to his benefit or +advantage; and if any difficult points of Law arise, council are +assigned him, and are permitted to argue in his behalf with the same +freedom that those do who are appointed by the Crown._ + +_From this succinct account of the method in use in England, of doing +justice in criminal cases, I flatter myself my readers will very clearly +see how valuable those privileges are which we enjoy as Englishmen; how +equitable the proceedings of our Courts of Justice; and how well +constructed every part of our constitution is for the preservation of +the lives and liberties of its subjects. If there remained room for us +to compare the judicious proceedings in use here with those slight, +rigorous and summary methods which are practised in other countries, the +value of these blessings which we enjoy would be considerably enhanced. +But as this Preface already exceeds its intended length, we must refer +this to a more proper opportunity, and conclude with putting our readers +in mind that by the careful perusal of this and the Preface to the First +Volume, they will have competent notion of the Crown Law, the reasons on +which it is founded, the method in which it is prosecuted, and the +judgments on criminals which are inflicted thereby; matters highly +useful in themselves, as well as absolutely necessary to be known, in +order to a proper understanding of the following pages._ + +FOOTNOTES: + + [57] This was Mervyn, Lord Audley, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven, a + man of loathsome profligacy, who was tried by his peers on + charges of unnatural offences, and executed, in 1631. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM SPERRY, Footpad and Highwayman + + +There is not anything more extraordinary in the circumstances of those +who from a life of rapine and plunder come to its natural catastrophe, a +violent and ignominious death, than that some of them from a life of +piety and religion, have on a sudden fallen into so opposite a +behaviour, and without any stumbles in the road of virtue take, as it +were, a leap from the precipice at once. + +This malefactor, William Sperry, was born of parents in very low +circumstances, who afforded him and his brother scarce any education, +until having reached the age of fourteen years, he and his younger +brother before mentioned, were both decoyed by one of the agents for the +plantations, to consent to their being transported to America, where +they were sold for about seven years.[58] After the expiration of the +term, William Sperry went to live at Philadelphia, the capital of +Pennsylvania, one of the best plantations the English have in America, +which receives its name from William Penn, the famous Quaker who first +planted it. Here, being chiefly instigated thereto by the great piety +and unaffected purity of morals in which the inhabitants of that colony +excel the greater part of the world, Sperry began with the utmost +industry to endeavour at retrieving his reading; and the master with +whom he lived favouring his inclinations, was at great pains and some +expense to have him taught writing. Yet he did not swerve in his +religion, nor fall into Quakerism, the predominant sect here, but went +constantly to the Church belonging to the religion by Law established in +England, read several good books, and addicted himself with much zeal to +the service of God. Removing from the house of his kind master to that +of another planter, he abated nothing in his zeal for devotion, but went +constantly from his master's house to church at West Chester, which was +near five miles from his home. + +Happening, not long after, to have the advantage of going in a trading +vessel to several ports in America, he addicted himself with great +pleasure to this new life. But his happiness therein, like all other +species of human bliss, very shortly faded, for one morning just as the +day began to dawn, the vessel in which he sailed was clapped on board, +and after a very short struggle taken by Low, the famous pirate.[59] +Sperry, being a brisk young lad, Low would very fain have taken him into +his crew, but the lad having still virtuous principles remaining, +earnestly entreated that he might be excused. On the score of his having +discovered to Low a mutinous conspiracy of his crew, the generosity of +that pirate was so great that, finding no offer he could make made any +impression, he caused him to be set safe on shore in the night, on one +of the Leeward Islands. + +Notwithstanding that Sperry did not at that time comply with the +instigations of the pirate, yet his mind was so much poisoned by the +sight of what passed on board, that from that time he had an itching +towards plunder and the desire of getting money at an easier rate than +by the sweat of his brow. While these thoughts were floating in his +head, he was entertained on board one of his Majesty's men-of-war, and +while he continued in the Service, saw a pirate vessel taken; and the +men being tried before a Court of Admiralty in New England, every one of +them was executed except five, who manifestly appeared to have been +forced into the pirates' service. One would have thought this would have +totally eradicated all liking for that sort of practice, but it seems it +did not. For as soon as Sperry came home into England and had married a +wife, by which his inclinations were chained, though he had no ability +to support her, and falling into very great necessities, he either +tempted others or associated himself with certain loose and abandoned +young men, for as he himself constantly declared, he was not led into +evil practices by the persuasions of any. However it were, the deeds he +committed were many, and he became the pest of most of the roads out to +the little villages about London, particularly towards Hampstead, +Islington and Marylebone, of some of which as our papers serve we shall +inform you. + +Sperry and four more of his associates hearing that gaming was very +public at Hampstead,[60] and that considerable sums were won and lost +there every night, resolved to share part of the winnings, let them +light where they would. In order to this, they planted themselves in a +dry ditch on one side of the foot-road just as evening came on, +intending when it was darker to venture into the coach road. They had +hardly been at their posts a quarter of an hour before two officers came +by. Some were for attacking them, but Sperry was of a contrary opinion. +In the meanwhile they heard one of the gentlemen say to the other, +_There's D---- M----, the Gamester, behind us, he has won at least sixty +guineas to-night._ Sperry and his crew had no further dispute whether +they should rob the gentlemen in red or no, but resolved to wait the +coming of so rich a prize. + +It was but a few minutes before M---- appeared in sight. They +immediately stepped into the path, two before him, and two behind, and +watching him to the corner of a hedge, the two who were behind him +caught him by the shoulders, turned him round, and hurrying him about +ten yards, pushed him into a dry ditch. This they had no sooner done, +but they all four leaped down upon him and began to examine his pockets, +M---- thought to have talked them out of a stricter search by pretending +he had lost a great deal of money at play, and had but fifty shillings +about him, which with a silver watch and a crystal ring he deemed very +ready to deliver; and it very probably would have been accepted if they +had not had better intelligence, but one of the oldest of the gang, +perceiving after turning out all his pockets that they could discover +nothing of value, began to exert the style of a highwayman upon an +examination, and addressed the gamester in these terms. + +_Nobody but such a rogue as you would have given gentlemen of our +faculty so much trouble. Sir, we have received advice by good hands from +Belsize that you won sixty guineas to-day at play. Produce them +immediately, or we shall take it for granted you have swallowed them; +and in such a case, Sir, I have an instrument ready to give us an +immediate account of the contents of your stomach._ + +M----, in a dreadful fright, put his hand under his arm, and from thence +produced a green purse with a fifty pound bank-note and eighteen +guineas. This they had no sooner taken than, tying him fast to a hedge +stake, they ran across the fields in search of another booty. They spun +out the time, being a moonlight night, until past eleven, there being so +much company on the road that they found it impossible to attack without +danger. + +As they were returning home, they heard the noise of a coach driving +very hard, and upon turning about saw it was that of Sir W---- B----, +himself on the box, two ladies of pleasure in the coach, and his +servants a great way behind. One of them seized the horse on one side, +and another on the other, but Sir W---- drove so very hard that the pull +of the horses brought them both to the ground, and he at the same time +encouraging them with his voice and the smack of his whip. So he drove +safe off without any hurt, though they fired two pistols after him. + +About three weeks after this they were passing down Drury Lane, and +observing a gentleman going with one of the fine ladies of the Hundreds +into a tavern thereabouts, one of the gang who knew him, and that he had +married a lady with a great fortune to whom his father was guardian, and +that they lived altogether in a great house near Lincoln's Inn Fields, +immediately thought on a project. They slipped into an alehouse, where +he wrote an epistle to the old gentleman, informing him that they had a +warrant to apprehend a lewd woman who was with child by his son, but +that she had made her escape, and was now actually with him at a certain +tavern in Drury Lane, wherefore being apprehensive of disturbance, and +being unwilling to disgrace his family, rather than take rougher +methods, they had informed him, in order that by his interposition the +affair might be made up. + +As soon as they had written this letter, they dispatched one of their +number to carry it and deliver it, as if by mistake, to the young +gentleman's wife. This had the desired effect, for in less than half an +hour came the father, the wife, and another of her trustees, who +happened to be paying a visit there when the letter came. They no sooner +entered the tavern but hearing the voice of the gentleman they asked +for, without ceremony they opened the door, and finding a woman there, +all was believed, and there followed a mighty uproar. Two of the rogues +who were best dressed, had slipped into the next room and called for +half a pint. As if by accident they came out at the noise, and under +pretence of enquiring the occasion, took the opportunity of picking the +gentleman's pockets of twenty-five guineas, one gold watch, and two +silver snuff-boxes, which it is to be presumed were never missed until +the hurry of the affair was over. + +The last robbery Sperry committed was upon one Thomas Golding, not far +from Bromley, who not having any money about him, Sperry endeavoured to +make it up by taking all his clothes. Being apprehended for this, at the +next sessions at the Old Bailey he was convicted for this offence, and +having no friends, could not entertain the least hopes of pardon. From +the time that he was convicted, and, indeed, from that of his +commitment, he behaved like a person on the brink of another world, +ingenuously confessing all his guilt, and acknowledging readily the +justice of that sentence by which he was doomed to death. His behaviour +was perfectly uniform, and as he never put on an air of contempt towards +death, so, at its nearest approach he did not seem exceedingly terrified +therewith, but with great calmness of mind prepared for his dissolution. + +On the day of his execution his countenance seemed rather more cheerful +than ordinarily, and he left this world with all exterior signs of true +penitence and contrition, on Monday, the 24th of May, 1725, at Tyburn, +being then about twenty-three years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [58] There was great competition to secure white labour in the + American plantations. Infamous touts circulated amongst the + poor, and any who were starving or wished for personal reasons + to emigrate engaged themselves with a ship-master or an + office-keeper to allow themselves to be sold for a term of years + in return for their passage money. On arrival at their + destination these poor wretches were sent to the plantations and + lived as slaves until the term for which they had contracted had + expired. In Virginia and Maryland, where most of them went, they + were driven to work on the tobacco fields with the negroes, and + were worse treated than the blacks, as being only leasehold + property whereas the negroes were freehold. + + [59] Captain Edward Low was one of the bloodied of the pirates. + He served under Lowther until 1722, when he smarted on his own + account. After many atrocities he was taken by the French and + hanged, some time in 1724. A full account of him is given in my + edition of Johnson's _History of the Pirates_, issued in the + same series as the present volume. + + [60] Belsize House was opened as a place of amusement, about + 1720, by a certain Howell, who called himself the Welsh + Ambassador. At first it was a fashionable resort, but it soon + became the haunt of gamblers and harpies of both sexes. + + + + +The Life of ROBERT HARPHAM, a Coiner + + +In my former volume I have taken occasion, in the life of Barbara +Spencer, to mention the laws against coining as they stand at present in +this kingdom. I shall not, therefore, detain my readers here with the +unnecessary introduction, but proceed to inform them that a multitude of +false guineas being talked of--the natural consequence of a few being +detected--great pains were taken by the officers belonging to the Mint +for detecting those by whom such frauds had been committed. + +It was not long before information was had of one Robert Harpham and +Thomas Broom, who were suspected of being the persons by whom such false +guineas had been made. Upon these suspicions search warrants were +granted, and a large engine of iron was discovered at Harpham's house, +with other tools supposed to be made use of for that purpose. On this, +the mob immediately gave out that a cart-load of guineas had been +carried from thence, because those instruments were so cumberous as to +be fetched in that manner; though the truth, indeed, was that no great +number of false guineas had been coined, though the instruments +undoubtedly were fitted and made use of for that purpose. Harpham, who +well knew what evidence might be produced against him, never flattered +himself with hopes after he came to Newgate, but as he believed he +should die, so he prepared himself for it as well as he could. + +At his trial the evidence against him was very full and direct. Mr. +Pinket deposed flatly that the instruments produced in Court, and which +were sworn to be taken from the prisoner's house, could not serve for +any other purpose than that of coining. These instruments were an iron +press of very great weight, a cutting instrument for forming blanks, an +edging tool for indenting, with two dies for guineas and two dies for +half-guineas. To strengthen this, William Fornham deposed in relation to +the prisoners' possession, and Mr. Gornbey swore directly to his +striking a half-guinea in his presence. Mr. Oakley and Mr. Tardley +deposing further, that they flatted very considerable quantities of a +mixed metal for the prisoner, made up of brass, copper, etc., sometimes +to the quantity of 30 or 40 pound weight at a time. + +The defence he made was very weak and trifling, and after a very short +consideration the jury brought him in guilty of the indictment, and he, +never entertaining any hopes of pardon, bent all his endeavours in +making his peace with God. Some persons in the prison had been very +civil to him, and one of them presuming thereon, asked him wherein the +great secret of his art of coining lay? Mr. Harpham thanked him for the +kindnesses he had received of him, but said that he should make a very +bad return for the time afforded him by the law of repentance, if he +should leave behind him anything of that kind which might farther +detriment his country. Some instances were also made to him that he +should discover certain persons of that same profession with himself, +who were likely to carry on the same frauds long after his decease. Mr. +Harpham, notwithstanding the answer he had made to the other gentleman, +refused to comply with this request; for he said that the instruments +seized would effectually prevent that, and he would not take away their +lives and ruin their families, when he was sure they were incapacitated +from coining anything for the future. However, that he might discharge +his conscience as far as he could, he wrote several pathetic letters to +the persons concerned; earnestly exhorting them for the sake of +themselves and their families to leave off this wicked employment, and +not hazard their lives and their salvation in any further attempt of +that sort. + +Having thus disengaged himself from all worldly concerns, he dedicated +the last moments of his life entirely to the service of God; and having, +received the Sacrament the day before his execution, he was conveyed +the next noon to Tyburn in a sledge, where he was not a little +disturbed, even in the agonies of death, by the tumult and insults the +mob offered to Jonathan Wild, which he complained much of and seemed +very uneasy at. He suffered on the same day with the last mentioned +malefactor, appealing to be about two- or three-and-forty years of age. + + + + +The Life of the famous JONATHAN WILD, Thief-Taker + + +As no person in this collection ever made so much noise as the person we +are now speaking of, so never any man, perhaps, in any condition of life +whatever had so many romantic stories fathered upon him in his life, or +so many fictitious legendary accounts published of him after his death. +It may seem a low kind of affectation to say that the memoirs we are now +giving of Jonathan Wild are founded on certainty and fact; and that +though they are so founded, they are yet more extraordinary than any of +those fabulous relations pushed into the world to get a penny, at the +time of his death, when it was a proper season for vending such +forgeries, the public looking with so much attention on his catastrophe, +and greedily catching up whatever pretended to the giving an account of +his actions. But to go on with the history in its proper order. + +Jonathan Wild[61] was the son of persons in a mean and low state of +life, yet for all that I have ever heard of them, both honest and +industrious. Their family consisted of three sons and two daughters, +whom their father and mother maintained and educated in the best manner +they could from their joint labours, he as carpenter, and she by selling +fruit in Wolverhampton market, in Staffordshire, which in future ages +may perhaps become famous as the birth place of the celebrated Mr. +Jonathan Wild. He was the eldest of the sons, and received as good an +education as his father's circumstances would allow him, being bred at +the free-school to read and write, to both of which having attained to a +tolerable degree, he was put out an apprentice to a buckle-maker in +Birmingham. + +He served his time with much fidelity, and came up to town in the +service of a gentleman of the long robe, about the year 1704, or perhaps +a little later. But not liking his service, or his master being not +altogether so well pleased with him, he quitted it and retired to his +old employment in the country, where he continued to work diligently for +some time. But at last growing sick of labour, and still entertaining a +desire to taste the pleasures of London, up hither he came a second +time, and worked journey-work at the trade to which he was bred. But +this not producing money enough to support those expenses Jonathan's +love of pleasure threw him into, he got pretty deeply in debt; and some +of his creditors not being endued with altogether as much patience as +his circumstances required, he was suddenly arrested, and thrown into +Wood-street Compter. + +Having no friends to do anything for him, and having very little money +in his pocket when this misfortune happened, he lived very hardly there, +scarce getting bread enough to support him from the charity allowed to +prisoners, and from what little services he could render to prisoners of +the better sort in the gaol. However, as no man wanted address less than +Jonathan, so nobody could have employed it more properly than he did +upon this occasion; he thereby got so much into the favour of the +keepers, that they quickly permitted him the liberty of the gate, as +they call it, and he thereby got some little matter for going on +errands. This set him above the very pinch of want, and that was all; +but his fidelity and industry in these mean employments procured him +such esteem amongst those in power there, that they soon took him into +their ministry, and appointed him an under-keeper to those disorderly +persons who were brought in every night and are called, in their cant, +"rats." + +Jonathan now came into a comfortable subsistence, having learnt how to +get money of such people by putting them into the road of getting +liberty for themselves. But there, says my author, he met with a lady +who was confined on the score of such practices very often, and who went +by the name of Mary Milliner; and who soon taught him how to gain much +greater sums than in this way of life, by methods which he until then +never heard of, and will I am confident, to this day carry the charms of +novelty to most of my readers. Of these the first she put upon him was +going on what they call the "twang," which is thus managed: the man who +is the confederate goes out with some noted woman of the town, and if +she fall into any broil, he is to be at a proper distance, ready to come +into her assistance, and by making a sham quarrel, give her an +opportunity of getting off, perhaps after she has dived for a watch or a +purse of guineas, and was in danger of being caught in the very act. +This proved a very successful employment to Mr. Wild for a time. Moll +and he, therefore, resolved to set up together, and for that purpose +took lodgings and lived as man and wife, notwithstanding Jonathan then +had a wife and a son at Wolverhampton and the fair lady was married to a +waterman in town. + +By the help of this woman Jonathan grew acquainted with all the +notorious gangs of loose persons within the bills of mortality, and was +also perfectly versed in the manner by which they carried on their +schemes. He knew where and how their enterprises were to be gone upon, +and after what manner they disposed of their ill-got goods, when they +came into their possession. Having always an intriguing head Wild set up +for a director amongst them, and soon became so useful to them that +though he never went out upon any of their lays, yet he got as much or +more by their crimes as if he had been a partner with them, which upon +one pretence or other he always declined. + +He had long ago got rid of that debt for which he had been imprisoned in +the Compter, and having by his own thought projected a new manner of +life, he began in a very little time to grow weary of Mrs. Milliner, who +had been his first instructor. What probably contributed thereto was the +danger to which he saw himself exposed by continuing a bully in her +service; however, they parted without falling out, and as he had +occasion to make use of her pretty often in his new way of business, so +she proved very faithful and industrious to him in it, though she still +went on in her old way. + +'Tis now time, that both this and the remaining part of the discourse +may be intelligible, to explain the methods by which thieves became the +better for thieving where they did not steal ready money; and of this we +will speak in the clearest and most concise manner that we can. + +It must be observed that anciently when a thief had got his booty he had +done all that a man in his profession could do, and there were +multitudes of people ready to help them off with whatever effects he had +got, without any more to do. But this method being totally destroyed by +an Act passed in the reign of King William, by which it was made felony +for any person to buy goods stolen, knowing them to be so, and some +examples having been made on this Act, there were few or no receivers to +be met with. Those that still carried on the trade took exorbitant sums +for their own profit, leaving those who had run the hazard of their +necks in obtaining them, the least share of the plunder. This (as an +ingenious author says) had like to have brought the thieving trade to +naught; but Jonathan quickly thought of a method to put things again in +order, and give new life to the practices of the several branches of the +ancient art and mystery called stealing. The method he took was this. + +As soon as any considerable robbery was committed, and Jonathan received +intelligence by whom, he immediately went to the thieves, and instead of +offering to buy the whole or any part of the plunder, he only enquired +how the thing was done, where the persons lived who were injured, and +what the booty consisted in that was taken away. Then pretending to +chide them for their wickedness in doing such actions, and exhorting +them to live honestly for the future, he gave it them as his advice to +lodge what they had taken in a proper place which he appointed them, and +then promised he would take some measures for their security by getting +the people to give them somewhat to have them restored them again. +Having thus wheedled those who had committed a robbery into a compliance +with his measures, his next business was to divide the goods into +several parcels, and cause them to be sent to different places, always +avoiding taking them into his own hands. + +Things being in this position, Jonathan, or Mrs. Milliner went to the +persons who were robbed, and after condoling the misfortune, observed +that they had an acquaintance with a broker to whom certain goods were +brought, some of which they suspected to be stolen, and hearing that the +person to whom they thus applied had been robbed they said they thought +it the duty of one honest body to another to inform them thereof, and to +enquire what goods they were they lost, in order to discover whether +those they spoke of were the same or no. People who had such losses are +always ready, after the first fit of passion is over, to hearken to +anything that has a tendency towards recovering their goods. Jonathan or +his mistress therefore, who could either of them play the hypocrite +nicely, had no great difficulty in making people listen to such terms; +in a day or two, therefore, they were sure to come again with +intelligence that having called upon their friend and looked over the +goods, they had found part of the goods there; and provided nobody was +brought into trouble, and the broker had something in consideration of +his care, they might be had again. He generally told the people, when +they came on this errand, that he had heard of another parcel at such a +place, and that if they would stay a little, he would go and see +whether they were such as they described theirs to be which they had +lost. + +This practice of Jonathan's, if well considered, carries in it a great +deal of policy; for first it seemed to be an honest and good-natured act +to prevail on evil persons to restore the goods which they had stole; +and it must be acknowledged to be a great benefit to those who were +robbed thus to have their goods again upon a reasonable premium, +Jonathan or his mistress all the while taking apparently nothing, their +advantages arising from what they took out of the gratuity left with the +broker, and out of what they had bargained with the thief to be allowed +of the money which they had procured him. Such people finding this +advantage in it, the rewards were very near as large as the price now +given by receivers (since receiving became too dangerous), and they +reaped a certain security also by the bargain. + +With respect to Jonathan, the contrivance placed him in safety, not only +from all the laws then in being, but perhaps would have secured him as +securely from those that are made now, if covetousness had not prevailed +with him to take bolder steps than these; for in a short time he began +to give himself out for a person who made it his business to procure +stolen goods to their right owners. When he first did this he acted with +so much art and cunning that he acquired a very great reputation as an +honest man, not only from those who dealt with him to procure what they +had lost, but even from those people of higher station, who observing +the industry with which he prosecuted certain malefactors, took him for +a friend of Justice, and as such afforded him countenance and +encouragement. + +Certain it is that he brought more villains to the gallows than perhaps +any man ever did, and consequently by diminishing their number, made it +much more safe for persons to travel or even to reside with security in +their own houses. And so sensible was Jonathan of the necessity there +was for him to act in this manner, that he constantly hung up two or +three of his clients at least in a twelvemonth, that he might keep up +that character to which he had attained; and so indefatigable was he in +the pursuit of those he endeavoured to apprehend, that it never happened +in all his course of acting, that so much as one single person escaped +him. Nor need this appear so great a wonder, if we consider that the +exact acquaintance he had with their gangs and the haunts they used put +it out of their power almost to hide themselves so as to avoid his +searches. + +When this practice of Jonathan's became noted, and the people resorted +continually to his house in order to hear of the goods which they had +lost, it produced not only much discourse, but some enquiries into his +behaviour. Jonathan foresaw this, and in order to evade any ill +consequence that might follow upon it, upon such occasions put on an air +of gravity, and complained of the evil disposition of the times, which +would not permit a man to serve his neighbours and his country without +censure. _For do I not_, quoth Jonathan, _do the greatest good, when I +persuade these wicked people who have deprived them of their properties, +to restore them again for a reasonable consideration. And are not the +villains whom I have so industriously brought to suffer that punishment +which the Law, for the sake of its honest subjects, thinks fit to +inflict upon them--in this respect, I say, does not their death show how +much use I am to the country? Why, then_, added Jonathan, _should people +asperse me, or endeavour to take away my bread?_ + +This kind of discourse served, as my readers must know, to keep Wild +safe in his employment for many years, while not a step he took, but +trod on felony, nor a farthing did he obtain but what deserved the +gallows. Two great things there were which contributed to his +preservation, and they were these. The great readiness the Government +always shows in detecting persons guilty of capital offences; in which +case we know 'tis common to offer not only pardon, but rewards to +persons guilty, provided they make discoveries; and this Jonathan was so +sensible of that he did not only screen himself behind the lenity of the +Supreme Power, but made use of it also as a sort of authority, and +behaved himself with a very presuming air. And taking upon him the +character of a sort of minister of Justice, this assumed character of +his, however ill-founded, proved of great advantage to him in the course +of his life. The other point, which, as I have said, contributed to keep +him from any prosecutions on the score of these illegal and +unwarrantable actions, was the great willingness of people who had been +robbed to recover their goods, and who, provided for a small matter they +could regain things for a considerable worth, were so far from taking +pains to bring the offenders to justice that they thought the premium a +cheap price to get off. + +Thus by the rigour of the magistrate, and the lenity of the subject, +Jonathan claimed constant employment, and according as wicked persons +behaved, they were either trussed up to satisfy the just vengeance of +the one, or protected and encouraged, that by bringing the goods they +stole he might be enabled to satisfy the demands of the other. And thus +we see the policy of a mean and scandalous thief-taker, conducted with +as much prudence, caution, and necessary courage, as the measures taken +by even the greatest persons upon earth; nor perhaps is there, in all +history, an instance of a man who thus openly dallied with the laws, and +played with capital punishment. + +As I am persuaded my readers will take a pleasure in the relation of +Jonathan's maxims of policy, I shall be a little more particular in +relation to them than otherwise I should have been, considering that in +this work I do not propose to treat of the actions of a single person, +but to consider the villainies committed throughout the space of a dozen +years, such especially as have reached to public notice by bringing the +authors of them to the gallows. But Mr. Wild being a man of such +eminence as to value himself in his life-time on his superiority to +meaner rogues; so I am willing to distinguish him now he is dead, by +showing a greater complaisance in recording his history than that of any +other hero in this way whatsoever. + +Nor, to speak properly, was Jonathan ever an operator, as they call it, +that is a practicer in any one branch of thieving. No, his method was to +acquire money at an easier rate, and if any title can be devised +suitable to his great performance, it must be that of Director General +of the united forces of highwaymen, housebreakers, footpads, +pickpockets, and private thieves. Now, according to my promise, for the +maxims by which he supported himself in this dangerous capacity. + +In the first place, he continually exhorted the plunderers that belonged +to his several gangs, to let him know punctually what goods they at any +time took, by which means he had it in his power to give, for the most +part, a direct answer to those who came to make their enquiries after +they had lost their effects, either by their own carelessness, or the +dexterity of the thief. If they complied faithfully with his +instructions, he was a certain protector on all occasions, and sometimes +had interest enough to procure them liberty when apprehended, either in +the committing a robbery, or upon the information of one of the gang. In +such a case Jonathan's usual pretence was that such a person (who was +the man he intended to save) was capable of making a larger and more +effectual information, for which purpose Jonathan would sometimes supply +him with memorandums of his own, and thereby establish so well the +credit of his discovery, as scarce to fail of producing its effect. + +But if his thieves threatened to become independent, and despise his +rules, or endeavour for the sake of profit to vend the goods they got +some other way without making application to Jonathan; or if they threw +out any threatening speeches against their companions; or grumbled at +the compositions he made for them, in such cases as these Wild took the +first opportunity of talking to them in a new style, telling them that +he was well assured they did very ill acts and plundered poor honest +people, to indulge themselves in their debaucheries; that they would do +well to think of amending before the Justice of their country fell upon +them; and that after such warning they must not expect any assistance +from him, in case they should fall under any misfortune. The next thing +that followed after this fine harangue was that they were put into the +information of some of Jonathan's creatures; or the first fresh fact +they committed and Jonathan was applied to for the recovery of the +goods, he immediately set out to apprehend them, and laboured so +indefatigably therein that they never escaped him. Thus he not only +procured the reward for himself, but also gained an opportunity of +pretending that he not only restored goods to the right owners, but also +apprehended the thief as often as it was in his power. As to instances, +I shall mention them in a proper place. + +I shall now go on to another observation, viz., that in those steps of +his business which was most hazardous, Jonathan made the people +themselves take the first steps by publishing advertisements of things +lost, directing them to be brought to Mr. Wild, who was empowered to +receive them and pay such a reward as the person that lost them thought +fit to offer; and in this capacity Jonathan appeared no otherwise than +as a person on whose honour these sort of people could rely; by which, +his assistance became necessary for retrieving whatever had been +pilfered. + +After he had gone on in this trade for about ten years with success, he +began to lay aside much of his former caution, and gave way to the +natural vanity of his temper; taking a larger house in Old Bailey than +that in which he formerly lived; giving the woman who he called his +wife, abundance of fine things; keeping open office for restoring stolen +goods; appointing abundance of under-officers to receive goods, carry +messages to those who stole them, bring him exact intelligence of the +several gangs and the places of their resort, and in fine, for such +other purposes as this, their supreme governor, directed. His fame at +last came to that height that persons of the highest quality would +condescend to make use of his abilities, when at an installation, public +entry, or some other great solemnity they had the misfortune of losing +watches, jewels, or other things, whether of great real or imaginary +value. + +But as his methods of treating those who applied to him for his +assistance has been much misrepresented, I shall next give an exact and +impartial account thereof, that the fabulous history of Jonathan Wild +may not be imposed upon posterity. + +In the first place, then, when a person was introduced to Mr. Wild's +office, it was first hinted to him that a crown must be deposited by +way of fee for his advice; when this was complied with a large book was +brought out; then the loser was examined with much formality, as to the +time, place, and manner that the goods became missing; and then the +person was dismissed with a promise of careful enquiries being made, and +of hearing more concerning them in a day or two. When this was adjusted, +the person took his leave, with great hopes of being acquainted shortly +with the fruits of Mr. Wild's industry, and highly satisfied with the +methodical treatment he had met with. + +But at the bottom this was all grimace. Wild had not the least occasion +for these queries, except to amuse the persons he asked, for he knew +beforehand all the circumstances of the robbery much better than they +did. Nay, perhaps, he had the very goods in the house when the folks +came first to enquire for them; though for reasons not hard to guess he +made use of all this formality before he proceeded to return them. When, +therefore, according to his appointment, the enquirer came the second +time, Jonathan took care to amuse him by a new scene. He was told that +Mr. Wild had indeed made enquiries, but was very sorry to communicate +the result of them; the thief, truly, who was a bold impudent fellow, +rejected with scorn the offer which pursuant to the loser's instructions +had been made him, insisted that he could sell the goods at a double +price, and in short would not hear a word of restitution unless upon +better terms. _But notwithstanding all this_, says Jonathan, _if I can +but come to the speech of him, I don't doubt bringing him to reason._ + +At length, after one or two more attendances, Mr. Wild gave the definite +answer, that provided no questions were asked and so much money was +given to the porter who brought them, the loser might have his things +returned at such an hour precisely. This was transacted with all outward +appearances of friendship and honest intention on his side, and with +great seeming frankness and generosity; but when the client came to the +last article, viz., what Mr. Wild expected for his trouble, then an air +of coldness was put on, and he answered with equal pride and +indifference, that what he did was purely from a principle of doing +good. As to a gratuity for the trouble he had taken, he left it totally +to yourself; you might do it in what you thought fit. Even when money +was presented to him he received it with the same negligent grace, +always putting you in mind that it was your own act, that you did it +merely out of your generosity, and that it was no way the result of his +request, that he took it as a favour, not as a reward. + +By this dexterity in his management he fenced himself against the rigour +of the law, in the midst of these notorious transgressions of it, for +what could be imputed to Mr. Wild? He neither saw the thief who took +away your goods, nor received them after they were taken; the method he +pursued in order to procure you your things again was neither dishonest +or illegal, if you will believe his account on it, and no other than his +account could be gotten. According to him it was performed after this +manner: after having enquired amongst such loose people as he +acknowledged he had acquaintance with, and hearing that such a robbery +was committed at such a time, and such and such goods were taken, he +thereupon had caused it to be intimated to the thief that if he had any +regard for his own safety he would cause such and such goods to be +carried to such a place; in consideration of which, he might reasonably +hope such a reward, naming a certain sum. If it excited the thief to +return the goods, it did not thereby fix any guilt or blame upon +Jonathan; and by this description, I fancy my readers will have a pretty +clear idea of the man's capacity, as well as of his villainy. + +Had Mr. Wild continued satisfied with this way of dealing in all human +probability he might have gone to his grave in peace, without any +apprehensions of punishment but what he was to meet within a world to +come. But he was greedy, and instead of keeping constant to this safe +method, came at last to take the goods into his own custody, giving +those that stole them what he thought proper, and then making such a +bargain with the loser as he was able to bring him up to, sending the +porter himself, and taking without ceremony whatever money had been +given him. But as this happened only in the two last years of his life, +it is fit I should give you some instances of his behaviour before, and +these not from the hearsay of the town, but within the compass of my own +knowledge. + +A gentleman near Covent Garden who dealt in silks had bespoke a piece of +extraordinary rich damask, on purpose for the birthday suit of a certain +duke; and the lace-man having brought such trimming as was proper for +it, the mercer had made the whole up in a parcel, tied it at each end +with blue ribbon, sealed with great exactness, and placed on one end of +the counter, in expectation of his Grace's servant, who he knew was +directed to call for it in the afternoon. Accordingly the fellow came, +but when the mercer went to deliver him the goods, the piece had gone, +and no account could possibly he had of it. As the master had been all +day in the shop, so there was no possibility of charging anything either +upon the carelessness or dishonesty of servants. After an hour's +fretting, therefore, seeing no other remedy, he even determined to go +and communicate his loss to Mr. Wild, in hopes of receiving some benefit +by his assistance, the loss consisting not so much in the value of the +things as in the disappointment it would be to the nobleman not to have +them on the birthday. + +Upon this consideration a hackney-coach was immediately called, and away +he was ordered to drive directly to Jonathan's house in the Old Bailey. +As soon as he came into the room, and had acquainted Mr. Wild with his +business, the usual deposit of a crown being made, and the common +questions of the how, when, and where, having been asked, the mercer +being very impatient, said with some kind of heat, _Mr. Wild, the loss I +have sustained, though the intrinsic value of the goods be very little, +lies more in disobliging my customer. Tell me, therefore, in a few +words, if it be in your power to serve me. If it is, I have thirty +guineas here ready to lay down, but if you expect that I should dance +attendance for a week or two, I assure you I shall not be willing to +part with above half the money. Good sir_, replied Mr. Wild, _have a +little more consideration. I am no thief, sir, nor no receiver of stolen +goods, so that if you don't think fit to give me time to enquire, you +must e'en take what measures you please._ + +When the mercer found he was like to be left without any hopes, he began +to talk in a milder strain, and with abundance of intreaties fell to +persuading Jonathan to think of some method to serve him, and that +immediately. Wild stepped out a minute or two, as if to the necessary +house; as soon as he came back he told the gentleman, it was not in his +power to serve him in such a hurry, if at all; however, in a day or two +he might be able to give him some answer. The mercer insisted that a day +or two would lessen the value of the goods one half to him, and Jonathan +insisted, as peremptorily, that it was not in his power to do anything +sooner. + +At last a servant came in a hurry, and told Mr. Wild there was a +gentleman below desired to speak with him. Jonathan bowed and begged the +gentleman's pardon, told him he would wait on him in one minute, and +without staying for a reply withdrew, and clapped the door after him. In +about five minutes he returned with a very smiling countenance, and +turning to the gentleman, said, _I protest sir, you are the luckiest man +I ever knew. I spoke to one of my people just now, to go to a house +where I know some lifters resort, and directed him to talk of the +robbery that had been committed in your house, and to say that the +gentleman had been with me and offered thirty guineas, provided the +things might be had again, but declared, if he did not receive them in a +very short space, he would give as great a reward for the discovery of +the thief, whom he would prosecute with the utmost severity. This story +has had its effect, and if you go directly home, I fancy you'll hear +more news of it yourself than I am able to tell you. But pray, sir, +remember one thing; that the thirty guineas was your own offer. You are +at free liberty to give them, or let them alone; do which you please, +'tis nothing to me; but take notice, sir, that I have done all for you +in my power, without the least expectation of gratuity._ + +Away went the mercer, confounded in his mind, and wondering where this +affair would end. But as he walked up Southampton Street a fellow +overtook him, patted him on the shoulder, and delivered him the bundle +unopened, telling him the price was twenty guineas. The mercer paid it +him directly, and returning to Jonathan in half an hour's time, readily +expressed abundance of thanks to Mr. Wild for his assistance, and begged +him to accept of the ten guineas he had saved him, for his pains. +Jonathan told him that he had saved him nothing, but supposed that the +people thought twenty demand enough, considering that they were now +pretty safe from prosecution. The mercer still pressed the ten guineas +upon Jonathan, who after taking them out of his hand returned him five +of them, and assured him that was more than enough, adding: _'Tis +satisfaction enough, sir, to an honest man that he is able to procure +people their goods again._ + +This, you will say, was a remarkable instance of his moderation. I will +join to it as extraordinary an account of his justice, equity, or what +else you will please to call it. It happened thus. + +A lady whose husband was out of the kingdom, and had sent over to her +draughts for her assistance to the amount of between fifteen hundred and +two thousand pounds, lost the pocket-book in which they were contained, +between Bucklersbury and Magpie alehouse in Leadenhall Street, where the +merchant lived upon whom they were drawn. She however, went to the +gentleman, and he advised her to go directly to Mr. Jonathan Wild. +Accordingly to Jonathan she came, deposited the crown, and answered the +questions she asked him. Jonathan then told her that in an hour or two's +time, possibly, some of his people might hear who it was that had picked +her pocket. The lady was vehement in her desires to have it again, and +for that purpose went so far at last as to offer an hundred guineas. +Upon that Wild made answer, _Though they are of much greater value to +you, madam, yet they cannot be worth anything like it to them; therefore +keep your own counsel, say nothing in the hearing of my people, and I'll +give you the best, directions I am able for the recovery of your notes. +In the meanwhile, if you will go to any tavern near, and endeavour to +eat a bit of dinner, I will bring you an answer before the cloth is +taken away._ She said she was unacquainted with any house thereabouts, +upon which Mr. Wild named the Baptist Head.[62] The lady would not be +satisfied unless Mr. Wild promised to eat with her; he at last complied, +and she ordered a fowl and sausages at the house he had appointed. + +She waited there about three quarters of an hour, when Mr. Wild came +over and told her he had heard news of her book, desiring her to tell +out ten guineas upon the table in case she should have an occasion for +them. As the cook came up to acquaint her that the fowl was ready, +Jonathan begged she would see whether there was any woman waiting at his +door. + +The lady, without minding the mystery, did as he desired her, and +perceiving a woman in a scarlet riding-hood walk twice or thrice by Mr. +Wild's house, her curiosity prompted her to go near her. But +recollecting she had left the gold upon the table upstairs, she went and +snatched it up without saying a word to Jonathan, and then running down +again went towards the woman in the red hood, who was still walking +before his door. It seems she had guessed right, for no sooner did she +approach towards her but the woman came directly up to her, and +presenting her pocket book, desired she would open it and see that all +was safe. The lady did so, and answering it was alright, the woman in +the red riding-hood said, _Here's another little note for you, madam_; +upon which she gave her a little billet, on the outside of which was +written ten guineas. The lady delivered her the money immediately, +adding also a piece for herself, and returning with a great deal of joy +to Mr. Wild, told him she had got her book, and would now eat her dinner +heartily. When the things were taken away, she thought it was time to go +to the merchant. + +Thinking it would be necessary to make Mr. Wild a handsome present, she +put her hand in her pocket, and with great surprise found her green +purse gone, in which was the remainder of fifty guineas she had borrowed +of the merchant in the morning. Upon this she looked very much confused, +but did not speak a word. Jonathan perceived it, asked if she was not +well. _I am tolerably in health, sir_, answered she, _but I am amazed +that the woman took but ten guineas for the book, and at the same time +picked my pocket of thirty-nine._ + +Mr. Wild hereupon appeared in as great a confusion as the lady, and said +he hoped she was not in earnest, but if it were so, begged her not to +disturb herself, she should not lose one farthing. Upon which Jonathan +begging her to sit still, stepped over to his own house and gave, as +may be supposed, necessary directions, for in less than half an hour a +little Jew (called Abraham) that Wild kept, bolted into the room, and +told him the woman was taken, and on the point of going to the Compter. +_You shall see, Madam_, said Jonathan, turning to the lady, _what +exemplary punishment I'll make of this infamous woman._ Then turning +himself to the Jew, _Abraham_, says he, _was the green purse of money +taken on her? Yes sir_, replied his agent. _O la!_ then said the lady, +_I'll take the purse with all my heart; I would not prosecute the poor +wretch for the world. Would not you so, Madam_, replied Wild. _Well, +then, we'll see what's to be done._ Upon which he first whispered his +emissary, and then dispatched him. + +He was no sooner gone than Jonathan told the lady that she would be too +late at the merchant's unless they took coach; which thereupon they did, +and stopped over against the Compter gate by the Stocks Market.[63] She +wondered at all this, but by the time they have been in a tavern a very +little space, back comes Jonathan's emissary with the green purse and +the gold in it. _She says, sir_, said the fellow to Wild _she has only +broke a guinea of the money for garnish and wine, and here's all the +rest of it. Very well_, says Jonathan, _give it to the lady. Will you +please to tell it, madam?_ The lady accordingly did, and found there +were forty-nine. _Bless me!_ says she. _I think the woman's bewitched, +she has sent me ten guineas more than I should have had. No, Madam_, +replied Wild, _she has sent you back again the ten guineas which she +received for the book; I never suffer any such practices in my way. I +obliged her, therefore, to give up the money she had taken as well as +that she had stole. And therefore I hope, whatever you may think of her, +that you will not have a worse opinion of your humble servant for this +accident._ + +The lady was so much confounded and confuted at these unaccountable +incidents, that she scarce knew what she did; at last recollecting +herself, _Well, Mr. Wild_, says she; _I think the least I can do is to +oblige you to accept of these ten guineas. No_, replied he, _nor of ten +farthings. I scorn all actions of such a sort as much as any man of +quality in the kingdom. All the reward I desire, Madam, is that you will +acknowledge I have acted like an honest man, and a man of honour._ He +had scarce pronounced these words, before he rose up, made her a bow, +and went immediately down stairs. + +The reader may be assured there is not the least mixture of fiction in +this story, and yet perhaps there was not a more remarkable one which +happened in the whole course of Jonathan's life. I shall add but one +more relation of this sort, and then go on with the series of my +history. This which I am now going to relate happened within a few doors +of the place where I lived, and was transacted in this manner. + +There came a little boy with vials in a basket to sell to a surgeon who +was my very intimate acquaintance. It was in the winter, and the weather +cold, when one day after he had sold the bottles that were wanted, the +boy complained he was almost chilled to death with cold, and almost +starved for want of victuals. The surgeon's maid, in compassion to the +child, who was not above nine or ten years old, took him into the +kitchen, and gave him a porringer of milk and bread, with a lump or two +of sugar in it. The boy ate a little of it, then said he had enough, +gave her a thousand blessings and thanks, and marched off with a silver +spoon, and a pair of forceps of the same mettle, which lay in the shop +as he passed through. The instrument was first missed, and the search +after it occasioned their missing the spoon; and yet nobody suspected +anything of the boy, though they had all seen him in the kitchen. + +The gentleman of the house, however, having some knowledge of Jonathan +Wild, and not living far from the Old Bailey, went immediately to him +for his advice. Jonathan called for a bottle of white wine and ordered +it to be mulled; the gentleman knowing the custom of his house, laid +down the crown, and was going on to tell him the manner in which the +things were missed, but Mr. Wild soon cut him short by saying, _Sir, +step into the next room a moment; here's a lady coming hither. You may +depend upon my doing anything that is in my power, and presently we'll +talk the thing over at leisure._ The gentleman went into the room where +he was directed, and saw, with no little wonder, his forceps and silver +spoon lying upon the table. He had hardly taken them up to look at them +before Jonathan entered. _So, sir_, said he, _I suppose you have no +further occasion for my assistance. Yes, indeed, I have_, said the +surgeon, _there are a great many servants in our family, and some of +them will certainly be blamed for this transaction; so that I am under a +necessity of begging another favour, which is, that you will let me know +how they were stolen? I believe the thief is not far off_, quoth +Jonathan, _and if you'll give me your word he shall come to no harm, +I'll produce him immediately._ + +The gentleman readily condescended to this proposition, and Mr. Wild +stepping out for a minute or two, brought in the young vial merchant in +his hand. _Here, sir_, says Wild, _do you know this hopeful youth? Yes_, +answered the surgeon, _but I could never have dreamt that a creature so +little as he, could have had so much wickedness in him. However, as I +have given you my word, and as I have my things again, I will not only +pass by his robbing me, but if he will bring me bottles again, shall +make use of him as I used to do. I believe you may_, added Jonathan, +_when he ventures into your house again._ + +But it seems he was therein mistaken, for in less than a week afterwards +the boy had the impudence to come and offer his vials again, upon which +the gentleman not only bought of him as usual, but ordered two quarts of +milk to be set on the fire, put into it two ounces of glister sugar, +crumbled it with a couple of penny loaves, and obliged this +nimble-fingered youth to eat it every drop up before he went out of the +kitchen door, and then without farther correction hurried him about his +business. + +This was the channel in which Jonathan's business usually ran, but to +support his credit with the magistrates, he was forced to add +thief-catching to it, and every sessions or two, strung up some of the +youths of his own bringing-up to the gallows. But this, however, did not +serve his turn; an honourable person on the Bench took notice of his +manner of acting, which being become at last very notorious, an Act of +Parliament was passed, levelled directly against such practices, whereby +persons who took money for the recovery of stolen goods, and did +actually recover such goods without apprehending the felon, should be +deemed guilty in the same degree of felony with those who committed the +fact in taking such goods as were returned. And after this became law, +the same honourable person sent to him to warn him of going on any +longer at his old rate, for that it was now become a capital crime, and +if he was apprehended for it, he could expect no mercy. + +Jonathan received the reproof with abundance of thankfulness and +submission, but what was strange, never altered the manner of his +behaviour in the least; but on the contrary, did it more openly and +publicly than ever. Indeed, to compensate for this, he seemed to double +his diligence in apprehending thieves, and brought a vast number of the +most notorious amongst them to the gallows, even though he himself had +bred them up in the art of thieving, and given them both instructions +and encouragement to take that road which was ruinous enough in itself, +and by him made fatal. + +Of these none were so open and apparent a case as that of Blake, _alias_ +Blueskin. This fellow had from a child been under the tuition of +Jonathan, who paid for the curing his wounds, whilst he was in the +Compter, allowed him three and sixpence a week for his subsistence, and +afforded his help to get him out of there at last. Yet as soon after +this he abandoned him to his own conduct in such matters, and in a short +space caused him to be apprehended for breaking open the house of Mr. +Kneebone, which brought him to the gallows. When the fellow came to be +tried Jonathan, indeed, vouchsafed to speak to him, and assured him that +his body should be handsomely interred in a good coffin at his own +expense. This was strange comfort, and such as by no means suited +Blueskin: he insisted peremptorily upon a transportation pardon, which +be said he was sure Jonathan had interest enough to procure him. But +Wild assured him that he had not, and that it was in vain for him to +flatter himself with such hopes, but that he had better dispose himself +to thinking of another life; in order to which, good books and such like +helps should not be wanting. + +All this put Blueskin at last into such a passion that though this +discourse happened upon the leads at the Old Bailey; in the presence of +the Court then sitting, Blake could not forbear taking a revenge for +what he took to be an insult on him. And therefore, without ado, he +clapped one hand under Jonathan's chin, and with the other, taking a +sharp knife out of his pocket, cut him a large gash across the throat, +which everybody at the time it was done judged mortal. Jonathan was +carried off, all covered with blood, and though at that time he +professed the greatest resentment for such usage, affirming that he had +done all that lay in his power for the man who had so cruelly designed +against his life; yet when he afterwards came to be under sentence of +death, he regretted prodigiously the escape he had made then from death, +often wishing that the knife of Blake had put an end to his life, rather +than left him to linger out his days till so ignominious a fate befell +him. + +But it was not only Blake who had entertained notions of putting him to +death. He had disobliged almost the whole group of villains with whom he +had concern, and there were numbers of them who had taken it into their +heads to deprive him of life. His escapes in the apprehending such +persons were sometimes very narrow; he received wounds in almost every +part of his body, his skull was twice fractured, and his whole +constitution so broken by these accidents and the great fatigue he went +through, that when he fell under the misfortunes which brought him to +his death, he was scarce able to stand upright, and was never in a +condition to go to chapel. + +But we have broke a little into the thread of our history, and must +therefore go back in order to trace the causes which brought on +Jonathan's last adventures, and finally his violent death. This we shall +now relate in the clearest and concisest manner that the thing will +allow; being well furnished for that purpose, having to personal +experience added the best intelligence that could be procured, and +that, too, from persons the most deserving of credit. + +The practices of this criminal in the manner we have before mentioned +continued long after the Act of Parliament; and in so notorious a +manner, at last, that the magistrates in London and Middlesex thought +themselves obliged by the duty of their office to take notice of him. +This occasioned a warrant to be granted against him by a worshipful +alderman of the City, upon which Mr. Wild being apprehended somewhere +near Wood Street, he was carried into the Rose Sponging-house. There I +myself saw him sitting in the kitchen at the fire, waiting the leisure +of the magistrate who was to examine him. + +In the meantime the crowd was very great, and, with his usual hypocrisy, +Jonathan harangued them to this purpose. _I wonder, good people, what it +is you would see? I am a poor honest man, who have done all I could do +to serve people when they have had the misfortune to lose their goods by +the villainy of thieves. I have contributed more than any man living to +bringing the most daring and notorious malefactors to justice. Yet now +by the malice of my enemies, you see I am in custody, and am going +before a magistrate who I hope will do me justice. Why should you insult +me, therefore? I don't know that I ever injured any of you? Let me +intreat you, therefore, as you see me lame in body, and afflicted in +mind, not to make me more uneasy than I can bear. If I have offended +against the law it will punish me, but it gives you no right to use me +ill, unheard, and unconvicted._ + +By this time the people of the house and the Compter officers had pretty +well cleared the place, upon which he began to compose himself, and +desired them to get a coach to the door, for he was unable to walk. +About an hour after, he was carried before a Justice and examined, and I +think was thereupon immediately committed to Newgate. He lay there a +considerable time before he was tried; at last he was convicted +capitally upon the following fact, which appeared on the evidence, +exactly in the same light in which I shall state it. + +He was indicted on the afore-mentioned Statute, for receiving money for +the restoring stolen goods, without apprehending the persons by whom +they were stolen. In order to support this charge, the prosecutrix, +Catherine Stephens,[64] deposed as follows: + + On the 22nd of January, I had two persons come in to my shop under + pretence of buying some lace. They were so difficult that I had + none below would please them, so leaving my daughter in the shop, I + stepped upstairs and brought down another box. We could not agree + about the price, and so they went away together. In about half an + hour I missed a tin box of lace that I valued at £50. The same night + and the next I went to Jonathan Wild's house; but meeting with him + at home, I advertised the lace that I had lost with a reward of + fifteen guineas, and no questions asked. But hearing nothing of it, + I went to Jonathan's house again, and then met with him at home. He + desired me to give him a description of the persons that I + suspected, which I did, as near as I could; and then he told me, + that he would make enquiry, and bid me call again in two or three + days. I did so, and then he said that he had heard something of my + lace, and expected to know more of the matter in a very little time. + + I came to him again on that day he was apprehended (I think it was + the 15th of February). I told him that though I had advertised but + fifteen guineas reward, yet I would give twenty or twenty-five + guineas, rather than not have my goods. _Don't be in such a hurry_, + says Jonathan, _I don't know but I may help you to it for less, and + if I can I will; the persons that have it are gone out of town. I + shall set them to quarrelling about it, and then I shall get it the + cheaper._ On the 10th of March he sent me word that if I could come + to him in Newgate, and bring ten guineas in my pocket, he would help + me to the lace. I went, he desired me to call a porter, but I not + knowing where to find one, he sent a person who brought one that + appeared to be a ticket-porter. The prisoner gave me a letter which + he said was sent him as a direction where to go for the lace; but I + could not read, and so I delivered it to the porter. Then he desired + me to give the porter the ten guineas, or else (he said) the persons + who had the lace would not deliver it. I gave the porter the money; + he returned, and brought me a box that was sealed up, but not the + same that was lost. I opened it and found all my lace but one piece. + + _Now, Mr. Wild_, says I, _what must you have for your trouble? Not a + farthing_, says he, _not a farthing for me. I don't do these things + for worldly interest, but only for the good of poor people that have + met with misfortunes. As for the piece of lace that is missing, I + hope to get it for you ere long, and I don't know but that I may + help you not only to your money again, but to the thief too. And if + I can, much good may it do you; and as you are a good woman and a + widow, and a Christian, I desire nothing of you but your prayers, + and for these I shall be thankful. I have a great many enemies, and + God knows what may be the consequence of this imprisonment._ + +The fact suggested in the indictment was undoubtedly fully proved by +this disposition, and though that fact happened in Newgate, and after +his confinement, yet it still continued as much and as great a crime as +if it had been done before; the Law therefore condemned him upon it. But +even if he had escaped this, there were other facts of a like nature, +which inevitably would have destroyed him; for the last years of his +life, instead of growing more prudent, he undoubtedly became less so, +for the blunders committed in this fact, were very little like the +behaviour of Jonathan in the first years in which he carried on this +practice, when nobody behaved with greater caution, as nobody ever had +so much reason to be cautious. And though he had all along great +enemies, yet he had conducted his affairs so that the Law could not +possibly lay hold of him, nor his excuses be easily detected, even in +respect of honesty. + +When he was brought up to the bar to receive sentence, he appeared to be +very much dejected, and when the usual question was proposed to him: +_What have you to say why judgment of death should not pass upon you?_ +he spoke with a very feeble voice in the following terms. + +_My Lord, I hope even in the sad condition in which I stand, I may +pretend to some little merit in respect to the service I have done my +country, in delivering it from some of the greatest pests with which it +was ever troubled. My Lord, I have brought many bold and daring +malefactors to just punishment, even at the hazard of my own life, my +body being covered with scars I received in these undertakings. I +presume, my Lord, to say I have done merit, because at the time the +things were done, they were esteemed meritorious by the government; and +therefore I hope, my Lord, some compassion may be shown on the score of +those services. I submit myself wholly to his Majesty's mercy, and +humbly beg a favourable report of my case._ + +When Sir William Thomson[65] (now one of the barons of his Majesty's +Court of Exchequer), as Recorder of London, pronounced sentence of +death, he spoke particularly to Wild, put him in mind of those cautions +he had had against going on in those practices rendered capital by Law, +made on purpose for preventing that infamous trade of becoming broker +for felony, and standing in the middle between the felon and the person +injured, in order to receive a premium for redress. And when he had +properly stated the nature and aggravations of his crime, he exhorted +him to make a better use of that small portion of time, which the +tenderness of the law of England allowed sinners for repentance, and +desired he would remember this admonition though he had slighted others. +As to the report he told him, he might depend on Justice, and ought not +to hope for any more. + +Under conviction, no man who appeared upon other occasions to have so +much courage, ever showed so little. He had constantly declined ever +coming to chapel, under pretence of lameness and indisposition; when +clergymen took the pains to visit him and instruct him in those duties +which it became a dying man to practice, though he heard them without +interruption, yet he heard them coldly. Instead of desiring to be +instructed on that head, he was continually suggesting scruples and +doubts about a future state, asking impertinent questions as to the +state of souls departed, and putting frequent cases of the +reasonableness and lawfulness of suicide, where an ignominious death was +inevitable, and the thing was perpetrated only to avoid shame. He was +more especially swayed to such notions he pretended, from the examples +of the famous heroes of antiquity, who to avoid dishonourable treatment, +had given themselves a speedy death. As such discourses were what took +up most of the time between his sentence and death, so that occasioned +some very useful lectures upon this head from the charitable divines who +visited him; but though they would have been of great use in all such +cases for the future, yet being pronounced by word of mouth only, they +are now totally lost. One letter indeed was written to him by a learned +person on this head, of which a copy has been preserved, and it is with +great pleasure that I give it to my readers, it runs thus: + + A letter from the Reverend Dr. ---- to Mr. Wild in Newgate. + + I am very sorry that after a life so spent as yours is notoriously + known to have been, you should yet, instead of repenting of your + former offences, continue to swell their number even with greater. I + pray God that it be not the greatest of all sins, affecting doubts + as to a future state, and whether you shall ever be brought to + answer for your actions in this life, before a tribunal in that + which is to come. + + The heathens, it must be owned, could have no certainty as to the + immortality of the soul, because they had no immediate revelation; + for though the reasons which incline us to the belief of those two + points of future existence and future tribulation be as strong as + any of the motives are to other points in natural religion, yet as + none return from that land of darkness, or escape from the shadow of + death to bring news of what passeth in those regions whither all men + go, so without a direct revelation from the Almighty no positive + knowledge could be had of life in the world to come, which is + therefore properly said to be derived to us through Christ Jesus, + who in plain terms, and with that authority which confounded his + enemies, the Scribes and Pharisees, taught the doctrine of a final + judgment, and by affording us the means of grace, raised in us at + the same time the hopes of glory. + + The arguments, therefore, which might appear sufficient unto the + heathens, to justify killing themselves to avoid what they thought + greater evils, if they had any force then must have totally lost it + now. Indeed, the far greater number of instances which history has + transmitted us, show that self-murder, even then, proceeded from the + same causes as at present, viz., rage, despair, and disappointment. + Wise men in all ages despised it as a mean and despicable flight + from evils the soul wanted courage and strength to bear. This has + not only been said by philosophers, but even by poets, too; which + shows that it appeared a notion, not only rational, but heroic. + There are none so timorous, says Martial, but extremity of want may + force upon a voluntary death; those few alone are to be accounted + brave who can support a life of evil and the pressing load of + misery, without having recount to a dagger. + + But if there were no more in it than the dispute of which was the + most gallant act of the two, to suffer, or die, it would not deserve + so much consideration. The matter with you is of far greater + importance, it is not how, or in what manner you ought to die in + this world, but how you are to expect mercy and happiness in that + which is to come. This is your last stake, and all that now can + deserve your regard. Even hope is lost as to present life, and if + you make use of your reason, it must direct you to turn all your + wishes and endeavours towards attaining happiness in a future state. + What, then, remains to be examined in respect of this question is + whether persons who slay themselves can hope for pardon or happiness + in the sentence of that Judge from whom there is no appeal, and + whose sentence, as it surpasses all understanding, so is it executed + immediately. + + If we judge only from reason, it seems that we have no right over a + life which we receive not from ourselves, or from our parents, but + from the immediate gift of Him who is the Lord thereof, and the + Fountain of Being. + + To take away our own life, then, is contradicting as far as we are + able the Laws of Providence, and that disposition which His wisdom + has been pleased to direct. It is as though we pretended to have + more knowledge or more power than he; and as to that pretence which + is usually made use of, that Life is meant as a blessing, and that + therefore when it becomes an evil, we may if we think fit resign it, + it is indeed but a mere sophistry. We acknowledge God to be infinite + in all perfections, and consequently in wisdom and power; from the + latter we receive our existence in this Life, and as to the measure + it depends wholly on the former; so that if we from the shallow + dictates of our reason contemptuously shorten that term which is + appointed us by the Almighty, we thereby contradict all His laws, + throw up all right to His promises, and by the very last act we are + capable of, put ourselves out of His protection. + + This I say is the prospect of the fruits of suicide, looked on with + the eye only of natural religion; and the opinion of Christians is + unanimous in this respect, that persons who wilfully deprive + themselves of life here, involve themselves also in death + everlasting. As to your particular case, in which you say 'tis only + making choice of one death rather than another, there are also the + strongest reasons against it, The Law intends your death, not only + for the punishment of your crimes, but as an example to deter + others. The Law of God which hath commanded that the magistrates + should not bear the sword in vain, hath given power to denounce this + sentence against you; but that authority which you would assume, + defeats both the law of the land in its intention, and is opposite + also unto the Law of God. Add unto all this, the example of our + blessed Saviour, who submitted to be hung upon a tree, tho' He had + only need of praying to His Father to have sent Him thousands of + Angels; yet chose He the death of a thief, that the Will of God, and + the sentence even of an unrighteous judge might be satisfied. + + Let, then, the testimony of your own reason, your reverence towards + God, and the hopes which you ought to have in Jesus Christ, + determine you to await with patience the hour of your dissolution, + dispose you to fill up the short interval which yet remains with + sincere repentance, and enable you to support your sufferings with + such a Christian spirit of resignation, as may purchase for you an + eternal weight of glory. In the which you shall always be assisted + with my Prayers to God. + + Who am, etc. + +Jonathan at last pretended to be overcome with the reasons which had +been offered to him on the subject of self-murder. But it plainly +appeared that in this he was a hypocrite; for the day before his +execution, notwithstanding the keepers had the strictest eye on him +imaginable, somebody conveyed to him a bottle of liquid laudanum, of +which having taken a very large quantity, he hoped it would forestall +his dying at the gallows. But as he had not been sparing in the dose, so +the largeness of it made a speedy effect, which was perceived by his +fellow-prisoners seeing he could not open his eyes at the time that +prayers were said to them as usual in the condemned hold. Whereupon they +walked him about, which first made him sweat exceedingly, and he was +then very sick. At last he vomited, and they continuing still to lead +him, he threw the greatest part of the laudanum off from his stomach. +Notwithstanding that, he continued very drowsy, stupid and unable to do +anything but gasp out his breath until it was stopped by the halter. + +He went to execution in a cart, and instead of expressing any kind of +pity or compassion for him, the people continued to throw stones and +dirt all the way along, reviling and cursing him to die last, and +plainly showed by their behaviour how much the blackness and notoriety +of his crimes had made him abhorred, and how little tenderness the +enemies of mankind meet with, when overtaken by the hand of Justice. + +When he arrived at Tyburn, having by that gathered a little strength +(nature recovering from the convulsions in which the laudanum had thrown +him), the executioner told him he might take what time he pleased to +prepare his death. He therefore sat down in the cart for some small +time, during which the people were so uneasy that they called out +incessantly to the executioner to dispatch him, and at last threatened +to tear him to pieces if he did not tie him up immediately. Such a +furious spirit was hardly ever discovered in the populace upon such an +occasion. They generally look on blood with tenderness, and behold even +the stroke of Justice with tears; but so far were they from it in this +case that had a reprieve really come, 'tis highly questionable whether +the prisoner could ever have been brought back with safety, it being far +more likely that as they wounded him dangerously in the head in his +passage to Tyburn, they would have knocked him on the head outright, if +any had attempted to have brought mm back. + +Before I part with Mr. Wild, 'tis requisite that I inform you in regard +to his wives, or those who were called his wives, concerning whom so +much noise has been made. His first was a poor honest woman who +contented herself to live at Wolverhampton, with the son she had by him, +without ever putting him to any trouble, or endeavouring to come up to +Town to take upon her the style and title of Madam Wild, which the last +wife he lived with did with the greatest affection. The next whom he +thought fit to dignify with the name of his consort, was the +afore-mentioned Mrs. Milliner, with whom he continued in very great +intimacy after they lived separately, and by her means carried on the +first of his trade in detecting stolen goods. The third one was Betty +Man, a woman of the town in her younger days, but so suddenly struck +with horror by a Romish priest that she turned Papist; and as she +appeared in her heart exceedingly devout and thoroughly penitent for all +her sins, it is to be hoped such penitence might merit forgiveness, +however erroneous the principle might be of that Church in the communion +of which she died. Wild ever retained such an impression of the sanctity +of this woman after her decease, and so great veneration for her, that +he ordered his body to be buried next hers in Pancras Churchyard, which +his friends saw accordingly performed, about two o'clock in the morning +after his execution.[66] + +The next of Mr. Wild's sultana's was Sarah Perrin, _alias_ Graystone, +who survived him; then there was Judith Nunn, by whom he had a daughter, +who at the time of his decease might be about ten years old, both mother +and daughter being then living. The sixth and last was no less +celebrated as Mrs. or Madam Wild, than he was remarkable by the style of +Wild the Thief-catcher, or, by way of irony, of Benefit Jonathan. Before +her first marriage this remarkable damsel was known by the name of Mary +Brown, afterwards by that of Mrs. Dean, being wife to Skull Dean who was +executed about the year 1716 or 1717 for housebreaking. Some malicious +people have reported that Jonathan was accessory to hanging him merely +for the sake of the reward, and the opportunity of taking his relict, +who, whatever regard she might have for her first husband, is currently +reported to have been so much affected with the misfortunes that +happened to the latter, that she twice attempted to make away with +herself, after she had the news of his being under sentence of death. +However, by this his last lady, he left no children, and but two by his +three other wives were living at the time of his decease. + +As to the person of the man, it was homely to the greatest degree. There +was something remarkably villainous in his face, which nature had +imprinted in stronger terms than perhaps she ever did upon any other; +however, he was strong and active, a fellow of prodigious boldness and +resolution, which made the pusillanimity shown at his death more +remarkable. In his life-time he was not at all shy in owning his +profession, but on the contrary bragged of it upon all occasions; into +which perhaps he was led by that ridiculous respect which was paid him, +and the meanness of spirit some persons of distinction were guilty of in +talking to him freely. + +Common report has swelled the number of malefactors executed through his +means to no less than one hundred and twenty; certain it is that they +were very numerous in reality as in his own reckoning. The most +remarkable of them were these: White, Thurland, and Dunn, executed for +the murder of Mrs. Knap, and robbing Thomas Mickletwait, Esq.; James +Lincoln and Robert Wilkinson, for robbing and murdering Peter Martin, +the Chelsea Pensioner (but it must be noted that they denied the murder +even with their last breath); James Shaw, convicted by Jonathan, for the +murder of Mr. Pots, though he had been apprehended by others; Humphrey +Angier, who died for robbing Mr. Lewin, the City Marshal; John Levee and +Matthew Flood, for robbing the Honourable Mr. Young and Colonel Cope, of +a watch and other things of value; Richard Oakey, for robbing of Mr. +Betts, in Fig Lane; John Shepherd and Joseph Blake, for breaking the +house of Mr. Kneebone; with many others, some of which, such as John +Malony and Val Carrick, were of an older date. + +It has been said that there was a considerable sum of money due to him +for his share in the apprehension of several felonies at the very time +of his death, which happened, as I have told you, at Tyburn, on Monday, +the 24th day of May, 1725; he being then about forty-two years of age. + +[Illustration: JONATHAN WILD PELTED BY THE MOB ON HIS WAY TO TYBURN + +(_From the Newgate Calendar_)] + +FOOTNOTES: + + [61] A few additional particulars concerning Wild may be of + interest. Soon after he came to London he opened a brothel in + the infamous Lewkenor's Lane, in partnership with Mary Milliner; + after a time they quitted it to take an alehouse in Cock Alley, + Cripplegate. He then drifted into business as a receiver and + instigator of thefts, organizing regular gangs which operated in + every branch of the thieving trade. On account of the number of + criminals he brought to justice (as a result of their disloyalty + to himself) the authorities winked at and tolerated his + proceedings; and in January, 1724, he had the impudence to + petition for the freedom of the City, as some recognition for + the good services he had rendered in this direction. A few + months later, however, his reputation became sadly blown upon, + and in January, 1725, he was implicated in an affair with one of + his minions, a sailor named Johnson, who had been arrested and + had appealed to Wild for help. A riot was engineered, in which + Johnson made his escape, but information was laid against the + thief-taker, himself, who, after lying in hiding for three + weeks, was arrested and committed to Newgate, which he only left + to attend his trial and to take his last ride to Tyburn. + + [62] A well-known tavern in Old Bailey. + + [63] This was the Poultry Compter. + + [64] Her name was really Statham. + + [65] See page 418. + + [66] Soon after burial his body was disinterred and the head + and body separated. Wild's skull and the skeleton of his trunk + were exhibited publicly as late as 1860. + + + + +The Life of JOHN LITTLE, a Housebreaker and Thief + + +The papers which I have in relation to this malefactor speak nothing +with regard to his parents and education. The first thing that I with +concerning him is his being at sea, where he was at the time my Lord +Torrington, then Sir George Byng, went up the Mediterranean, as also in +my Lord Cobham's expedition to Vigo; and in these expeditions he got +such a knack of plundering that he could never bring himself afterwards +to thinking it was a sin to plunder anybody. This wicked principle he +did not fail to put in practice by stealing everything he could lay his +hands on, when he afterwards went into Sweden in a merchant-ship. +Indeed, there is too common a case for men who have been inured to +robbing and maltreating an enemy, now and then to receive the same +talents at home, and make free with the subjects of their own Sovereign +as they did with those of the enemy. Weak minds sometimes do not really +so well apprehend the difference, but thieve under little apprehension +of sin, provided they can escape the gallows; others of better +understanding acquire such an appetite to rapine that they are not +afterwards able to lay it aside; so that I cannot help observing that it +would be more prudent for officers to encourage their men to do their +duty against the enemy from generous motives of serving their country +and vindicating its rights, rather than proposing the hopes of gain, and +the reward arising from destroying those unhappy wretches who fall under +their power. But enough of this, and perhaps too much here; let us +return again to him of whom we are now speaking. + +When he came home into England, he fell into bad company, particularly +of John Bewle, _alias_ Hanley, and one Belcher, who it is to be supposed +inclined him by idle discourse first to look upon robbing as a very +entertaining employment, in which they met with abundance of pleasure, +and might, with a little care, avoid all the danger. This was language +very likely to work upon Little's disposition, who had a great +inclination to all sorts of debauchery, and no sort of religious +principles to check him. Over above all this he was unhappily married to +a woman of the same ways of living, one who got her bread by walking the +streets and picking of pockets. Therefore, instead of persuading her +husband to quit such company as she saw him inclined to follow, on the +contrary she encouraged, prompted and offered her assistance in the +expedition she knew they were going about. + +Thus Little's road to destruction lay open for him to rush into without +any let or the least check upon his vicious inclinations. + +He and his wicked companions became very busy in the practice of their +employment. They disturbed most of the roads near London, and were +particularly good customers to Sadler's Wells, Belsize,[67] and the rest +of the little places of junketting and entertainment which are most +frequented in the neighbourhood of this Metropolis. Their method upon +such occasions was to observe who was drunkest, and to watch such +persons when they came out, suffering them to walk a little before them +till they came to a proper place; then jostling them and picking a +quarrel with them, they fell to fighting, and in conclusion picked their +pockets, snatched their hats and wigs, or took any other methods that +were the most likely to obtain something wherewith to support their +riots in which they spent every night. + +At last, finding their incomings not so large as they expected, they +took next to housebreaking, in which they had found somewhat better +luck. But their expenses continuing still too large for even their +numerous booties to supply them, they were continually pushed upon +hazarding their lives, and hardly had any respite from the crimes they +committed, which, as they grew numerous, made them the more known and +consequently increased their danger, those who make it their business to +apprehend such people having had intelligence of most of them, which is +generally the first step in the road to Hyde Park Corner.[68] + +It is remarkable that the observation which most of all shocks thieves, +and convinces them at once both of the certainty and justice of a +Providence is this, that the money which they amass by such unrighteous +dealings never thrives with them; that though they thieve continually, +they are, notwithstanding that, always in want, pressed on every side +with fears and dangers, and never at liberty from the uneasy +apprehensions of having incurred the displeasure of God, as well as run +themselves into the punishments inflicted by the law. To these general +terrors there was added, to Little, the distracting fears of a discovery +from the rash and impetuous tempers of his associates, who were +continually defrauding one another in their shares of the booty, and +then quarrelling, fighting, threatening, and what not, till Little +sometimes at the expense of his own allotment, reconciled and put them +in humour. + +Nor were his fatal conjectures on this head without cause; for Bewle, +though as Little always declared he had drawn him into such practices, +put him into an information he made for the sake of procuring a pardon. +A few days after, Little was taken into custody, and at the next +sessions indicted for breaking open the house of one Mr. Deer, and +taking from thence several parcels of goods expressed in the indictment. +Upon this trial the prosecutor swore to the loss of his goods and Bewle, +who had been a confederate in the robbery, gave testimony as to the +manner in which they were taken. As he was conscious of his guilt, +Little made a very poor defence, pretending that he was utterly +unacquainted with this Bewle, hoping that if he could persuade the jury +to that, the prosecutor's evidence (as it did not affect him personally) +might not convict him. But his hope was vain, for Bewle confirmed what +he said by so many circumstances that the jury gave credit to his +testimony, and thereupon found the prisoners guilty. Little, though he +entertained scarce any hopes of success, moved the Court earnestly to +grant transportation; but as they gave him no encouragement upon the +motion, so it must be acknowledged that he did not amuse himself with +any vain expectations. + +During the time he remained under conviction, he behaved with great +marks of penitence, assisted constantly at the public devotions in the +chapel, and often prayed fervently in the place where he was confined; +he made no scruple of owning the falsehood of what he had asserted upon +his trial, and acknowledging the justice of that sentence which doomed +him to death. He seemed to be under a very great concern lest his wife, +who was addicted to such practices, should follow him to the same place; +in order to prevent which, as far as it lay in his power, he wrote to +her in the most pressing terms he was able, intreating her to take +notice of that melancholy condition in which he then lay, miserable +through the wants under which he suffered, and still more miserable from +the apprehensions of a shameful death, and the fear of being plunged +also into everlasting torment. Having finished this letter, he began to +withdraw his thoughts as much as possible from this world, and to fix +them wholly where they ought to have been placed throughout his life; +praying to God for His assistance, and endeavouring to render himself +worthy of it by a sincere repentance. In fine, as he had been enormously +wicked through the course of his life, so he was extraordinarily +penitent throughout the course of his misfortunes, deeply affected from +the apprehensions of temporal punishment, but apparently more afflicted +with the sense of his sins, and the fear of that punishment which the +justice of Almighty God might inflict upon him. Therefore, to the day of +his execution, he employed every moment in crying for mercy, and with +wonderful piety and resignation submitted to that death which the law +had appointed for his offences; on the 13th of September, 1725, at +Tyburn. As to his own age, that I am not able to say anything of, it not +being mentioned in the papers before me. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [67] See note, page 243. + + [68] That is, Tyburn tree. + + + + +The Life of JOHN PRICE, a Housebreaker and Thief[69] + + +Amongst the ordinary kind of people in England, debauchery is so common, +and the true principles of honesty and a just life so little understood, +that we need not be surprised at the numerous sessions we see so often +held in a year at the Old Bailey, and the multitudes which in +consequence of them are yearly executed at Tyburn. Fraud, which is only +robbery within the limits of the Law, is at this time of day (especially +amongst the common people) thought a sign of wit, and esteemed as fair a +branch of their calling as their labours. Mechanics of all sorts +practise it without showing any great concern to hide it, especially +from their own family, in which, on the contrary, they encourage and +admire it. Instead of being reproved for their first essays in +dishonesty, their children are called smart boys, and their tricks +related to neighbours and visitors as proofs of their genius and spirit. +Yet when the lads proceed in the same way, after being grown up a +little, nothing too harsh, or too severe can be inflicted upon them in +the opinion of these parents, as if cheating at chuck, and filching of +marbles were not as real crimes in children of eight years old, as +stealing of handkerchiefs and picking of pockets, in boys of thirteen or +fourteen. But with the vulgar, 'tis the punishment annexed to it, and +not the crime, that is dreaded; and the commandments against stealing +and murder would be as readily broke as those against swearing and +Sabbath-breaking, if the civil power had not set up a gallows at the end +of them. + +John Price, of whom we are now to speak, has very little preserved +concerning him in the memoirs that lie before me; all that I am able to +say of him is that by employment he was a sailor. In the course of his +voyages he had addicted himself to gratifying such inclinations as he +had towards drink or women, without the least concern as to the +consequences, here or hereafter; he said, indeed, that falling sick at +Oporto, in Portugal, and becoming very weak and almost incapable of +moving himself, the fear of death gave him apprehensions of what the +Justice of God might inflict on him through the number and heinousness +of his sins. This at last made so great an impression on his mind that +he put up a solemn vow to God of thorough repentance and amendment, if +it should please Him to raise him once more from the bed of sickness, +and restore him again to his former health. But when he had recovered, +his late good intentions were forgotten, and the evil examples he had +before his eyes of his companions, who, according to the custom of +Portugal, addicted themselves to all sorts of lewdness and debauchery, +prevailed. He returned like the dog to the vomit, and his last state was +worse than his first. + +On his return into England he had still a desire towards the same +sensual enjoyments, was ever coveting debauches of drink, accompanied +with the conversation of lewd women; but caring little for labour, and +finding no honest employment to support these expenses into which his +lusts obliged him to run, he therefore abandoned all thoughts of +honesty, and took to thieving as the proper method of supporting him in +his pleasures. When this resolution was once taken, it was no difficult +thing to find companions to engage with him, houses to receive him, and +women to caress him. On the contrary, it seemed difficult for him to +choose out of the number offered, and as soon as he had made the choice, +he and his associates fell immediately into the practice of that +miserable trade they had chosen. + +How long they continued to practice it before they fell into the hands +of Justice, I am not able to say, but from several circumstances it +seems probable that there was no long time intervening; for Price, in +company with Sparks and James Cliff, attempted the house of the Duke of +Leeds, and thrusting up the sash-window James Cliff was put into the +parlour and handed out some things to Price and Sparks. But it seems +they were seen by Mr. Best, and upon their being apprehended, Cliff +confessed the whole affair, owned that it was concerted between them, +and that himself handed out the things to his companions, Price and +Sparks. + +At the ensuing sessions, Price was tried for that offence, and upon the +evidence of Mr. Best, the confession of James Cliff, and Benjamin Bealin +deposing that he himself, at the time of his being apprehended, +acknowledged that he had been in company with Cliff and Sparks, the jury +found him guilty, as they did Cliff also, upon his own confession. Under +sentence he seemed to have a just sense of his preceding wicked life, +and was under no small apprehensions concerning his repentance, since it +was forced and not voluntary. However, the Ordinary having satisfied his +scruples of this sort, as far as he was able, recommended it to him +without oppressing his conscience with curious fears and unnecessary +scruples, to apply himself to prayer and other duties of a dying man. To +this he seemed inclinable enough, but complained that James Cliff, who +was in the condemned hold, prevented both him and the rest of the +criminals from their duty, by extravagant speeches, wild and profane +expressions, raving after the woman he had conversed with, and abusing +everybody who came near him, which partly arose from the temper of that +unhappy person, and was also owing to indisposition of body, as all the +while he lay in the hole he was labouring under a high fever. Another +great misfortune to Price, in the condition in which he was, consisted +in his incapacity to supply the want of ministers through his incapacity +of reading; however, he endeavoured to make up for it as well as he +could by attending constantly at chapel, and not only behaving gravely +at prayers, but listening attentively at sermon, by which means he +constantly brought away a great part, and sometimes lost very little out +of his memory of what he heard there. + +In a word, all the criminals who were at this time under sentence +(excepting Cliff) seemed perfectly disposed to make a just use of that +time which the peculiar clemency of the English Law affords to +malefactors, that they may make their peace with God, and by their +sufferings under the hands of men, prevent eternal condemnation. They +expressed, also, a great satisfaction that their crimes were of an +ordinary kind and occasioned no staring and whispering when they came to +chapel, a thing they were very much afraid of, inasmuch as it would have +hindered their devotions, and discomposed the frame of their minds. + +At the same time with Price, there lay under condemnation one Woolridge, +who was convicted for entering the house of Elizabeth Fell, in the night +time, with a felonious intent to take away the goods of Daniel Brooks; +but it seems he was apprehended before he could so much as open the +chest he had designed to rob. The thieves in Newgate usually take upon +them to be very learned in the Law, especially in respect to what +relates to evidence, and they had persuaded this unhappy man that no +evidence which could be produced against him would affect his life. +There is no doubt, but his conviction came therefore upon him with +greater surprise, and certain it is that such practices are of the +utmost ill consequence to those unhappy malefactors. However, when he +found that death was inevitable, by degrees he began to reconcile +himself thereto; and as he happened to be the only one amongst the +criminals who could read, so with great diligence he applied himself to +supply that deficiency in his fellow-prisoners. Even after he was seized +with sickness, which brought him exceedingly low, he ceased not to +strive against the weakness of the body, that he might do good to his +fellow-convicts. + +In a word, no temptation to drink, nor the desire of pleasing those who +vend it[70], circumstances which too often induce others in that +condition to be guilty of strange enormities, ever had force enough to +obtrude on them more than was necessary to support life, and to keep up +such a supply of spirits as enabled them to perform their duties; from +whence it happened that the approach of death did not affect them with +any extraordinary fear, but both suffered with resignation on the same +day with the former criminals at Tyburn. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [69] See page 230. + + [70] The gaolers and others in prisons had an interest in + furnishing prisoners with liquor and not only looked askance at + those who refused but made it highly uncomfortable for all who + avoided debauchery. + + + + +The Life of FOSTER SNOW, a Murderer + + +There cannot be anything more dangerous in our conduct through human +life, than a too ready compliance with any inclination of the mind, +whether it be lustful or of an irascible nature. Either transports us on +the least check into wicked extravagancies, which are fatal in their +consequences, and suddenly overwhelm us with both shame and ruin. There +is hardly a page in any of these volumes, but carries in it examples +which are so many strong proofs of the veracity of this observation. But +with respect to the criminal we are now speaking of, he is a yet more +extraordinary case than any of the rest; and therefore I shall in the +course of my relation, make such remarks as to me seem more likely to +render his misfortunes, and my account of them, useful to my readers. + +Foster Snow was the son of very honest and reputable parents, who gave +him an education suitable to their station in life, and which was also +the same they intended to breed him up to, viz., that of a gardener, in +which capacity, or as a butler, he served abundance of persons of +quality, with an untainted reputation. About fourteen years before the +time of his death, he married and set up an alehouse, wherein his +conduct was such that he gained the esteem and respect of his +neighbours, being a man who was without any great vices, except only +passions, in which he too much indulged himself. Whenever he was in +drink, he would launch out into unaccountable extravagancies both in +words and actions. However, it is likely that this proceeded in a great +measure from family uneasiness, which undoubtedly had for a long time +discomposed him before committing that murder for which he died. Though, +when sober, he might have wisdom enough to conceal his resentment, yet +when the fumes of wine had clouded his reason, he (as it is no uncommon +case) gave vent to his passion, and treated with undistinguished +surliness all who came in his way. + +Now, as to the source of these domestic discontents, it is apparent from +the papers I have that they were partly occasioned by family +mismanagement, and partly from the haughty and impudent carriage of the +unfortunate person who fell by his hands; for it seems the woman who +Snow married had a daughter by a former husband This daughter she +brought home to live with the deceased Mr. Snow, who was so far from +being angry therewith, or treating her with the coldness which is usual +to fathers-in-law, that, on the contrary, he gave her the sole direction +of his house, put everything into her hands, and was so fond of the +young daughter she had, that greater tenderness could not have been +shown to the child if she had been his own. + +It seems the deceased Mr. Rawlins had found a way to ingratiate himself +with both the mother and the daughter, but especially the latter, so +that although his circumstances were not extraordinary, they gave him +very extensive credit; and as he had a family of children, they +sometimes suffered them to get little matters about their house; and +thereby so effectually entailed them upon them, that at last they were +never out of it. + +Mr. Snow, it seems, took umbrage at this, and spared not to tell Mr. +Rawlins flatly, that he did not desire he should come thither, which was +frequently answered by the other in opprobrious and under-valuing terms, +which gave Mr. Snow uneasiness enough, considering that the man at the +same time owed him money; and this carriage on both sides having +continued for a pretty while, and broken out in several instances, it at +last made Mr. Snow so uneasy that he could not forbear expressing his +resentment to his wife and family. But it had little effect, they went +on still at the same rate; Mr. Rawlins was frequently at the house, his +children received no less assistance there than before, and in short, +everything went on in such a manner that poor Mr. Snow had enough to +aggravate the suspicions which he entertained. + +At last it unfortunately happened that he, having got a little more +liquor in his head than ordinary, when Mr. Rawlins came into the house, +he asked him for money, and upbraided him with his treatment in very +harsh terms, to which the other making no less gross replies, it kindled +such a resentment in this unfortunate man that, after several threats +which sufficiently expressed the rancour of his disposition, he snatched +up a case knife, and pursuing the unfortunate Mr. Rawlins, gave him +therewith a mortal wound, of which he instantly died. For this fact he +was apprehended and committed to Newgate. + +At the next sessions he was indicted, first for the murder of Thomas +Rawlins, by giving him with a knife a mortal wound of the breadth of an +inch, and of the depth of seven inches, whereby he immediately expired; +he was a second time indicted on the Statute of Stabbing[71]; and a +third time also on the coroner's inquest, for the same offence. Upon +each of the which indictments the evidence was so dear that the jury, +notwithstanding some witnesses which he called to his reputation, and +which indeed deposed that he was a very civil and honest, and peaceable +neighbour, found him guilty on them all, and he thereupon received +sentence of death. + +In passing this sentence, the then deputy-recorder, Mr. Faby, took +particular notice of the heinousness of the crime of murder, and +expatiated on the equity of the Divine Law, whereby it was required that +he who had shed man's blood, by man should his blood be shed; and from +thence took occasion to warn the prisoner from being misled into any +delusive hopes of pardon, since the nature of his offence was such as he +could not reasonably expect it from the Royal breast, which had ever +been cautious of extending mercy to those who had denied it unto their +fellow-subjects. + +Under sentence of death this unhappy man behaved himself very devoutly, +and with many signs of true penitence. He was, from the first, very +desirous to acquaint himself with the true nature of that crime which he +had committed, and finding it at once repugnant to religion, and +contrary to even the dictates of human nature, he began to loath himself +and his own cruelty, crying out frequently when alone. _Oh! Murder! +Murder! it is the guilt of that great sin which distracts my soul._ When +at chapel he attended with great devotion to the duties of prayer and +service there; but whenever the Commandments came to be repeated, at the +words, _Thou shalt do no murder_, he would tremble, turn pale, shed +tears, and with a violent agitation of spirit pray to God to pardon him +that great offence. + +To say truth never any man seemed to have a truer sense or a more quick +feeling of his crimes, than this unhappy man testified during his +confinement. His heart was so far from being hardened, as is too +commonly the case with those wretches who fall into the same condition, +that he, on the contrary, afflicted himself continually and without +ceasing, as fearing that all his penitence would be but too little in +the sight of God, for destroying His creature and taking away a life +which he could not restore. Amidst these apprehensions, covered with +terrors and sinking under the weight of his afflictions, he received +spiritual assistance of the Ordinary and other ministers, with much +meekness, and it is to be hoped with great benefit; since they +encouraged him to rely on the Mercy of God, and not by an unseasonable +diffidence to add the throwing away his own soul by despair, to the +taking away the life of another in his wrath. + +What added to the heavy load of his sorrows, was the unkindness of his +wife, who neither visited him in his misfortunes, and administered but +indifferently to his wants. It seems the quarrels they had, had so +embittered them towards one another that very little of that friendship +was to be seen in either, which makes the marriage bond easy and the +yoke of matrimony light. His complaints with respect to her occasioned +some enquiries as to whether he were not jealous of her person; such +suspicions being generally the cause of married people's greatest +dislikes. What he spoke on this head was exceedingly modest, far from +that rancour which might have been expected from a man whom the world +insinuated had brought himself to death by a too violent resentment of +what related to her conduit; though no such thing appeared from what he +declared to those who attended him. He said he was indeed uneasy at the +too large credit she gave to the deceased, but that it was her purse +only that he entertained suspicions of, and that as he was a dying man, +he had no ill thought of her in any other way. But with regard to his +daughter, he expressed a very great dislike to her behaviour, and said +her conduct had been such as forced her husband to leave her; and that +though he had treated her with the greatest kindness and affection, yet +such was the untowardness of her disposition that he had received but +very sorry returns. However, to the last he expressed great uneasiness +lest after his decease his little grand-daughter-in-law might suffer in +her education, of which he had intended to take the greatest care; his +dislike to the mother being far enough from giving him any aversion to +the child. It seems from the time he had taken it home he had placed his +affections strongly upon it, and did not withdraw them even to the hour +of his departure. + +As death grew near, he was afflicted with a violent disease, which +reduced him so low that he was incapable of coming to the chapel; and +when it abated a little it yet left his head so weak that he seemed to +be somewhat distracted, crying out in chapel the Sunday before he died, +like one grievously disturbed in mind, and expressing the greatest +agonies under the apprehension of his own guilt, and the strict justice +of Him to whom he was shortly to answer. However, he forgave with all +outward appearance of sincerity, all who had been in any degree +accessory to his death. + +Being carried in a mourning coach to the place of execution, he appeared +somewhat more composed than he had been for some time before. He told +the people that, except the crime for which he died, he had never been +guilty of anything which might bring him within the fear of meeting with +such a death. And in this disposition of mind he suffered at Tyburn, on +the 3rd day of November, 1725, being about fifty-five years of age. +Immediately after his death a paper was published under the title of his +case, full of circumstances tending to extenuate his guilt but such as +in no way appeared upon his trial. + +The Court of Old Bailey at the next sessions taking this paper into +their consideration, were of opinion that it reflected highly on the +justice of those who tried him, and therefore ordered the printer to +attend them to answer for this offence. Accordingly he attended the next +day, and being told that the Court was highly displeased with his +publishing a thing of that nature, in order to misrepresent the justice +of their proceedings, and that they were ready to punish him for his +contempt in the aforesaid publication of such a libel; Mr. Leech thought +fit to prevent it by making his most humble submission, and asking +pardon of the Court for his offence, assuring them that it proceeded +only from inadvertency, and promising never to print anything of the +like sort again. Whereupon the Court were graciously pleased to dismiss +him only with a reprimand, and to admonish others of the same +profession, that they should be cautious for the future of doing +anything which might reflect in any degree upon the proceedings had +before them. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [71] See note, page 218. + + + + +The Life of JOHN WHALEBONE, _alias_ WELBONE, a Thief, etc. + + +This malefactor was born in the midst of the City of London, in the +Parish of St. Dionis Back Church. His parents were persons in but mean +circumstances, who however strained them to the uttermost to give this +their son a tolerable education. They were especially careful to +instruct him in the principles of religion, and were therefore under an +excessive concern when they found that neglecting all other business, he +endeavoured only to qualify himself for the sea. However, finding this +inclinations so strong that way, they got him on board a man-of-war, and +procured such a recommendation to the captain that he was treated with +great civility during the voyage, and if he had had any inclinations to +have done well, he might in all probability have been much encouraged. +But after several voyages to sea, he took it as strongly in his head to +go no more as he had before to go, whether his parents would or no. + +He then cried old clothes about the streets; but not finding any great +encouragement in that employment, he was easily drawn in by some wicked +people of his acquaintance, to take what they called the shortest method +of getting money, which was in plain English to go a-thieving. He had +very ill-luck in his new occupation, for in six weeks' time, after his +first setting out on the information of one of his companions, he was +apprehended, tried, convicted, and ordered for transportation. + +It was his fortune to be delivered to a planter in South Carolina, who +employed him to labour in his plantations, afforded him good meat and +drink, and treated him rather better than our farmers treat their +servants here. Which leads me to say something concerning the usage such +people met with, when carried as the Law directs to our plantations, in +order to rectify certain gross mistakes; as if Englishmen abroad had +totally lost all humanity, and treated their fellow-creatures and +fellow-countrymen as slaves, or as brutes. + +The Colonies on the Continent of America are those which now take off +the greatest part of those who are transported for felony from Britain, +most of the Island Colonies having long ago refused to receive them. The +countries into which they now go, trading chiefly in such kind of +commodities as are produced in England (unless it be tobacco), the +employment, therefore, of persons thus sent over, is either in attending +husbandry, or in the culture of the plant which we have before +mentioned. They are thereby exposed to no more hardships than they would +have been obliged to have undergone at home, in order to have got an +honest livelihood, so that unless their being obliged to work for their +living is to pass for great hardship, I do not conceive where else it +can lie, since the Law, rather than shed the blood of persons for small +offences, or where they appear not to have gone on for a length of time +in them, by its lenity changes the punishment of death into sending them +amongst their own countrymen at a distance from their ill-disposed +companions, who might probably seduce them to commit the same offences +again. It directs also, that this banishment shall be for such a length +of time as may be suitable to the guilt of the crime, and render it +impracticable for them on their return to meet with their old gangs and +acquaintance, making by this means a happy mixture both of justice and +clemency, dealing mildly with them for the offence already committed and +endeavouring to put it ever out of their own power by fresh offences, to +draw a heavier judgment upon themselves. + +But to return to this Whalebone. The kind usage of his master, the +easiness of the life which he lived, and the certainty of death if he +attempted to return home, could not all of them prevail upon him to lay +aside the thoughts of coming back again to London, and there giving +himself up to those sensual delights which he had formerly enjoyed. +Opportunities are seldom wanting where men incline to make use of diem; +especially to one who had been bred as he was to the sea. So that in a +year and a half after ms being settled there, he took such ways of +recommending himself to a certain captain as induced him to bring him +home, and set him safe on shore near Harwich. He travelled on foot up to +London, and was in town but a very few days before being accidentally +taken notice of by a person who knew him, he caused him to be +apprehended, and at the next sessions at the Old Bailey, he was +convicted of such illegal return, and ordered for execution. + +At first he pretended that he thought it no crime for a man to return to +his own country, and therefore did not think himself bound to repent of +that. Whatever arguments the Ordinary made use of to persuade him to +sense of his guilt I know not. But because this is an error into which +such people are very apt to fall; and as there want not some of the +vulgar who take it for a great hardship, also making it one of those +topics upon which they take occasion to harangue against the severity of +a Law that they do not understand, I think it will not, therefore, be +improper to explain it. + +Transportation is a punishment whereby the British law commutes for +offences which would otherways be capital, and therefore a contract is +plainly presumed between every felon transported and the Court by whose +authority he is ordered for transportation, that the said felon shall +remain for such term of years as the Law directs, without returning into +any of the King's European dominions; and the Court plainly acquaints +the felon that if, in breach of his agreement, he shall so return, that +in such case the contract shall be deemed void, and the capital +punishment shall again take place. To say, then, that a person who +enters into an agreement like this, and is perfectly acquainted with its +conditions, knowing that no less than his life must be forfeited by the +breach of them, and yet wilfully breaks them, to say that such a person +as this is guilty of no offence, must in the opinion of every person of +common understanding be the greatest absurdity that can be asserted; and +to call that severity which only is the Law's taking its forfeit, is a +very great impropriety, and proceeds from a foolish and unreasonable +compassion. This I think so plain that nothing but prepossession or +stupidity can hinder people from comprehending it. + +As to Whalebone, when death approached, he laid aside all these excuses +and applied himself to what was much more material, the making a proper +use of that little time which yet remained for repentance. He +acknowledged all the crimes which he had committed in the former part of +his life, and the justice of his sentence by which he had been condemned +to transportation; and having warned the people at his execution to +avoid of all things being led into ill company, he suffered with much +seeming penitence, together with the afore-mentioned malefactors, at +Tyburn, being then about thirty-eight years of age. + + + + +The Life of JAMES LITTLE, a Footpad and Highwayman + + +James Little was a person descended from parents very honest and +industrious, though of small fortune. They bred him up with all the care +they were able, and when he came to a fit age put him out to an honest +employment. But in his youth having taken peculiar fancy to his father's +profession of a painter, he thereto attained in so great a degree as to +be able to earn twelve or fifteen shillings in a week, when he thought +fit to work hard. But that was very seldom, and he soon contracted such +a hatred to working at all that associating with some wild young +fellows, he kept himself continually drunk and mad, not caring what he +did for money, so long as he supplied himself with enough to procure +himself liquor. + +Amongst the rest of those debauched persons with whom he conversed there +was especially one Sandford, with whom he was peculiarly intimate. This +fellow was a soldier, of a rude, loose disposition, who took a +particular delight in making persons whom he conversed with as bad as +himself. Having one Sunday, therefore, got Little into his company and +drank him to such a pitch that he had scarce any sense, he next began to +open to him a new method of living, as he called it, which was neither +more than less than going on the highway. Little was so far gone in his +cups that be did not so much as know what he was saying; at last +Sandford rose up, and told him it was a good time now to go out upon +their attempts. Upon this Little got up, too, and went out with him. +They had not gone far before the soldier drew out a pair of pistols, and +robbed two or three persons, while Little stood by, so very drunk that +he was both unable to have hurt the persons, or to have defended +himself, he said. + +He robbed no more with the soldier, who was soon after taken up and +hanged at the same time with Jonathan Wild, yet the sad fate of his +companion had very little effect upon this unhappy lad. He fell +afterwards into an acquaintance with some of John Shepherd's mistresses, +and they continually dinning in his ears what great exploits that famous +robber had committed, they unfortunately prevailed upon him to go again +into the same way. But it was just as fatal to him as it had been to his +companion; for Little having robbed one Lionel Mills in the open fields, +put him in fear, and taken from him a handkerchief, three keys and +sixteen shillings in money, not contented with this he pulled the +turnover off from his neck hastily, and thereby nearly strangled him. +For this offence the man pursued him with unwearied diligence, and he +being taken up thereupon was quickly after charged with another robbery +committed on one Mr. Evans, in the same month, who lost a cane, three +keys, and twenty pounds in money. On these two offences he was severally +convicted at the next sessions at the Old Bailey; and having no friends, +could therefore entertain little expectation of pardon; especially +considering how short a time it was since he received mercy before; +being under sentence at the same time with the soldier before-mentioned +and Jonathan Wild, and discharged then upon his making certain +discoveries. + +He pretended to much penitence and sorrow, but it did not appear in his +behaviour, having been guilty of many levities when brought up to +chapel, to which perhaps the crowds of strangers, who from an +unaccountable humour desire to be present on these melancholy occasions, +did not a little contribute; for at other times, it must be owned, he +did not behave himself in any such manner, but seemed rather grave and +willing to be instructed, of which he had indeed sufficient want, +knowing very little, but of debauchery and vice. How ever, he reconciled +himself by degrees to the thoughts of death, and behaved with +tranquility enough during that small space that was left him to prepare +for it. At the place of execution, he looked less astonished though he +spoke much less to the people than the rest, and died seemingly +composed, at the same time with the other malefactors Snow, and +Whalebone, being at the time of his execution in his seventeenth year. + + + + +The Life of JOHN HAMP, Footpad and Highwayman + + +This unhappy person, John Hamp, was born of both honest and reputable +parents in the parish of St. Giles-without-Cripplegate. They took +abundance of pains in his education, and the lad seemed in his juvenile +years to deserve it; he was a boy of abundance of spirit, and his +friends at his own request put him out apprentice to a man whose trade +it was to lath houses. He did not stay out his time with him, but being +one evening with some drunken companions at an alehouse near the Iron +Gate by the Tower, three of them sailors on board a man-of-war (there +being at that time a great want of men, a squadron being fitted out for +the Baltic), these sailors, therefore, observing all the company very +drunk, put into their heard to make an agreement for their going +altogether this voyage to the North. Drink wrought powerfully in their +favour, and in less than two hours time, Hamp and two other of his +companions fell in with the sailors' motion, and talked of nothing but +braving the Czar, and seeing the rarities of Copenhagen. The fourth man +of Hamp's company stood out a little, but half an hour's rhodomantade +and another bowl of punch brought him to a sailor, upon which one of the +seamen stepped out, and gave notice to his lieutenant, who was drinking +not far off, of the great service he had performed, the lieutenant was +mightily pleased with Jack Tar's diligence, promised to pay the +reckoning, and give each of them a guinea besides. A quarter of an hour +after, the Lieutenant came in. The fellows were all so very drunk that +he was forced to send for more hands belonging to the ship, who carried +them to the long-boat, and there laying them down and covering them with +men's coats, carried them on board that night. + +There is no doubt that Hamp was very surprised when he found the +situation he was in next morning, but as there was no remedy, he +acquiesced without making any words, and so began the voyage cheerfully. +Everybody knows that there was no fighting in these Baltic expeditions, +so that all the hardships they had to combat with were those of the sea +and the weather, which was indeed bad enough to people of an English +constitution, who were very unfit to bear the extremity of cold. + +While they by before Copenhagen, an accident happened to one of Hamp's +great acquaintance, which much affected him at that time, and it would +have certainly have been happy for him if he had retained a just sense +of it always. There was one Scrimgeour, a very merry debonair fellow, +who used to make not only the men, but sometimes the officers merry on +board the ship. He was particularly remarkable for being always full of +money, of which he was no niggard, but ready to do anybody a service, +and consequently was very far from being ill-beloved. This man being one +day on shore and going to purchase some fresh provisions to make merry +with amongst his companions, somebody took notice of a dollar that was +in his hand, and Scrimgeour wanting change, the man readily offered to +give smaller money. Scrimgeour thereupon gave him the dollar, and having +afterwards bargained for what he wanted, was just going on board when a +Danish officer with a file of men, came to apprehend him for a coiner. +The fellow, conscious of his guilt, and suspicious of their intent, +seeing the man amongst them who had changed the dollar, took to his +heels, and springing into the boat, the men rowed him on board +immediately, where as soon as he was got, Scrimgeour fancied himself out +of all danger. + +But in this he was terribly mistaken, for early the next morning three +Danish commissaries came on board the admiral, and acquainted him that a +seaman on board his fleet had counterfeited their coin to a very +considerable value, and was yesterday detected in putting off a dollar; +that thereupon an officer had been ordered to seize him, but that he had +made his escape by jumping into the long-boat of such a ship, on board +of which they were informed he was; they therefore desired he might be +given up in order to be punished. The admiral declined that, but assured +them that, upon due proof, he would punish him with the greatest +severity on board; and having in the meanwhile dispatched a lieutenant +and twenty men on board Scrimgeour's ship, with the Dane who detected +him in putting off false money, he was secured immediately. Upon +searching his trunk they found there near a hundred false dollars, so +excellently made that none of the ship's crew could have distinguished +them from the true. + +He was immediately carried on board the admiral, who ordered him to be +confined. Soon after a court-martial condemned him to be whipped from +ship to ship, which was performed in the view of the Danish +commissaries, with so much rigour that instead of expressing any notion +of the Englishmen showing favour to their countryman upon any such +occasion, they interposed to mitigate the fellow's sufferings, and +humbly besought the admiral to omit lashing him on board three of the +last ships. But in this request they were civilly refused, and the +sentence which had been pronounced against him was executed upon him +with the utmost severity; and it happening that Hamp was one of the +persons who rowed him from ship to ship, it filled him with so much +terror that he was scarce able to perform his duty; the wretch, himself, +being made such a terrible spectacle of misery that not only Hamp, but +all the rest who saw him after his last lashing, were shocked at the +sight. And though it was shrewdly suspected that some others had been +concerned with him, yet this example had such an effect that there were +no more instances of any false money uttered from that time. + +It was near five years after Hamp went first to sea that he began to +think of returning home and working at his trade again; and after this +thought had once got into his head, as is usual with such fellows, he +was never easy until he had accomplished it. An opportunity offered soon +after, the ship he belonged to being recalled and paid off. John had, +however, very little to receive, the great delight he took in drinking +made him so constant a customer to a certain officer in the ship that +all was near spent by the time he came home. That, however, would have +been no great misfortune had he stuck close to his employment and +avoided those excesses of which he been formerly guilty. But alas! this +was by no means in his power; he drank rather harder after his return +than he had done before, and if he might be credited at that time when +the Law allows what is said to pass for evidence, viz., in the agony of +death, it was this love of drink that brought him, without any other +crime, to his shameful end. The manner of which, I shall next fully +relate. + +Hamp, passing one night very drunk through the street, a woman, as is +usual enough for common street-walkers to do, took him by the sleeve, +and after some immodest discourse, asked him if he would not go into her +mother's and take a pot with her. To this motion Hamp readily agreed, +and had not been long in the house before he fell fast asleep in the +company of James Bird (who was hanged with him), the woman who brought +him into the house, and an old woman, whom she called her mother. By and +by certain persons came who apprehended him and James Bird for being in +a disorderly house; and having carried them to the watch house, they +were there both charged with robbing and beating, in a most cruel and +barbarous manner, a poor old woman near Rag Fair.[72] + +At the next Old Bailey sessions they were both tried for the fact, and +the woman's evidence being positive against them, they were likewise +convicted. Hamp behaved himself with great serenity while under +sentence, declaring always that he had not the least knowledge of Bird +until the time they were taken up; that in all his life time he had +never acquired a halfpenny in a dishonest manner, and that although he +had so much abandoned himself to drinking and other debaucheries, yet he +constantly worked hard at his employment, in order to get money to +support them. As to the robbery, he knew no more of it than the child +unborn, that he readily believed all that the woman swore to be true, +except her mistake in the persons; and that as to Bird, he could not +take upon himself to say that he was concerned in it. + +A divine of eminency in the Church, being so charitable as to visit him, +spoke to him very particularly on this head; he told him that a jury of +his countrymen on their oaths had unanimously found him guilty; that the +Law upon such a conviction had appointed him to death, and that there +appeared not the least hopes of his being anyways able to prevent it; +that the denying of his guilt therefore, could not possibly be of any +use to him here, but might probably ruin him for ever hereafter; that he +would act wisely in this unfortunate situation into which his vices had +brought him, if he would make an ample acknowledgment of the crime he +had committed, and own the justice of Providence in bringing him to +condemnation, instead of leaving the world in the assertion of a +falsehood, and rushing into the presence of Almighty God with a lie in +his mouth. + +This exhortation was made publicly, and Hamp after having heard it with +great attention, answered it in the following terms. _I am very +sensible, sir, of your goodness in affording me this visit and am no +less obliged to you for your pressing instances to induce me confession. +But as I know the matter of fact, so I am sure, you would not press me +to own it if it be not true; I aver that the charge against me is +utterly false in every particular. I freely acknowledge that I have led +a most dissolute life, and abandoned myself in working all kind of +wickedness; but should I so satisfy some persons' importunities as to +own also the justice of my present sentence, as arising from the truth +of the fact, I should thereby become guilty of the very crime you warn +me of, and go out of the world, indeed, in the very act of telling an +untruth. Besides, of what use would it be to me, who have not the least +hopes of pardon, to persist in a lie, merely for the sake of deceiving +others, who may take my miserable death as a piece of news, and at the +same time cheat myself in what is my last and greatest concern? I beg, +therefore, to be troubled no more on this head, but to be left to make +my peace with God for those sins which I have really committed, without +being pressed to offend Him yet more, by taking upon me that which I +really know nothing of._ + +The Ordinary of Newgate hereupon went into the hold to examine Bird, who +lay there in a sick and lamentable condition. He confirmed all that Hamp +had said, declared he never saw him in his life before the night in +which they were taken up, acknowledged himself to be a great sinner, and +an old offender, that he had been often taken up before for thefts; but +as to the present case, he peremptorily insisted on his innocence, and +that he knew nothing of it. + +At the place of execution, Hamp appeared very composed and with a +cheerfulness that is seldom seen in the countenances of persons when +they come to the tree, and are on the very verge of death. He spoke for +a few moments to the people saying that he been a grievous sinner, much +addicted to women, and much more to drinking; that for these crimes, he +thought the Justice of God righteous in bringing him to a shameful +death; but as to assaulting the woman in Rag Fair, he again protested +his innocence, and declared he never committed any robbery whatsoever, +desired the prayers of the people in his last moments, and then applied +himself to some short private devotions. He resigned himself with much +calmness to his fate, on Wednesday, the 22nd of December, 1725, at +Tyburn, being then in the twenty-fifth year of his age. Bird confirmed, +as well as the craziness of his distempered head would give him leave, +the truth of what Hamp had said. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [72] This was in Rosemary Lane, Wellclose Square, + Whitechapel--"a place near the Tower of London where old clothes + and frippery are sold"--according to Pope. + + + + +The Lives of JOHN AUSTIN, a Footpad, JOHN FOSTER, a Housebreaker, and +RICHARD SCURRIER, a Shoplifter + + +Amongst the number of those extraordinary events which may be remarked +in the course of these melancholy memoirs of those who have fallen +martyrs to sin, and victims to justice, there is scarce anything more +remarkable than the finding a man who hath led an honest and reputable +life, till he hath attained the summit of life, and then, without +abandoning himself to any notorious vices that may be supposed to lead +him into rapine and stealth in order to support him, to take himself on +a sudden to robbing on the highway, and to finish a painful and +industrious life by a violent and shameful death. Yet this is exactly +the case before us. + +The criminal of whom we are first to speak, viz., John Austin, was the +son of very honest people, having not only been bred up in good +principles, but seeming also to retain them. He was put out young to a +gardener, in which employment being brought up, he became afterwards a +master for himself, and lived, as all his neighbours report it, with as +fair character as any man thereabout. On a sudden he was taken up for +assaulting and knocking down a man in Stepney Fields, with a short, +round, heavy club, and taking from him his coat, in the beginning of +November, 1725, about seven o'clock in the morning. The evidence being +very clear and direct, the jury, notwithstanding the persons he called +to his character, found him guilty. He received sentence of death +accordingly, and after a report had been made to his Majesty he was +ordered for execution. + +During the space he lay under conviction, he at first denied, then +endeavoured to extenuate his crime, by saying he did indeed knock the +man down, but that the man struck him first with an iron rod he had in +his hand; and in this story for some time he firmly persisted. But when +death made a nearer approach he acknowledged the falsity of these +pretences, and owned the robbery in the manner in which he had been +charged therewith. Being asked how a man in his circumstances, being +under no necessities, but on the contrary, in a way very likely to do +well, came to be guilty of so unaccountable an act as the knocking down +a poor man and taking away his coat, he said that though he was in a +fair way of living, and had a very careful and industrious wife, yet for +some time past, he had been disturbed in his mind, and that the morning +he committed the robbery he took the club out of his own house, being an +instrument made use of by his wife in the trade of a silk-throwster, and +from a sudden impulse of mind attacked the man in the manner which had +been sworn against him. + +He appeared to be a person of no vicious principles, had been guilty of +very few enormous crimes, except drinking to excess sometimes, and that +but seldom. The sin which most troubled him was (his ordinary practice) +as a gardener, in spending the Lord's day mostly in hard work, viz., in +packing up things for Monday's market. He was very penitent for the +offence which he had committed; he attended the service of chapel daily, +prayed constantly and fervently in the place of his confinement, and +suffered death with much serenity and resolution; averring with his last +breath, that it was the first and last act which he had ever committed, +being at the time of death about thirty-seven years old. + +The second of these malefactors, John Foster, was the son of a very poor +man, who yet did his utmost to give his son all the education that was +in his power; and finding he was resolved to do nothing else, sent him +with a very honest gentleman to sea. He continued there about seven +years, and as he met with no remarkable accidents in the voyages he made +himself, my readers may perhaps not be displeased if I mention a very +singular one which befell his master. His ship having the misfortune to +fall into the hands of the French, they plundered it of everything that +was in the least degree valuable, and then left him, with thirty-five +men, to the mercy of the waves. In this distressed condition, he with +much difficulty made the shore of Newfoundland, and had nothing to +subsist on but biscuit and a little water. Knowing it was no purpose to +ask those who were settled there for provisions without money or +effects, he landed himself and eighteen men, and carried off a dozen +sheep and eight pigs. They were scarce returned on board, before it +sprung up a brisk gale, which driving them from their anchors, obliged +them to be put to sea. It blew hard all that day and the next night; the +morning following the wind abated and they discovered a little vessel +before them which, by crowding all the sails she was able, endeavoured +to bear away. The captain thereupon gave her chase, and coming at last +up with her, perceived she was French, upon which he gave her a +broadside, and the master knowing it was impossible to defend her, +immediately struck. They found in her a large quantity of provisions and +in the master's cabin a bag with seven hundred pistoles. No sooner had +the English taken out the booty, but they gave the captain and his crew +liberty to sail where they pleased, leaving them sufficient provisions +for a subsistance, themselves standing in again for Newfoundland, where +the captain paid the person who was owner of the sheep and hogs he had +taken as much as he demanded, making him also a handsome present +besides; thereby giving Foster a remarkable example of integrity and +justice, if he had had grace enough to have followed it. + +When the ship came home, and its crew were paid off, Foster betook +himself to loose company, loved drinking and idling about, especially +with ill women. At last he was drawn in by some of his companions to +assist in breaking open the house of Captain Tolson, and stealing thence +linen and other things to a very great value. For this offence being +apprehended, some promises were made him in case of discoveries, which, +as he said, he made accordingly, and therefore thought it a great +hardship that they were not performed. But the gentleman, whoever he +was, that made him those promises, took no further notice of him, so +that Foster being tried thereupon, the evidence was very dear against +him, and the jury, after a very short consideration, found him guilty. + +Under sentence he behaved with very great sorrow for his offence; he +wept whenever any exhortations were made to him, confessed himself one +of the greatest of sinners, and with many heavy expressions of grief, +seemed to doubt whether even from the mercy of God he could expect +forgiveness. Those whose duty it was to instruct him how to prepare +himself for death, did all they could to convince him that the greatest +danger of not being forgiven arose from such doubtings, and persuaded +him to allay the fears of death by a settled faith and hope in Jesus +Christ. When he had a while reflected on the promises made in Scripture +on the nature of repentance itself, and the relation there is between +creatures and their Creator, he became at last better satisfied, and +bore the approach of death with tolerable cheerfulness. + +When the day of execution came, he received the Sacrament, as is usual +for persons in his condition. He declared, then, that he heartily +forgave him who had injured him, and particularly the person who, by +giving him hopes of life, had endangered his eternal safety. He +submitted cheerfully to the decrees of Providence and the Law of the +land; being at the time he suffered about thirty-seven years of age. + +Richard Scurrier was the son of a blacksmith of the same name, at +Kingston-upon-Thames. He followed for a time his father's business, but +growing totally weary of working honestly for his bread, he left his +relations, and without any just motive or expectation came up to London. +He here betook himself to driving a hackney-coach, which, as he himself +acknowledged, was the first inlet into all his misfortunes, for thereby +he got into loose and extravagant company, living in a continued series +of vice, unenlightened by the grace of God, or any intervals of a +virtuous practice. + +Such a road of wickedness soon induced him to take illegal methods for +money to support it. The papers which I have in my hands concerning him, +do not say whether the fact he committed was done at the persuasion of +others, or merely out of his own wicked inclinations; nay, I cannot be +so much as positive whether he had any associates or no; but in the +beginning of his thievish practices, he committed _petit_ larceny, which +was immediately discovered. He thereupon was apprehended and committed +to Newgate. At the next sessions he was tried, and the fact being plain, +he was convicted; but being very young, the Court, through its usual +tenderness, determined to soften his punishment into a private +whipping. But before that was done, he joined with some other desperate +fellows, forced the outward door of the prison as the keeper was going +in and escaped. + +He was no sooner at liberty but he fell to his old trade, and was just +as unlucky as he was before; for taking it into his head to rub off with +a firkin of butter, which he saw standing in a cheesemonger's shop, he +was again taken in the fact, and in the space of a few weeks recommitted +to his old lodging. At first he apprehended the crime to be so trivial +that he was not in the least afraid of death, and therefore his +amazement was the greater when he was capitally convicted. During the +first day after sentence had been pronounced, the extremity of grief and +fear made him behave like one distracted; as he came a little to +himself, and was instructed by those who charitably visited him, he +owned the justice of his sentence, which had been passed upon him, and +the notorious wickedness of his misspent life. He behaved with great +decency at chapel, and as well as a mean capacity and a small education +would give him leave, prayed in the place of his confinement. + +As there is little remarkable in this malefactor's life, permit me to +add an observation or two concerning the nature of crimes punished with +death in England, and the reasonableness of any project which would +answer the same end as death, viz., securing the public from any of +their future rapines, without sending the poor wretches to the gallows, +and pushing them headlong into the other world for every little offence. +The galleys in other nations serve for this purpose and the punishment +seems very well suited to the crime; for his life is preserved, and he, +notwithstanding, effectually deprived of all means of doing further +mischief. We have no galleys, it is true, in the service of the crown of +Britain, but there are many other laborious works to which they might be +put so as to be useful to their country. As to transportation, though it +may at first sight seem intended for their purpose, yet if we look into +it with ever so little attention, we shall see that it does not at all +answer the end; for we find by experience that in a year's time, many of +them are here again, and are ten times more dangerous rogues than they +were before; and in the plantations they generally behave themselves so +ill that many of them have refused to receive them, and have even laid +penalties on the captains who shall land them within the bounds of their +jurisdiction. It were certainly therefore, more advantageous to the +public that they worked hard here, than either forced upon the planters +abroad, or left in a capacity to return to their villainies at home, +where the punishment being capital, serves only to make them less +merciful and more resolute. This I propose only, and pretend not to +dictate. + +But it is now time we return to the last mentioned criminal, Richard +Scurrier, and inform ye that at the time he suffered, he was scarce +eighteen years of age, dying with the malefactors Hamp, Bird, Austin and +Foster, before-mentioned, on the 22nd of December, 1725, at Tyburn. + + + + +The Life of FRANCIS BAILEY, a notorious Highwayman + + +That bad company and an habitual course of indulging vicious +inclinations, though of a nature not punishable by human laws, should at +last lead men to the commission of such crimes as from the injury done +to society require capital sufferings to be inflicted, is a thing we so +often meet with, that its frequency alone is sufficient to instruct men +of the danger there is in becoming acquainted, much more of conversing +familiarly, with wicked and debauched persons. + +This criminal, Francis Bailey, was one of the number of those examples +from whence this observation arises. He was born of parents of the +lowest degree, in Worcestershire, who were either incapable of giving +him any education, or took so little care about it that at the time he +went out into the world he could neither read or write. However, they +bound him apprentice to a baker, and his master took so much care of him +that he was in a fair way of doing well if he would have been +industrious; but instead of that he quitted his employment to fall into +that sink of vice and laziness, the entering into a regiment as a common +soldier. However, it were, he behaved himself in this state so well that +he became a corporal and serjeant, which last, though a preferment of +small value, is seldom given to persons of no education. But it seems +Bailey had address enough to get that passed by, and lived with a good +reputation in the army near twenty years. During this space, with +whatever cover of honesty he appeared abroad, yet he failed not to make +up whatever deficiencies the irregular course of life might occasion, by +robbing upon the highway, though he had the good luck never to be +apprehended, or indeed suspected till the fact which brought him to his +end. + +His first attempt in this kind happened thus. The regiment in which he +served was quartered at a great road town; Bailey having no employment +for the greatest part of his time, and being incapable of diverting +himself by reading or innocent conversation, knew not therefore how to +employ his hours. It happened one evening, that among his idle +companions there was one who had been formerly intimate with a famous +highwayman. This fellow entertained the company with the relation of +abundance of adventures which had befallen the robber on the road, till +he had saved about seven hundred pounds, wherewith he retired (as this +man said) to Jamaica, and lived there in great splendour, having set up +a tavern, and by his facetious conversation, acquired more custom +thereto than any other public house had in the Island. + +As Bailey listened with great attention to this story, so it ran in his +head that night that this was the easiest method of obtaining money, and +that with prudence there was no great danger of being detected. Money at +that time ran low, and he resolved the next day to make the experiment. +Accordingly he procured a horse and arms in the evening and at dusk +sallied out, with an intent of stopping the first passenger he should +meet. A country clergyman happened to be the man. No sooner had Bailey +approached him with the usual salutation of _Stand and Deliver_, but +putting his hand in his pocket, and taking out some silver, he, in a +great fright, and as it were trembling, put it into Bailey's hat, who +thereupon carelessly let go the reins of his horse, and went to put the +money up in his own pocket. The parson upon seeing that, clapped spurs +to his horse, and thrust his right elbow with all his force under +Bailey's left breast, and gave him such a blow as made him tumble +backwards off his horse, the parson riding off as hard as he could with +a good watch and near forty pounds in gold in his purse. + +So ill a setting out might have marred a highwayman of less courage than +him of whom we are speaking; but Frank was not to be frightened either +from danger or wickedness, when he once got it into his head. So that as +soon as he came a little to himself, and had caught his horse, he +resolved, by looking more carefully after the next prize, to make up +what he fancied he had lost by the parson. With this intent he rode on +about a mile, when he met with a waggon, in which were three or four +young wenches, who had been at service in London and were going to +several places in the country to see their relations. Bailey, +notwithstanding there were three men belonging to the waggon, stopped +it, and rifled it of seven pounds, and then very contentedly retired to +his quarters. + +Flushed with this success, he never wanted money but he took this method +of supplying himself, managing, after the affair of the parson, with so +much caution that though he robbed on the greatest road, he was never +so much as once in danger of a pursuit. Perhaps he owed his security to +the newer taking any partner in the commission of his villainies to +which he was once inclined, though diverted from it by an accident which +to a less obstinate person might have proved a sufficient warning to +have quitted such exploits for good and all. + +Bailey being one day at an alehouse, not far from Moorfields, fell into +the conversation of an Irishman, of a very gay alert temper perfectly +suited to the humour of our knight of the road. They talked together +with mutual satisfaction for about two hours, and then the Stranger +whispered Bailey that if he would step to such a tavern, he would give +part of a bottle and fowl. Thither, accordingly, he walked; his +companion came in soon after; to supper they went and parted about +twelve in high good humour, appointing to meet the next evening but one. +Bailey, the day after, was upon the Barnet Road, following his usual +occupation, when looking by chance over the hedge, he perceived the +person he parted with the night before, slop a chariot with two ladies +in it, and as soon as he had robbed them, ride down a cross lane. +Bailey, hereupon, after taking nine guineas from a nobleman's steward, +whom he met about a quarter of an hour after, returned to his lodgings +at a little blind brandy-shop in Piccadilly, resolving the next day to +make a proposal to his new acquaintance of joining their forces. With +this view he staid at home all day, and went very punctually in the +evening to the place of their appointment; but to his great +mortification the other never came, and Bailey, after waiting some +hours, went away. + +As he was going home, he happened to step into an alehouse in Fore +Street, where recollecting that the house in which he had first seen +this person, was not far off, it came into his head that if he went +thither, he might possibly hear some news of him. Accordingly he goes to +the place, where he had hardly called for a mug of drink and a pipe of +tobacco, but the woman saluted him with, _O lack, sir! Don't you +remember a gentleman in red you spoke to here the other day? Yes_, +replied Bailey, _does he live hereabouts? I don't know, says the woman, +where he lives, but he was brought to a surgeon's hard by, about three +hours ago, terribly wounded. My husband is just going to see him._ + +Though Bailey could not but perceive that there might be danger in his +going thither, yet his curiosity was so strong that he could not +forbear. As soon as he entered the room the wounded man, who was just +dressed, beckoned to him, and desired to speak with him. He went near +enough not to have anything overheard, when the man in a low voice, told +him that he was mortally wounded in riding off after robbing a +gentleman's coach, and advised him to be cautious of himself, _For_, +says the dying man, _I knew you to be a brother of the road as soon as I +saw you; and if ever you trust any man with that secret, you may even +prepare yourself for the hands of justice._ In half an hour he fell into +fainting fits, and then became speechless, and died in the evening, to +the no little concern of his new acquaintance Bailey. + +Some months after this, Frank was apprehended for breaking open a house +in Piccadilly and stealing pewter, table-linen, and other household +stuff to a very considerable value. He was convicted at the ensuing +sessions at the Old Bailey for this crime, upon the oath of a woman who +had no very good character; though he acknowledged abundance of crimes +of which there was no proof against him, yet he absolutely denied that +for which he was condemned, and persisted in that denial to his death, +notwithstanding that the Ordinary and other ministers represented to him +how great a folly, as well as sin, it was for him to go out of the world +with a lie in his mouth. He said, indeed, he had been guilty of a +multitude of heinous sins and offences for which God did with great +justice bring him unto that ignominious end. Yet he persisted in his +declaration of innocence as to housebreaking, in which he affirmed he +had never been at all concerned; and with the strongest asservations to +this purpose, he suffered death at Tyburn, the fourteenth of March, +1725, being then about thirty-nine years old, in company with Jones, +Barton, Gates and Swift, of whose behaviour under sentence we shall have +occasion to speak by and by. + + + + +The Life of JOHN BARTON, a Robber, Highwayman and Housebreaker + + +Education is often thought a trouble by persons in their junior years, +who heartily repent of their neglect of it in the more advanced seasons +of their lives. This person, John Barton, who is to be the subject of +our discourse, was born at London, of parents capable enough of +affording him tolerable education, which they were also willing to +bestow upon him, if he had been just enough to have applied himself +while at school. But he, instead of that, raked about with boys of his +own age, without the least consideration of the expense his parents were +at, idled away his time, and forgot what little he learned almost as +soon as he had acquired it. + +It is a long time before parents perceive that in their children which +is evident to everyone else; however, Barton's father soon saw no good +was to be done with him at school; upon which he took him away, and +placed him apprentice with a butcher. There he continued for some time, +behaving to the well-liking of his master; yet even then he was so much +out of humour with work that he associated himself with some idle young +fellows who afterwards drew him into those illegal acts which proved +fatal to his reputation and his life. However, he did make a shift to +pass through the time of his apprenticeship with a tolerable character, +and was afterwards, through the kindness of his friends, set up as a +butcher; in which business he succeeded so well as to acquire money +enough thereby to have kept his family very well, if he could have been +contented with the fruits of his honest labour. But his old companions, +who by this time were become perfectly versed in those felonious arts by +which money is seemingly so easy to be attained, were continually +soliciting him to take their method of life, assuring him that there was +not half so much danger as was generally apprehended, and that if he had +but resolution enough to behave gallantly, he need not fear any +adventure whatsoever. + +Barton was a fellow rather of too much than too little courage. He +wanted no encouragements of this sort to egg him to such proceedings; +the hopes of living idly and in the enjoyment of such lewd pleasures as +he had addicted himself to, were sufficient to carry him into an affair +of this sort. He therefore soon yielded to their suggestions, and went +into such measures as they had before followed, especially +housebreaking, which was the particular branch of villainy to which he +had addicted himself. At this he became a very dextrous fellow, and +thereby much in favour with his wicked associates, amongst whom to be +impious argues a great spirit, and to be ingenious in mischief is the +highest character to which persons in their miserable state can ever +attain. + +Amongst the rest of Barton's acquaintance there was one Yorkshire Bob, +who was reckoned the most adroit housebreaker in town. This fellow one +day invited Barton to his house, which at that time was not far from Red +Lion Fields, and proposed to him two or three schemes by which some +houses in the neighbourhood might be broke open. Barton thought all the +attempts too hazardous to be made, but Bob, to convince him of the +possibility with which such things might be done, undertook to rob +without assistance a widow lady's house of some plate, which stood in +the butler's room at noon-day. + +Accordingly thither he went dressed in the habit of a footman belonging +to a family which were well acquainted there; the servants conversed +with him very freely, as my Lady Such-a-one's new man, while he +entertained them with abundance of merry stories, until dinner was upon +the table. Then taking advantage of that clutter in which they were, he +slily lighted a fire-ball at the fire-side, clapped it into a closet on +the side of the stairs in which the foul clothes were kept, and then +perceiving the smoke, cried out with the utmost vehemence, _Fire, fire._ +This naturally drew everybody downstairs, and created such a confusion +that he found little or no difficulty in laying hold of the silver plate +which he aimed at. He carried it away publicly, while the smoke +confounded all the spectators, and until the next morning nobody had the +least suspicion of him; but upon sending to the lady for the plate which +her new servant carried away the night before, and she denying that she +had any servant in the house that had not lived with her a twelvemonth, +they then discovered the cheat, though at a time too late to mend it. + +Barton, however, did not like his master's method entirely, choosing +rather to strike out a new one of his own, which he fancied might as +little mischief him as that audacious impudence of the other did in his +several adventures. For which reason, he was very cautious of +associating with this fellow who was very dextrous in his art, but was +more ready in undertaking dangerous exploits than any of the crew at +that time about town. John's way was by a certain nack of shifting the +shutters, whereby he opened a speedy entrance for himself; and as he +knew in how great danger his life was from each of these attempts, so he +never made them but upon shops or houses where so large a booty might be +expected as might prevent his being under necessity of thieving again in +a week or two's time. Yet when he had in this manner got money, he was +so ready to throw it away on women and at play, that in a short space +his pocket was at as low an ebb as ever. When his cash was quite gone, +he associated himself sometimes with a crew of footpads, and in that +method got sufficient plunder to subsist until something offered in his +own way, to which he would willingly have kept. + +At last, hearing of a goldsmith's not far from where he lodged, who had +a very considerable stock of fine snuff-boxes, gold chains, rings, etc., +he fancied he had now an opportunity of getting provision for his +extravagancies for at least a twelvemonth. The thoughts of this +encouraged him so far that he immediately went about it, and succeeded +to his wish, obtaining two gold chains, five gold necklaces, seventy-two +silver spoons, and a numberless cargo of little things of value. + +Yet this did not satisfy him. He ventured a few days afterwards having a +proper opportunity, on the house and shop of one Mrs. Higgs, from whence +he took an hundred pair of stockings, and other things to a large value. +But as is common with such persons, his imprudence betrayed him in the +disposing of them, and by the diligence of a constable employed for that +purpose, he was caught and committed to Newgate. At the next sessions he +was convicted for these facts, and as he had no friends, so it was not +in any degree probable that he should escape execution; and therefore it +is highly possible he might be the projector of that resistance which he +and the rest under sentence with him made in the condemned hold, and +which we shall give an exact account under the next life. + +The peculiar humour of Barton was to appear equally gay and cheerful, +though in these sad circumstances, as he had ever done in the most +dissolute part of his foregoing life. In consequence of which foolish +notion he smiled on a person's telling him his name was included in the +death-warrant, and at chapel behaved in a manner very unbecoming one who +was so soon to answer at the Bar of the Almighty for a life led in open +defiance both of the laws of God and man. Yet that surprise which people +naturally express at behaviour of such a kind on such an occasion seemed +in the eyes of this poor wretch so high a testimony in favour of his +gallantry, that he could not be prevailed on, either by the advice of +the ministers, or the entreaties of his relations, to abate anything of +that levity which he put on when he attended at Divine Service. Though +he saw it disturbed some of his fellow sufferers at first, who were +inclined to apply themselves strictly to their duties, so fatal is evil +communication, even in the latest moments of our life, that his +ludicrous carriage corrupted the rest, and instead of reproving him as +they had formerly done, they now seemed careful only of imitating his +example; and in this disposition he continued, even to the last minute +of his life, which ended at Tyburn, on the 14th of March, 1725, he being +then hardly twenty-three years of age. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM SWIFT, a Thief, etc. + + +Amongst the multitude of other reasons which ought to incline men to an +honest life, there is one very strong motive which hitherto has not, I +think, been touched upon at all, and that is the danger a man runs from +being known to be of ill-life and fame, of having himself accused from +his character, only of crimes which he, though guiltless of, in such a +case might find it difficult to get his innocence either proved or +credited if any unlucky circumstance should give the least weight to the +accusation. + +The criminal whose life exercises our present care was a fellow of this +case. He was born of but mean parents, had little or no education, and +when he grew strong enough to labour, would apply himself to no way of +getting his bread but by driving a wheelbarrow with fruit about the +streets. This led him to the knowledge of abundance of wicked, +disorderly people, whose manners agreeing best with his own, he spent +most of his time in sotting with them at their haunts, when by bawling +about the streets, he had got just as much as would suffice to sot with. +There is no doubt, but that he now and then shared with them in what +amongst such folks, at least, pass for trivial offences, but that he +engaged in the great exploits of the road did not appear to any other +case than that for which he died, viz., taking four table cloths, eight +napkins, two shirts and other things, from Mary Cassell. The woman swore +positively to him upon his trial, and his course of life being such as I +have represented it, nobody appeared to his reputation so as to bring +the thing in to the least suspense with the jury; whereupon he was +convicted and received sentence of death. + +The concern Swift was under when he found not the least hopes of life +remaining, he having no friends who were capable (had they been willing) +to have solicited a pardon or reprieve, shocked him so much that he +scarce appeared to have his senses; however, he persisted obstinately in +denying that he had the least hand in the robbery which was sworn +against him. And as he made no scruple of acknowledging a multitude of +other crimes, his denial of this gained some belief, more especially +when Barton confessed that himself with two or three others were the +persons who committed the robbery on the woman who swore against this +criminal. It must be acknowledged that there was no appearance of any +sinister motive, at least in Barton, to take upon himself a crime of +which otherwise he would never have been accused; and the behaviour of +Swift was at first of such a nature that it is not easy to conceive why, +when all hopes of safety were lost, and he was full of acknowledgment as +to the justice of his sentence for the many other evil deeds he had +done, he should yet obdurately persist in denying this, if there had +been no truth at all in his allegations. + +As this fellow had neither natural courage, nor had acquired any +religious principles from his education, there is no wonder to be made +that he behaved himself so poorly in the last moments of his life; in +which terror, confusion, and self-condemnation wrought so strongly as to +make the ignominy of the halter the least dreadful part of his +execution. + +[Illustration: A CONDEMNED MAN DRAWN ON A SLEDGE TO TYBURN + +(_From the Newgate Calendar_)] + +The day on which the three last-mentioned persons, together with Yates +or Gates, _alias_ Vulcan, a deer-stealer, and Benjamin Jones (for house +breaking) were to have been executed, these miserable persons framed to +themselves the most absurd project of preserving their lives that could +possibly have entered into the heads of men; for getting, by some means +or other, an iron crow into the hold, they therewith dug out a +prodigious quantity of rubbish and some stones, which it is hardly +credible could have been removed with so small assistance as they had. +With these they blocked up the door of the condemned hold so effectually +that there was no possibility of getting it open by any force whatsoever +on the outside. The keepers endeavoured to make them sensible of the +folly of their undertaking, in hopes they would thereby be induced to +prevent any firing upon them; which was all that those who had the +custody of them were now capable of doing, to bring them to submission. +The Ordinary also joined in dissuading them from thus misspending the +last moments of their lives, which were through the mercy of the Law +extended to them for a better purpose. But they were inexorable, and as +they knew their surrender would bring them immediately to a shameful +death, so they declared positively they were determined to kill or to be +killed in the position in which they were. + +Sir Jeremiah Murden, one of the sheriffs for the time being, was so good +as to go down upon this occasion to Newgate. The keepers had opened a +sort of trap-door in the room over the hold, and from thence discharged +several pistols loaded with small shot, but to no purpose, the criminals +retiring to the farther end of the room, continuing there safe and out +of reach; though Barton and Yates received each of them a slight wound +in crowding backwards. Sir Jeremy went himself to this place, and talked +to them for a considerable space, and one of the fellows insisting to +see his gold chain, that they might be sure they were treating with the +sheriffs themselves, his condescension was so great as to put down part +of it through the hole, upon which they consulted together, and at last +agreed to surrender. Whereupon they began immediately to remove the +stones, and as soon as the door was at liberty, one of the keepers +entered. Just as he was within it, Barton snapped a steel tobacco-box in +his face, the noise of which resembling a pistol, made him start back, +upon which Barton said, _D----n you, you was afraid._ + +When they were brought out, Sir Jeremy ordered the Ordinary to be sent +for, and prayers to be said in the chapel, where he attended himself. +But whether the hurry of this affair, or that stench which is natural to +so filthy a place as the condemned hold, affected the sheriff's +constitution, is hard to say, but upon his return home, he was seized +with a violent fever, which in a very short space took away his life. + +But to return to Swift. When they came to Tyburn, and the minister had +performed his last office towards them, this criminal made a shift in a +faint tone to cry out, _Good People, I die as innocent of the crime for +which I suffer, as the child unborn_; which Barton, with a loud voice, +confirmed saying, _I am the man who robbed the person for which this man +dies; he was not concerned with me, but one Capell and another were +companions with me therein._ Swift, at the time of his execution, was +about twenty-seven years of age, or a little over. + + + + +The lives of EDWARD BURNWORTH, _alias_ FRAZIER, WILLIAM BLEWIT, THOMAS +BERRY, EMANUEL DICKENSON, WILLIAM MARJORAM, JOHN HIGGS, etc., Robbers, +Footpads, Housebreakers and Murderers + + +As society intends the preservation of every man's person and property +from the injuries which might be offered unto him from others, so those +who in contempt of its laws go on to injure the one, and either by force +or fraud to take away the other are, in the greatest proprieties of +speech, enemies of mankind; and as such are reasonably rooted out, and +destroyed by every government under heaven. In some parts of Europe, +certain outlaws, _Banditti_, or whatever other appellation you'll please +to bestow on them, have endeavoured to preserve themselves by force from +the punishments which should have been executed upon them by justice, +and finding mankind, from a spirit of self preservation, were become +their enemies, they exerted themselves the utmost they were capable of +in order to render their bodies so formidable as still to carry on their +ravages with impunity, and in open defiance of the laws made against +them. But an attempt of this sort was scarce ever heard of in Britain, +even in the most early times, when, as in all other governments the +hands of the Law wanted strength most; so that from the days of Robin +Hood and Little John to those of the criminals of whom we are now +writing, there was never any scheme formed for an open resistance of +Justice, and carrying on a direct war against the lives and properties +of mankind. + +Edward Burnworth, _alias_ Frazier, was the extraordinary person who +framed this project for bringing rapine into method, and bounding even +the practice of licentiousness with some kind of order. It may seem +reasonable therefore, to begin his life preferable to the rest, and in +so doing we must inform our readers that his father was by trade a +painter, though so low in his circumstances as to be able to afford his +son but a very mean education. However, he gave him as much as would +have been sufficient for him in that trade to which he bound him +apprentice, viz., to a buckle-maker in Grub Street, where for some time +Edward lived honestly and much in favour with his master. But his father +dying and his unhappy mother being reduced thereby into very narrow +circumstances, restraint grew uneasy to him, and the weight of a +parent's authority being now lost with him, he began to associate +himself with those loose incorrigible vagrants, who frequent the ring at +Moorfields, and from idleness and debauchery, go on in a very swift +progression to robbery and picking of pockets. + +Edward was a young fellow, active in his person and enterprising in his +genius; he soon distinguished himself in cudgel playing, and such other +Moorfields exercises as qualify a man first for the road and then for +the gallows. The mob who frequented this place, where one Frazier kept +the ring, were so highly pleased with Burnworth's performances that they +thought nothing could express their applause so much as conferring on +him the title of Young Frazier. This agreeing with the ferocity of his +disposition, made him so vain thereof, that, quitting his own name, he +chose to go by this, and accordingly was so called by all his +companions. + +Burnworth's grand associates were these, William Blewit, Emanuel +Dickenson, Thomas Berry, John Levee, William Marjoram, John Higgs, John +Wilson, John Mason, Thomas Mekins, William Gillingham, John Barton, +William Swift, and some others that it is not material here to mention. +At first he and his associates contented themselves with picking +pockets, and such other exercises in the lowest class of thieving, in +which however they went on very assiduously for a considerable space, +and did more mischief that way than any gang which had been before them +for twenty years. They rose afterwards to exploits of a more hazardous +nature, viz., snatching women's pockets, swords, hats, etc. + +The usual places for their carrying on such infamous practices were +about the Royal Exchange, Cheapside, St. Paul's Churchyard, Fleet +Street, the Strand and Charing Cross. Here they stuck a good while, nor +is it probable they would ever have risen higher if Burnworth, their +captain, had not been detected in an affair of this kind, and committed +thereupon to Bridewell, from whence, on some apprehension of the +keepers, he was removed to New Prison, where he had not continued long +before he projected an escape, which he afterwards put into execution. + +During this imprisonment, instead of reflecting on the sorrows which his +evil course of life had brought upon him, he meditated only how to +engage his companions in attempts of a higher nature than they had +hitherto been concerned in; and remembering how large a circle he had of +wicked associates, he began to entertain notions of putting them in such +a posture as might prevent their falling easily into the hands of +justice, which many of them within a month or two last past had +done--though as they were sent thither on trivial offences, they quickly +got discharged again. + +Full of such projects, and having once more regained his freedom, he +took much pains to find out Barton, Marjoram, Berry, Blewit and +Dickenson, in whose company he remained continually, never venturing +abroad in the day-time unless with his associates in the fields, where +they walked with strange boldness, considering warrants were out against +the greatest part of the gang. In the night time Burnworth strolled +about in such little bawdy-houses as he had formerly frequented, and +where he yet fancied he might be safe. + +One evening having wandered from the rest, he was so bold as to go to a +house in the Old Bailey, where he heard the servants and successors of +the famous Jonathan Wild were in close pursuit of him, and that one of +them was in the inner room by himself. Burnworth loaded his pistol under +the table, and having primed it, goes with it ready cocked into the room +where Jonathan's foreman was, with a quartern of brandy and a glass +before him. _Hark ye_, says Edward, _you fellow, who have served your +time to a thief-taker; what business might you have with me or my +company? Do you think to gain a hundred or two by swearing our lives +away? If you do you are much mistaken; but that I may be some judge of +your talent that way, I must hear you curse a little, on a very +particular occasion._ Upon which, filling a large glass of brandy, and +putting a little gunpowder into it, he clapped it into the fellow's +hands, and then presenting his pistol to his breast, obliged him to wish +most horrid mischiefs upon himself, if ever he attempted to follow him +or his companions any more. No sooner had he done this, but Frazier +knocking him down, quitted the room, and went to acquaint his companions +with his notable adventure, which, as it undoubtedly frightened the new +thief-taker, so it highly exalted his reputation for undaunted bravery +amongst the rest of the gang, a thing not only agreeable to Burnworth's +vanity, but useful also to his design, which was to advance himself to a +sort of absolute authority amongst them from whence he might be capable +of making them subservient to him in such enterprises as he designed. +His associates were not cunning enough to penetrate his views, but +without knowing it suffered them to take effect; so that instead of +robbing as they used to do (as accident directed them, or they received +intelligence of any booty) they now submitted themselves to his +guidance, and did nothing but as he directed or commanded them. + +The morning before the murder of Thomas Ball, Burnworth, and Barton, +whom we have before mentioned, pitched upon the house of an old Justice +of the Peace of Clerkenwell, to whom they had a particular pique for +having formerly committed Burnworth, and proposed it to their companions +to break it open that night, or rather the next morning (for it was +about one of the clock). They put their design in execution and executed +it successfully, carrying off some things of real value, and a +considerable parcel of what they took to be silver plate. With this they +went into the fields above Islington, and from thence to Copenhagen +House, where they spent the greatest part of the day. On parting the +booty Burnworth perceived what they had taken for silver was nothing +more than a gilt metal, at which he in a rage would have thrown it away; +Barton opposed it, and said they should be able to sell it for +something, to which Burnworth replied that it was good for nothing but +to discover them, and therefore it should not be preserved at any rate. +Upon this they differed, and while they were debating, came Blewit, +Berry, Dickenson, Higgs, Wilson, Levee, and Marjoram, who joined the +company. Burnworth and Barton agreed to toss up at whose disposal the +silver ware should be, they did so, and it fell to Burnworth to dispose +of it as he thought fit, upon which he carried it immediately to the New +River side, and threw it in there, adding that he was sorry he had not +the old Justice himself there, to share the same fate, being really as +much out of humour at the thing as if the Justice had imposed upon them +in a fair sale of the commodity, so easy a thing is it for men to impose +upon themselves. + +As it happened they were all present pretty full of money, and so under +no necessity of going upon any enterprise directly, wherefore they +loitered up and down the fields until towards evening, when they thought +they might venture unto town, and pass the time in their usual pleasures +of drinking, gaming, and whoring. While they were thus (as the French +say) murdering of time, a comrade of theirs came up puffing and blowing +as if ready to break his heart. As soon as he reached them, _Lads_, +says he, _beware of one thing; the constables have been all about Chick +Lane in search of folk of our profession, and if ye venture to the house +where we were to have met to-night, 'tis ten to one but we are all +taken._ + +This intelligence occasioned a deep consultation amongst them, what +method they had best take, in order to avoid the danger which threatened +them so nearly. Burnworth took this occasion to exhort them to keep +together, telling them that as they were armed with three or four +pistols apiece, and short daggers under their clothes, a small force +would not venture to attack them. This was approved by all the rest, and +when they had passed the afternoon in this manner, and had made a solemn +oath to stand by one another in case of danger, they resolved, as night +grew on, to draw towards town, Barton having at the beginning of these +consultations, quitted them and gone home. + +As they came through Turnmill Street, they accidentally met the keeper +of New Prison, from whom Burnworth had escaped about six weeks before. +He desired Edward to step across the way with him, adding that he saw he +had no arms, and that he did not intend to do him any prejudice. +Burnworth replied that he was no way in fear of him, nor apprehensive of +any injury he was able to do him, and so concealing a pistol in his +hand, he stepped over to him, his companions waiting for him in the +street. But the neighbours having some suspicion of them, and of the +methods they followed to get money, began to gather about them; upon +which they called to their companion to come away, which he, after +making a low bow to the captain of New Prison, did. Finding the people +increase they thought it their most advisable method to retire back in a +body into the fields. This they did keeping very close together; and in +order to deter the people from making any attempts, turned several times +and presented their pistols in their faces, swearing they would murder +the first man who came near enough for them to touch him. And the people +being terrified to see such a gang of obdurate villains, dispersed as +they drew near the fields, and left them at liberty to go whither they +would. + +As soon as they had dispersed their pursuers, they entered into a fresh +consultation as to what manner they would dispose of themselves. +Burnworth heard what every one proposed, and said at last, that he +thought the best thing they could do was to enter with as much privacy +as they could, the other quarter of the town, and so go directly to the +waterside. They approved his proposal, and accordingly getting down to +Blackfriars, crossed directly into Southwark; and retired at last into +St. George's Fields, where their last counsel was held to settle the +operation of the night. There Burnworth exerted himself in his proper +colours, informing them that there was no less danger of their being +apprehended there, than about Chick Lane; for that one Thomas Ball (who +kept a gin-shop in the Mint, and who was very well acquainted with most +of their persons) had taken it into his head to venture upon Jonathan +Wild's employment, and was for all that purpose indefatigable in +searching out all their haunts, that he might get a good penny to +himself apprehending them. He added that but a few nights ago, he +narrowly missed being caught by him, being obliged to clap a pistol to +his face, and threatened to shoot him dead if he offered to lay his +hands on him. _Therefore_, continued Burnworth, _the surest way for us +to procure safety, is to go to this rogue's house, and shoot him dead +upon the spot. His death will not only secure us from all fears of his +treachery, but it will likewise so terrify others that nobody will take +up the trade of thief-catching in haste; and if it were not for such +people who are acquainted with us and our houses of resort there would +hardly one of our profession in a hundred see the inside of Newgate._ + +Burnworth had scarce made an end of his bloody proposal, before they all +testified their assent to it with great alacrity, Higgs only excepted; +who seeming to disapprove thereof, it put the rest into such a passion +that they upbraided him in the most opprobious terms with being a coward +and a scoundrel, unworthy of being any longer the companion of such +brave fellows as themselves. When Frazier had sworn them all to stick +fast by one another, he put himself at their head, and away they went +directly to put their designed assassination into execution. Higgs +retreated under favour of the night, being apprehensive of himself when +their hands were in, since he, not being quite so wicked as the rest, +might share the fate of Ball upon the first dislike to him that took +them. + +As for Burnworth and his party, when they came to Ball's house and +enquired of his wife for him, they were informed that he was gone to the +next door, a public house, and that she would step and call him, and +went accordingly. Burnworth immediately followed her and meeting Ball at +the door, took him fast by the collar, and dragged him into his own +house, and began to expostulate with him as to the reason why he had +attempted to take him, and how ungenerous it was for him to seek to +betray his old friends and acquaintances. Ball, apprehending their +mischievous intentions, addressed himself to Blewit, and begged of him +to be an intercessor for him, and that they would not murder him; but +Burnworth with an oath replied, he would put it out of the power of Ball +ever to do him any further injury, that he should never get a penny by +betraying him, and thereupon immediately shot him. + +Having thus done, they all went out of doors again, and that the +neighbourhood might suppose the firing of the pistol to have been done +without any ill-intention, and only to discharge the same, Blewitt fired +another in the street over the tops of the houses, saying aloud, they +were got safe into town and there was no danger of meeting any rogues +there. Ball attempted to get as far as the door, but in vain, for he +dropped immediately, and died in a few minutes afterwards. + +Having this executed their barbarous design, they went down from Ball's +house directly towards the Falcon,[73] intending to cross the water back +again. By the way they accidentally met with Higgs, who was making to +the waterside likewise. Him they fell upon and rated for a pusilanimous +cowardly dog (as Burnworth called him) that would desert them in an +affair of such consequence, and then questioned whether Higgs himself +would not betray them. Burnworth proposed it to the company to shoot +their old comrade Higgs, because he had deserted them in their late +expedition; which it is believed, in the humour Burnworth was then in, +he would have done, had not Marjoram interposed and pleaded for sparing +his life. From the Falcon stairs they crossed the water to Trig +Stairs[74]; and then consulting how to spend the evening, they resolved +to go to the Boar's Head Tavern, in Smithfield, as not being at a +distance from the waterside, in case any pursuit should be made after +them, on account of the murder by them committed. At which place they +continued until near ten of the clock, when they separated themselves +into parties for that night, viz., one party towards the Royal Exchange, +the second to St. Paul's Churchyard, the third to Temple Bar, in pursuit +of their old trade of diving. + +This murder made them more cautious of appearing in public, and Blewit, +Berry and Dickenson soon after set out for Harwich, and went over in a +packet boat from thence for Helveot-Sluys. Higgs also being daily in +fear of a discovery, shipped himself on board the _Monmouth_ man-of-war, +at Spithead, where he thought himself safe, and began to be a little at +ease; but Justice quickly overtook him, when he thought himself safest +from its blow; for his brother who lived in town, having wrote a letter +to him, and given it to a ship's mate of his to carry to him at +Spithead, this man accidentally fell into company with one Arthur, a +watchman belonging to St. Sepulchre's Parish, and pulling the letters by +chance out of his pocket, the watchman saw the direction, and +recollected that Higgs was a companion of Frazier's. Upon this he sent +word to Mr. Delasay, Under-Secretary of State, and being examined as to +the circumstances of the thing, proper persons were immediately +dispatched to Spithead, who seized and brought him up in custody. +Wilson, another of the confederates, withdrew about the same time, and +had so much cunning as to preserve himself from being heard of for a +considerable time. + +Burnworth, in the meanwhile, with some companions of his, continued to +carry on their rapacious plunderings in almost all parts of the town; +and as they kept pretty well united, and were resolute fellows, they did +a vast deal of mischief, and yet were too strong to be apprehended. +Amongst the rest of their pranks they were so audacious as to stop the +Earl of Scarborough, in Piccadilly, but the chairmen having courage +enough to draw their poles and knock one of the robbers down, the earl +at the same time coming out of the chair, and putting himself upon his +defence, after a smart dispute in which Burnworth shot one of the +chairmen in the shoulder and thereby prevented any pursuit, they raised +their wounded companion and withdrew in great confusion. + +About this time their robberies and villainies having made so much noise +as to deserve the notice of the Government, a proclamation was published +for the apprehending Burnworth, Blewit, etc., it being justly supposed +that none but those who were guilty of these outrages could be the +persons concerned in the cruel murder of Ball. A gentleman who by +accident had brought one of these papers, came into the alehouse at +Whitecross Street, and read it publicly. The discourse of the company +turning thereupon, and the impossibility of the persons concerned making +their escape, and the likelihood there was that they would immediately +impeach one another. Marjoram, one of the gang, was there, though known +to nobody in the room; weighing the thing with himself, he retired +immediately from the house into the fields, where loitering about till +evening came on, he then stole with the utmost caution into Smithfield, +and going to a constable there, surrendered himself in a way of +obtaining a pardon, and the reward promised by the proclamation. + +That night he was confined in the Wood Street Compter, his Lordship not +being at leisure to examine him. The next day, as he was going to his +examination, the noise of his surrender being already spread all over +the town, many of his companions changed their lodgings and provided for +their safety; but Barton thought of another method of securing himself +from Marjoram's impeachment, and therefore planting himself in the way +as Marjoram was carrying to Goldsmiths' Hall, he popped out upon him at +once, though the constable had him by the arm, and presenting a pistol +to him, said, _D----n ye, I'll kill you._ Marjoram, at the sound of his +voice, ducked his head, and he immediately firing, the ball grazed only +on his back, without doing him any hurt. The surprise with which all who +were assisting the constable in the execution of his office were all +struck upon this occasion gave an opportunity for Barton to retire, +after his committing such an insult on public justice, as perhaps was +never heard of. However, Marjoram proceeded to his examination, and made +a very full discovery of all the transactions in which he had been +concerned. Levee being taken that night by his directions in White Cross +Street, and after examination committed to Newgate. + +Burnworth was now perfectly deprived of his old associates, yet he went +on at his old rate, even by himself; for a few nights after, he broke +open the shop and house of Mr. Beezely, a great distiller near Clare +Market, and took away from thence notes to a great value, with a +quantity of plate, which mistaking for white metal he threw away. One +Benjamin Jones picked it up and was thereupon hanged, being one of the +number under sentence when the Condemned Hold was shut up, and the +criminals refused to submit to the keepers. Burnworth was particularly +described in the proclamation, and three hundred pounds offered to any +who would apprehend him; yet so audacious was he as to come directly to +a house in Holborn, where he was known, and laying a loaded pistol down +on the table, called for a pint of beer, which he drank and paid for, +defying anybody to touch him, though they knew him to be the person +mentioned in the proclamation. It would be needless to particularise any +other bravadoes of his, which were so numerous that it gave no little +uneasiness to the magistrates, who perceived the evil consequences that +would show if such things should become frequent; they therefore doubled +their diligence in endeavouring to apprehend him, yet all their attempts +were to little purpose, and it is possible he might have gone on much +longer if he had not betrayed the natural consequence of one rogue's +trusting another. + +It happened at this time, that one Christopher Leonard was in prison for +some such feats as Burnworth had been guilty of, who lodged at the same +time with the wife and sister of the fellow. Kit Leonard, knowing in +what state he himself was, and supposing nothing could so effectually +recommend to him the mercy and favour of the Government as the procuring +Frazier to be apprehended, who had so long defied all the measures they +had taken for that purpose, he accordingly made the proposal by his +wife to persons in authority. And the project being approved they +appointed a sufficient force to assist in seizing him, who were placed +at an adjoining alehouse, where Kate, the wife of Kit Leonard, was to +give them the signal. + +About six of the clock in the evening of Shrove Tuesday, Kate Leonard +and her sister and Burnworth being all together (it not being late +enough for him to go out upon his nightly enterprises) Kate Leonard +proposed they should fry some pancakes for supper, which the other two +approved of, accordingly her sister set about them. Burnworth took off +his surtout coat, in the pocket of the lining whereof he had several +pistols. There was a little back door to the house, which Burnworth +usually kept upon the latch, in order to make his escape if he should be +surprised or discovered to be in that house. Unperceived by Burnworth, +and whilst her sister was frying the pancakes, Kate went to the alehouse +for a pot of drink, when having given the men who were there waiting for +him the signal, she returned, and closed the door after her, but +designedly missed the staple. The door being thus upon the jar only, as +she gave the drink to Burnworth, the six persons rushed into the room. +Burnworth hearing the noise and fearing the surprise, jumped up, +thinking to have made his escape at the back door, not knowing it to be +bolted; but they were upon him before he could get it open, and holding +his hands behind him, one of them tied them, whilst another, to +intimidate him, fired a pistol over his head. Having thus secured him, +they immediately carried him before a Justice of the Peace, who after a +long examination committed him to Newgate. + +Notwithstanding his confinement in that place, he was still director of +such of his companions as remained at liberty, and communicating to them +the suspicions he had of Kate Leonard's betraying him, and the dangers +there were of her detecting some of the rest, they were easily induced +to treat her as they had done Ball. One of them fired a pistol at her, +just as she was entering her own house, but that missing, they made two +or three other attempts of the same nature, until the Justice of the +Peace placed a guard thereabouts, in order to secure her from being +killed, and if possible to seize those who should attempt it, after +which they heard no more of these sorts of attacks. In Newgate they +confined Burnworth to the Condemned Hold, and took what other necessary +precautions they thought proper in order to secure so dangerous a +person, and who they were well enough aware meditated nothing but how to +escape. + +He was in this condition when the malefactors before-mentioned, viz., +Barton, Swift, etc., were under sentence, and it was shrewdly suspected +that he put them upon that attempt of breaking out, of which we have +given an account before. There were two things which more immediately +contributed to the defeating their design; the one was, that though five +of them were to die the next day, yet four of them were so drunk that +they were not able to work; the other was that they were so negligent in +providing candles that two hours after they were locked up they were +forced to lie-by for want of light. + +As we have already related the particulars of this story, we shall not +take up our reader's time in mentioning them again, but go on with the +story of Burnworth. Upon suspicion of his being the projector of that +enterprise the keepers removed him into the Bilbow Room, and there +loaded him with irons, leaving him by himself to lament the miseries of +his misspent life in the solitude of his wretched confinement; yet +nothing could break the wicked stubbornness of his temper, which, as it +had led him to those practices justly punished with so strait a +confinement, so it now urged him continually to force his way through +all opposition, and thereby regain his liberty, in order to practice +more villainies of the same sort, with those in which he had hitherto +spent his time. + +It is impossible to say how, but by some method or other he had procured +saws, files, and other instruments for this purpose; with these he first +released himself from his irons, then broke through the wall of the room +in which he was lodged, and thereby got into the women's apartment, the +window of which was fortified with three tier of iron bars. Upon these +he went immediately to work, and in a little time forced one of them; +while he was filing the next, one of the women, to ingratiate herself +with the keepers, gave notice, whereupon they came immediately and +dragged him back to the Condemned Hold and there stapled him down to the +ground. + +The course of our memoirs leads us now to say something of the rest of +his companions, who in a very short space came most of them to be +collected to share that punishment which the Law had so justly appointed +for their crimes. We will begin, then, with William Blewit, who, next to +Frazier, was the chief person in the gang. He was one of St. Giles's +breed, his father a porter, and his mother, at the time of his execution +selling greens in the same parish. They were both of them unable to give +their son education or otherwise provide for him, which occasioned his +being put out by the parish to a perfumer of gloves; but his temper from +his childhood inclining him to wicked practices, he soon got himself +into a gang of young pickpockets, with whom he practised several years +with impunity. But being at last apprehended in the very act, he was +committed to Newgate, and on plain proof convicted the next sessions, +and ordered for transportation. Being shipped on board the vessel with +other wretches in the same condition, he was quickly let into the secret +of their having provided for an escape by procuring saws, files, and +other implements, put up in a little barrel, which they pretended +contained gingerbread, and such other little presents which were given +them by relations. Blewitt immediately foresaw abundance of difficulties +in their design, and therefore resolved to make a sure use of it for his +own advantage. This he did by communicating all he knew to the captain, +who thereupon immediately seized their tools, and thereby prevented the +loss of his ship, which otherwise in all probability would have been +effected by the conspirators. + +In return for this service, Blewit obtained his freedom, which did not +serve him for any better purpose than his return to London as soon as be +was able. Whether he went again upon his old practices before he was +apprehended, we cannot determine, but before he had continued two months +in town, somebody seized him, and committed him to Newgate. At the next +sessions he was tried and convicted for returning from transportation, +but pleading, when he received sentence of death, the service he had +done in preventing the attempt of the other malefactors, execution was +respited until the return of the captain, and on his report the sentence +was changed into a new transportation, and leave given him also to go to +what foreign port he would. But he no sooner regained his liberty than +he put it to the same use as before, and took up the trade of snatching +hats, wigs, etc., until he got into acquaintance with Burnworth and his +gang, who taught him other methods of robbing than he had hitherto +practised. Like most of the unhappy people of his sort, he had to his +other crimes added the marriage of several wives, of which the first was +reputed a very honest and modest woman, and it seems had so great a love +for him, notwithstanding the wickedness of his behaviour, that upon her +visiting him at Newgate, the day before they set out for Kingston, she +was oppressed with so violent a grief as to fall down dead in the lodge. +Another of his wives married Emanuel Dickenson and survived them both. + +His meeting Burnworth that afternoon before Ball's murder was +accidental, but the savageness of his temper led him to a quick +compliance with that wicked proposition; but after the commission of +that fact, he with his companions before mentioned went over in the +packet boat to Holland. Guilt is a companion which never suffers rest +to enter any bosom where it inhabits; they were so uneasy after their +arrival there, lest an application should be made from the Government at +home, that they were constantly perusing the English newspapers as they +came over to the coffee houses in Rotterdam, that they might gain +intelligence of what advertisements, rewards, or other methods had been +taken to apprehend the persons concerned in Ball's murder; resolving on +the first news of a proclamation, or other interposition of the State on +that occasion, immediately to quit the Dominions of the Republic. But as +Burnworth had been betrayed by the only persons from whom he could +reasonably hope assistance; Higgs seized on board a ship where he +fancied himself secure from all searches; so Blewit and his associates, +though they daily endeavoured to acquaint themselves with the +transactions at London relating to them, fell also into the hands of +Justice, when they least expected it. So equal are the decrees of +providence, and so inevitable the strokes of Divine vengeance. + +The proclamation for apprehending them came no sooner to the hands of +Mr. Finch, the British resident at the Hague, but he immediately caused +an enquiry to be made, whether any such persons as were therein +described had been seen at Rotterdam. Being assured that there had, and +that they were lodged at the Hamburgh's Arms on the Boom Keys in that +City, he sent away a special messenger to enquire the truth thereof; of +which he was no sooner satisfied, than he procured an order from the +States General for apprehending them anywhere within the Province. By +virtue of this order the messenger, with the assistance of the proper +officers for that purpose in Holland, apprehended Blewit at the house +whither they had been directed; his two companions Dickenson and Berry, +had left him and were gone aboard a ship, not caring to remain any +longer in Holland. They conducted their prisoner to the Stadt House +Prison in Rotterdam, and then went to the Brill, where the ship on board +which his companions were, not being cleared out, they surprised them +also, and having handcuffed them, sent them under a strong guard to +Rotterdam, where they put them in the same place with their old +associate Blewit. We shall now therefore take an opportunity of speaking +of each of them, and acquainting the reader with those steps by which +they arose to that unparalleled pitch of wickedness which rendered them +alike the wonder and detestation of all the sober part of mankind. + +Emanuel Dickenson was the son of a very worthy person, whose memory I +shall be very careful not to stain upon this occasion. The lad was ever +wild and ungovernable in his temper, and being left a child at his +father's death, himself, his brother, and several sisters were thrown +all upon the hands of their mother, who was utterly unable to support +them in those extravagancies to which they were inclined. Whereupon they +unfortunately addicted themselves to such evil courses as to them seemed +likely to provide such a supply of money as might enable them to take +such licentious pleasures as were suitable to their vicious +inclinations. The natural consequence of which was that they all fell +under misfortunes, especially Emanuel of whom we are speaking, who +addicted himself to picking of pockets, and such kind of facts for a +considerable space. At last, attempting to snatch a gentleman's hat off +in the Strand, he was seized with it in his hand, and committed to +Newgate, and at the next sessions convicted and ordered for +transportation. But his mother applying at Court for a pardon, and +setting forth the merit of his father, procured his discharge. The only +use he made of this was to associate himself with his old companions, +who by degrees led him into greater villainies than any he had till that +time been concerned in; and at last falling under the direction of +Burnworth, he was with the rest drawn into the murder of Ball. After +this he followed Blewit's advice, and not thinking himself safe even in +Holland, he and Berry (as has been said) were actually on ship board, in +order to their departure. + +Thomas Berry was a beggar, if not a thief, from his cradle, descended +from parents in the most wretched circumstances, who being incapable of +giving him an honest education suffered him on the contrary to idle +about the streets, and to get into such gangs of thieves and pickpockets +as taught him from his infancy the arts of _diving_ (as they in their +cant call it). And as he grew in years they still brought him on to a +greater proficiency in such evil practices, in which however he did not +always meet with impunity; for besides getting into the little prisons +about town, and being whipped several times at the houses of correction, +he had also been thrice in Newgate, and for the last fact convicted and +ordered for transportation. However, by some means or other, he got away +from the ship, and returned quickly to his old employment; in which he +had not continued long, before falling into the acquaintance of +Burnworth, it brought him first to the commission of a cruel murder, and +after that with great justice to suffer an ignominious death. Having +been thus particular on the circumstances of each malefactor distinctly, +let us return to the thread of our story, and observe to what period +their wicked designs and lawless courses brought them at the last. + +After they were all three secured, and safe confined in Rotterdam, the +resident dispatched an account thereof to England; whereupon he received +directions for applying to the States-General for leave to send them +back. This was readily granted, and six soldiers were ordered to attend +them on board, besides the messengers who were sent to fetch them. +Captain Samuel Taylor, in the _Delight_ sloop, brought them safe to the +Nore, where they were met by two other messengers, who assisted in +taking charge of them up the river. In the midst of all the miseries +they suffered, and the certainty they had of being doomed to suffer much +more as soon as they came on shore, yet they behaved themselves with the +greatest gaiety imaginable, were full of their jests and showed as much +pleasantness as if their circumstances had been the most happy. +Observing a press-gang very busy on the water, and that the people in +the boat shunned them with great care, they treated them with the most +opprobrious language, and impudently dared the lieutenant to come and +press them for the service. On their arrival at the Tower, they were put +into a boat with the messengers, with three other boats to guard them, +each of which was filled with a corporal and a file of musqueteers; and +in this order they were brought to Westminster. After being examined +before Justice Chalk and Justice Blackerby they were all three put into +a coach, and conducted by a party of Foot-guards to Newgate through a +continued line of spectators, who by their loud huzzas proclaimed their +joy at seeing these egregious villains in the hands of justice; for +they, like Jonathan Wild, were so wicked as to lose the compassion of +the mob. + +On their arrival at Newgate, the keepers expressed a very great +satisfaction, and having put on each a pair of the heaviest irons in the +gaol, and taken such other precautions as they thought necessary for +securing them, they next did them the honour of conducting them upstairs +to their old friend Edward Burnworth. Having congratulated them on their +safe arrival and they condoled with him on his confinement, they took +their places near him, and had the convenience of the same apartment and +were shackled in the like manner. They did not appear to show the least +sign of contrition or remorse for what they had done; on the contrary +they spent their time with all the indifference imaginable. Great +numbers of people had the curiosity to come to Newgate to see them, and +Blewit upon all occasions made use of every opportunity to excite their +charity, alleging they had been robbed of everything when they were +seized. Burnworth, with an air of indifference replied, _D----n this +Blewit, because he had got a long wig and ruffled shirt he takes the +liberty to talk more than any of us._ Being exhorted to apply the little +time they had to live in preparing themselves for another world, +Burnworth replied that if they had any inclination to think of a future +state, it was impossible in their condition, so many persons as were +admitted to come to view them in their present circumstances must needs +divert any good thoughts. But their minds were totally taken up with +consulting the most likely means to make their escape and extricate +themselves from the bolts and shackles with which they were clogged and +encumbered; and indeed all their actions showed their thoughts were bent +only on enlargement, and that they were altogether unmindful of death, +or at least careless of the future consequence thereof. + +On Wednesday, the 30th of March, 1726, Burnworth, Blewit, Berry +Dickenson, Levee, and Higgs, were all put into a waggon, handcuffed and +chained, and carried to Kingston under a guard of the Duke of Bolton's +horse. At their coming out of Newgate they were very merry, charging the +guard to take care that no misfortune happened to them, and called upon +the numerous crowd of spectators, both at their getting into the waggon, +and afterwards as they passed along the road, to show their respect they +bore them by halloaing, and to pay them the compliments due to gentlemen +of their profession, and called for several bottles of wine that they +might drink to their good journey. As they passed along the road they +endeavoured to show themselves very merry and pleasant by their +facetious discourse to the spectators, and frequently threw money +amongst the people who followed them, diverting themselves with seeing +the others strive for it. And particularly Blewit, having thrown out +some halfpence amongst the mob, a little boy who was present picked up +one of them, and calling out to Blewit, told him, that as sure as he +(the said Blewit) would be condemned at Kingston, so sure would he have +his name engraved thereon; whereupon Blewit took a shilling out of his +pocket and gave it to the boy, telling him there was something towards +defraying the charge of engraving and bid him be as good as his word, +which he promised he would. + +On the 31st of March, the assizes were opened, together with the +commission of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery for the county of +Surrey, before the Right Hon. the Lord Chief Justice Raymond, and Mr. +Justice Denton; and the grand jury having found indictments against the +prisoners, they were severally arraigned thereupon, when five of them +pleaded not guilty. Burnworth absolutely refused to plead at all; upon +which, after being advised by the judge not to force the Court upon that +rigour which they were unwilling at any time to practice, and he still +continuing obstinate, his thumbs (as is usual in such cases) were tied +and strained with pack thread. This having no effect upon him, the +sentence of the press, or as it is sailed in Law, of the _Peine Fort et +Dure_, was read to him in these words: _You shall go to the place from +whence you came, and there being stripped naked and laid flat upon your +back on the floor, with a napkin about your middle to hide your privy +members, and a cloth on your face, then the press is to be laid upon +you, with as much weight as, or rather more than you can bear. You are +to have three morsels of barley-bread in twenty-four hours; a draught of +water from the next puddle near the gaol, but not running water. The +second day two morsels and the same water, with an increase of weight, +and so to the third day until you expire._ + +This sentence thus passed upon him, and he still continuing +contumacious, he was carried down to the stock-house, and the press laid +upon him, which he bore for the space of one hour and three minutes, +under the weight of three hundred, three quarters, and two pounds [424 +lb.]. Whilst he continued under the press, he endeavoured to beat out +his brains against the floor, during which time the High Sheriff himself +was present, and frequently exhorted him to plead to the indictment. +This at last he consented to do; and being brought up to the Court, +after a trial which lasted from eight in the morning until one in the +afternoon, on the first day of April, they were all six found guilty of +the indictment, and being remanded back to the stock-house, were all +chained and stapled down to the floor. + +Whilst they were under conviction, the terrors of death did not make any +impression upon them; they diverted themselves with repeating jests and +stories of various natures, particularly of the manner of their escapes +before out of the hands of justice, and the robberies and offences they +had committed. And it being proposed, for the satisfaction of the world, +for them to leave the particulars of the several robberies by them +committed, Burnworth replied that were he to write all the robberies by +him committed, a hundred sheets of paper, write as close as could be, +would not contain them. Notwithstanding what had been alleged by Higgs +of his forsaking his companions in the field, it appeared by other +evidence that he followed his companions to Ball's house, and was seen +hovering about the house during the time the murder was committed, with +a pistol in his hand. + +As for Burnworth, after conviction, his behaviour was as ludicrous as +ever; and being as I said, a painter's son, he had some little notion of +designing, and therewith diverted himself in sketching his own picture +in several forms; particularly as he lay under the press. This being +engraved in copper, was placed in the frontispiece of a sixpenny book +which was published of his life, and the rest seemed to fall no way +short of him in that silly contempt of death, which with the vulgar +passes for resolution. + +On Monday, the 4th day of April, they were brought up again from the +stock-house to receive sentence of death. Before he passed it upon them +Mr. Justice Denton made a very pathetic speech, in which he represented +to them the necessity there was of punishing crimes like theirs with +death, and exhorted them not to be more cruel to themselves than they +had obliged the law to be severe towards them, by squandering away the +small remainder of their time, and thereby adding to an ignominious end, +an eternal punishment hereafter. When sentence was passed, they +entreated leave for their friends to visit them in the prison, which was +granted them by the Court, but with a strict injunction to the keeper to +be careful over them. After they returned to the prison, they bent their +thought wholly on making their escape, and to that purpose sent to their +friends, and procured proper implements for the execution of it: +Burnworth's mother being surprised with several files, etc., about her, +and the whole plot discovered by Blewit's mother who was heard to say +that she had forgot the opium. + +It seems the scheme was to murder the two persons who attended them in +the gaol, together with Mr. Eliot, the turnkey; after they had got out +they intended to have fired a slack of bavins [firewood] adjoining to +the prison, and thereby amused the inhabitants while they got clear off. +Burnworth's mother was confined for this attempt in his favour, and some +lesser implements that were sewed up in the waistband of their breeches +being ripped out, all hopes whatsoever of escape were now taken away. +Yet Burnworth affected to keep up the same spirit with which he had +hitherto behaved, and talked in a rhodomantade to one of his guard, of +coming in the night in a dark entry, and pulling him by the nose, if he +did not see him decently buried. + +About ten of the clock, on Wednesday morning, together with one +Blackburn, who was condemned for robbing on the highway, a fellow +grossly ignorant and stupid, they were carried out in a cart to their +execution, being attended by a company of foot to the gallows. In their +passage thither, that audacious carriage in which they had so long +persisted totally forsook them, and they all appeared with all that +seriousness and devotion which might be looked for from persons in their +condition. Blewit perceiving one Mr. Warwick among the spectators +desired that he might stop to speak to him; which being granted, he +threw himself upon his knees, and earnestly intreated his pardon for +having once attempted his life by presenting a pistol at him, upon +suspicion that Mr. Warwick knowing what his profession was had given +information against him. + +When at the place of execution and tied up, Blewit and Dickenson, +especially, prayed with great fervour and with a becoming earnestness, +exhorted all the young persons they saw near them to take warning by +them, and not follow such courses as might in time bring them to so +terrible an end. Blewit acknowledged that for sixteen years last past he +had lived by stealing and pilfering only. He had given all the clothes +he had to his mother, but being informed that he was to be hung in +chains, he desired his mother might return them to prevent his being put +up in his shirt. He then desired the executioner to tie him up so that +he might be as soon out of his pain as possible; then he said the +Penitential Psalm, and repeated the words of it to the other criminals. +Then they all kissed one another, and after some private devotions the +cart drew away and they were turned off. Dickenson died very hard, +kicking off one of his shoes, and loosing the other. + +Their bodies were carried back under the same guard which attended them +to their execution. Burnworth and Blewit were afterwards hung in chains +over against the sign of the Fighting Cocks, in St. George's Fields, +Dickenson and Berry were hung up on Kennington Common, but the sheriff +of Surrey had orders at the same time to suffer his relations to take +down the body of Dickenson in order to be interred, after its hanging up +one day, which favour was granted on account of his father's service in +the army, who was killed at his post in the late war. Levee and Higgs +were hung up on Putney Common, beyond Wandsworth, which is all we have +to add concerning these hardened malefactors who so long defied the +justice of their country, and are now, to the joy of all honest people, +placed as spectacles for the warning of their companions who frequent +the places where they are hung in chains. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [73] Falcon Stairs were just east of where Blackfriars Bridge + now stands. + + [74] Trig Lane ran from Thames Street to the water's edge, near + Lambeth Hill. + + + + +The Life of JOHN GILLINGHAM, an Highwayman and Footpad, etc. + + +As want of education hath brought many who might otherwise have done +very well in the world to a miserable end, so the best education and +instructions are often of no effect to stubborn and corrupt minds. This +was the case of John Gillingham, of whom we are now to give an account. +He had been brought up at Westminster School, but all he acquired there +was only a smattering of learning and a great deal of self-conceit, +fancying labour was below him, and that he ought to live the life of a +gentleman. He associated himself with such companions as pretended to +teach him this art of easily attaining money. He was a person very +inclinable to follow such advices, and therefore readily came into these +proposals as soon as they were made. Amongst the rest of his +acquaintance, he became very intimate with Burnworth, and made one of +the number in attacking the chair of the Earl of Scarborough, near St. +James's Church, and was the person who shot the chairman in the +shoulder. + +As he was a young man of a good deal of spirit, so he committed +abundance of facts in a very short space; but the indefatigable industry +which the officers of Justice exerted, in apprehending Frazier's +desperate gang, soon brought him to the miserable end consequent from +such wicked courses. He was indicted for assaulting Robert Sherly, Esq., +upon the highway, and taking from him a watch value £20. He was a second +time indicted for assaulting John du Cummins, a footman, and taking from +him a silver watch, a snuff-box, and five guineas in money. Both of +which facts he steadily denied after his conviction, but there was a +third crime of which he was convicted, viz., sending a letter to extort +money from Simon Smith, Esq., and which follows in these words: + + Mr. Smith. + + I desire you to send me twenty guineas by the bearer, without + letting him know what it is for, he is innocent of the contents if + your offer to speak of this to anybody---- My blood and soul, if you + are not dead man before monday morning; and if you don't send the + money, the devil dash my brains out, if I don't shoot you the first + time you stir out of doors, or if I should be taken there are others + that will do your business for you by the first opportunity, + therefore pray fail not ----. Strike me to instant D---- if I am not + as good as my word. + + To Mr. Smith in Great George Street over against the Church near + Hanover Square. + +He confessed that he knew of the writing and sending this epistle, but +denied that he did it himself, and indeed the indictment set forth that +it was in company with one John Mason, then deceased, that the said +conspiracy was formed. Under sentence of death, he behaved himself very +sillily, laughing and scoffing at his approaching end, and saying to one +of his companions, as the keeper went downstairs before them, _Let us +knock him down and take his keys from him. If one leads to heaven, and +the other to hell, we shall at least have a chance to get the right!_ +Yet when death with all its horror stared him in the face, he began to +relent in his behaviour, and to acknowledge the justness of that +sentence which had doomed him to death. At the place of execution he +prayed with great earnestness, confessed he had been a grievous sinner, +and seemed in great confusion in his last moments. He was about twenty +years of age when he died, which was on the 9th of May, 1726, at Tyburn. + + + + +The Life of JOHN COTTERELL, a Thief, etc. + + +The miseries of life are so many, so deep, so sudden, and so +irretrievable, that when we consider them attentively, they ought to +inspire us with the greatest submission towards that Providence which +directs us and fills us with humble sentiments of our own capacities, +which are so weak and incapable to protect us from any of those evils to +which from the vicissitudes of life we are continually exposed. + +John Cotterell, the subject of this part of our work, was a person +descended of honest and industrious parents, who were exceedingly +careful in bringing him up as far as they were able, in such a manner as +might enable him to get his bread honestly and with some reputation. +When he was grown big enough to be put out apprentice, they agreed with +a friend of theirs, a master of a vessel, to take him with him two or +three voyages for a trial. John behaved himself so well that he gained +the esteem of his master and the love of all his fellow-sailors. When he +had been five years at sea, his credit was so good, both as to his being +an able sailor and an honest man, that his friends found it no great +difficulty to get him a ship, and after that another. The last he +commanded was of the burthen of 200 tons, but he sustained great losses +himself, and greater still, in supporting his eldest son, who dealt in +the same way, and with a vessel of his own carried on a trade between +England and Holland. Through these misfortunes he fell into +circumstances so narrow that he lay two years and a half in Newgate, for +debt. Being discharged by the Act of Insolvency, and having not +wherewith to sustain himself, he broke one night into a little +chandler's shop, where he used now and then to get a halfpenny-worth of +that destructive liquor gin; and there took a tub with two pounds of +butter, and a pound of pepper in it. But before he got out of the shop +he was apprehended, and at the next sessions was found guilty of the +fact. + +While under sentence of death he behaved with the greatest gravity, +averred that it was the first thing of that kind he had ever done; +indeed, his character appeared to be very good, for though his +acquaintance in town had done little for him hitherto, yet when they saw +that they should not be long troubled with him, they sent him good +books, and provided everything that was necessary for him; so that with +much resignation he finished his days, with the other malefactors, at +Tyburn, in the fifty-second year of his age, on the 9th day of May, +1726. + + + + +The Life of CATHERINE HAYES, a bloody and inhuman Murderess, etc. + + +Though all crimes are in this nature foul, yet some are apparently more +heinous, and of a blacker die than others. Murder has in all ages and in +all climates been amongst the number of those offences held to be most +enormous and the most shocking to human nature of any other; yet even +this admits sometimes of aggravation, and the laws of England have made +a distinction between the murder of a stranger, and of him or her to +whom we owe a civil, or natural obedience. Hence it is that killing a +husband, or a master is distinguished under the name of _petit_ treason. +Yet even this, in the story we are about to relate, had several +heightening circumstances, the poor man having both a son and a wife +imbrueing their hands in his blood. + +Catherine Hall, afterwards by her marriage, Catherine Hayes, was born in +the year 1690, at a village in the borders of Warwickshire, within four +miles of Birmingham. Her parents were so poor as to receive the +assistance of the parish and so careless of their daughter that they +never gave her the least education. While a girl she discovered marks of +so violent and turbulent a temper that she totally threw off all respect +and obedience to her parents, giving a loose to her passions and +gratifying herself in all her vicious inclinations. + +About the year 1705, some officers coming into the neighbourhood to +recruit, Kate was so much taken with the fellows in red that she +strolled away with them, until they came to a village called Great +Ombersley in Warwickshire, where they very ungenerously left her behind +them. This elopement of her sparks drove her almost mad, so that she +went like a distracted creature about the country, until coming to Mr. +Hayes's door, his wife in compassion took her in out of charity. The +eldest child of the family was John Hayes, the deceased; who being then +about twenty-one years of age, found so many charms in this Catherine +Hall that soon after he coming into the house he made proposals to her +of marriage. There is no doubt of their being readily enough received, +and as they both were sensible how disagreeable a thing it would be to +his parents, they agreed to keep it secret. They quickly adjusted the +measures that were to be taken in order to their being married at +Worcester; for which purpose Mr. John Hayes pretended to his mother that +he wanted some tools in the way of his trade, viz., that of a carpenter, +for which it was necessary he should go to Worcester; and under this +colour he procured also as much money as, with what he had already had, +was sufficient to defray the expense of the intended wedding. + +Catherine having quitted the house without the formality of bidding them +adieu, and meeting at the appointed place, they accompanied each other +to Worcester, where the wedding was soon celebrated. The same day Mrs. +Catherine Hayes had the fortune to meet with some of her quondam +acquaintance at Worcester. They understanding that she was that day +married, and where the nuptials were to be solemnized, consulted among +themselves how to make a penny of the bridegroom. Accordingly deferring +the execution of their intentions until the evening, just as Mr. Hayes +was got into bed to his wife, coming to the house where he lodged, they +forcibly entered the room, and dragged the bridegroom away, pretending +to impress him for her Majesty's service. + +This proceeding broke the measures Mr. John Hayes had concerted with his +bride, to keep their wedding secret; for finding no redemption from +their hands, without the expense of a larger sum of money than he was +master of, he was necessitated to let his father know of his misfortune. +Mr. Hayes hearing of his son's adventures, as well of his marriage and +his being pressed at the same time, his resentment for the one did not +extinguish his affection for him as a father, but that he resolved to +deliver him from his troubles; and accordingly, taking a gentleman in +the neighbourhood along with him, he went for Worcester. At their +arrival there, they found Mr. John Hayes in the hands of the officers, +who insisted upon detaining him for her Majesty's service; but his +father and the gentleman he brought with him by his authority, soon made +them sensible of their errors, and instead of making a benefit of him, +as they proposed, they were glad to discharge him, which they did +immediately. Mr. Hayes having acted thus far in favour of his son, then +expressed his resentment for his having married without his consent; but +it being too late to prevent it, there was no other remedy but to bear +with the same. For sometime afterwards Mr. Hayes and his bride lived in +the neighbourhood, and as he followed his business as a carpenter, his +father and mother grew more reconciled. But Mrs. Catherine Hayes, who +better approved of a travelling than a settled life, persuaded her +husband to enter himself a volunteer in a regiment then at Worcester, +which he did, and went away with them, where he continued for some time. + +Mr. John Hayes being in garrison in the Isle of Wight, Mrs. Hayes took +an opportunity of going over thither and continued with him for some +time; until Mr. Hayes, not content with such a lazy indolent life +(wherein he could find no advantage, unless it were the gratifying his +wife) solicited his father to procure his discharge, which at length he +was prevailed upon to consent to. But he found much difficulty in +perfecting the same, for the several journeys he was necessitated to +undertake before it could be done, and the expenses of procuring such +discharge, amounted to sixty pound. But having at last, at this great +expense and trouble, procured his son's release, Mr. John Hayes and his +wife returned to Worcestershire; and his father the better to induce him +to settle himself in business in the country, put him into an estate of +ten pound _per annum_, hoping that, with the benefit of his trade, would +enable them to live handsomely and creditably, and change her roving +inclinations, he being sensible that his son's ramble had been +occasioned through his wife's persuasions. But Mr. John Hayes +representing to his father that it was not possible for him and his wife +to live on that estate only, persuaded his father to let him have +another also, a leasehold of sixteen pound _per annum;_ upon which he +lived during the continuance of the lease, his father paying the annual +rent thereof until it expired. + +The characters of Mr. John Hayes and his wife were vastly different. He +had the repute of a sober, sedate, honest, quiet, peaceable man, and a +very good husband, the only objection his friends would admit of against +him was that he was of too parsimonious and frugal temper, and that he +was rather too indulgent of his wife, who repaid his kindness with ill +usage, and frequently very opprobious language. As to his wife, she was +on all hands allowed to be a very turbulent, vexatious person, always +setting people together by the ears, and never free from quarrels and +controversies in the neighbourhood, giving ill advice, and fomenting +disputes to the disturbance of all her friends and acquaintance. + +This unhappiness in her temper induced Mr. John Hayes's relations to +persuade him to settle in some remote place, at a distance from and +unknown to her for some time, to see if that would have any effect upon +her turbulent disposition; but Mr. Hayes would not approve of that +advice, nor consent to a separation. In this manner they lived for the +space of about six years, until the lease of the last-mentioned farm +expired; about which time Mrs. Hayes persuaded Mr. John Hayes to leave +the country and come to London, which about twelve months afterwards, +through her persuasions he did, in the year 1719. Upon their arrival in +town they took a house, part of which they let out in lodging, and sold +sea coal, chandlery-ware, etc., whereby they lived in a creditable +manner. And though Mr. Hayes was of a very indulgent temper, yet she was +so unhappy as to be frequently jarring, and a change of climate having +made no alteration in her temper, she continued her same passionate +nature, and frequent bickerings and disputes with her neighbours, as +well as before in the country. + +In this business they picked up money, and Mr. Hayes received the yearly +rent of the first-mentioned estate, though in town; and by lending out +money in small sums, amongst his country people improved the same +considerably. In speaking of Mr. Hayes to his friends and acquaintance +she would frequently give him the best of characters, and commend him +for an indulgent husband; notwithstanding which, to some of her +particular cronies who knew not Mr. Hayes's temper, she would exclaim +against him, and told them particularly (above a year before the murder +was committed) that it was no more sin to kill him (meaning her husband) +than to kill a mad dog, and that one time or other she might give him a +jolt. + +Afterwards they removed into Tottenham Court Road, where they lived for +some time, following the same business as formerly; from whence about +two years afterwards, they removed into Tyburn Road,[75] a few doors +above where the murder was committed. There they lived about twelve +months, Mr. Hayes supporting himself chiefly in lending out money upon +pledges, and sometimes working at his profession, and in husbandry, till +it was computed he had picked up a pretty handsome sum of money. About +ten months before the murder they removed a little lower to the house of +Mr. Whinyard, where the murder was committed, taking lodgings up two +pairs of stairs. There it was that Thomas Billings, by trade a tailor, +who wrought journey-work in and about Monmouth Street; under pretence +of being Mrs. Hayes's countryman came to see them. He did so, and +continued in the house about six weeks before the death of Mr. Hayes. + +He (Mr. Hayes) had occasion to go a little way out of town, of which his +wife gave her associates immediate notice, and they thereupon flocked +thither to junket with her until the time they expected his return. Some +of the neighbours out of ill-will which they bore the woman, gave him +intelligence of it as soon as he came back, upon which they had +abundance of high words, and at last Mr. Hayes gave her a blow or two. +Maybe this difference was in some degree the source of that malice which +she afterwards vented upon him. + +About this time Thomas Wood, who was a neighbour's son in the country, +and an intimate acquaintance both of Mr. Hayes and his wife, came to +town, and pressing being at that time very hot he was obliged to quit +his lodgings; and thereupon Mr. Hayes very kindly invited him to accept +of the convenience of theirs, promising him moreover, that as he was out +of business, he would recommend him to his friends, and acquaintances. +Wood accepted the offer, and lay with Billings. In three or four days' +time, Mrs. Hayes having taken every opportunity to caress him, opened to +him a desire of being rid of her husband, at which Wood, as he very well +might, was exceedingly surprised, and demonstrated the business as well +as cruelty there would be in such an action, if committed by him, who +besides the general ties of humanity, stood particularly obliged to him +as his neighbour and his friend. Mrs. Hayes did not desist upon this, +but in order to hush his scruples would fain have persuaded him that +there was no more sin in killing Hayes than in killing a brute-beast for +that he was void of all religion and goodness, an enemy to God, and +therefore unworthy of his protection; that he had killed a man in the +country, and destroyed two of his and her children, one of which was +buried under an apple tree, the other under a pear tree, in the country. +To these fictitious tales she added another, which perhaps had the +greatest weight, viz., that if he were dead, she should be the mistress +of fifteen hundred pounds. _And then_, says she, _you may be master +thereof, if you will help to get him out of the way. Billings has agreed +too, if you'll make a third, and so all may be finished without danger._ + +A few days after this, Wood's occasions called him out of town. On his +return, which was the first day of March, he found Mr. Hayes and his +wife and Billings very merry together. Amongst other things which passed +in conversation, Mr. Hayes happened to say that he and another person +once drank as much wine between them as came to a guinea, without +either of them being fuddled. Upon this Billings proposed a wager on +these terms, that half a dozen bottles of the best mountain wine should +be fetched, which if Mr. Hayes could drink without being disordered, +then Billings should pay for it; but if not, then it should be at the +cost of Mr. Hayes. He accepting of this proposal, Mrs. Hayes and the two +men went together to the Brawn's Head, in New Bond Street, to fetch the +wine. As they were going thither, she put them in mind of the +proposition she had made them to murder Mr. Hayes, and said they could +not have a better opportunity than at present, when he should be +intoxicated with liquor. Whereupon Wood made answer that it would be the +most inhuman act in the world to murder a man in cool blood, and that, +too, when he was in liquor. Mrs. Hayes had recourse to her old +arguments, and Billings joining with her, Wood suffered himself to be +overpowered. + +When they came to the tavern they called for a pint of the best +mountain, and after they had drank it ordered a gallon and a half to be +sent home to their lodgings, and Mrs. Hayes paid ten shillings and +sixpence for it, which was what it came to. Then they all came back and +sat down together to see Mr. Hayes drink the wager, and while he +swallowed the wine, they called for two or three full pots of beer, in +order to entertain themselves. Mr. Hayes, when he had almost finished +the wine, began to grow very merry, singing and dancing about the room +with all the gaiety which is natural to having taken a little too much +wine. But Mrs. Hayes was so fearful of his not having his dose, that she +sent away privately for another bottle, of which having drunk some also, +it quite finished the work, by depriving him totally of his +understanding; however, reeling into the other room, he there threw +himself across the bed and fell fast asleep. No sooner did his wife +perceive it than she came and excited the two men to go in and do the +work; whereupon Billings taking a coal-hatchet in his hand, going into +the other room, struck Mr. Hayes therewith on the back of the head. This +blow fractured the skull, and made him, through the agony of the pain, +stamp violently upon the ground, in so much that it alarmed the people +who lay in the garret; and Wood fearing the consequence, went in and +repeated the blows, though that was needless since the first was mortal +in itself, and he already lay still and quiet. By this time Mrs. +Springate, whose husband lodged over Mr. Hayes's head, on hearing the +noise came down to enquire the reason of it, complaining at the same +time that it so disturbed her family that they could not rest. Mrs. +Hayes thereupon told her that her husband had had some company with him, +who growing merry with their liquor were a little noisy, but that they +were going immediately, and desired she would be easy. Upon this she +went up again for the present, and the three murderers began immediately +to consult how to get rid of the body. + +The men were in so much terror and confusion that they knew not what to +do; but Mrs. Hayes quickly thought of an expedient in which they all +agreed. She said that if the head was cut off, there would not be near +so much difficulty in carrying off the body, which could not be known. +In order to put this design in execution, they got a pail and she +herself carrying the candle, they all entered the room where the +deceased lay. Then the woman holding the pail, Billings drew the body by +the head over the bedside, that the blood might bleed the more freely +into it; and Wood with his pocket penknife cut it off. As soon as it was +severed from the body, and the bleeding was over, they poured the blood +down a wooden sink at the window, and after it several pails of water, +in order to wash it quite away that it might not be perceived in the +morning. However, their precautions were not altogether effectual, for +the next morning Springate found several clots of blood, but not +suspecting anything of the matter, threw them away. Neither had they +escaped letting some tokens of their cruelty fall upon the floor, stain +the wall of the room, and even spin up against the ceiling, which it may +be supposed happened at the giving the first blow. + +When they had finished the decollation, they again consulted what was +next to be done. Mrs. Hayes was for boiling it in a pot till nothing but +the skull remained, which would effectually prevent anybody's knowing to +whom it belonged; but the two men thinking this too dilatory a method, +they resolved to put it in a pail, and go together and throw it in the +Thames. Springate, hearing a bustling in Mr. Hayes's room for some time, +and then somebody going down stairs, called again to know who it was and +what was the occasion of it (it being then about eleven o'clock). Mrs. +Hayes answered that it was her husband, who was going a journey into the +country, and pretended to take a formal leave of him, expressing her +sorrow that he was obliged to go out of town at that time of night, and +her fear least any accident should attend him in his journey. + +Billings and Wood being thus gone to dispose of the head, went towards +Whitehall, intending to have thrown the same into the river there, but +the gates being shut, they were obliged to go forward as far as Mr. +Macreth's wharf, near the Horseferry at Westminster, where Billings +setting down the pail from under his great coat, Wood took up the same +with the head therein, and threw it into the dock before the Wharf. It +was expected the same would have been carried away by the tide, but the +water being then ebbing, it was left behind. There were also some +lighters lying over against the dock, and one of the lightermen walking +then on board, saw them throw the pail into the dark; but by the +obscurity of the night, the distance, and having no suspicion, they did +not apprehend anything of the matter. Having thus done, they returned +home again to Mrs. Hayes's where they arrived about twelve o'clock and +being let in, found Mrs. Hayes had been very busily employed in washing +the floor, and scraping the blood off from it, and from the walls, etc. +After which, they all three went into the fore room, Billings and Wood +went to bed there, and Mrs. Hayes sat by them till morning. + +On the morning of the second of March, about the dawning of the day, one +Robinson a watchman saw a man's head lying in the dock, and the pail +near it. His surprise occasioned his calling some persons to assist in +taking up the head, and finding the pail bloody, they conjectured the +head had been brought thither in it. Their suspicions were fully +confirmed therein by the lighterman who saw Billings and Wood throw the +same into the dock, as before mentioned. + +It was now time for Mrs. Hayes, Billings, and Wood to consider how they +should dispose of the body. Mrs. Hayes and Wood proposed to put it in a +box, where it might lie concealed till a convenient opportunity offered +for removing it. This being approved of, Mrs. Hayes brought a box; but +upon their endeavouring to put it in, the box was not big enough to hold +it. They had before wrapped it up in a blanket, out of which they took +it; Mrs. Hayes proposed to cut off the arms and legs, and they again +attempted to put it in, but the box would not hold it. Then they cut off +the thighs, and laying it piecemeal in the box, concealed them until +night. + +In the meantime Mr. Hayes's head, which had been found as before, had +sufficiently alarmed the town, and information was given to the +neighbouring justices of the peace. The parish officers did all that was +possible towards the discovery of the persons guilty of perpetrating so +horrid an action. They caused the head to be cleaned, the face to be +washed from the dirt and blood, and the hair to be combed, and then the +head to be set upon a post in public view in St. Margaret's churchyard, +Westminster, so that everybody might have free access to see the same, +with some of the parish officers to attend, hoping by that means a +discovery of the same might be attained. The high constable of +Westminster liberty also issued private orders to all the petty +constables, watchmen, and other officers of that district, to keep a +strict eye on all coaches, carts, etc., passing in the night through +their liberty, imagining that the perpetrators of such a horrid fact +would endeavour to free themselves of the body in the same manner as +they had done the head. + +These orders were executed for some time, with all the secrecy +imaginable, under various pretences, but unsuccessfully; the head also +continued to be exposed for some days in the manner described, which +drew a prodigious number of people to see it, but without attaining any +discovery of the murderers. It would be impertinent to mention the +various opinions of the town upon this occasion, for they being founded +upon conjecture only, were far wide of the truth. Many people either +remembered or fancied they had seen that face before, but none could +tell where or who it belonged to. + +On the second of March, in the evening, Catherine Hayes, Thomas Wood, +and Thomas Billings took the body and disjointed members out of the box, +and wrapped them up in two blankets, viz., the body in one, and the +limbs in the other. Then Billings and Wood first took up the body, and +about nine o'clock in the evening carried it by turns into Marylebone +Fields, and threw the same into a pond (which Wood in the day time had +been hunting for) and returning back again about eleven o'clock the same +night, took up the limbs in the other old blanket, and carried them by +turns to the same place, throwing them in also. About twelve o'clock the +same night, they returned back again, and knocking at the door were let +in by Mary Springate. They went up to bed in Mrs. Hayes's fore-room, and +Mrs. Hayes stayed with them all night, sometimes sitting up, and +sometimes lay down upon the bed by them. + +The same day one Bennet, the king's organ-maker's apprentice, going to +Westminster to see the head, believed it to be Mr. Hayes's, he being +intimately acquainted with him; and thereupon went and informed Mrs. +Hayes, that the head exposed to view in St. Margaret's churchyard, was +so very like Mr. Hayes's that he believed it to be his. Upon which Mrs. +Hayes assured him that Mr. Hayes was very well and reproved him very +sharply for forming such an opinion, telling him he must be very +cautious how he raised such false and scandalous reports, for that he +might thereby bring himself into a great deal of trouble. This reprimand +put a stop to the youth's saying anything about it, and having no other +reason than the similitude of faces, he said no more about it. The same +day also Mr. Samuel Patrick, having been at Westminster to see the head, +went from thence to Mr. Grainger's at the Dog and Dial in Monmouth +Street, where Mr. Hayes and his wife were intimately acquainted, they +and most of their journeymen servants being Worcestershire people. Mr. +Patrick told them that he had been to see the head, and that in his +opinion it was the most like to their countryman Hayes of any he ever +saw. + +Billings being there then at work, some of the servants replied it could +not be his, because there being one of Mrs. Hayes's lodgers (meaning +Billings) then at work, they should have heard of it by him if Mr. Hayes +had been missing, or any accident had happened to him; to which Billings +made answer, that Mr. Hayes was then alive and well, and that he left him +in bed, when he came to work in the morning. The third day of March, Mrs. +Hayes gave Wood a white coat and a pair of leathern breeches of Mr. +Hayes's, which he carried with him to Greenford, near Harrow-on-the-Hill. +Mrs. Springate observed Wood carrying these things downstairs, bundled up +in a white cloth, whereupon she told Mrs. Hayes that Wood was gone down +with a bundle. Mrs. Hayes replied it was a suit of clothes he had +borrowed of a neighbour, and was going to carry them home again. + +On the fourth of March, one Mrs. Longmore coming to visit Mrs. Hayes, +enquired how Mr. Hayes did, and where he was. Mrs. Hayes answered, that +he was gone to take a walk, and then enquired what news there was about +town. Her visitor told her that most people's discourse run upon the +man's head that had been found at Westminster; Mrs. Hayes seemed to +wonder very much at the wickedness of the age, and exclaimed vehemently +against such barbarous murderers, adding, _Here is a discourse, too, in +our neighbourhood, of a woman who has been found in the fields, mangled +and cut to pieces. It may be so_, replied Mrs. Longmore, _but I have +heard nothing of it._ + +The next day Wood came again to town, and applied himself to his +landlady, Mrs. Hayes, who gave him a pair of shoes, a pair of stockings +and a waistcoat of the deceased, and five shillings in money, telling +him she would continue to supply him whenever he wanted. She informed +him also of her husband's head being found, and though it had been for +some time exposed, yet nobody had owned it. + +On the sixth of March, the parish officers considering that it might +putrify if it continued longer in the air, agreed with one Mr. +Westbrook, a surgeon, to have it preserved in spirits. He having +accordingly provided a proper glass, put it therein, and showed it to +all persons who were desirous of seeing it. Yet the murder remained +still undiscovered; and notwithstanding the multitude which had seen it, +yet none pretended to be directly positive of the face, though many +agreed in their having seen it before. + +[Illustration: THE MURDER OF JOHN HAYES + +Catherine Hayes assisting Wood and Billings to cut off the head from her +husband's corpse + +(_From the Annals of Newgate_)] + +In the meantime Mrs. Hayes quitted her lodgings, and removed from +where the murder was committed to Mr. Jones's, a distiller in the +neighbourhood, with Billings, Wood, and Springate, for whom she paid one +quarter's rent at her old lodgings. During this time she employed +herself in getting as much of her husband's effects as possibly she +could, and amongst other papers and securities, finding a bond due to +Mr. Hayes from John Davis, who had married Mr. Hayes's sister, she +consulted how to get the money. To which purpose she sent for one Mr. +Leonard Myring, a barber, and told him that she, knowing him to be her +husband's particular friend and acquaintance, and he then being under +some misfortunes, through which she feared he would not presently +return, she knew not how to recover several sums of money that were due +to her husband, unless by sending fictitious letters in his name, to the +several persons from whom the same were due. Mr. Myring considering the +consequences of such a proceeding declined it. But she prevailed upon +some other person to write letters in Mr. Hayes's name, particularly one +to his mother, on the 14th of March, to demand ten pounds of the +above-mentioned Mr. Davis, threatening if he refused, to sue him for it. +This letter Mr. Hayes's mother received, and acquainting her son-in-law +Davis with the contents thereof, he offered to pay the money on sending +down the bond, of which she by a letter acquainted Mrs. Hayes on the +twenty-second of the same month. + +During these transactions, several persons came daily to Mr. Westbrook's +to see the head. A poor woman at Kingsland, whose husband had been +missing the day before it was found, was one amongst them. At first +sight she fancied it bore some resemblance to that of her husband, but +was not positive enough to swear to it; yet her suspicion at first was +sufficient to ground a report, which flew about the town, in the +evening, and some enquiries were made after the body of the person to +whom it was supposed to belong but to no purpose. + +Mrs. Hayes, in the meanwhile, took all the pains imaginable to propagate +a story of Mr. Hayes's withdrawing on account of an unlucky blow he had +given to a person in a quarrel, and which made him apprehensive of a +prosecution, though he was then in treaty with the widow in order to +make it up. This story she at first told with many injunctions of +secrecy, to persons who she had good reason to believe would, +notwithstanding her injunctions, tell it again. It happened, in the +interim, that one Mr. Joseph Ashby, who had been an intimate +acquaintance of Mr. Hayes, came to see her. She, with a great deal of +pretended concern, communicated the tale she had framed to him. Mr. +Ashby asked whether the person he had killed was him to whom the head +belonged; she said, No, the man who died by Mr. Hayes's blow was buried +entire, and Mr. Hayes had given or was about to give, a security to pay +the widow fifteen pounds _per annum_ to hush it up. Mr. Ashby next +enquired where Mr. Hayes was gone; she said to Portugal, with three or +four foreign gentlemen. + +He thereupon took his leave; but going from thence to Mr. Henry +Longmore's, cousin of Mr. Hayes, he related to him the story Mrs. Hayes +had told him and expressed a good deal of dissatisfaction thereat, +desiring Mr. Longmore to go to her and make the same enquiry as he had +done, but without saying they had seen one another. Mr. Longmore went +thereupon directly to Mrs. Hayes's, and enquired in a peremptory tone +for her husband. In answer she said that she had supposed Mr. Ashby had +acquainted him with the misfortune which had befallen him. Mr. Longmore +replied he had not seen Mr. Ashby for a considerable time and knew +nothing of his cousin's misfortune, not judging of any that could attend +him, for he believed he was not indebted to anybody. He then asked if he +was in prison for debt. She answered him, No, 'twas worse than that. Mr. +Longmore demanded what worse could befall him. As to any debts, he +believed he had not contracted any. At which she blessed God and said +that neither Mr. Hayes nor herself owed a farthing to any person in the +world. Mr. Longmore again importuning her to know what he had done to +occasion his absconding so, said _I suppose he has not murdered +anybody?_ To this she replied, he had, and beckoning him to come +upstairs, related to him the story as before mentioned. + +Mr. Longmore being inquisitive which way he was gone, she told him into +Herefordshire, that Mr. Hayes had taken four pocket pistols with him for +his security, viz., one under each arm, and two in his pockets. Mr. +Longmore answered, 'twould be dangerous for him to travel in that +manner; that any person seeing him so armed with pistols, would cause +him to be apprehended on suspicion of being a highwayman. To which she +assured him that it was his usual manner; the reason of it was that he +had like to have been robbed coming out of the country, and that once he +was apprehended on suspicion of being an highwayman, but that a +gentleman who knew him, accidentally came in, and seeing him in custody, +passed his word for his appearance, by which he was discharged. To that +Mr. Longmore made answer that it was very improbable of his ever being +stopped on suspicion of being an highwayman, and discharged upon a man's +only passing his word for his appearance; he farther persisted which way +he was supplied with money for his journey. She told him she had sewn +twenty-six guineas into his clothes, and that he had about him seventeen +shillings in new silver. She added that Springate, who lodged there, was +privy to the whole transaction, for which reason she paid a quarter's +rent for her at her old lodgings, and the better to maintain what she +had averred, called Springate to justify the truth of it. In concluding +the discourse, she reflected on the unkind usage of Mr. Hayes towards +her, which surprised Mr. Longmore more than anything else she had said +yet, and strengthened his suspicion, because he had often been a witness +to her giving Mr. Hayes the best of characters, viz., of a most +indulgent, tender husband. + +Mr. Longmore then took leave of her and returned back to his friend Mr. +Ashby; when, after comparing their several notes together, they judged +by very apparent reasons that Mr. Hayes must have had very ill play +shown him. Upon which they agreed to go to Mr. Eaton, a Life Guardman +who was also an acquaintance of Mr. Hayes's, which accordingly they did, +intending him to have gone to Mrs. Hayes also, to have heard what +relation she would give him concerning her husband. They went and +enquired at several places for him, but he was not then to be found; +upon which Mr. Longmore and Mr. Ashby went down to Westminster to see +the head at Mr. Westbrook's. When they came there, Mr. Westbrook told +them that the head had been owned by a woman from Kingsland, who thought +it to be her husband, but was not certain enough to swear it, though the +circumstances were strong, because he had been missing from the day +before the head was found. They desired to see it and Mr. Ashby first +went upstairs to look on it, and coming down, told Mr. Longmore he +really thought it to be Mr. Hayes's head, upon which Mr. Longmore went +up to see it, and after examining it more particularly than Mr. Ashby, +confirmed him in his suspicion. Then they returned to seek out Mr. +Eaton, and finding him at home, informed him of their proceedings, with +the sufficient reasons upon which their suspicions were founded, and +compelled him to go with them to enquire into the affair. + +Mr. Eaton pressed them to stay to dinner with him, which at first they +agreed to, but afterwards altering their minds, went all down to Mr. +Longmore's house and there renewed the reasons of their suspicions, not +only of Mr. Hayes's being murdered (being satisfied with seeing the +head) but also that his wife was privy to the same. But in order to be +more fully satisfied they agreed that Mr. Eaton should in a day or two's +time go and enquire for Mr. Hayes, but withal taking no notice of his +having seen Mr. Longmore and Mr. Ashby. In the meantime Mr. Longmore's +brother interfered, saying, that it seemed apparent to him that his +cousin (Mr. Hayes) had been murdered, and that Mrs. Hayes appeared very +suspicious to him of being guilty with some other persons, viz., Wood +and Billings (who she told him, had drunk with him the night before his +journey). He added, moreover, that he thought time was not to be +delayed, because they might remove from their lodgings upon the least +apprehensions of a discovery. + +His opinion prevailed as the most reasonable, and Mr. Longmore said they +would go about it immediately. Accordingly he immediately applied to Mr. +Justice Lambert and acquainted him with the grounds of their suspicions +and their desire of his granting a warrant for the apprehension of the +parties. On hearing the story the justice not only readily agreed with +them in their suspicions, and complied with their demand, but said also +he would get proper officers to execute it in the evening, about nine +o'clock, putting Mrs. Hayes, Thomas Wood, Thomas Billings, and Mary +Springate into a special warrant for that purpose. + +At the hour appointed they met, and Mr. Eaton bringing two officers of +the Guards along with them, they went altogether to the house where Mrs. +Hayes lodged. They went directly in and upstairs, at which Mr. Jones, +who kept the house, demanded who and what they were. He was answered +that they were sufficiently authorised in all they did, desiring him at +the same time to bring candles and he should see on what occasion they +came. Light being thereupon brought they went all upstairs together. +Justice Lambert rapped at Mrs. Hayes's door with his cane; she demanded +who was there, for that she was in bed, on which she was bid to get up +and open it, or they would break it open. + +After some time taken to put on her clothes, she came and opened it. As +soon as they were in the room they seized her and Billings, who was +sitting upon her bedside, without either shoes or stockings on. The +justice asked whether he had been in bed with her. She said no, but that +he sat there to mend his stockings. _Why, then_, replied Mr. Lambert, +_he has very good eyes to see to do it without fire or candle_, +whereupon they seized him too. And leaving persons below to guard them, +they went up and apprehended Springate. After an examination in which +they would confess nothing, they committed Billings to New Prison, +Springate to the Gate House, and Mrs. Hayes to Tothill Fields Bridewell. + +The consciousness of her own guilt made Mrs. Hayes very assiduous in +contriving such a method of behaviour as might carry the greatest +appearance of innocence. In the first place, therefore, she entreated +Mr. Longmore that she might be admitted to see the head, in which +request she was indulged by Mr. Lambert, who ordered her to have a sight +of it as she came from Tothill Fields Bridewell to her examination. +Accordingly Mr. Longmore attending the officers to bring Mrs. Hayes from +thence the next day to Mr. Lambert's, ordered the coach to stop at Mr. +Westbrook's door. And as soon as he entered the house, being admitted +into the room, she threw herself down upon her knees, crying out in +great agonies, _Oh, it is my dear husband's head! It is my dear +husband's head!_ and embracing the glass in her arms kissed the outside +of it several times. In the meantime Mr. Westbrook coming in, told her +that if it was his head she should have a plainer view of it, that he +would take it out of the glass for her to have a full sight of it, which +he did, by lifting it up by the hair and brought it to her. Taking it in +her arms, she kissed it, and seemed in great confusion, withal begging +to have a lock of his hair; but Mr. Westbrook replied that he was afraid +she had had too much of his blood already. At which she fainted away, +and after recovering, was carried to Mr. Lambert's, to be examined +before him and some other Justices of the Peace. While these things were +in agitation, one Mr. Huddle and his servant walking in Marylebone +Fields in the evening, espied something lying in one of the ponds in the +fields, which after they had examined it they found to be the legs, +thighs, and arms of a man. They, being very much surprised at this, +determined to search farther, and the next morning getting assistance +drained the pond, where to their great astonishment they pulled out the +body of a man wrapped up in a blanket; with the news of which, while +Mrs. Hayes was under examination, Mr. Crosby, a constable, came down to +the justices, not doubting but this was the body of Mr. Hayes which he +had found thus mangled and dismembered. + +Yet, though she was somewhat confounded at the new discovery made hereby +of the cruelty with which her late husband had been treated, she could +not, however, be prevailed on to make any discovery or acknowledgment of +her knowing anything of the fact; whereupon the justices who examined +her, committed her that afternoon to Newgate, the mob attending her +thither with loud acclamations of joy at her commitment, and ardent +wishes of her coming to a just punishment, as if they were already +convinced of her guilt. + +Sunday morning following, Thomas Wood came to town from Greenford, near +Harrow, having heard nothing further of the affair, or of the taking up +of Mrs. Hayes, Billings, or Springate. The first place he went to was +Mrs. Hayes's old lodging; there he was answered that she had moved to +Mr. Jones's, a distiller, a little farther in the street. Thither he +went, where the people suspected of the murder said Mrs. Hayes was gone +to the Green Dragon in King Street, which is Mrs. Longmore's house; and +a man who was there told him, moreover, that he was going thither and +would show him the way; Wood being on horseback followed him, and he led +him the way to Mr. Longmore's house. At this time Mr. Longmore's brother +coming to the door, and seeing Wood, immediately seized him, and +unhorseing him, dragged him indoors, sent for officers and charged them +with him on suspicion of the murder. From thence he was carried before +Mr. Justice Lambert, who asked him many questions in relation to the +murder; but he would confess nothing, whereupon he was committed to +Tothill Fields Bridewell. While he was there he heard the various +reports of persons concerning the murder, and from those, judging it +impossible to prevent a full discovery or evade the proofs that were +against him, he resolved to name an ample confession of the whole +affair. Mr. Lambert being acquainted with this, he with John Madun and +Thomas Salt, Esqs., two other justices of the peace, went to Tothill +Fields Bridewell, to take his examination, in which he seemed very +ingenuous and ample declaring all the particulars before mentioned, with +this addition that Catherine Hayes was the first promoter of, and a +great assistance in several parts of this horrid affair; that he had +been drawn into the commission thereof partly through poverty, and +partly through her crafty insinuations, who by feeding them with +liquors, had spirited them up to the commission of such a piece of +barbarity. He farther acknowledged that ever since the commission of the +fact he had had no peace, but a continual torment of mind; that the very +day before he came from Greenford he was fully persuaded within himself +that he should be seized for the murder when he came to town, and should +never see Greenford more; notwithstanding which he could not refrain +coming, though under an unexpected certainty of being taken, and dying +for the fact. Having thus made a full and ample confession, and signed +the same on the 27th March, his _mittimus_ was made by Justice Lambert, +and he was committed to Newgate, whither he was carried under a guard of +a serjeant and eight soldiers with muskets and bayonets to keep off the +mob, who were so exasperated against the actors of such a piece of +barbarity that without that caution it would have been very difficult to +have carried him thither alive. + +On Monday, the 28th of March, after Mrs. Hayes was committed to Newgate, +being the day after Wood's apprehension, Joseph Mercer going to see +Mrs. Hayes, she told him that as he was Thomas Billings's friend as well +as hers; she desired he would go to him and tell him 'twas in vain to +deny any longer the murder of her husband, for they were equally guilty, +and both must die for it. Billings hearing this and that Wood was +apprehended and had fully confessed the whole affair, thought it +needless to persist any longer in a denial, and therefore the next day, +being the 29th of March, he made a full and plain discovery of the whole +fact, agreeing with Wood in all the particulars; which confession was +made and signed in the presence of Gideon Harvey and Oliver Lambert, +Esqs., two of his Majesty's justices of peace, whereupon he was removed +to Newgate the same day that Wood was. + +Wood and Billings, by their several confessions, acquitting Springate of +having any concern in the aforesaid murder, she was soon discharged from +her confinement. + +This discovery making a great noise in the town, divers of Mrs. Hayes's +went to visit her in Newgate and examine her as to the and motives that +induced her to commit the said fact. Her acknowledgment in general was: +that Mr. Hayes had proved but an indifferent husband to her; that one +night he came home drunk and struck her; that upon complaining to +Billings and Wood they, or one of them, said such a fellow (meaning Mr. +Hayes) ought not to live, and that they would murder him for a +halfpenny. She took that opportunity to propose her bloody intentions to +them, and her willingness that they should do so; she was acquainted +with their design, heard the blow given to Mr. Hayes by Billings, and +then went with Wood into the room; she held the candle while the head +was cut off, and in excuse for this bloody fact, said the devil was got +into them all that made them do it. When she was made sensible that her +crime in law was not only murder, but petty treason, she began to show +great concern indeed, making very strict enquiries into the nature of +the proof which was necessary to convict, and having possessed herself +with a notion that it appeared she murdered him with her own hands, she +was very angry that either Billings or Wood should, by their confession, +acknowledge her guilty of the murder, and thereby subject her to that +punishment which of all others she most feared, often repeating that it +was hard they would not suffer her to be hanged with them! When she was +told of the common report that Billings was her son, she affected, at +first, to make a great mystery of it; said he was her own flesh and +blood, indeed, but that he did not know how nearly he was related to her +himself; at other times she said she would never disown him while she +lived, and showed a greater tenderness for him than for herself, and +sent every day to the condemned hold where he lay, to enquire after his +health. But two or three days before her death, she became as the +ordinary tells us a little more sincere in this respect, affirming that +he was not only her child, but Mr. Hayes's also, though put out to +another person, with whom he was bred up in the country and called him +father. + +There are generally a set of people about most prisons, and especially +about Newgate, who get their living by imposing on unhappy criminals, +and persuading them that guilt may be covered, and Justice evaded by +certain artful contrivances in which they profess themselves masters. +Some of these had got access to this unhappy woman, and had instilled +into her a notion that the confession of Wood and Billings could no way +affect her life. This made her vainly imagine that there was no positive +proof against her, and that circumstantials only would not convict her. +For this reason she resolved to put herself upon her trial (contrary to +her first intentions; for having been asked what she would do, she had +replied she would hold up her hand at the bar and plead guilty, for the +whole world could not save her). Accordingly, being arraigned, she +pleaded not guilty, and put herself upon her trial. Wood and Billings +both pleaded guilty, and desired to make atonement for the same by the +loss of their blood, only praying the Court would be graciously pleased +to favour them so much (as they had made an ingenuous confession) as to +dispense with their being hanged in chains. Mrs. Hayes having thus put +herself upon her trial, the King's Counsel opened the indictment, +setting forth the heinousness of the fact, the premeditated intentions, +and inhuman method of acting it; that his Majesty for the more effectual +prosecution of such vile offenders, and out of a tender regard to the +peace and welfare of all his subjects, and that the actors and +perpetrators of such unheard of barbarities might be brought to condign +punishment, had given them directions to prosecute the prisoners. Then +Richard Bromage, Robert Wilkins, Leonard Myring, Joseph Mercer, John +Blakesby, Mary Springate, and Richard Bows, were called into Court; the +substance of whose evidence against the prisoner was that the prisoner +being interrogated about the murder, when in Newgate, said, the devil +put it into her head, but, however, John Hayes was none of the best of +husbands, for she had been half starved ever since she was married to +him; that she did not in the least repent of anything she had done, but +only in drawing those two poor men into this misfortune; that she was +six weeks importuning them to do it; that they denied it two or three +times, but at last agreed; her husband was so drunk that he fell out of +his chair, then Billings and Wood, carried him into the next room, and +laid him upon the bed; that she was not in that room but in the fore +room on the same floor when he was killed, but they told her that +Billings struck him twice on the head with a pole-axe, and that then +Wood cut his throat; that when he was quite dead she went in and held +the candle whilst Wood cut his head quite off, and afterwards they +chopped off his legs and arms; that they wanted to get him into an old +chest, but were forced to cut off his thighs and arms, and then the +chest would not hold them all; the body and limbs were put into blankets +at several times the next night, and thrown into a pond, that the devil +was in them all, and they were all drunk; that it would signify nothing +to make a long preamble, she could hold up her hand and say she was +guilty, for nothing could save her, nobody could forgive her; that the +men who did the murder were taken and confessed it; that she was not +with them when they did it; that she was sitting by the fire in the shop +upon a stool; that she heard the blow given and somebody stamp; that she +did not cry out, for fear they should kill her; that after the head was +cut off, it was put into a pail, and Wood carried it out; that Billings +sat down by her and cried, and would lie all the rest of the night in +the room with the dead body; that the first occasion of this design to +murder him was because he came home one night and beat her, upon which +Billings said this fellow deserved to be killed, and Wood said he would +be his butcher for a penny; that she told them they might do as they +would do it that night it was done; that she did not tell her husband of +the design to murder him, for fear he should beat her; that she sent to +Billings to let him know it was in vain to deny the murder of her +husband any longer, for they were both guilty, and must both die for it. + +Many other circumstances equally strong with those before mentioned +appeared, and a cloud of witnesses, many of whom (the thing appearing so +plain) were sent away unexamined. She herself confessed at the bar her +previous knowledge of their intent several days before the fact was +committed; yet foolishly insisted on her innocence, because the fact was +not committed by her own hands. The jury, without staying long to +consider of it, found her guilty, and she was taken from the bar in a +very weak and faint condition. On her return to Newgate, she was visited +by several persons of her acquaintance, who yet were so far from doing +her any good that they rather interrupted her in those preparations +which it became a woman in her sad condition to make. + +When they were brought up to receive sentence, Wood and Billings renewed +their former requests to the Court, that they might not be hung in +chains. Mrs. Hayes also made use of her former assertion, that she was +not guilty of actually committing the fact, and therefore begged of the +Court that she might at least have so much mercy shown her as not to be +burnt alive. The judges then proceeded in the manner prescribed by Law, +that is, they sentenced the two men, with the other malefactors, to be +hanged, and Mrs. Hayes, as in all cases of petty treason, to die by fire +at a stake; at which she screamed, and being carried back to Newgate, +fell into violent agonies. When the other criminals were brought thither +after sentence passed, the men were confined in the same place with the +rest in their condition, but Mrs. Hayes was put into a place by herself, +which was at that time the apartment allotted to women under +condemnation. + +Perhaps nobody ever kept their thoughts so long and so closely united to +the world, as appeared by the frequent messages she sent to Wood and +Billings in the place where they were confined, and that tenderness +which she expressed for both of them seemed preferable to any concern +she showed for her own misfortunes, lamenting in the softest terms of +having involved those two poor men in the commission of a fact for which +they were now to lose their lives. In which, indeed, they deserved pity, +since, as I shall show hereafter, they were persons of unblemished +characters, and of virtuous inclinations, until misled by her. + +As to the sense she had of her own circumstances, there has been scarce +any in her state known to behave with so much indifference. She said +often that death was neither grievous nor terrible to her in itself, but +was in some degree shocking from the manner in which she was to die. Her +fondness for Billings hurried her into indecencies of a very +extraordinary nature, such as sitting with her hand in his at chapel, +leaning upon his shoulder, and refusing upon being reprimanded (for +giving offence to the congregation) to make any amendment in respect of +these shocking passages between her and the murderers of her husband, +but on the contrary, she persisted in them to the very minute of her +death. One of her last expressions was to enquire of the executioner +whether he had hanged her dear child, and this, as she was going from +the sledge to the stake, so strong and lasting were the passions of this +woman. + +[Illustration: THE MURDER OF JOHN HAYES + +The murdered man's head is exhibited in the churchyard of St. +Margaret's, Westminster] + +The Friday night before her execution (being assured she should die on +the Monday following) she attempted to make away with herself; to which +purpose she had procured a bottle of strong poison, designing to have +taken the same. But a woman who was in the place with her, touching it +with her lips, found that it burnt them to an extraordinary degree, and +spilling a little on her handkerchief, perceived it burnt that also; +upon which suspecting her intentions, she broke the phial, whereby her +design was frustrated. + +On the day of her execution she was at prayers, and received the +Sacrament in the chapel, where she still showed her tenderness to +Billings. About twelve, the prisoners were severally carried away for +execution; Billings with eight others for various crimes were put into +three carts, and Catherine Hayes was drawn upon a sledge to the place of +execution; where being arrived, Billings with eight others, after having +had some time for their private devotions, were turned off. + +After which Catherine Hayes being brought to the stake, was chained +thereto with an iron chain running round her waist and under her arms +and a rope about her neck, which was drawn through a hole in the post; +then the faggots, intermixed with light brush wood and straw, being +piled all round her, the executioner put fire thereto in several places, +which immediately blazing out, as soon as the same reached her, with her +arms she pushed down those which were before her. When she appeared in +the middle of the flames as low as her waist, the executioner got hold +of the end of the cord which was round her neck, and pulled tight, in +order to strangle her, but the fire soon reached his hand and burnt it, +so that he was obliged to let it go again. More faggots were immediately +thrown upon her, and in about three or four hours she was reduced to +ashes. + +In the meantime, Billings's irons were put upon him as he was hanging on +the gallows; after which being cut down, he was carried to the gibbet, +about one hundred yards distance, and there hung up in chains. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [75] The old name for Oxford Street. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS BILLINGS, a Murderer. + + +We have said so much of this malefactor in the foregoing life, yet it +was necessary, in order to preserve the connection of that barbarous +story, to leave the particular consideration of these two assistants in +the murder of Mr. Hayes to particular chapters, and therefore we will +begin with Billings. Mrs. Hayes, some time before her execution, +confidently averred that he was the son both of Mr. Hayes and of +herself, that his father not liking him, he was put out to relations of +hers and took the name of Billings from his godfather. But Mr. Hayes's +relations confidently denying all this, and he himself saying he knew +nothing more than that he called his father a shoemaker in the country, +who some time since was dead. He was put apprentice to a tailor with +whom he served his time, and then came up to London to work +journey-work, which he did in Monmouth Street, lodging at Mr. Hayes's +and believed himself nearly related to his wife, who from the influence +she always maintained over him, drew him to the commission of that +horrid fact. + +But the most certain opinion is that he was found in a basket upon the +common, near the place where Mrs. Hayes lived before she married Mr. +Hayes, that he was at that time of his death about twenty-two or +twenty-three years old; whereas it evidently appeared by her own +confession, that she had been married to Mr. Hayes but twenty years and +eight months. He was put out to nurse by the charge of the parish, to +people whose names were Billings, and when he was big enough to go +apprentice, was bound to one Mr. Wetherland, a tailor, to whom the +parish gave forty shillings with him. It is very probable he might be a +natural son of Mrs. Hayes's, born in her rambles (of which we have +hinted) before her marriage, and dropped by her in the place where he +was found. + +As to the character of Billings in the country he was always reputed a +sober, honest, industrious young man. During the time he had worked in +town, he had done nothing to impeach that reputation which he brought up +with him, and might possibly have lived very happily, if he had not +fallen into the temptation of this unfortunate woman, who seems to have +been born for her own undoing and for the destruction of others. +Whatever knowledge he might have of that relation in which he stood to +Mrs. Hayes, certain it is that she always preserved such an authority +over him that in her presence he would never answer any questions but +constantly referred himself to her, or kept an obstinate silence; he +affected, also, a strange fondness for her, kissing her cheek when she +fainted in the chapel at Newgate, and behaving himself when near her, in +such a manner as gave great offence to the spectators. As to the remorse +he had for the horrid crime he had committed, those who had occasion to +know him while under confinement thought him sincere therein; but the +Ordinary, whose place it is to be supreme judge in these matters, told +the world in his account of the behaviour and confession of the +malefactors, that he was a confused, hard-hearted fellow, and had few +external signs of penitence; and a little farther, when possibly he was +in a better humour, he says that in all appearance he was very penitent +for his sins, and died in the Communion of the Church of England, of +which he owned himself an unworthy member. + + + + +Life of THOMAS WOOD, a Murderer + + +This malefactor, Thomas Wood, was born at a place called Ombersley, +between Ludlow and Worcester, of parents in very indifferent +circumstances, who were therefore able to give him but little education. +He was bred up to no settled business, but laboured in all such country +employments as require only a robust body for their performance. When +the summer's work was over, he used to assist as a tapster at inns and +alehouses in the neighbourhood of the village where he was born, and by +the industry, care, and regularity which he observed in all things, +gained a very great reputation as an honest and faithful servant with +all that knew him. + +His mother having been left in a needy condition, with several small +children, she set up a little alehouse in order to get bread for them. +Thomas was very dutiful, and as his diligence enabled him to save a +little money, so he was by no means backwards in giving her all the +assistance that was in his power. Some few months before his death, he +grew desirous of coming to London, which he did accordingly, and worked +at whatsoever employment he could get both with fidelity and diligence; +but a fleet being then setting out for the Mediterranean, press-warrants +were granted for the manning thereof, and the diligence that was used in +putting them in execution gave great uneasiness to Wood, who, having no +settled business, was afraid of falling into their hands. Whereupon he +bethought himself of his countryman, Mr. Hayes, to whom he applied for +his advice and assistance. Mr. Hayes kindly invited him to live with +them in order to avoid that danger, and he accordingly lay with Mr. +Billings, as has been before related. Mr. Hayes was moreover so desirous +of doing him service that he applied himself to finding out such persons +as wanted labourers in order to get him into business, while Mrs. Hayes, +in the meantime, made use of every blandishment to seduce the fellow +into following her wicked inclinations. Perceiving that both Billings +and he had religious principles then in common with ordinary persons, +she artfully made even those persons' dispositions subservient to her +brutal and inhuman purpose. + +It seems that Mr. Hayes had fallen, within a few years of his death, +into the company of some who called themselves Free-thinkers and fancy +an excellency in their own understandings because they are able to +ridicule those things which the rest of the world think sacred. Though +it is no great conquest to obtrude the belief of anything whatsoever on +persons of small parts and little education, yet they triumph greatly +therein and communicate the same honour of boasting in their pupils. Mr. +Hayes now and then let fall some rather rash expression, as to his +disbelief of the immortality of the soul, and talked in such a manner on +religious topics that Mrs. Hayes persuaded Billings and Wood that he was +an Atheist, and as he believed his own soul of no greater value than +that of a brute beast, there could be no difference between killing him +and them. It must be indeed acknowledged that there was no less oddity +in such propositions than in those of her husband; however, it +prevailed, it seems, with these unfortunate men; and as she had already +persuaded them it was no sin, so when they were intoxicated with liquor +she found it less difficult than at any other time, to deprive them also +of the humanity, and engage them in perpetrating a fact so opposite not +only to religion but to the natural tenderness of the human species. +Wood, as he yielded to her persuasions with reluctance, so he was the +first who showed any true remorse of conscience for that cruel act of +which he had been guilty; his confession of it being free and voluntary, +and at the same time full and ingenious. Two days after receiving +sentence, his constitution began to give way to the violence of a +feverish distemper, which by a natural death prevented his execution, he +dying in Newgate, in the twenty-eighth year of his age, much more pitied +than either Billings or Mrs. Hayes who suffered at Tyburn. And thus with +Wood we put a period to the relation of a tragedy which surprised the +world exceedingly at the same time it happened, and will doubtless be +read with horror in succeeding generations. + + + + +The Life of CAPTAIN JAEN, a Murderer + + +Though there is not perhaps any sin so opposite to our nature as cruelty +towards our fellow creatures, yet we see it so thoroughly established in +some tempers, that neither education nor a sense of religion are strong +enough to abate it, much less to wear it out. The person of whom we are +speaking, John Jaen, was the son of parents in very good circumstances +at Bristol, who they bred him up to the knowledge of everything +requisite to a person who was to be bred up in trade, and he grew a very +tolerable proficient as well in the knowledge of the Latin tongue, as in +writing and accounts, for his improvement in all which he was put under +the best masters. When he had finished that course of learning which +his friends thought would qualify him for what they designed him, he was +immediately put apprentice to a cooper in Bristol, where he served his +time with both fidelity and industry. When it was expired, he applied +himself to trade with the same diligence, and sometimes went to sea, +till in the year '24 he became master of a ship called the _Burnett_, +fitted out by some merchants at Bristol, for South Carolina. In his +return from this voyage he committed the murder for which he died. + +On the 25th April, 1726, an Admiralty Sessions was held at the Old +Bailey, before the Hon. Sir Henry Penrice, Judge of the High Court of +Admiralty, assisted by the Honourable Mr. Baron Hale, at which Captain +Greagh was indicated for feloniously sinking the good ship called the +_Friendship_, of which he was commander; but as there appeared no +grounds for such a charge, he was acquitted. Afterwards Captain John +Jaen, of Bristol, was set to the bar, and arraigned on an indictment for +wilfully and inhumanly murdering one Richard Pye, who had been +cabin-boy, in the month of March, in the year 1724. It appeared by the +evidence produced against him that he either whipped the boy himself or +caused him to be whipped every day during the voyage; that he caused him +to be tied to the mainmast with ropes for nine days together, extending +his arms and legs to the utmost, whipping him with a cat (as it is +called) of five small cords till he was all bloody, then causing his +wounds to be several times washed with brine and pickle. Under this +terrible usage the poor wretch grew soon after speechless. The Captain, +notwithstanding, continued his cruel usage, stamping, beating and +abusing him, and even obliging him to eat his own excrements, which +forcing its way upwards again, the boy in his agony of pain made signs +for a dram, whereupon the captain in derision took a glass, carried it +into the cabin, and made water therein, and then brought it to the boy +to drink, who rejected the same. The lamentable condition in which he +was made no impression on the captain, who continued to treat him with +the same severity, by whipping, pickling, kicking, beating, and bruising +him while he lingered out his miserable life. On the last day of this he +gave him eighteen lashes with the aforesaid cat of five tails, in a +little time after which the boy died. The evidence farther deposed that +when the boy's body was sewn up in a hammock to be thrown overboard it +had in it as many colours as there are in a rainbow, that his flesh in +many places was as soft as jelly, and his head swelled as big as two. +Upon the whole it very fully appeared that a more bloody premeditated +and wilful murder was never committed, and Sir Henry Penrice declared, +that in all the time he had had the honour of sitting on the Bench he +never heard anything like it, and hoped that no person who should sit +there after him should hear of such an offence. + +Under sentence of death he behaved with a great deal of piety and +resignation though he did not frequent the public chapel for two +reasons, the first because the number of strangers who were admitted +thither to stare at such unhappy persons as are to die are always +numerous and sometimes very indiscreet; the second was, that he had many +enemies who took a pleasure in coming to insult him, and as he was sure +either of these would totally interrupt his devotions, he thought it +excusable to receive the assistance of the minister in his own chamber. +As to the general offences of his life, he was very open in his +confession, but as to the particular fact for which he suffered, he +endeavoured to excuse it by saying he never intended to murder the boy, +but only to correct him as he deserved, he being exceedingly wicked and +unruly; he charged him with thieving in their voyage out, being yet +worse as they came home, and that particularly one evening when he was +asleep in the cabin, the lad broke open his lockers, and took out a +bottle of rum, of which he drank near a pint, making himself therefor so +drunk that his excrements fell involuntarily from him, which stunk so +abominably that it awakened him (the Captain), whereupon he called in +several of his men, who found the boy in a sad condition, and were +obliged to sit down and smoke tobacco in order to overcome the stench he +had raised. This produced the terrible punishment of tying him to the +mast for several days and the offering him his excrements which he +rejected. + +Notwithstanding the captain owned all this, yet he could not forbear +reflections on those who gave testimony against him at his trial, +charging them with perjury and conspiracy to ruin him, though nothing +like it appeared from the manner in which they delivered their +testimony. As the time of his death approached nearer, the fear thereof, +and remorse of conscience, brought the captain into so weak and low a +state that he could scarce speak or attend to any discourses of others, +but lay in a languishing condition, often fainting, and in fine +appearing not unlike a person who had taken something to produce a +sudden death, in order to prevent an ignominious one. Yet when such +suspicions were mentioned to him, he declared that they were without +ground, that he had never suffered such a thought once to enter into his +head. His wife, who attended him constantly while in prison, said she +loved him too well to become his executioner, and that she was positive +since his commitment, he had had nothing unwholesome administered to +him. + +[Illustration: CATHERINE HAYES BURNT FOR THE MURDER OF HER HUSBAND + +(_From the Annals of Newgate_)] + +As he was carried to execution, he was so very much spent, that it was +thought he would hardly have lived to have reached it. There he had the +assistance of a minister of distinction, who prayed with him till the +instant he was thrown off, which was on the 13th day of May, 1726, being +then about twenty-nine years of age. As soon as he was cut down, he was +put in chains, in order to be hung up. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM BOURN, a Notorious Thief + + +As the want of education, from a multitude of instances, seems to be the +chief cause of many of those misfortunes which befall persons in the +ordinary course of life, so there are some born with such a natural +inaptitude thereto, that no care, no pains, is able to conquer the +stubborn stupidity of their nature, but like a knotty piece of wood, +they defy the ingenuity of others to frame anything useful out of such +cross-grained materials. This, as he acknowledged himself upon all +occasions, was the case of the malefactor we are now speaking of, who +was descended of honest and reputable parents, who were willing in his +younger years to have furnished him with a tolerable share of learning; +but he was utterly incorrigible, and though put to a good school, would +never be brought to read or write at all, which was no small +dissatisfaction to his parents, with whom in other respects he agreed +tolerably well. + +When of age to be put out apprentice, he was placed with a hatter in the +city of Dublin, to whom he served his time honestly and faithfully; as +soon as he was out of his time, he came up to London in order to become +acquainted with his business. He had the good luck, though a stranger, +to get into good business here, but was so unfortunate as to fall into +the acquaintance of two lewd women, who fatally persuaded him that +thieving was an easier way of getting money to supply their extravagant +expenses than working. He being a raw young lad, unacquainted with the +world, was so mad as to follow their advice, and in consequence thereof +snatched a show-glass out of the shop of Mr. Lovell, a goldsmith in +Bishopsgate Street, in which there was four snuff-boxes, eight silver +medals, six pairs of gold buttons, five diamond rings, twenty pairs of +ear-rings, sixty-four gold rings, several gold chains, and other rich +goods, to the amount of near £300, with all of which he got safe off, +though discovered soon afterwards by his folly in endeavouring to +dispose of them. + +He threw aside all hopes of life as soon as he was apprehended, as +having no friends to make intercession likely to procure a pardon. He +was, indeed, a poor young creature, rather stupid than wicked and his +vices more owing to his folly than to the malignity of his inclinations. +He seemed to have a just notion both of the heinousness of that crime +which he had committed and of the shame and ignominy he had brought upon +himself and his relations. He was particularly affected with the +miseries which were likely to fall upon his poor wife for his folly, and +when the day of his death came, he seemed very easy and contented under +it, declaring, however, at last that he died in the communion of the +Church of Rome. This was on the 27th of June, 1726, being then not much +above eighteen years old. + + + + +The Life of JOHN MURREL, a Horse-Stealer + + +This malefactor was descended of very honest and reputable parents in +the county of York, who took care not only that he should read and write +tolerably well, but also that he should be instructed in the principles +of religion. They brought him up in their own way of business, which was +grazing of cattle (both black cattle and horses), and afterwards selling +them at market. As he grew up a man, he settled in the same occupation, +farming what is called in Yorkshire a grazing room, for which he paid +near a hundred pounds a year rent, and dealt very considerably himself +in the same way which had been followed by his parents. He married also +a young woman with a tolerable fortune, who bore him several children, +five of which were alive at the time of his execution, and lived with +their mother upon some little estate she had of her own. + +For some years after his marriage he lived with tolerable reputation in +the country, but being lavish in his expenses, he quickly consumed both +his own little fortune and what he had with his wife, and then failing +in his business, a whim took him in the head to come to London, whither +also he brought his son. Here he soon fell into bad company, and getting +acquaintance with a woman whom he thought was capable of maintaining +him, he married her, or at least lived with her as if they had been +married, for a considerable space; the news of which reaching his wife +in the country, affected her so much that she had very nigh fallen into +a fit of sickness. Thereupon her friends demonstrated to her, in vain, +how unreasonable a thing it was for her to give herself so much pain +about a man who treated her at once with unkindness and injustice; in +spite of their remonstrances she came up to London, in hopes that her +presence might reclaim him. But herein she was utterly mistaken, for he +absolutely denied her to be his wife, and even persuaded his son to deny +her also for his mother, which the boy with much fear and confusion did; +and the poor woman was forced to go down into the country again, +overwhelmed with sorrow at the ingratitude of the one and the +undutifulness of the other. However, Murrel still went on in the same +way with the woman he had chosen for his companion. + +There is all the reason imaginable to suppose that he did not take the +most honest ways of supporting himself and his mistress. However, he +fell into no trouble nor is there any direct evidence of his having been +guilty of any dishonesty within the reach of the Law, until he ran away +with a mare from a man in town, as to which he excused himself by saying +that she had formerly been his own, and that there having nothing more +than a verbal contract between them, he thought fit to carry her off and +sell her again. Sometime afterwards, going down to Newcastle Fair (for +he still continued to carry on some dealing in horse-flesh) he fell +there into the company of some merchants in the same way, who found +means to get gains and sell very cheap, by paying nothing at the first +hand. Among these, there was a country man of his who went by the name +of Brown, with whom Murrel had formerly had an acquaintance. This fellow +knowing the company in general to be persons of the same profession, +began to talk very freely of his practices in that way (viz., of horse +stealing), and amongst other stories related this. He said he once rode +away with an officer's horse, who had just bought it with an intent to +ride him up to London; he carried the creature into the West, and having +made such alterations in his mane and tail as he thought proper, sold +him there to a parson for thirteen guineas, which was about seven less +than the horse was worth. But knowing the doctor had another church +about eight miles from the parish in which he lived, and that there was +a little stable at one angle of the churchyard, where the horse was put +up during service, he resolved to make bold with it again. Accordingly, +when the people were all at church, having provided himself with a red +coat and a horse-soldier's accoutrements, he picked the stable door, +clapped them on the priest's beast, and rode him without the least +suspicion as hard as conveniently he could to Worcester. There he laid +aside the habit of a cavalier, and transforming himself into the natural +appearance of a horse-courser, he sold the horse to a physician, +telling him at the time he bought it, that it would be greatly the +better for being suffered to run at grass a fortnight or so. _No doubt +on it_, said he; _but I had some design of so doing._ + +Yet they were much sooner executed than at first they were intended to +have been, by an accident which happened the very day after the beast +came into the hands of the physician; for one evening as Brown was +taking a walk in the skirts of the city, who should he perceive but his +old Cornish parson and his footman, jogging into town. Guilt struck him +immediately with apprehensions at their errand relating to him, so that +walking up and down, nor daring to go into the town for fear of being +taken up and at last supposing it the only way to rid him of danger, he +caught the horse once more in the doctor's close, and having stolen a +saddle and bridle out of the inn where he lodged, he rode on him as far +as Essex. + +There he remained until Northampton Fair, where he sold the horse for +the third time, for twenty-seven guineas, to an officer in the same +regiment with him from whom it had been first stolen, on whose return +from Flanders it was owned and the captain who bought it (though he +refused to lose his money) yet gave as good description as he could of +the person who sold it. Upon this the other officer put out an +advertisement, describing both the man and the horse, and offering a +reward of five guineas for whoever should apprehend him. This +advertisement roused both the parson and the doctor, and the former took +so much pains to discover him that he was at length apprehended in +Cornwall, where at the assizes he was tried and convicted for the fact. +But the captain who was the original possessor of the horse was so much +pleased with his ingenuity that he procured a reprieve for him, and +carried him abroad with him where he continued until the peace of +Utrecht, when he returned home and fell to his old way of living, by +which he had submitted himself unto the time in which he fell into +company with Murrel, and had then bought five or six horses which had +been stolen from the South, to be disposed of at the fair. + +Murrel liked the precedent, and put it in practice immediately by +stealing a brown mare which belonged to Jonathan Wood, for which he was +shortly after apprehended and committed to Newgate. At the next sessions +at the Old Bailey he was tried and convicted on very clear evidence, and +during the space in which he lay under condemnation, testified a true +sorrow for his sins, though not so just a sense of that for which he +died as he ought to have had, and which might have been reasonably +expected. For as horse-stealing did not appear any very great sin to +him at the time of his committing it, so now, when he was to die for it, +such an obstinate partiality towards ourselves is there naturally +grafted in human nature that he could not forbear complaining of the +severity of the Law, and find fault with its rigour which might have +been avoided. What seemed most of all to afflict him under his +misfortune was that be saw his son and nearest relations forsake him, +and as much as they could shun having anything to do with his affairs. +Of this he complained heavily to the minister of the place, during his +confinement in Newgate, who represented to him how justly this had +befallen him for first slighting his family, and leaving them without +the least tenderness of respect, either to the ties of a husband, or the +duty of a parent; so he began to read his sin in his punishment, and to +frame himself to a due submission to what he had so much merited by his +follies and his crimes. + +When he was first brought up to receive sentence, he counterfeited being +dead so exactly that he was brought back again to Newgate, but this +cheat served only to gain a little time; for at the next sessions he was +condemned and ordered for execution, which he suffered on the 27th of +June, 1726, being then between forty and fifty years of age. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM HOLLIS, a Thief and an Housebreaker + + +This unhappy lad was born in Portugal, while the English army served +there in the late war. His father was drum-major of a regiment, but had +not wherewith to give his child anything but food, for intending to +bring him up a soldier, he perhaps thought learning an unnecessary thing +to one of that profession. During the first years of his life the poor +boy was a constant campaigner, being transported wherever the regiment +removed, with the same care and conveniency as the kettle [drum] and +knapsack, the only thing besides himself which make up the drum-major's +equipage. When he grew big, he got, it seems, on board a man-of-war in +the squadron that sailed up the Mediterranean. This was a proper +university for one who had been bred in such a school; so that there is +no wonder he became so great a proficient in all sorts of wickedness, +gaming, drinking, and whoring, which appear not to such poor creatures +as sins, but as the pleasures of life, about which they ought to spend +their whole care; and, indeed, how should it be otherwise, where they +know nothing that better deserves it. + +When he came home to England his father dying, he was totally +destitute, except what care his mother-in-law was pleased to take of +him, which was, indeed, a great deal, if he would have been in any +degree obedient to her instructions. But instead of that he looked upon +all restraints on his liberty as the greatest evil that could befall +him. Wherefore, leaving his mother's house, he abandoned himself to +procuring money at any rate to support those lewd pleasures to which he +had addicted himself. + +It happened that he lodged near one John Mattison, a working +silversmith, into whose house he got, and stole from thence no less than +one hundred and forty silver buckles, the goods of one Samuel Ashmelly. +For this offence he was apprehended, and committed to Newgate; at the +next sessions he was tried, and on the evidence of the prosecutor, which +was very full and direct, he was convicted, and having no friends, he +laid aside all hopes of life, and endeavoured as far as poor capacity +would give him leave to improve himself in the knowledge of the +Christian Faith, and in preparing for that death to which his follies +and his crimes had brought him. The Ordinary, in the account he gives of +his death, says that he was extremely stupid, a thing no ways improbable +considering the wretched manner in which he had spent the years of his +childhood and his youth. However, at last either his insensibility or +having satisfied himself with the little evil there is in death compared +with living in misery and want, furnished him with so much calmness that +he suffered with greater appearance of courage than could have been +expected from him. Just before he died he stood up in the cart, and +turning himself to the spectators, said, _Good people, I am very young, +but have been very wicked. It is true I have had no education, but I +might have laboured hard and lived well for all that; but gaming and +ill-company were my ruin. The Law hath justly brought me where I am, and +I hope such young men as see my untimely fate will avoid the paths which +lead unto it. Good people, pray for our departing souls, as we do, that +God may give you all more grace than to follow us thither._ He suffered +with the malefactors before-mentioned, being at the time of his +execution between seventeen and eighteen years old. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS SMITH, a Highwayman + + +There is a certain commendable tenderness in human nature towards all +who are under misfortunes, and this tenderness is in proportion to the +magnitude of those evils which we suppose the pitied person to labour +under. If we extend our compassion to relieving their necessities, and +feeling a regret for those miseries which they undergo, we undoubtedly +discharge the duties of humanity according to the scheme both of natural +religion and the laws laid down in the Gospel. Perhaps no object ever +merited it from juster motives than this poor man, who is the subject of +the following pages. His parents were people in tolerable circumstances +in Southwark; his father was snatched from him by death, while he was +yet a child, but his mother, as far as she was able, was very careful +that he should not pass his younger days without instruction, and an +uncle he then had, being pleased with the docile temper of the youth, +was at some expense also about his education. By this means he came to +read and write tolerably well, and gained some little knowledge of the +Latin tongue; and having a peculiar sweetness in his behaviour, it won +very much upon his relations, and encouraged them to treat him with +great indulgence. + +But unfortunately for him, by the time he grew big enough to go out +apprentice, or to enter upon any other method of living, his friends +suddenly dropped off, and, by their death becoming in great want of +money, he was forced to resign all the golden hopes he had formed and +for the sake of present subsistance submit to becoming footman to a +gentleman, who was, however, a very good and kind master to him, till in +about a year's time he died also, and poor Smith was again left at his +wits' end. However, out of this trouble he was relieved by an Irish +gentleman, who took him into his service, and carried him over with him +to Dublin. There he met with abundance of temptations to fall into that +loose and lascivious course of life which prevails more in that city, +perhaps, than in any other in Europe. But he had so much grace at that +time as to resist it, and after a stay there of twenty months, returned +into England again, where he came into the service of a third master, no +less indulgent to him than the two former had been. In this last service +an odd accident befell him, in which, though I neither believe myself, +nor incline to impose on my readers that there was anything supernatural +in the case of it, yet I fancy the oddness of the thing may, under the +story I am going to tell, prove not disagreeable. + +In a journey which Thomas had made into Herefordshire, with his first +master, he had contracted there an acquaintance with a young woman, +daughter to a farmer, in tolerable circumstances. This girl without +saying anything to the man, fell it seems desperately in love with him, +and about three months after he left the country, died. One night after +his coming to live with this last master, he fancied he saw her in a +dream, that she stood for some time by his bedside, and at last said, +_Thomas, a month or two hence you will be in danger of a fever, and when +that is over of a greater misfortune. Have a care, you have hitherto +always behaved as an honest man; do not let either poverty or +misfortunes tempt you to become otherwise;_ and having so said, she +withdrew. In the morning the fellow was prodigiously confounded, yet +made no discovery of what had happened to any but the person who lay +with him, though the thing made a very strong impression on his spirits, +and might perhaps contribute not a little to his falling ill about the +time predicted by the phantom he had seen. + +This fever soon brought him very low, and obliged him to make away with +most of his things in order to support himself. Upon recovery he found +himself in lamentable circumstances, being without friends, without +money, and out of business. Unfortunately for him, coming along the +Haymarket one evening, he happened to follow a gentleman somewhat in +liquor, who knowing him, desired that he would carry him home to his +house in St. Martin's Lane, to which Thomas readily agreed. But as they +were going along thither, a crowd gathered about the gentleman, who +became as quarrelsome as they, and took it into his head to box one of +the mob, in order to do which more conveniently, he gave Smith his hat +and cane, and his wig. Smith held them for some time, the mob forcing +them along like a torrent, till the gentleman, whose name was Brown, +made up a court near Northumberland House, and Smith thereupon marched +off with the things, the necessity he was under so far blinding him that +he made no scruple of attempting to sell them the next day; by which +means Mr. Brown hearing of them, he caused Smith to be apprehended as a +street-robber, and to be committed to Newgate, though he had the good +luck, notwithstanding, to get all his things again. It seems he visited +the poor man in prison, and if he did not prevaricate at his death, made +him some promises of softening at least, if not of dropping the +prosecution, which, as Smith asserted, prevented his making such a +preparation for his defence as otherwise he might have done; which +proved of very fatal consequence to him, since on the evidence of the +prosecutor he was convicted of the robbery and condemned. + +Never poor creature suffered more or severer hardships in the road of +death than this poor man did, for by the time sentence was passed, all +that he had was gone, and he had scarce a blanket to cover him from +downright nakedness, during the space he lay in the hold under sentence. +As he was better principled in religion than any of the other +malefactors, he had retained his reading so well as to assist them in +their devotions, and to supply in some measure the want of somebody +constantly to attend them in their preparation for another world. So he +picked up thereby such little assistances from amongst them as prevented +his being starved before the time appointed for their execution came. + +As this man did not want good sense, and was far from having lost what +learning he had acquired in his youth, so the terrors of an ignominious +death were quickly over with him, and instead of being affrighted with +his approaching fate, he considered it only as a relief from miseries +the most piercing that a man could feel, under which he had laboured so +long that life was become a burden, and the prospect of death the only +comfort that was left. He died with the greatest appearance of +resolution and tranquillity on the 3rd August, 1726, being then about +twenty-three years of age. + + + + +The Life of EDWARD REYNOLDS, a Thief, etc. + + +Notwithstanding the present age is so much celebrated for its excellency +in knowledge and politeness, yet I am persuaded both these qualities, if +they are really greater, are yet more restrained than they have been any +time herefore whatsoever. The common people are totally ignorant, almost +even of the first principles of religion. They give themselves up to +debauchery without restraint, and what is yet more extraordinary, they +fancy their vices are great qualifications, and look on all sorts of +wickedness as merit. + +This poor wretch who is the subject of our present page was put to +school by his parents, who were in circumstances mean enough; but from a +natural aversion to all goodness he absolutely declined making any +proficiency therein. Whether he was educated to any business I cannot +take upon me to say, but he worked at mop-making and carried them about +to the country fairs for sale, by which he got a competency at least, +and therefore had not by any means that ordinary excuse to plead that +necessity had forced him upon thieving. On the contrary, he was drawn to +the greatest part of those evils which he committed, and which +consequently brought of those which he suffered, by frequenting the ring +at Moorfields--a place which since it occurs so often in these memoirs, +put me under a kind of necessity to describe it, and the customs of +those who frequent it. + +It lies between Upper and Middle Moorfields, and as people of rank, when +they turn vicious, frequent some places where, under pretence of seeing +one diversion in which perhaps there is no moral evil, they either make +assignations for lewdness, or parties for gaming or drinking, and so by +degrees ruin their estates, and leave the character of debauchees behind +them, so those of meaner rank come thither to partake of the diversions +of cudgel-playing, wrestlings, quoits, and other robust exercises which +are now softened by a game of toss-up, hustle-cap, or nine-holes, which +quickly brings on want; and the desire continuing, naturally inclines +them to look for some means to recruit. And so, when the evening is +spent in gaming, the night induces them to thieve under its cover, that +they may have wherewith to supply the expenses of the ensuing day. Hence +it comes to pass that this place and these practices hath ruined more +young people, such as apprentices, journeymen, errand-boys, etc., than +any other seminary of vice in town. But it is time that we should now +return to the affairs of him who hath occasioned this digression. + +In the neighbourhood of this place Reynolds found out a little alehouse +to which he every night resorted. There were abundance of wicked persons +who used to meet there, in order to go upon their several villainous +ways of getting money; Reynolds (whose head was always full of +discovering a method by which he might live more at ease than he did by +working) listened very attentively to what passed amongst them. One +Barnham, who had formerly been a waterman, was highly distinguished at +these meetings for his consummate knowledge in every branch of the art +and mystery of cheating. He had followed such practices for near twenty +years, and commonly when they came there at night they formed a ring +about the place where he sat and listened with the greatest delight to +those relations of evil deeds, which his memory recorded. + +It happened one evening, when these worthy persons were assembled +together, that their orator took it in his head to harangue them on the +several alterations which the science of stealing had gone through from +the time of his becoming acquainted with its professors. In former days, +said he, knights of the road were a kind of military order into which +none but decayed gentlemen presumed to intrude themselves. If a younger +brother ran out of his allowance, or if a young heir spent his estate +before he had bought a tolerable understanding, if an under-courtier +lived above his income, or a subaltern officer laid out twice his pay in +rich suits and fine laces, this was the way they took to recruit; and if +they had but money enough left to procure a good horse and a case of +pistols, there was no fear of their keeping up their figure a year or +two, till their faces were known. And then, upon a discovery, they +generally had friends good enough to prevent their swinging, and who, +ten to one, provided handsomely for them afterwards, for fear of their +meeting with a second mischance, and thereby bringing a stain upon their +family. But nowadays a petty alehouse-keeper, if he gives too much +credit, a cheesemonger whose credit grows rotten, or a mechanic that is +weary of living by his fingers-ends, makes no more ado, when he finds +his circumstances uneasy, but whips into a saddle and thinks to get all +things retrieved by the magic of those two formidable words, _Stand and +Deliver._ Hence the profession is grown scandalous, since all the world +knows that the same methods now makes an highwayman, that some years ago +would have got a commission. + +_But hark ye_, says one of the company, _in the days of those gentlemen +highwaymen, was there no way left for a poor man to get his living out +of the road of honesty? Puh! Ay_, replied Barnham, _a hundred men were +more ingenious then than they are now, and the fellows were so dexterous +that it was dangerous for a man to laugh who had a good set of teeth, +for fear of having them stole. They made nothing of whipping hats and +wigs off at noon-day; whipping swords from folks' sides when it grew +dusk; or making a midnight visit, in spite of locks, bolts, bars, and +such like other little impediments to old misers, who kept their gold +molding in chests till such honest fellows, at the hazard of their +lives, came to set at liberty. For my part_, continued he, _I believe +Queen Anne's war swept away the last remains of these brave spirits; for +since the Peace of Utrac (as I think they call it) we have had a +wondrous growth of blockheads, even in our business. And if it were not +for Shephard and Frazier, a hundred years hence, they would not think +that in our times there were fellows bold enough to get sixpence out of +a legal road, or dare to do anything without a quirk of the law to +screen them._ + +All his auditors were wonderfully pleased with such discourses as these, +and when the liquor had a little warmed them, would each in their turn +tell a multitude of stories they had heard of the boldness, cunning, and +dexterity of the thieves who lived before them. In all cases whatever, +evil is much sooner learnt than good, and a night debauch makes a ten +times greater impression on the spirits than the most eloquent sermon. +Between the liquor and the tales people begin to form new ideas to +themselves of things, and instead of looking on robbery as rapine and +stealing as a villainous method of defrauding another, they, on the +contrary, take the first for a gallant action, and the latter for a +dexterous piece of cunning; by either of which they acquire the means of +indulging themselves in what best suits their inclinations, without the +fatigue of business or the drudgery of hard labour. + +Reynolds, though a very stupid fellow, soon became a convert to these +notions, and lost no time in putting them in execution, for the next +night he took from a person (who it seems knew him and his haunts well +enough) a coat and a shilling, which when he came to be indicted for the +fact, he pretended they were given him to prevent his charging the +prosecutor with an attempt to commit sodomy--an excuse which of late +years is grown as common with the men, as it has long been with the +women to pretend money was given them for flogging folks, when they have +been brought to the bar for picking it out of their pockets; hoping by +this reverberation of ignominy to blacken each other so that the jury +may believe neither. However, in this case, it must be acknowledged that +Reynolds went to death with the assertion that he received the coat and +the shilling on the before-mentioned account, and that he did not take +it by violence, which was the crime whereof he was convicted. + +He had married a poor woman, who lived in very good reputation both +before and after; by her he had three children, and though he had long +associated himself with other women, and left her to provide for the +poor infants, yet he was extremely offended because she did not send him +as much money as he wanted under his confinement, and he could not +forbear treating her with very ill language when she came to see him +under his misfortunes. As he was a fellow of little parts and no +education, so his behaviour under condemnation was confused and unequal, +as it is reasonable to suppose it should be, since he had nothing to +support his hopes or to comfort him against those fears of death which +are inseparable from human nature. However, he sometimes showed an +inclination to learn somewhat of religion, would listen attentively +while Smith was reading, and as well as his gross capacity would give +him leave, would pray for mercy and forgiveness. At chapel he behaved +himself decently, if not devoutly, and being by his misfortunes removed +from the company of those who first seduced him into his vices, he began +to have some ideas of the use of life when he was going to leave it; and +his thoughts had received certain ideas (though very imperfect ones) of +death and a future state, when the punishment appointed by Law sent him +to experience them. He died on the 23rd of August, 1726, being then +upwards of twenty-six years of age. + + + + +The Life of JOHN CLAXTON, _alias_ JOHNSTON, a Thief, etc. + + +This unhappy malefactor was amongst the number of those who, through +want of education, was the more easily drawn into the prosecution of +such practices as became fatal to him. His father was a common sailor +belonging to the town of Sunderland, who had it not in his power to +breed him in a very extraordinary manner; and what little he was able to +do was frustrated by the evil inclinations of his son, who instead of +applying himself closely while he remained at school, loitered away his +time, and made little or no proficiency there. His head, as those of +most seamen's children do, ran continually on voyages and seeing foreign +countries, with which roving temper the father too readily complied, and +while yet a boy, unacquainted with any kind of learning and unsettled in +the principles of religion, he was sent forth into the world to pick up +either as he could. + +The first voyage he made was up the Straits, where he touched at +Gibraltar, and went soon after to Leghorn, the port to which they were +bound. Being a young sprightly lad the mate carried him on shore with +him, and being a man of intrigue, made use of him to go between him and +an Irish woman, who was married to an Italian captain of a ship. The +lady's husband was in Sicily, and they therefore apprehended themselves +to be secure; she proposed to the mate the carrying off of jewels and +other things, to the amount of some thousand crowns, and then flying +with him from Italy. The project had certainly succeeded if it had not +been for their imprudence; for the mate, who passed for her cousin, +being continually in the house for three days before the ship went away, +a suspicion entered into some of the neighbours (as they often do +amongst Italians) that there was something more than ordinary concealed +under the frequency of his visits. They therefore dispatched a messenger +to Signor Stefano di Calvo, the captain's brother, with the account of +their surmises. He came immediately to Leghorn, and going directly to +his brother's house, found his sister had packed up all his valuable +effects, and having loaded the boy with as much as he could carry, was +on the point of setting out with him for the vessel. Stefano dragged her +back into an inner apartment, where he locked her in, and afterwards +fastened the doors of the outward apartment, through which they passed +thither. But Jack, seeing how things went, laid down his burden and fled +as hard as he could drive to the port, where he gave notice to the +master of their disappointment, and caused the vessel immediately to +weigh anchor and stand to sea, as fearing the consequences of the +affair, which he knew would make a great noise, and might possibly turn +to the detriment of his owners. + +Claxton had hitherto done nothing that was criminal within the eye of +the Law, though while at sea he was continually employed in some +mischievous trick or other. When he came into England the ship happened +to go to Yarmouth, and as all places were alike to him, so short a stay +there engaged him to marry a young woman who had some little matter of +money, with which he proposed to do for himself some little matter at +sea, and taking the greatest part of it with him, came up to London in +order to see after a good voyage. + +But this was the most fatal journey he ever made, for falling +unfortunately into the hands of bad women and their companions, they +quickly drew him to be as bad as themselves; so that forgetting the poor +woman he had married, and regardless of the business which brought him +up to town, he gave himself up entirely to the pursuit of such +villainies as they taught him, and in a short space became as expert a +proficient as any in the gang. + +Some of them had consulted together to rob a woodmonger's house of a +considerable quantity of plate, but there was one difficulty to be +encountered, without overcoming which there was no hopes of success. The +woodmonger's maid carried up the keys every night to her master (the +outer court having a gate to it), and unless they could call upon some +stratagem either to prevent the gate being shut, or to gain the means of +unlocking it, their attempt was certainly in vain. In order to bring +this to pass, they put Jack, who was a neat little fellow, into a very +good habit, and found means to introduce him to the acquaintance of the +wench at a neighbouring chandler's shop, where he took lodgings. In a +fortnight's time he prevailed upon Mrs. Anne to come out at twelve of +the clock to meet him, which she could not do without leaving the great +gate ajar, having first carried up the key to her master, though for her +own conveniency she had thus left it upon a single lock. While she and +her sweetheart were drinking punch and making merry together, the rest +of the confederates got into the house and carried away silver plate to +the value of £80, leaving everything behind them in so good order that +the maid, who was a little tipsy into the bargain, discovered nothing +that night. Going to acquaint her lover with the accident as soon as it +was found out, to her great surprise she was informed that he was +removed, having carried away all the things before his landlord and +landlady were up. The girl carefully concealed the passage, knowing how +fatal it would be to her if it should reach her master's ears; but for +her spark, she heard no more of him until his commitment to Newgate for +another fact, for which he was ordered for transportation. + +Being on board the vessel with the rest of the convicts, he soon +procured the favour of the master to be let to go out upon deck, and +being a strong able sailor, he ingratiated himself so far as to meet no +worse usage than any other sailor in the ship. On their arrival at the +Canaries, where by stress of weather they were obliged to put in, a +quarrel happened between the master of their vessel and the captain of a +Jamaicaman homeward bound. It ended in a duel with sword and pistol, and +the captain of the transport having carried John with him, he behaved so +well upon this occasion that he promised him his liberty as soon as they +arrived in America, which he honorably performed; and Jack was so +indefatigable in his endeavours to get home that he arrived at London +six weeks before the captain came back. + +He herded again with his old crew, though before he was able to do much +mischief amongst them he was apprehended for returning from +transportation, and was at the next sessions tried and convicted. By +this time the captain who had carried him was arrived, and hearing of +John's misfortune, he made such interest as procured the sentence of +death to be changed into a second transportation. + +Such narrow escapes, one would have imagined, might have taught him how +dangerous a thing it was to dally with the laws of the nation in any +respect whatsoever; and yet, when he was on shore in New England, where +the master took care to provide him with as easy a service as a man +could have wished, as soon as the captain's back was turned, he found +means to give the planter the slip, and in nine months' time revisited +London a second time. Whether he intended to have gone on in the old +trade or no is impossible for us to determine, but this we are certain, +that he had not been in England many weeks ere a person who made it his +business to detect such as returned from transportation clapped him up +in his old lodging at Newgate, brought him to his trial, and convicted +him the third time. As soon as he had received sentence, he relinquished +all hopes of life, and as in all this time he had never made any enquiry +after his wife at Yarmouth, so he would not now bring an odium upon her +and her family by sending to them, and making his misfortune public in +the place where they lived. + +The man seemed to be of an easy, tractable disposition, readily yielding +to whatever those who conversed with them desired to bring him to, +whether it were good or evil. He attended with great seeming piety and +devotion to the books which Thomas Smith read to his fellow prisoners, +and gained thereby a tolerable notion of the duty of repentance, and +that faith which men ought to have in Jesus Christ. Thus by degrees he +brought himself to a perfect indifference as to life or death, and at +the place of execution showed neither by change of colour, or any other +symptom any extraordinary fear of his approaching dissolution; and +having conformed very devoutly to the prayers said by the Ordinary, +after a short private devotion, he submitted to his fate with the +afore-mentioned malefactors Smith and Reynolds, being then about +twenty-eight years old or thereabouts. + + + + +The Life of MARY STANDFORD, a Pickpocket and Thief + + +This unfortunate woman was born of very good parents, who sent her to +school, and caused her to be bred up in every other respect so as to be +capable of performing well in her station of the world, and doing her +duty towards God, from a just notion of religion. But it happening, +unluckily, that she set her mind on nothing so much as the company of +young men and running about with them to fairs and such other country +diversions, her friends were put under the necessity of sending her to +London, a thing which they saw could not be avoided. + +When she came to town, she got in one or two good places, which she soon +lost from her forward behaviour; and having been seduced by a footman, +she soon became a common street walker, and practised all the vile arts +of those women who were a scandal to their sex. When she was young, she +was tolerably handsome, and associated herself with one Black Mary, +whose true name was Mary Rawlins, a woman of notorious ill-fame, and +who, from being kept by a man of substance in the City, by her own +ill-management was turned upon the town, and reduced to getting her +bread after the infamous manner of the inmates of Drury. These two Marys +used to walk together between Temple Bar and Ludgate Hill, where +sometimes they met with foolish young fellows out of whom they got +considerable sums, though at other times their adventures produced so +little that they were obliged to part with almost every rag of clothes +they had; nay, they were now and then reduced so low that one was +obliged to stay at home while the other went out. + +Mary Rawlins, contrary to the rules established amongst the sisterhood, +married a man who had been a Life-Guardsman, and so was obliged to +remove her lodgings to go with him into a little court near King +Street, Westminster. Some of my readers may perhaps imagine that either +her love for her husband, or the fear of his authority, might work a +reformation, but therein they would be highly mistaken for he proposed +no other end to himself than plundering her of those presents she +received from gallants, so that whenever evening drew on, he was very +assiduous for her to turn out (as they phrase it), that is to go upon +the street-walking account picking pockets. She had not followed this +trade long before she became so uneasy under it that one night meeting +with her old companion Standford, she persuaded her to remove into a new +quarter of the town, whither she fled to her from her husband. They +there carried on their intrigues together, and lived much more at their +ease then they had done before; for being now got towards Wapping, they +drew in the sailors when they had any money to part with for their +favours, and getting into acquaintance with some navy solicitors, they +found means to raise them cash, at the rate of 60 per cent. to the +broker, and as much to the whore. + +Thus they lived till Standford took it in her head to serve her partner +as she had done her before, for finding a man mad enough to marry her, +she was fool enough to consent to the marriage. But after living with +the man for about a year, she repented her bargain, and left him, as +Rawlins had done hers. Some time after this she contracted an +acquaintance with another man, at that time servant to a person in the +City. By him she had a child, which as it increased her necessary +expense, so it plunged her into the greater difficulty of knowing how to +supply it. However, fancying her gains would be larger if she plied by +herself, she totally left the company of her former associates, and +applied herself with an infamous industry to her shameful trade of +prostitution. + +Not long after she had entered upon this single method of +street-walking, she fell into the company of a gentleman who was more +than ordinary amorous of her, and who after treating her with a supper, +lay with her, and (as she said) gave her four guineas; but he on the +contrary charged her with picking his pocket of a shagreen book, a silk +handkerchief, and the money before mentioned. For this fact she was +committed to Newgate, and soon after tried and convicted, +notwithstanding her excuse of the man bestowing it on her as a present. + +After she had received sentence, some of her friends gave her hopes of +having it changed into a transportation pardon, but this she rejected +utterly, declaring that she had rather die not only the most +ignominious, but the most cruel death that could be invented at home, +rather than be sent abroad to slave for her living. Such strange +apprehensions enter into the head of these unhappy creatures, and +hinder them from taking the advantage of the only possibility they have +left of tasting happiness on this side of the grave; and as this +aversion to the plantations has so bad effects, especially in making the +convicts desirous of escaping from the vessel, or of flying out of the +country whither they were sent, almost before they have seen it, I am +surprised that no care has been taken to print a particular and +authentic account of the manner in which they are treated in those +places. I know it may be suggested that the terror of such usage as they +are represented to meet with there has often a good effect in diverting +them from such acts as they know must bring them to transportation; yet +though I confess I have heard this more than once repeated, yet I am far +from being convinced, and I am thoroughly satisfied that instead of +magnifying the miseries of their pretended slavery, or rather of +inventing stories that make a very easy service pass on these unhappy +creatures for the severest bondage, the convicts should be told the true +state of the case, and be put in mind that instead of suffering death, +the lenity of our Constitution permitted them to be removed into another +climate no way inferior to that in which they were born, where they were +to perform no harder tasks than those who work honestly for their bread +in England do. And this, not under persons of another nation, who might +treat them with less humanity, but with those who are no less English +for their living in the New, than if they dwelt in Old England, people +famous for their humanity, justice, and, piety,[76] and amongst whom +they are sure of meeting with no variation of manners, customs, etc., +unless in respect of the progress of their vices which are at present +more numerous there than in their motherland. I say if pains were taken +to instil into these unhappy persons such notions, at the same time +demonstrating to them that from being exposed either to want and +necessity from the loss they had sustained of this reputation, and being +thereby under a kind of force in following their old courses, and as +soon as discharged from the fears of death (supposing a free pardon +could be procured) obliged to run a like hazard immediately after, they +might probably conceive justly of that clemency which is extended +towards them, and instead of shunning transportation, flying from the +country where they are landed as soon as they have set their foot in +them, or neglecting opportunities they might have on their first coming +there, and be brought to serve their masters faithfully, to endure the +time of their service cheerfully, and settle afterwards in the best +manner they are able, so as to pass the close of their life in an +honest, easy and reputable manner. Now it too often happens that their +last end is worse than their first, because those who return from +transportation being sure of death if apprehended, are led thereby to +behave themselves worse and more cruelly than any malefactors, +whatsoever. + +But to return to Mary Standford, who led us into this digression. She +showed little or no regard for anything; no, not even for her own child, +who, she said, she hoped would be well taken care of by the parish, and +added that she had been a great sinner, for which she hoped God would +forgive her, praying as well as she could, both while under sentence and +at the place of execution. She declared that she bore no malice either +against her prosecutor, or any other person, and in this disposition she +finished her life at Tyburn, the same day with the afore-mentioned +malefactors, being at that time near thirty-six years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [76] A New Hampshire law regulating the behaviour of masters + towards their white servants enacts, "if any man smite out the + eye or tooth of his manservant or maid-servant or otherwise maim + or disfigure them much, unless it be mere casualty, he shall let + him or her go free from his service and shall allow such further + recompense as the Court of Quarter Sessions shall adjudge them." + A good example of New England humanity and justice. + + + + +The Life of JOHN CARTWRIGHT, a Thief + + +This unhappy young man was born in Yorkshire, of a tolerable family, who +had been sufficiently careful in having him instructed in whatever was +necessary for a person of his condition, breeding him up to all works of +husbandry in general, and also qualifying him in every respect for a +gentleman's service; in one of which capacities they were in hopes he +would not find it difficult to get his bread. He lived with several +persons in the country with unspotted reputation, until at last a whim +came into his head of coming up to London. An uncle of his procured him +a very good service with one Mr. Charvin, a mercer in Paternoster Row, +with whom he Stayed for some time with great satisfaction on both sides; +for his master was highly pleased with the careful industry of the young +man's temper, and Cartwright on the other side had not the least reason +to complain, considering the great kindness and indulgence with which he +was used. But some young fellows of loose principles taking notice of +Cartwright's easy and tractable temper, quickly drew him into becoming +fond of their company and conversation. + +Every other Sunday he was permitted to go out where he would, until nine +o'clock at night, and these young fellows meeting at a fine alehouse +not far from his master's house, whither they began to bring Yorkshire +John (as they called him), there they usually ran over the description +of the diversions of the town, and of those places round it which are +most remarkable for the resort of company. These were new scenes to poor +John, who was unacquainted with any representation better than a puppet +show, or recreation of a superior nature to bullbaitings at a country +fair; and therefore his thoughts were extremely taken up with all he +heard, and his companions were so obliging that they took abundance of +pains to satisfy such questions as he asked them, and were often +soliciting him to go and partake with them at plays, dancing-bouts, and +all the various divertisements to which young unthinking youths are +addicted. He wanted not many intreaties to comply with their request, +but money, the main ingredient in such delights, was wanting, and of +this he at last acknowledged the deficiency to one of the young men his +companions. This fellow took no notice of it at that time, farther than +to wish he had more, and to tell him that a young man of his spirit +ought never to be without and that there were ways and means enough to +get it, if a man had not as much cash as courage. + +He repeated these insinuations often, without explaining them at all, +until frequent stories of the fine sights at the theatres and elsewhere +had so far raised poor John's curiosity that one evening he entreated +his companion to let him into the bottom of what he meant. The cunning +villain turned it at first into a jest and continued to banter him about +his being a country put, and so forth, until he perceived it was past +twelve o'clock, and knew that it was too late for him to get in at home; +then he told him that if he promised never to reveal it, he would tell +him what he meant. John being full of liquor swore he would not, and the +other replied, _Why, here you stand complaining of the want of money, +while I warrant you, there's a hundred or two pounds in your master's +drawer under the counter. Maybe there may_, said Cartwright, _but what's +that to me? Nay_, replied the other, _nothing, if you have not the +courage to go and fetch it; why now, you can get in I'm sure. Come, I'll +put you in a way of never being taken._ + +Cartwright, who was half drunk, remembered that there was a parcel of +gold in the drawer, and that it was in his power to get at a silver +watch and some plate, so that he fatally yielded to the temptations of +his companion, and thereupon the next morning, conveyed to him the +watch, fourscore pounds in money, and three silver spoons. They shared +the greatest part of the booty, of which Cartwright was quickly cheated, +and though he fled with the remainder as far as Monmouthshire, in Wales, +yet some way or other he was there detected, committed prisoner to the +county gaol and then sent up to London, where a few days after his +arrival he was tried and convicted. + +Never poor wretch suffered deeper affliction than he did, in the +reflection of his follies, for giving up all hopes of life, he spent the +whole interval of time between sentence and execution in grieving for +the sorrows he had brought upon himself and the stain his ignominious +death would leave upon his family. His companion, in the meantime, was +fled far enough out of the reach of Justice, so that Cartwright had +nothing to expect but death to which he patiently submitted, +acknowledging upon all occasions the justice of that sentence which had +befallen him, and wishing that his death might be sufficient to warn +other young men in such circumstances, as his once were, from falling +into faults of that kind, which had brought him to ruin and shame. Yet +though he laid aside all desires relating to worldly things, he yet +expressed a little peevishness from the neglect shown towards him by his +friends in the country, who though they knew well enough of his +misfortunes, yet they absolutely declined doing anything for him, from a +notion perhaps that it might reflect upon themselves. Above all things +Cartwright manifested a due sense of the ingratitude he had been guilty +of towards so good a master as the gentleman whom he robbed had been to +him, he therefore prayed for his prosperity, even with his last breath, +and declared he died without malice or ill-will against any person +whatsoever. + +At the place of his execution he attended very devoutly to the prayers, +but did not say anything to the people more than to beg of them to take +warning by him, after the rope was fixed about his neck. He was executed +at Tyburn, on Monday, the 21st of September, 1726, being then about +twenty-three years of age, a remarkable instance of how far youth, even +of the best principles, is liable to be corrupted, if they are not +carefully watched over and may justify those restraints which parents +and masters, from a just apprehension of things, put upon their children +or servants. + + + + +The Life of FRANCES, _alias_ MARY BLACKET, a Highwaywoman + + +Nothing deserves observation more than the resolution, or rather +obstinacy, with which some criminals deny the facts they have committed, +though ever so evidently proved against them. There are two evils which +follow from a hasty judgment formed from this consideration; the first +is, that people either instigated through malice, or rashly and by +mistake, swear against innocent persons from a presumption that nobody +would be so wicked as to die with a lie in their mouths; the other fault +consists in imagining that the prosecutor is never in the wrong, but +believing that covetousness or revenge can never bring people to such a +pitch as to take away the life of another to gain money, or glut their +passions. Our experience convinces us that either of these notions taken +generally is wrong in itself, and that even as many have died in the +profession of falsehoods, so some have suffered though innocent of the +crime for which they died. The true use, therefore, of this reflection +is that where life is concerned, too much care cannot be taken to sift +the truth, since appearances often deceive us and circumstances are +sometimes strong where the evidence, if the whole affair were known, +would be but weak. + +Mary Blacket, which was the real name of this unfortunate woman, was the +daughter of very mean parents, who yet were so careful of her education +that they brought her up to read and write tolerably well, and to do +everything which could be expected from a household servant, which was +the best station they ever expected she would arrive at. When she grew +big enough to go out, they procured for her a service in which as well +as in several others, while a single woman, she lived with very good +reputation. After this she married a sailor, and for all her neighbours +knew, lived by hard working while he was abroad. Then on a sudden she +was taken up and committed to Newgate, for assaulting William Whittle, +in the highway, and taking from him a watch value £4, and sixpence in +money, on the 6th of August, 1726. + +When sessions came on, the prosecutor appeared and swore the fact +positively upon her, whereupon the jury found her guilty, though at the +bar she declared with abundance of asseverations that she never was +guilty of anything of that sort in her life, and insisted on it that the +man was mistaken in her face. While under sentence of death, she behaved +herself with great devotion, and seemed to express no concern at leaving +the world, excepting her only apprehensions that her child would neither +be taken care of nor educated so well after her decease, at the charge +of the parish, as hitherto it had been. Yet with respect to the crime +for which she was to die, she still continued to profess her innocency +thereof, averring that she had never been concerned in injuring anybody +by theft, and charging the oath of the prosecutor wholly upon his +mistake, and not upon wilful design to do her prejudice. At chapel, as +well as in the place of her confinement, she declared she absolutely +forgave him who had brought her to that ignominious end, as freely as +she hoped forgiveness from her Creator; and with these professions she +left the world at Tyburn, on the same day with the before-mentioned +malefactor, being then about thirty-four years of age, persisting even +at the place of execution in the denial of the fact. + + + + +The Life of JANE HOLMES, _alias_ BARRET, _alias_ FRAZER, a Shoplifter + + +In the summer of the year 1726, shoplifting became so common a practice, +and so detrimental to the shopkeepers, that they made an application to +the Government for assistance in apprehending the offenders; and in +order thereto, offered a reward and a pardon for any who would discover +their associates in such practices. It was not long before by their +vigilance and warmth in carrying on the prosecution, they seized and +committed several of the most notorious shoplifters about town, and at +the next several ensuing sessions convicted six or seven of them, which +seems to have pretty well broke the neck of this branch of thieving ever +since. + +The malefactor of whom we are now speaking pretended to have been the +daughter of a gentleman of some rank in a northern county. Certain it is +that the woman had had a tolerable education, and neither in her person, +nor in her behaviour betrayed anything of vulgar birth. Yet those whom +she called her nearest relations absolutely disowned her on her +application to them, and would not be prevailed on to take any steps +whatsoever in order to procure her a reprieve. + +When between fifteen and sixteen years old, she came up to London to her +aunt, as she asserted, much against the will of her relations. At that +time she was not ugly, and therefore a young man in the neighbourhood +began to be very assiduous in his courtship to her, hoping also that the +persons she talked of, as her father and brothers in the country, would +give him a sum of money to set up his trade. Miss Jenny was a forward +lass, and the fellow being a spruce young spark, soon prevailed over her +affections, and they were accordingly privately married, though it +proved not much to her advantage. For her husband finding no money come, +began to use her indifferently, upon which she fell into that sort of +business which goes under the name of a Holland's Trader, and gave the +best opportunities of vending goods that are ill come by, at a +tolerable price, and with little danger. + +Whether in the life-time of this husband or afterwards, I cannot say, +but she fell into the acquaintance of the famous Jonathan Wild, and +possibly received some of his instructions in managing her affairs in +the disposal of stolen goods; but as Jonathan's friendships were mostly +fatal, so in about a year's time afterwards she was apprehended upon +that score, and shortly after was tried and convicted, and thereupon +ordered for transportation. She continued abroad for two years or +somewhat more; and then, under pretence of love to her children, +ventured over to England again, where it was not long before she got +acquainted with her old crew, who, if they were to be believed upon +their oaths, were inferior to her in the art or mystery of shoplifting. +However it were, whether by selling stolen goods, or by stealing them, +certain it is that she ran into so much money that an Irish sharper +thought fit, about Christmas before her death, to marry her in order to +possess himself of her effects; which without ceremony he did upon her +being last apprehended, disposing of every thing she had, and taking +away particularly a large purse of old gold, which by her industry she +had collected against a rainy day. + +The woman who became an evidence against her swore so positively on the +several indictments, and what she said was corroborated with so many +circumstances, that the jury found her guilty on the four following +indictments, viz.: for stealing 20 yards of straw-ground brocaded silk, +value £10, the goods of John Moon and Richard Stone, on the 1st of June, +1726; of stealing, in the shop of Mr. Mathew Herbert, 40 yards of +pink-coloured mantua silk, value £10, on the 1st of May, in the same +year; of stealing, in company with Mary Robinson, a silver cup of the +value of £5, the goods of Elizabeth Dobbinson, on the 7th January; of +stealing, in the company of Mary Robinson aforesaid, 80 yards of +cherry-coloured mantua silk value £5, the goods of Joseph Bourn and Mary +Harper, on the 24th December. + +Notwithstanding the clearness of the evidence given against her, while +under sentence of death she absolutely denied not only the several facts +of which she was convicted, but of her having been ever guilty of any +theft during the whole life. Yet she confessed her acquaintance with +Jonathan Wild, nay, she went so far as to own having bought stolen +goods, and disposing of them, by which she had got great sums of money. +She was exceedingly uneasy at the thoughts of dying, and left no method +untried to procure a reprieve, venting herself in most opprobrious terms +against some whom she would have put upon procuring it for her, by +pretending to be their near relation, though the people knew very well +that she had nothing to do with them or their family; and she herself +had been reproved for nuking such pretensions by the ministers who +assist condemned persons; yet she still persisted therein, and on the +Ordinary of Newgate's acquainting her that the gentleman she called her +father died the week before, suddenly, she fell into a great agony of +crying, and as soon as she came a little to herself, reproached, though +in very modest terms, the unnatural conduct of those she still averred +to be so nearly related to her. + +Nothing could be more fond than she was of her children, who were +brought to Newgate to see her, and over whom she wept bitterly, and +expressed great concern at her not having saved wherewith to support +them in their tender years. At last, when she lost all hopes of life, +instead of growing calmer and better reconciled to death, as is frequent +enough with persons in that sad condition, on the contrary, she became +more impatient than ever, flew out into excessive passions and behaved +herself with such vehemency and flights of railing, that she did not a +little disturb those who lay under sentence in the same place with her. +For this she was reprimanded by the keepers, and exhorted to alter her +behaviour by the minister of the place, which had at last so good an +effect upon her that she became more quiet for the two or three last +days of her life; in which she professed herself exceedingly grieved for +the many offences of her misspent life, declaring she heartily forgave +the woman who was an evidence against her, and who she believed was much +wickeder than herself, because as this criminal pretended, she had +varied not a little from the truth. At the place of execution she was +more composed than could have been expected, and with many prayers that +her life might prove a warning to others, she yielded up her last +breath, at Tyburn, on the same day with the before-mentioned +malefactors, being then about thirty-four years of age. + + + + +The Life of KATHERINE FITZPATRICK, _alias_ GREEN, _alias_ BOSWELL, a +notorious Shoplift + + +After once the mercers had got Burton, who was the evidence, into their +hands, she quickly detected numbers of her confederates, several of whom +were apprehended, and chiefly on her evidence, convicted. Amongst the +rest was this Katherine Fitzpatrick, who was born in Lincolnshire, of +parents far from being in low circumstances, and who were careful in +bestowing on her a very tolerable education. In the country she +discovered a little too much forwardness, and though London was a very +improper place in which to hope for her amendment, yet hither her +friends sent her, where she quickly fell into such company as deprived +her of all sentiments, either of virtue or honesty. What practices she +might pursue before she fell into shoplifting I have not been able to +learn, and will not therefore impose upon my readers at the expense of a +poor creature, who is so long ago gone to answer for her offences, +which, as they were doubtless many of themselves, so they shall never be +increased by me. + +Being a woman of a tolerable person, notwithstanding her not having the +best of characters, she got a man in the mind to marry her, to whom she +made an indifferent good wife; and though he was not altogether clear +from knowing of her being concerned with shoplifters, yet he was so far +from giving her the least encouragement therein that they were on the +contrary continually quarrelling upon this subject; and whenever, from +any circumstances, he guessed she had been thieving, he beat her +severely. Yet all this was to no purpose, she still continued to treat +in the old path and associated herself with a large number of women, who +were at this time busy in stealing silks out of the shops, either in the +absence of the master, or under the pretence of seeing others. It is +observable not only of Katherine Fitzpatrick, of whom we are now +speaking, but also of all the persons who died for this offence, that +they were extremely shy of making detailed confessions, though ready +enough to confess in general that they had been grievous sinners, and +that the punishment they were to undergo was very just from the hand of +God. Fitzpatrick, as well as the former criminal Holmes, charged Burton +the evidence with disingenuity in what she delivered on her oath against +them, and yet Fitzpatrick could not absolutely deny having been guilty +of a multitude of offences as to shoplifting, so that it is highly +probable, even if the evidence erred a little in immaterial +circumstances, that in the main she swore truth. + +The particular facts on which Fitzpatrick was convicted, were: (1) +stealing 19 yards of green damask valued at £9, the goods of Joseph +Giffard and John Ravenal, on July the 29th, 1724; (2) Taking 10 yards of +green satin out of the shop of John Moon and Richard Stone, value £3, on +the 10th February, 1724/25; (3) Stealing, in company with another +person, 50 yards of green mantua, value £10, the goods of John Autt, May +the 5th, 1725; (4) Stealing 63 yards of modena and pink italian mantua, +the goods of Joshua Fairy, February 24, 1724/25. These dates were all of +them somewhat more than a twelvemonth before the time of her +apprehension, and she insisted on it that she had left off committing +any such thing for a considerable space, which made the evidence envy +her, and so brought on the prosecution. + +As she was a woman of good natural parts, and had not utterly lost that +education which had been bestowed upon her, she was not near so much +confuted at the apprehensions of death as people in her circumstances +usually are. She said she was glad she had some reformation in her life +before this great evil came upon her, because she hoped her repentance +was the more sincere as it had not proceeded from force; yet she was +very desirous of life when first condemned, and, like Mrs. Holmes, +pleaded her belly, in hopes her pregnancy might have prevented her +execution. But a jury of matrons found neither of them to be quick with +child; yet both to the time of their death averred they were so, and +seemed exceedingly uneasy that their children should die violent deaths +within them. + +When the time of her execution drew very near, she called her thoughts +totally off from worldly affairs, and seemed to apply herself to the +great business which lay before her, with an earnestness and assiduity +seldom to be seen in such people. The assistance she had from her +friends abroad were not large, but she contented herself with a very +spare diet, being unwilling that anything should call her off from +penitence and religious duties. She seemed to have entirely weaned her +affections from the desire of life, and never showed any extraordinary +emotions, except on the visit of her youngest child, in the nurse's +arms, at the first sight of which she fell into strong convulsion fits, +from which she was not brought to herself without great difficulty. She +sometimes expressed a little uneasiness at the misfortunes which had +befallen her after she had left off that way of living, but upon her +being spoken to by several reverend persons, who explained and +vindicated the wisdom and justice of Providence, she acquiesced under +its decrees, and without murmuring submitted to her fate. + +A little before she died, she, with the rest of the shoplifters, was +asked some questions concerning one Mrs. Susanna, who was suspected of +having been in some degree concerned with her. Mrs. Fitzpatrick and Mrs. +Holmes each of them declared that they knew nothing evil about her. Mrs. +Fitzpatrick did indeed say that she had some little acquaintance with +the woman, and knew that she got her living by selling coffee, tea, and +some other little things, yet never was concerned in any ill practices +in relation to them, or anybody else she knew of. After having done +this public justice, she, with great meekness, yielded up her breath at +Tyburn, the 6th of September, 1726, being then about thirty-eight years +of age. + + + + +The Life of MARY ROBINSON, a Shoplift + + +The indiscretions of youth are always pitied, and often excused even by +those who suffer most by them; but when persons grown up to years of +discretion continue to pursue with eagerness the most flagitious +courses, and grow in wickedness as they grow in age, pity naturally +forsakes us, and they appear in so execrable a light that instead of +having compassion for their misfortunes we congratulate our country on +being rid of such monsters, whom nothing could tame, nor the approach +even of death in a natural way hinder them from anticipating it by +drawing on a violent one through their crimes. + +I am drawn to this observation from the fate of the miserable woman of +whom we are now speaking. What her parents were, or what her education +it is impossible to say, since she was shy of relating them herself; and +being seventy years old at the time of her execution, there was nobody +then living who could give an account about her. She was indicted for +stealing a silver cup, in company with Jane Holmes, and also stealing +eighty yards of cherry-coloured mantua silk, value five pounds, in +company with the aforesaid Jane Holmes, the property of Joseph Brown and +Mary Harper, on the 24th of December. On these facts she was convicted +as the rest were, in the evidence of Burton, whom, as is usual in such +cases, they represented as a woman worse than themselves, and who had +drawn many of them into the commission of what she now deposed against +them. + +As to this old woman Mary Robinson, she said she had been a widow +fourteen years, and had both children and grandchildren living at the +time of her execution; she said she had worked as hard for her living as +any woman in London. Yet when pressed thereupon to speak the truth and +not wrong her conscience in her last moments, she did then declare she +had been guilty of thieving tricks; but persisted in it that the +evidence Burton had not been exactly right in what she had sworn against +her. It was a melancholy thing to see a woman of her years, and who +really wanted not capacity, brought into those lamentable circumstances, +and going to a violent and ignominious death, when at a time when she +could not expect it would be any long term before she submitted to a +natural one. + +Possibly my readers may wonder how such large quantities of silk were +conveyed away. I thought, therefore, proper to inform them that the +evidence Burton said they had a contrivance under their petticoats, not +unlike two large hooks, upon which they laid a whole roll of silk, and +so conveyed it away at once, while one of their confederates amused the +people of the shop in some manner or other until they got out of reach; +and by this means they had for many years together carried on their +trade with great success and as much safety, until the losses of the +tradesmen ran so high as to induce them to take the method +before-mentioned, which quickly produced a discovery, not only of the +persons of the offenders, but of the place also where they had deposited +the goods. By this means a good part of them were recovered, and those +who had so long lived by this infamous practice were either detected or +destroyed; so that shoplifting has been thereby kept under ever since, +or at least the offenders have not ventured in so large a way as before. + +But to return to the criminal of whom we are to treat. She said she was +not afraid of death at all, though she confessed herself troubled as to +the manner in which she was to die, and reflected severely upon Burton, +who had given evidence against her. By degrees she grew calmer, and on +the day of her execution appeared more composed and cheerful than she +had done during all her troubles. She suffered at the same time with the +malefactors before mentioned, and in her years looked as if she had been +the mother of those with whom she died. + + + + +The Life of JANE MARTIN, _alias_ LLOYD, a Cheat and a Thief, etc. + + +This woman was the daughter of parents in very good reputation, about an +hundred miles off in the country. While they lived they took care to +breed her to understand everything as became a gentlewoman of a small +fortune, and in her younger years she was tractable enough; but her +parents dying while Jane was but a girl, she came into the hand of +guardians who were not altogether so careful as they ought. Before she +was of age she married a young gentleman who had a pretty little +fortune, which he and she quickly confounded; insomuch that he became a +prisoner in the King's Bench for debt. Being thus destitute, and in +great want of money, she set her wits to work to consider ways and +means of cheating people for her support, in which she became as +dexterous as any who ever followed that infamous trade. Yet her husband +(as she herself owned) was a man of strict honour, and so much offended +at these villainies that he used her with great severity thereupon, but +that had no effect, for she still continued the old trade, putting on +the saint until people trusted her, and pulling off the mask as soon as +she found there was no more to be got by keeping it on. + +Amongst the rest of her adventures in this way she once took it in her +head that it was possible for her to set up a great shop, entirely upon +credit, for except some good clothes she had nothing else to go to +market with. Accordingly she first took a shop not far from Somerset +House, and having caused some bales of brick-bats to be made up, sent +them thither in a cart with one of her confederates, which was safely +deposited in that which was to pass for the warehouse. A carpenter was +sent for, who was employed in making shelves, drawers, and other +utensils for a haberdasher's shop. Then going to the wholesale people in +that way, she found means to draw them in to six or seven hundred pounds +worth of goods to the house which she had taken. All of this stuff the +Saturday night following, she caused to be carried over into the Mint, a +practice very common with the infamous shelterers there who preserve +their pretended privileges. + +Mrs. Martin having got some acquaintance in a tolerable family, and +having a very fair tongue, she quickly wheedled them into a belief of +her being able to do great matters by her interest with some person of +distinction, whose name she made use of on this occasion, and thereby +got several presents and small sums of money, and (if she herself were +to be believed) among the rest a silver cup. Whether her failing in her +promises really provoked the people to swearing a theft upon her, or +whether (which is more probable) she took an opportunity of conveying it +secretly away, certain it is that for this she was prosecuted, and the +fact appearing clear enough to the jury, was thereupon convicted and +ordered for transportation. This afflicted her at least as much as if +she had been condemned to instant death, and therefore she applied +herself continually to thinking which way it might be eluded, and she +might escape. Soon after her going abroad, she effected what she so +earnestly desired, and unhappily for her returned again into England. + +The numerous frauds she had committed had exasperated many people +against her, who as soon as it was rumoured that she was come back +again, never left searching for her until they found her out, and got +her committed to Newgate; and on the record of her conviction being +produced the next sessions, and the prosecutor swearing positively that +she was the same person, the jury, after a short consultation, brought +her in guilty, and she received sentence of death, from which, as she +had no friends, she could not hope to escape. When she found death was +inevitable, she fell into excessive agonies and well-nigh into despair. +The reflection on the many people she had injured gave her so great +grief and anxiety of mind that she could scarce be persuaded to get down +a sufficient quantity of food to preserve her life until the time of her +execution. But the minister at Newgate having demonstrated to her the +wickedness and the folly of such a course, she by degrees came to have a +better sense of things; her mind grew calmer, and though her repentance +was accompanied with sighs and tears, yet she did not burst out into +those lamentable outcries by which she before disturbed both herself and +those poor creatures who were under sentence with her. In this +disposition of mind she continued until the day of her death, which was +on the 12th of September, 1726, being between twenty-seven-and-eight +years of age, in the company of the before-mentioned malefactors, +Cartwright, Blacket, Holmes, Fitzpatrick, Robinson, and William Allison, +a poor country lad of about twenty-five, apparently of an easy gentle +temper who had been induced into the fact, partly through covetousness, +and partly through want. + + + + +The Life of TIMOTHY BENSON, a Highwayman + + +Amongst the number of those unfortunate persons whose memory we have +preserved to the world in order that their punishments may become +lasting warnings unto all who are in any danger of following their +footsteps, none is more capable of affording useful reflections than the +incidents that are to be found in the life of this robber are likely to +create. He was the son of a serjeant's wife, in the regiment of the Earl +of Derby, but who his father was it would be hard to say. His mother +having had a long intrigue with one Captain Benson and the serjeant +dying soon after this child was born, she thought fit to give him the +captain's name, declaring publicly enough, that if it was in her power +to distinguish, the captain must be his father. Certain it is that the +woman acted cunningly, at least, for Benson, who had never had a child, +was so pleased with the boy's ingenuity that he sent him to a grammar +school in Yorkshire, where he caused him to be educated as well as if +he had been his legitimate son. + +Nothing could be more dutiful than Tim was, while a child. The captain +was continually vexed with long letters from the gentlewoman where he +was boarded, concerning master's fine person, great parts and wonderful +improvements, which Benson, being a man of sense, took to be such gross +flattery that he came down to Bellerby, the village where the child was, +on purpose to take it away. But Mr. Tim, upon his arrival, appeared such +a prodigy both in beauty and understanding that the old gentleman was +perfectly ravished with him, and whatever he might believe before, +vanity now engaged him to think the youth his son. For this reason he +doubled his care in providing for him, and when he had made a sufficient +progress at the Grammar School, he caused him to be sent over to Leyden, +a university of which he had a great opinion. + +Timothy lost not any of his reputation in this change of climate, but +returned in three years time from Holland as accomplished a young fellow +as had been bred there for a long time. He had but just made his +compliments to his supposed father, and received thirty guineas from him +as a welcome to England, before the old gentleman fell ill of a +pleurisy, which in four days' time deprived him of his life; and as he +had no will, his estate of £300 a year, and about £700 in money (which +he had lent out on securities), descended to his sister's son, as arrant +a booby as ever breathed, and deprived Tim both of his present +subsistance and future hopes. + +In this distressed condition he took lodgings in a little court at the +farther end of Westminster. He had a great number of good clothes, and +as he then addicted himself to nothing so much as reading, he lived so +frugally as to make a very tolerable appearance, and to pay everybody +justly for about half a year, which so well established his credit in +the neighbourhood that he was invited to the houses of the best families +thereabouts, and might undoubtedly, if he had had his wits about him, +have married some young gentlewoman thereabouts of a tolerable fortune. +But happening to lodge over against a great mantua-maker's, he took +notice of a young girl who was her apprentice, and happened to be a +chandler's daughter, at Hammersmith. The wench, whose name was Jenny, +was really handsome and agreeable, but as things were circumstanced with +him, nothing could be more ridiculous than that passion which he +suffered himself to entertain for her. + +It is very probable that he might have had some transient amours before +this, but Jenny was certainly the mistress to whom he made his first +addresses, and the real passion of his heart. The girl was quickly +tempted by the person and appearance of her lover, and without enquiring +too narrowly into his circumstances, would certainly have yielded to his +passion, if marriage had been the thing at which he aimed; but he was an +obstacle hard to get over. Tim looked upon himself to be irretrievably +undone from the hour he entered into that state. At last he conquered +that virtue which his mistress had hitherto preserved, and after they +had fooled away a month or two together, at the expense of all he had, +Tim found himself at last obliged to confess the truth of his +circumstances, and by that confession brought a flood of grief upon his +fair one, who had hitherto been unaccustomed to misfortunes. + +When they first came together it was agreed between them to quit that +part of the town where they were both known, and they afterwards lodged +in a very pretty little house on the edge of Red Lion Fields. On the +morning Tim made this discovery, his cash was reduced to a single crown. +It is true he had abundance of things of value, but when once they began +to go, he was conscious to himself that starving would be quickly their +lot, and what added more to his misfortunes was that his mistress, +amidst all her sighs and afflictions, declared she would rather continue +with him than go home to her relations, though from the indulgence of a +mother she did not doubt of meeting with a good reception. + +However, they came to this resolution, that Jenny should go and raise +five guineas upon a diamond ring of his, and while she was gone on this +errand, poor Benson sat leaning with his head upon his arm in a window +that looked towards the fields. Casting up his eyes by chance, he saw a +gentleman walking up and down as if for his diversion, whereupon a +thought immediately struck him, that it would be an easy matter to rob +him, and by his appearance it was not unlikely but that he might prove a +good prize. Without reflecting, he resolved upon the thing, and putting +on over his nightgown an old great coat which he had in his closet and +with a case of pistols in his breast, he slipped out at the garden gate +without being perceived, and was up with him in an instant. Then, taking +the button of his hat in his teeth, he mumbled out, _Deliver or you're a +dead man._ The gentleman in great confusion gave him a green purse of +gold, and was going to pull his ring off from his finger, and his watch +out of his pocket, but Tim stopped him and said he had enough, only +commanded him to turn his back towards him, and not to alter his +position for fifteen minutes by his own watch. This the gentleman +religiously observed, and Tim made all the haste he could through the +garden into his own chamber, where having hid the cloak at the back of +the bed, he began to examine the value of the plunder, and found that +the purse contained seventy guineas and two diamond rings, one a single +stone and a very fine one, the other consisting of seven, but small and +of no great value. These he went down and buried in the garden, having +first burnt the purse in the fire. + +The hurry of the fact being over, he sat down once again in his own +room, and had leisure to reflect a little on what he had done, which +threw him into such an agony that he was scarce able to sit upon the +chair. Shame at the villainy he had committed, the fear of being +apprehended, and the apprehensions of Tyburn, gave so many wounds to his +imagination that he thought his former uneasiness a state of quiet to +the pangs which he now felt, which were much more bitter, as well as of +a very different nature from anything he had known before. + +In the midst of these terrors, he heard the voices of a great deal of +company in his landlady's parlour. The hopes of being a little easy +where he had not so much opportunity of affrighting himself with his own +thoughts, occasioned his going downstairs, and without well knowing what +he did, he knocked at the parlour door, which when opened, the first +thing which struck his eyes was the gentleman whom he had robbed, +drinking a glass of water. This gave him such a shock that he had much +ado to collect spirits enough to tell the gentlewoman of the house that +he perceived she had company, and therefore would not intrude. But she, +laying her hand upon his arm, said, _Pray, Mr. Benson, walk in; here's +nobody but a gentleman who has had the misfortune to be robbed in the +field, the fright of which has put him into such a disorder that he +desired to step in here that he might have leisure to come a little to +himself._ Tim saw it was impossible for him to retreat, and so putting +on the best face he was able, he came in and sat down. + +The landlady began then to enquire the circumstances of the robbery. +_Why, madam_, replied he, _I was walking there, as I generally do of a +fine afternoon, in order to get a little fresh air, when a man came up +all of a sudden to me, close muffled up in a green or blue great-coat, +in truth I cannot say which. He clapped a pistol to my breast, and I +gave him my purse, and my niece's two rings, one of which cost me +fourscore guineas, but three weeks ago. And as I was afraid he would +murder me, I was going to give him this off my finger, and my watch out +of my pocket, but that the fellow said he had enough, and his leaving +these, surprised me almost as much as taking the rest. But what sort of +a man was he?_ said she. _Why, I think he was about that gentleman's +height_, added he; _but I am so short-sighted that I question whether I +should have known his face, even had it not been covered with his hat. +Besides I am so much taken with the rogue's generosity that I would not +prosecute him if I had him in the room._ + +This set Tim's heart so much at rest that he began to come to himself a +little, and asked the strange gentleman if he would not be so good as to +drink a glass of wine. A bottle was sent for, and during the time they +were drinking it, Jenny came in, and it being quite dark before they had +finished it, a coach was called, and Mr. Benson offered to see the +gentleman home, in order to which he was going upstairs to put on his +clothes. But this the stranger would not permit, begging him to go as he +was, upon which Jenny said, _Then, my dear, I'll fetch your great-coat._ +He had much ado to desire the gentleman to walk to the coach and he'd go +as he was, which he did accordingly, and after drinking a glass of +citron water with the lady whose rings he had stolen, he came home again +as fast as the coach could carry him. + +Jenny was very melancholy at his return, and giving him three guineas, +told him that it was all the pawnbroker would lend, and she had much ado +to get that, as she was not known. Tim bid her be of good cheer, and +said he hoped things would mend, and so they went to bed. Two or three +days after, he took an opportunity of going out pretty early, and +returning about dinner time, told her, with much seeming joy, that he +had met with a gentleman whom he had been acquainted with at Leyden, and +who hearing of his father's death, had begged him to accept of twenty +guineas as a mark to his esteem. Jenny was in raptures at their good +fortune, and went that afternoon and fetched the ring home, returning, +poor creature, with as much satisfaction as if she had received ever so +much money; for the hopes of living quietly a month or two with the man +she loved, dispelled all the apprehensions of poverty which she was +before under. + +Tim considering that this supply would not last always, and resolving +with himself never to run such a hazard again, he began to beat his +brains about the best method to be taken of getting money in an honest +way. As he had been bred to no profession, notwithstanding the excellent +education he had had, never was a man more at his wits' end. After a +thousand schemes had offered themselves to his mind, and were rejected, +it came at last into his head that as he was tolerably versed in physic, +it might not be impossible for him to get his bread by that. But how to +get into practice, there was the difficulty. A little recollection +helped him here. He had seen a quack doctor exhibit his medicines, with +a panegyric on their good qualities, on his journey to London; he +resolved, scandalous as the profession was, to venture upon it, rather +than run the risk he had done before. + +This scheme doubtless cost him some trouble before he brought it to bear +so as to give him any hopes of his putting it into execution, but having +at last settled it as well as he could, he determined with himself to go +down into some distant county and undertake it. In order to have his +thoughts at greater liberty to resolve about it, he took a walk into the +fields, and being very dry after his perambulation, he stepped into a +little alehouse, and called for a mug of drink. While he sat there he +heard two men discoursing upon the vast sums of money that was got by +one Smith, a practitioner in the very art which he was going to set up, +and he found by them that the chief scene of Smith's adventures had lain +in Lincolnshire and thereabouts; so without more ado, as all places were +alike to him, he settled his intentions to go down to the same place, +where he understood by the man that his _quondam_ doctor had done some +great cures and got a tolerable reputation. + +When he came home, he could not avoid appearing very thoughtful, and +Jenny fearful of some new disaster, would not let him rest until he had +acquainted her fully with his design, which he would not consent to do +until she promised to comply with a proposal he was to make her, after +he had revealed the secret she was so desirous to know. When he had told +her his project, she next demanded what the condition was to which she +had bound herself to yield. Benson replied that it was to remain at some +place thirty or forty miles distant from where he intended to go, that +she might not be exposed to any inconveniences from that unhappy figure +he saw himself obliged to make. It was with great reluctance that she +ratified the consent he had given, but at length, after much persuasion, +she again acknowledged he was in the right, and promised to do as he +would have her. Things being thus adjusted, nothing remained for him to +do but to get ready for his journey, and that his mate might be the less +timorous of the event, he told her he had procured another supply of +twenty-five guineas. + +His cloak-bag was soon stored with such medicines as he thought proper, +and having packed up a few practical books he thought he might have +occasion for, he took a place for himself and Jenny, who passed for his +wife, in the stage coach for Huntingdon, at a village near which, paying +the people for a month's board, he left his consort, and having hired +horses to Boston, he took a young fellow from Huntingdon with him +thither. + +As Benson had a very smooth tongue, so he set off the wonderful +properties of his drugs in so artful a manner that in the space of a +fortnight he had cleared £10 besides his expenses. As he had left Jenny +five guineas in her pocket, he wrote to her to pay the people another +month's board, and assured her that he would return within that space. +Hiring accordingly visited Sleaford, and some other great towns +thereabouts, in seven weeks' time he set out for his return into +Huntingdonshire, with fifty guineas, all clear gain, in his pockets. +This good luck encouraged him to run through the greatest part of the +North of England in the same manner, and within the compass of three +years he cleared upwards of £500. At the time of his making this +calculation he was set down at Bristol, in order to exercise his talent +in that great city; but an unexpected accident broke all his measures. +Just as his stage was set up, and he mounted, and opening his harangue +which was now become familiar to him, a constable stepped up upon the +stage, and told him that a gentleman had sworn a robbery directly +against him, and he must go immediately before the mayor. This put him +into a lamentable confusion. He knew himself innocent, but the character +of a mountebank was sufficient to make the thing believed at first, and +therefore he could not be blamed for his apprehensions, especially +considering he took it as a just return for that robbery which he had +committed in town, and for which he made no satisfaction when it was so +fully in his power. + +Upon his prosecutor's appearing before the mayor, and swearing flatly to +his face as to his robbing him of seven guineas, a silver watch, and a +snuff box, Tim had his _Mittimus_ made for Newgate; but upon his +desiring the mayor that his effects might be searched, but not +plundered, he had leave given him to return with the officer and see +them looked over at the inn. As many of them were valuable of +themselves, as the drugs were of the best sorts, and as he had several +letters from persons of good character, in the several counties through +which he had passed, and bank notes and bills to the value of £400, they +thought fit to report all this to the mayor, before they did anything. +The mayor thereupon resolved to act very cautiously, and having first +looked over everything himself, he then ordered the effects to be +delivered up to Mr. Benson, himself, who, however, was obliged to +undergo a confinement of eight weeks, till the assizes. The prosecutor +not appearing, and Mr. Benson, by permission of the Court, examining two +gentlemen of undoubted credit, who proved to his being at the time when +the robbery was sworn in another place, he was acquitted, and a copy of +his indictment ordered him. It seems a person under condemnation at +Hertford acknowledged the fact for which Tim had been committed, and +produced both the snuff-box and watch; which though the gentleman who +lost them got again, yet it proved an affair of very ill-consequence to +him, for he was obliged to give Benson one hundred guineas to obtain a +general release, and Tim fearing the noise of the thing had undone his +reputation, resolved to go over to America and settle there. + +A gentleman at Bristol who traded largely to the plantations offered him +his assistance in the affair, and matters being quickly adjusted between +them, Tim, to show himself grateful, and a man of honour, was married +privately to Jenny, whom he resolved should be the companion of his +future fortunes, as she had hitherto been the constant solace of all his +sorrows. But before they set out, he thought it proper to make a journey +to London, as well as to provide some necessary articles in the +profession he intended to follow, as to make an end of a little affair +which we have before related, and which lay very hard upon his +conscience. To town then came Jenny and he, and took a lodging near +Tower Street, where in about a fortnight's time, Mr. Benson had put +everything in order for his voyage. The day before he sat out on his +return for Bristol, he wrote the following letter to the old gentleman +he had robbed, and who as he informed himself, was still living at the +same place. + + Sir, + + Under the pressure of severe necessity my misfortunes tempted me to + commit so great a piece of villainy as the robbing you in Red Lion + Fields. You may remember, sir, that I took from you a green purse, + in which was seventy guineas, and two diamond rings, the one of a + large, the other of a less value. The first comes to you enclosed in + this, the latter, the same necessity which urged me so far as to + take them, obliged me some months after to dispose of, which I did + for fourteen pounds. As a satisfaction for the injury I did you, be + so good, sir, as to accept of the enclosed note of one hundred + pounds, which I hope will amount to the whole value of those things + I took from you, and may I flatter myself, procure your pardon, the + only thing wanting to making him easy, who is, + + Sir, + Your most obedient + Humble Servant. + +This he took care to convey by a ticket-porter of whose fidelity he was +well assured, and having despatched this affair, he let slip nothing to +make his intended voyage successful. His skill in his profession was +such that he soon had as much business in the plantation where he +settled, as he knew what to do with, and in seven or eight years' +practice, acquired such an estate as was sufficient to furnish him with +all the necessaries of life, upon which he lived when he gave this +account to the gentleman who communicated it to me. And as it is an +instance of a return of virtue not often to be met with, I thought it +might be as useful as any other relation which hitherto had a place in +this confession. + + + + +The Life of JOSEPH SHREWSBERRY, _alias_ SMITH, a Robber, etc. + + +This unhappy criminal of whom we are now to speak was the son of parents +in so mean circumstances that they were not able to give him any +education at all; yet they were careful in carrying him constantly to +church with them, and instructing him as far as they were able in the +principles of the Christian faith, and did everything that narrow +capacity would give them leave, in order to enable him to get his bread +in some honest employment. Then they put him out apprentice to a tanner +in the neighbourhood, a very honest, considerate man, who treated him +with all the indulgence and kindness he could have wished throughout the +time of his apprenticeship. But he was so unfortunate as to fall into +the company of a set of giddy young people who were totally addicted to +merry-making and dancing, which when he had once got into the road of, +he so neglected his business that his master, after abundance of +reproofs, was obliged to part with him. + +He had not at that time any designs of doing anything like the fact for +which he afterwards suffered, but continuing still to frequent his +dancing-mates' company, they promised to put him into a road to supply +him with money enough to live without working, provided he had courage +to do as they would have him; and he, without considering what he did, +giving consent to their motions, went out one evening with David +Anderson, Country Will and Jenny Austin, and after a while they stripped +one Thomas Collier, and robbed him of his coat and waistcoat, hat, and a +pair of silver buckles and other things, with a half guinea in gold, and +twenty-five shillings in silver. For this offence he was quickly after +committed, apprehended, and sent to Newgate, where, upon a plain proof +of the fact, he was convicted and ordered for execution. + +When the poor man was under sentence of death, he sufficiently repented +those idle hours he had consumed in dancing, and in the other merriments +into which he had been led by his companions. He was now sensible how +easily he might have lived if he had taken the advice of his kind +master, who with so much pains endeavoured not only to instruct him in +his profession, but also to reclaim him from those follies in which he +saw him engaged. The thoughts of death threw him into violent agonies +from whence his natural sense (of which he had a great deal) at last in +some measure recovered him; and when upon the coming down of the death +warrant, he saw there were no hopes left for him in this life, he +applied himself with very great ardency to secure happiness in the next. + +He declared that the fact for which he died was the first he ever +committed, and that the depositions against him were not exactly +conformable to truth. A day or two before his death, he appeared to be +very calm and very cheerful, submitted with a perfect resignation to the +lot which had befallen him, and at the place of execution exhorted the +people not to let their curiosity only be satisfied in the sight of his +wretched death, but he warned them also from the commission of such +crimes as might bring them to a like fate. He suffered on the 3rd of +November, 1726, at Tyburn, being then about twenty-two years of age. + + + + +The Life of ANTHONY DRURY, a Highwayman + + +This unfortunate man, whose fate made a great noise in the town at the +time it happened, was born of parents neither mean in family nor +fortune, in the county of Norfolk, where he received his education, on +which no little pains and expense were bestowed. As to the particular +circumstances of his life in his most early years, as no exact accounts +have come to my hands, so I do not think myself obliged to frame any +adventures for the entertainment of my readers, a practice very common, +yet I think unjustifiable in itself. All that I can is that it appears +he lived at Oxford and Bicester before he came to Wendover, at which +place he had a house and family at the time of his death. + +He was not, as far as I am able to learn, bred up to any particular +profession whatever, his parents leaving him in circumstances capable of +supporting himself. However, whether he arrived at it after some +misfortunes, or had it discovered to him before, certain it is that he +gained some knowledge in the act of curing smoking chimneys, by which +he got very considerably, and from whence be derived the name of the +Smoky Chimney Doctor, by which he was commonly known in the county of +Bucks. + +Some few years before his death, he married a widow gentlewoman at +Oxford, of a considerable fortune. The world (though something too +largely) reported that she had fifteen hundred pounds. However it were, +he still addicted himself to women, and in all probability made her but +an indifferent husband, since she took so little care about him, when in +the midst of so great calamities. However it were, he maintained a +tolerable character in the neighbourhood, and his credit had not been +impeached in any degree when he committed the fact I am going to relate. + +On the twenty-fifth of September, 1726, he attacked the Bicester wagon +as it was coming from London, and committed the following robberies +therein, viz., he took from Thomas Eldridge, fifteen moidores, two +hundred and ten guineas, eighty half-guineas, and the goods and money of +Mr. Burrows. He was likewise indicted and found guilty for assaulting +Sarah, the wife of Robert King, on the highway, and robbing her of two +shillings and sixpence. As likewise on a third indictment, for +assaulting the aforesaid Thomas Eldridge, and taking from him a calico +gown and petticoat, value twenty shillings, the goods of Giles Betts. +There was a fourth indictment against him for assaulting Mary, the wife +of Joseph Page, and taking from her two shillings and sixpence, but the +three former being all capital, the court did not think proper to try +him upon this. + +While he lay under sentence of death he did not discover any signs of +excessive fear, but appeared rather perplexed and confused than +dispirited or dejected. He entertained at first great hopes of a +reprieve, at least in order to be transported, and for obtaining it he +spent a great deal of time writing to several friends who he thought +might be instrumental in procuring it. However, he was far from +neglecting the concerns of his soul, but read daily with much seeming +diligence several little books proper for a man in his condition, and +whenever he attended at chapel behaved with the utmost gravity, praying, +if we may guess from exterior signs, with much fervour and devotion. He +was a man very well acquainted with the principles of the Christian +religion, and was in all appearance better persuaded of the merit and +efficacy of his Saviour's passion than people often are in his +condition. + +As to his capacity, it appeared to have been very tolerable in itself, +and to have received many advantages from education. How he acquired +the art of curing smoky chimneys is not very well known, he having been +bred up to no trade whatsoever, but coming into the world with a little +fortune left him by his parents, he lived thereupon with a tolerable +reputation, until the time of his marriage. + +When he was first under sentence he was very desirous of having his wife +come to town, and for that purpose wrote her several pressing letters, +to which he received no answer. This gave him great disturbance. He +thereupon wrote to a friend in the country, who lived near her, on whom +also he had a strong dependance, entreating him to go to his wife and +solicit her not absolutely to desert him in his extreme calamity, but to +come up to town with him, in order to make their last efforts for his +preservation. This epistle, however, proved in the main as unsuccessful +as the rest, though it procured him an answer, wherein the person he +wrote to informed him that his wife was extremely lame, insomuch that +she could not put on her own clothes; that her servant was gone; that +she had no money wherewith to defray the expenses of a journey to town, +much less to assist him in his distress. As for himself, his friend +excused his coming by reason of a great cold which he had caught in +London when he came up before to attend Mr. Drury's affairs. + +Hereupon the unfortunate criminal bethought himself of another +expedient, which he imagined would not fail of engaging Mrs. Drury to +come to London. He informed her by letter, that in the beginning of his +troubles he had pawned some silver plate in town for four-and-twenty +pounds, that it was more than double the value, and might probably be +lost on his death. To this his friend wrote him back that if anybody +would take the plate out, and give advice thereof to Mrs. Drury, she +would repay them, and gratify them also for their trouble. When this +letter came to the poor man's hand he said he was satisfied that his +wife did not desire he should live, however he heartily forgave her. + +He constantly denied that he had ever been concerned in any act of a +like kind with that for which he died. He acknowledged that with what +his wife had, and the business he followed, he might have lived very +genteelly in the country; that he had not indeed, been very prudent in +the management of his affairs; however, it was no necessity that forced +him on the base and wicked act for which he died, the sole cause of his +committing which was, as he solemnly protested, the repeated +solicitations of King, the wagoner, who for a considerable time before +represented the attempt to him as a thing no way dangerous in itself, +and which would bring him a very large sum of ready money. As soon as +King perceived that his insinuations begun to make some impression, he +opened himself more fully as to the facility of robbing the Bicester +wagon, _Wherein_, says he, _you will find generally a pretty handsome +sum of money; and as to opposition, depend on it you shall meet with +none._ At last these speeches prevailed on him, and it was agreed that +the wagoner should have half the booty for his advice and assistance; +and the better to conceal it, Drury, was directed to rob King's wife of +about four pounds, which was all she had about her. + +A minister of the Church of England, who was either acquainted with Mr. +Drury, or out of charitable intention, attended him at the request of +his friends, took abundance of pains to give him just notions of his +duty in that unfortunate slate into which his folly had brought him; he +repeated to him the reasons which render a public confession necessary +from those who die by judgment of the Law; he exhorted him not to +equivocate, or even extenuate in his declarations concerning his +offence. Mr. Drury heard him with great patience, seemed to be much +affected with the remonstrances which were made to him, and finally +promised that he would act sincerely in the confessions he made to the +public; adding that he had none in whom to trust but God alone, and +therefore he would not offend him. The reverend divine to whom he spoke +approved his resolution, and promised to afford him all the assistance +in his power till death. + +As soon as the criminal was satisfied that all applications that had +been made for mercy were ineffectual, and that there was not the least +probability of a pardon, he immediately sent for the clergyman +before-mentioned, and desired to receive the Sacrament at his hands, to +which the gentleman readily assented, uttering only a short previous +exhortation unto a true repentance, open and genuine confession, and +full and free forgiveness unto all who had ever injured him, or unto +whom he bore any ill will. Mr. Drury, therefore, before he received the +Elements, owned in express terms his being guilty of the fact for which +he died, affirmed the truth of what he had formerly said concerning the +wagoner, declared that he forgave both him and his own wife sincerely, +and that having now in some measure eased his mind, he was no longer +afraid of death. + +Mr. Drury, even after receiving sentence, was indulged by the keepers of +Newgate in having a room to himself in the Press Yard, which afforded +him leisure and privacy for his devotions; and he seemed, especially for +the last days of his life, to make proper use of those conveniences by +excluding himself from all company and applying earnestly to God in +prayer for the forgiveness of his sins. During the two or three days +succeeding that whereon he received sentence, a gentlewoman attended +pretty constantly upon him. Who she was we can neither say, nor is it +very material; but Mr. Drury appealing to her in the presence of some +persons, as to the truth of what he alleged concerning King, the +wagoner, she desired to relate what she knew as to that point. The +account she gave was to this purpose. _Mr. Drury carried me out of town +with him in a chaise to Wendover. On the road we were met by the wagoner +he speaks on, who desired Mr. Drury to step out, for he wanted to speak +with him. Thereupon he complying with the wagoner's request, they walked +together to a considerable distance, and there stopping talked to each +other very earnestly for some time._ As to the subject of their +discourse she declared she could say nothing, but as they came back to +the chaise, the wagoner said, _You need not be afraid, you will be sure +to get what you want._ To say truth, it was very odd for a single man to +rob a wagon to which so many people belonged, in company with several +other wagons, without any opposition, though it be likewise true that he +did not attempt any of the rest. + +Some persons of quality were prevailed on by his earnest solicitations +and the circumstances we have before mentioned to endeavour the +procuring him a pardon, but it was in vain; and it would have certainly +have been much better for the man if he never had any hopes given him, +for though he did not depend as much on promises as men in his miserable +condition frequently do, yet the desire of life, sometimes excited the +hopes of it, and thereby took off his thoughts from more weighty +concerns, or at least made him more languid and confused than otherways +he would have been, for the very day before his death he still +entertained some expectations of mercy. + +The evening before he suffered a woman knocked at his chamber door, and +earnestly desired to speak a few words to him. He accordingly came +towards the door and asked her what it was she would have to say to him. +The woman, after expressing much sorrow for his misfortunes, told him +she was desired by a person to whom she had been servant, if the thing +were possible, to learn from his own mouth what he had to say against +the wagoner. Mr. Drury replied that he had never had any thought of +robbing wagons, or any such thing, if the wagoner had not advised and +pressed him to it; so that his blood, the loss of his life, and all he +had in the world lay upon that man. Then shutting the door he returned +to his devotions, and continued to them all the evening and until the +night was considerably spent. + +As death drew near it seemed not to affect him so much as might be +expected. On the morning of his execution he appeared not only easy, but +cheerful, attended at the prayers at chapel with much composure, and +went out of Newgate without any sign of fright or disturbance of mind. +On the road to Tyburn he appeared serious but melancholy, spoke a good +deal concerning the errors of his former life, said he had never bees +addicted to drinking, but had conversed too much with bad women, which +had made his wife jealous, and caused home to be very uneasy. He seemed +truly penitent for these offences, as he confessed them without any +questions being asked by those about him. + +At the place of execution his courage did not forsake him. He still +preserved a great deal of serenity in his countenance, and when he was +desired to acquaint the people with anything he had to say concerning +the crime for which he died, he spoke with a strong voice, and repeated +what he had formerly alleged about King, the wagoner, adding that he +advised him also to rob the Banbury wagon; and that notwithstanding he +talked of his wife's having four pounds about her, yet he took but three +shillings, whereon the third indictment was founded, on which he was +convicted. He then complained of his wife's unkindness, and both prayed +for the spectators, and desired their prayers for him. As he was leaning +on the side of the cart, the Ordinary told him that a man had charged +him the day before with having married a man's daughter at Norwich, who +is still living. Mr. Drury answered, he was reproached by many people, +and he forgave them all, he then called to a gentleman who was near the +gallows and spoke to him about his estate, which he had before settled. +Afterwards he exhorted the people to live virtuously, and be warned by +his example, and then submitted patiently to his fate, on Thursday, the +third of November, 1726, being at that time of his decease about +twenty-eight years of age. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM MILLER, a Highwayman, etc. + + +As necessary correction is often a method by which, when young people +begin to stray into the paths of vice, they are deterred and brought +back again into the road of virtue; yet when this is incautiously +inflicted or done in a violent manner, it frequently excites worse +thoughts than would otherwise probably have entered the breasts of young +people thus punished; and instead of hindering them from committing +trivial offences, puts them on doing the worst things imaginable in +order to deliver them from a state more hateful to them than death +itself. + +This criminal William Miller, was the son of very honest parents who +lived at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who took care to give him a good +education, and what was much more commendable, a good example. They put +him out apprentice to a tradesman at Alnwick, with whom he might have +lived tolerably well had it not been for the churlishness of his +master's temper, who was continually picking quarrels with him, and +thereupon beating him inhumanly. At last an accident happened which +supplied a continual fund of anger and resentment and this was on +account of William's losing a horse, which, though his friends paid for, +yet every time it came into his masters head there was a battle between +them; for Miller being now grown pretty big made resistance when he +struck him, and not seldom got the better of him, and beat him in his +turn. This occasioned such disturbances and falling out between them +that at last Miller took a resolution for leaving him for good and all, +and determined to live as he could, up and down the country. + +At first he was so lucky as to meet with a man who employed him readily, +treated him with kindness, and gave him good advice, without +accompanying his reproofs with blows; but upon discovering that his man +William had not served out his time, but had only five years and a half +with his master, he absolutely refused to suffer him to work any longer. +It was with great reluctancy that Miller parted with this master, and he +became every day after more and more uneasy, because he found no other +master would let him work with them, upon the same account; so that by +degrees he was reduced to the great necessity in the country, and though +he was willing to work, yet could not tell which way to turn his hand. + +In the midst of these perplexities, he bethought himself of coming up to +London, which he put in execution. On his arrival there he listed +himself as a soldier in one of the regiments of Guards, and as it is no +very hard matter in this town, got abundance of amorous affairs upon his +hands. With one woman he lived a short time after his coming up to +London, but her he soon turned off for the sake of another, who was a +blacksmith's wife, and whom he married, notwithstanding her first +husband was then to his acknowledge alive. This was, indeed, the source +of a great part of his misfortunes, since what between the woman's +drinking and the money which the husband got out of him for permitting +him to live quietly with her, he was (notwithstanding he had learnt a +new employment, viz., that of a basket maker) miserably poor; and the +woman having brought him a child to increase his expenses, he was at +last forced, whether he would or no, to leave her and it both. After +this he associated with another woman, and at length married her also, +with whom he lived quietly enough until the time of his death. These +numerous intrigues drew him in consequence into a multitude of other +vices, which both lost him his reputation, and damaged his +understanding, especially when he came to drink hard, which he at last +did to such a degree that he was seldom or never sober, or if he were, +the reflecting on his misfortunes pushed him on getting drunk as fast as +he could--a case but too common amongst the meaner sort of people, who +as they have no philosophy of learning to support them, endeavour to +drown all care by sotting. + +Whether Miller really intended to go a-robbing at the time he committed +the fact for which he died, or whether drunkenness and the sense, even +in that condition which he retained of his misfortune, on a sudden +suggested to him the stripping of the old man Nicholas Bourn under the +favour of the night, certain it is (though from motives we cannot +determine) that he attacked the man and took from him his coat and hat. +On the injured person's crying out a watchman ran immediately to his +assistance, and with his pole, notwithstanding Miller drew his bayonet, +knocked him down, and so seized him and delivered him up to Justice. At +the next sessions at the Old Bailey he was indicted for this fact, and +the same was very fully and clearly proved against him; yet though he +had no friends capable of procuring him either a reprieve or pardon, he +had the good luck to remain a considerable space under condemnation, +viz., from one sessions to another, before the report was made, and so +had the greater leisure left him for repentance. + +During the space he lay in the condemned hold he expressed a very hearty +sorrow for all his offences and particularly regretted his having +addicted himself so much to the company of women, which, as it at first +led him into expenses, naturally brought him into narrow circumstances; +and his necessities unfortunately put him upon taking the fatal method +of supplying himself. Yet in the midst of these tokens of penitence and +contrition several women came still about him, so he resolved to send +the child he had by the second down to his friends in the country, not +doubting, as he said, but that they would take care of it. And for the +last of those who went for his wife, he really looked upon her as such, +and therefore treated her with more kindness and affection than he did +any of the rest. However, doubtless they were no great help to him in +his preparations for death. And amongst the other miseries produced, to +our view, this is not a small one, that they continue to pursue us even +to the last, and fasten so strongly about our thoughts and inclinations +that as at first, they defeated all consideration, so in the end they +are in danger of preventing a hearty and sincere repentance. + +As to the particular fact for which he was to die, he acknowledged +himself guilty thereof, but for all that objected to the several +circumstances that were sworn against him at his trial; nor could all +the arguments that were used towards him persuade him that those +trifling variations (for as he himself represented them they were no +more) were not now at all material to him, but that as he justly +deserved to die according to his own confession, it signified little to +him whether the particular steps taken in his apprehension were exactly +stated by the Court or not. As the day of his execution drew near, he +receded a little from these objections, and began to set himself in +earnest to acquire that calmness with which every reasonable man would +desire to meet death. The women he forbid visiting him, refused to eat +or drink anything but what was absolutely necessary to support Nature, +plied himself regularly and constantly to his devotions, and seemed to +have nothing at heart but to reconcile himself to that Divine Being, who +by the multitude of his crimes he had so much offended. To say truth, it +was not a little wonderful that a person after continuing for such a +length of time in the practice of wickedness and debauchery, should at +last be capable of applying himself with such zeal and attention to the +duties of a dying man. He yielded up his life the 13th of February, +1727, at Tyburn, being then twenty-six years of age. + + + + +The Life of ROBERT HAYNES, a Murderer, etc. + + +As from a multitude of instances in the course of these memoirs it has +been shown how great a misfortune it is to be destitute of education, so +from the following life it will appear that an improper education is as +dangerous as none at all. + +Robert Haynes, the criminal whose history we are to give at present, was +the son of persons in Ireland, of none of the best circumstances, who +yet afforded him a very good education, causing him to be instructed not +only in the Latin, but also in the Greek tongue, in both of which to the +day of his death he attained a tolerable knowledge. His father, it +seems, though he had done everything for his son in breeding him a +scholar, though when he grew up to man's estate he had nothing to give +him, and was forced to let him come over to England to list himself in +the Foot Guards. His officers gave him always the character of a quiet, +inoffensive lad, who injured nobody, nor was himself addicted to those +vices which are common to the men of his profession. On the contrary, he +retained yet strong notions of those religious principles in which he +had been educated. He addicted himself much to reading, and though his +spirit was not a little broken by the consideration of that low life by +which he was obliged to stoop, yet he preserved a becoming spirit and a +very gentleman-like behaviour upon all occasions; so that the officers +of his regiment very much regretted that misfortune which brought him to +an untimely end. Of the occasion of this we come next to speak, since +his youth and the regularity of his life prevented any other of his +adventures coming to our notice. + +It happened one Sunday evening, as he was walking along St. James's +Park, with two other soldiers, they met two men and two women. Haynes +unluckily kissed one of the women, upon which one of the men turned and +broke his head. As was insisted even to the time of the death of this +unfortunate person, the swords of both were drawn; however that were, he +gave his antagonist a wound in the breast of which he died. For this he +was apprehended and committed prisoner to Newgate. At the ensuing +sessions of the Old Bailey he was indicted for wilfully murdering Edward +Perry, by giving him a wound on the left part of the right breast near +the short ribs, of the depth of twelve inches, and of the length of one. +He was also indicted a second time on the Statute of Stabbing, and a +third time upon the coroner's inquest for wilful murder. On all three of +which, notwithstanding his defence, and the witnesses he called, he was +found guilty; and although some honourable persons took a great deal of +pains to procure a pardon or reprieve for him, yet it proved of no +purpose, but he and the afore-mentioned malefactor were put into the +death warrant and ordered for execution. + +For himself he had little hopes from the endeavours of his friends and +therefore behaved himself as if he had had none, being not only constant +and devout at the public exercises in the chapel, but also ardent in his +devotions in private and by himself. As the youth wanted not good sense, +and had not forgot the education he had received in Ireland, so in every +respect while under sentence of death he performed what could be +expected from a man of courage, and a Christian, under his +circumstances. A minister, out of charity, visited him several times and +prayed with him, exhorting him always to make a dear and candid +confession of the fact, and, since there were no hopes, not to go to +death with a lie between his lips. Yet he persisted still in what he +had at first declared, and continued to assert the truth of that +declaration, until the gaol sickness brought him so low, that he was +scarce able to speak at all. In this low slate of health he continued +until within two or three days of his death, when he began to pick up +strength a little; and as soon as he was able to go up the stairs, he +attended as usual the devotions of the chapel. In this frame and +disposition of heart he remained until the day of his execution came, +upon which he appeared not only calm but cheerful, received the +Sacrament as is usual with malefactors at the day of their death, and +behaved at it in a very pious and religious manner. + +When he came to Tyburn he stood up, and intended to have spoken to the +people, but finding himself too weak, he referred to a paper which he +delivered to Mr. Applebee, a printer, and which contained the substance +of what (if he had been able) he would have there spoken; and then, +after a few private ejaculations, he easily resigned up his breath at +the same time with the other malefactor, being then in the +one-and-twentieth year of his age. I thought proper to insert the copy +of that letter I have before spoken of, and it follows verbatim. + + Good people, + + I am to suffer by Law an ignominious death (God's will be done) + which untimely end I never expected. I am a youth and it's above + twelve months since I enlisted into his Majesty's Service. The + character of my behaviour in that time I will leave to my + acquaintance to declare; my character was sufficiently testified at + my trial, by gentlemen of worth and honour. I pray God bless them + for their Christian charity. I praise God my resolution to live + uprightly was no constraint; as for the cause I suffer, and the + horrid imputation I am charged with which is rendered murder (from + my soul I abhor) I now declare as I expect salvation, I am unjustly + accused, but I freely forgive my persecutors, as I hope to be + forgiven; for what I did was accidental, and in my own vindication. + The real truth is as follows: + + The two soldiers that were my evidence desired my company to drink + with them. As we were returning home through the Park, passing by + two women, and being warm with liquor, I presumed to give one of + them a kiss; the other was a married woman, and resenting my + freedom, called out to her husband, Edward Perry deceased, and to + Toms that walked before, both entire strangers to me. They returned, + Toms advanced towards me speaking abruptly, and struck me over the + head and shoulders with a stick, which stunned me; likewise he urged + the deceased to quarrel with me. The deceitful Perry enraged, swore + he would see me out, and struck me with his sword in his scabbard + over the head. He drew his sword and made several passes at me, I + still retreated till provoked to draw my sword to preserve myself. + This affair was in the night. I received a wound in my right hand + thumb, and a thrust through my coat. This I declare to be the whole + truth, as I shall answer before my great God; though my persecutors, + Toms and the deceased man's wife, swore quite the reverse, which + took place to my ruin. I pray God forgive them their trespasses, as + I hope forgiveness for my own. I pray God bless my good colonel for + his care and endeavours for my safety; I pray God bless him with + length of days and prosperity in all his undertakings. I thank God, + I never wronged man, woman, or child, to my knowledge, nor was I + ever inclined to quarrel. I heartily beg of God pardon and + forgiveness for my sins, and I confide in the merits of my dear + Saviour, who died for the World. I was baptized and bred a member of + the Church of England (though an unworthy and unfortunate one) in + which Communion I hope for salvation through my blessed Redeemer. + + Sunday, February the 12th, 1726. + + Robert Haynes + + + + +The Lives of THOMAS TIMMS, THOMAS PERRY, and EDWARD BROWN, Footpads + + +This poor unhappy man, Thomas Timms, was the son of mean parents in the +country and as indifferently educated as he was born, so that his future +ill-deeds were capable of some little extenuation. With much to-do his +friends and parents raised money enough to put him out apprentice to a +chair-carver, with whom he lived easily and honestly during the space of +his apprenticeship, coming out of it with the character of an honest +religious young lad, which he maintained after he was set up and +married. He had probably continued to maintain it to the end of his life +if he had not fallen into unhappy circumstances, by being out of work. +This obliged him to come up to Town, where for a while he lived pretty +well upon his business; but at last it so far fell off that he was +obliged to list himself a soldier in the first regiment of Guards. +Notwithstanding this he worked still at his trade, as much as it was +possible for him to do, and to perform his duty; but misfortunes still +crowding upon him, he grew at first melancholy, and at last took to +drinking in the company of bad women, who soon drew him into thinking of +taking dishonest methods to obtain money for the support of their +debaucheries. + +Amongst other of his acquaintance there was a woman who had formerly +lived with a very eminent lawyer in the City. It was said she had a +greater familiarity with her master than she ought to have had, from +whence she took the liberty to cheat him most egregiously, especially by +counterfeiting receipts from most of the tradesmen with whom her master +had any dealing, by which means she retained in her own hands the money +which she should have paid him. Some months after, however, the roguery +was discovered, and her master being newly married, he took this +opportunity to discharge her suddenly. However, he promised her, if she +went into any lodgings, and gave him notice, he would take care she +should not want, until she could get herself into some way of business +or other. + +This gentleman had three clerks, all of good families and good fortunes. +The wench, after she was out of the house, first went into a +neighbourhood where the eldest of these clerks and his relations were +very well known. Here she took upon her to be his wife, and said that +they were privately married for fear of disobliging his relations. By +the help of this she got so far into credit that she took up near a +hundred and twenty pounds worth of things before the least apprehension +was had of her being a cheat; and then removing her lodgings, she fixed +herself in a first floor within a few doors of the guardian of her +master's second clerk. She gave it out there as she had done before, +that she was secretly married to this young gentleman; and on the credit +thereof she took up near a hundred pounds in silks and shifts. But just +as she was on the point of moving off and playing the same game with the +third, she was detected and committed to Bridewell. From thence she +found means of escape by wheedling one of the keeper's servants, and +afterwards took lodgings in the house where this Timms worked. + +Whether she had any hand in persuading him to go out robbing or no, I +cannot take upon me to say, but soon after, he, with his companions, +Perry and Brown, on the 3rd of May, went out with a design to rob upon +Hounslow Heath. All that night they lay in the fields; the next morning +they met a poor old man, who telling them he had no money, they let him +go without misusing him. Not long after they stopped Samuel Sells +coming from Windsor, in his chair. He, it seems, kept a public-house +there. Him they commanded to deliver, whereupon he gave them three +half-crowns, but they toasting upon it that it was too little, he +thereupon gave them ten shillings more, which both he and his companions +averred was all that they took from him, though Sells at their trial, +swore to a much larger sum, and that one of them held a truncheon over +him, and threatened him with abundance of oaths in case he made any +resistance. All of them denied this part of the charge, even to death, +and said that though they had truncheons, yet they made no use of them, +but kept them either in their breasts or under their coats. + +Thomas Perry, the second of these malefactors, was born of parents in +such wretched circumstances that when he was grown a good big lad, and +death suddenly snatched them away, he found himself destitute of money, +of business and even of clothes to cover him. He thereupon traveled up +to London, and put himself apprentice to a glass-grinder, with whom he +served his time very honestly and faithfully. Then he married and lived +by working very hard in a reputable manner for about a twelve month, +after which he listed in the first regiment of Foot Guards, in which he +served till the Peace of Utrecht and Flanders, after the conclusion of +which he returned to London in the same regiment, in which he continued +to serve till this misfortune overtook him. For the last year of his +life, he had, it seems, led a more loose and extravagant course than in +all his days before, contracting an acquaintance with several women of +the town, creatures who are the utter ruin of all such unhappy men, +especially of all unlettered unexperienced persons as fall into their +snares. + +Some little time before he joined with Timms and his other companion in +this robbery, he had the misfortune of having his leg bit by a dog at +Windsor, where he was quartered. Having no friends, and but a small +allowance to subsist on, he fell under great miseries there, and on his +return to Town, those who had formerly employed him in glass-grinding, +taking distaste at his rude and wicked behaviour, refused to have +anything more to do with him. He readily gave way to the solicitations +of Timms, who, as he declared, first proposed their going upon the +highway, a crime which hitherto had not entered into Perry's head. +However, he yielded too readily thereto, and with the persons who had +shared in his crimes, came to share an ignominious and untimely death. + +While under sentence, he applied himself with great seriousness and +attention both to the public devotions of the chapel and to what was +privately read to them in the place of their confinement, so that +though he was very illiterate, he was far from being obstinate, and +though he wanted the advantages of education, he was not deficient in +grace, so we may therefore hope he might obtain mercy. + +Edward Brown, the last of these unfortunate criminals, drew his first +breath in the city of Oxford, and by the care of his parents, attained +to a tolerable degree of knowledge in the Christian faith, as also in +writing, reading and whatsoever was necessary in that station of life +which his parents designed for him. Being arrived at an age proper to be +put out an apprentice, they placed him with a glass-grinder, to whom he +served an apprenticeship faithfully, and to his good liking when out of +time. He worked hard as a journeyman, married a wife, and lived in +reputation and credit for some small space; but falling unluckily into +loose company, he gave himself up entirely to drinking, and running +after bad women, which soon ruined him in the country and obliged him to +come up to London for the sake of subsistance. How long he had been +there, or of what standing his acquaintance was with the other two +criminals, I cannot take upon me to say, only he in general was a fellow +of greater openness in his behaviour than any of the criminals before +mentioned. He said that they had all taken their cups pretty freely +together, and had spent every farthing that they had amongst them; it +was then resolved to go upon the highway for a supply, but he could not +say who was the proposer of the scheme; that he himself had a sword and +cane, and the rest truncheons, when they attacked Mr. Sells. He [Sells] +gave them at two several times, seventeen shillings, and when they +pressed for still more, said he had but eighteen pence about him, and +begged they would let him have that to come to town with, which he said +they agreed to, and did not offer him any ill-usage whatsoever. + +At the same time these unhappy men were under sentence of death, +Alexander Jones, John Platt, Mary Reynolds, Silvia Sherlock and Anne +Senior were also condemned for several offences, and as is but too +common with persons in their condition, all of them entertained strong +notions of reprieves or pardons, so that when the death warrant came +down, and these three found themselves ordered for execution, they were +not a little surprised. But as they had much natural courage they made +even that surprise turn to their advantage, and applied themselves with +greater earnestness than ever to the duties necessary to be practised by +people in their sad state. + +When the day of their execution came, they were carried in one cart to +Tyburn, and as they had been companions in that single action which had +brought all of them to death, so there was nobody to share in that +unhappy fate with them, nor were they disturbed with the sorrows of +other criminals, which often distract one another's devotions at Tyburn. +On the contrary, their behaviour was grave and decent, their public +devotions were closed with a Psalm, and with many demonstrations of +repentance they resigned their lives, on the 11th of August, 1727; Timms +being about twenty-eight years of age, Perry near forty, and Brown +somewhat less than twenty-four years old, at the time of their +execution. + + + + +The Life of ALICE GREEN, a Cheat, Thief and Housebreaker + + +Amongst these melancholy relations of misery and death, I fancy it is +some ease to my readers, as well as to myself, when the course of my +memoirs leads me to mention a story as full of incidents, and followed +by a less tragic end than the rest. This woman, whose life I am about to +relate, was the daughter of an under-officer to one of the colleges at +Oxford. As the doctrine of making up small salaries by taking up large +perquisites prevails there as well as elsewhere, Alice's father made a +shift to keep himself, his wife and five children in a handsome manner +out of £60 a year, and what he made besides of his place. + +An affectation of gentility had infected the whole family, the old man +had a good voice and played tolerably well on the fiddle. This drew +abundance of the young smart fellows of the university to his house, and +that of course engaged his three daughters to take all the pains they +were able to make themselves agreeable. The mother had great hopes that +fine clothes and a jaunty air might marry her daughters to some +gentlemen of tolerable fortunes, and that one of them, at least, might +have a chance of catching a fellow commoner with a thousand or two _per +annum_, for which reason Miss Molly, Miss Jenny, and Miss Alice were all +bred to the dancing school, taught to sing prettily, and to touch the +spinet with an agreeable air. In short, the house was a mansion of +politeness, and except the two brothers, one of which was put out +apprentice to a carpenter, and the other to a shoemaker, there was not a +person to be seen in it who looked, spoke or acted as became them in +their proper station of life. But it is necessary that we should come to +a more particular description. + +Old Peter, their father, was a man of mean birth, and of a sort of +accidental education. From his youth up he had lived in Oxford, and from +the time he was able to know anything, within the purlieus of a college, +from whence he had gleaned up a few Latin sentences, scraps of poetry, +and as the masterpiece of his improvements, had acquired a good knack of +punning. All these mighty qualifications were bent to keep a good house, +and drinking two or three quarts of strong ale, accompanied with a song, +and two or three hours' scraping at night. The mother, again, was the +last remnant of a decayed family, who charged its ruin on the Civil +Wars. She was exceedingly puffed up with the notions of her birth, and +the respect that was due to a person not sprung from the vulgar. Her +education had extended no farther than the knowledge of preserving, +pickling and making fricasees, a pretty exact knowledge in the several +kinds of points and a judgment not to be despised in the choice of lace, +silks and ribbons. She affected extravagance that she might not appear +mean, and troublesomely ceremonious that she might not seem to want good +manners. Clothes for herself and her daughters, a good quantity of china +and some other exuberances of a fancy almost turned mad with the love of +finery, made up the circle of what took up her thoughts, the daughters +participating in their parents' tempers. But what was wonderful indeed, +the sons were honest, sober, industrious young men. + +In the midst of all this mirth and splendour, the father died, and left +them all totally without support other than their own industry could +procure for them, slender provision indeed! Miss Molly, the eldest, was +about twenty-two at the time of her father's death, and her sisters were +each of them younger than her, and Alice a year younger than Jenny, and +about eighteen. The mother was at her wits' end to know how to procure a +living for herself and them, but an old gentleman in one of the +colleges, to whom Peter had been very useful, and who therefore retained +a grateful sense of his service, was so kind as to give fifty pounds +towards putting out the daughters, and took care to see the youngest +Alice placed with a mantua-maker in London. Molly fell into a +consumption, as was generally said, for the love of a young gentleman +who used to spend his evenings at her father's, and who marrying a young +lady of suitable birth and fortune to himself, was retired into +Shropshire. Jenny ran away with a servitor, and was lost to her mother +and her friends; so that Alice had it in her power to be tolerably +provided for, if she had inclined to have lived virtuously, and not to +have frustrated the offers of a good fortune. But she was wild and silly +from her cradle, born without capacity to do good to herself, and +indued only with such cunning as served her to ruin others. + +The first intrigue she had after her coming up to London was with a +young fellow who was clerk to a Justice of the Peace in the +neighbourhood. Before be saw Alice he had been a careful, industrious +young man, and through his master's kindness had picked up some money; +but from the time that his master had a suit of clothes made up with +Alice's mistress, and which occasioned her first coming about the house, +poor Mr. Philip became the victim of her charms, and moped up and down +like a hen that had lost her chickens. It was not long before the +Justice's daughters found out his passion, and having communicated their +discovery to the maids, exposed him to be the laughing stock of the +whole house. Never was a poor young fellow so pestered! One asked him +whether he liked the wife with three trades? Another was enquiring +whether he had cast up the amount of remnants of silk, shreds of lace, +and the savings that might be made out of linings, facings, and robings? +The Justice took notice that Philip had left off reading the news, and +the old lady wondered whether he had forgotten playing upon the organ in +her husband's study. But all this served rather to increase than to +abate his passion, so that he neglected no opportunity of meeting and +paying his addresses to his mistress. + +Alice was no less careful on her side, and in a short space it was +agreed that she should run away from her mistress, of whom she was grown +heartily weary, and that Philip should counterfeit most excessive grief +at his loss, in order to prevent the least suspicion of his being privy +thereto. Having adjusted this, it was not long before they put their +design into execution, and Philip first having provided a lodging for +her in Brewer Street, she, on a Sunday in the evening, when all the rest +of the family were out, removed from her mistress's house in a court +near the Strand, taking all that belonged to her in a hackney-coach, +leaving the key at an alehouse. Philip had so good a character that the +grief he affected on this occasion passed for reality upon all the +house, and the flight of Alice had no other effect than to excite a new +spring of railery on the loss of his mistress. He laid out the greatest +part of what he had saved during five years' service in furnishing out +two rooms for her very neatly, passing himself, where she lodged, for +the son of a gentleman of fortune in the country, who had married +against his friends' consent, and was therefore obliged to keep his wife +in a place of privacy until things at home could be made easy. + +For some time the lovers lived mighty happily together, and nothing was +wanting to complete Philip's wishes than that they were married, for +Alice never making such a proposal, now and then disturbed his thoughts, +and put him a little out of humour. Things remained in this state with a +little alteration for about five months, until an Irish captain coming +to lodge pretty near where Philip had placed Alice, he found a way to +see her twice or thrice, and being a fellow of a smooth tongue, a +handsome person and an immoderate assurance, it was not long before he +became master of her affections. The temper of Philip having been always +too grave for her, in about three weeks' time she let the captain into +the truth of the whole story, and at his persuasion, during the time +Philip was at Surrey assizes, sold off the furniture of her lodgings, +and directing a letter to be left for him at his master's house by the +Penny Post, moved off with her new gallant. + +It would be impossible, should I attempt to describe it, to describe the +agony the poor young fellow was in at the receipt of Alice's epistle, in +which she told him flatly she was weary of him and had got another +gallant; and saying that if he tried to look after her or give her any +other uneasiness, she would send a full account of all things to his +master. The jilt was sensible this would keep him quiet, for as he +depended solely upon his favour, so a story of this sort would have +inevitably deprived him of it for ever. It answered her intent, and the +force he put upon his passions cost him a severe fit of sickness. + +Alice, in the meanwhile, indulged for about a week with her Irish +captain, at the end of which he beat her and turned her out of doors. It +was in vain for her to talk of her goods and her clothes; the captain +had carried her amongst a set of his acquaintance, who on the first +quarrel called her a thousand foolish English whores, and bid her go +back to her Justice's clerk again. In the midst of her affliction, with +nothing on but a linen gown, and about three shillings in her pocket, +the watchman coming his rounds, found her sitting on the steps at the +door where the captain lodged. He asked her what she did there, she said +her husband and she had quarrelled and he had shut her out. The watchman +was going away, satisfied with the answer, when the captain called out +at the window, told him she was a street-walker, and bid him take her +away. The landlady confirmed this, and the fellow laying fast hold of +her shoulder, compelled her to go with him to the watch-house. However, +a shilling procured her liberty and a favourable report to the constable +that she was an honest young woman, who had the misfortune to be married +to a bad husband, who turned her into the street, and she was afraid +would not suffer her to come in again that night. Upon hearing this, the +constable bid her sit down by the fire, gave her a glass of brandy and +promised her she should be as safe and as easy as the place would allow +her for that night. + +But unluckily for Alice, as she went to take the glass out of the +constable's hand, he knew her face, and happening to be the baker who +served the mantua-maker with bread, where she lived, the next morning he +conducted Mrs. Alice, much against her will, home to her mistress. One +of her fellow-apprentices ran with the news to the Justice's, and one of +the daughters whispered it in Philip's ears, as he was writing a +recognizance in the Justice's book. Philip no sooner heard it but he +fell down in a swoon, and about half an hour was spent before they could +bring him again to himself. The young lady who had played him the trick, +immediately quitted the room, and he opening his eyes, and perceiving +her gone, pretended it was a sudden fit, and that he had been used to +them when a child. + +Much as he had suffered by this ungrateful woman, he took the first +opportunity to go to a coffee-house within a door or two of her +mistress, in order to learn what had become of her. There was but one +person who had been trusted with his ever having visited her at all, and +they too, were ignorant that she had ever run away with him. Philip +therefore sent for his confidant, from whom he received information, +that after snivelling and crying for a hour or two, she took advantage +of being left alone in a parlour (although the door was locked), and +getting out at the window into the backyard, made a shift to scramble +over the top of the house of office into the court, and so made her +escape to the waterside, where her mistress found she had taken a pair +of oars. But though they followed her to Falcon Stairs, yet they were +not able to retrieve her. Philip at this news was exceedingly grieved, +and returned home again very disconsolate on this occasion. + +Alice, in the meantime, lurked about in St. George's Fields till +evening, and then crossing the bridge, walked on towards St. James's. +However dirty and despicable her dress, yet as she had a very pretty +face and a very engaging manner of speaking at first sight, she drew in +a merchant's book-keeper, as she walked down Cornhill, to carry her to a +certain tavern at the corner of Bishopsgate Street; where, after a good +supper and a bottle or two of wine, she engaged him to take her to a +lodging, and by degrees to give her a great deal of fine clothes, in +return for which she flattered him so greatly that he grew as fond of +her and as much a fool as ever Philip had been. + +In the meantime her sister, who was much of her disposition, had been +turned off by a young fellow she had run away with from Oxford, and in +a miserable condition had trotted up to town, in order to see whether +she could have better luck with another gallant. One night, as she was +strolling through Leadenhall Street in her vocation, she saw her sister +Alice and the book-keeper who kept her, walking home with a servant, and +a candle and lanthorn before them. Jenny did not think fit to speak to +them, but dogging them privately home, called upon her sister the next +day and was mighty well received. The couple now took every opportunity +(notwithstanding the allowance of the book-keeper) to enable Alice to +stroll out with her together, and wandered about nightly in quest of +adventures, till it began to grow towards ten o'clock, and the fear of a +visit from her keeper drove Alice to her lodgings. + +This trade, without any remarkable accident, was practised for about +three months, when on a sudden the book-keeper vanished, and for three +weeks' time Alice heard not a word of him. This threw both the sisters +into a heavy peck of troubles, and the more because he had always kept +it a secret in whose family he lived and went to the people where Alice +lodged by another name than his own. However they got money enough by +sparks they picked up to live pretty easily together, and that no +misfortune might go too near their hearts, they fell to drinking a quart +of brandy a day. It seems the woman at whose house they lodged was +herself given to drinking, and so by treating her they fell into the +same vice. The landlady in return was mighty civil to them, and every +now and then invited them downstairs to drink with her. + +One evening when they were below stairs, there happened to be some +discourse about a trial at the Sessions House, whereupon Alice expressed +her desire of seeing the trials, and her sister agreeing in the request, +their landlady agreed to carry them the next morning. Accordingly they +were at Sessions House by the time the Court was set, and the two young +sluts were exceedingly merry at the wretched appearances the poor +creatures made at the bar. In the midst of their mirth, a man was +brought up to plead to his indictment, who had only a blanket wrapped +over his shirt to keep him from the weather; they were laughing and +talking to some of the people behind them, when Jenny patted her sister +to take notice of what the man was charged with. Alice listened and +heard the indictment read, which was for breaking open an escritoire and +taking out of it ninety guineas, two diamond rings and a good tweezer. +When the clerk had done reading, the criminal answered with a low voice, +_Not Guilty_, and the keeper thereupon took him from the bar. As he +turned, his face being towards them, Alice saw that it was the +book-keeper who had lived with her, and in a low voice whispered her +sister, _As I hope to live, it is our Tom._ They did not stay much +longer, but began to consider as soon as they got home what was to be +done. Alice was sensible that the tweezer-case mentioned in the +indictment had been given her, and was under a thousand frights and +fears that it should be discovered and was above all wondrous careful of +her landlady, that she did not go any more to the trials that Sessions. + +The day they heard that sentence was passed, Jenny went to one of the +runners at Newgate, and giving him a shilling, asked what had become of +such a person. The fellow answered that he was to be transported. Jenny +came immediately home with the news to her sister. She shed a few tears +and said, what if he should want in Newgate? _Nay_, says Jenny, _let him +want what he will, I'm sure you shall not be fool enough to pawn your +things to relieve him_; and as her fit of compassion was soon over, so +they determined to remove their lodgings for fear that if he were under +necessity, as they could not well doubt he was, considering the figure +he made at his trial, he might send to her. But they needed not to have +been under any apprehensions of that sort, for shame and grief had +brought him so low that the gaol distemper seizing on him, he died the +same week he had been tried, and the runner to whom Jenny had given the +shilling, remembering her face, stopped her in the street, and told her +the news. When Alice heard it, she pretended to fall into fits, and +express abundance of sorrow and concern. The sorrows were not, however, +so deep but that brandy and two days' time effaced them so well that she +dressed in the best manner she was able, in order to go out and look for +a spark. + +Unfortunately for her, her amours produced the usual consequence, a +loathsome distemper, which seizing about the same both her sister and +herself, through want of proper care, ruined both their constitutions; +and the ill consequence being increased by the use of improper food, +they were soon after in such a condition that their infamous trade of +prostitution fell off, and they were in danger of starving and rotting. +In this distress they knew not what to do, till at last advising with an +old woman whom they had scraped acquaintance with, she readily offered +them the use of her house, and to engage for them a surgeon, who should +complete their cure. The sisters were overjoyed at this, and in a hurry +accepted her offer, removing themselves and what little valuable +movables they had the next week. + +They were received with great courtesy and kindness, and the old woman, +from an acquaintance of three weeks, assured them that they were no less +dear to her than if they had been her own daughters. This treatment +continued until they were in the height of a salivation, and then they +were acquainted with usage of another sort. This distemper was very +expensive, their course of physic very troublesome, it required much +attendance, they were strangers to her, and so by degrees the old woman +got from them most of the trinkets they brought with them. So that when +they were come a little to themselves, and nourishing food was proper to +restore them to perfect soundness, they had no way left to procure it +but by pawning or selling their clothes, which being quickly done and +the money spent, nakedness and poverty became their companions. + +Thus plunged in misery, they were exposed to the daily insults of the +bawd, who treated them with great cruelty now she had them absolutely in +her power. Alice was so very uneasy under it, that having one night got +a few clean things about her, she resolved to venture out in a thin +linen gown, to see what might be done to free them from these +difficulties. She had not got lower than Southampton Street, in the +Strand, before a gentleman well dressed, though much in liquor, invited +her to go with him to his chambers. He carried her as far as Essex +Street, and then turning down to the Temple, brought her into rooms up +two pair of stairs, richly furnished. She saw nobody that he had to +attend him, but everything seemed in very exact order, and so without +further ceremony to bed they went. His weight of liquor soon forced him +to sleep, but Alice, whose head was full of the miseries she had so long +gone through, arose, put on her clothes and searching his pockets, found +a gold watch, nineteen guineas and a large gold medal. She was so much +surprised with the richness of this booty, and yet this being her first +fact, so confounded within herself, that she knew not well what to do. +At last, with great difficulty she forced open the chamber door, which +he had locked (and laid the key where she could not find it). Next she +came to the outer doors of the chambers, in which the key was, and so +there was no difficulty in getting out; but then finding it impossible +to shut the door after her without locking it, she even did so, and +carried away the key. + +She made all the haste she could home to her landlady, and without +considering the consequence, paid her six pounds which she demanded, and +got some clothes out of her hands, which she had retained as a security +for the money. Then she removed with her sister, as secretly as she +could, to an inn in Smithfield, and from thence, the next day, they +removed to a little lodging in narrow lane by St. John's, where +downright fear made them keep so much within doors that they had almost +spent all their money in six weeks' time, without thinking of any method +to get more. + +At last, Jenny, as being least in danger, equipped herself as well as +she could, and ventured about nine o'clock one evening into the streets. +She walked about half an hour without meeting with any adventure, but at +last picked up an innocent country lad. They had not gone far towards a +tavern before the constable and his body-guard of watchmen surprised and +hurried them away to the Wood Street Compter. There she remained until +the next day, when it was intimated to her that if she could produce a +couple of guineas they would be looked upon as good bail. She sent for +her sister Alice, who not having so much money, foolishly offered the +gold medal as a security. Some of the limbs of the Law thereabouts, were +acquainted with the gentleman of the Temple who lost it, and it being +shown up and down to know its value, they declared it was stolen, and +Alice, instead of procuring her sister's liberty, was forced into the +same prison, and confined with her. As it was about three weeks to +sessions, they were permitted to remain at the Compter during that time. + +This was a deeper plunge into misfortune than they had ever yet known, +and the fear of hanging was so strong that Alice, in order to avoid it, +resolved upon making an application to a person to whom otherwise she +would never have made herself known. Who should this be but Philip, who +was lately married, but still did the business of his old master the +Justice, and therefore was always to be met with at his house, though he +had now got a little place upon which he was capable of living pretty +handsomely. Alice's letter reached him just as he was sitting down to +dinner. The surprise he was in was so great that it could not be hid +from the company. However, to cover the cause of it, he pretended that +it brought him news of a person being gone off for whom he was bail, and +which obliged him not to lose a minute in going to see what might be +done. So putting on his hat, and entreating some gentlemen who were at +the table with him not to disturb themselves, for he should be back in +half an hour, away he went directly to the Compter. And having influence +over the people in power there, he prevailed to have her let out to an +adjacent tavern. + +The affliction she had gone through had altered but not impaired her +beauty. Philip, ill-used as he had been by her, could not forbear +bursting into tears at the sight of the miserable condition in which she +was. As soon as his surprise was a little over, she acquainted him with +the true state of the case, and begged his assistance in prevailing on +the injured gentleman to soften the prosecution. He promised her all +that was in his power, but desired to know after what manner she +intended to live, in case her liberty could ever be regained. She cried +and promised to work hard for her living rather than fall into that +miserable plight again, and then told him how unfortunately it happened +that her sister also was involved in the same calamity. At parting, +Philip presented her with a guinea, and told her she should have the +same every week while she remained there, assuring her also that he +would not fail coming to her the next day at noon, and informing her of +the temper in which he found her antagonist. + +It happened that the Templar was Philip's intimate acquaintance, and had +a seat near his father's house in the country. Philip told him the truth +of the story, and how he came to interest himself so far in the affair. +The gentleman was not hard to be prevailed on, and said he did not +conceive it would be of any service to the women to let them be set at +liberty, considering the course of life they would be obliged +immediately to fall into for bread; that for his part, he inclined +rather to procure them liberty to transport themselves, and that they +might not be destitute in a strange country, he was not averse, +notwithstanding his loss, to give them something towards putting them in +a condition of getting their livelihood when they got over. Philip +readily agreed to this, though he was fearful of its proving an +expedient little agreeable to the women. However, the next day, when he +went, he sent for them both to the tavern, and proposed it. Alice said +it was the most agreeable thing that could have befallen her. She was +sensible of the manner in which she had lived in her native country, and +of the difficulty there would be of her amending here, and though her +sister Jenny was at first very averse, yet she quickly brought her to be +as complying as herself and to wish nothing more than the possibility of +living honest in any of the plantations. + +Philip carried this news at night to the Temple and the gentleman there, +who was a great humorist, was so much taken with the temper and spirit +of Alice, that he would needs see her again, and thereupon accompanied +Philip the next day to the place of her confinement. There everything +was soon settled, the Templar procured their discharge, put them to +board at a house which he could command, and bargained with a captain of +a New England vessel for their passage thither; not as for persons who +had been guilty of any misdeeds here, but as of young women of good +families, who were unwilling to go to service here, and had therefore +got their friends to raise as much money as would send them over there, +where perhaps they might meet with better fortune. + +[Illustration: JOSEPH BLAKE ATTEMPTING THE LIFE OF JONATHAN WILD + +(_From the Newgate Calendar_)] + +In short, their two benefactors furnished then with things to the amount +of two hundred pounds, accompanied them themselves on board the +vessel, and recommended them to the captain with as much earnestness as +if they had been near relations. Coming in this light into the abroad, +they were received with great hospitality, and treated with much +kindness and respect; and in fine, after remaining here about a year, +Jenny married a gentleman of as good fortune as any in the country, and +her sister, not long after, had the same luck. Jenny did not indeed +survive it long, but Alice outlived her first husband, and marrying a +second, returned into England where she is still living in as much +respect and esteem as any gentlewoman in the county where she inhabits. + + + + +An Account of the horrid murder of MR. WIDDINGTON DARBY, committed in +his chambers in the Temple, on the 11th of April, 1727, for which one +HENRY FISHER was apprehended and committed to Newgate, from whence he +escaped. + + +The deceased Mr. Darby was a young gentleman who made an extraordinary +good appearance in the world. He generally wore fine rings, rich snuff +boxes, and an extraordinary gold watch about him. These things possibly +tempted a needy person of his acquaintance to be guilty of that +barbarous murder which was committed upon him. He lived in the chambers +belonging to Sir George Cook's office in the Temple. His servant lived +in another place, and went home every night. It happened the night +before, or rather in that wherein he was murdered, that Mr. Darby had a +good deal of company with him, who supping late, they did not go away +until eleven o'clock, when Mr. Darby's servant also retired to his +lodgings. The next morning, being Tuesday, about nine o'clock, Mr. Darby +was found dead in the said office, his skull penetrated with a pistol +ball, his ear and hand cut, his rings, watch and other valuables taken +away, besides his escritoire broken open, and his money and linen taken +from thence. + +The next day the coroner's inquest sat thereon, but being able to make +no discovery of the murder, they thought fit to adjourn _sine die_, as +soon as the coroner had made an order for the interment of his corpse +which was done accordingly in a vault in the church of St. Andrew's, +Holborn. + +Some time passed before any light was got into this affair. At length, +Mr. Moody, who had been upon the coroner's inquest who had sat on the +body of Mr. Darby, received information that one Fisher, who had been +in very bad circumstances, and as an acquaintance had been relieved +under him by the deceased Mr. Darby, was all on a sudden, since the +committing of that murder, observed to have a great deal of money. He +had paid some debts which had been troublesome to him and was observed +to have some valuable things about him which had never been seen before. +These circumstances appearing altogether very suspicious, Mr. Moody +acquainted Mr. York with it, who had been very assiduous in taking all +measures possible for the discover of this horrid assassination. He +falling readily into Mr. Moody's opinion, they agreed together that the +likeliest method to find out the truth was to go to Mr. Willoughby, who +was Fisher's landlord, and known to be a very honest man. Accordingly +they went to him in a tavern in Southampton Street, where they +understood he was, and falling into discourse about Mr. Darby's murder, +they insinuated to him the suspicions they had of his lodger. + +Returning to his house, Fisher being away, Mr. Willoughby went to his +room and broke open a box, and found in it the top and bottom of a +snuff-box, a vizard mask, and a pair of laced ruffles. The remains of +the snuff-box Mr. York knew to have belonged to the deceased, and had +reason to suspect the ruffles also to have been his, so that it was +immediately agreed to go before the Honourable Sir William Thompson,[77] +in order to procure a warrant. There they made an affidavit of the +several circumstances attending their discovery, and Sir William upon +the examination also of a lady (who produced a piece of lace before she +had seen the ruffle, and declared that if it were Mr. Darby's it must +tally therewith, which on a comparison it did exactly) granted a +warrant. It appeared also at the same time, upon the oath of Mr. +Willoughby, that the day Mr. Darby was murdered, Fisher borrowed +half-a-crown of him to pay his washerwoman, and was in the utmost +necessity for money. + +A woman swore that a person very like Fisher was hovering about Mr. +Darby's chambers the night the murder was committed, and it was proved +by the oath of another person that Fisher came not to his lodgings till +two o'clock on Tuesday morning, on which Mr. Darby was murdered. About +eight o'clock a porter came and informed Fisher of Mr. Darby's being +murdered, at which he shewed little concern and locked himself up for +some hours. + +Things being thus over at Sir William Thompson's, Mr. Willoughby, Mr. +York, and Mr. Moody, returned to Fisher's lodgings. About two o'clock +in the morning he came in, and they seized him, having a constable and +proper assistance for that purpose. On Sunday noon, he was carried +before Sir William Thompson in order to be examined, where he said: + +That about the latter end of the week in which Mr. Darby was murdered, +as he was passing through Lincoln's Inn Fields, about four in the +afternoon, be took up under the wall of Lincoln's Inn Gardens, a white +paper parcel in which were contained several things of great value +belonging to the deceased; some of the diamonds he acknowledged he sold +to a jeweller in Paternoster Row for ten guineas, the watch he pawned +for nine guineas to a person at a brazier's in Bond Street, and sold the +gold chain and swivels to a person in Lombard Street. He absolutely +denied all knowledge of the murder, and said that at the time it +happened he was at a billiard table in Duke Street, by St. James's. When +taken there was found upon him two of Mr. Darby's rings with the stones +taken out, wrapped up in a paper, with his seal the arms of which were +taken out, and in these circumstances he was committed to Newgate. + +Soon after this the coroner granted his warrant, and an order being +thereupon obtained from the Commons, Mr. Darby's body was taken up and +in the presence of several persons, his head opened by an eminent +surgeon, who found a large lacerated wound near the left ear, the +temporal bone on that side being very much fractured, several pieces of +which stuck in the brain on the same side. He found, likewise, the +temporal bone on the other side, exactly opposite, broken; the pieces +thereof were not removed from their places, but easily removed upon his +attempting to take them away. He took out the brain and the bullet +dropped upon the pillow which lay upon the ground under his head. It +appeared, upon comparing the said bullet taken out of the head, with +some other bullets found in custody of Henry Fisher (at that time in +Newgate on suspicion of the murder) that it seemed to have been cast in +the same mould; and when weighing it with one of these bullets, it was +very little lighter, and it fitted the bore of one of the pistols which +was found in Fisher's custody, even that pistol which by some signs were +looked on to have been discharged, though afterwards loaded again. + +This Fisher was the son of a very eminent clothier in the West of +England, who had sent him to London, and put him out clerk to an +attorney, and had done everything in his power which he was able, and +which was reasonable for him to do. But he being extravagant, lived far +beyond the rate which was consistent with the supplies he received from +his father; so that when pressed by his necessities, he had often +applied to Mr. Darby for relief. When in Newgate he affected a most +unreasonable gaiety and unconcernedness in his behaviour, although the +circumstances were so strong against him as occasioned it to prevail as +the general opinion that he would be convicted. However, he and the +famous Roger Johnson took the advantage of the workmen labouring on the +cells which were then building, and by breaking a hole through a place +done up only with lath and plaster, they got down one of the workmen's +ladders, and so made their escape. Johnson was afterwards retaken and +tried for breaking prison, but alleging it was done by Fisher, he was +acquitted, and this Henry Fisher, the supposed murderer of Mr. Darby, +was never heard of since. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [77] Sir William Thompson (1678-1739) was Recorder of London in + 1715, Solicitor General two years later, and in 1729 became + baron of the Exchequer. + + + + +The Life of JOSHUA CORNWALL, a Thief and Housebreaker + + +Though vices are undoubtedly the chief instruments that bring unhappy +persons to that ignominious death which the Law hath appointed for +enormous offences, yet it very often happens that folly rather than +wickedness brings them first into the road of ruin; in which, led on by +delusive hopes, they continue to run until a disastrous fate overtakes +them, and puts an end at once to their vicious race, and to their lives. +The criminal whose memoirs at present employ our pen is such an example +as I hope, while it entertains, may also instruct my readers to avoid +his errors. + +This unfortunate man was the son of reputable and honest parents in the +town of Brigg in the county of Lincoln. Their circumstances were such as +enabled them to give him an education; and the desire they had of doing +everything that was possible for their son inclined them not to be +wanting in this particular. His mother, was fond of him to a fault, and +being permitted by her indulgence to run up and down amongst young +people of his own age, riding across the country to friends and other +diversions of a like nature, he lost all liking to things of a serious +nature, and without thinking how to procure the necessaries of life, was +altogether taken up in enjoying those pleasures to which he had the +greatest inclination. In the midst of this pleasant situation of things +(at least as it appeared to him at that time) the prospect was darkened +by the death of his mother. His friends retained for him a due paternal +affection, but had no notion of permitting him to go on the life he +led, and therefore to break him of that as well as to make him +acquainted with an honest method of getting his living, his father put +him out apprentice to a baker in Hull. + +But as kindness seemed of all things the most fatal to this unhappy man, +so the acquaintance and friendship which his master had for Cornwall's +family became a new means of leading him into misfortune, for treating +the young man rather with a tenderness due to a son than that severity +which is usually practised towards apprentices and servants, it gave him +an opportunity of renewing his old course of life. Instead of inclining +him to behave in a manner which might deserve such lenity, it gave him, +on the contrary, occasion frequently to abuse it by running from one +dancing bout and merry-making to another, without the least care of his +master's business, who out of downright affection forbore to restrain +his follies with that harshness which they deserved, and which any other +person would have used. + +At length, having acquired so great a habit of laziness and so strong an +aversion to business that he found it impossible for him to live longer +in the country, he came up to London, that great receptacle of those who +are either unable or unwilling to live anywhere else. Here he got into +service as a footman with several persons of worth, and discharged his +duty well (as indeed it was a kind of life which of all others suited +him best), so that he obtained a tolerable reputation whereby he got +into the service of one Mr. Fenwick, a gentleman of affluent fortune. +Here it was that through desire of abounding in money he either drew in +others, or was drawn in himself to commit that crime which cost him his +life. + +It seems that in Mr. Fenwick's family there was a great deal of plate +used, which stood on a buffet. This tempted Cornwall, and it is highly +likely gave him the first notion of attempting to rob the house. When he +had once formed this project he resolved to take in one Rivers, a +debauched companion of his, as a partner in the designed theft. + +This Rivers was certainly easy enough prevailed on to join in the +commission of this fact, and after several meetings to consult upon +proper measures, Rivers at last proposed that their scheme should be put +in execution as soon as possible; and that he might the more perfectly +conceive how it was to be managed, he went home with Cornwall, and +looked upon the house. Soon after this they held their last +consultation, and Cornwall saying to Rivers that he must bring some +other persons to assist him, Rivers made choice of one Girst, and coming +with him at the appointed hour, Cornwall in his shirt opened the door +and let them in. In the buffet there stood a lighted candle in a silver +candle-stick, by which they were directed to the rest of the plate, +which as soon as they had taken out, they placed all together upon the +carpet, and fell next to rifling Mr. Fenwick's bureau, and took out a +great quantity of linen, a lady's lace, the tea equipage, and two silver +canisters. Then making it up in a bundle, it was carried to River's +lodgings in Vinegar Yard, Drury Lane. + +All this could not be performed with so little noise as not to disturb +the family. Mr. Fenwick himself heard the noise, being awakened by his +wife, who had heard it for some time, but it ceasing they fell asleep +again until one of the servants came up in the morning, and told his +master that the house had been robbed, the plate taken away, and a +window in the back parlour left open, about which, as he could observe +no marks of violence, he was led to suspect it was opened by somebody in +the family; upon which Cornwall and a maid in the house were immediately +thought to have a hand in. However, as there was no sort of proof, Mr. +Fenwick forbore seizing them at that time, and contented himself with +advertizing his plate; which advertisement coming into the hands of a +pawnbroker, to whom a part of it had been pledged, he immediately gave +notice that it was pawned to him by Rivers. A warrant being upon this +obtained for the searching of River's lodging, a note was there found, +directed to Thomas Rivers, Glover, in Guy's Court, Vinegar Yard, Drury +Lane, in which were these words: + + Dear Tom, + + Let me see you at seven o'clock to-morrow morning, at the Postern + Spring, Tower Hill, be sure. + + Joshua Cornwall. + +Upon this Cornwall was immediately taken up and Girst readily offered +himself an evidence. In a few days after, sessions coming on, Joshua +Cornwall and Thomas Rivers were indicted for burglariously breaking the +house of Nicholas Fenwick, Esq., and taking thence divers pieces of +plate, to the value of eighty-five pounds nineteen shillings, holland +shirts to the value of twenty pounds, and other goods of the said Mr. +Fenwick, on the 8th day of September, 1730. This indictment being fully +proved, the jury found Thomas Rivers guilty thereof. But being dubious +whether Joshua Cornwall, as a servant within the house of Mr. Fenwick, +could be properly convicted of burglariously breaking into his said +master's house, they found their verdict as to him special; which the +judges having considered, they were unanimously of opinion that the +crime was in its nature a burglary. Whereupon, at the following +sessions at the Old Bailey, the criminal was brought to the bar, and +being acquainted with their lordships' opinion, received sentence of +death. + +Under conviction, he behaved himself with great penitence, said he had +not been guilty of many of those atrocious crimes commonly practised by +such as come to that fatal end whither his folly had led him. At the +place of execution he, with great fervency, justified the character of a +young woman who had lived fellow-servant with him at Mr. Fenwick's. He +declared, as he was a dying man, that she was not in the least privy to +the injury done her master, and that he had no other than an +acquaintance with her, without either having, or attempting any criminal +conversation with her. Having done this justice, he seemed to die with +much composure, in the twenty-second year of his age, on the 23rd of +December, 1730. + + + + +LIVES OF THE CRIMINALS + +VOLUME THREE + + + + +The Life of JOHN TURNER, _alias_ CIVIL JOHN, a Highwayman + + +One of the most dangerous passions which can enter the breasts of young +people, though at the same time it be one of the most common, is the +love of finery and a mean and foolish ambition to appear better dressed +than becomes their station, in hopes of imposing upon the world as +persons of much higher rank than they really are. This inconsiderate, +ridiculous pride brings along with it such a numerous train of bad +consequences that of necessity it makes the person inflamed by it +unhappy and often miserable for life. In the case now before us a was +still more fatal by adding a violent and ignominious death. + +John Turner was the son of a person in tolerable circumstances, in the +county of Cornwall, where he received an education proper for that +condition of life in which he was likely to pass through the world. His +father was a man of good sense, and of a behaviour much more courteous +and genteel than is usual among persons of ordinary condition in a +county so remote from London. He was extremely desirous that his son +should be like him in this respect, and therefore he continually +cautioned him against falling into that rough boorish manner of behaving +which is natural to uneducated clowns, and makes them shocking to +everybody but themselves. In this respect John was very compliant with +his father's temper, and being put out apprentice to a peruke-maker, his +obliging carriage endeared him so much, not only to his master and the +family but also to the gentlemen on whom, as customers to the shop, he +sometimes waited, that they took a peculiar liking to the boy and were +continually giving him money as a reward for his diligence and +assiduity. + +But John's obliging temper took a turn very fatal to himself, as well as +very little suspected by his friends and relations. For having been made +use of by some young sparks at Exeter (the place where he served his +time) to carry messages to their mistresses, he from thence conceived so +strong an inclination to become a beau and a gallant that, in order to +it, he broke open his master's escritoire and took away a considerable +sum of money. With this he came up to London and went to live as a +journeyman with an eminent peruke-maker at the Court end of the town. +There his easy and obsequious temper made him very agreeable to +everybody, and his behaviour was so just and open that nobody in the +neighbourhood had a better character than himself. Yet he was far from +giving over those extravagancies the earnest desire of committing which +had brought him to town; for nobody in his station made so handsome a +figure as Mr. Turner. + +His amours with the wenches in the neighbourhood were very numerous, +though out of a point of honour he was careful enough in endeavouring to +conceal them. But as they naturally led him into an expensive way of +living, which what he got by his trade could in no degree support, he +quickly found himself obliged to take to new methods, and thought none +so concise and convenient as going upon the road. This he did for some +time without arousing the least suspicion, behaving himself towards +those whom he robbed with such gentleness and good manners, putting his +hat into the coach and taking what money they thought fit to give him, +nay, sometimes returning a part of that, if the dress or aspect of the +person gave him room to suspect that their wants were as great as his. +From this extraordinary conduct he obtained the name of Civil John, by +which he was very well known to the stage coachmen, wagoners, and other +such persons who travelled the Western road. + +Common fame, which ordinarily multiplies the adventures of men of his +profession, circulated a multitude of stories about him which had not +the least foundation in fact, and served only to make the poor man more +remarkable, and consequently the more easy to be taken; which was, +accordingly, the effect of those foolish encomiums which the vulgar +bestowed upon so genteel a robber. About six weeks after he had taken to +this unfortunate course of life; and while he yet preserved an unstained +reputation in the neighbourhood in which he lived, he was apprehended +for a robbery committed on Mr. Air, from whom he took but an +inconsiderable sum; yet the fact being clearly proved against him at the +next session at the Old Bailey, he was convicted, and having no +relations capable of making interest sufficient to obtain a reprieve, he +lost all hopes of life. Under sentence he conducted himself with much +calmness, penitence, and resignation, confessing the truth of that +charge which had been laid against him, acknowledging the justice of the +Law in this sentence, and disposing himself to submit to it with much +cheerfulness and alacrity. + +This great change in his circumstance and manner of living, added to +his own uneasy reflections upon those misfortunes into which vanity and +ostentation had brought him, soon reduced him by sickness to so weak a +state that he was incapable, almost, of coming to chapel alone. +Notwithstanding this, he continued to frequent it, some of the people +about the prison being so kind as to help him upstairs. As his vices +arose rather from the imitation of those fine gentlemen on whom he had +waited while a lad, so he did not carry them to that height which most +of these unhappy persons are wont to do; on the contrary he was very +sober, little addicted to gambling, and never followed the common women +of the town. But dress, dancing bouts, and the necessary entertainments +for carrying on his amours were the follies which involved him in these +expenses, for the supply of which he thus hazarded his soul and +forfeited his life. + +When the death warrant came down his sickness had brought him so low +that Nature seemed inclined to supersede the severity of the Law; but +too short a time which intervened between it and its execution, and so +he came to suffer a violent death at Tyburn a day or two before, +perhaps, he would otherwise have yielded up his breath in his bed. +Little could be expected of a person in his weak condition, at the place +of execution, where, when he arrived he was utterly unable to stand up. +However, with a faint voice he desired the prayers both of the minister +who attended them and of the spectators of his execution, which happened +on the 20th of November, 1727, in the twenty-sixth year of his age. + + + + +The Life of JOHN JOHNSON, a Coiner + + +In excuse of taking base measures to procure money there is no plea so +often urged as necessity, and the desire of providing for a family +otherwise in danger of want. The reason of this is pretty evident, since +nothing could be a greater alleviation of such a crime. But the word +necessity is so equivocal that it is hard to fix its true meaning, and +unless that can be done, it will be as hard to judge of the +reasonableness of such an excuse. + +John Johnson, the criminal on whose life we are next to cast an eye, was +born of a very honest and reputable family in the county of Nottingham, +and received in his youth the best education they were capable of giving +him. By this he became able to read tolerably and write well enough for +that business to which he was bred, viz., a tailor. Throughout his +apprenticeship he behaved himself virtuously and industriously, and left +his master with the character of a faithful and deserving young man. +When his time was out, and he had wrought for some time as a journeyman +in the country, the common whim of coming up to London seized him; and +after he had spent some time in town in working hard at his trade, he +married a wife with whom he lived in good correspondence for many years, +with the esteem and respect of all who knew him. But his family +increasing and he consequently finding the charge of maintaining them +rise higher than formerly, and, what was worse, that all he was capable +of doing could not maintain them, he grew very melancholy. + +After considering several projects for making his circumstances more +easy, he at last pitched upon going into Lincolnshire, as a place where +the cheapness of provisions might balance the number of mouths he had to +feed. But he had not been long there before he discovered his mistake, +for the smallness of wages made everything rather dearer than cheaper, +which plunged him into new difficulties, and rendered him incapable of +ease or satisfaction. While his wits were thus on the rack, and his +invention stretched to the uttermost in order to find out some means or +other to recoup his pockets, he unfortunately fell into the company of a +man who, under the pretence of being his most zealous friend, became, +though perhaps unwittingly, the instrument of his utter ruin. For his +appearing ever disconsolate and melancholy gave the countryman an +opportunity of prying into the cause of his concern, which he soon +discovered to be the narrowness of his circumstances. As we naturally +find ease in communicating our afflictions to others, so Johnson was +ready enough to inform him of the truth of his affairs, and the man no +less assiduous in endeavouring to help him out of these straits into +which he had fallen. + +At last, his Lincolnshire acquaintance told him there was but one way of +recovering his misfortunes and living like a man without labour, to +which Johnson began now to have a great aversion, and therefore he +eagerly desired to be acquainted with this delightful way of getting on. +With a grave face his associate told him that what he was about to +propose could not be effected without some risk, but that a man could +not expect to live without trouble or without hazard. Johnson said it +was true, and desired only to be informed wherein the hazard consisted, +as he would make no scruple of running it, for he lacked courage as +little as any man. + +Upon this his companion opened to him his whole scheme, which consisted +in a method of counterfeiting the silver coin to a tolerable degree of +likeness. Johnson was easily drawn in, for he thought there could be no +speedier way of getting money than making it. His country friend helped +him to the necessary implements, and Johnson applied himself with such +earnestness to his new occupation that in a very short time he greatly +outdid his master, giving the false money he had made so perfect a +similitude to the specie for which he made it that it was impossible to +distinguish it by the eye. But thinking it much more hazardous to +attempt putting off in the country than it would be in London, and his +fellow labourer being of the same opinion, they first went to work and +coined a considerable sum according to their method, and they came up to +dispose of it, as Johnson had proposed. + +By this time misfortune and remorse had taught the poor man whose life +we are writing to addict himself too much to drinking, especially to +strong liquors, so that the first experiment he made of the +practicability of getting rid of his false money was in putting off two +sixpences to a distiller for gin, in which he succeeded without being +suspected. But going to a shoemaker's and buying there a ready-made pair +of shoes, he was seized for attempting to pay the man with two bad +half-crowns, which though they looked pretty well to the eye, were +nevertheless much too light when they came to be weighed against the +metal that it was intended they should pass for. + +When carried before a Justice his heart soon failed him and almost as +soon as he was asked he revealed the whole truth of the matter, +impeaching both the countryman who had taught him and a person with whom +they had trusted the secret here in town. However, his confession was of +little benefit to him, for at the next sessions he was capitally +convicted and from thenceforward cast off all hopes of life. As he was a +man who did not lack good natural parts, during the short time he had to +live he endeavoured to make his prayer to God for the forgiveness of the +many errors of his life, attending also constantly at the time of public +devotion. Yet for all this he could not be persuaded that there was any +great degree of guilt in what he had done, but imagined on the contrary +that he was much more innocent than his fellow malefactors, regretting, +however, the heavy misfortune he had brought upon himself and family, +two of his children dying during the time of his imprisonment, and his +wife and third child coming upon the parish. In which sentiments he +continued until the day of his execution, which was on the same with the +before-mentioned John Turner, this criminal being then about fifty years +of age. + + + + +The Lives of JAMES SHERWOOD, GEORGE WEEDON and JOHN HUGHS, Street +Robbers and Footpads + + +Amongst the many artifices by which vice covers itself from our +apprehension, there is no method which it more commonly takes, and yet +better succeeds in, than by putting on a mask of virtue and thereby +imposing the most flagitious actions upon us as things indifferent, +sometimes as things which may gain applause. + +This was exactly the case with the persons whose lives we are now about +to write, who were all of them young men of tolerable education, but +giving way to their vicious inclinations, they associated themselves +together for the better carrying on those evil practices by which they +supported their extravagances, into which lewd women especially had +betrayed them. + +James Sherwood, who was the eldest of them, and also went by the name of +Hobbs, was the son of but mean parents, who, however, took all the pains +that were in their power to educate him in the best manner they were +able. When he grew up they put him out apprentice to a waterman, with +whom he served his time, and was afterwards a seaman in a man-of-war. +When at home he spent his time in the worst company imaginable, viz., +idle young men and lewd, infamous women. As he had naturally a good +understanding and quick apprehension, he quickly became adroit in every +mystery of wickedness to which he addicted himself. However, Justice +soon overtook him and his first companions in wickedness; upon which he +turned evidence and saved his own life by sacrificing theirs. He was +transported soon afterwards, but upon his finding it difficult to live +abroad without working (a thing, for which he had an intolerable +aversion) he took the first opportunity that offered of returning home +again. + +When he returned he fell to his old practices, taking up his lodgings at +the house of one Sarah Payne, a most infamous woman who was capable of +seducing unwary youths for the commission of the greatest villainies, +and then ready to betray them to death, either to benefit or secure +herself. By hers and Sherwood's means George Weedon was drawn in, a +young man of very reputable parents, who had been brought up with the +greatest care in the principles of virtue and true religion. It seems, +however, that having contracted an acquaintance with a lewd and artful +woman, who drew him into an excessive fondness for her, he yielded to +the solicitations of Sherwood and his landlady, and took to such courses +as they suggested, in order to supply himself with money for the +entertainment of that strumpet who was his ruin. It was but a few days +before his apprehension that he had been induced to quit the house of +his mother, who had ever treated him with the greatest tenderness and +affection, and instead thereof had taken lodging with the +before-mentioned Payne, who continually solicited him to commit +robberies and thefts. + +At length John Hughs, _alias_ Hews, another young man, joined them. +Though bred up carefully to the trade of a shoemaker by his father, who +was of the same profession, yet for many years he had addicted himself +to picking pockets and such other low kinds of theft, but had never done +any great robbery until he fell into the hands of Sherwood and Weedon; +with whom he readily agreed to associate himself, and to go with them +out into Moorfields and such other places near Town as they thought most +convenient in order to waylay and rob passengers, and at other times, +when such opportunities did not offer, to break open houses, and to +divide their profits equally amongst them. These designs were hardly +made before they were put into execution and a very short space elapsed +before they had committed many robberies and burglaries, always bringing +the booty home and spending it lewdly and extravagantly in the house of +that abandoned monster, Sarah Payne. + +It may not be amiss to take notice here how common a thing it is for +such wicked old sinners as this woman was, to set up houses of resort +for lewd and abandoned women of the town, who, first getting young men +into their company on amorous pretences, by degrees bring them on from +one wickedness to another, till at last they end their lives at the +gallows, and thereby leave these wretches at liberty to bring others to +the same miserable fate. These agents to the Prince of Darkness are +usually women who have an artful way of flattering and a pleasing +deceitfulness in their address. By this means they, without much +difficulty, draw in young lads at their first giving way to the current +of their lewd inclinations, and before they are aware, involve them in +such expenses as necessarily lead to housebreaking or the highway for a +supply. When once they have made a step of this kind, by which their +lives are placed in the power of those old practitioners in every kind +of wickedness, they are from thenceforward treated as slaves and forced +to continue, whether they will or no, in a repeated course of the like +villainies until they are arrested by the hand of Justice. Then, none so +ready to become evidences against them as those abominable wretches by +whom they were at first seduced. + +Such was the fate that befell these three unhappy young men, of whose +courses information being given, they were all apprehended and committed +close prisoners to Newgate, and at the next ensuing sessions not a few +indictments were found against them. The first indictment they were all +three arraigned upon was for felony and burglary in breaking open the +house of one William Meak, in the night-time, and taking from thence +twelve Gloster cheeses. But the evidence appearing clear only against +Sherwood, _alias_ Hobbs, he alone was convicted and the other two +acquitted. They were then indicted a second time for breaking open the +house of Daniel Elvingham, in the night-time, and taking out of it +several quantities of brandy and tobacco; upon which both Sherwood and +Weedon were, from very full evidence, convicted. On a third indictment +for breaking into the house of Elizabeth Cogdal, and taking thence eight +pewter dishes and twenty pewter plates, they were all found guilty; +Sherwood and Weedon also being a fourth time convicted for a robbery on +the highway, which was proved upon them by the testimony of their +landlady, Sarah Payne. + +Under sentence of death they all testified great sorrow for the offences +of their misspent lives. Weedon was of a better temper than the two +other, retained a greater sense of the principles of religion upon which +he had been brought up in his youth and exceeded his companions in +seriousness and steadiness in his devotions. Sherwood had been a much +longer proficient in all kinds of wickedness than the other two, having +practised several kinds of thefts for nearly eighteen years together, +and this had habituated him so much to sin that he showed much less +penitence than either of his companions. Hughs had been a thief in a low +degree for some years before he fell into the confederacy of Sherwood +and Weedon, to which, as he frankly owned, he was drawn by his own +previous inclination rather than the persuasions of any of his +companions. + +As the time of their death approached they seemed much more affected +than formerly they had been; in which frame of mind they continued till +they suffered, which was on the 12th of February, 1728, Sherwood being +in his twenty-sixth year, Hughs in the twenty-third, and Weedon in the +twenty-second year of his age. + + + + +The Life of MARTIN BELLAMY, a Notorious Thief, Highwayman and +Housebreaker + + +This criminal was amongst the number of those whom long practice had so +hardened in his offences that he took up the humour of glorying in them, +even under his confinement, and persisted in it to the hour of his +death, drawing up, when under sentence (or at least giving instructions +by which it was drawn up) an account of the several street-robberies, +burglaries, and other crimes which he had committed, in a style which +too plainly showed that nothing in his miserable condition afflicted him +but the thought of his ignominious death he was to suffer, not even the +reflection of those crimes which had so deservedly brought him to his +fate. By trade he was a tailor and a good workman in his business, by +which he lived in good credit for some time. It seems he married a woman +whose friends, at least, were very honest people, and highly displeased +with the villainous course of life he led. Insomuch that upon his being +apprehended and sent to Bridewell on suspicion, his wife's brother came +to him there in order to know where the prosecutor lived, that, as he +said, he might go and make some proposals for making up the affair. +Bellamy gave him the best account he could, and the man finding out the +person, advised him to prosecute Martin with the utmost severity, in +hopes, no doubt, that he should in this way rid his sister of a very bad +husband. However, Bellamy was so irritated by the attempt that he would +never cohabit with her afterwards, but with implacable hatred pursued +her and her family with all the mischiefs he was able. + +The methods which he and his gang mostly took in robbing, according to +the account which, as I have before said, he has left us of himself, +were chiefly these: the gang having met together in the evening used to +go, three or four in a company, to visit the shops of those tradesmen +who deal in the richest sort of toys[78] and other goods that are +portable and easily conveyed away. Then one of the company cheapens +something or other, making many words with the shopkeeper about the +price, thereby giving an opportunity to some of his companions to hand +things of value from one to another till they were insensibly vanished, +the honest shopkeeper being left to deplore the misfortune of having +such light-fingered customers find the way to his shop. Another practice +of theirs, to the same laudable purpose, was carried on after this +manner: three or four of them walked up and down several streets, which +by observation they had found fitted for their purpose, and on +perceiving things of any value lying in a parlour, they, with an engine +contrived for that purpose, suddenly threw up the sash; and +notwithstanding there being persons in the room, they would venture to +snatch it out and often get clear off before the people who saw them +could recover themselves from the surprise. But if there was nobody in +the way, then one of their associates, slipping off his shoes, stole +softly into the room and handed out whatever was of most value to his +companions without doors. + +But Bellamy was not only adroit in these ordinary practices, but was +also perfectly acquainted with the art and mystery of counterfeiting +hands; and as an instance thereof, upon which he much valued himself, he +used to relate a trick of that sort which he put upon the late Jonathan +Wild, after this manner: having accustomed himself for some time to +frequent the levee of that infamous agent of thieves, he became so well +acquainted with Jonathan's manner of writing and also with the persons +who gave him credit on particular occasions when money was low. +Whereupon he took occasion to forge a note from the said Wild to one +Wildgoose, servant at an inn, who used to be Jonathan's banker upon +emergencies, who, on receipt of the note, paid Bellamy the contents +thereof without hesitation. A few days after, Mr. Wild and his +correspondent met. The forgery was soon detected and Jonathan +immediately gave directions to that infamous band of villains who were +always in his pay and under his direction, to leave no means untried for +the apprehending Bellamy, who from Wildgoose's description he knew to be +the man who had been guilty of the forgery. + +In the search after him they were so assiduous that in a very short +space they surprised him at a house in Whitefriars, where he was forced +to fly up to a garret in order to conceal himself. His pursuers thinking +they had now lodged him pretty securely, sent notice of it to their +master. But Martin perceiving a long rope lying upon a bed in the room +where he hid himself, resolved for once to venture his neck; and having +fastened it as well as he could, he slipped down by it into the street, +with so great agility that none of his attendants perceived it till he +was in the street, by which time he got so much the start of them that +they found it but in vain to pursue him, and therefore laid by all +thoughts of catching him until another opportunity. + +However, the trick he had played them made them so diligent in pursuing +him that it was but a very short time before they surrounded him in a +brandy-shop in Chancery Lane, seized him and brought him in a coach to +the Elephant and Castle alehouse, Fleet Street, from whence they +dispatched advice to Jonathan of his apprehension. It happened that that +great man was gone to bed when the message arrived with this news; +however it was carried up and Jonathan with an air of generosity bid the +fellow return and inform his people that he would take Mr. Bellamy's +word, and that he might meet him with safety the next morning at his +levee. Bellamy, who well knew the temper of the man, failed not to pay +his court at the time appointed and adjourning to the Baptist Head +tavern in the Old Bailey, after drinking a refreshing bottle, he +presented Mr. Wild with five guineas, by way of atonement for the +offence which he had committed against him. Jonathan was so well +appeased by the intervention of the golden advocates that he promised +not only to forgive him, himself, but also to prevail with Mr. Wildgoose +to do the same, provided he entered into a bond for the repayment of the +ten guineas. This was a condition easily submitted to by Martin in his +present circumstances. This danger thus got over, he returned to his old +profession without running any further hazard of Jonathan's +interruption. + +About this time the gang to which he belonged entered upon a new method +of housebreaking, which they effected by stealing the keys which +fastened the pins in shopkeepers' window-shutters and thereby removing +the greatest difficulty they had of getting in. This trade they carried +on successfully for a good space; though now and then they miscarried in +their attempts, particularly at a goldsmith's shop in Russell Court, +where, having got into the shop and being about to remove a show-glass, +a man who lay in the shop suddenly started up and presenting a +blunderbuss with a great presence of mind told the thieves that he was +tender of shedding their blood and therefore advised them to get off as +soon as they could. They took his advice and withdrew accordingly, with +great confusion. But the same night they had, as Mr. Bellamy expresses +it, much better luck at a toy-shop not far from the same place, where, +entering the house, they found the maid sitting by the fire. She at +first screamed, but they soon made her silent, and then proceeded to +carry off the show-glass, with all the boxes that were contained in it. + +Not long after this they broke off the padlock from a toy-shop in +Swithin's Alley, in Cornhill. Not being able afterwards to enter the +house they fell to work next upon the thick timber that supports the +shutters, and after labouring at it about an hour, forced it off, +whereupon all the shutters dropping down at once into the court, made so +great a clatter that they doubted not that all the neighbourhood was +alarmed, and thought it would be no ill night's work if, after such an +accident, they had the good luck to escape. Upon which they endeavoured +to shift, everyone for himself. However, seeing nobody alarmed at the +noise of the falling of the shutters and that during two hours' time the +watch had never passed that way, they took courage at last: and +returned, entered the house, and putting up the most valuable goods, +went off without any molestation. + +A multitude of robberies of the same kind he confessed, but as they are +narrated in the account we have so often mentioned, it would be a kind +of imposition on our readers to transcribe those accounts there. +Wherefore, in the following articles concerning him, we shall make no +use at all of any that is to be found there. + +During the space he led this life he cohabited with one Amy Fowles, who +passed for his wife and bore him several children. At last, though he +had so often escaped, he was apprehended for a burglary committed on the +house of Mr. Holliday, in Bishopsgate Street, and upon very full +evidence was convicted at the ensuing sessions at the Old Bailey. After +his commitment to Newgate he entered, it seems, into a treaty with a +certain Justice of the Peace for making a full discovery of all his +accomplices, which might at that time have contributed very much to the +public advantage; but in the interim some person had talked thereof too +openly, it came to the ears of one who collected news for a daily paper. +This man thereupon went to Bellamy, making the poor fellow believe that +he came to him by the direction of some persons in power (a thing not at +all unlikely, considering that a proclamation had been issued but very +little before for the better encouraging the discovery of and bringing +first offenders to justice). And having by this means drawn the poor +fellow into a confession of several robberies and burglaries, he +digested it, or got somebody to do it for him, into proper paragraphs +which were inserted the next day in a newspaper and gave thereby an +opportunity to the persons impeached, of making their escape. This +rogue, therefore defeated Bellamy of all hopes of pardon and hindered +the public from receiving any benefit from his confession. All which +enormous villainies were perhaps perpetrated for the sake of a poor +crown, the utmost that could be expected by the collector for procuring +this extraordinary passage big with so much mischief, and which in its +consequences produced little better than a murder, since it is possible +that Bellamy's life might have been saved if a right use had been made +of his confession. + +At his trial he behaved with great impudence and during the time he lay +under sentence continued to affect that gaiety which amongst persons of +his profession is too often mistaken for bravery and true courage. But +when the fatal day approached he, as is common with most of them, sank +much in his spirits and had a great deal to do to recover himself so as +to be able to read the following paper, which he had written for that +purpose and brought with him to the tree, which, as the words of a dying +man, I publish verbatim: + + A Copy of the paper read by Martin Bellamy at the Place of Execution + + Gentlemen, I am brought here to suffer an ignominious death for my + having wilfully transgressed against the known laws of God and my + country. I fear there are too many here present who come to be + witnesses of my untimely end rather out of curiosity than from a + sincere intention to take warning by my unhappy fate. You see me + here in the very prime of my youth, cut off like an untimely flower + in the rigorous season, through my having been too much addicted to + a voluptuous and irregular course of life, which has been the + occasion of my committing those crimes for which I am now to suffer. + As the laws of God as well as of men call upon me to Lay down my + life as justly forfeited by my manifold transgressions, I + acknowledge the justice of my sentence, patiently submit to the same + without any rancour, ill-will or malice to any person whatsoever; + hoping through the merits of Christ Jesus (who laid down His life + for sinners, and who upon the cross pronounced a pardon for the + repenting thief under the agonies of death) to be with Him permitted + to partake of that glorious resurrection and immortality He has been + so graciously pleased to promise to the sincere penitent. I + earnestly exhort and beg of all here present to think seriously of + eternity--a long and endless eternity!--in which we are to be + rewarded or punished according to our good or evil actions in this + world; that you will all take warning by me and refrain from all + wilful transgressions and offences. Let a religious disposition + prevail upon you, and use your utmost endeavours to forsake and fly + from sin. The mercies of God are great, and He can save even at the + last moment of life. Yet do not therefore presume too much, lest you + provoke Him to cast you off in His anger, and become fearful + examples of His wrath and indignation. Let me prevail upon you to + forget and forgive me all the offences and injuries I have committed + or promoted in action, advice or example; and entreat your prayers + for me that the Lord would in mercy look down upon me in the last + moment of my life. + + His Prayer + + Look down in mercy, O God, I beseech Thee, upon me a miserable, + lost, and undone sinner. Number not my transgressions nor let my + iniquities rise up in judgment against me. Wash me and I shall be + clean; purge me and I shall be free from offence. Though my sins be + as scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow if Thou pleasest but to + receive me amongst those whom Thou hast redeemed, that I may sing + praises to the Most High and extol Thy Holy Name in the courts of + Heaven for ever and ever more. Amen. + +He suffered on the 27th of March, 1728, being then about +eight-and-twenty years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [78] Trinkets and such trifles, not children's playthings. + + + + +The Lives of WILLIAM RUSSELL, ROBERT CROUCH and WILLIAM HOLDEN, +Street-Robbers, Footpads + + +Although the insolency of those street-robbers to whose gang the +malefactors we are now speaking of belong be at present too recent a +fact to be questioned, yet possibly in future times 'twill be thought an +exaggeration of truth to say that even at noon-day, and in the most open +places in London, persons were stopped and robbed. The offenders for +many months escaped with impunity, until those crimes became so frequent +and the terrors of passengers so great that the Government interposed in +an extraordinary manner, a royal proclamation being issued offering one +hundred pounds reward for apprehending any offender, and also promising +pardon to any who submitted and revealed their accomplices. This brought +numbers of young rash youths who had engaged in this wicked course of +life to a violent and ignominious death. + +William Russell was descended from persons of honourable family and +unblemished reputation. In his youth he had received a tolerable +education, which even in his misfortunes rendered him more civilized +than any of his companions. He was a young fellow of tolerable good +sense, ready wit, and great courage; he always spoke frankly of the +wickedness of his own life and acknowledged that sensual pleasures were +only what he aimed at in the course of life he led; yet he had never +been able to reap any satisfaction in them, but had been always +miserable in his own mind, from the time he pursued those base methods +of gaining money. His father being gone over to Ireland, and he left at +liberty to pursue what methods he thought best, evil women and bad +company soon prevailed with him to fall into those methods which +afterwards led him to the gallows. + +Robert Crouch, the second of these criminals, was born at Dunstable, of +very honest parents who afforded him as good an education as it was in +their power to give; and then, upon his own inclination to follow the +business of a butcher, bound him to one in Newgate Market, with whom he +served his time. But as soon as he was out of it he addicted himself to +gaming, drinking and whoring, and all the other vices which are so +natural to abandoned young fellows in low life. Dalton, who was an +evidence against him, was one of the chief persons of his gang, and +specially persuaded Crouch to join with him, though he had very little +occasion to fall into such ways of getting money, since his father was a +man in very good circumstances, who designed to set his son in his trade +in a short time, having not the least suspicion that this melancholy +accident would intervene. + +William Holden, the third of these unhappy persons, was born of very +mean parents, had little education, and had followed no particular +trade, but had sometimes gone to sea, and at other times driven a +hackney coach; so that throughout the whole course of his life he had +been continually plunged in the grossest debaucheries, whereby he became +ripe for such practices as he and his associates afterwards went upon. + +It does not appear, from the papers that I have, that any of these +criminals had followed that infamous course of life for above a year, +when Dalton, to save his own life, surrendered and made a confession by +which these and the rest of ms associates were quickly apprehended and +committed dose prisoners to Newgate. At the ensuing sessions at the Old +Bailey they were all indicted for assaulting one Martha Hide on the +highway, and taking from her a broad-cloth coat, value forty shillings; +a looking-glass, value thirty shillings; a woman's nightgown; and other +goods, to the value of thirty shillings more. To prove this charge James +Dalton was produced, who swore that about nine o'clock at night himself +and the prisoners overtook the prosecutor, Martha Hide, in Fleet Street; +and observing that she had a bundle they resolved to take it from her. +In order to accomplish their design they followed her into Lincoln's Inn +Fields, where Robert Crouch, _alias_ Bob the Butcher, knocked her down +and Russell took up the bundle and ran away with it. Upon their opening +thereof the looking-glass fell out and was broke all to pieces. The rest +of the things they sold to one Sarah Watts, who made it her business to +buy stolen goods and kept what in their cant is called a 'lock', that is +a place for the receipt of such things. Dalton swore, moreover, that not +having carefully examined the things, they were extremely mortified to +hear afterwards that there was forty shillings in specie wrapped up in a +rag, which the woman that bought them got into the bargain. + +Martha Hide, herself, deposed that crossing Lincoln's Inn Fields she was +knocked down and the bundle taken from her as Dalton had before related. +One Solomon Nicholas deposed that not long after, Russell and Crouch +quarrelling between themselves at a brandy-shop, Russell said to his +companion, _If you offer to meddle with Nicholas I'll cut the coat off +your back, for it's the woman's coat that we knocked down in Lincoln's +Inn Fields, and I have as much right to it as you have._ It appeared, +also, by another witness, that Crouch pawned an old coat to pay for the +altering of this, and after taking off a cloth cape which it had at the +time of its being stolen, he caused a velvet one to be sewn on in its +room. Mr. Willis, the constable, was the last witness called for by the +prosecutor. He swore that at the time that he apprehended the prisoner +Russell, he acknowledged that the goods before-mentioned were stolen and +sold for one pound two shillings, but said he did not value it, since he +should die in the company of such brave fellows. + +The jury withdrawing after hearing this evidence, returned soon after +and found them guilty, and sentence of death was passed upon them, at +one of the fullest sessions which had happened for many years at the Old +Bailey, there being twenty-two men and seven women capitally convicted. + +As these unhappy men could have little hope of life, considering the +nature and notoriety of their offences; they ought certainly to have +laid aside all other thoughts and have applied themselves strictly, +beseeching pardon of God for their numberless offences against Him. +Instead of this, there appeared too much affectation of unconcernedness +in all of them, especially in Russell, who, being confined in the same +cell with Holden, said to his companion a day or two before his death, +with an air of indifference, _I'll undertake, Will, to procure a coach +to carry off our bodies from the place of execution; but I must leave it +to the care of your fraternity_ (meaning the hackney coachmen) _to +prevent their being seized on by the surgeons._ Holden heard all this +very gravely, assented to the proposition without altering his +countenance or giving any other mark of his concern for that infamous +death which shortly they were both to suffer. + +Russell also took a certain pleasure in speaking of the state of +street-robbing at the time they left the world. He averred that the town +was much mistaken in imagining that the king's proclamation had +effectually crushed their fraternity, into which opinion they perhaps +might be drawn by seeing so many of them perish in so short a time; +which, he said, did not lessen their society, but would, notwithstanding +that, put all that remained of them upon bolder exploits than ever, to +show that they were yet unhanged. In which conjecture he was not very +much out. However, he said, gentlemen might now safely walk the streets +without fear of having their pockets picked, for that Benjamin Branch, +who died the last sessions, and Isaac Ashley, who was to suffer with +him, were the two neat masters in that way, and were capable of earning +fifteen or sixteen shillings by it in two or three hours' time; sorting +the fruits of their industry into several parcels, from the value of +sixpence to half a crown apiece as dexterously as any milliner in +London. + +After the coming out of the death warrant Russell laid aside much of his +boldness, appeared with more gravity at prayers and expressed greater +sorrow for his misspent life than he had done before. Crouch carried +himself very quietly all along, but could not forbear being unseasonably +merry and jocose upon several occasions, smiling at chapel and affecting +to talk with greater gaiety than became his condition. He himself owned +that this was very unbecoming in a person so near an ignominious death, +but he said it was in his temper, and he could not help it. He frankly +acknowledged the enormity of that course of life which for some years +past he had led, acknowledged that on the coming out of the king's +proclamation he had resolved on a four years' voyage to sea, but was +prevented from putting it in execution by Dalton's information. As the +time of their death drew near he became more and more sensible of his +miserable condition and the danger there was of losing his soul as well +as his body. + +William Holden at first denied very strongly his being in any degree +guilty of the fact for which he died; but when he heard that Russell had +owned it and at the same time confessed that he was concerned in it, +thinking it no further use to adhere to that denial he retracted it and +acknowledged that he had been a great sinner, and had committed several +thefts before that for which he died. In a word, these three, as they +had been companions together in wickedness and fellow-sufferers in the +punishment which their crimes had drawn upon them, so they appeared to +be all of them sensibly touched with sorrow and remorse for that +multitude of crimes which they had committed, endeavouring to merit the +pardon of God by hearty prayers and a sincere repentance. Russell, +however, declared but a day or two before his execution that Dalton, the +evidence, had proposed to him to join in that information he gave +against their companions, but that he scorned to save his life by so +mean a practice as betraying those who had received him into their +friendship. + +Their deportment at the place of execution was resolute without +obstinacy or impenitence, and the last moments of their lives were full +of seriousness, without any marks of timorousness or confusion. Russell +was about twenty-five, Crouch about twenty, and Holden somewhat more +than twenty-eight years of age at the time they suffered, which was on +Monday, 20th of May, 1728. + + + + +The Lives of CHRISTOPHER, _alias_ THOMAS RAWLINS; ISAAC ASHLEY, _alias_ +ALSEBY; JOHN ROUDEN, _alias_ HULKS; EDWARD BENSON, _alias_ BROWN, +_alias_ BOYSTON; GEORGE GALE, _alias_ KIDDY GEORGE; THOMAS CROWDER; +JAMES TOON; JOHN HORNBY; WILLIAM SEFTON; and RICHARD NICHOLS, Thieves, +Street-Robbers, Housebreakers, etc. + + +Although the several criminals whose lives we are now going to relate do +not so well tally with one another, they having been of different gangs +and dying for various offences, yet as they were all apprehended in +consequence of the before-mentioned proclamation, were street-robbers +and most of them not unknown to each other, I thought it would be better +to speak of them here all at once rather than divide them into several +lives. I have very little to say of any of them worthy the attention of +the reader. + +To begin, then, with Christopher, _alias_ Thomas Rawlins. He was the son +of very honest parents here in town, who brought him up as well as their +circumstances would permit, and when he grew big enough to go out to a +trade put him apprentice to a silversmith with whom he served out his +time with tolerable reputation. But being a lad of great gaiety and +spirit, having much addicted himself to the company of young fellows of +a like disposition, frequented dancing meetings, and taken delight in +everything but his business, such inclinations as these easily betrayed +him to the commission of the greatest crimes and a certain alertness in +his temper made him very acceptable to those debauched young fellows who +were his usual companions to such places. Whether he was at first +seduced by the persuasions of others to the committing thefts and +robberies, or whether those necessities to which their extravagancies +had reduced them put him and his associates on taking such measures for +filling their purses, is hard to be determined. But certain it is that +for some time before his being apprehended he had been very busy in +committing such exploits and for his courage and dexterity was looked +upon as one of the chief of the gang. + +Isaac Ashley, who was Rawlins's companion, and who went commonly amongst +them by the nickname of Black Isaac, was a fellow of a very different +cast. His parents were poor people, who had, indeed, taken as much care +as was in their power of his education and afterwards provided for him +as well as they were able, putting him out to a weaver in Spitalfields. +But he made them a very ill return for all their care and tenderness, +proving an obstinate, idle and illiterate fellow, willing to do nothing +that was either just or reputable, and who, except for his dexterity in +pocket-picking was one of the most stupid, incorrigible wretches that +ever lived. He followed the practice of petty thieving for a +considerable space, but though he got considerably thereby, he lost his +money continually at gaming, and so remained always in one state, viz., +very poor and very wicked; which is no very uncommon case amongst such +sort of miserable people, who lavishly waste what they hazard their +souls and throw away their lives to obtain. + +John Rouden, _alias_ Hulks, the latter being his true name, had the +advantage of a very tolerable education, the effects of which were not +obliterated by his having been many years addicted to the vilest and +most flagitious course of life that can possibly be imagined. The +principles with which he had been seasoned in his youth served to render +him more tractable and civilized when under his last misfortunes, unto +which he fell with the two afore-mentioned malefactors; they being all +indicted for assaulting one Mr. Francis Williams on the highway, and +taking from him a silver watch value three pounds, two guineas and a +moidore,[79] on the 28th of February, 1728. The prosecutor deposed that +going in a hackney coach, between Wading Street and St. Paul's School he +heard the coachman called on to stop; immediately after which a man came +up to the side of the coach, presented a pistol and demanded his money. +Four more presented themselves at the coach windows, offering their +pistols and saying they had no time to lose. One of them thereupon +thrust his hand into his fob and took out his money and his watch. Jones +next produced the watch to the Court and said he had it from Dalton, who +was the third witness called to support the indictment. He deposed that +himself, the three prisoners at the bar, and another person not yet +taken, were those that attacked the coach; that himself came up first +and Rouden afterwards, who took the watch, as himself did the money, +Rawlins and he secreting one guinea from their companions and afterwards +pawning the watch for two guineas more. + +Mr. Willis, the constable, swore that having received information of +certain disorderly persons, he thereupon went and apprehended Dalton, +the evidence, who, making an ingenious confession, told him of the +robbery committed on Mr. Williams and where the prisoners then were; +whereupon he went immediately to apprehend them also. Dalton produced a +pistol after he was apprehended, and declared that Rawlins had the +fellow to it which was loaded with a slug. When they came to the place +where the prisoners were, Rawlins and Rouden made an obstinate defence, +sword in hand, and were with great difficulty taken, while Ashley hid +himself under the bed, in hopes of making his escape in the confusion. +Mr. Willis's brother swore to taking a pistol from Rawlins, such as +Dalton had described, and which was loaded with a slug. + +The prisoners had nothing to say in their defence except flatly denying +everything, and averring that they did not so much as know Dalton. But +Mr. Wyatt being produced, swore to the contrary of that, affirming that +they were very intimate and that they all lodged together at his house. +The jury having received their charge from the judge, took but a small +time to consider, and then returning, brought in their verdict that they +were all guilty; whereupon at the close of the sessions they received +sentence with the rest. + +Edward Benson was the son of very reputable persons in the City of +London, who had taken all due care in providing him a suitable education +with respect both to the principles of learning and of religion; and +when he was at years of discretion, they put him out apprentice to a +silver-wire-drawer. In himself he was a young man of good understanding, +of a sweet temper and but too tractable in his disposition, which seems +to have been the cause of most of his misfortunes. For during the time +of his apprenticeship, being so unlucky as to fall into bad company, he +was easily seduced to following their measures; although he was far +enough from being naturally debauched, and seemed to have no great vice +but his inclination to women, which occasioned his marrying two wives, +who notwithstanding lived peaceably and quietly together. The papers I +have do not give any distinct account of the manner in which he first +came to join in the execrable employment of plundering and robbing in +the streets, and therefore it may be presumed he was drawn into it by +his companions whom we are next to mention. + +George Gale, _alias_ Kiddy George, was a perfect boy at the time of his +suffering death, and though descended of very honest parents, who no +doubt had given him some education in his youth, yet the uninterrupted +course of wickedness in which he lived from the time of his being able +to distinguish between wrong and right had so perfectly expunged all +notions of justice or piety, that never a more stupid or incorrigible +creature came into this miserable state. Thomas Neeves[80], who had been +their associate in all their villainies, was the person who gave +information against him, Benson, and several other malefactors we shall +hereafter speak of. Gale, as is common with such people, complained +vehemently against the evidence who had undone him. As death approached +he shed tears abundantly, but was so very ignorant that he expressed no +other marks of penitence for his offences. + +Thomas Crowder was a young man of an honest family and of a very good +education. His friends had put him out apprentice to a cabinet-maker. +Before he was out of his time he thought fit to go to sea, where, for +aught appears by our papers, he behaved himself very honestly and +industriously. Coming home from a voyage, a little before his death, he +was so unfortunate as to fall into the company of Neeves, the evidence, +who, pretending to have money and an inclination to employ it in the +Holland trade, prevailed on poor Crowder to attend him three or four +days, in which space Neeves was married and had great junkettings with +his new wife and her friends. In the midst of this they were all +apprehended, and Neeves, with how much truth must be determined at the +Last Day, put this unhappy man into his information and gave evidence +against him at his trial, when Benson, Gale and this Crowder were +indicted for assaulting James Colver on the highway, and taking from him +a watch value forty shillings, and five shillings in money. For this +offence, chiefly on the oath of Neeves, they were all capitally +convicted. + +James Toon was another of those unhappy persons who suffered on the oath +of Neeves. He had spent his time mostly upon the water, having been a +seaman for several years, and after that a bargeman. He was a young man +of tolerable good sense, very civil in his behaviour and in nothing +resembling those who are ordinarily addicted to robbing and thieving. +His parents were persons in tolerable circumstances, and had taken a due +care of his education. The particular crime for which he died was +assaulting James Flemming, in the company of George Gale and Edward +Brown, _alias_ Benson, and taking from him, the said Flemming, a silver +watch value forty shillings, and two guineas in money, the third of +April. + +John Hornby had been bred for some time at school, being descended of +honest parents, who put him apprentice to a joiner. But being naturally +inclined to idleness and vice, in a short time he had occasion to take +base and illegal methods to acquire money. His necessities were also +increased through foolishly marrying a woman, while he was yet a perfect +boy and knew not how to maintain her. Picking pockets was his first +resource, and the method of thieving which he always liked best and got +most money at; but being of a very easy temper, his companions found it +no hard thing to persuade him into taking such other methods of robbing +as they persuaded him would be more beneficial, and in this Benson seems +to have been one of his chief advisers. In himself, Hornby was +good-natured and much less rude and boisterous than some of his +companions. He had been but a very short time engaged in the +street-robbing practice and did not seem to have courage or boldness +sufficient to make himself considerable amongst his companions in those +enterprises, which in all probability was the reason that while under +confinement they treated him but very indifferently, and sometimes went +so far as to give him ill names and blows, which he endured without +saying much, and seemed perfectly resigned to the several punishments +which his own iniquities had brought upon him. The crime for which he +died was a robbery committed on the highway, upon the person of one +Edward Ellis, from whom was taken a silver watch, value four pounds, and +two guineas in money. + +William Sefton was born in Lancashire, and during the life-time of his +father received a tolerable education. But on his mother's marrying +another husband, Sefton, who had been bred a barber and peruke-maker, +finding things not to go to his mind, came up to London. But changing +place did not seem to make him much easier, so that after having led an +unsettled life for a considerable space, he became at length a common +soldier. 'Twill be easily imagined that this choice of his did not much +better his fortunes and possibly the company which his military life +obliged him to keep served only to increase his courage so far as to +enable him to take a purse on the highway; a practice he had pursued +with pretty good success a considerable time before he was taken. But +being a naming, close fellow, he robbed with so much precaution that he +was little suspected until taken up for the offence for which he died, +which was for assaulting Henry Bunn on the highway, and taking from him +a silver watch, two pieces of foreign gold, and two pounds eleven +shillings in money. + +Richard Nichols was a man in the middle age of life, of a grave and +civil deportment, of good character, and who was a barber and +peruke-maker. He had lived by his profession without the least suspicion +of his being guilty of any such crime as that for which he died. He was +convicted, chiefly on the evidence of Neeves, for feloniously stealing +nine silver watches and a gold watch, the property of Andrew Moran and +others in the dwelling-house of the said Moran. As there was nothing +remarkable in this man's life, and as it did appear that he was not +flagrantly guilty of any other vice except drinking and wasting his own +money, so it would be needless to dwell longer upon his adventures prior +to his condemnation; therefore we shall go on to speak of the behaviour +of these criminals while they remained under sentence of death. + +Christopher Rawlins seemed to retain much of his old boisterous temper, +and though he would bring himself to speak with more decency concerning +the great duty of repentance which now alone remained for them to +practise, yet in a little time he would fly out into strange and +blasphemous expressions, for which being reproved by William Russell, +whom we have before mentioned as being under sentence at the same time, +he answered, _What does it signify to prepare ourselves, since we have +passed through so wicked a life in this world and have now so short a +time to remain in it?_ He frequently expressed a despair of God's mercy +though after the death warrant came down he appeared somewhat more easy, +and in a better disposition to offer up his prayers to the Almighty. As +to the crimes for which he suffered, he readily and ingenuously +confessed them, owning the justice of the sentence which had been passed +upon him and expressed this sense of the multitude of offences which he +had committed, such as he acknowledged deserved no mercy here, nor, +without the interposition of the mercy of God hereafter. Yet in the +midst of these expressions of penitence he could not forbear doing +something in his old way, and a few days before his execution actually +cut the tassels from the pulpit cushion in the chapel. + +Ashley was very frank in his confessions of numberless thefts which he +had committed in the course of his wicked and licentious life; but he +peremptorily denied that he had any concern whatsoever in the robbery +for which he was to die, and this was confirmed by Rawlins and Benson, +who said that they, indeed, committed it, but that Ashley was no ways +concerned therein. However, as far as his stupid disposition would give +him leave, he sometimes expressed great penitence for the deeds which he +had committed. Yet the Sunday before his death he stole five or six +handkerchiefs at chapel, of which when the Ordinary spoke to him at the +place of execution, he only said that it was true, but that he must have +something to subsist on. + +Rouden acknowledged the justice of his sentence, that he was guilty of +the crimes laid to his charge, and behaved in every respect like a true +and sincere penitent. Benson showed the same easiness and sweetness of +temper which he had always been remarkable for, even to the last moment +of his life. He expressed, indeed, much sorrow for his having lived +deliberately in a continued course of adultery with two women who both +of them averred that they had been lawfully married to him. He frankly +confessed his own guilt, and that the sentence of the Law was just, +dying, as far as we are able to judge, in a composed and penitent +disposition of mind. + +George Gale, though he owned he had for some time been a thief, yet he +absolutely denied his having any concern in the robberies before +mentioned; but he averred that Neeves, knowing his character, took the +advantage of putting him in the information, as knowing that he had +neither friends nor interest to make his innocence appear. Indeed, +Benson did so far confirm what Gale had said that he owned he alone +committed the robbery for which he was convicted, and to this they both +adhered to their last moments at the place of execution, where Gale wept +bitterly, and with all outward tokens of sorrow confessed the multitude +of sins he had committed throughout the whole course of his life. + +Thomas Crowder persevered even to death in denying any concern with +Neeves, further than his being deluded with the hopes of joining with +him in a trade to Holland and France; yet the Ordinary tells us in his +account of these criminals that he had reason to believe that Crowder, +notwithstanding this, was guilty, because a gentleman averred that he +had owned as much to him in the chapel the very day he died. + +James Toon continued to behave with a uniform submission to the decrees +of Providence, absolutely denied his being guilty of the fact for which +he was convicted, yet acknowledged that he had led a very sinful life, +and therefore looked on it as a great mercy of the Providence of God +that he had so much time to reflect and repent in. Hornby wept and +lamented grievously for the miseries which he had brought on himself and +those who were related to him, said he had for a long time been guilty +of illegal practices, but would not acknowledge that he had been guilty +of that for which he was condemned. + +Sefton appeared under condemnation to have a very just idea of the +wretched state he was in, the necessity there was of preventing, by a +thorough repentance, a yet more severe judgment than that under which he +then lay. He acknowledged the crime for which he died, said he had been +drawn to the commission of it by the persuasion of a person whom he +named, and at the place of execution declared he died sorry for all his +sins and in charity with mankind. He had hardly been turned off a minute +before the rope broke and he fell to the ground, but the sheriff's men +laying hold on him, he was soon tied up again and so executed in +pursuance of his sentence. + +Richard Nichols, as he always behaved with great decency and was of a +sober, serious and religious disposition, so he constantly affirmed +(though without vehemence or any signs of passion) that he knew nothing +of the robbery whereof he stood convicted, but that his life was basely +sworn away by Neeves the evidence, without the least grounds whatsoever, +he having never associated himself with street-robbers or been concerned +in any sort of thieving whatever. In this he persisted to the time of +his death, repeating it and averring it at the place of execution; and, +indeed, there is the greatest reason to believe that he spoke nothing +but the truth, because Thomas Neeves, the witness, when he came +afterwards to die at Tyburn, did acknowledge that he knew nothing of +Nichols, nor had ever seen him before his being committed at the +Justice's, and begged that God would pardon his crying sin of perjury +and murder in taking the life of an innocent man. + +These malefactors suffered on the 20th of May, 1728; Rawlins being +twenty-two, Ashley, twenty-six; Rouden, twenty-four; Benson, +twenty-four; Gale, seventeen; Crowder, twenty-two; Toon, twenty-five; +Hornby, twenty-one; Sefton, twenty-six; and Nichols, forty years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [79] A Portuguese gold coin current in England, worth about 23s. + + [80] See page 463. + + + + +The Lives of RICHARD HUGHS and BRYAN MACGUIRE, Highwaymen and Footpads + + +Idleness, lewd women and bad company are the sum total of those excuses +urged by criminals when they come to be punished, even for the most +flagrant offences. With just reason Richard Hughs exclaimed on them all, +for from youth upwards he had ever addicted himself to laziness and a +dislike to that business to which he was bred, viz., that of a +bricklayer. Following loose women was the thing in which he took most +delight, and was probably the occasion of his subsequent misfortunes. +The immediate cause of them was his acquaintance with William Sefton +before-mentioned, with whom he joined in a confederacy to rob on the +highway, a thing to which his necessities in some measure drove him, +since he had squandered all he had in the world on those abandoned women +with whom he conversed, and had contracted so bad a reputation that he +found it hard to be employed in his business. + +Into this wretched confederacy entered also the other offender, Bryan +Macguire, an Irishman born in the county of Wicklow. He had been bred a +sawyer, but was never very well pleased with the trade which required so +much hard labour. However, he worked at it some time after he came to +England, but some of his countrymen persuading him that it was much +easier to live by sharping, a practice they very well understood, he +readily fell into their sentiments and soon struck out a new method of +cheating, which brought them in more and with less hazard than any of +the ways pursued by his associates. The artifice was this: by repeated +practice he found a way to pull his tongue so far back into his throat +that he really appeared to have none at all, and by going to +coffee-houses and other places of public resort for the better sort of +people, he, by pretending to be dumb and then opening his mouth and +showing them what looked only like the root of a tongue, obtained large +charities. He had great success in this cheat for a long time, but at +last was discovered by a gentleman's blowing some snuff into his throat, +which, by setting him a-coughing, detected the imposture. + +Then, being very straitened, he fell in with Sefton and Hughs with whom +having cheated and tricked for a little space, they at last came all to +an agreement of going together upon the highway and sharing their booty +equally amongst them. However, their partnership was of no very long +continuance, for in nine or ten days they were all apprehended and +brought to condign punishment. Hughs had been a soldier as well as +Sefton, and had quitted the Army to go upon the highway, which was a +very luckless occasion for him. Being quickly apprehended he was charged +with five several capital indictments, to all of which, when he came to +be arraigned, he resolutely pleaded guilty; and when admonished by the +Court that the crimes with which he was charged were felonies without +benefit of clergy, he persisted therein, saying that he would not give +the judge nor the gentlemen of the jury unnecessary trouble. + +Macguire was indicted on four of the indictments which had been +preferred against Hughs, and capitally convicted upon them all. He was +no sooner under sentence than he declared himself to be of the communion +of the Church of Rome. However, he attended constantly at the chapel, +seemed to listen earnestly to what was said there, and made responses +very regularly to the several prayers, a thing which Papists very seldom +comply with. However, Bryan appeared to be a very reasonable man in this +respect, saying that he hoped God would be satisfied with that imperfect +atonement which he was able to make for his offences, and would not +impute it to him as a sin that he had taken all occasions which offered +of presenting his petitions for remission. In this disposition he +continued until the day of his execution, when both he and Hughs +appeared very composed and penitent, desiring the prayers of those who +were witnesses of their death, submitting thereto with all exterior +marks of proper resignation, on the 26th day of June, 1728; Hughs being +twenty-four and Macguire twenty-eight years of age or thereabouts. + + + + +The Life of JAMES HOW, _alias_ HARRIS, a notorious Highwayman and Thief + + +Though, generally speaking, the old saying holds true that nobody +becomes superlatively wicked at once, yet it may be also averred that a +long and habitual course of vice at last so hardens the soul that no +warnings are sufficient, no dangers so frightful, nor reflections so +strong as to overcome lewd inclinations, when their strength has become +increased by a long unrestrained indulgence. + +The criminal of whom we are now to speak was a native of the town of +Windsor, in the county of Berks. His parents were honest people in +middling circumstances, who yet took such care of his education that he +was fit for any business to which he would have applied himself. But +he, on the contrary, continuing to lead a lazy and indolent course of +life, sauntering from one place to another, and preferring want and +idleness to industry and labour, at last became so burdensome to his +relations that with much ado they sent him to sea. There being of a +robust constitution and of a bold, daring spirit, he quickly gained some +preferment in the ship on board of which he sailed and might possibly +have done very well if he had continued at sea for any time, having the +good luck to serve on board the admiral's vessel, and to be taken notice +of as a sprightly young fellow, capable of coming to good. + +But alas! James soon blasted this prospect of good fortune, for no +sooner was he on shore than laying aside all the views he had formed of +rising in the Navy, he associated himself with some of his old +companions. They persuaded him to take a purse, as the shortest and +easiest method of supporting those expenses into which his inclinations +for sensual pleasures naturally plunged him. He too easily listened to +their persuasions and from that time forward he left nothing unstolen +upon which he could lay his fingers. + +Punishment did not pursue his crimes with a leaden pace; on the +contrary, he had scarce offended ere she made him sensible of the +offences. Bridewells, prisons, duckings, lashings, and beatings of hemp +were made familiar to him by his running through them several times in +the space of a few years. At length, as he increased the guilt of his +crimes, so he added to the weight of his sufferings; for after having +been at Newgate several times for lesser offences, he was at last +committed for a felony, and being convicted thereof, was ordered for +transportation. Rightly conceiving that if he was carried into the +Plantations he would be obliged to work very hard, which he most +dreaded, in order to escape he forged a letter as from a certain man of +quality directing that he should be set at liberty in order to serve as +a good hand on board of one of his Majesty's ships. His old ill luck +pursuing him, the forgery was detected and he was thereupon ordered to +remain two years at hard labour in Bridewell; but when he was brought +thither, the keeper absolutely refused to have anything to do with him. +They knew him of old and said that he was a fellow only fit to make the +other criminals who were there unruly, by projecting and putting them +into way of making their escape. Upon this he was carried back to +Newgate and remained a prisoner for that space of time. + +How he came by his liberty again I cannot take upon me to say; all that +appears from my papers is that he made a very ill use of it as soon as +he obtained it, returning immediately to the commission of those crimes +for which he had before forfeited it. At length turning housebreaker he +was committed for feloniously stealing five pounds out of the house of +John Spence, for which fact, at the sessions following, a bill of +indictment was found against him, and he was thereupon arraigned. + +At first he insisted that overtures had been made in order to procure +discoveries from him, and therefore he desired that he might be admitted +an evidence. The Court informed him that they would enter into no +altercations with a prisoner at the bar; that he had heard the nature of +the charge preferred against him; and that now they could hear nothing +from him unless he pleaded guilty or not guilty. He persisted +obstinately in his first demand, and in consequence thereof obstinately +refused to plead. Whereupon he was told from the Bench that such +behaviour was not a proper method to excite the mercy of the Court, that +it was not in their power to comply in any degree with what he desired, +but that on the contrary they should proceed to pass sentence upon him +as a mute, by which be would be subjected to a much greater and more +grievous punishment than if he were found guilty of the crime of which +he was accused. All this made no impression upon the criminal; he said +he could but die, and the manner in which he died was indifferent to +him. And so sentence, as is usual in such cases, was pronounced upon +him, and he was ordered to be carried back and put into the press. But +when he had carried it so far, and found there was no avoiding that +cruel fortune which was appointed for such obstinate persons as himself, +he desired time till the next morning to consider his plea, which being +permitted him, he that time pleaded guilty. + +While under sentence of death something very extraordinary occurred in +relation to this malefactor. It seems that one Mrs. Dawson had a parcel +of plate, consisting of two silver tankards, two silver mugs, a silver +cup and a punch ladle, seven pounds sixteen shillings in money, and a +great quantity of papers of considerable value, stolen out of her house. +She suspected one Eleanor Reddey, and caused her to be apprehended, who +thereupon confessed that she opened the door of her mistress's house in +the night-time and let in one William Read; that she saw him take away +the plate and watched, in the meantime, to observe if anyone came. Upon +this confession she herself was convicted, but no evidence appearing +against William Read, who was tried with her, he was acquitted. + +After she received sentence of death she declared herself absolutely +innocent of the fact for which she was to die, affirming that as soon as +she was taken up some neighbours persuaded her to make such a +confession, and to charge William Read with stealing the things, +assuring her that if she did so, she would preserve herself by coming a +witness against him. Being a silly timorous creature in herself, and +terrified by their suggesting that if she did not take the method they +proposed, somebody would infallibly swear against her, she with much ado +assented; and being carried before Justice Jackson, made and signed such +a confession as is before mentioned. + +But How, _alias_ Harris, whose life we are now writing, declared that +he, himself, robbed Mrs. Dawson, and that he had a considerable quantity +of the plate and most of the papers in his power, offering to restore +them if the said Mrs. Dawson had interest enough to procure a pardon +either for himself or Eleanor Reddey. But the Ordinary assured him that +Mrs. Dawson could do no such thing, and at the same time exhorted him to +make what restitution was in his power, since otherwise his repentance +would remain imperfect and small hope could be given him of his meeting +with forgiveness from an offended God. At first this seemed to have +little or no weight with the criminal; he expressed himself very civilly +when spoken to on that head, but peremptorily refused to do anything +towards making satisfaction to Mrs. Dawson, unless she could do +something for him or the woman. + +But when death approached nearer he began to relent, sent for the +Ordinary and told him that, as for the plate, it was indeed out of his +power, but for that the papers, he had caused them to be brought in a +box which he delivered and desired they might be kept carefully, because +he was sensible that they were of great value to their owner. + +At the place of execution he seemed desirous only of clearing his wife +from any imputation of being concerned with him in any of his villainies +and then suffered with much resignation, on the 11th of September, 1728, +being near thirty-eight years of age. + + + + +The Lives of GRIFFITH OWEN, SAMUEL HARRIS, and THOMAS MEDLINE, +Highwaymen and Footpads + + +Griffith Owen, the first of these unhappy criminals, was the son of very +honest parents who had given him a very good education in respect both +of letters and religion. When he was grown up they put him out +apprentice to a butcher in Newgate Market, with whom he served his time, +though not without committing many faults and neglecting his business +in a very marked degree, addicting himself too much to idle company, the +usual incitements to those crimes for the commission of which he +afterwards suffered. + +His companion Harris, if Owen were to be believed, first proposed +robbing as an expedient to the supply of their pockets, to which he too +readily gave way; and having once ventured to attack he never suffered +himself nor his companions to cool. For the space of about six weeks, +keeping themselves still warm with liquor, they committed five or six +robberies, for which at last they were all apprehended. And as they had +been companions together in wickedness, so they shared also in +imprisonment and death as the consequences of those offences they had +committed. + +Samuel Harris, though he had received a very tolerable education as to +reading and writing, yet he never applied himself to any business, but +served bricklayers as a labourer, in company with his fellow-sufferer +Medline. But having been all his life addicted to lust and wickedness, +he proposed robbing to his companions as the most feasible method of +getting money wherewith to support their debauches and the strumpets who +used to partake with them at their houses of resort. He confirmed what +Owen had said, and acknowledged that during the time they continued +their robberies, never any people in the world led more profligate and +more uneasy lives than they did; being always engaged in a continual +circle of drunkenness, violence and whoredom; while their minds were +continually agitated with the fear of being apprehended, so that they +never enjoyed peace or quiet from the time of their betaking themselves +to this course of life unto the day of their apprehension and coming to +the gallows. + +Thomas Medline was born more meanly than either of his companions, and +had so little care taken of him in his youth, that he could neither read +nor write. However, he applied himself to working hard as a labourer to +the bricklayers, and got thereby for some time sufficient wherewith to +maintain himself and his family. At last, giving himself over to drink, +he minded little of what became of his wife and children, and falling +unhappily about the same time into the acquaintance of the +before-mentioned malefactor Harris, he was easily seduced by him to +become a partner in his crimes and addicted himself to the highway. + +It was but a very short space that they continued to exercise this their +illegal and infamous calling, for venturing to attack one Mr. Barker, on +the Ware Road, and not long after Dr. Edward Hulse,[81] they were +quickly apprehended for those facts, and after remaining some time in +Newgate, were brought to their trials at the Old Bailey. + +There it was sworn by Mr. Barker, that he observed them drinking at an +alehouse at Tottenham, the very evening in which he was robbed; and that +apprehending them to be loose and disorderly persons he took more than +ordinary notice of their faces; that about a mile from Edmonton church +they came up with him, and notwithstanding he told them he knew them, +they pulled him off his horse and robbed him of five pounds and +sixpence; that returning the next day to the place where he was robbed, +he found sevenpence, which he supposed they had dropped in their hurry. + +On the second indictment it was desposed by one Mr. Hyatt that he +suspected the prisoners, from the description given by Mr. Barker and +Doctor Hulse, to be the persons who had robbed them; he thereupon +apprehended them upon suspicion, and that Mr. Barker, as soon as he saw +them, swore to their faces. + +Doctor Hulse deposed that they were the persons who robbed him of his +watch and money, and that he had particularly remarked Owen as having a +scar on his face. Thomas Bennett, the doctor's coachman, swore that Owen +was the man who got upon the coach-box and beat him, and afterwards +robbed his master; that not contented therewith, they beat the witness +again, knocked out one of his teeth, and broke his own whip about him. +Henry Greenwood confirmed this account in general, but could not be +positive to any of the faces except that of Owen. The jury, in this +proof, without any long stay found them all guilty. + +While under sentence of death they all behaved themselves with as much +penitence and seeming sorrow for their offences as was ever seen amongst +persons in their condition. They attended as often as Divine Worship was +celebrated in the chapel, and appeared very desirous of instruction as +to those private prayers which they thought necessary to put up to God, +when carried back to their several places of confinement. + +Harris seemed a little uneasy at the Ordinary's remonstrating with him +that he was more guilty than the rest, inasmuch as he first incited them +to the falling into those wretched methods by which they brought shame +and ruin upon themselves. He answered that there was little difference +in their dispositions, having been all of them addicted for many years +to the greatest wickedness which men could practise; that his companions +were no less ready than he to fall upon such means of supporting +themselves in sensual delights. As he averred this to their faces they +did not contradict it, but seemed to take shame to themselves and to +sorrow alike for the evils they had committed. + +They ended their lives at Tyburn, on the 11th of September, 1728, with +all outward signs of true repentance; Owen being twenty, Harris +twenty-nine, and Medline thirty-nine years of age at the time of their +execution. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [81] An eminent Whig doctor who was later appointed physician + to George II. He was created a baronet in 1739. + + + + +The Lives of PETER LEVEE, JOHN FEATHERBY, STEPHEN BURNET, _alias_ +BARNET, _alias_ BARNHAM, and THOMAS VAUX, Street-Robbers, Footpads, +Thieves, etc. + + +In the course of these memoirs I have more than once remarked that a +ridiculous spirit of vainglory is often the source of those prodigious +mischiefs which are committed by those abandoned persons, who addict +themselves to open robberies, and the carrying on, as it were, a +declared war against mankind. Theft and rapine may to some appear odd +subjects for acquiring glory, and yet it is certain that many, +especially of the younger criminals, have been chiefly instigated in +their most daring attempts from a vain inclination to be much talked of, +in order to which this seemed to them the shortest course. But these +observations that I have made will be better illustrated from the +following lives, than they could have been any other way. + +Peter Levee was descended from honest and reputable parents, who gave +him a very good education, and afterwards bound him out apprentice to a +silk weaver; but such as the perverse disposition of this unfortunate +Lad, such his love of gaming, and such his continual inclination to +debauched company, that nothing better could be expected from him than +what afterwards befell him. Yet his understanding was very tolerable, he +did not want a sufficient share of wit, and in a word his capacity +altogether might have enabled him to have lived very well, if his +prodigious vices had not prevented it by hurrying him into misfortunes. +It was remarkable in this criminal that his long habit of carrying in +the detestable trade of stealing, to which he had incurred himself in +every shape as much as possible, had given so odd a cast to his visage +that it was impossible for a man to look him in the face without +immediately guessing him to be a rogue. + +While yet a boy, he had been so accustomed to confinement in the +Compter, especially in Wood Street, that he had contracted a friendship +with all the under-officers in that prison, who treated him with great +leniency as often as he came there. Picking pockets, sneaking goods out +of shops, snatching them through windows, and such other petty facts, +were the employments of his junior years. As he grew bigger, he grew +riper in all sorts of villainy, though never a fellow had worse luck in +dishonest attempts, for he was always detected, and very frequently had +gone through the lesser punishments of the Law, such as whipping and +hard labour. At one time he lay four years in Newgate for a fine, and +this finished the course of his villainous education, for from the time +he got out, he never ceased to practice robbing in the streets, and on +the roads to the villages near London, until he and his companions fell +into the hands of Justice, and went altogether to their last adventure +at Tyburn. + +John Featherby, the second of these criminals, had received a greater +share of education than any of the rest. His father had been a man of +tolerable circumstances, and with great care provided that this young +fellow should not be ignorant of anything that might be necessary or +convenient for him to know in that business for which he designed him, +viz., a coach-painter. But he did not live to see him put apprentice to +it, which his mother afterwards took care to do, and consequently he had +not the misfortune of seeing him live so scandalous a life, and die so +shameful a death. + +His understanding was tolerable, but his behaviour so rude, boisterous +and shocking that he left no room even for that compassion to which all +men are naturally prone when they see persons under sentence of death. +The desire of appearing brave and making the figure of a hero in low +life was in all probability the occasion of his acting so odd a part, +and as he was generally looked upon as their chief by those unfortunate +creatures who were of his gang, possibly he put on this ferocity in his +manner in order to support his authority, and preserve that respect and +superiority of which these wretches are observed to be inexpressibly +fond. + +Stephen Burnet, _alias_ Barnet, _alias_ Barnham, which was his true +name, was a child when he died, and a thief almost from his cradle. His +parents, who were people of worth, sent him to school with a design, +doubtless, that he should have acquired some good there; but Stephen +made use of that time to visit a master of his own choosing, the +celebrated Mr. Jonathan Wild, at whose levy he was a pretty constant +attendant and while an infant he was a most assiduous companion and +assistant to the famous Blueskin. + +My readers may be perhaps inquisitive how an infant of eight years old +could in any way assist a person of Blueskin's profession. For their +information, then, perhaps for their security, I must inform them that +while Blueskin and one of his companions bought a pair of stockings, or +two or three pairs of gloves in a large Shop, Stephen used to creep on +all fours under the counter, and march off with goods perhaps to the +value of ten, twelve, or twenty pounds. But, alas, he was not the +youngest of Mr. Wild's scholars. I myself have seen a boy of six years +old tried at the Old Bailey for stealing the rings of an oyster women's +fingers as she sat asleep by her tub, and after his being acquitted by +the compassion of the jury, Jonathan took him from the bar, and carrying +him back upon the leads, lifted him up in his arms, and turning to the +spectators, said, _Here's a cock of the game for you, of my own breeding +up._ + +But to return to Barnham. His friends no sooner found out the villainy +of his inclinations, but they took all methods imaginable to wean him +from his vices. They corrected him severely; they offered him any +encouragements on his showing the least visible sign of amendment, they +put him to seven several trades upon liking. But all this was to no +purpose, nothing could persuade him to forsake his old trade, which +following with indefatigable industry, he made a shift to reach the +gallows of an old offender, at almost nineteen years of age. + +After he, Featherby, Vaux and Levee became acquainted, they suffered no +time to be lost in perpetrating such facts as were most likely to supply +them with money, roving abroad almost every night, in quest of +adventures and returning very seldom without some considerable prey. +Perhaps my readers may be inquisitive as to what became of all this +money. Why, really, it was spent in drink, gaming and in whores, three +articles which ran so high amongst these knight-errants in low life that +Barnham and two more found a way to lavish an hundred and twenty pounds +on them in three weeks. + +On one of his nocturnal expeditions, in company with Levee and +Featherby, they robbed one Mr. Brown, in Dean's Court by St. Paul's +Churchyard, of a gold watch and thirteen guineas; upon which the +gentleman thought fit, it seems, to offer in the newspapers a reward of +five guineas for restoring the watch. Not many days after, he received a +penny-post epistle from Mr. Barnham, in which he was told that if he +came to a field near Sadler's Wells, and brought the promised reward of +five guineas along with him, he should there meet a single person at +half an hour after six precisely, who would restore him his watch +without doing him any injury whatsoever. At the time appointed the +gentleman went thither, found Barnham walking alone, well dressed with a +laced hat on, who immediately came up to him, and receiving the five +guineas presented him with his watch. + +Mr. Brown having no more to do with him, immediately turned round about +to go back, upon which Barnham produced a pistol ready cocked from under +his coat. _You see_, says he, _it is in my power to rob you again; but I +scorn to break my word of honour._ Levee and Featherby, it seems, were +posted pretty near and, as they all declared, intended to have shot the +gentleman if he had brought anybody with him, or had made the least +opposition or noise. + +At Kingston assizes he was tried for a robbery committed in Surrey, but +for want of sufficient evidence was acquitted, upon which he returned +immediately to his old trade. About three months before he was +apprehended for the last time, he came into Little Britain (the place +where he was born), produced a silver spoon and fifteen shillings in +money, declared it to be the effects of that day's exploits, and then +climbing up a lamp-post, thrust his head through the iron circle in +which in winter time the lamp is placed, declaring to the neighbours who +called him and advised him to reform, that within three months he would +do something that should bring him to be hanged in the same place. As to +the time he was not mistaken, though he was a little out as to the +manner and place of his execution, and we mention this fact only to show +the amazing wickedness of so young a man, of which we shall hereafter +have occasion to say a great deal more. + +Thomas Vaux was a fellow of no education at all. Whether he had been +bred to any employment or not I am not able to say, but that which he +followed was sweeping of chimneys, the profits of which he eked out with +thefts, in which he continued undiscovered for a long space of time. In +himself he was a fellow void of almost every good quality, disliked even +by his own companions for his brutal behaviour which he still kept up +even under his misfortunes, and ceased not to behave with an obstinate +perverseness even to the last moment of his life. + +The fact for which all this gang suffered was for robbing one Mr. Clark, +at the corner of Water Lane, in Fleet Street,[82] which at their trial, +was proved upon them by witnesses in the following manner: + +Mr. Clark, the prosecutor, deposed that going in a coach from St. Paul's +to the Inner Temple, he saw three or four persons dogging it from a +toy-shop at the corner of St. Paul's Churchyard; that he scarce lost +sight of them until he came to the end of Water Lane, where Barnham and +Vaux stopped the coach; he then looked out and saw them very plainly. +Levee stepped into the coach, put his hand into his pocket, and tore +his breeches down in taking out the things; Featherby all the while +holding a pistol to his breast The things they took from him were a +silver watch, value four pounds, a diamond ring, three pounds eleven +shillings in silver and fourteen guineas. + +Then the confessions of Levee and Barnham before Sir William Billers, +Knight and Alderman, were read, in which they owned that they committed +the robbery on Mr. Clark, and that Featherby and Vaux assisted therein. +Sir William also attested that they made the said confession freely and +without any promises made, or being threatened in case of refusal. +Thomas Wood swore that going to apprehend Featherby and one Cable, in a +house in Blue Boar's Head Alley, in Barbican, they both snapped their +pistols at him, but that neither of them went off. + +Mary Vaux, wife of the prisoner Thomas Vaux, having first excused +herself from giving any testimony against her husband, deposed that she +saw the rest of the prisoners commit the robbery at the end of Water +Lane, and that Levee got into the coach. Upon which evidence taken +altogether the jury found them guilty without going out of the Court. + +When they received sentence of death, they all behaved themselves very +audaciously, except Levee who appeared penitent, and excused himself of +the misbehaviour he had been guilty of at his trial. During the time +they remained under sentence of death in Newgate, this last mentioned +criminal, Levee, appeared truly sensible of that miserable state in +which he was. He attended the public devotion at Chapel with great +seriousness, except when his audacious companions pulled him and +disturbed him, when he would sometimes smile. As he had passed through +the former part of his life without thought or reflection, so he seemed +now awakened all at once to a just sense of his sins. In a word, he did +every thing which so short a space could admit of, to convince those who +saw him that he minded only the great business he had to do, viz., the +making of his peace with that God who he had so much offended. + +Featherby, as has been said, persisted in that brutal behaviour for +which he had been remarkable amongst his gang. At chapel he disturbed +the congregation by throwing sticks at a gentleman, laughing and talking +to his companions, sometimes insulting and beating those who were near +him, and in fine encouraged the rest of his companions to behave in such +a manner that the keepers were reduced to the necessity of causing them +all four to be chained and nailed down in the old condemned hold, for +fear of their committing some murder or other before they died, which +they often threatened they would do. There they continued for three or +four days, until upon the promise of amendment and behaving better for +the future, they were released, brought back again to their respective +cells, and at times of public devotion up to chapel. + +When the death warrant came down, Featherby pretended to be much more +moved than could be expected, seemed in dreadful agonies at the +remembrance of his former wicked and impudent behaviour, prayed with +great fervency, and said he hoped that God would yet have mercy on him. +Barnham continued unmoved to the last. He did, indeed, abstain from +ill-language and disturbing people at chapel, but employed his time in +his cell, in composing a song to celebrate the glorious actions of +himself and his companions. This was work he very much valued himself +upon, and sending for the person who usually prints the dying speeches, +he desired it might be inserted, but it containing incitements to their +companions to go on in the same trade, in the strongest terms he was +capable of framing them in, his design was frustrated, and they were not +published. + +Vaux behaved a little more civilly after their being stapled down in the +condemned hold, but throughout the time of his confinement appeared to +be a very obstinate and incorrigible fellow. Levee was twenty-four years +old; Featherby about the same age; Barnham near nineteen; and Vaux +twenty-three, at the time they suffered, being on the 11th of November, +1728, in company with nine other malefactors. + + A Paper written by Featherby's own hand, which he delivered to the + Ordinary of Newgate in the Chapel immediately before they went to be + executed. + + As it is my sad misfortune to come to this untimely end, I think it + my duty to acknowledge the justice of Almighty God, and that of my + country, and I humbly implore pardon of the Divine Goodness, and + forgiveness of all that I have injured, or any ways offended. It is + a sad reflection upon my spirit that I have had the blessing and + advantage of honest and pious parents, whose tender care provided + for my education, so that I might have lived to God's glory, their + comfort and my own lasting felicity. But I take shame to myself, and + humbly acknowledge that by the evil ways I of late followed I + neglected my duty to my great Creator, and brought grief to my dear + and tender mother. And having thus far, and much more, effended + against God and man, I hope and earnestly desire, that no prudent + nor charitable person will reflect upon my good mother, or any other + friend or relation for my shameful end. + + John Featherby + +FOOTNOTES: + + [82] Now called Whitefriars Street. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS NEEVES, Street-Robber and Thief + + +There are some persons so amazingly destitute of reason, so exceedingly +stupid, and of so sleepy a disposition of mind, that neither advice, nor +danger, nor punishment are capable of awaking them; they pass through +life in a continual lethargy of wickedness, nor can they be obliged to +open their eyes even when at the point of death. + +How shocking, how horrid soever such a character may be, certain it is +that the criminal Neeves, of whom we are now speaking, deserved no +better. His parents, though mean, had not omitted the care of his +education so far but that he had learned to read and write, which they +thought qualification sufficient for the business in which they intended +to breed him, viz., a cane chair-maker, to which employment they put him +apprentice. He did not serve out his time with his master, for having +got into an acquaintance with some lewd, debauched persons, he, whose +inclination from his youth turned that way, went totally into all their +measures, and quitting all thoughts of an honest livelihood, thought of +nothing but picking and stealing. + +He associated himself with a woman of the same calling, who probably +furthered him in all his attempts, in consideration of which he married +her, and they were both together in Newgate for their several offences. +In the former part of this volume[83] we have mentioned his becoming a +witness against several street-robbers, who were executed upon his +evidence; of whom George Gale, _alias_ Kiddy George, Thomas Crowder, +James Toon, and John Hornby, denied the commission of those particular +facts which he swore upon them, and Richard Nichols (who was a grave +sober man) went to death and took it upon his salvation, that he was +never concerned either in that act for which he died, or in any other of +the same kind during the course of his life. + +As the town naturally abhors perjuries which affect men's lives, and are +not very well affected towards evidences even when they do not exceed +the truth, so the misfortune of Neeves being a second time apprehended, +instead of creating pity, gave the public a general satisfaction. At the +sessions following his confinement he was indicted for privately +stealing out of the shop of Charles Lawrence a corduroy coat value +thirteen shillings. In respect of this robbery, the prosecutor deposed +that Thomas Neeves, about seven in the evening, came into his shop, he +being a salesman, and enquired for a dimity waistcoat; one accordingly +was shown him, but they not at all agreeing in the price, Neeves on a +sudden turned towards the door, and having with some earnestness cursed +the prosecutor, snatched up a coat and ran away. Upon which Mr. Lawrence +followed him, crying out, _Stop Thief!_ which Neeves himself also bawled +out as loud as he could until he was taken. Upon this evidence the jury +found him guilty. + +Under sentence of death his behaviour was much of a piece with what it +was before. As to his confession, he would make none, saying he would +give no occasion for books or ballads to be made about him. Even in +chapel he behaved himself so rudely that he occasioned great +disturbance, and put the keepers under a necessity of treating him with +more severity than was usual to persons under his miserable condition. +When alone in his cell he expressed great diffidence of the mercy of +God, seemed to be in a slate of despair, and though he was often pressed +to declare whether depositions he had given against the afore-mentioned +street robbers were true or not, he either waived making an answer, or +used so much evasion or equivocation that it still remained doubtful +whether he swore truth or no. + +As his end drew yet nearer, he appeared more and more confused and +uneasy, but not a bit more penitent or ready to confess, notwithstanding +that several persons, and some of them of distinction had applied to him +in the cells and earnestly exhorted him to that purpose. He also drank +excessively, though so near his end, and his conscience so loaded with +such a weight of horrible offences. + +Yet it is very probable that he would have been much more tractable in +his temper and ingenuous in his confessions, if he had not been +continually visited and kept warm by a certain bad woman he at that time +owned for his wife. This wretched creature was employed by some persons +who thought themselves in danger if Neeves should once become truly +penitent, to keep him full of idle thoughts and delusive promises to the +very hour of his death, in which (from the temper of the fellow), they +flattered themselves his cowardice would make them safe. In which wicked +design both they and she succeeded but too well, for he continued +careless, obstinate and impenitent to the last moment of his life, and +at the place of execution staggered and was scarce able to stand, +bawling out to a man in a coach who was to carry away his body, until +the Ordinary reprimanded him and told him he believed he had drunk too +much that morning; to which Neeves answered, _No indeed, Sir, I only +took a dram._ He then besought him that a Psalm might be sung, which +request of his being complied with, he yet could not forbear smiling +while they were singing. + +[Illustration: AN EXECUTION IN SMITHFIELD MARKET + +(_From the Newgate Calendar_)] + +The father and wife of Mr. Nichols, the barber so often mentioned, got +into the cart and earnestly enquired whether the deposition he had given +against him was the truth or not. Neeves, thereupon, with tears in his +eyes owned that it was not, and thence fell into a greater agony than he +had ever been perceived in before, beseeching God to have mercy on him +for shedding innocent blood, into which he had been induced by the +persuasion of others, who represented it to him as a means for getting +money both for them and him, owning that he never saw Nichols in his +life before they were at the justices together. After this he cried two +or three times unto God to forgive him, and so was turned off with the +rest on the 27th of February, 1729, being then about twenty-eight years +of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [83] See page 445. + + + + +The Lives of HENRY GAHOGAN and ROBERT BLAKE, Coiners + + +Notwithstanding the number of those who have been executed for this +offence, yet of late years we have had frequent instances of persons who +rather than groan under the burden of poverty or labour hard to get an +honest livelihood, have chosen this method of supplying their +extravagances and consequently have run their heads into a halter. + +Henry Gahogan, an Irishman of mean parents (who had however bestowed so +much education upon him that he attained writing a very fair hand), in +order to get his bread set up the business of a writing-master in that +part of Ireland, where there were few masters to strive against him. +Here he behaved for some time so well, that he got the reputation of +being an honest industrious young man; but whether business fell off, or +that his roving temper could no longer be kept within bounds, the papers +I have do not authorise me to determine. + +He went upon his travels, and passed through a great part of Europe in +the quality, as may be conjectured, of a gentleman's servant, until two +or three years before his death, about which time he brought over the +art of coining into England, which he had been taught by a countryman of +his, as an easy and certain resource whenever his difficulties should +straiten him so far as to make its assistance necessary. This happened +no very long time after his coming over thence, for in a short time his +extravagancies reduced him so much that one of his countrymen thought he +did him a great service in recommending him to one Blake, for an usher, +which Blake at that time set up to teach young gentlemen to fence, +having a school for that purpose near the Temple. + +Thither Gahogan came accordingly, and after staying for two days +successively, and finding no scholars came, he opened the case to his +master that was to have been and told him how easy it was to get money +and live well, provided they had but utensils for coining, and soon +after he showed him a specimen of his art, which he performed so +dexterously that at first sight they promised themselves prodigious +matters therefrom. They engaged one Ferris, who formerly had wrote as a +clerk to a gentleman of Lincoln's Inn and the Temple, but adventuring to +trust another person with that secret, he soon after made a confession +and impeached them all. Upon which this Gahogan, Blake and the +before-mentioned Ferris, together with two women, came to be tried for +this offence on an indictment of high treason. + +The evidence was very clear, and notwithstanding the assurance with +which Blake and Gahogan behaved at the bar, and the perplexed defence +which was made by Ferris (who fancied himself so sure of being acquitted +that he directed horses to be hired in order to his going down to a +country assizes, there to assist as solicitor for a notorious offender), +the jury, after a short stay, brought them in guilty, but acquitted the +women, of whom the one was the mother of this Gahogan and the other the +mistress or wife of the said Robert Blake, of whom we are next to speak. + +He was by birth also of the Kingdom of Ireland, his parents being people +of some condition, who gave him a very good education and afterwards put +him out apprentice to a linendraper. After he was out of his time he +married a woman with some little fortune, by whom he had three children, +and after misusing her greatly, went away from her into England. Here he +led a loose, debauched life, and subsisted himself, to give it the best +phrase, rather upon the ingenuity of his head than the industry of his +hands. Here he found means to draw aside a farmer's daughter, to whom he +was married, and whom he involved so far in his misfortunes, as to bring +her to the bar with himself for high treason, where her marriage was so +far of service to her that it excused her from bearing a share in his +conviction. + +After they were found guilty, Gahogan expressed much penitence and +sorrow, acknowledged the heinous offences of which he had been guilty, +and expressed particular concern for the ill-usage he had given his poor +mother, whom he had often beaten and abused, for whom he was once +committed to Bridewell on that score, which effectually ruined what +little reputation be had left. Before the day of execution came he was +exceedingly poor and destitute, so that he had scarce clothes wherewith +to cover him, or food sufficient to preserve that life which was so +suddenly to be finished at the gallows. As far as we are able to judge +from the man's outward behaviour, he was a sincere and hearty penitent, +only it was with great difficulty he forgave the persons concerned in +his prosecution, which however at last he declared he did, and passed +with great resignation and piety, though by a violent death from this +world to another, and we may charitably hope, a better. + +As to Blake, his behaviour was not so much of a piece at first, but when +he perceived death inevitable, notwithstanding his having procured a +reprieve for a week, and thereby escaped dying with his companion +Gahogan, the prospect of his approaching dissolution wrought so far upon +him that with much seeming penitence he made a frank confession of all +his offences, reflecting chiefly on himself for having deserted his +wife, and living for so many years with other women. When the week for +which he had procured a reprieve was expired, he was carried alone on a +hurdle, which is usual in cases of high treason, and being come to the +place of execution he stood up and spoke to those who were present in +the following terms: + + Good People, + + I am brought here justly to suffer death for an offence the nature + of which I did not so well comprehend at the time I committed it. I + have been the greatest of all sinners, addicted to every kind of + lust, and guilty of every manner of crime, excepting that of murder + only. You that are assembled here to see the unfortunate exit of an + unhappy man, take warning from my fate, and avoid falling into those + extravagancies which necessarily bring persons to those straits + which have forced me upon taking undue courses for a supply. This is + the end proposed by the Law for making me a spectacle, and I pray + God with my last breath that you may make that use of it. + +After this he betook himself to some private devotions, and then +suffered with great constancy and resignation of mind. He was executed +on the 31st of March, 1729, being then about thirty-eight years of age. +Gahogan died on the 24th of the same month, being then thirty years of +age. + + + + +The Life of PETER KELLEY, _alias_ OWEN, _alias_ NISBET, a Murderer + + +Whether there be really any gradation in crimes, or whether we do not +mistake in supposing the transgression of one Law of God more heinous +than that of another, would be a point too difficult and too abstract +for us to enter into, but as human nature is more shocked at the +shedding of blood than at any other offence, we may be allowed to treat +those who are guilty of it as bloody and unnatural men, who besides +their losing all respect towards the laws of God, show also a want of +that compassion and tenderness which seems incident to the human +species. + +The unhappy person of whom we are now to speak, was by birth an +Irishman, and his true name Mackhuen, but upon his coming over into +England he thought fit to change it for Owen, thereby inclining to avoid +being taken for any other person than an Englishman. His parents were, +it seems, persons so low in the world that they could not afford him any +education, so that he was unable either to write or read at the time of +his death. However, they put him out apprentice to a weaver, with whom +having served his time, he came over to England, and worked for a little +time at his trade. But growing idle, and being always inclined to +sotting, he chose rather to go errands, or to do anything rather than +work any longer. + +It seems he played with great dexterity upon two jews' harps at a time, +and this serving to entertain people of as loose and idle a disposition +as himself, he thereby got a good deal of money, or least drink (which +was to him all one, for without it he could not live), and his delight +in an alehouse was so great that he seldom cared to be out of it. People +in such houses finding they got money by his playing upon the jews' +harp, and thereby keeping people longer at the pot than otherwise they +were inclined to stay, used to encourage Peter by helping him to +errands; but amongst all the persons who were so kind as to supply his +necessities, there was one Nisbet, an old joiner in the neighbourhood, +who was never weary of doing him kindnesses. Having repeated these often +and for a long time together, Kelley at last began to call the old man +father, and there seemed to be an inviolable friendship between them, +Peter always preserving some respect towards him, though he seemed to +have lost it towards everybody else. + +One night, however, or rather morning, for it was near two o'clock, +Kelley came with many signs of terror and confusion to the watch-house, +and there told the constable and attendants that old Nisbet was +murdered and lay weltering in his bed and a razor by him. The watch, +knowing Peter to be a wild, half-witted drunken fellow, gave little heed +to his discourse, and so far they were from crediting it that they +turned him out of the watch-house, and bid him get about his business. +In the morning old Nisbet's lodgers not hearing him stir at his usual +hour, went to the door, and there made a noise in order to awake him. +Having no answer upon that, they sent for a proper officer and broke the +door open, where they found the old man with his throat cut in a most +barbarous fashion, overflowed with the torrent of his own blood, which +was yet warm. No sooner did the particulars of this horrid murder begin +to make a noise, but the watch calling to mind what Kelley had told +them, immediately suspected him for the murder, and caused him quickly +to be apprehended and committed to Newgate. + +On the trial the strongest circumstances imaginable appeared against +him, so much that the jury, without much hesitation, found him guilty, +and he, after a pathetic speech from the Bench, of the nature and +circumstances of his bloody crime, received sentence of death with the +rest. Under conviction he appeared a very stupid creature, though as far +as his capacity would give him leave he showed all imaginable signs of +penitence and sorrow, and attended with great gravity and devotion at +the public service in the chapel, notwithstanding he professed himself +to be in the communion of the Church of Rome. He acknowledged the +deceased Mr. Nisbet to have been extraordinarily kind and charitable to +him, even to as great a degree as if he had been his own child, but as +to the murder, he flatly denied his committing it, or his having any +knowledge of its being committed; and though he was strongly pressed as +to the nature of those circumstances on which the jury had found him +guilty, and which were so strong as to persuade all mankind that their +verdict was just, yet he continued still in the same mind, protesting +his own clearness from that bloody and detestable crime. In this +disposition of mind he suffered at Tyburn, being at that time about +forty years of age or somewhat under. + + + + +The Lives of WILLIAM MARPLE and TIMOTHY COTTON, Highwaymen + + +That violence with which, in this age, young people pursue the +gratification of their passions without considering how far they therein +violate the laws of God and their country, is the common and natural +source of those many and great afflictions which fall upon them; and +though they do now always bring them to such exemplary punishment as +befel the criminal whose memoirs we have undertaken to transmit to +posterity, yet they fail not of making them exceedingly uneasy and +grievously unhappy, consequences unavoidably entailed on these +destructive pleasures, so contrary to the nature of man's soul, and so +derogatory from that excellence to the attainment of which he was +created. Although one would imagine these observations must naturally +occur at some time or other to the minds of persons who ever think at +all concerning the design of their own being yet experience convinces us +that they very seldom do, and if they do, they make but very little +impression. + +William Marple, the first of these criminals, was descended from parents +of very tolerable fortune, as well as unblemished reputation. Their care +had not only gone so far in providing him with useful and common +learning, but had also been careful in bestowing on him an excellent +education in schools both in town and country. The use he made of them +you will quickly hear, which cannot however be mentioned as a reflection +on his unhappy parents, who were as industrious to have him taught good, +as he was in pursuing evil. + +When he grew to years capable of being put out to business, the +unsettled giddiness of his temper sufficiently appeared, for being put +out to three several trades at his own request, he could not bring +himself to any of them, but went at last to a fourth which was that of a +joiner, with whom he stayed a considerable space. But before the +expiration of his time he fell in love with a young woman and married +her, which coming with other stories to his master's ears, occasioned +such difference that they parted. + +Marple was prodigiously fond of his new married wife, and what is a +pretty rare circumstance in this age, his fondness proved the greatest +advantage possible to him, for the young woman being in herself both +virtuous and industrious, her temper (as it is natural for us to imitate +what we love) made so great an impression upon Marple that from a wild, +loose and extravagant young man, he became a sober, diligent and honest +workman, labouring hard to get his bread, and living at home with his +wife in the greatest tranquility and with the utmost satisfaction. But +the agreeable beauty of this scene was soon darkened, or rather totally +destroyed, by the death of his wife; for no sooner were the transports +of his melancholy over than he returned to his old course of life. And +in order to efface effectually that grief which still hung over him, he +removed out of town to an adjacent village, where he quickly contracted +an intimate acquaintance with a young woman, and thereby almost at once +put all thoughts of sorrow and honesty quite out of his head. This +creature was of a very different disposition from Marple's late wife. +She had no regard for the man, farther than she was able to get money +out of him; and provided she had wherewith to buy her fine clothes and +keep her in handsome lodgings, she gave herself no trouble how he came +by it, and this carriage of hers in a short time put him upon illegal +methods of obtaining money. + +Who were his first companions in his robberies is not in my power to +say; it was generally looked upon that one Rouden seduced him, but +Marple declared this to be false, and perhaps the best account that can +be given is that he was led to it by his own evil inclinations, and his +necessities in which they had brought him. However it were, during the +time he practised going upon the road nobody committed more robberies +than he himself did, preying alike upon all sorts of people, and taking +from the poor what little they had, as well as plundering the rich of +what they could much better spare. + +In Marylebone Fields he and his companion Cotton met with a poor woman +with a basket on her head, who gained her livelihood by selling joints +of meat to gentlemen's families. The first thing they did was to search +her basket, in which there was a fine leg of mutton, which these +gentlemen thought fit to dress and eat next day for dinner. They then +commanded her to deliver her money, which she declared was a thing out +of her power, because she had none about her; upon which they took her +pocket and turned it out, where finding seven shillings, Marple struck +and abused the woman for daring to tell him a lie. + +Amongst the rest of the acquaintance that Marple picked up, was a young +man who had a very rich uncle who, though he was very willing to do +anything which might be for the real good of his nephew, did not think +it at all reasonable to waste his fortune in the supply of the young +man's extravagances. This spark, with another, acquainted Marple how +easy a thing it would be to rob the old man of a considerable sum of +money. They readily came into the project, and accordingly it was put +into execution; Marple and the nephew actually committing the robbery, +and the other man standing at the door till they came out. The booty +they got was about thirty-six guineas, which they divided into three +parts. In a very short time, Marple was apprehended and committed to +Newgate for this very fact. However, the old man would not prosecute +him, because he would not expose his relation. + +Yet this was no warning to Marple who continued his old trade, and +committed thirty or forty robberies in a very short space. Drinking was +a vice he abhorred, and the chief cause for which he addicted himself to +this life of rapine was his associating himself with all sorts of lewd +women, amongst whom he became acquainted with the infamous Elizabeth +Lion,[84] mistress to Jack Shepherd, who grew quickly too impudent and +abusive for Marple's conversation, for when he fell under his +misfortunes he declared that she was the vilest and most abominable +wretch that ever lived. However, to the immodest, lascivious carriage of +this woman, he owed the sudden dislike he took to that sort of cattle; +which became so strong that he no longer frequented their company, but +married a second wife, a young woman of a handsome person, of a good +character, and who, as he said, was totally ignorant of the measures he +took for getting money. + +Timothy Cotton, the second of these malefactors, was descended of mean, +yet honest parents, who in his infancy had not spared to give him a very +good education, and bred him to get an honest livelihood to the trade of +a poulterer. In this, when he grew up, he was for a time very +industrious, and got thereby sufficient to have maintained himself and +his family, as well as he could reasonably expect; but happening +unluckily to call into the acquaintance and conversation of lewd women, +they soon took up so much of his thoughts, his time and his money, that +he was obliged to think of easier methods of getting it than those to +which hitherto he had applied himself. For it is a truth deducible from +uninterrupted experience that a whore is not to be maintained at the +same easy expense with a wife. Cotton found this to his cost, for he had +not committed above five robberies, of which three were with his +companion Marple, who had been his schoolfellow, before he was +apprehended. + +The first of their exploits, I have already told you, was plundering the +poor woman's basket. The second was upon the Hampstead Road, where they +stopped the coach and robbed the passengers. Three gentlemen coming by +on horseback, Marple presented his pistol, and commanded them to ride +off as hard as they could; but the fear with which they were seized made +them so far mistake his words as to apprehend he bid them deliver, and +so they went very readily to work, putting their hands into their +pockets to satisfy his demands. But Marple having no guess of their +intention, and perceiving them to stand still, repeated his order to +them to ride off, with greater vehemency than before, which as soon as +they apprehended they very readily complied with, and rode off as hard +as their horses would carry them. A little while after this they robbed +one Stout, who was servant to Captain Trevor, of his hat, two pounds of +butter, his buckles, five and sixpence in money, and some other trivial +things. For this fact they were both apprehended, and at the next +sessions at the Old Bailey tried and convicted upon very full evidence. + +Under sentence of death Marple appeared with less concern than is +usually seen in persons under such unfortunate circumstances. He however +confessed a multitude of offences with which he was not charged, as well +as that particular crime for which he was convicted. He said he had +never any strong inclination to drunkenness or gaming, but that +addicting himself to the company and conversation of bad women had been +the sole occasion of all his misfortunes. He particularly regretted his +want of respect towards his parents, and especially towards his mother, +who had given him the best of advice, though he had trifled with and +abused it. He said that he often struck and abused those whom he robbed, +but not so as to endanger their lives, and therefore he hoped they would +forgive him, and join their prayers with his for his forgiveness at the +hand of God. + +Cotton was more tender and more penitent, expressed great sorrow for his +numerous offences, and besought Almighty God to accept of a sincere, +though late repentance. They both of them protested that their wives had +not anything to do with their affairs, that they never advised them, nor +were so much as privy to the offences they had committed. Then both of +them suffered with much penitence and resignation, on the 24th of March, +1729, Marple being about thirty, and Cotton near twenty-five years of +age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [84] See page 182. + + + + +The Life of JOHN UPTON, a Pirate; including also the history of that +sort of people, particularly the crew under Captain Cooper, in the +_Night Rambler_ + + +No laws in any civilized nations are more severe than those against +piracy, nor are they less severely executed, and the criminals who +suffer by them are usually the least pitied, or rather the most detested +of all who come to die an ignominious death by the sentence of the Law. +Of old they were styled _hostes humani generis_, and the oldest systems +we have of particular institutions have treated them with a rigor +suitable to their offence. With respect to those who fall into the hands +of British justice, it must be remarked that they usually plead as an +excuse for what they have done their being forced into pirates' service, +and as it is well known that numbers are really forced into crimes they +detest, so the lenience of our judicators generally admit whatever +proofs are probable in such a case. But where the contrary appears, and +the acts of piracy plainly arise from the wicked dispositions of the +offenders, the Royal Mercy is less frequently extended to them than to +any other sort of criminal whatever. + +As to the prisoner of whom we are to speak, John Upton was born at +Deptford, of very honest parents who gave him such an education as +fitted their station, and that in which they intended to breed him. When +grown up to be a sturdy youth, they put him out apprentice to a +waterman, with whom he served out his time faithfully, and with a good +character. Afterwards he went to sea and served for twenty-eight years +together on board a man-of-war, in the posts of either boatswain or +quartermaster. Near the place of his birth he married a woman, took a +house and lived very respectably with her during the whole course of her +life, but she dying while he was at sea, and finding at his return that +his deceased wife had run him greatly in debt, clamours coming from +every quarter, and several writs being issued out against him, he +quitted the service in the man-of-war, and went immediately in a +merchantman to Newfoundland. There by agreement he was discharged from +the ship and entered himself for eighteen pounds _per annum_ into the +service of a planter in that country in order to serve him in fishing +and furring, the chief trade of that place; for Newfoundland abounding +with excellent harbours, there is no country in the world which affords +so large and so plentiful a fishery as this does. However its climate +renders it less desirable, it being extremely hot in the summer and as +intensely cold in the winter, when the wild beasts roam about in great +numbers, and furnish thereby an opportunity to the inhabitants of +gaining considerably by falling them, and selling their furs. + +Upton having served his year out was discharged from his master, and +going to New England, he there, in the month of July, 1725, shipped +himself on board the _Perry_ merchantman bound for Barbadoes. The ship +was livred and loaded again, the captain designing them to sail for +England, whereupon Upton desired leave to go on board his Majesty's ship +_Lynn_, Captain Cooper. But Captain King absolutely refusing to +discharge him in order thereto, on the ninth of November, 1725, he +sailed in the aforesaid vessel for England. + +On the twelfth of the same month, off Dominica, they were attacked by a +pirate sloop called the _Night Rambler_, under the command of one +Cooper. The pirate immediately ordered the captain of the _Perry_ galley +to come on board his ship, which he and four of his men did, and the +pirate immediately sent some of his crew on board the _Perry_ galley, +who effectually made themselves masters thereof, and as Upton said, used +him and the rest of the persons they found on board with great +inhumanity and baseness, a thing very common amongst those wretches. +Upton also insisted that as to himself, one of the pirate's crew ran up +to him as soon as they came on board and with a cutlass in his hand, +said with an oath, _You old son of a bitch, I know you and you shall go +along with us or I'll cut out your liver_, and thereupon fell to beating +him fore and aft the deck with his cutlass. + +The same evening he was carried on board the pirate sloop, where, +according to his journal, three of the pirates attacked him; one with a +pistol levelled at his forehead demanded whether he would sign their +articles, another with a pistol at his right ear, swore that if he did +not they would blow out his brains, while a third held a couple of forks +at his breast, and terrified him with the continual apprehensions of +having them stabbed into him. Whereupon he told them that he had four +young infants in England, to whom he thought it his duty to return, and +therefore begged to be excused as having reason to decline their +service, as well as a natural dislike to their proceedings. Upon which, +he said, he called his captain to take notice that he did not enter +voluntarily amongst them. Upon this the pirate said they found out a way +to satisfy themselves by signing for him, and this, he constantly +averred, was the method of his being taken into the crew of the _Night +Rambler_, where he insisted he did nothing but as he was commanded, +received no share in the plunder, but lived wholly on the ship's +allowance, being treated in all respect as one whom force and not choice +had brought amongst them. + +But to return to the _Perry_ galley, which the pirates carried to the +Island of Aruba, a maroon or uninhabited island, or rather sand bank, +where they sat the crew ashore and left them for seventeen days without +any provision, except that the surgeon of the pirate now and then +brought them something in his pocket by stealth. On the tenth of +December the pirates saw a sail which proved to be a Dutch sloop, which +they took, and on board this Upton and two others who had been forced as +well as himself were put, from whence as he said, they made their +escape. After abundance of misfortunes and many extraordinary +adventures, he got on board his Majesty's ship _Nottingham_, commanded +by Captain Charles Cotterel, where he served for two years in the +quality of quartermaster. He was then taken up and charged with piracy, +upon which he was indicted at an Admiralty sessions held in the month of +May, 1729, when the evidence at his trial appeared so strong that after +a short stay the jury found him guilty. + +But his case having been very differently represented, I fancy my +readers will not be displeased if I give them an exact account of the +proofs produced against him. + +The first witness who was called on the part of the Crown was Mr. +Dimmock, who had been chief mate on board the _Perry_ galley, and he +deposed in the following terms: + + On the twelfth of November, 1725, we sailed from Barbadoes on the + _Perry_ galley bound for England. On the 14th, about noon, we were + taken by the _Night Rambler_, pirate sloop, one Cooper commander. + Our captain and four men were ordered on board the pirate sloop, + part of the pirate's crew coming also on board the _Perry._ Wherein + they no sooner entered, but the prisoner at the bar said, _Lads, are + ye come? I'm glad to see ye; I have been looking out for ye for a + great while._ Whereupon the pirates saluted him very particularly, + calling him by his name, and the prisoner was as busy as any of the + rest in plundering and stripping the ship on board of which he had + served, and the rest who belonged to it, the very next day after + being made boatswain of the pirate. The same day I was carried on + board the pirate sloop, tied to the gears and received two hundred + lashes with a cat o' nine tails which the prisoner Upton had made + for that purpose; after which they pickled me, and the prisoner + Upton stabbed me in the head near my ear with a knife, insomuch that + I could not lay my head upon a pillow for fourteen days, but was + forced to support it upon my hand against the table; and when some + of the pirate's crew asked me how I did, upon my answering that I + was as bad as a man could be and live, the prisoner, Upton, said + _D----n him, give him a second reward._ + +It was also further deposed by the same gentleman that at the island of +Aruba, the prisoner was very busy in stripping the _Perry_ galley of the +most useful and valuable parts of her rigging, carrying them on board +the pirate, and making use of them there. He had also in his custody +several things of value, and particularly wearing apparel, belonging to +one Mr. Furnell, a passenger belonging to the said _Perry_ galley; and +when it was debated amongst the pirates, and afterwards put to the vote, +whether the crew of the said galley should have their vessel again or +no, John Upton was not only against them, but also proposed burning the +said vessel, and tying the captain and mate to one of the masts in order +to their being burnt too. + +Mr. Eaton, the second mate of the ship, was the next witness called. He +confirmed all that had been sworn by Mr. Dimmock, adding that the day +they were taken the pirates asked if he would consent to sign their +articles, which he refused. Whereupon they put a rope about his neck, +and hoisted him up to the yard's arm, so that he totally lost his +senses. He recovered them by some of the pirate's crew pricking him in +the fleshy parts of his body, while others beat him with the flat of +their swords. As soon as they perceived he was a little come to himself +they put the former question to him, whether he would sign their +articles. He answered, _No_, a second time. One of the crew thereupon +snatched up a pistol, and swore he would shoot him through the head; but +another of them said, _No, d----n him, that's too honourable a death; he +shall be hanged._ Upon this they pulled him up by the rope again, and +treated him with many other indignities, and at last in the captain's +cabin, pulled a cap over his eyes and clapped a pistol to his head; then +he expected nothing but immediate death, a person having almost jabbed +his eye out with the muzzle of the pistol, but at last they did let him +go. He swore, also, that when the pirates' articles were presented to +him to sign, he saw there the name of John Upton, he being well +acquainted with his hand. + +Mr. Furnell, a passenger in the ship, was the third evidence against the +prisoner. He deposed to the same effect with the other two, adding that +John Upton was more cruel and barbarous to them than any of the other +pirates, insomuch that when they were marooned, and under the greatest +necessities for food, Upton said, _D----n them, let them be starved_, +and was the most active of all the rest in taking the goods, and +whatever he could lay his hands on out of the _Perry_ galley. + +In his defence the prisoner would fain have suggested that what the +witnesses had sworn against him was chiefly occasioned by a malicious +spleen they had against him. He asserted that he was forced by the +pirates to become one of their number and was so far from concerned with +them voluntarily that he proposed to the mate, after they were taken, to +regain the ship, urging that there were but thirteen of the pirates on +board, and they all drunk, and no less than nine of their own men left +there who were all sober; that the mate's heart failed him, and instead +of complying with his motion, said, _This is a dangerous thing to speak +of; if it should come to the pirates' ears we shall be all murdered_, +and therefore entreated the prisoner not to speak of it any more. The +mate denied every syllable of this, and so the prisoner's assertions did +not weigh at all with the jury. After they had brought in their verdict, +Mr. Upton said to those who swore against him, _Lord! What have you +three done?_ + +Under sentence of death he behaved himself with much courage, and yet +with great penitence. He denied part of the charge, viz., that he was +willingly one of the pirates, but as to the other facts, he confessed +them with very little alteration. He averred that the course of his life +had been very wicked and debauched, for which he expressed much sorrow, +and to the day of his death behaved himself with all outward mark of +true repentance. At the place of execution, he was asked whether he had +not advised the burning of the _Perry_ galley, with Captain King and the +chief mate on board. He averred that he did not in any shape whatsoever +either propose or agree to an act of such a sort. Then, after some +private devotions, he submitted to his sentence, and was turned off on +the 16th day of May, 1729, being then about fifty years of age. + + + + +The Life of JEPTHAH BIGG, an Incendiary, and Writer of Threatening +Letters + + +I have already taken notice in the life of Bryan Smith[85] of the Act of +Parliament on which the proceedings against these letter-writers are +grounded. One would be surprised that after more examples than one of +that kind, people should yet be found so foolish as well as wicked as to +carry on so desperate an enterprise, in which there is scarce any +probability of meeting with success; yet this unfortunate person of whom +we are now to speak, who was descended of mean parents, careful however +of giving him a very good education, fell upon this project, put into +his head by being a little out of business, and so in one moment +cancelled all his former honesty and industry, and hazarded a life which +soon after became forfeited. + +His friends had put him out apprentice to a gunstock maker, to which he +served out his time honestly and with a good character. Afterwards he +continued to work at his business with several masters and tolerable +reputation, until about a year before the time of his death, when he was +out of work, by reason he had disobliged two or three persons for whom +he had wrought, and had also been guilty of some extravagancies which +had brought him into narrow circumstances. These straits it is to be +supposed put him upon the fatal project of writing a letter to Mr. +Nathaniel Newman, senior, a man of a very good fortune, threatening him +that unless he sent the sum of eighty-five guineas to such a place, he +would murder him and his wife, with other bloody and barbarous +expressions. This not having its effect, he wrote him a second letter by +the penny post, demanding one hundred guineas, with grievous +threatenings in case they were not sent. This soon made a very great +noise about town, and put Mr. Newman upon all methods possible for +detecting the author of these villainous epistles, and as everybody +almost looked upon it as a common case, to which any gentleman who is +supposed to be rich might be liable, such indefatigable pains were taken +that in a short time the whole mystery of iniquity was discovered and +Bigg apprehended. + +At the next sessions at the Old Bailey he was indicted capitally for +this offence, and after the counsel for the prosecutor had fully opened +the heinous nature of the crime, Peter Salter was the first witness +called to prove it upon the prisoner. He deposed that Jepthah Bigg came +to him where he was at work in the Minories, and desired him to go with +him, having something to say to him of consequence; whereupon the +witness would have gone to the sign of the Ship where he used, but the +prisoner would needs go to the Sieve in the Little Minories. There he +communicated to him his design, and then prevailed on Salter to go to +the Shoulder of Mutton alehouse at Billingsgate, where Bigg directed him +to call for drink, and to wait until a porter came to him with a parcel +directed to John Harrison, when if he suspected anything, he should come +to the prisoner at the King's Head alehouse, on Fish Street Hill. This +the evidence performed punctually, whereupon Bigg sent him a second +time to the Blackboy, in Goodman's Fields, where a second parcel was +left, though of no value. Whereupon Bigg would have had the evidence +Salter concerned in a third letter to the same purpose, but Salter +declined it and dissuaded him as much as lay in his power, from +continuing to venture on such hazardous things. Upon which the prisoner +replied, _You need not fear. Nothing can hurt you; my life is in your +hands; but if ever you reveal the matter, you shall share the same +fate._ + +John Long, servant to Mr. Newman, deposed that he delivered two penny +post letters to his master on the 20th and 27th of March. Other +witnesses swore as to the sending of the parcels, and the jury on the +whole, seeing the fact to be well proved against the prisoner, found him +guilty. + +Under sentence of death at first the poor man behaved himself like one +stupid. He pretended that he did not know the offence that he had +committed was capital, and afterwards exclaimed against the hardness of +the Law which made it so; but some little pains being taken with him in +those points, he was soon brought over to acknowledge the justice of his +sentence, and the reasonableness of that Statute which enacted it into a +capital offence. + +As the day of his death drew nigh he was still more and more drowned in +stupidity and lost to all thought or concern for this world or that to +come, at least as to outward appearance. Some said he was a Roman +Catholic, but while the poor wretch retained his senses, he said nothing +that could give any ground for a suspicion of that sort. He heard the +discourses which the Ordinary made to him, with as much patience as the +rest did, and when he visited him in the cell, did not express any +uneasiness thereat. Indeed, in the passage to execution, there were two +fellows in the cart who would fain have had the minister desist from his +duty, urging the same reason, that the criminal was in communion with +another Church. The man, himself, seemed stupid and speechless all the +way, yet when he was turned off, the reverend Ordinary tells us, he went +off the stage crying out aloud, _O Lord! etc._ This seems to me a very +indecent way of concluding a dying speech, but as it is that which is +generally used, I shall not stay to bestow any further reflections upon +it. He died on the 19th of May, 1729, being about twenty-five years of +age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [85] See page 221. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS JAMES GRUNDY, a Housebreaker + + +When we meet with accounts of persons doubly remarkable for the +multitude of their offences and the tenderness of their age, it is +almost impossible for us to determine whether we should most pity or +detest a mind so preternaturally abandoned to wickedness as to transcend +its usual course, and make itself remarkable as a sinner, before taken +notice of as a man. + +This was exactly the case with the unfortunate criminal whom we are now +to mention. He was the son of parents in the lowest circumstances, who +yet had strained those circumstances to give him a tolerable education, +which he, instead of improving, forgot as fast as it was possible, and +seemed solicitous about nothing but out-doing in villainy all his +contemporaries of the same unhappy cast. During his junior years he +addicted himself continually to picking and stealing whatever he could +lay his hands on, and although his father had been exceedingly careful +in causing him to be taught his own trade of a weaver, yet he seldom or +never worked at it, but went on at this rate, from one crime to another, +until he at last arrived at those which brought him to the ignominious +end, and thereby rendered him a subject for our memoirs. + +At twelve years old, he took up the trade of housebreaking, to which he +applied himself very closely, for the last six years of his life. +Hampstead, Highgate, Hackney, and other villages round the town were the +places which he generally made choice of to play his tricks in, and as +people are much more ingenious in wickedness than ever they are in the +pursuit of honest employments, so by degrees he became (even while a +boy) the most dexterous housebreaker of his time; insomuch that as is +usual amongst those unhappy people, the gang commended him so much, that +believing himself some great person, he went on with an air of +confidence, in the commission of a multitude of burglaries, in and about +the streets of this metropolis. + +Young as he was at that time, he plunged himself, as it were with +industry, into all manner of lusts, wickedness and illegal pleasures, +which, as it wasted all he acquired by the thefts he committed, so it +injured his health and damaged his understanding to such a degree that +when he came to die, he could scarce be looked on as a rational +creature. + +The offence which proved fatal to him was the breaking into the house of +Mr. Samuel Smith, in the night-time, on the 31st of May, 1729, with an +intent to steal. At his trial the prosecutor swore that between the +hours of eleven and one of the dock of the night laid in the indictment +he was called up by his neighbours, and found that his window was broken +open; whereupon, searching about very narrowly, he at last found the +prisoner got up the chimney, and landing on the pole whereon the +pothooks hung. In his defence the prisoner told the Court that meeting +with a person who said he lodged in the prosecutor's house, and it being +late, he accepted the man's proposition to lie with him; thereupon his +new acquaintance carried him to Mr. Smith's, let him in, and then ran +away, so that he had never seen or heard of him since. This relation +being every way improbable and ridiculous, the jury very readily found +him guilty of the fact, and he with the rest, on the last day of the +sessions received sentence of death accordingly. + +While he lay in the cells, his behaviour was as stupid in all outward +appearance as ever had appeared in any who came to that miserable place. +However, he persuaded his companions, of whom we shall speak hereafter, +to attempt breaking out and to encourage them told them that there was +no brick or free stone wall in the world could keep him in, if he had +but a few tools proper for loosening the stones. These were quickly +procured, and Grundy put his companions into so proper a method of +working, that if a discovery had not been made on the Sunday morning in +a very few hours space they would have broken their way into Phoenix +Court, and so have undoubtedly got off. But as soon as the keepers came +to the knowledge of their design, they removed the three persons +concerned in it, into the old condemned hold, and there stapled them +down to the ground. + +Then this lad began to repent. He wept bitterly, but said it was not so +much for the fear of death as the apprehension of his soul being thrown +into the pit of destruction and eternal misery. However, by degrees, he +recovered a little spirit, confessed all the enormities of his past +life, and begged pardon of God, and of the persons whom he had injured. +If we were to attempt an account of them, it would not only seem +improbable but incredible; and therefore, as there was nothing in them +otherwise extraordinary than as they were committed by a lad of his age, +we shall not dwell any longer upon them than to inform our readers that +with much sorrow, and grievous agonies, he expired at Tyburn, on the +22nd of August, 1729, being about eighteen years old. + + + + +The Life of JOSEPH KEMP, a Housebreaker + + +We have often, in the course of these lives, observed to our readers +that loose women are generally the causes of those misfortunes which +first bring men to the commission of felonious crimes, and, as a just +consequence thereof, to an ignominious death. It may yet seem strange, +how, after so many instances, there are still to be found people so weak +as for the sake of the caresses of these strumpets to lavish away their +lives, at the same time that they are putting their souls into the +greatest hazard. If I may be allowed to offer my conjecture in this +case, I should be apt to account for it thus: that in the present age, +the depravity of men's morals being greater than ever, they addict +themselves so entirely to their lusts and sensual pleasures that having +no relish left for more innocent entertainments, they think no price too +great to purchase those lewd enjoyments, to which, by a continued series +of such actions, they have habituated themselves beyond their own power +to retire. + +This unfortunate person, Joseph Kemp, was son to people in very mean +circumstances, in Holborn, who yet procured him a very good education in +a public charity-school. When of age to be put out to employment, his +friends made him apply himself to the heads of the parish, who put him +out to a glazier, with whom he served out his time with the character of +a very honest young man. By that time his parents had thriven pretty +well in the world through their own industry, and so, on his setting up +a shop, they gave him sixty pounds to begin with. But unfortunately for +him, he had ere now seen a woman of the town, on whom he had +irretrievably fixed his affections, and was absolutely resolved on +living with her, though ever so great ruin should prove the consequence +of the purchase. + +In pursuance of this unfortunate resolution, he no sooner had received +the aforesaid sum, but proposals of marriage were immediately offered to +this object of his affections, notwithstanding that he well knew she at +that time conversed with two men, styling each of them her husband. +However, as Kemp was the most likely to maintain her in idleness and +plenty, she, without much trouble, suffered herself to be prevailed on +to let him, by a legal matrimony, increase the number of her husbands. +This, as it was but probable, was speedily followed by his breaking in +his business, and being totally undone, which, though it was a great +misfortune, and an evil new to poor Kemp, only reduced the lady to her +former manner of living, which was by thieving whatever she could come +at. A little while after, she was ruined even in this business, for +being detected, she was committed to Newgate, and was in great danger of +lying there for life. Poor Kemp was still as fond of her as ever. He +carried her all the money he could get, and lamenting to her that it was +not in his power to raise more, she immediately flew into a passion, +stormed and swore at him, bid him go and break houses, rob people in the +streets, or do anything which would get money, for money she wanted and +money she would have. He foolishly complied with her request and having +provided himself with the necessary implements for housebreaking, he +soon put her in possession of a large quantity of plate, which being +converted into money, easily procured her liberty, the consequence of +which was that she lavished whatever he brought her upon other men. + +Yet even her perfidy could not cure him; he was still as much her slave +as ever, and failed not venturing body and soul to procure whatever +might give her pleasure. In this unhappy state a considerable space of +time was spent, until, for some other thievish exploits of her own, +Kemp's wife was apprehended, convicted and transported. One would have +thought this might have put an end to his crimes of the same sort, but +it seems he was too far plunged into the mire of rapine and debauchery +ever to struggle out, so that no sooner was she safely on board the +transport vessel but he found out a new mistress to supply her place; as +if he had been industrious in destroying his fortune and careful about +nothing but arriving as soon as possible at the gallows. + +By the time he made his second marriage, which in itself was illegal +while the first wife was living, his credit was totally exhausted, his +character totally ruined, and no manner of subsistence left but what was +purchased at the hazard of his soul and the price of his life; and as +housebreaking was now become his sole business, so he pursued it with +great eagerness, and for a while with as great success. But it was not +long before he was apprehended, and committed close to Newgate for a +multitude of charges of this kind against him. + +At the following sessions at the Old Bailey, he was indicted for +burglariously breaking open the house of Sarah Pickard, and feloniously +taking thence thirty-six gold rings and stone rings, three silver +watches, several pieces of silver plate, and divers other goods of +considerable value. The prosecutrix, Mrs. Pickard, deposed that her +house was fast shut between then and eleven o'clock at night, and found +broken open at five of the clock the next morning, and that one Kemp, a +person related to the prisoner, found a short strong knife left in the +yard, together with an auger, which he knew to belong to the prisoner. + +In confirmation of this Mr. Kemp deposed that the prisoner had shown him +the knife; Joanna Kemp and Jonathan Auskins deposed likewise to the same +thing, and Samuel Gerrard, the constable, swore that when with the two +preceding witnesses he went to search the house of the aforesaid +prisoner, and found therein several things belonging to Mrs. Pickard, +the prisoner then confessed that he committed burglary alone and not by +the persuasion or with the assistance of any other person whatsoever. + +The prisoner said very little in his own defence, and the jury +thereupon, without hesitation, found him guilty; as they did also upon +two other indictments, the one for breaking the house of James Wood, and +the other for breaking the house of Mrs. Mary Paget, and stealing thence +plate to a considerable value; the facts being dearly proved by John +Knap, who had been an accomplice, and turned evidence to save himself. +His last wife was indicted and tried with him, but acquitted. + +Under sentence of death he was seized with a disease which held him for +the greater part of the time permitted by Law for him to repent, and by +reason of that distemper he was so deaf that he was scarce capable of +instruction. However, he appeared to be fully sensible of the great +danger he was in, of suffering much more from the just anger of God than +that sentence of the Law which his crimes had drawn upon him. He +bewailed with much passion and concern that wicked course of life which +for many years past he had led, seemed exceedingly grieved at the horror +of those reflections, and to mourn with unfeigned penitence his +forgetfulness of the duties he owed towards God, and to his neighbours. +As the hour of death approached, he resumed somewhat of courage, and at +the place of execution died with all outward marks of a repenting +sinner. + +His wife came up into the cart and took her last adieu of him, in the +most tender manner that can be imagined. He died on the 24th of August, +1729, being then in the twenty-fourth year of his age, and left behind +him the following paper, which seems to have been what he intended to +have said to the people at the time of his death, and therefore we, +according to custom, thought it not proper to be omitted in this +account. + + THE PAPER + + Good People, + + My father and mother brought me up tenderly and honestly, and always + gave me good advice, whilst I was under their care. They put me + apprentice to a glazier. My master not being so careful of me as he + ought to have been, I took to ill courses, and before my time was + expired, married a woman that brought me to this untimely end; for + she could not live upon what I got at my trade, and out of my + over-fondess for her, I did whatever she required, or requested of + me. At length she was taken up for some fact, and transported. Then + I married a second wife, and she was as good as the other was bad. + She would do anything to help to support me that I might not commit + any wickedness, but I could not take her advice, but still ran on in + my wicked course of life, till I was overtaken by my folly. For if + we think ourselves safe in committing sin, God will certainly find + such out, because He is just, and will punish accordingly. This my + miserable end, I would have all take warning by, and that they + follow not the devices of the world, the snares whereof are apt to + lead men into evil courses, unless they endeavour to shun them, and + seek the grace of God to assist and enable them for the good of all + men, and ask pardon of God for my evil doings, and forgiveness of + all whom I have wronged, and particularly the forgiveness of God to + those who have sworn away my life. I beg reflections pass not upon + my wife, for I declare, whatever wrongs she may have committed, was + through my persuasion, of herself being inclinable to good. I would + lastly request that the follies and vices which have brought me to + this untimely end may not by any means be a cause to afflict my + grievous parents, both father and mother, but would have all to + consider when ever they are persuaded to any manner of ways, tending + to their ruin, they would likewise remember to call upon God to help + and assist them, in shunning such, and all other wicked courses. + Good people, pray for me, that God may receive me through his + mercies, which I trust he will. + + Newgate, August 22nd, 1729. + + Joseph Kemp + + + + +The Life of BENJAMIN WILEMAN, a Highwayman + + +Amongst the many other ill consequences of a debauched life and wicked +conversation, it may be reckoned, perhaps, no small one that they render +men liable to suspicions, imprisonments and even capital punishment, +when at the same time, they may be innocent of the particular fact with +which they are charged; nor in such a case is the conviction of an +innocent person so great a reflection on any, as on themselves having +rendered such an accusation probable. + +Benjamin Wileman, of whom we are now to speak, was the son of honest +parents in the city of Dublin. They gave him a very good education at +school, and when he was fit to go out apprentice, his father bred him to +his own trade, which was that of a tailor. When he grew weary of that +business, he listed himself as a soldier, and in that state of life +passed twelve years, a sufficient space of time to acquire those +numerous vices which are so ordinary amongst the common sort of men, who +betake themselves to a military employment. Then he came over into +England and lived here, as he himself said, by working at his own trade; +though certain it is, that he led a most debauched and dissolute life, +associating himself with those of his countrymen who of all others were +the most abandoned in their characters. In fine, in all the associations +of his life he seemed to proceed without any other design than that of +gratifying his vicious inclinations. + +In the midst of this terrible course of folly and wickedness he was +apprehended for a highwayman, committed to Newgate, and at the ensuing +sessions capitally indicted for two robberies, the one committed on +William Hucks, Esq., and the other on William Bridges, Esq. On the first +indictment it was deposed by the prosecutor that he believed Wileman to +be the person who attacked him. John Doyle, who owned himself to have +been an accomplice in the robbery, swore that Wileman and he committed +it together, and that he paid Wileman five guineas and a half for his +share of the gold watch and other things which were taken from the +gentleman. As to the second fact, Mr. Bridges gave evidence that he was +robbed on the highway and lost a sword, a hat, a pocket-book and a +bank-note for twenty pounds. Doyle gave evidence in this, as in the +former case, declaring that Wileman and he committed the fact together. + +Then Elizabeth Jones being produced, swore that the same day she met +Doyle and Wileman booted and spurred and very dirty in Bedford Row, and +that they showed her the bank note, which when shown to her, she deposed +to be the same. Arabelle Manning deposed that on the night of the day +the robbery was committed, the prisoner Wileman and Doyle gave her a +dram at a gin-shop in Drury Lane, and that one of them let fall a paper, +and taking it up again, said that the loss of it would have been the +loss of twenty pounds. + +The prisoner objected to the character of Doyle, Jones and Manning, and +called some persons as to his own, but the jury thinking the fact +sufficiently proved, found him guilty on both indictments. Under +sentence of death, his behaviour was very regular, professing a deep +sorrow and repentance for a very loose life which he had led, and at the +same time peremptorily denying that he had any hand in, or knew anything +of either of those facts which had been sworn against him, and for which +he was to die. + +Notwithstanding that the most earnest entreaties were made use of to +induce him to a plain and sincere confession, yet he continued always to +assert his innocence as to thieving, letting fall sharp and invidious +expressions against the evidence of Doyle whom he charged with swearing +against him only to preserve another guilty person from punishment, whom +Wileman intended to prosecute and had it is his power to convict. The +effects of his former good education were very serviceable to him in +this his great and last misfortune, for he seemed to have very just +notions of those duties which were incumbent upon him in his miserable +state; therefore, especially towards the latter part of his time, he +appeared gravely at chapel and prayed fervently in his cell until the +boy James Grundy, whom we have mentioned before, put it in to his head +to make his escape; for the attempting which they were all carried (as +we have said before) into the old condemned hold and there stapled down +to the ground. + +As there is no courage so reasonable as that which is founded on +Christian principles, so neither constitutional bravery nor that +resolution which arises either from custom, from vanity, or from other +false maxims preserves that steady firmness at the approach of death +which gives true quiet and peace of mind in the last moments of life, +taking away through the certainty of belief, those terrors which are +otherwise too strong for the mind, and which human nature is unable to +resist. Wileman's conduct under his misfortunes, fully verified this +observation in its strongest sense; he only retained just notions of +religion and this enabled him to support his affliction after a very +different manner from that in which it affected his two companions; or +as it had done himself before, from a just contemplation of the mercy of +God, and the merits of his Saviour, he had brought himself to a right +idea of the importance of his soul, and thereby took himself off from +the superfluous consideration of this world and stifled those uneasy +sensations with which men are naturally startled at the approach of +death. Yet he did not in all this time alter a jot in his confession, +but asserted calmly that he was innocent, and that Doyle had perjured +himself in order to take away his life. + +At the place of execution his wife came to him, embraced him with great +tenderness, and all he said there in relation to the world was that he +hoped nobody would reflect upon her for the misfortune which had +befallen him, and then, with great piety and resignation in the midst of +fervent ejaculations, yielded up his last breath at Tyburn, at the same +time with the malefactor before mentioned, being at the time of his +decease about forty-three years of age. + + + + +The Life of JAMES CLUFF, a Murderer, in which is contained a concise +account of the nature of Appeals + + +To curb our vicious inclinations and to restrain those passions from the +sudden transports of which cruel and irreparable mischiefs are done, is +without doubt the best end of all instructions; and for my own part, I +cannot help thinking that this very book may contribute as much to this +purpose as any other that has been published for a long time. That vices +are foul in their nature is certainly true, and that they are fatal in +their consequences, those who, without consideration pursue them, feel. +There are few who will take time to convince themselves of the first, +but no man can be so blind as to mistake the latter after the perusal of +these memoirs, in which I have been particularly careful to describe the +several roads by which our lusts lead us to destruction; and have fixed +up Tyburn as a beacon to warn several men from indulging themselves in +sensual pleasures. + +This unfortunate person we are now going to give the public an account +of was the son of very honest people who kept a public-house in Clare +Market. They were careful in sending him to school, and having taught +him there to read and write etc., sufficiently to qualify him for +business, then put him apprentice to the Swan Tavern near the Tower. +There he served his time carefully and with a good character, nor did +his parents omit in instructing him in the grounds of the Christian +religion, of which having a tolerable understanding he attained a just +knowledge, and preserved a tolerable remembrance unto the time of his +unhappy death. + +After he was out of his time, he served as a drawer at several public +houses, and behaved himself civilly and honestly without any reflections +either on his temper or his honesty until he came to Mr. Payne's, who +kept the Green Lettuce, a public house in High Holborn, where the +accident fell out which cost him his life. + +It seems there lived with him as a fellow servant, one Mary Green, whom +some suggested he had an affection for; but whether that were so or not, +did not very clearly appear, but on the contrary it was proved that they +had many janglings and quarrels together, in which Cluff had sometimes +struck her. However it was, on the 11th of April, 1729, Mary Green being +at dinner in a box by herself, Cluff came in and went into the box to +her, where he had not continued above four or five minutes before he +called to his mistress, who was walking up and down, _Madam, pray come +here._ By this time the maid was dead of a wound in her thigh, which +pierced the femoral artery. There was a noise heard before the man +himself came out, and the wench was dead before her mistress came in. + +However, Cluff was immediately apprehended, and at the ensuing sessions +at the Old Bailey he was indicted for the murder of Mary Green, by +giving her a mortal wound in the right thigh, of the breadth of one +inch, and of the depth of five inches, of which she instantly died. He +was a second time indicted upon the coroner's inquest for the said +offence, and also a third time upon the Statute of Stabbing. However the +evidence not being clear enough to satisfy the jury, on his trial he was +acquitted by them all. But this not at all satisfying the relations of +the deceased Mary Green, her brother William Green brought an appeal +against him, which is a kind of proceeding which has occasioned several +popular errors to take rise. Therefore it may not be improper to say +something concerning it for the better information of our readers. + +Appeals are of two sorts, viz., such as are brought by an innocent +person, and such as are brought by an offender confessing himself +guilty, who is commonly called an approver. An innocent person's appeal +is the party's private action, prosecuting also for the Crown, in +respect of the offence against the public, and such a prosecution may be +either by writ or by bill. As to the writ of appeal, it is an original +issuing out of Chancery and remarkable in the Court of King's Bench +only. Bills of Appeal are more common and contain in them the nature +both of a writ and a declaration, and they may be received by +commissioners of gaol delivery or justices of assize. + +Those which are in use at present in capital cases are four, viz., +Appeals of Death, of Larceny, of Rape and of Arson. The first is both +the most common and that of which we are particularly to speak. It is to +be brought by the wife or heir of the person deceased, unless they be +guilty of the murder, and then the heir may have an appeal against the +wife, or if he be accused the next heir may have it against him. The +appellant must be heir general to the deceased, and his heir male (for +by _Magna Charta_ a woman cannot have an appeal of death for any but her +husband) and in the appeal also it must be set forth how the appellant +is heir unto the deceased. As to the time in which an appeal may be +brought, it is by the Statute of Gloucester[86] restrained within a year +and a day from the time of the deed done. There is great nicety in all +the proceedings on appeals of death and everything must be set forth +with the greatest exactness imaginable. The appellant hath also the +liberty of pleading as many pleas, or to speak more properly, to take +issue on as many points as he thinks fit. He is tried by a jury, and on +his being found guilty, the appellant hath an order for his execution +settled by the Court; but when the appellee is acquitted, the appellant +is chargeable with damages on such a prosecution, provided there appear +to have been no just cause for the commencement thereof. + +But to return to the case of Cluff, which led us into this discourse. +The evidence at his trial upon the appeal was, as to its substance thus. +Mrs. Diana Payne, at the Green Lettuce in Holborn, deposed that the +prisoner James Cluff and the deceased Mary Green were both of them her +servants; that about a quarter of an hour before Mary Green died, she +saw the prisoner carry out a pot of drink; that while she was walking in +the tap-house with her child in her arms, she saw Mary Green go down +into the cellar and bring up two pints of drink, one for a customer and +another for herself, which she carried into a box where she was at +dinner; that about four or five minutes before the accident happened, +Cluff came in, and went to the box to the deceased, and in about four +minutes cried out, _Madam, pray come hither_; that the witness thereupon +went to the door of the box and saw the deceased on her backside on the +floor, and the prisoner held her up by the shoulders, while the blood +ran from her in a stream; that on seeing her, she said to the prisoner, +_James, what have you done?_ To which he answered, _Nothing, Madam._ +Whereupon this evidence enquired whether he had seen her do anything to +herself, he replied. _No_, the deceased at that time neither speaking +not stirring, but looking as if she were dead. However, the prisoner at +that time said he saw her have a knife in her hand in the cellar, and +the witness being prodigiously affrighted called her husband and ran for +an apothecary. + +Mr. John Payne, husband of the first witness, deposed to the same +purpose as his wife, adding that no struggling was heard when the blows +were given and that she had no knife in her hand when she came out of +the cellar; that in the morning between nine and ten o'clock, a young +man came in, who, as he was informed, had been formerly a sweetheart of +the deceased; that this person drank a pint of drink and smoked a pipe, +the deceased sitting by him some little time, during which as he +believed the stranger kissed her; at which, as they stood before the +bar, he observed the prisoner's countenance alter, as if he were out of +humour at somewhat, although he could not say that he had ever heard of +courtship between them; adding, that when the prisoner went into the box +where the deceased was at dinner, he did take notice of his throwing the +door after him with an unusual violence. + +Mr. Saunders, who happened that day to dine at Mr. Payne's house, +confirmed all the former evidence, deposing moreover, than when Mr. +Payne gave the prisoner some harsh language, the prisoner replied, _Sir, +I am as innocent as the child is at my mistress's breast_; that the +prisoner also pretended the deceased took a knife in her hand when she +went into the cellar, upon which this evidence and Mr. Payne went down, +and found not a drop of blood all the way. Mr. Saunders also deposed +that the prisoner was out of the way when the deceased went to draw +drink, and that they saw no knife in her hand. + +Mr. Cox, the surgeon, deposed that he saw the deceased lying upon her +back, amid a vast stream of blood which had issued from her; that upon +the table among other knives he had found one amongst them which was a +little bloody and answered exactly to the cut, it going through her +apron, a stuff petticoat and a strong coarse shift. The wound was in her +thigh, going obliquely upwards, and therefore, as he thought, could not +have been given by the deceased herself. The knife, too, was as he said, +laid farther than the deceased could have carried it after the receipt +of the wound, which being in the femoral artery must be mortal in a +minute, or a minute and a half at most. He observed, also, that under +her chin and about her left ear there seemed to have been some violence +used, so as to have caused a stagnation of the blood. This deposition +was confirmed by another surgeon and apothecary, and also in most of its +material circumstances by a surgeon who looked on her on behalf of the +prisoner. + +Cluff asked very few questions, and Mr. Daldwin being called for the +appellant, swore that at nine o'clock in the morning he was at Mr. +Payne's and saw the prisoner and the deceased quarrelling, that he +looked maliciously and was an ill-natured fellow. Here the counsel of +the appeal rested their proof, and the prisoner made no other defence +than absolutely denying the fact. After his counsel had said what they +thought proper on the nature and circumstances that had been sworn +against him, the jury withdrew, and after a short stay brought in the +prisoner guilty. + +During the space he was confined, between their verdict and his death, +he behaved with a calmness very rare to be met with. He attended the +public devotion of the chapel very gravely and devoutly, behaved quietly +and patiently in his cell, never expressed either fear or uneasiness at +his approaching death, nor ever let fall a warm expression against his +prosecutors, but on the contrary always spoke well of them, and prayed +heartily for them. When pressed, by the ministers who attended him, not +to pass into the other world with a lie in his mouth, but to declare +sincerely and candidly how Mary Green came by her death, he at first +looked a little confused, but at last seeming to recollect himself, he +said, _Gentlemen, I know it is my duty to give glory unto God, and to +take shame unto myself for those sins I have committed in my passage +through this life. I therefore readily acknowledge that my offences have +been black in their nature, and many in number; but for the particular +crime I am to suffer death as the punishment of it, I know no more of it +than the child that is unborn, nor am I able to say in what manner she +came by her death._ And in this he continued to persist unto the time of +his death, appearing to be very easy under his sufferings and did not +change countenance when he was told the day was fixed for his execution, +as it is ordinarily observed the other malefactors do. + +As he passed through Holborn to the place of execution, he desired the +cart might stop at his master's house, which accordingly it did. Cluff +thereupon called for a pint of wine and desired to speak with Mr. Payne. +Accordingly he came out, and then he addressed himself to him in these +words. _Sir, you are not insensible that I am going to suffer an +ignominious death for what I declare I am not guilty of, as I am to +appear before my Great Judge in a few moments, to answer for all my past +sins. I hope you and my good mistress will pray for my poor soul. I pray +God bless you and all your family._ Then he spoke to somebody to bid the +carman go on. It was remarkable that he spoke this with great +composedness and seeming cheerfulness. + +At the place of execution he did not lose anything of that cheerful +sedateness which he had preserved under the course of his misfortunes, +but made the responses regular to the prayers in the cart and standing +up, addressed himself in these words to the multitude. _Good People, I +die for a fact I did not commit. I have never ceased to pray for my +prosecutors most heartily, ever since I have been under sentence. I wish +all men well. My sins have been great, but I hope for God's mercy +through the merits of Jesus Christ._ Then a Psalm was sung at his own +request. Afterwards, overhearing somebody say that his mistress was in a +coach hard by his execution, he could not be satisfied until somebody +went to search and coming back assured him she was not there. As the +cart was going away he spoke again to the people saying, _I beg of you +to pray for my departing soul. I wish I was as free from all other sins +as I am of this for which I am now going to suffer._ + +He desired of his friends that his body might be carried to Hand Alley +in Holborn, and from thence to St. Andrew's Church, to lie in the grave +with his brother. He suffered on the 25th of July, 1719, being then +about thirty-two years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [86] Passed by a Parliament held at Gloucester in 1278 and + dealing with actions at law. + + + + +The Life of JOHN DYER, a most notorious thief, highwayman and +housebreaker + + +My readers cannot but remember the mention often made of this criminal, +in the former volumes. He was, at the time of his death, one of the +oldest offenders in England, and as he was at some pains to digest his +own story that is, the series of his villainies into writing, so what we +take from thence, will at once be authentic and entertaining to our +readers. + +He was born of honest and mean parents at Salisbury, who took care, +however, to bestow on him a very tolerable education, and when he grew +up, put him out apprentice to a shoemaker, where he soon made a +beginning in those pernicious practices to which he so assiduously +afterwards addicted himself. The first thing he did, was robbing a +chandler's chop at Collinburn, in the county of Wilts, of the money box, +in which was thirty shillings, and got clear off. Some time after, his +master sending him on a Sunday to a village just by, to get twelve +pennyworth of halfpence at a chandler's shop, Dyer finding nobody at +home, cut the bar of the window, got in thereat, and rifled the house. +The booty he found did not amount to above three half-crowns, but he +added to that the taking away what currants and raisins there were in +the shop, which piece of covetousness had well-nigh cost him his life, +for being suspected and charged with the fact, he had only time to hide +the money. Having searched him in vain, they turned some of the plums +out of his coat pocket, but he readily averring that he bought them at +Andover Market, there being nobody who could falsify it, he escaped for +that time. + +His matter shortly after sending him with five pounds to buy leather, +Dyer picking up a companion, as wicked as himself, he persuaded him to +join in a story of his being robbed of the aforesaid sum of money, +which, upon his return, he told his master, and the boy vouching it +firmly, they were believed. Some small space from this, being sent +amongst his master's customers to receive some money, he picked up about +three pounds, and then went off immediately for Salisbury, where he +became acquainted with an idle young woman; which bringing him once more +into necessity, he went one day into the market to see what he might be +able to lay hands on. There he observed a young woman to receive money, +and watching her out of town, he took an opportunity to knock her down, +robbing her, and dragging her into a wood, where he lay with her, and +then bound her fast to a tree. + +From thence he went to a village in Hampshire, where he wrought +journey-work at his trade; and getting acquainted with a young woman, he +lodged at her mother's house, where he soon got the daughter with child, +and persuaded her to rob the old woman, and go with him to Bristol. +There they lived together profusely until all the money was spent, and +then she and her child went back to her mother, who received them very +gladly. Dyer did not think fit to return, but went to make his mother a +visit at Salisbury, where he continued not long before he took an +opportunity of robbing her of fifty pounds, and thence marched off to +Bristol, where he gamed most of the money away. Then he retired to a +town in Wiltshire, where cohabiting with a widow women, they found means +to get so good credit as to take the town in (as Mr. Dyer expressed it) +for thirty pounds. Then packing up they marched off to a place at a +considerable distance, where Dyer entered into partnership with a +collier, being to advance fifty pounds, thirty of which he paid down and +the rest was to pay monthly; but before the first payment became due the +collier broke, and his partner, Dyer, thereupon thought it convenient to +remove to some other place. + +He pitched, therefore, upon the city of Hereford, where he worked +honestly for a space, until being in company one night with a higgler, +he heard the man say he should go to a place called Ross to buy fowls. +Dyer answered that he did not care if he went with him, and in their +journey, taking the advantage of a proper place he stopped his companion +and robbed him. The man gave him two shillings out of his pocket, but +Dyer suspecting he must have some more money to buy fowls with, +searched the hampers and took out twelve pounds. Taking the man's horse +also, he rode it forty miles outright, after which he went to +Marlborough in Wiltshire, and stayed there a fortnight. But venturing to +steal a silver mug, he was for that fact apprehended and committed close +prisoner there, in order to be tried for it next assizes, but before +that time, he found a weak place in the prison, and breaking it made his +escape. + +From thence he went to an aunt's house, about seven or eight miles from +Salisbury, where he stayed until her husband grew so uneasy that he was +obliged to take his leave. He travelled then to a sister of his, and +meeting there with an old schoolfellow and relation, he quickly +persuaded the lad to become as bad as himself, drawing him in to rob his +mother of fifty shillings, with which small stock they two were set up +for their old trade of gaming. But the robbery they had committed was +quickly detected. However, Dyer so well tutored his associate that the +boy could neither by threats nor promises be brought to own it, yet +their denials had not the least weight with their relations. They were +thoroughly convinced of their being guilty, and therefore were +determined that they should be punished, for which purpose they carried +them before a neighbouring Justice of Peace, who committed them to +Bridewell to hard labour. + +As Dyer could not endure imprisonment, especially when hard labour was +added to it, so he very speedily contrived a method to free himself and +his companion from their fetters, which was by leaping down the house of +office,[87] which a few days afterwards they did and got clear off. + +These various difficulties and narrow escapes seemed to make no other +impression upon Dyer than to give him a greater liking than ever to such +sort of villainous enterprises. He stole as many horses out of New +Forest as came to three-score pounds, and afterwards setting up for a +highwayman, committed a multitude of facts in that neighbourhood, which +he has with great care related in the account he published of his life. +Amongst the rest he stripped a poor maid-servant, who was just come out +of a place, of all the money she had, viz., a gold ring, and a box of +clothes, and so left her without either necessaries or money. At +Winchester he disposed of the clothes and linen which he took from the +poor woman. At an alehouse in High Street he fell into company with a +lace-man, from whom he learned, by some little conversation, that he was +going to Amesbury Fair in Wiltshire. Dyer told him he was going thither +too, and so along they journeyed together. When they arrived there, they +put up their horses at the sign of the Chopping Knife, and while the +lace-man went out to take a stand to sell his goods in, Dyer demanded +the box of lace of the landlord, as if he had been the man's partner; +then calling for his horse, while the landlord's back was turned, he +rode clear off from them all. + +On the Plain, going towards Devizes, he overtook a Scotch pedlar. Dyer +it seems knew him, and called him by his name, asking him if he had any +good handkerchiefs, upon which the poor man let down the pack off his +back and showed him several. Dyer told him, after looking over the +goods, that he did not want to buy anything, but must have what he +pleased for nothing. The Scotchman, upon that, put himself in a posture +of defence, but Dyer drawing his pistols on him soon obliged him to +yield, and tied him with some of his own cloth fast to the post of a +wall. He then went and rifled the pack, taking thence nine pounds odd in +money, a great parcel of hair, which he sold afterwards for eight +pounds, six dozen handkerchiefs, and a quantity of muslin. Then he +released the pedlar again, and bid him go and take care of the rest of +his pack, Mr. Dyer being then in some hurry to look out for another +booty. + +A very small time after our plunderer met with an old shepherd, who had +sold a good parcel of sheep. Dyer attacked him with his hanger and the +old man, though he had nothing but his stick, made a very good defence. +However, at last he was overcome and lost seventy-two pounds which he +had taken at the market. Dyer being by this time full of money, he +thought fit to go to Dorchester in Wilts, where by the usual course of +his extravagances, he lessened it in a very short time; and then +persuading a poor butcher of the town, who had broke, to become his +companion, he soon taught him from being unfortunate to become wicked. +They agreed very well together (as Mr. Dyer says) until he caught his +new partner endeavouring to cheat him as well as he had taught him to +rob other people. But after some hard words the butcher confessed the +fact, and and promised to be honest to him for the future; which being +all that Dyer wanted, a new agreement was made, and they went to work +again in their old occupation. + +The first exploit they went upon afterwards was at Woodbury Hill Fair, +in Dorsetshire, where as soon as the fair was over, Mr. Dyer, in his +merry style, tells us their fair began, for observing a cheeseman who +received about fourscore pounds, they watched him so narrowly that about +a mile from the fair they attacked him and bid him deliver. With a heavy +heart the old man suffered himself to be rifled, though he had paid away +a far greater part of the money, and had not above twelve pounds about +him, yet he sighed as if he would have broken his heart at the loss, +while Dyer and his companion were as much out of humour at the +disappointment and gave him several smart lashes with their whips, +telling him that he should never pay money when gentlemen waited to +receive it. + +A small time after this robbery they committed another upon a +hop-merchant, who was riding with his wife. They searched him very +carefully for money, but could find none, until Dyer beginning to curse +and swear and threatening to kill him, his wife cried out, _For Heaven's +sake, do not murder my husband and I'll tell you where his money is._ +Accordingly, she declared it was in his boots, upon which Dyer cut them +off his legs and found fifty guineas therein, then taking their leave of +the merchant and his wife, Dyer very gratefully thanked her for her good +office. From thence they went down to Sherbourne, and each of them +having got a mistress, they lived there very merrily for a considerable +space, living in full enjoyment of those gross sensualities in which +they alone reaped satisfaction at the expense of such honest people as +they had before plundered. + +Here they had intelligence of a certain grazier who was going down into +the country to buy lean beasts, upon which they followed him and robbed +him of all the money he had, which was about fourscore-and-ten pounds. +So large a sum proved only a fund for extravagance, a use to which these +men put all the money they laid their hands on. Hampshire being so lucky +a place, Dyer and his comrade went next to Ringwood, where the butcher +fell sick, and lay for some time, until their money was almost consumed. +But then growing well again, Dyer took him down to Bath, where they +robbed the stage-coaches from Bath to London, and as they returned from +London to Bath again, until the road became so dangerous that they hired +persons to guard them for the future; and notwithstanding they so often +practised this villainy, they never were in danger but once, when a +gentleman fired a blunderbuss at them but missed them both, whereupon +they robbed the coach, and afterwards whipped him severely with their +horse whips. + +Their next expedition was to Hungerford, where they stayed about two +months, in which time Dyer made a match for the butcher with a widow +woman of his own trade; but just as they were going to be married, +somebody discovered both his and the butcher's occupation, and thereupon +obliged them to quit Hungerford, and to take their road to Newbury, with +more precipitation than they were wont to do. In the road to Reading +they robbed a tallow-chandler, and then galloped to Reading, where they +had like to have been taken by the information of the Bath coachman; +but they being pretty well mounted and riding hard night and day got +safe down to Exeter in Devonshire, where, as the securest method, they +agreed to part by consent. The butcher went back to Devonshire again, +and Dyer must needs go to visit his friends at Salisbury, and then after +a short stay with them set out for London. + +The fear he was under of being discovered if he came into the direct +road made him take a roundabout way in his journey, and thereby put it +in his power to rob four Oxford scholars; from two of them he took their +watches and their money, but though he searched the other two very +diligently could find nothing, upon which he rode away with the booty he +had taken. But the two whom he had robbed quickly called him back again, +and told him their companions had money, if he had but wit enough to +find it. Whereupon Dyer began to examine the first very strictly, and +found his money put under his buttons, and his watch thrust into his +breeches. On search of the second, he discovered his money put up in the +cape of his coat, but his watch he had hustled to one of his companions, +who held it out, which as soon as Dyer saw he took it away. It is +surprising that men should be possessed with so odd a spirit that +because they have lost all themselves, they must needs have others +plundered into the bargain. However, Dyer thought it a good job, and +with the help of this money he came up to London. + +When he arrived here, he worked honestly for some time at his trade, +with a very noted shoemaker upon Ludgate Hill. Soon after, he removed to +a lodging in Leather Lane, and worked there for twelve months. At last +he got into the company of a common woman of the town, and she very +quickly brought him into his old condition, for being much in debt and +often arrested, Dyer, who was at present very fond of her, was obliged +to bail her or get her bailed. Hearing that he had a legacy of ten +pounds a year in an Exchequer Annuity, she would never let him alone +until he had disposed of it, which at last he did, for about fourscore +pounds. The first thing that was done after the receipt of the sum of +money was to clothe madam in Monmouth Street, in an handsome suit of +blue flowered satin, with everything agreeable thereto. On their return +home the man of the house where they lodged flew into a great passion, +said he'd never suffer her to wear such fine clothes unless he was paid +what was due to him. Mr. Dyer in his memoirs gives us this story, +dressed out with abundance of oaths and such like decoration, which we +will venture to leave out, and relate the adventure, as it gives a very +good idea of such sort of houses, otherwise in his own language. + +The bawd, while her husband was swearing, took Mr. Dyer upstairs, and +there with a wheedling tone asked him if Moll should not bring them a +quartern of brandy to drink his and his spouse's health, but before Dyer +could give her an answer, she issued a positive command herself, +whereupon up comes Moll and the quartern. The mistress poured out half +of it into one glass which she drank off to the health of Mr. and Mrs. +Dyer, adding with great complaisance. _Well, indeed your Alice is a fine +woman when she's dressed. I love to see a handsome woman with all my +heart. Come, Moll, fill t'other quartern, and bid Mrs. Dyer come to her +spouse; and d'ye hear, tell my husband that Mrs. Dyer desires to drink a +glass of brandy with him._ + +On this message up comes the husband, and clapping down by him took him +by the hand, with an abundance of seeming courtesy, said, _Pray, Mr. +Dyer, don't let you and I fall out. I may, in my passion, have let fall +some provoking words to your wife, but I can't help it, 'tis my way, and +I really want money so that it almost makes me mad. I'll tell you what; +your spouse, Mr. Dyer, owes me almost nine pounds, now if you'll give me +five guineas, I'll give you a receipt in full._ Upon which our cully of +a robber, thinking to save so much money, paid it him down, and madam +seemed to be highly pleased. + +As soon as this was over and the receipt given, his lady said to Dyer, +_Come my dear, we'll go and take a walk and see Mrs. Sheldon._ Thither +they went. No sooner were they in the house, but after the first +compliments were passed, Mrs. Sheldon said, _We were just talking of you +when you came in, Mr. Dyer, and of that small matter your spouse owes +us._ Says Dyer, _How much is it?_ But two-and-forty shillings, says Mrs. +Sheldon. Upon which the fool took the money out of his pocket and paid +it. A little while after this, Dyer's mistress thought fit to quarrel +with one of her female acquaintances whom she had made her confidante, +by which means the story came out that she was not a penny in debt +either to her landlord or Mrs. Sheldon, but that she wanted money and +was resolved to make hay while the sun shone. + +One would have thought that a fellow so versed in villainy, and so given +up to all sorts of debauchery, would have immediately discarded a woman +who showed him such tricks, but on the contrary he grew fonder of her, +removed her to another lodging, and lavished all he had on her. But as a +new misfortune, one morning early a man knocked at the door, which he +taking to be one of her gallants, went in his shirt to the window. The +man enquired whether one Mrs. Davis was there, upon which Dyer's +mistress in a great agony, said. _O, la, John, it's my husband come from +sea, what shall I do?_ Upon this, Dyer hustled on his clothes and went +downstairs to another harlot, and by there until his first lady and her +husband came downstairs. + +However, it was not long before the seaman had an account of Dyer's +familiarity with his wife, and thereupon thinking to get money out of +him brought his action against him; but Dyer got himself bailed, and +soon after arrested him for meat, drink and lodging for his wife for +several months, for which he lay in the Compter for a considerable time, +and at last was obliged to give Dyer ten pounds to make it up. + +At last, when money ran low, Dyer's love on a sudden went all out. He +dismissed his mistress and not finding another quickly to his mind, took +up a sudden resolution to marry and live honest. It was not long before +he prevailed on an honest woman, and accordingly they were joined +together in wedlock. Dyer thereupon provided himself with a cobbler's +stall in Leather Lane, worked hard and lived well. But as his +inclinations were always dishonest, he could not long confine himself to +honesty and labour, but in a short space meeting with a young man in the +neighbourhood, who was very uneasy in his circumstances, and on ill +terms with ms friends, and very much disordered in his mind on account +of the misfortunes under which he laboured, Dyer began immediately to +cast eyes upon him as one who would make him a fit companion. + +It seems the other had exactly the same thoughts, and one day as they +were walking together in the fields, says the stranger to him, _I'll +tell you what; if you knew how affairs stand with me, you would advise +me. I must either go upon the highway, or into gaol. That's a hard +choice_, replied Dyer; _but did you ever do anything of that kind? No_, +said the other, _indeed, not hitherto. Well, then_, says his tutor +again, _have you any pistols? No_, replied he, _but I intend to pawn my +watch and buy some._ The bargain was soon made between them. One night +they robbed a man by the Old Spa,[88] the same night they robbed another +by Sadler's Wells. Two or three days after, they robbed a chariot, and +took from persons in it thirty pounds. The young practitioner in +thieving thought this a rare quick way of getting money and therefore +followed it very industriously in the company of his assistant. In +Lincoln's Inn Fields they were hard put to it, for after they had +committed a robbery, abundance of watchmen gathered about them, whom +they suffered to advance very near them, but then firing two or three +pistols over their heads they all ran, and suffered the robbers to go +which way they would. A multitude of other facts they committed, until +Dyer got into that gang who robbed on Blackheath, of whom we have given +some account. + +It is observable that Dyer, in his own narrative, gives not the least +account of his turning evidence and hanging a great number of his +associates, many of whom, as has been said in the former volume,[89] +charged him with having first drawn them into the commission of crimes +and then betrayed them. It seems this was among the circumstances of his +life which did not afford him any mirth, a thing to which throughout the +course of his memoirs he is egregiously addicted. However it was, I must +inform my reader that he remained for near seven years a prisoner in +Newgate after his being an evidence, until at last he found means to get +discharged at the same time with one Abraham Dumbleton, who was his +companion in his future exploits, and suffered with him at the same +time. When they were at the bar, in order to their being discharged out +of Newgate, the Recorder, with his usual humanity, represented to them +the danger there was of their coming to a bad end, in case they should +be set at liberty and get again into the company of their old comrades +who might seduce them to their former practices, and thereby become the +means of their suffering a violent and ignominious death; advising them +at the same time rather to submit to a voluntary transportation, whereby +they would gain a passage into a new country, inhabited by Englishmen, +where they might live honestly without dread of those reproaches to +which they would be ever liable here. But they insisting upon their +discharge and promising to live very honestly for the future, their +request was complied with, and they were set at liberty. + +One of the first crimes committed by Dyer afterwards was robbing a +victualler coming over Bloomsbury Market,[90] between one and two +o'clock in the morning, and from whom, having thrown him down and +stopped his mouth, they took his silver watch, seventeen shillings in +money, two plain rings, and the buckles out of his shoes. They robbed +another man in the Tottenham Court Road coming to town, tied him and +then took from him two-and-forty shillings. Dyer also happening to be +one day a little cleaner and better dressed than ordinary, was taken +notice of in Lincoln's Inn Fields by one of those abominable, unnatural +wretches who addict themselves to sodomy. He pretended to know him at +first, and desired him to step to the tavern with him and drink a glass +of wine, which the other readily complied with. In the tavern, Dyer took +notice that the gentleman had a good diamond ring upon his finger, and +then suddenly taking notice of a hackney-coach which drove by with a +single gentleman in it, he pretended it was a friend of his and that he +needs must go down and speak a word with him. Under pretence of doing +which, he went clear off with the diamond ring. Two or three days after, +he met the same person with a man in years, and of some consideration. +Upon his asking Dyer how he came to go off in that manner from the +tavern, he, who was accustomed to such salutations, gave him a rough +answer, and the spark fearing a worse accusation might be alleged +against himself, thought fit to go off without making any more words +about it. + +I am not able to say how long after, but certainly it could be no very +considerable space before he and Dumbleton robbed Mr. Bradley, in Kirby +Street, by Hatton Garden, of his hat and wig, at the same time trampling +on him, beating him, and using him in the most cruel manner imaginable, +as was sworn by Mr. Bradley upon their trial. However, by affrighting +the watch with their pistols, they got off safe and a night or two after +broke open a linen-draper's shop, and took out a large parcel of linen. +For these two facts they were shortly after apprehended, and on very +full evidence convicted at the Old Bailey. + +Under sentence of death, Dyer said he was sorry for his offences, but +spoke of them in a manner that showed he had but a slight sense of those +heinous crimes in which he had continued so long. His narrative that he +left behind him, and which was published the day before his execution, +is a manifest proof of the ludicrous terms which those unhappy creatures +affect in the relation of their own adventures. However, it becomes us +not to judge concerning the sentiments of a person who in his last +moments professed himself a penitent. Instead of doing which, we shall +produce the speech he made at the place of execution. + + Good People, + + I desire all young men to take warning by my ignominious death, and + to forsake evil company, especially lewd women, who have been the + chief cause of my unhappy fate. I hope, and make it my earnest + request that nobody will be so ill a Christian as to reflect on my + aged parents, who took an early care to instruct me, and brought me + up a member, though a very unworthy one, of the Church of England. I + hope my misfortunes will be a warning to all youth, especially some + whom I wish well; I will not name them, but hope, if they see this, + they will take it to themselves. I die in charity with all men, + forgiving and hoping to be forgiven myself, through the merits of my + blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. + +He died on the 21st of November, 1729, being thirty-one years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [87] This may mean that they dropped themselves into the + cess-pit and made their way out through another opening. + + [88] Spa Fields, Clerkenwell, was a notorious spot for footpads. + + [89] See pages 121, 122. + + [90] This was at the south-west corner of Bloomsbury Square. + + + + +The Lives of WILLIAM ROGERS, a Thief; WILLIAM SIMPSON, a Horse-dealer; +and ROBERT OLIVER, _alias_ WILLIAM JOHNSON, a Thief + + +The first of these persons was descended from very mean parents, who +had, however, given him a tolerable education, so far as to qualify him +by reading and writing for any ordinary kind of business, to which they +intended to breed him on his coming to a fit age. They put him out +apprentice to a shoemaker, with whom he lived out his time, with the +approbation of his master and all who knew him. Afterwards he married a +wife and worked for some time honestly as a journeyman at his trade, +being exceedingly fond of his new wife. But she being a woman who liked +living in a better state than he could afford by what he gained at his +work, and he being desirous to live more at home, and yet maintain her +plentifully too, at last came to picking and thieving; and being +detected in stealing some shoes out of a shop, he was for that crime +transported. + +In Maryland and Virginia he continued some time working at his trade +with masters there, who gave him great encouragement, so that he might +have lived very happily there, if he had not been desirous of coming to +England. His mind ran continually on his wife. It was for her sake that +he at first had fallen into these practices, and to enjoy her +conversation was almost the only thing which tempted him to return home. + +On his arrival here, it was no doubt with the greatest uneasiness that +he heard his wife, as soon as ever he went abroad, cohabited with +another man and could never afterwards be brought to see him, or give +him any assistance, no not when he was under his last and great +misfortunes. Her unkindness afflicted the unhappy man so much that he +grew careless of his safety, and thereby became speedily apprehended, +and was tried for his offence in returning before the time was expired; +and the fact being clear he was at once convicted. + +Under sentence of death, he seemed to deplore nothing so much as the +unkindness of his wife, who would not so much as afford him one visit, +when he had hazarded, and even sacrificed his life to visit her. He +confessed that he had been guilty of that crime for which he had +formerly been transported, but denied that he lived in such a course of +wickedness and debauchery as most malefactors do. On the contrary, he +said he was heartily sorry for his sins, and hoped that God would accept +his imperfect repentance. + +William Simpson was a young man of very good parents in Gloucestershire, +who had taken care to educate him carefully, both in the knowledge of +letters and of true religion, and they then put him out apprentice to a +tailor; but not liking that employment, he did not follow it, but lived +with a relation of his who was a great farmer in the country. There, it +seems, he stole a black gelding to the value of ten pounds, for which he +was quickly apprehended and committed to prison, and upon very full +evidence convicted. The unhappy youth said that nothing but idleness and +an aversion to any employment were the causes of his committing an act +of such a nature, so contrary to the principles in which he had been +instructed, and to which he was not tempted by ill-company, or driven to +by any straits. Under sentence of death he behaved with great modesty, +penitence and civility, was desirous of being instructed and did +everything that could be expected from a man in his miserable condition. + +Robert Oliver, _alias_ William Johnson, was born of parents of tolerable +circumstances in Yorkshire, they bred him at school, and afterwards +bound him apprentice to a tallow-chandler. After he was out of his time, +he got somehow or other into the service of Mrs. North, where he robbed +one Joseph Heppworth of seven-and-forty guineas. As soon as he had done +it, he went to Moorgate and gave two-and-twenty of them for a horse, +upon which he rode down into his own country, where he exchanged it for +another horse, getting four guineas to boot. But the person who had lost +the money being indefatigable, and imagining that he might have gone +down into his own country, followed him thither, and after some time +seized him and got him confined in Beverley gaol. But it seems he found +a way to make his escape from thence, and so getting to London, skulked +up and down here for some time, until at last he was discovered and +committed to Newgate and at the ensuing sessions at the Old Bailey was +tried and convicted for the aforesaid offence. + +Under sentence he behaved himself stupidly, not seeming to have a just +concern for the offence which he had committed. He was sullen, would say +very little, did not deny the crime for which he died, but yet did not +seem to have that compunction which might have been expected from a man +in his sad condition. + +At the place of execution Rogers said little; Simpson acknowledged lewd +women had been his ruin; Robert Oliver acknowledged that he had been a +vicious, unruly, young man, who had hearkened to no advice, but addicted +to nothing but the accomplishment of his vices. They were all desirous +of prayers, and after they were celebrated they submitted to their +deaths very patiently; and with pious ejaculations, they were executed +on the 21st of November, 1739, Rogers being forty years of age, Simpson +nineteen, and Oliver twenty-two. + + + + +The Life of JAMES DRUMMOND + + +Folly and wickedness, as it were, naturally lead men to poverty, shame +and misfortunes, but when such miseries overtake persons who lived +soberly and in all outward appearance honestly, it is apt to create +wonder at first, and afterwards to excite compassion. + +The unhappy man of whom we are now speaking was the son of a sailor, who +brought him when but a boy of three years of age up to London, and then +dying, left him to the care of his mother, who was too poor to give him +any education. However, he went to sea, and being a young man ingenious +enough in himself, and very tractable in his temper, he soon became a +tolerable proficient in the practical part of navigation. This +recommended him to pretty constant business, whereby he got enough to +maintain himself and his family handsomely enough, if he had thought fit +to have employed it that way; which for a considerable space of time he +did, keeping up a very good reputation in the neighbourhood where he +lived, and serving with a fair character on board several men-of-war, +going up the Baltic with squadrons sent thither to preserve the Swedish +coast from being insulted by the Moscovites. + +After his return, he served on board the fleet which destroyed that of +the Spaniards in Sicily. He was afterwards coxswain in the Admiral, when +they served in the Mediterranean, and on the coast of Spain, but coming +home at last and being weary of going to sea, he took up the trade of +selling china and some small goods about the country; in which he got so +established a character that the gentlemen with whom he chiefly dealt +would have trusted him a hundred pounds on his word, and never anything +gave a greater shock to his neighbours and acquaintances than the news +of his being apprehended for a highwayman. However, it seems he had been +engaged to that course by his brother, notwithstanding that till then he +had lived not only honestly, but with tolerable sentiments of religion. + +The method in which he was drawn to turn robber on a sudden was thus. On +the 19th of October, 1729, his brother came to him as he was working on +the outside of a ship on the other side of the water, and invited him to +go out with him to a public house, to which at first he was very +unwilling; but at last suffering himself to be prevailed upon, he and +his brother went together to a house not far distant, where they drank +to a higher pitch than James Drummond had ever done before. His brother +all along insinuated how advantageous a trade the highway was, owning he +had followed nothing else for some years past, and saying there was not +the least hazard run in it, at the same time advising his brother to +quit labouring hard, and to take to it, too. James was now grown so +drunk that he hardly knew what he did, so that after much persuasion he +got up behind his brother upon the same horse, but was afterwards set +down, it being judged by both of them to be better to rob on foot, while +he who was well armed and well mounted might be able to defend them +both. Having come to this fatal agreement, they immediately set about +those enterprises which they had consulted together. + +The first robbery they committed was upon Mr. William Isgrig, from whom +they took sixteen guineas, seven half-guineas, three broad pieces, one +moidore, twenty shillings in silver, and a watch value two pounds. Not +satisfied with this the same night they attacked one Mr. Wakeling, on +the same road, and took from him a silver watch, and three or four +shillings in money, though not without much resistance, Mr. Wakeling +having drawn his sword and defended himself for a considerable time; but +perceiving one of the rogues to be a footpad, he followed him so +closely, and made such an outcry to the watch, that after a long pursuit +and a sharp struggle with him, they took James Drummond prisoner. His +brother after firing a pistol or two, rode off as fast as he could. At +the ensuing sessions at the Old Bailey he was indicted for both offences +and upon very full and dear evidence convicted. + +It was impossible to describe the agonies which this unhappy man +suffered while under sentence of death, the sense of his own condition, +the reflection on his former character, unsullied and untainted amongst +his whole neighbourhood, the consideration of leaving a wife and five +small children behind him, with small provision for their support, and +what was worse exposed to the reflection of the world on the score of an +unhappy father, scandalous in the last actions of his life, and +ignominious in his death. However, returning to his former principles of +piety and religion, he comforted himself under the weight of all his +misfortunes, by leaning on the mercy of God, praying fervently to Him to +grant him patience and protection under those dreadful evils which he +suffered. He acknowledged all to be exactly true which was deposed +against him at his trial, confessed the justice of his sentence, and +prepared to undergo it with as much submission and resignation as was +possible, and indeed perhaps no criminal ever behaved with more +penitence than he did. He died on Monday, the 22nd of December, 1729, +being then forty years of age. + + + + +The Lives of WILLIAM CAUSTIN and GEOFFREY YOUNGER, Footpads + + +The first of these unhappy men, William Caustin, was born somewhere in +the country, but the particular place is not mentioned in any papers I +have before me. Neither am I able to say of what condition his parents +were, yet whether poor or rich they afforded him a very tolerable +education, and when he was grown big enough to be put out apprentice, +bound him to a barber, to whom he served out his time with remarkable +fidelity. When out of his time he married a wife and set up for himself; +yet whether through inevitable misfortunes, or for want of good +management, I cannot say, but he failed in a very short time after, and +so was reduced to be a journeyman again. However, his character remained +so unblemished that he was never out of business, nor ill-treated by any +masters where he worked. On the contrary, he was caressed wherever he +came, and treated with as much civility as if he had been a relation to +those whom he had served. + +His wife unfortunately falling sick upon his hand, he became thereby +thrown out of business, and in that time falling into ill company, their +repeated solicitations prevailed with him to go for once upon the +highway, which accordingly he did, and committed, in company with +Geoffrey Younger and the evidence, a robbery on William Bowman, taking +from him a guinea and thirteen shillings, for which he was very quickly +after apprehended, and the fact being plainly and fully proved, he was +convicted, it being the only fact he ever committed. + +Geoffrey Younger, his companion, was descended of very honest creditable +parents in Northamptonshire. There he was put apprentice to a baker, to +whom he served his time out very honestly and faithfully. Afterwards he +came up to London, and lived here for seven years as a journeyman, in as +good a reputation as it was possible for a young man to have. But having +by that time got a good quantity of clothes, and about ten pounds in his +pockets, he began to think himself too good to work, and unfortunately +falling into the company of some idle debauched persons of both sexes, +they soon led him into a road of ruin. Amongst these was one Bradley, a +fellow of his own business, whose company of all others, he most +affected. This fellow having addicted himself to the pursuit of the most +scandalous vices, easily drew in Younger to go with him to a house where +gamesters resorted and advising him to venture his money, Younger was +good enough to take his advice, and so was bubbled out of every farthing +of his money. + +Surprised and confounded at this extraordinary turn, which had reduced +him to indigence in a moment, he did nothing but lament his own hard +fortune, and curse his indiscretion for coming to such a place. Bradley +endeavoured to cheer him, telling him he would yet put him in a way to +get money, and thereupon proposed going with him upon the highway; in +order to encourage him to which, he told him that at such a place they +should meet with a man who had fourscore pounds about him. So after +abundance of arguments, Younger yielded, and out they went. From that +time forwards he gave a loose to all his brutal inclinations, associated +himself with nobody but common whores and thieves, spent his time in +gaming, when not engaged in a worse employment, and never, after his +acquaintance with Bradley, thought of doing anything either just or +honest. But his course was of no very long continuance, for having +committed four or five robberies, the last of which was in the company +of William Caustin, they were both apprehended, and as has been said, +upon very full evidence convicted. + +Under sentence of death they both of them blamed Bradley the evidence, +as the person who had drawn then first to the commission of those crimes +for which they were now to answer with their lives. Caustin's wife died +while he was under sentence, and he thereby lost what little comfort he +had under his afflictions. However, he endeavoured to compose himself +the best he could, to suffer that judgment which the Law had pronounced +upon him, and which he himself acknowledged to be just. Younger, on the +other hand, was exceedingly timorous and so terribly affrighted at the +approach of death that he scarce retained his senses. He confessed very +freely the enormities of his former life; said that a more dissolute +person than himself never lived; cried out against the evidence Bradley, +as the author of his misfortunes; charged him with having painfully +endeavoured to seduce him. But in the midst of this he wept bitterly, +and showed a great terror at the approach of his execution than was seen +amongst any of the rest who suffered with him, his countenance being so +much altered, that it was hardly possible for anybody to know him, who +had been acquainted with him before, insomuch that he looked for many +weeks before his execution like a person who had been already dead and +buried. + +As the day of dissolution approached, it was hoped that he would recover +more courage, but instead of that he became so terribly frighted that he +could scarce speak, or show any signs of life when he was brought to +Tyburn. However, there he did gather spirits a little, and spoke to the +crowd to take warning by him, and avoid coming to that fatal place. He +said that he had been guilty of but five robberies in all his life; said +he forgave his prosecutors and the evidence who swore against him; and +in this disposition they both died at the same time with the malefactors +before mentioned, Caustin being thirty-six years of age, and Younger +about thirty-four. + + + + +The Lives of HENRY KNOWLAND and THOMAS WESTWOOD, Footpads + + +Henry Knowland was the son of a father of the same name who was a +butcher. He received tolerably good education at school, and was brought +up by his father to his own business; but he was of a lewd disposition, +continually running after whores, keeping lewd company, gaming and +drinking until he was able neither to stand nor go. He married his first +cousin, who had formerly been the wife of Neeves, the evidence. It seems +this very Knowland had been put into Whitechapel gaol upon her swearing +a robbery against him for taking a gold chain off her neck, but that +affair being accommodated, he a little after married her, which was +perhaps no small cause of his future ruin. + +He was always dishonest in his principles, and ready to lay hold of any +money without ever thinking of paying it again. At Smithfield he used to +be very dextrous in cheating country graziers of their cattle. The +method by which he did it was generally thus. Taking advantage of a +countryman whom he saw looked unacquainted with things, he struck a +bargain as soon as possible, and for any price he pleased, for his +goods; then stepping in to drink a mug and receive the money, Knowland +had an accomplice already planted, who coming hastily into the room told +him with a submissive air that a gentleman at such a place desired to +speak with him. Upon this he, arising in a hurry, tells the countryman +he would return immediately and pay him his money, while the attendant +in the meanwhile drove off with the beast; and so the poor man was left +without hopes of seeing either the money or bullock and perhaps ruined +into the bargain for being obliged to pay his master for the beast that +was lost. + +Thomas Westwood, the second of these offenders, was a man descended of +very mean parents, who either had it not in their power, or were so +careless as to afford him little or no education. He himself, also, was +a stupid, obstinate fellow, who never took any pains to attain the least +degree of knowledge, but contented himself with living like a beast, in +a continual round of eating and drinking and sleeping. By trade he was a +sawyer, and when he wanted business in his trade, which, as the Ordinary +tells us, he often did bring a poor purblind creature, he either sold +sawdust about town, or else practised as a bailiffs follower, a +profession which led him into yet greater debaucheries and +extravagancies than otherwise possible he might have ever fallen into. + +Knowland and he were apprehended on suspicion for being robbers, and +were tried at the Old Bailey on four indictments, all said to have been +committed on the same day, viz., on the 23rd of November, 1729. The +first was for assaulting John Molton in an open field, putting him in +fear, and taking from him four shillings; the second was for assaulting +Mary Butler and taking from her sixpence in money; the third was for +assaulting Nicholas Butler, and taking from him half a guinea and one +shilling; the fourth was for assaulting Anne Nailor, and taking from her +three and sixpence in money. + +The prosecutors on all these indictments swore positively to the +prisoners' faces. Mr. Butler was desperately wounded (the Ordinary says +he was mortally wounded) but through God's grace recovered. In their +defence they called a great number of people to prove them in other +places at the time those robberies were committed, which they positively +swore, but the jury giving credit to the prosecutors' evidence, they +were both found guilty. However, they absolutely denied the crimes to +the last suffering at Tyburn with great marks of sorrow and loud +exclamations to God to have mercy on their souls, the 28th of February, +1730. Knowland being twenty-four years of age, and Westwood +twenty-seven, at the time of their deaths. + + + + +The Life of JOHN EVERETT, a Highwayman + + +This unfortunate man, who, in the course of his life, made some noise in +the world, was the son of honest and reputable parents at Hitchen, in +Hertfordshire. They gave their son all the education necessary to +qualify him for such business as he thought proper to put him to, which +was that of a salesman; but before his time was expired he went over to +Flanders, and served in the late War there, in several sieges and +battles; where he behaved so well as to be preferred to the post of a +serjeant in the Honourable General How's regiment of foot. But returning +to England upon the peace, and being quartered at Worcester he there +purchased his discharge. + +Coming up to London he betook himself, for bread, to the office of a +bailiff in Whitechapel Court, in which station he continued for about +seven years until he fell into misfortunes, chiefly through the means of +one C----th. To shelter himself from a gaol, which threatened him at +that time, he was forced to go into the Foot Guards, where he served in +the company commanded by the right Honourable the Earl of Albemarle; but +unluckily for him, having commenced an acquaintance with Richard Bird at +the aforesaid Mr. C----th's, Bird told him he perceived they were much +in a case, that is, they both wanted money, and that therefore looking +upon him (Everett) to be a man who could be trusted, he would propose to +him an easy method for supply. This method was neither better nor worse +than robbing on the highway. + +To this proposition Everett readily agreeing, they immediately joined, +provided proper utensils for their co-partnership, and soon after +practised their trade with great success in the counties of Middlesex, +Essex, Surrey and Kent, particularly robbing the Dartford coach, from +the passengers of which they took a portmanteau, wherein was contained +jewels, money and valuable goods to a very great amount. But spending as +fast as they got it, they were never the better for the multitude of +facts they committed, but were in a continual necessity of hazarding +body and soul for a very precarious subsistance. + +A short time after, they robbed the Woodford stage-coach and found in it +only one passenger worth plundering. From him they took a gold watch and +some silver, but the gentleman expressing a great concern at the loss of +his watch, they told him if he would promise faithfully to send such a +sum of money to such a place, they would let him have it again. On +Hounslow Heath they attacked two officers of the army, who were well +mounted and guarded with servants armed with blunderbusses. They took +their gold watches and money from them, though the officers endeavoured +to resist, but they forced them to submit to the well-known doctrine of +passive obedience before they acquitted them. The watches (pursuant to a +treaty they made with them on the spot) were afterwards left at Young +Man's Coffee House, Charing Cross, where the owners had them again on +payment of twenty guineas, as stipulated in the said treaty between the +parties. + +Another robbery they committed was on Squire Amlow (of Bream's +Buildings, Chancery Lane), in Epsom Lane, turning up to Epsom. When he +was attacked he drew a sword and made several passes at them as he sat +in an open chaise; but notwithstanding his resolution in opposing them, +they by force took two guineas, a silver watch, and his silver-hilted +sword, and some parchment writings of a considerable value. On his +submission and request for his writings, they accordingly delivered them +up, let him pass and helped him to his watch again, being in the hands +of Mr. Corket, a pawnbroker in Houndsditch. They also took opportunities +to rob all the butchers and higlers from Epping Forest to Woodford, +particularly one old woman, who wore a high crowned hat of her mother's +as she said, which hat they took and searched, and out of the lining of +it found three pounds and delivered her the hat again. On Acton Common +they also met two chariots with gentlemen and ladies in them and robbed +them in money, watches and other things to the value of forty pounds. + +My readers, from these instances, must have a tolerable notion of +Everett's humour, it may prove entertaining, therefore, to give them a +specimen of his own manner of relating his adventures, and therefore I +insert the following ones in his own words. + + Soon after our last achievement, my old comrade Dick Bird, and I, + stopped a coach in the evening on Hounslow Heath, in which (amongst + other passengers) were two precise, but courageous Quakers, who had + the assurance to call us Sons of Violence; and refusing to comply + with our reasonable demands jumped out of the coach to give us + battle. Whereupon we began a sharp engagement, and showed them the + arm of flesh was too strong for the Spirit, which seemed to move + very powerful within them. After a short contest (though we never + offered to fire, for I ever abhorred barbarity, or the more heinous + sin of murder) through the cowardly persuasions of their + fellow-travellers they submitted, though sore against their + inclinations. As they were stout fellows and men every inch of them, + we scorned to abuse them, and contented ourselves with rifling them + of the little Mammon of unrighteousness which they had about them, + which amounted to about thirty or forty shillings and their watches. + The rest in the coach, whose hearts were sunk into their breeches, + Dick fleeced without the least resistance. + + There was one circumstance of this affair which created a little + diversion, and therefore with my readers leave, I will relate it. + The Precisions for the most part, though they are plain in their + dress, wear the best of commodities, and though a smart toupee[91] + is an abomination, yet a bob-wig, or a natural of six or seven + guineas' price, is a modest covering allowed by the saints. One of + the prigs was well furnished in this particular, and flattering + myself it would become me, I resolved to make it lawful plunder. + Without any further ceremony, therefore, than alleging exchange was + no robbery, I napped his poll, and dressed him immediately in + masquerade with an old tie-wig, which I had the day before purchased + of an antiquated Chelsea pensioner for half-a-crown. The other + company, though in doleful dumps for the loss of the coriander seed, + could not forbear grinning at the merry metamorphis, for our Quaker + now looked more like a devil than saint. As companions in distress + ever alleviate its weight, they invited him with a general laugh + into their leathern convenience again, wished us a goodnight, and + hoped they should have no farther molestation on the road. We gave + then the watch-word, and assured them they should not, then tipped + the honest coachman a shilling to drink our healths, and brushed off + the ground. + + About a week or ten days later, my brother Dick and I projected a + new scheme more nimble than the former, to take a purse without the + charge of horse hire. Millington Common was determined to be the + scene of action. We sauntered for some time upon the green and + suffered several to pass by without the least molestation, but at + last we espied two gentlemen well-mounted coming towards us, who we + imagined might be able to replenish our empty purses, so we prepared + for an attack. After the usual salutation, I stopped the foremost + and demanded his cash, his watch and other appurtenances thereunto + belonging, and assured him I was a brother of an honourable but + numerous family; that to work I had no inclination and to beg I was + ashamed, and that I had at present no other way for a livelihood, if + such a demand at first view ought appear a little immodest or + unreasonable, I hoped he would excuse it, as necessity and not + choice was the fatal inducement. + + My brother Dick was as rhetorical in his apologies with the + hindermost, whom he dismounted. We used them with more good manners + and humanity than the common pads, who act for the most part rather + like Turks and Jews than Christians, in such enterprises, to the + eternal scandal of the profession. We contented ourselves with what + silver and little gold they had about them, which to about three or + four pounds, and their gold watches, one of which, as well I + remember, was of Tompion's make, and which I afterwards pawned for + five guineas to a fellow that the week after broke, and ran away + with it, so that I had not the opportunity of restoring it again to + the proper owner, for which I heartily beg his pardon. As we must + own the gentlemen behaved well and came unto our measures without + the least resistance, so they must do us the justice to acknowledge + that we treated them as such and neither disrobed nor abused them. + We thought it, however, common prudence to cut the girths of their + horses' saddles, and secure their bridles for fear of a pursuit. + + Thus flushed again with success, we made the best of our way to + Brentford, and there took the ferry; but Fortune, though she is + fair, yet she is a fickle mistress, her smiles are often false and + very precarious. Before we had got ashore, we heard the persons had + got scent of us, and our triumph had like to have ended in + captivity. When we were three parts over, and out of danger of + drowning, we told the ferrymen our distress, gave them ten + shillings, and obliged them to throw their oars into the Thames. The + agreeable reward and the fears of being thrown in themselves in case + of a denial, made them readily consent. In we plunged after them, + and soon made the shore. Though we looked like Hob just drawn out of + the well, those that saw us only imagined it was a drunken frolic. + Our expeditious flight soon dried our clothes, and without catching + the least cold, we both arrived safe that night at London. + + We congratulated each other, you may imagine on our happy and + narrow escape, and solaced ourselves after the fatigue of the day, + with a mistress and a bottle. + +I have copied these pages from Mr. Everett's book that my readers might +have a clear and just idea of those notions which these unhappy men +entertain of the life they lead, and hope they may be of some use in +giving such youths as are too apt to be taken with their low kind of +jests, a just abhorrence of committing villainy, merely to divert the +mob, and make themselves the sole topic of discourse in alehouses and +cellars. + +But to return to Everett. He was taken up on suspicion and committed to +New Prison, where he continued three years, behaving himself so well in +the prison that the justices ordered him his liberty, and he was +thereupon made turnkey of that place. In this post he continued to act +so honestly that he got a tolerable reputation, taking the Red Lion +alehouse, in Turnmill Street, Cow Cross, in order to live the better; +resigning his place as turnkey as soon as he was settled in it. + +He who succeeded him was a footman to the Duchess of Newcastle's and not +being very well acquainted with the nature of his new office, he was +very industrious to prevail with Everett to return to his former +condition, and accept the key from him. Promises and entreaties were not +long made in vain. Everett was sensible there was money to be got,[92] +and therefore, upon the fair promises of the new keeper, became turnkey +again. But when he had shown his master the art of governing such a +territory as his was; when he had instructed him in the secrets of +raising money, and shown him the methods of managing the several sorts +of prisoners that were committed to its care, his superior quickly gave +him to understand that he had now done all he wanted, and the next kind +office would be to quit this place; for it is with those sort of people +as with some in a higher station, though they at first caress men who +are better acquainted with affairs than themselves, in order to improve +their own knowledge, yet no sooner do they think themselves qualified to +go on without their assistance, but they grow uneasy at such services, +and are never quiet until they are rid of men whose abilities are their +greatest faults. + +A little after Everett was turned out to make room for the keeper's +brother, he had the additional misfortune to keep an account with a +person who too hastily demanded his money, and John, not being able to +pay it, therefore upon arrested him, and threw him into gaol. He +quickly turned himself over to the Fleet, where he first took the +rules, and then got into the Thistle and Crown Alehouse, in the Old +Bailey. There he lived for a while and afterwards took the Cock in the +same place, where he lived for three years with an indifferent +reputation, until he was prevailed on to take the Fleet Cellar[93], and +became very busy in the execution of the then Warden's project, until +the committee of the House of Commons thought fit to commit both of them +to Newgate. + +This effectually undid him, for while he was a prisoner there, the +brewer made a seizure of his whole stock of beer, to the value of three +hundred pounds, and this it was, as he himself said, which posted him +out upon the highway again. Whether we may depend upon those +protestations he had made that he should never otherwise have gone upon +the road again, but have lived and died free, at least from that sort of +wickedness which indeed he had reason to dislike, since he had saved his +life by impeaching Bird his companion, who was hanged at Chelmsford at +the assizes held there for the County of Essex. When he had once taken +this resolution in his head, it was not long before he equipped himself +with necessaries for his employment. + +The first robbery he committed was upon a lady in a chariot, and the +lady desiring that he would put up his pistol for fear of frightening a +child of six years old in the coach with her, he did so, and took from +her a guinea and some silver, without touching her gold watch, or any +other valuable things that she had about her. He had scarce committed +the robbery, before the lady's husband and another gentleman and his +company came up, and the accident being related to them, they +immediately pursued him as hard as their horses could gallop; and came +so close up with him, that he was hardly got into the Globe Tavern, in +Hatton Garden, and sent away his horse, before they passed by the door. +As soon as he thought they were out of sight, he slipped away with all +the precaution he was able, and got into a little blind alehouse in +Holborn, where he had scarce lit a pipe, and called for a tankard of +drink, before he perceived both the gentlemen looking very earnesty +about, though he now looked upon himself as out of all danger. + +It was a very short time after, that he committed the last fact, which +was the robbing of Mrs. Manley[94], and a lady, who was in a chariot +with her, a black boy being behind in the coach. He got safe enough off +and into town, after this robbery; but how it was I cannot tell, his +neighbours suspected him, and talked of him as a highwayman, and +reported very confidently that he was taken up, as it seems he was, but +was discharged again for want of evidence. He was speedily seized again, +and being committed to Newgate, was brought to his trial at the Old +Bailey for the said fact. + +Mrs. Ellis deposed that the prisoner was the person who robbed the +coach, and that she observed him follow it when they came out of town. +Mrs. Manley deposed also to his being the person who robbed them, and +William Coffee, a negro boy, who was behind the coach, swore positively +to his face. Several men who were present at his being apprehended, +swore that he had a pistol, dagger, six bullets, a flint and powder horn +about him, under a red rug coat. + +His defence was very trivial, and the jury upon a short consultation, +found him guilty. Under sentence of death, he behaved very +indifferently, sometimes appearing tolerably cool, at others in a +grievous passion, especially at the keepers, if they refused him such +liberties as he thought fit to ask. When he was first condemned, he +flattered himself with hopes of life, if it were possible for him to +prevail on the ladies whom he had robbed to petition in his favour; in +order to induce them to which, he wrote the following letter, though to +no purpose, for the death warrant came down suddenly and he was included +with the before-mentioned prisoners. + + THE LETTER + + Madam, + + I crave leave, with all humility and respect, to address you and + Madam Ellis, and with the utmost submission and concern, do humbly + beg your pardons for the fears and surprise my misfortunes reduced + me to put you and the children into, whose cries moved so much + compassion in me that I had not power to pursue with any rigour my + desperate designs, which your ladyship must have perceived by the + consternation I was struck into on a sudden. My sole intention was, + if I could have got £50 to settle myself in a public house, and to + take up an honest course of life, and do own at best it is a very + heinous crime. Yet, madam, you will recollect after what manner I + treated you, and at the same time consider the methods taken by + others on the like occasion. This necessity I was drove to, by + adhering to a certain master I lately served, and to obey his wicked + and pernicious commands, in following his wicked and pernicious + counsels, brought me to poverty, and consequently to this unhappy + state I now labour under, and was become almost as much as himself, + the scorn and hatred of mankind. I say, madam, if you will be so + good as to consider all these unhappy circumstances, and that + necessity admits of no contradiction, they will, I am persuaded, + inspire compassion in generous souls (a character you both + deservedly bear); and as a fellow-creature, I beg mercy at your + ladyship's hands, by signing a petition to the Recorder for me, to + the end, he may be induced to make a favourable report, and thereby + move his most sacred Majesty to clemency, by the sentence to some + other corporal punishment, and shall dedicate the rest of my days in + praying for both your happiness and prosperity in this world, and + eternal felicity and bliss in that to come, and crave leave, with + due deference, madam, to subscribe myself, + + Your ladyship's most devoted, + Afflicted humble servant, + John Everett + +The Ordinary of Newgate, in the account he has given of this prisoner, +has drawn as bad a character as he is able, and in order to it, has +gathered together all the ill-terms he could think of, even though some +of them are contrary to one another. The truth is, that the fellow in +himself had abundance of ill-qualities, with some good ones, and +especially good nature of which he had a very large share. Lewd women +were what brought him to his ruin, for to their company he continually +addicted himself, and with his low intrigues amongst them is the book I +have mentioned stuffed from one end to the other. + +As to religion, it is certain he had very little of it before he was +confined, so it is not very likely that he should make any great +proficiency while he remained there. He was careless, indeed, under his +misfortunes, but did not give himself up to any loose or profane +expressions, but on the contrary attended at Chapel with decency at +least, if not with devotion. + +Some attempts were made to save his life, by engaging him to make +discoveries in an affair of high concern, but all was ineffectual, and +he suffered on the 20th of February, 1729-30, with less apprehension +than might have been expected from a man under his unhappy +circumstances. The executioner, to put the prisoner sooner out of his +pain, jumped upon his shoulders, and thereby broke the rope, but he was +soon tied up again, and there remained until the rest were cut down. + +At the time of his execution, he was forty-four years of age or +thereabouts. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [91] This was a small wig covering only the top of the head; a + bob-wig was short and tied at the back with a large bow; a + natural was a large, full wig, in which the hair was made to + look like natural locks. + + [92] The scandalous system of bleeding prisoners for every little + necessity and comfort made gaoloring a very profitable trade. + + [93] That is, managed the sale of liquor in the Fleet. + + [94] Author of _The New Atlantis_ and sundry political pamphlets + and libels, plays and novels. + + + + +The Lives of ROBERT DRUMMOND, a Highwayman and FERDINANDO SHRIMPTON, a +Highwayman and Murderer + + +Robert Drummond was the brother of James Drummond, whom we have before +mentioned. He had formerly dealt in hardwares, and thereby lived with +some reputation in the town of Sunderland, nobody ever dreaming that he +went upon the highway for money. But it was not long that he continued +even to put this mask upon his villainy, but on the contrary gave way to +his wild and debauched temper, and committed a thousand extravagancies, +which soon created suspicions, and occasioned his being apprehended on +suspicion of a robbery. This clearly being made out at the ensuing +assizes, he was thereupon convicted, pardoned, and transported. But he +soon found a way to return into England, and grew one of the most daring +and mischievous robbers that ever infested the road. + +The multitude of his robberies made his person so well known that it is +wonderful he should so long escape, especially considering the roughness +and cruelty of his temper, he never using anybody well, firing upon any +who attempted to ride away from him, and beating and abusing those who +submitted to him. He drew in, as has been said before, his brother +James, and deserting him when pursued and in danger, he was the occasion +of his death. It was also suspected that Shrimpton and he were the +persons who committed those robberies for which Knowland and Westwood +were executed. However it were, he continued for a considerable space +after the two Shrimptons and he robbed together, committing sometimes +nine or ten robberies in one night, until they were all three +apprehended, and William Shrimpton became an evidence against them. + +Ferdinando Shrimpton, the other malefactor, was a person well educated, +though his father was one of the greatest highwaymen in England. He [the +father] lived at Bristol, and behaved in outward appearance so well that +he was never suspected, but unluckily one evening some constables coming +into an inn hastily to apprehend another person, his guilty heart making +him afraid that they were come in search of nobody but himself, he +thereupon immediately drew a pistol and shot one of them dead, for which +murder being convicted, he readily confessed his former offences, and +after his execution for the aforesaid crime, was hung in chains. + +As for this unhappy man, his son, he had been bred to no trade, but +after his father's death served as a foot-soldier in the Guards and +eked out his pay by taking the same steps which his father had done +before him. Never any fellow was of a bolder and of a more audacious +spirit than he, and after he had once associated himself with Drummond, +they quickly forced William Shrimpton, who was Ferdinando's cousin, to +commit one or two facts with him, and afterwards he would never suffer +him to be quiet. + +On Hounslow Heath, it seems, Shrimpton robbed a man of a horse, a silver +watch and some money. The man applied himself to Shrimpton when he was +apprehended, begging that he would find a way to help him to his horse +again. Shrimpton promised he would, and for a guinea was as good as his +word, though the gelding was worth fifteen pounds; but for his watch, +nothing either was, or as they pretended could be, told about it. But +that was only for fear of disobliging the pawnbroker where they had sent +it, for Shrimpton afterwards, upon the owner's thirty-four shillings by +his wife, had it again, though Ferdinando was very much disobliged that +he received but half a crown for his trouble. + +Drummond, he and his cousin being seized, William turned evidence +against them, and at the ensuing sessions at the Old Bailey, Shrimpton +being indicted for the murder of Simon Prebent, Mr. Tyson's coachman, +and Robert Drummond for aiding and abetting, and assisting him, they +were both upon full evidence convicted, as they were also convicted for +a robbery on the highway, on Mr. Tyson, after the death of the coachman. +They were a third time indicted together for assaulting Robert Furnel on +the highway, taking from him a watch of great value, a guinea and a +half, some silver and a whip, together with some other things of value. +They were also indicted afresh for assaulting Jonathan Cockhoofs on the +highway, taking from him a bay gelding, value nine pounds, several +roasting pigs and pieces of pork, etc.; of all which they were found +guilty, the fact being as clear and as strong against them as possible. + +Under sentence of death, they behaved themselves with great obstinacy +and resolution, refused to give any account of their crimes, but in +general would say that they were great and notorious offenders. As to +the fact committed by Knowland and Westwood, they would not positively +say it was done by them, though they could not deny it. Only when +pressed upon it, Drummond would say in a passion, _What, would you have +us take upon us all the robberies that were committed in the country?_ +This was all that could be got from him, even when he was at the point +to die and the wife of Knowland earnestly begged that he would tell the +truth, as he was now entering into another world, and the owning or not +owning of those facts could no ways prejudice them. + +As to the barbarous murder committed upon Mr. Tyson's coachman, it did +not seem to make the least impression upon their spirits. Shrimpton, by +whose hands the man was killed, never appeared one whit more uneasy when +the sermon on murder was peculiarly preached on his account, but on the +contrary talked and jested with his companions as he was wont to do. In +a word more hardened, obstinate and impenitent wretches were never seen; +for as they were wanting in all principles of religion, so they were +void even of humanity and good nature. They valued blood no more than +they did water, but were ready to shed the first with as little concern +as they spilt the latter. Inured in wickedness and rapine, old in years +and covered in offences, they yielded their last breaths at Tyburn, with +very little sign of contrition or repentance, on the 17th of February, +1730, Drummond being about fifty, and Shrimpton about thirty years of +age. + + + + +The Life of WILLIAM NEWCOMB, a housebreaker + + +Though the many instances we have, of late years, had of amazing +wickednesses committed by lads one would scarce believe were capable of +executing, much less of contriving schemes so full of ginning and of +guilt, ought in a great measure to prevent our being surprised at +anything of the same kind, let it be committed by ever such a stripling, +yet I confess it was not without wonder that I perused the papers +relating to this unfortunate young man--so strong an instance of a great +capacity for mischief at the same time that he never once evidenced +either care or ability in succeeding in an honest way. On the contrary, +he was assidious only to attain as much money as might put him on the +road of debauchery, and then stupidly gave himself up to squandering it +in the gratification of his lusts, until indigence brought to rack his +inventions again, and his second attempt proving abortive, brought him +to the gallows. + +He was born of honest parents, who took care enough in his education to +qualify him for the business of a shoemaker, for which they designed +him, and to which they put him apprentice. He had not served above three +years of his time, before he robbed his master of a very considerable +sum of money. The man having a respect for his family, put him away +without prosecuting him. His father took him home, but, however, +reproaching him very often for the villainous facts he had committed, he +went away from him and lay about the town, intending to take the first +opportunity that offered of stealing a good booty, and march off into +the country. + +At last, after consulting with himself for some time, he fixed upon a +banker's shop in Lombard Street, within two doors of the church of St. +Edmund the King, thinking with himself that if once he could get into +that shop, be should make himself at a blow. In order to it he got into +the church overnight and stayed there until morning, when, just as it +began to grow light, he steered downstairs into the shop, having got +over the top of Mr. Jenkin's house, and watching his opportunity, laid +hold of a single bag and slipped out of doors with it. The booty was +indeed a large one, for it happened that what he took was all gold, +which was upwards of eight hundred guineas. This put it in his power to +show himself in that state of life which he most admired, for sending +for a tailor be had two or three suits of fine clothes made, bought a +couple of geldings, hired a footman in livery to attend him, and thus +equipped set out for the horse races at Newmarket. + +Women and gaming very soon reduced the bulk of his gold and in six or +seven months, finding his pockets very low, he returned to London to +replenish himself. The good success he before had in robbing a banker, +and his knowing nobody was so likely to furnish him with ready money, +put him upon making the like attempt at Mr. Hoare's, into whose house he +got and endeavoured to conceal himself as conveniently as he could for +that purpose. But being detected and apprehended on the roof of the +house, whither he had fled to avoid pursuit, he was committed to +Newgate, and at the next sessions at the Old Bailey, was tried for +burglary, and convicted. + +Under sentence of death he behaved with great mildness and civility. He +confessed his having been as great a sinner as his years would give him +leave, addicted to whoring, drunkenness, gaming and having quite +obliterated all the religious principles which his former education had +instilled into him. However, he endeavoured to retrieve as much as +possible the knowledge of his duty, and to fulfil it by praying to +Almighty God for the forgiveness of his many offences; and in this +disposition of mind he departed this life, on the 17th of February, +1730, being about nineteen years of age. + + + + +The Life of STEPHEN DOWDALE, a Thief + + +This unfortunate man was the son of parents in good circumstances in the +Kingdom of Ireland, who were very careful of giving him the best +education they were capable of, both as to letters and as to the +principles of the Christian religion. Yet from some hope they had of his +succeeding in a military way, they chose rather to let him serve in the +army than breed him to any particular trade. It seems he behaved so well +in the regiment of dragoons in which he served, that his officers +advanced him to the post of sergeant, and just as the Peace was +concluded, he had hopes of being made a quartermaster. But the regiment +then being broke, his hopes were all dissipated, and he thrown into the +world to shift for himself as well as he could. + +In Ireland he remained with his friends some years, but finding by +degrees that their kindness cooled, and that it would be impossible for +him to subsist much longer upon the bounty of his relations, he +thereupon resolved to come over at once to England and endeavour to live +here by his wits. The gaming tables were the places where he chiefly +resorted, but finding that fortune was a mistress not to be depended +upon he resolved to take some more certain method of living, and for +that purpose associated himself with ten or a dozen knights of the road. +He continued his practices without the least suspicion for a very +considerable time, in all which he appeared one of the greatest beaux at +the other end of the town. + +But growing uneasy in the midst of that seeming gaiety in which he +lived, and being under some apprehensions that one or more of his +companions was meditating means of making peace with the government at +the expense of his life, he resolved to prevent them; and thereupon +surrendered himself of his own accord into the hands of a constable, and +gave the best information he was able against all his confederates. But +however it was, most of them had previous knowledge of the warrants +issued against them, and thereby made their escapes. Others who were +apprehended were acquitted by the jury, notwithstanding this evidence +against them, so that the public not being likely to reap any benefit by +his discovery, some people thought proper to turn his own confession +upon himself. Accordingly, at the next Sessions at the Old Bailey, he +was indicted for feloniously stealing a gold watch value twenty pounds, +out of the house of Thomas Martin, on the 30th of August preceding the +indictment. He was also indicted a second time for feloniously stealing +a diamond ring out of the shop of John Trible, on the 25th of August. +Both these facts were in the information he had made, and therefore the +proof was dear and direct against him, and beyond his power to avoid by +any defence. + +Under sentence of death be behaved himself with great resignation, +seemed to be very penitent for those numerous offences he had committed, +though now and then he let fell expressions which showed that he thought +himself hardly dealt with by those who had received his confession. +However, what with fear and concern, and what with the moistness of the +place wherein he was confined, he fell into a grievous distemper, which +quickly increased into a high fever, which affected his senses, and +shortly after took away his life, just as a very worthy gentleman in the +commission for the peace for Middlesex had procured his life, which was +thus ended by the course of Nature though in the cells of Newgate, he +being then in the forty-fourth year of his age. He died on the 5th of +April, 1730. + + + + +The Life of ABRAHAM ISRAEL, a Jew + + +As it is a very ordinary case for fiction to be imposed on the world for +truth, so it sometimes happens that truth hath such extraordinary +circumstances attending it, as well nigh bring it to pass for fiction. +The adventures of this unhappy man, who was a Hebrew by nation, have +something in them strange, and which excite pity; for a man must be +wanting in humanity who can look upon a young person endowed with the +natural advantage of a good genius, lightened by the acquired +accomplishments of learning, fall of a sudden from an honest and +reputable behaviour into debauchery, wickedness and rapine, methods that +lead to certain destruction, and as it were to drag men to violent and +shameful deaths. + +This unfortunate person, Abraham Israel, was born of parents of the +Hebrew nation, of good character and in good circumstances, at Presburg, +in the kingdom of Hungary. They were exceedingly desirous of giving +their son a good education, and therefore sent him to study in the +Jewish College at Prague, in Bohemia, where they allowed him about two +hundred pounds Stirling a year. He improved under the tuition of the +rabbis there to a great degree, insomuch that he was admired by them as +a prodigy of learning. His behaviour in every other way being +unblamable, and therefore not spending above half what his father sent +him, he distributed the rest among the indigent scholars there, of all +nations and religions. As a mark of his early and polite genius, we have +thought proper to entertain our readers with a short description of the +city of Prague, which he wrote in the German tongue, and which on this +occasion we have ventured to translate into English. + + Prague is the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which, as if + protected by nature, is encompassed round with high mountains. + Throughout all Europe there is no soil in general more fertile or + better adapted to the plough. The fruits there are excellent and + great quantities of fowl are plentiful almost to excess, the cattle + are large and excellent. In fine nothing is poor, wretched or + miserable there except the people, who are slaves to their lords, + and never enjoy even the fruits of their own hard labour. But to + return to Prague, it is a city situated on a hill, part of it + stretching down the plain, having the river Muldau running through + it. The buildings are of so large extent that this city is divided + into three, and by some into four cities. The old city lies on the + east of the river, is exceedingly populous, and houses in that + quarter fair, but old-fashioned. Here is the quarter assigned unto + our nation (i.e., the Jews) where we enjoy greater privileges and + are treated with more lenity than in any other part of Germany. The + heads of our people deal to very great advantage in jewels and + precious stones dug out of the Bohemian mines. The lesser town on + the other side of the river is more beautiful in its building than + the old town, has fine gardens and stately palaces, among which + there is the famous one of Count Wallenstein, the magnificence of + which, may be the better guessed from our knowing that a hundred + houses were pulled down to make room for it. Its hall is thought one + of the finest in all Europe, its gardens are wonderfully stately, + and the stables which he built here for his horses are almost beyond + description, marble pillars parted the standing of each horse from + another. The racks were of polished steel, and their mangers of the + finest marble, and over the head of each stand was placed the figure + of each horse, as large as the life. This famous man who was the + greatest captain of his time, after having built this sumptuous + palace, re-established the Emperor's power, almost utterly broken by + the Swedes, growing at last too powerful for a subject, or as the + Germans say, endeavouring to make himself master of the Kingdom of + Bohemia, he was, if not by the command, at least by the connivance + of the Emperor Ferdinand, privately assassinated in the city of + Egra, in the year 1634, by certain Irish officers, in whom he + reposed the greatest confidence. Since his time Prague has seen no + greater powerful persons among her countrymen; on the contrary, the + inhabitants now in general are poor, their habits mean, the Hebrew + nation being obliged, both men and women, to wear a particular garb. + Its streets are dirty, and nothing but the Imperial Palace preserves + anything of its ancient grandeur; the same fate hath befallen the + other Bohemian cities, and thus in a land of Paradise the people + live like slaves. + +When at the age of thirteen, the unfortunate Abraham was recalled by his +father from college, at his return home, every one was surprised at that +prodigious knowledge which he had acquired while at Prague. Those of +their nation who resided at Presburg desired Abraham's father that his +son might, according to the custom of the Hebrews, read in the +synagogue, which accordingly he did with great and deserved applause. +His relations, and the rich Jews of the town, loaded him the next day +with valuable presents, in order to show their veneration for the +religion and learning of their ancestors; but these encouragements being +heaped on a vain and ambitious temper, were the ruin of a youth hitherto +virtuous in his conduct and passionately fond of learning. For growing +on a sudden conceited with his own abilities, puffed up with the vanity +of having excelled his equals, he began to addict himself to acquire +higher accomplishments, grew fond of music, delighted in +dancing-schools, would needs be taught fencing and riding, and from the +studies preparative to making a grave rabbi, jumped all of a sudden to +the qualities necessary to finish a Jewish fop. + +His relations soon showed by the alteration of their conduct how little +they approved of his new state of life, but that signified nothing to +him, he still went on at his old rate; until at last perceiving his +parents would do nothing for him, he went with an idle woman to +Amsterdam. There he was uneasy, not knowing what course of life to take, +but at last submitted to wearing a livery, and got into service. He +behaved himself amongst the Spanish Jews so well that they gave him a +recommendation to Baron Swaffo in England, upon which he came over +thither, and entered into his service. He recommended him to Mr. Jacob +Mendez da Costa, where he Stayed for some time, with a good character as +a diligent servant. From him he went to Mr. Villareal on College Hill. +It seems that while he continued at the Hague, he fell in love with a +young woman there, who continually ran in his head after his coming over +hither. As soon, therefore, as he got money enough, he went over to the +Hague, on purpose to make her a visit. When he came there, he found she +was gone, which made him very uneasy, yet he resolved not to go to +Amsterdam, whither he heard she went from the Hague. + +However, it was not long before she was thrown in his way, for upon his +coming over again to London, where he got into the service of Mr. Jacob +Mendez da Costa, he heard at a barber's shop of a young maid just +brought over from Holland who was then at her uncle's in St. Mary Axe, +not knowing where to get a place. Upon enquiring her name, he found it +to be his old acquaintance and mistress at the Hague. It was not long +before he turned out the cook at the place where he lived, and brought +her home in her place. + +For a while she behaved like an honest and industrious servant, but one +night as Abraham went to bed, he saw her opening an escrutoire with a +knife, which she said she could at any time do. Abraham at first forbid +her, but she by her endearments, quickly brought him over to her party, +insomuch that after having lain with her, he consented to rummage the +escrutoire. In it they found diamond rings and other jewels to a very +great value. The wench said to him, holding up a fine diamond ring, +_Abraham, you might take this, and it would prove the making of us +both._ But the fellow would not listen to her. However, they agreed to +take five guineas, which when they had done, they went to bed together +according to custom. + +Sometime after they begged a holiday and going out borrowed some more +money from the same bank, but staying out all night she lost her place, +whereupon she went back to her uncle's, and afterwards got a place in +Winchester Street. There Abraham visited her, and suspecting that she +was with child, asked her very gravely and kindly whether it were so or +not? She said, _No_, and pretended to want money, upon which he turned +back and gave her a guinea. Some time after he came to see her again, +asked her the same question, and had the same answer, yet in a few hours +after she caused him to be apprehended by the parish officers, the +expenses whereof cost him five guineas immediately, and he was obliged +to deposit fourteen guineas more as a security that he would indemnify +the parish. + +This threw him out of his place, and though he got into another, and +behaved well in it, yet going into the service of Mr. John Mendez da +Costa, he became there so uneasy on account of his child, and some other +troublesome affairs, that he ventured on stealing eight silver spoons, +five silver forks, two pair of silver canisters, a diamond ring value +two hundred and fifty pounds, a pair of diamond ear-rings worth ninety +pounds, three diamond buckles, and other goods of a great value. For +this fact he was prosecuted, and on very full evidence convicted. + +Under sentence of death, the Ordinary informs us that he appeared to be +better acquainted with Hebrew than is common amongst Jews. He came up to +the chapel rather for the air than for devotion. However, he one day +sung part of a Psalm. His hatred against his prosecutor was strong and +unconquerable, for when the minister told him it was his duty to forgive +him, he said he did not know whether it was or no according to their +law, and sometimes said that Heaven might deal with the same justice by +him hereafter, as he had been dealt with here. + +As the time of his death approached, he grew graver, and read more +constantly in those books he had in Hebrew characters of his own +religion. However, he wrote a letter to the gentleman he robbed in very +harsh terms, and applied to him some of the imprecations of the hundred +and ninth Psalm. At the place of execution he had two men with him, who +were muttering something or other in his ear. He had a little Hebrew +prayer-book in his hand, and read in it. When being again persuaded to +forgive his prosecutor, he at last, in a faint voice, answered that he +did, and then submitted to his fate at Tyburn, on the 12th of May, 1730, +being then about twenty-two years of age. He had several relations who +had a great deal of money in England, and they took care of his body. + + + + +The Life of EBENEZER ELLISON, a Notorious Irish Thief + + +With respect to this malefactor I have nothing to acquaint the world +with but what is taken from his own speech which was printed at Dublin, +and said to be published there by his own desire for the common good. It +made a great noise there then, and may perhaps serve to entertain you +now, wherefore I proceed to give it you in his own words. + + I am now going to suffer the just punishment of my crimes, + prescribed by the Law of God and my country. I know it is the + constant custom that those who come to this place should have + speeches made for them, and cried about in their own hearing as they + are carried to execution; and truly they are such speeches that + although our fraternity be an ignorant illiterate people, they would + make a man ashamed to have such nonsense and false English charged + upon him, even when he is going to the gallows. They contain a + pretended account of our birth and family, of the facts for which we + are to die, of our sincere repentance, and a declaration of our + religion. I cannot expect to avoid the same treatment with my + predecessors. However, having an education one or two degrees better + than those of my rank and profession, ever since my commitment I + have been considering what might be proper for me to deliver upon + this occasion. + + And first, I cannot say from the bottom of my heart that I am truly + sorry for the offence I have given to God and the world; but I am + very much so for the bad success of my villainies, in bringing me to + this untimely end; for it is plainly evident, that after having some + time ago obtained a pardon from the Crown, I again took up my old + trade. My evil habits were so rooted in me, and I was grown unfit + for any other kind of employment; and therefore, although in + compliance with my friends I resolved to go to the gallows after the + usual manner, kneeling with a book in my hand and my eyes lift up, + yet I shall feel no more devotion in my heart than I observed in + some of my comrades, who have been drunk among common whores the + very night before their execution. I can say further from my own + knowledge, that two of my own fraternity, after they had been hanged + and wonderfully came to life, and made their escapes, as it + sometimes happens, proved afterwards the wickedest rogues I ever + knew, and so continued until they were hanged again for good and + all; and yet they had the impudence at both times they went up to + the gallows to smite their breasts and lift up their eyes to Heaven + all the way. + + Secondly, from the knowledge I have of my own wicked dispositon, and + that of my comrades, I give it as my opinion that nothing can be + more unfortunate to the public than the mercy of Government in even + pardoning and transporting us, unless we betray one another, as we + never fail to do if we are sure to be well paid, and then a pardon + may do good. By the same rule, it is better to have but one fox in a + farm than three or four, but we generally make a shift to return + after being transported, and are ten times greater rogues than + before, and much more cunning. Besides, I know it by experience, + that some hopes we have of finding mercy when we are tried, or after + we are condemned, is always a great encouragement to us. + + Thirdly, nothing is more dangerous to idle young fellows than the + company of those odious common whores we frequent, and of which this + town is full. These wretches put us upon all mischief to feed their + lust and extravagance. They are ten times more bloody and cruel than + men. Their advice is always not to spare us if we are pursued, they + get drunk with us, and are common to us all, and yet if they can get + anything by it, are sore to be our betrayers. + + Now, as I am a dying man, something I have done which may be of good + use to the public, I have left with an honest man and indeed the + only honed man I ever was acquainted with--the names of all my + wicked brethren, the present places of abode, with a short account + of the chief crimes they have committed in many of which I have been + their accomplice, and heard the rest from their own mouths. I have + likewise set down the names of those we call our setters, of the + wicked houses we frequent, and of those who receive and buy our + stolen goods. I have solemnly charged this honest man, and have + received his promise upon oath, that whenever he hears of any to be + tried for robbing or housebreaking, he will look into his list, and + he if finds the name there of the thief concerned, to send the whole + paper to the Government. Of this I here give my companions fair and + public warning, and I hope they will take it. + + In the paper above-mentioned, which I left with my friend, I have + also set down the names of the several gentlemen whom we have robbed + in Dublin streets for three years past. I have told the + circumstances of those robberies, and shown plainly that nothing but + the want of common courage was the cause of their misfortunes. I + have therefore desired my friends that whenever any gentleman + happens to be robbed in the streets, he will get the relation + printed and published with the first letters of those gentlemen's + names, who by their want of bravery are likely to be the cause of + all the mischief of that kind, which may happen for the future. I + cannot leave the world without a short description of that kind of + life which I have led for some years past and is exactly the same + with the rest of our wicked brethren. + + Although we are generally so corrupted from our childhood as to have + no sense of goodness, yet something heavy always hangs about us. I + know not what it is, that we are never easy until we are half drunk + among our whores and companions, nor sleep sound, unless we drink + longer than we can stand. If we go abroad in the day, a wise man + would easily find us to be rogues by our faces, we have such + suspicious, fearful and constrained countenances, often turning back + and sneaking through narrow lanes and alleys. I have never failed of + knowing a brother thief by his looks, though I never saw him before. + Every man amongst us keeps his particular whore, who is however + common to us all when we have a mind to change. When we have got a + booty, if it be money, we divide it equally among our companions, + and soon squander it on our vices in those houses that receive us, + for the master and mistress and very tapster go snacks, and besides + make us pay treble reckonings. If our plunder be plate, watches, + rings, snuff-boxes and the like, we have customers in all quarters + of the town to take them off. I have seen a tankard sold, worth + fifteen pounds to a fellow in ---- Street, for twenty shillings, and + a gold watch for thirty. I have set down his name, and that of + several others in the paper already mentioned. We have setters + watching in corners, and by dead walls, to give us notice when a + gentleman goes by, especially if he be anything in drink. I believe + in my conscience, that if an account were made of a thousand pounds + in stolen goods, considering the low rates we sell them at, the + bribes we must give for concealment, the extortions of alehouse + reckonings, and other necessary charges there would not remain fifty + pounds clear to be divided among the robbers, and out of this we + must find clothes for whores, besides treating them from morning + until night, who in requital award us with nothing but treachery and + the pox, for when our money is gone, they are every moment + threatening to inform against us, if we will not get out to look for + more. If anything in this world be like Hell, as I have heard it + described by our clergy, the truest picture of it must be in the + back room of one of our alehouses at midnight, where a crew of + robbers and their whores are met together after a booty, and are + beginning to grow drunk, from that time until they are past their + senses, in such a continued horrible noise of cursing, blasphemy, + lewdness, scurrility, and brutish behaviour, such roaring and + confusion, such a clatter of mugs and pots at each other's heads, + that Bedlam in comparison is a sober and orderly place. At last they + all tumble from their stools and benches, and sleep away the rest of + the night, and generally the landlord or his wife, or some other + whore, who has a stronger head than the rest, picks their pockets + before they awake. The misfortune is, that we can never be easy + until we are drunk, and our drunkenness constantly exposes us to be + more easily betrayed and taken. + + This is a short picture of the life I have led, which is more + miserable than that of the poorest labourer who works for fourpence + a day; and yet custom is so strong that I am confident, if I could + make escape at the foot of the gallows, I should be following the + same course this very evening. Upon the whole, we ought to be looked + upon as the common enemies of mankind, whose interest it is to root + us out like worms, and other mischievous vermin, against which no + fair play is required. If I have done service to men in what I have + said, I shall hope to have done service to God, and that will be + better than a silly speech made by me full of whining and canting, + which I utterly despise, and have never been used to yet such a one + I expect to have my ears tormented with as I am passing along the + streets. + + Good people, fare ye well; bad as I am, I leave many worse behind + me, and I hope you shall see me die like a man, though a death + contrary. + + E. E. + + + + +The Life of JAMES DALTON, a Thief + + +The character of this criminal is already so infamous, and his crimes so +notorious that I may spare myself any introductory observation which I +have made use of as to most of the rest with respect to his birth. He +was so unfortunate as to have the gallows hereditary to his family, his +father, who was by birth an Irishman, and in the late Wars in Flanders a +sergeant, coming over here was indicted and hanged for a street robbery. +After his death, Dalton's mother married a butcher, who, not long before +Dalton's death, was transported, and she herself for a like crime shared +in the same punishment. + +This unhappy young man himself went between his father's legs in the +cart when he made his fatal exit at Tyburn. It has, indeed, remained a +doubt whether Dalton the father were a downright thief or not; his own +friends say that he was only a cheat, and one of the most dexterous +sharpers at cards in England. It seems he fell in with some people of +his own profession, who thought he got their money too much easily, and +therefore made bold to fix him with a downright robbery. + +As for James Dalton the younger, from his infancy he was a thief and +deserved the gallows almost as soon as he wore breeches. He began his +pranks with robbing the maid where he went to school. By eleven years +old he got himself into the company of Fulsom and Field, who were +evidences against Jonathan Wild and Blueskin, and in their company +committed villainies of every denomination, such as picking pockets, +snatching hats and wigs, breaking open shops, filching bundles at dusk +of the evening. All the money they got by these practices was spent +among the common women of the town, whose company they frequented. Then +the Old Bailey and Smithfield Cloisters became the place of their +resort, from whence they carried away goods to a considerable quantity, +sold them at under-rates, and squandered away the money upon strumpets. + +Towards Smithfield and the narrow lanes and allies about it, are the +chief houses of entertainment for such people, where they are +promiscuously admitted, men or women, and have places every way fitted +for both concealing and entertainment. The man and woman of the house +frequently take their commodities off their hand at low prices, and the +women who frequent these sort of places help them off with what trifling +sums of money they receive; for though they are utterly devoid of +education, yet dinning and flattery are so perfectly practised by them, +that these bewitched young robbers make no scruple of venturing soul and +body to acquire wherewith to purchase their favours, which are +frequently attended with circumstances that would send them rotten to +their graves, if the gallows did not intercept and take them before they +are got half way. But it happened that Field was apprehended, and to +save himself immediately made an information against his companions, +named Dalton and Fulsom, whereupon they were obliged to be very cautious +and durst venture out only in the night. It happened that in Broad +Street, St. Giles's they met about twelve o'clock at night a captain in +the Foot-Guards. Dalton commanded the gentleman to surrender, but +persons of his cloth seldom parting with their money so peaceably, there +happened a skirmish, in which Fulsom knocked him down, and afterwards +they rifled him, taking some silver and a leaden shilling out of his +pocket, together with a pocket book, which had some bank notes in it, +and therefore was burnt by them for fear it should betray them. But in +this fact, Dalton, who had not even honesty enough for a thief, cheated +his companion of seven guineas and a watch. + +The woman to whom they sold their stolen goods was one Hannah Britton, +who, upon Lambert's being committed to New Prison, was named in his +information, taken up and committed to Newgate. At the sessions after +she was convicted for that offence, and thereupon whipped from Holborn +Bars to St. Giles's Pound; which proceeding so affrighted Dalton that he +resolved for a time to retire out of London. + +Thereupon he and one of his companions went down to Bristol, to see what +they could make at the Fair. But they were not over-lucky in their +country expedition, for they were apprehended for breaking a shop open, +and tried at the assizes; but the witness not being able to swear +directly to their persons, they were acquitted through the defect of +evidence. As soon as they were out of prison, Dalton returned to London +as speedily as he was able, where joining himself with the remainder of +the old gang, shortly after his arrival they broke open a toy-shop near +Holborn Bars, and carried off eight hundred pounds worth of goods, with +a pretty large sum in ready money. Of the goods they did not make above +two hundred and fifty pounds, and for the ready money, which was about +twenty pounds, they shared it amongst them. + +Dalton about that time frequenting a house near Golden Lane, found +doxies there to help him off with it, and reduced him to the necessity +of making t'other large stride in the way to Tyburn. Not long after, +therefore, he committed a robbery in the road to Islington, for which +being taken up he brought three who personated a doctor, apothecary and +surgeon at his trial, who swore that the time the robbery was said to +have been committed he was sick and even at the point of death, upon +which he was acquitted. + +But as this was a narrow escape, so his liberty was of no long +continuance, for his companion Fulsom, being apprehended for a felony, +to save himself, made an information against his comrades, and amongst +the rest named Dalton, and gave so exact an account of his haunts that h +e was quickly after apprehended, and at the ensuing sessions convicted +and ordered for transportation. + +At sea a great storm arising, they were glad to call up such of the +criminals as they thought might be of use towards managing the ship, +amongst whom was James Dalton, who no sooner was upon deck but he was +contriving to make the crew mutiny and seize the ship. In a very little +time he brought enough of them to be of his mind in order to execute +their intent, and accordingly got the fire-arms and made themselves +masters of the ship, and obliged the men to navigate her to a little +port near Cape Finisterre, in Spain, where they robbed the ship of about +a hundred pounds, and then went on shore and travelled by land to Vigo. +They were scarce got thither before the ship arrived, and the captain +charged them with the piracy they had committed; but from the lenity of +the Spanish Government, they quickly got released, without giving the +captain any satisfaction. The Governor, when they were discharged from +their confinement, gave them a pass in which, after reciting their +names, he styled them all English thieves, which putting them in no +small fright, they resolved to prevent its doing them a mischief, +committed it to the flames, and then ran the hazard of travelling the +country without one. This, accordingly, they did, until they met with a +Dutch ship, the master of which readily gave them a passage to +Amsterdam, from whence Dalton and two or three more, found means to get +over again to England, and came up to London. + +On their arrival here they fell to robbing with such fury that the +streets were hardly safe when the sun was set; but Dalton apprehending +that this trade would not lost long, resolved to make a country +expedition, in order to get out of the way. Thereupon down he went again +to his old city of refuge, Bristol. There he did not continue long +before he was apprehended for breaking open a linen-draper's shop but +the burglary not being clearly proved, the jury found him guilty of the +felony only, whereupon he was once more transported to Virginia. + +He did not continue long in that plantation before growing weary of +labour, he thought fit to threaten his master, so that the man was glad +to discharge him, and thought himself happy of getting rid of such a +servant. Upon which Dalton soon found out one Whalebone, a fellow of a +like disposition with himself; and they went about stealing boats and +negroes, running away with them and selling them in other colonies. At +last Dalton met with a ship which carried him for England. By the way he +was pressed on board the _Hampshire_ man-of-war, in which he was a +spectator of the last siege of Gibraltar.[95] + +On his return he received his wages and lived on it for a little time. +Then he with Benjamin Branch and William Field, took to snatching of +pockets. At last they took Christopher Rawlins into their society and in +a few months' time they three snatched five hundred pockets. Amongst the +rest Dalton cut off one from a woman's side at St. Andrew's, Holborn, +for which Branch being in company was taken and executed, although +Dalton and Rawlins did all they could to have made up the affair with +the prosecutor but in vain. This trade therefore being at an end, he and +his companion Rawlins fell next to robbing coaches in the streets, and +being once more apprehended, he found himself under a necessity of +making an information against his companions, six or seven of whom were +executed upon his evidence. He also received ten guineas to swear +against Nichols the peruke-maker, but after he received the money, his +conscience checked him, and though he did not return it, yet he +absolutely refused to give any evidence against him. But Neeves, who had +been taken into the same plot, went through with it, and as has been +said before, hanged him for a fact which he never committed.[96] + +A multitude of wives Dalton married during his life, and many of them +were alive at the time of his decease, four of them coming at once to +see him in Newgate when under his last misfortune, and appearing at +that time to be very friendly together. He had not been long out of +Newgate before be fell to his old practices, and a few sessions after +was apprehended, and tried for stopping the coach of an eminent +physician with an intent to rob it. For this he was sentenced to a fine +and imprisonment, which upon insulting the court was ordered to be in +one of the condemned cells in Newgate. But he did not remain long there, +being the very next sessions brought to his trial on an indictment for +robbing John Waller in a certain field or open place near the highway, +putting him in fear of his life, and taking from him twenty-five +handkerchiefs, value four pounds, five ducats value forty-eight +shillings, two guineas, a three guilder piece, a French pistol, and five +shillings in silver, on the 22nd of November, 1729. The prosecutor +deposed, that being a Holland trader, the prisoner met with him as he +was drinking at the Adam and Eve at Pancras, in his return from +Hampstead, where he had sold some goods, and received a little money; +that Dalton perceiving it grow dark, desired to walk to town with him, +and that they had a link with them, which Dalton put out in the fields, +and then knocked him down, beat him and abused him, and then robbed him +of the things mentioned in the indictment; and that he threatened to +blow his brains out if he made any noise or called for help. He swore +also to a pistol which had been produced against Dalton on a former +trial. + +In his defence the prisoner insisted peremptorily upon his innocence, +charged the prosecutor with being a common affidavit man, and a fellow +of as bad if not worse character than himself. However, in order to +falsify some circumstances which he had deposed against him, Dalton +called three witnesses, Charles North, Edward Brumfield, and John +Mitchell, who were all prisoners in Newgate, but were permitted by the +Court to come down. Some of them contradicted the prosecutor as to a +gingham waistcoat which he had swore Dalton wore in Newgate. They swore +also to the prosecutor's visiting Dalton there, and owing that he never +damaged him a farthing in his life. But the jury on the whole found him +guilty, and he received sentence of death. + +As he had little reason to hope for pardon, so he never deluded himself +with false expectations about it, but applied himself, as diligently as +he was able, to repent of those manifold sins and offences which he had +committed. He confessed very frankly the manifold crimes and horrid +enormities in which he had involved himself. He seemed to be very +sensible of that dreadful state into which his own wickedness had +plunged him. He behaved himself gravely when at public prayers at the +chapel, and applied himself with great diligence to praying and singing +of Psalms when in his cell; but as to the particular crime of which he +was convicted, that he absolutely denied from first to last, with the +strongest asseverations that not one word of all the prosecutor's +evidence was true, and indeed there has since appeared great likelihood +that he spoke nothing but the truth. + +For this Waller going on in the same fact after the death of Dalton, +became an evidence against many others, sometimes in one country by one +name, by and by in another country by another name. In Cambridgeshire, +particularly, he convicted two men for a robbery whose lives were saved +by means of the Clerk of the Peace entertaining some suspicion of this +Mr. Waller's veracity. But as practices of this sort, though they may +continue undiscovered for some time, rarely escape for good and all, so +Waller's fate came home to him at last; for a worthy magistrate +suspecting the truth of an information which he gave before him by +another name, and he coming afterwards and owning his true name to be +Waller, he was apprehended for the perjury contained in the said +examination, and committed to Newgate, and at the next sessions at the +Old Bailey received sentence for this offence to stand in the pillory +near the Seven Dials. He had scarce been exalted above five minutes, +before the mob knocked him on the head, for which fact Andrew Dalton, +who did it to revenge the death of his brother, the criminal of whom we +are now speaking, together with one Richard Griffith, at the time I am +now writing, are under sentence of death. + +But to return to James Dalton, he continued to behave uniformly and +penitently all the time he lay under conviction, and as the friends and +relations of Nichols applied themselves to him about clearing the +innocence of their deceased friend, he said that Neeves himself actually +committed the fact, which he swore upon the person they mentioned, and +that he was entirely innocent of whatever was laid to his charge. + +When the bellman came to repeat the verses, which he always does the +night before the malefactors are to die, Dalton illuminated his cell +with six candles. In his passage to the place of execution he appeared +very cheerful. When he arrived there, having once more denied in the +most solemn manner the fact for which he was to suffer, he yielded up +his breath at Tyburn, the 13th of May, 1730, being then somewhat above +thirty years of age. + +[Illustration: HIGHWAY ROBBERY OF HIS MAJESTY'S MAIL + +Two waylaid postboys are being bound back to back, while one of the +highwaymen carries off the mail-bag + +(_From the Annals of Newgate_)] + +FOOTNOTES: + + [95] On Feb. 22, 1727, when the Spaniards attacked with 20,000 + men and were repulsed with a loss of 5,000. The English lost 300. + + [96] See page 463. + + + + +The Life of HUGH HOUGHTON, _alias_ AWTON, _alias_ NORTON, who robbed +the Bristol Mail + + +This unfortunate person was the son of honest and reputable people of +Lancaster, who took care to give him a very good education, sufficient +to have fitted him for any trade whatever. Afterwards they bound him out +apprentice to a wine-cooper, to whom he served out his time very +carefully and honestly, and appeared in his temper and disposition to be +a civil, good-natured young man. For some time after his coming out of +his time, he followed his trade of a wine-cooper, but being pressed on +board a man-of-war, during the French War in the late Queen's time, he +behaved himself so well on board that he acquired the goodwill of all +his officers, attained to the degree of a midshipman, and was afterwards +gunner's mate, receiving also a title to five pound _per annum_, out of +the Pension Chest at Chatham. + +After this he came to London, married a wife and was a housekeeper in +town; and for his better support got himself into the Horse Guards, +where he served with reputation, until some small time before his death, +when some clothes of value being taken away, and he being strongly +suspected on that score was dismissed the service, whereby he fell into +great difficulties for want of money. + +It seems that for many months before his death he had frequented the +house of one Mr. Marlow, and was indebted to him for a considerable sum +of money, but one day he came and discharged it, having for that purpose +changed a twenty pound bank-note at a brewer's not far distant. But the +Bristol mail happening about that time to be robbed, and the bank-note, +after various circulations, being discovered to be one of those taken +out of it, Houghton was thereupon seized and committed, being at the +next sessions brought to his trial at the Old Bailey for the fact, when +the course of the evidence appeared against him as follows. He was +arraigned on an indictment for dealing from Stephen Crouches, on the +King's highway, after putting him in fear, a sorrel gelding value five +pounds, the property of Thomas Ostwich, a mail value four pounds, and +fifty leather bags, value five pounds, the property of our Sovereign +Lord the King, on the first of March, 1730. + +Stephen Crouches deposed that on the day laid in the indictment, he was +going with the Bristol and Gloucester mail, being near Knightsbridge, a +man of the prisoner's size, who spoke like him, came out of the gateway +and bid him stand; that he laid the horse to the farther side of a +field, commanded him to show him the Bristol bag, which he took and went +off with the horse, leaving this evidence bound with his hands behind +him, threatening to murder him in case he made the least noise. + +Daniel Burton deposed that the prisoner Houghton had more than once +proposed to him the robbing of the Bristol mail, and upon his refusing +to be concerned in it, would then have had him rob their landlady, Mrs. +Marlow, which when her husband came to know, he turned him out of doors. + +The next witness that was called was Mr. Marlow, who deposed that on the +2nd of March, the prisoner Houghton paid him five pounds which was owing +to him, having changed for that purpose a bank-note of twenty pounds at +Mr. Broadhead's the brewer. Then the note itself was produced, which had +been paid by Mr. Broadhead to Mr. King, a factor, and by him to Mr. +Dictorine's man, in Thames Street, and by him again to the servant of +Messrs. Knight and Jackson, by whom it was brought into Court, an +endorsement being upon it not to be paid till the fifth of May. But Mr. +Marlow being asked as to his being acquainted by Burton with the +prisoner's attempts to persuade him to robbing the Bristol mail, and +afterwards robbing his house, Mr. Marlow answered that he did not +remember he had ever been told such a thing, but that he did indeed know +the prisoner together with one Masa, was for scandalous practices turned +out of the Guards. + +William Burligh deposed that he took out of the prisoner's pocket a +pocket-book in which was several notes, which pocket-book the prisoner +said he took up in Covent Garden. Mr. Langley, the Turnkey of Newgate, +deposed that after he was committed to his custody, he searched his +pocket and found therein three bank-notes of Mr. Hoare, which he gave to +Mr. Archer. Mr. Archer deposed that he did receive such notes, which +were so taken as had been before sworn by Mr. Langley. + +There were some other persons produced who swore to some slips of +leather which were found in Houghton's lodgings, and which were believed +to be cut out of the bag which were taken from the Bristol Mail. The +prisoner in his defence said he believed there was a trap laid for him +and exclaimed against Burton. Two women positively deposed that Houghton +all that night was not out of his lodgings. But the jury notwithstanding +that, gave so much credit to the evidence offered for the King, that +they found him guilty. + +Under sentence of death, he said that he had hitherto lived free from +most of those enormous vices into which criminals are usually plunged, +who came to his unhappy fate. He said that through the course of his +life he had always been a good husband, a loving parent, and had +provided carefully for his family; that he had served the Government +twelve years by land, and twelve years by sea, and in all that time +never had any reflection upon him until the unhappy accident in the +Guards, which he said he was not guilty of, and had been since confessed +by another man. + +As to the fact for which he was to die, he said that the same day the +mail was robbed (which was on a Sunday morning) at six or seven o'clock +he found a bundle of papers which he took up, and perceived them to be a +parcel taken out of the Bristol mail, and therefore having perused them +carefully, and taken out of them such as he judged proper, he being at +that time out of business and in great want, put up the rest of them in +a sheet of paper, directed to the Post Master General, and laid them +down in the box-house at Lincoln's Inn Fields, being afraid to go with +them to the office, because a great reward was offered for the robber. +And that he, having changed a twenty-pound bank-note, paid five pounds +of it away to his landlord, Mr. Marlow. He reflected also very severely +on the evidence given against him by Mr. Burton, which he said was the +very reverse of the truth. Burton having often solicited him to go upon +the highway as the shortest method of easing his misfortunes and +bringing them both money. + +As he persisted in averring the confession he made to be the truth, it +was objected to him that it was a story, the most improbable in the +world, that when a man had hazarded his life to rob the Bristol mail, he +should then throw away all the booty, and leave it in such a place as +Covent Garden, for any stranger to take up as he came by; yet neither +this nor anything else that could be said to him had so much weight as +to move him to a free confession of his guilt, but on the contrary, he +gave greater and more evident signs of a sullen, morose and reserved +disposition, spoke little, desired not to be interrupted, made general +confessions of his sins, pleased himself with high conceits of the +Divine Mercy, and endeavoured as much as possible to avoid conferences +with anybody, and especially declined speaking of that offence for which +he was to die. + +When he first came to Newgate, the keepers had, it seems, a strong +apprehension that he would attempt something against his own life, and +upon this suspicion they were very careful of him, and enjoined a barber +who shaved him in prison to be so, lest he should take that occasion to +cut his throat. Yet nothing of this happened until the day of his +execution, when the keepers coming to him in the morning, found him +praying very devoutly in his cell; but about twenty minutes after, going +thither again, they perceived he had fastened his sword belt which he +wore always about him to the grate of the window which looked out of +his cell, to the end of which he tied his handkerchief, and having then +adjusted that about his neck, he strangled himself with it, and was dead +when the keepers opened the doors to look in. + +The Ordinary makes this remark upon his exit, that it is to be feared he +was a hypocrite and that little of what he said can be believed. For my +part, I am far from taking upon me either to enter into the breasts of +men or pretend to set bounds to the mercy of God, and therefore without +any further remarks, shall conclude his life with informing my readers +that at the time he put an end to his own being, he was about +forty-eight years of age, and a man in his person and behaviour very +unlikely to have been such a one as it is to be feared (notwithstanding +all his denials) he really was. + + + + +The Life of JOHN DOYLE, a Highwayman + + +When once men have plunged themselves so far into sensual pleasures as +to lose all sense of any other delight than that arises from the +gratification of the senses, there is no great cause of wonder if they +addict themselves to illegal methods of gaining wherewith to purchase +such enjoyments; since the want of virtue easily draws on the loss of +all other principles, nor can it be hoped from a man who has delivered +himself over to the dominion of these vices that he should stop short at +the lawful means of obtaining money by which alone he can be enabled to +possess them. + +Common women are usually the first bane of those unhappy persons who +forfeit their lives to the Law as the just punishment of their offences; +these women, I say, are so far from having the least concern whether +their paramours run any unhappy courses to obtain the sums necessary to +supply their mutual extravagance, that on the contrary they are ever +ready, by oblique hints and insinuations, to put them upon such +dangerous exploits which as they are sure to reap the fruits of, so +sometimes when they grow weary of them, they find it an easy method to +get rid of them and at the same time put money in their own pockets. Yet +so blind are these unhappy wretches, that although such things fall out +yearly, yet they are never to be warned, but run into the snare with as +much readiness as if they were going unto the possession of certain and +lasting happiness. + +But to come to the adventures of the unhappy person whose life we are +going to relate. John Doyle was born in the town of Carrough, in +Ireland, and of very honest parents who gave him as good education as +could be expected in that country, instructing him in writing and +accounts, and made some progress in Latin. When he was fit for a trade, +his friends agreed to put him out, and not thinking they should find a +master good enough for him in a country place, they sent him to Dublin, +and bound him to a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler in St. Thomas's +Street, whom he faithfully served seven years, and his master gave him a +good character. Being out of his time, his master prevailed with him to +work journey-work for him, which he did for nine months; but having got +acquainted by that time with some of the town ladies and pretending to +his friends that he was in hopes of better business, his friends +remitted him fifty pounds to help him forward. + +He lived well while that money lasted, but when it was almost spent, he +knew not what to turn himself to, for working did not agree with him. He +took a resolution to come to England, and on the 19th of April, 1715, he +came over in a packet-boat. Having no more money left than three pounds +ten shillings, and not seeing which way he could get a further supply +unless he went to work, which he could not endure, he resolved to rob on +the highway; and to fit him for it, he bought a pair of pistols at West +Chester which cost him forty shillings. He continued in that city till +the Chester coach was to go for London. At four miles distant from the +town he attacked it, and robbed four passengers that were in it of +fourteen pounds, six shillings and ninepence, two silver watches and a +mourning ring, which was the first attempt of that kind that ever he +made in his life; then he went off a by-way undiscovered. + +Having got a pretty good booty, he travelled across the country to +Shrewsbury, and having stayed there about two days, he happened to meet +a man that had been formerly a collector on the road, who had a horse to +sell. He bought the horse for seven guineas, though indeed it was worth +twenty, as it proved afterwards; no man soever was master of a better +bred horse for the highway. He was not willing to stay long at +Shrewsbury, so he went from thence and going along the country, met two +ladies in a small chaise, with only one servant and a pair of horses. He +robbed them of a purse with twenty-nine half guineas, nine shillings in +silver and twopence brass, and two gold watches. The servant who rode by +had a case of pistols which he took from him, and then made off +undiscovered. His horse at that time was much better acquainted with +coming up to a coach door than he was. Sometime afterwards he passed +across the country, and came to Newbury, in Berkshire, where he +remained for about fourteen days, during which time he was very reserved +and kept no company. But growing weary, he departed from that place the +same morning that the Newbury coach was to set out for London: and when +it was about five miles distant from the town of Newbury, he came up to +the coach door, and making a ceremony, as became a man of business, +demanded their all, which they very readily consented to deliver, which +proved to be about twenty-nine pounds in money, a silver watch, a plain +wedding ring, a tortoiseshell snuff box, and a very good whip. + +There was also a family ring which a gentleman begged very hard for, +whereupon by his earnest application he gave it back, and the man +assured him he would never appear against him. He was a man of honour, +for he happened to meet him some time after at the Rummer and Horseshoe +in Drury Lane, where he treated Doyle handsomely, and showed him the +ring, and withal declared that he would not be his enemy on any account +whatsoever. + +Doyle being at this time a young beginner, thought what he got for the +preceding time to be very well, and in a few days after this arrived at +Windsor, where he stayed one night, and there being a gentleman's family +bound for London, that lay that night at the Mermaid Inn in the town, he +changed his lodging and removed to the inn; and having stayed there that +night, he minded where they put their valuable baggage up. The next +morning he paid his reckoning and came away, and got about four miles +out of the town before them; then coming up and making the usual +ceremony, he demanded their money, watches and rings. The gentleman in +the coach pulled out a blunderbuss, but Doyle soon quelled him by +clapping a pistol to his nose, telling him that if he stirred hand or +foot he was a dead man. Then he made him give his blunderbuss first, +then his money which was fifty guineas, fifteen shillings in silver, and +five-pence in brass, a woman's gold watch and a pocket book in which +were seven bank-notes, which the gentleman said he took that day in +order to pay his servants' wages. After this he made the best of his way +to London and got into James's Street, Westminster, where he drank a +pint of wine, and then crossed over to Lambeth, and put up his horse at +the Red Lion Inn, and stayed there that night. + +The next morning he came to the Coach and Horses in Old Palace Yard, +Westminster, where he dined, and about seven at night departed from +thence and went to the Phoenix gaming-house in the Haymarket, to which +place, he said, he believed a great many owe their ruin. He remained +some time at the Phoenix, and seeing them gaming hard, he had a mind to +have a touch at it; when coming into the ring he took the box in his +turn, and in about thirty minutes lost thirty-seven pounds, which broke +him. But having some watches about him, he went immediately to the Three +Bowls in Market Lane, St. James, and pawned a gold watch for sixteen +guineas; and returning back to the Phoenix went to gaming a second time, +and in less than an hour recovered his money and forty-three pounds +more. And seeing an acquaintance there he took him to the Cardigan's +Head tavern, Charing Cross, and made merry. That night he lay at the +White Bear in Piccadilly, and stayed there until the next evening, after +which, having paid his reckoning, he went to Lambeth to his landlord who +had his horse in his care, and remained there that night. The next +morning he went away having discharged the house. + +Having then a pretty sum of money about him, he had an inclination to +see the country of Kent, and accordingly went that day to Greenwich, and +put up his horse while he went to see the Hospital; and having baited +the horse he parted from thence, and going over Blackheath, he happened +to meet a gentleman, who proved to be Sir Gregory Page. Doyle took what +money he had about him, which was about seventy guineas in a green +purse, a watch, two gold seals and eighteen pence in silver. That night +he rode away to Maidstone, and from thence to Canterbury. + +In a few days he returned to London, and was for a long time silent, +even for about six months, and never robbed or made an attempt to rob +any man, but kept his horse in a very good order, and commonly went in +an afternoon to Hampstead, sometimes to Richmond, or to Hackney. In +short, he knew all the roads about London in less than six months as +well as any man in England. His money beginning now to grow short, not +having turned out so long, and the keeping his horse on the other hand +being costly, he resolved that his horse should pay for his own keeping, +and turned out one evening and robbed a Jew of seventy-five pounds, and +of his and his lady's watches, a gold box and some silver, and returned +to town undiscovered. The next day Doyle went Brentford way, and coming +to Turnham Green stayed some time at the Pack Horse, where he saw two +Quakers on horseback. He rode gently after them till they got to +Hounslow Heath, where he secured what money they had, which was +something above a hundred pounds. They begged hard for some money back, +when he gave them a guinea, taking from them their spurs and whips, and +at some distance threw them away. Those two men, as he found some days +after by the papers, were two meal factors that were going to High +Wycombe market in Buckinghamshire, to buy either wheat or flour. + +This last being a pretty good booty, he had a mind afterwards to go for +Ireland and accordingly set out for his journey thither. He took +shipping at King's Road near Bristol, on board a small vessel bound to +Waterford, where he arrived and stayed at the Eagle in Waterford three +days, and from thence went directly to Dublin. Doyle was not long in +Dublin before he became acquainted with his wife, whom he courted for +some time and was extravagant in spending his money on her. He also soon +got acquainted with one N. B., a man now alive, and they turned out +together. None was able to stand against them, for they had everything +that came in their way, and in plain terms, there was not a man that +carried money about him, within eight miles of Dublin, but if they met +him they were sure to get what he had. + +Being grown so wicked Doyle was at length taken for a robber and +committed to Newgate, then kept by one Mr. Hawkins, who used him so +barbarously that he wished himself out of his hands. Accordingly he got +his irons off and broke out of the gaol. Hawkins knowing all the +bums[97] in Dublin, sent them up and down the city to take him, but to +no purpose. However, they rooted him fairly out of that neighbourhood. + +Then he returned to Waterford, where he appointed his wife and friend +should meet him, which they did; and in about four hours after he came +there he found them out, and there being a ship bound for Bristol, he +sent them on board, agreed with the captain and went himself on board +the same night. They hoisted their sails and got down to the Passage +near Waterford, but the wind proving contrary, they were obliged to +return back, and then concluded it was determined for Doyle to be taken; +which he had been had he kept on board, but he luckily got on shore, +when it was agreed to go to Cork. There they met with an honest cock of +a landlord, and he kept himself very private, making the poor man +believe that his companion and he were two that were raising men for the +Chevalier's[98] service, and that their keeping so private proceeded +from a fear of being discovered. The poor man had then a double regard +for them, he being a lover in his heart of ----. Doyle then sent his +wife to seek for a ship; but Hawkins having pursued him from Dublin, +happened to see her, and dogged her to the ship where she went on board, +sending officers to search, for he was sure he should find him there. He +was mistaken, but they took his poor wife up to see if they could make +her discover where he was, and ordered a strong guard to bring her to +Cork gaol. A boat was provided to bring her on shore, but she telling +the men some plausible stories that her husband was not the man they +represented him to be, one of the watermen having stripped off his +clothes in order to row, and there being a great many honest fellows in +the boat, they assisted her in putting on waterman's clothes, which as +soon as done, she fairly got away from them, and came and acquainted +Doyle that Hawkins was in town, and how she had been in danger. They +then concluded on leaving Cork, hired horses that night, and came to a +place called Mallow, within ten miles of Cork. The next day they +travelled to Limerick, where Doyle bought a horse, bridle, etc., and +went towards Galloway, and in all his journey round about got but two +prizes, which did not amount to above fifteen pounds. + +Sometime after, his wife was transported, which gave him a great deal of +concern, and he could not be in any way content without her. So getting +some money together he went to Virginia, and having arrived there soon +met with her, having had intelligence where to enquire for her. The +first house be came into was one William Dalton's, who had some days +before bought the late noted James Dalton,[99] who was then his servant, +whom he very often used to send along with Doyle in his boat to put him +on board a ship. Then he thought it his best way to buy his wife's +liberty, which he did, paying fifteen pounds for it. + +He had then a considerable deal of money about him, and removed from +that part of the country where she was known and went to New York. Being +arrived there he soon got acquainted with some of his countrymen, with +whom be had used to go a-hunting and to the horse races; so be spent +some time in seeing the country. By chance he came to hear of a namesake +of his, that lived in an island a little distant from New York, and +being willing to see any of his name, he sent for him, and according to +Doyle's request, he wrote to him that he would come the next day, which +he did, and proved to be his uncle. The old man was overjoyed to see +Doyle, and carried him home with him, where he stayed a long time, and +spent a great deal of money. + +His uncle was very much affronted at Doyle's ill-treatment of the +natives, whom he severely beat, insomuch that the whole place was afraid +of him, and all intended to join and take the Law of him. Soon after he +departed from New York and went to Boston, where he remained some time, +and at length he resolved within himself to settle and work at his +trade, thinking it better to do so than to spend all his money, and be +obliged to return to England or Ireland without a penny in his pocket. +He did so, and having agreed with a master he went to work, and was very +saving and frugal. + +He remained with that man till by his wife's industry he had got, +including what was his own, about two hundred pounds English money. Then +he advised his wife to go for Ireland in the first ship that was bound +that way, laying all her money out to twenty pounds, and shipped the +goods which he had brought on board for her account. She then went to +Ireland and Doyle for England, promising to go over to her as soon as he +could get some money, for he had then an inclination to leave off his +old trade of collecting. + +Being arrived at London, he met with a certain person with whom he +joined, and as he himself terms it, never had man a braver companion, +for let him push at what he would, his new companion never flinched one +inch. They turned out about London for some time, and got a great deal +of money, for nothing hardly missed them. They used a long time the +roads about Hounslow, Hampstead, and places adjacent, until the papers +began to describe them, on which they went into Essex, and robbed +several graziers, farmers and others. Then they went to Bishop's +Stortford, in Hertfordshire, where they robbed one man in particular who +had his money tied up under his arm in a great purse. Doyle says that he +had some intelligence from a friend that the man had money about him, he +made him strip in buff, and then found out where he lodged it, and took +it, but he did not use him in any way ill, for he says it was the man's +business to conceal it, as much as his to discover it. + +Doyle and his partner hearing of a certain fair which was to be held a +few days after, they resolved to go to it, and coming there took notice +who took most money. In the evening they took their horses, and about +three miles distant from the town there was a green, over which the +people were obliged to come from the fair. There came a great many +graziers and farmers, whom they robbed of upwards of eight hundred +pounds. At this time Doyle had in money and valuable things, such as +diamonds, rings, watches, to the amount of about sixteen hundred pounds. +His partner had also a great deal of money, but not so much as Doyle, by +reason that he (D) had got some very often which he had no right to have +a share of. + +Doyle went again for Ireland, and carried all his money with him, and +having a great many poor relations, distributed part of it amongst them; +some he lent, which he could never get again, and in a little his money +grew short, having frequented horse races and all public places. +However, before all was spent he returned to England. Following his old +course of life, he happened into several broils, with which a little +money and a few friends he got over. In a short space of time he became +acquainted with Benjamin Wileman. They two, with another person +concerned with them, committed several robberies. At length they were +discovered, apprehended and committed to Newgate. Wileman, it seems, had +an itching to become an evidence against Doyle and W. G. But Doyle made +himself an evidence, being really, as he said, for his own preservation +and not for the sake of any reward. + +Doyle's wife being for a second time transported, he went with her in +the same ship, and having arrived in Virginia, slaved there some time, +until he began to grow weary of the place. But as he was always too +indulgent to her, he bought her her liberty, and shipped her and himself +on board the first ship that came to England, when in seven weeks time +they arrived in the Downs. Soon after they came up to England, but were +not long in town before his wife was taken up for returning from +transportation, and committed to Newgate, where she remained until the +sessions following, and being brought upon her trial, pleaded guilty. + +When they came to pass sentence upon her, she produced his Majesty's +most gracious pardon, and was admitted to bail to plead the same, and +thereupon discharged. Doyle, a short time after, went to the West of +England, where he slaved some time, following his old way of life; and +associating himself with a certain companion, got a considerable sum of +money, and came to Marlborough. And having continued some time in that +neighbourhood, they usually kept the markets, where they commonly +cleared five pounds a day. Going from Marlborough they came to +Hungerford, and put up their horses at the George Inn; and having +ordered something for dinner, saw some graziers on the road, but one of +them being an old sportsman, and a brother tradesman of Doyle's +formerly, he knew the said Doyle immediately, by the description given +of him, and very honestly came to him, and told him that he had a charge +of money about him, and withal begged that he would not hurt him, since +he had made so ingenuous a confession, desiring Doyle to make the best +of his way to another part of the country, telling him at the same time +where he lived in London, and that if he should act honourably by him, +he would put a thousand pounds in his pocket in a month's time. +According to the grazier's directions, Doyle and his companions +departed, but having met, as Doyle phrases it, with a running chase in +their cross way, which they had taken for safety, they were obliged to +return back into the main road again, and by accident put up at the same +inn where the grazier and his companions were that evening. The grazier, +as soon as he saw Doyle, came in and drank a bottle with him, and then +retired to his companions, without taking any manner of notice of him. + +As they came for London, they took everything that came into their net, +and in three days time Doyle paid his brother sportsman, the grazier, a +visit, who received him handsomely, and appointed him to meet him the +next market day at the Greyhound in Smithfield, in order to make good +part of his promise to him. Doyle and his companion went to him, put up +their horses at the same inn and passed for country farmers. This +grazier, who formerly had been one of the same profession being now +grown honest and bred a butcher, was then turned salesman in Smithfield, +and sold cattle for country graziers, and sent them their money back by +their servants who had brought the cattle to town. Having drunk a glass +of wine together, they began to talk about business, and the grazier +being obliged to go into the market to sell some beasts, desired Doyle +and his companion to stay there until he returned. When he came he gave +them some little instructions how they should proceed in an affair he +had then in view to serve then in, and having taken his advice, they +rode out of town; and it being a West Country fair they rode Turnham +Green way. + +They had not time to drink a pint of wine before the West Country +chapman came ajogging along. They took two hundred and forty pounds from +him, making (as D. terms it) a much quicker bargain with him than he had +done with the butcher at Smithfield. The chapman begged hard for some +money to carry him home to his family, and after they had given him two +guineas, he said to them that he had often travelled that road with five +hundred pounds about him, and never had been stopped. To which Doyle +replied, that half the highwaymen who frequented the road were but mere +old women, otherwise he would never have had that to brag of, and then +parted. Doyle says that the honest man at Smithfield had poundage of him +as well as from the grazier, so that he acted in a double capacity. + +That night they came to London, and having put up their horses, put on +other clothes and went to Smithfield, where not finding the butcher at +home, they write a note and left it for an appointment to meet him at +the Horn Tavern in Fleet Street, where they had not stayed long before +he came. After taking a cheerful glass they talked the story over, and +out of the booty Doyle gave turn fifty guineas, after which the butcher +promised to be his friend upon a better affair. After paying the +reckoning they parted and appointed to meet the next market day at +Smithfield. + +They went at the time appointed, and having drank a morning glass, +stepped into the market and stayed some time. Their brother sportsman +being very busy, he made excuse to Doyle and his companion, telling them +there was nothing to be done in their way till the evening, desiring +them to be patient. They remained in and about Smithfield till then, and +market being entirely over, their friend came up to the place appointed, +and showed them a man on horseback to whom he had just paid fifty +pounds. Doyle and his companion immediately called for their horses, +took leave of their friend, and kept in sight of the countryman until he +was out of town. And when he was got near the Adam and Eve, at +Kensington, they came up to him, and made a ceremony, as became men of +their profession. He was very unwilling to part from his money, making +an attempt to ride away, but they soon overtook him, and after some +dispute took every penny that he received in Smithfield, and for his +residing gave him back only a crown to bear his charges home. In his +memoirs Doyle makes this observation, that they always robbed between +sun and sun, so that the persons robbed might make the county pay them +that money back if they thought fit to sue them for it.[100] Next +morning Doyle and his companion came to the place appointed, and not +meeting with their brother sportsman sent for him, where they drank +together, and talked as usual about business, paying him poundage out of +what money they had collected on his information (for they usually dealt +with him as a custom-house officer does by an informer); after which +they parted for that time, and did not meet for a month after. + +Afterwards they went up and down Hertfordshire, but got scarce money +enough to bear their expenses; but where there were small gettings they +lived the more frugally, for Doyle observed that if the country did not +bear their expenses wherever he travelled, he thought it very hard, and +that if he failed of gaming one day, he commonly got as much the next as +he could well destroy. + +Hitherto we have kept very close to those memoirs which Mr. Doyle left +behind him, which I did with this view, that my readers might have some +idea of what these people think of themselves. I shall now bring you to +the conclusion of his story, by informing you that finding himself beset +at the several lodgings which he kept by way of precaution, he for some +days behaved himself with much circumspection; but happening to forget +his pistols, he was seized, coming out of an inn in Drury Lane, and +though he made as much resistance as he was able, yet they forced him +unto a coach and conveyed him to Newgate. It is hard to say what +expectations he entertained after he was once apprehended, but it is +reasonable to believe that he had strong hopes of life, notwithstanding +his pleading guilty at his trial, for he dissembled until the time of +the coming down of a death warrant, and then declared he was a Roman +Catholic, and not a member of the Church of England, as he had hitherto +pretended. + +He seemed to be a tolerably good-natured man, but excessively vicious at +the same time that he was extravagantly fond of the woman he called his +wife. He took no little pleasure in the relations of those adventures +which happened to him in his exploits on the highway, and expressed +himself with much seeming satisfaction, because as he said, he had never +been guilty of beating or using passengers ill, much less of wounding or +attempting to murder them. In general terms, he pretended to much +penitence, but whether it was that he could not get over the natural +vivacity of his own temper, or that the principles of the Church of +Rome, as is too common a case, proved a strong opiate in his conscience, +however it was, I say, Doyle did not seem to have any true contrition +for his great and manifold offences. On the contrary, he appeared with +some levity, even when on the very point of death. + +He went to execution in a mourning coach; all the way he read with much +seeming attention in a little Popish manual, which had been given him by +one of his friends. At the tree he spoke a little to the people, told +them that his wife had been a very good wife to him, let her character +in other respects be what it would. Then he declared he had left behind +him memoirs of his life and conduct, to which he had nothing to add +there, and from which I have taken verbatim a great part of what I have +related. And then, having nothing more to offer to the world, he +submitted to death on the first of June, 1730, but in what year of his +age I cannot say. + +However, before I make an end of what relates to Mr. Doyle, it would be +proper to acquaint the public that the vanity of his wife extended so +far as to make a pompous funeral for him at St. Sepulchre's church, +whereat she, as chief mourner assisted, and was led by a gentleman whom +the world suspected to be of her husband's employment. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [97] i.e., bailiffs, informers and spies. + + [98] The Pretender, whose name was only to be mentioned with + baited breath. + + [99] See page 533. + + [100] Passengers robbed on the highway between sunrise and + sunset, could sue the county for the amount of their loss, it + being the duty of the officials to keep the roads safe. + + + + +The Life of JOHN YOUNG, a Highwayman + + +I have more than once remarked in the course of these memoirs that of +all crimes, cruelty makes men the most generally hated, and that from +this reasonable cause, that they seem to have taken up an aversion to +their own kind. This was remarkably the case of the unhappy man of whom +we are now speaking. + +He was, it seems, the son of very honest and industrious parents, his +father being a gardener at Kensington. From him he received as good an +education as it was in his power to give him, and was treated with all +the indulgence that could be expected from a tender parent; and it seems +that after five years' stay at school, he was qualified for any business +whatsoever. So after consulting his own inclinations he was put out +apprentice to a coach-maker in Long Acre, where he stayed not long; but +finding all work disagreeable to him, he therefore resolved to be gone, +let the consequence be what it would. When this resolve was once taken, +it was but a very short time before it was put into execution. Living +now at large, and not knowing how to gain money enough to support +himself, and therefore being in very great straits, he complied with the +solicitations of some hackney-coachmen, who advised him to learn their +trade. They took some pains to instruct him, employed him often, and in +about six months time he became perfect master of his business, and +drove for Mr. Blunt, in Piccadilly. His behaviour here was so honest +that Mr. Blunt gave him a good character, and he thereby obtained the +place of a gentleman's coachmen. In a short time he saved money and +began to have some relish for an honest life; and continuing +industriously to hoard up what he received either in wages or vales +[tips] at last by these methods he drew together a very considerable sum +of money. + +And then it came into his head to settle himself in an honest way of +life, in which design his father gave him all the encouragement that was +in his power, telling him in order to do it, he should marry an honest, +virtuous woman. Whereupon, with the advice and consent of his parents, +he married a young woman of a reputable family from Kentish Town, who, +as to fortune, brought him a pretty little addition to his own savings, +so that altogether he had, according to his own account, a very pretty +competency wherewith to begin the world. + +For some time after his marriage he indulged himself in living without +employment, but finding such a course wasted his little stock very fast, +he began to apply his thoughts to the consideration of what course was +the most likely to get his bread in. After beating his brains for some +little time on this subject he at last resolved on keeping a +public-house; which agreeing very well with his father's and relations' +notions, he thereupon immediately took the King's Arms, in Red Lion +Street, where for some time he continued to have very good business. In +all, he remained there about five years, and might in that time have got +a very pretty sum of money if he had not been so unhappy as to grow +proud, as soon as he had anything in his pocket. It was not long, +therefore, before he gave way to his own roving disposition, going over +to Ireland, where he remained for a considerable space, living by his +wits as he expresses it, or, in the language of honest people, by +defrauding others. + +But Ireland is a country where such sort of people are not likely to +support themselves long; money is far from being plentiful, and though +the common people are credulous in their nature, yet tradesmen and the +folks of middling ranks are as suspicious as any nation in the world. +The county of West Meath was the place where he had fixed his residence +for the greatest part of the time he continued in the island, but at +last it grew too hot for him. The inhabitants became sensible of his way +of living, and gave him such disturbance that he found himself under an +indispensable necessity of quitting that place as soon as possibly he +could; and so having picked up as much money as would pay for his +passage, he came over again into England, out of humour with rambling +while he felt the uneasiness it had brought upon him, but ready to take +it up again as soon as ever his circumstances were made a little easy, +which in his present condition was not likely to happen in haste. + +His friends received him very coldly, his parents had it not in their +power to do more for him. In a word, the countenance of the world +frowned upon him, and everybody treated him with that disdain and +contempt which his foolish behaviour deserved. However, instead of +reclaiming him, this forced him upon worse courses. His wife, it seems, +either died in his absence, or was dead before he went abroad, and soon +after his return he contracted an acquaintance with a woman, who was at +that time cook in the family of a certain bishop; her he courted and a +short time after, married. She brought him not only some ready money, +but also goods to a pretty large value. Young being not a bit mended by +his misfortunes, squandered away the first in a very short time, and +turned the last into ready money. However, these supplies were of not +very long continuance, and with much importunity his friends, in order, +if it were possible, to keep him honest, got him in a small place in +the Revenue, and he was put in as one of the officers to survey +candles. In this post he continued for about a twelvemonth, and then +relapsing into his former idle and profligate courses, he was quickly +suspected and thereby put to his shifts again, though his wife at that +time was in place, and helped him very frequently with money. + +This, it seems, was too servile a course for a man of Mr. Young's spirit +to take, so that he picked up as much as bought him a pair of pistols, +and then went upon the highway, to which it seems the foolish pride of +not being dependant upon his wife did at that time not a little +contribute. In his first adventure in this new employment, he got +fifteen guineas, but being in a very great apprehension of a pursuit, +his fears engaged him to fly down to Bristol, in order, if it were +possible, to avoid them. After staying there some considerable time, he +began at last to take heart, and to fancy he might be forgotten. Upon +these hopes he resolved with himself to come up towards London again; +and taking advantage of a person travelling with him to Uxbridge, he +made use of every method in his power to insinuate himself into his +fellow traveller's good graces. This he effected, insomuch that at High +Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, as Young himself told the story, he +prevailed on him to lend him three half-crowns to defray his expenses, +pretending that he had some friend or relation hard by who would repay +him. But unfortunately for the man, he had talked too freely of a sum of +money which he pretended to have about him. It thereupon raised an +inclination in Young to strip him and rob him of this supposed great +prize; for which purpose he attacked him in a lone place, and not only +threatened him with shooting him, but as he pretended, by his hand +shaking, was as good as his word, and actually wounded him in such a +manner as he in all probability at that time took to be mortal; but +taking advantage of the condition in which the poor man was, he made the +best of his way off, and was so lucky as to escape for the present, +although that crime brought him afterwards to his execution. + +When he had considered a little the nature of the fact which he had +committed, it appeared even to himself of so black and barbarous a +nature that he resolved to fly to the West of England, in order to +remain there for some time. But from this he was deterred by looking +into a newspaper and finding himself advertised there; the man whom he +had shot being also said to be dead, this put him into such a +consternation that he returned directly to London, and going to a place +hard by where his wife lived, he sent for her, and told her that he was +threatened with an unfortunate affair which might be of the greatest +ill-consequence to him if he should be discovered. She seemed to be +extremely moved at his misfortunes, and gave him what money she could +spare, which was not a little, insomuch that Young at last began to +suspect she made bold now and then to borrow of her mistress; but if she +did, that was a practice he could forgive her. At last he proposed +taking a lodging for himself at Horsely Down,[101] as a place the +likeliest for him to be concealed in. There his wife continued to supply +him, until one Sunday morning she came in a great hurry and brought with +her a pretty handsome parcel of guineas. Young could not help suspecting +she did not come very honestly by them. However, if he had the money he +troubled not his head much which way he came by it, and he had so good a +knack of wheedling her that he got twenty pounds out of her that Sunday. + +A very few days after, intelligence was got of his retreat, and the man +whom he had robbed and shot made so indefatigable a search after him, +that he was taken up and committed to the New Gaol, and his wife, a very +little time after, was committed to Newgate for breaking open her lady's +escrutoire, and robbing her of a hundred guineas. This was what Young +said himself and I repeat it because I have his memoirs before me. Yet +in respect to truth, I shall be obliged to say something of another +nature in its due place; but to go on with our narration according to +the time in which facts happened. + +A _Habeas Corpus_ was directed to the sheriff of Surrey, whereupon Young +was brought to Newgate, and at the next sessions of the Old Bailey was +indicted for the aforesaid robbery, which was committed in the county of +Middlesex. The charge against him was for assaulting Thomas Stinton, in +a field or open place near the Highway, and taking from him a mare of +the value of seven pounds, a bridle value one shilling and sixpence, a +saddle value twelve shillings, three broad-pieces of gold and nine +shillings in silver, at the same time putting the said Thomas Stinton in +fear of his life. + +Upon this indictment the prosecutor deposed that meeting with the +prisoner about seven miles on this side of Bristol, and being glad of +each other's company, they continued and lodged together till they came +to Oxford; where the prisoner complaining that he was short of money, +the prosecutor lent him a crown out of his pocket, and at Loudwater, the +place where they lodged next night, he lent him half a crown more. The +next morning they came for London, and being a little on this side of +Uxbridge, Young said he had a friend in Hounslow who would advance him +the money which he had borrowed from the prosecutor, and thereupon +desired Mr. Stinton to go with him thither, to which he agreed; and +Young thereupon persuaded him to go by a nearer way, and under that +pretence after making him leap hedges and ditches, at last brought him +to a place by the river side, where on a sudden he knocked him off his +horse, and that with such force that he made the blood gush out of his +nose and mouth. + +As soon as Young perceived that the prosecutor had recovered his senses +a little, he demanded his money, to which Mr. Stinton replied, _Is this +the manner in which you treat your friend? You see, I have not strength +to give you anything._ Whereupon Young took from him his pocket-book and +money. And Mr. Stinton earnestly entreating that he would give him +somewhat to bear his expenses home, in answer thereto Young said, _Ay, +I'll give you what shall carry you home straight_, and then shot him in +the neck, and pushing him down into the ditch, said, _Lie there._ Some +time after with much ado, Mr. Stinton crawled out and got to a house, +but saw no more of the prisoner, or of either of their mares. + +George Hartwell deposed that he helped both the prisoner and the +prosecutor to the inn where they lay at Oxford. Sarah Howard deposed +that she kept the inn or house where they lodged at Loudwater the night +before the robbery was committed. And all the witnesses, as well as the +prosecutor being positive to the person of the prisoner, the charge +seemed to be as fully proved as it was possible for a thing of that +nature to admit. + +The prisoner in his defence did not pretend to deny the fact, but as +much as he was able endeavoured to extenuate it. He said, that for his +part he did not know anything of the mare; that the going off the pistol +was merely accidental; that he did, indeed, take the money, and +therefore, did not expect any other than to suffer death, but that it +would be a great satisfaction to him, even in his last moments, that he +neither had or ever intended to commit any murder. But those words in +the prosecutor's evidence, _I'll give you something to carry you home_, +and _Lie there_ (that is in the ditch) being mentioned in summing up the +evidence to the jury, Young, with great warmth and many asseverations, +denied that he made use of them. The jury, after a very short +consideration, being full satisfied with the evidence which had been +offered, found him guilty. + +The very same day his wife was indicted for the robbery of her mistress, +when the fact was charged upon her thus: that she on a Sunday, conveyed +Young secretly upstairs in her mistress's house, where she passed for a +single woman; that he took an opportunity to break open a closet and to +steal from thence ninety guineas, and ten pounds in silver; a satin +petticoat value thirty shillings, and an orange crepe petticoat were +also carried off; and she asking leave of her lady to go out in the +afternoon, took that opportunity to go quite away, not being heard of +for a long time. Upon her husband being apprehended for the fact for +which he died, somebody remembered her and the story of her robbing her +mistress, caused her thereupon to be apprehended. Not being able to +prove her marriage at the time of her trial, she was convicted, and +ordered for transportation. This was a very different story from that +which Young told in his relations of his wife's adventure, but when it +came to be mentioned to that unhappy man and pressed upon him, though he +could not be brought to acknowledge it, yet he never denied it; which +the Ordinary says, was a method of proceeding he took up, because +unwilling to confess the truth, and afraid when so near death to tell a +lie. + +When under sentence of death, this unfortunate person began to have a +true sense of his own miserable condition; he was very far from denying +the crime for which he suffered, although he still continued to deny +some of the circumstances of it. The judgment which had been pronounced +upon him, he acknowledged to be very just and reasonable, and was so far +from being either angry or affrighted at the death he was to die that on +the contrary he said it was the only thing that gave his thoughts ease. +To say truth, the force of religion was never more visible in any man +than it was in this unfortunate malefactor. He was sensible of his +repentance being both forced and late, which made him attend to the +duties thereof with an extraordinary fervour and application. He said +that the thoughts of his dissolution had no other effect upon him than +to quicken his diligence in imploring God for pardon. To all those who +visited him either from their knowledge of him in former circumstances, +or, as too many do, from the curiosity of observing how he would behave +under those melancholy circumstances in which he then was, he discoursed +of nothing but death, eternity, and future judgment. The gravity of his +temper and the serious turn of his thoughts was never interrupted in any +respect throughout the whole space of time in which he lay under +condemnation; on the contrary, he every day appeared to have more and +more improved from his meditations and almost continual devotions, +appearing frequently when at chapel wrapped up as it were in ecstasy at +the thoughts of heaven and future felicity, humbling himself, however, +for the numberless sins he had committed, and omitting nothing which +could serve to show the greatness of his sorrow and the sincerity of his +contrition. + +The day he was to die, the unfortunate old man his father, then upwards +of seventy years of age, came to visit him, and saw him haltered as he +went out to execution. Words are too feeble to express that impetuosity +of grief which overwhelmed both the miserable father and the dying son. +However, the old man, bedewing him with a flood of tears, exhorted him +not to let go on his hopes in Christ, even in that miserable +conjuncture; but that he should remember the mercy of God was over all +his works, and in an especial manner was promised to those who were +penitent for their sins, which Christ had especially confirmed in +sealing the pardon of the repenting thief, even upon the cross. + +At the place of execution he appeared scarce without any appearance of +terror, much less of obstinacy or contempt of death. Being asked what he +did with the pocket-book which he took from Mr. Stinton, and which +contained in it things of very great use to him, Young replied +ingeniously that he had burnt it, for which he was heartily sorry, but +that he did not look into or make himself acquainted with its contents. +Just before the cart drew away, he arose and spoke to the people, and +said, _The love of idleness, being too much addicted to company, and a +too greedy love of strong liquors has brought me to this unhappy end. +The Law intends my death for an example unto others; let it be so, let +my follies prevent others from falling into the like, and let the shame +which you see me suffer, deter all of you from the commission of such +sins as may bring you to the like fatal end. My sentence is just, but +pray, ye good people, for my soul, that though I die ignominiously here, +I may not perish everlastingly._ + +He was executed the first of June, 1730, being at the time about +thirty-nine years of age. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [101] This district, at the Dockhead end of Tooley Street, was + at that time a sort of No Man's Land, where horses were grazed + and a few poverty-stricken wretches lived in sheds and holes in + the ground. + + + + +The Life of THOMAS POLSON, _alias_ HITCHIN, a Footpad and Highwayman + + +Habit is the most dangerous of all evils. The transports of passion are +sometimes prevented from having fatal effects, either by the precautions +of those with whom we quarrel, or because a sudden reflection of our own +minds checks our hand. But where men have abandoned themselves to +wickedness, and given themselves up to the commission of every kind of +evil without restraint, there is little hope to be entertained of their +ever mending; and if the fear of a sudden death work a true repentance, +it is all that can be hoped. + +As for this unfortunate man of whose actions the course of our memoirs +obliges us to treat, he was descended from parents who lived at Marlow, +in the county of Salop, who were equally honest in their reputations, +and easy in their circumstances. They spared nothing in the education of +their son, and it is hard to say whether their care of him was more or +his application was less. Even while a child and at school he gave too +evident symptoms of that lazy, indolent disposition which attended him +so flagrantly and was justly the occasion of all the misfortunes of his +succeeding life. Learning was of all things his aversion. It was with +difficulty that he was taught to read and write. As to employment, his +father brought him up to husbandry and the business of a rural life. + +When he was of age his father gave him an estate of twenty pounds _per +annum_, freehold, and got him into a very good farm. He procured for him +also a wife, who had ten pounds a year more of her own, and settled him +in such a manner that no young man in the country had a better prospect +of doing well than himself. But, alas! to what purpose are the +endeavours of others, where a man studies nothing so much as to compass +his own ruin? On a sudden he took a love to card-playing, and addicted +himself to it with such earnestness that he neglected his business and +squandered his money. Want was what of all things he hated, except work, +and therefore rather than labour to retrieve, he bethought himself of an +easier way of getting money, and that was to steal. + +His first attempt was upon his father, whom he robbed of a considerable +sum of money. He not being in the least suspected, a poor maid who lived +in the house bore the blame for about six months, and nobody in all that +time being charged with it but her, there was at last a design in the +old man's head to prosecute her. This reaching young Polson's ear, he +resolved not to let an innocent person suffer, which was indeed a very +just and honourable act, whereupon he wrote an humble letter to his +father, acknowledging his fault, begging pardon for his offences, and +desiring that he would not prosecute the poor woman, or suffer her to be +any longer under the odium of a fact of which she had not the least +knowledge. This, to be sure, had its effect on his father, who was a +very honest and considerate man. He took care to restore the wench to +her good character and his favour, though for a while he with just +reason continued to frown upon his son. At last paternal tenderness +prevailed, and after giving him several cautions and much good advice, +he promised, on his good behaviour, to forgive him what had past. The +young man promised fairly, but falling quickly into necessities, want of +money had its old effect upon him again, that is, impatient to be at his +old practices, tired with work, and yet not knowing how to get money, +he at length resolved to go into Wales and steal horses. + +This project he executed, and took one from one Mr. Lewis of a +considerable value. He sold it to a London butcher for about sixteen +pounds, at a village not far from Shrewsbury. That money did him a +little good, and therefore the next time he was in a strait he readily +bethought himself of Wales. Accordingly he equipped himself with a +little pad, and out he set in quest of purchase. At a little inn in +Wales be met with a gentleman whom he had reason to suppose had money +about him, whereupon our highwayman was very industrious first to make +him drink, and then to get him for a bed-fellow, both of which designs +he in the end brought to pass, and by that means robbed him of six +pounds odd money, taking care to go in the morning a different road from +what he had talked of, and by that means easily escaped what pursuit was +made after him. + +When he had committed this fact he retired towards Canterbury, giving +himself over entirely to thieving or cheating, on which design he +traversed the whole county of Kent, but found the people so cautious +that he did it with very little advantage; until at last coming near +Maidstone, he observed a parcel of fine linen hanging upon a hedge. He +immediately bethought himself that though the people were wise, yet +their hedges might be otherwise, upon which stepping up to it, he fairly +stripped it of ten fine shirts, and so left the people who had washed +them to account for it. After this exploit, he made the best of his way +to London, where he speedily sold the stolen linen for five pounds to a +Life Guardsman; and when he had spent a good part of it, down he went +into Norfolk. And being afraid that the inhabitants would take notice of +a stranger setting up his abode there for any considerable time, he +thought fit to pretend to be very lame. Having continued as long as he +thought proper in this place, he took his opportunity to carry off a +fine mare out of the grounds of Sir John Habbard, Baronet, now the Right +Honourable the Lord Blickling. This was one of the most dangerous feats +he ever committed in his life, for the scent was so strong upon him, and +so quickly followed, that he was forced to take a multitude of byways to +get to London, where he set her up in the Haymarket. However he quickly +found there was no possibility of disposing of her here, information +having been given of her to all the great jockeys; so that for present +money he was obliged to borrow four guineas of the man at the inn, and +to leave her in his hands by way of security, which was making but a +poor hand of what he had hazarded his life for. + +By this time his father had received some intelligence of his way of +living, and out of tenderness of its consequences, wrote to him assuring +him of forgiveness for all that was past, if he would come down into the +country and live honestly. Such undeserved tenderness had some weight +even with our criminal himself, and he at last began to frame his mind +to comply with the request of so good a father. Accordingly, down he +came, and for a little space, behaved himself honestly and as he should +do; but his old distemper, laziness quickly came in his way, and finding +money not to come in so fast as he would have it, he began to think of +his old practice again, and prepared himself once more to sally out upon +his illegal adventures. For this purpose taking with him a little mare +of his brothers, for at that time he had no horse proper for the designs +he went on, forth he rode in search of prey. + +Wales was the place he first visited, and after riding up and down for a +good while without meeting with any purchase worth taking, he at last +unluckily stumbled upon a poor old man in Flintshire, who had one foot +already in the grave. From him he took a silver watch, worth about five +pounds, and five shillings in money, which was all the poor man had, and +making thereupon the greatest haste he could out of the country, he got +clear away before it was discovered. After this he came again to London, +where what little money he had he lavished away upon women of the town. + +It was not long before want overtook him again, upon which he determined +to visit Yorkshire, in hopes of raising some considerable booty there. +All the way down, according to his common practice, he bilked the +public-houses, and at last arriving at Doncaster, began to set heartily +about the work for which he came down. On a market day, he robbed an old +farmer of forty shillings and a pair of silver buckles, taking his horse +also from him, which, when he had ridden about fifteen miles across +country, he turned loose. He rambled from thence on foot, as well as he +could, in order to get into his native country of Shropshire, where +after the commission of a multitude of such actions, none of which +afforded him any great booty, he arrived. + +His father took him home again, and he lived for eleven months tolerably +honest. However, to keep his hand in use, he now and then stole a +shoulder of mutton, a joint which he particularly loved; but sometimes +to please his father he would work a little, though it always went much +against the grain. At last he quarrelled with his wife, and thereupon +threatened to go away again, which very quickly after he did, turning +his course, notwithstanding his former ill-success into Yorkshire once +more. He was at several of the races in that county, and having no +particular business at any place, did nothing but course the country +round, pilfering and stealing whatever came in his way; insomuch that at +one inn, finding nothing else to lay his hands on, he stole the people's +sheets off the bed he lay in, and marched off in the morning so early, +that he was out of danger before they perceived the theft. + +But finding that he could not do any considerable matter amongst the +people, who are cunning to a proverb, he bethought himself of returning +to London, and the society of those strumpets in which he took a +delight. However, all the way on the road he made a shift to pick up as +much as kept him pretty well all the way. On his arrival in town he set +up his place of residence in an inn near Leather Lane, Holborn, where he +remained one whole day to rest himself after the fatigue of his northern +journey. There he reflected on the sad state in which his affairs were, +being without money and without friends, justly disregarded by his +friends in the country, and hated and despised by all his neighbours. +His debts, too, amounted there to near a hundred and forty pounds, so +that there was no hopes in going back. The result of these cogitations +was that the next day he would go out on the road towards Hampstead, and +see what might be made there. He accordingly did so, but with very ill +success. However, he returned a second time and had no better; the third +day, towards evening, he observed an old gentleman in a chaise by +himself, whom he robbed of six guineas, a watch, a mourning-ring, and +nine and sixpence in silver, and then making over the fields got home +very safe. + +For three days he thought fit to remain within doors, under pretence of +sickness, fearing lest he should be advertised and described in the +public prints; but finding nothing of that happened, he grew bold, and +for about fourteen nights continued the same trade constantly, getting, +sometimes, two or three pieces, and sometimes losing his labour and +getting nothing at all. At length, waiting pretty late for an old man, +who, as he was informed, was to come that night with eight hundred +pounds about him, although he was so feeble that a child might be able +to take it from him, he at length grew impatient, and resolved to rob +the first man he met. This proved to be one Mr. Andrews, who raised so +quick a pursuit upon him that he never lost sight of him until the time +of his being apprehended, when he was carried to Newgate and prosecuted +the next sessions for the aforesaid robbery. + +He was then indicted for taking from the said Thomas Andrews, after +putting him in fear, six or seven shillings in money, a bay mare, bridle +and saddle, and a cane, on the 23rd of July, 1730. The evidence was +exceedingly clear, he having, as I have said, never gone out of sight, +from the time of the robbery to the time he was taken. Under sentence of +death the prisoner behaved with great piety and resignation. He showed +great concern for the offences of his former life, and testified the +utmost sorrow for having blemished an honest family by the shame of his +vices and their just punishment. The night before his execution he wrote +a letter to his parents in the country, which though it be written in a +very uncouth style, yet I have thought fit to insert it _verbatim_, +because there is a strain in it of unusual confusion and concern, +expressing the agony of a dying man with more truth and tenderness than +the best penned epistle could have done. + + Honoured Parents, + + My duty to both, my love to my brother-in-law. I wish to God I had + been ruled by you, for now I see the evil of my sin, but I freely + die, only the disgrace I have brought on you, my wife and children. + I wrote to my wife last Saturday was seven night but had no answer, + for I should have been glad to have heard from you before I die, + which will be on Wednesday the seventh of this instant October, + hoping I have made my peace with God Almighty. I freely forgive all + the world, and die in charity with all people. Had it not been for + Joyce Hite's sister and Mr. Howel, I might have starved, he told me + it has cost him fifteen shillings on my account, and he gave me four + more. I desire Thomas Mason will give my wife that locket for my + son. + + I have nothing more to say, but my prayers to God for you all day + and night, and for God's sake, be as kind to my poor wife and + children as in your power lies. I desire there might be some care + taken of that Estate at Minton for my son. Mr. Botfield hath the old + writings, and I beg you will get them and give them to my wife, and + pray show her this letter and my love to her, and my blessing to my + children, begging of her as I am a dying man to be good to them, and + not make any difference in them, but be as kind to one as the other, + and if she is able to put the boy to some trade. Mr. Waring and + Thomas Tomlings have each of them a book of mine, pray ask for them, + which is all I have to say, but my prayers to God for you all, which + is all from your + + Dying Son, + Richard Polson. + In my Cell. + October the 6th. + + P.S. My love to all my friends. Pray show this letter to my wife as + soon as you can, and desire of her to bring up my children in the + fear of the Lord, and to make my son a scholar if she is able. There + is five of us to die. + +In this disposition of mind, and without adding anything to his former +confessions he suffered on the seventh of October, 1730, being then in +the thirty-third year of his age. + + + + +The Life of SAMUEL ARMSTRONG, a Housebreaker + + +I have heretofore remarked the great danger there is in having a bad +character, and keeping ill-company, from the probability of truth which +it gives to every accusation that either malice or interest may induce +men to bring against one. + +This malefactor was the son of parents in tolerable circumstances, who +were careful of his education, and when he grew up bound him apprentice +to Captain Matthews, commander of a vessel which traded to Guinea and +the West Indies. He behaved at sea very well, and had not the least +objection made to his character when he came home. Happy had it been for +him if he had gone to sea again, without suffering himself to be tainted +with the vices of this great city. + +Unfortunately for him, he fell in love with a young woman, and lived +with her for some time as his wife. His fondness for this creature drew +him to be guilty of those base actions which first brought him to +Newgate and the bar at the Old Bailey, and so far blasted his character +and unfortunately betrayed him to his death. In the company of this +female he quickly lavished what little money he had, and not knowing how +to get more, he fell into the persuasions of some wicked young fellows +who advised him to take to robbing in the streets. Certain it is that he +had not made many attempts (he himself said none) before he was +apprehended, and that the first fact he was ever concerned in was +stealing a man's hat and tobacco box in Thames Street. This was +committed by his companion, who gave them to him, and then running away, +left him to be answerable for the fact, for which being indicted at the +next sessions at the Old Bailey, he was found guilty, but it being a +single felony only it did not affect his life. + +However, having been seen there by one Holland, who turned evidence, he +thought fit to save his own life by swearing him into the commission of +a burglary which himself and one Thomas Griffith actually committed. +However, his oath being positive, and the character of this unhappy lad +so bad, the people who were robbed were induced to prosecute him with +great vehemence, and the jury, on the same presumptions, found him +guilty. Griffith, who received sentence with him but afterwards had a +pardon, acknowledged that he himself was guilty, but declared at the +same time that this unhappy young man was absolutely clear of what was +laid to his charge, Holland and himself being the only persons who +committed that burglary, and took away the kitchen things which were +sworn against him. Moreover, that Armstrong coming to Newgate, and +seeing Holland and speaking to him about something, Holland took that +opportunity of asking who Armstrong was, and what he came there for, +being told the story of his conviction for the hat and wig, he thought +fit to add him to his former information against Griffith, and so by +swearing against two, effectually secured himself. In this story both +the unhappy person of whom we are speaking and Thomas Griffith, who was +condemned for and confessed the fact agreed, and Armstrong went to death +absolutely denying the fact for which he was to suffer. + +At the place of execution his colour changed, and though at other times +he appeared to be a bold young man, yet now his courage failed him, he +trembled and turned pale, besought the people to pray for his soul, and +in great agony and confusion, submitted to death on the seventh day of +October, 1730, being at the time of his death about twenty-two years of +age. + + + + +The Life of NICHOLAS GILBURN, a Most Notorious Highwayman + + +This unfortunate person was born at Ballingary, near Limerick, in the +west of Ireland, of parents in very tolerable circumstances, who gave +him a very good education; but perceiving that he had a martial +disposition, they resolved not to cross it, and therefore, though he was +not above fourteen years of age, got him recommended to an officer, who +received him as a dragoon. He served about four years with a very good +reputation in the army; but he had a brother who then rode in a regiment +of horse, who wrote to him from London, and encouraged him to come over +into England, which occasioned his writing to his officer to desire his +discharge. To this his officer readily agreed. + +He went thereupon from the north of Ireland to the west, to his friend, +where having equipped himself with clothing, linen and other +necessaries, he then came to London, expecting to meet his brother. But +on his arrival here he was disappointed, and that disappointment, +together with his want of money, made him very uneasy. At last, in order +to procure bread, he resolved to list himself in the Foot Guards. He did +so, and continued in them for about two years, during which time, he +says in his dying declaration, that he did duty as well, and appeared as +clean as any man in the company; nay, in all that time, he avers that he +never neglected his guard but once, which was very fatal to him, for it +brought him into the acquaintance of those who betrayed him to measures +which cost him his life. For being taken up and carried to the Savoy for +the afore-mentioned offence, he had not been long in prison before +Wilson, who had been concerned with Burnworth, _alias_ Frazier, and the +rest in the murder of Mr. Ball in the Mint; and one Mr. G----, an old +highwayman, though he had never conversed with him before, came to pay +him a visit. + +They treated him both with meat and drink, seemed to commiserate his +condition very much, and promised him that he should not want +twelvepence a day, during the time in confinement. This promise was very +well kept, and Gilburn in a few days obtained his liberty. The next day +he met Wilson in St. James's Park, who after complimenting him upon his +happy deliverance, invited him to a house in Spring Gardens to drink and +make merry together. Gilburn readily consented, and after discoursing of +courage, want of money, the miseries of poverty, and some other +preparatory articles, Wilson parted with him for that time, appointing +another meeting with him at eleven o'clock the next morning. There +Wilson pursued his former topic, and at last told him plainly that the +best and shortest method to relieve their wants was to go on the +highway; and when he had once made this step, he scrupled not to make a +further, telling Gilburn that there was no such danger in those +practices as was generally apprehended, for that with a little care and +circumspection the gallows might be well enough avoided, which he said +was plain enough from his own adventures, since he had lived several +years in the profession, and by being cautious enough to look about him, +had escaped any confinement. + +Gilburn heard this account with terror. He had never committed anything +of this kind hitherto, and knew very well that if he once engaged he +could never afterwards go back. Wilson seemed not at all uneasy at his +pause, but artfully introducing discourse on other subjects, plied him +in the meanwhile with liquor, until he saw him pretty warm, and then +resumed the story of his own adventures and of the facility of acquiring +money when a man is but well stored with courage and has ever so little +conduct. This artifice unfortunately had its effect, Wilson's +conversation and the fumes of liquor prevailing so far upon Gilburn +that, as he himself phrased it, he resolved at last upon business. + +The day following, Gilburn provided himself with pistols, and removed +his quarters to go and live with Wilson, who encouraged him with all the +arguments he was able to stick to his new profession, and Gilburn in +return swore he would live and die with him. So at night they went out +together in quest of adventures. The road they took was towards +Paddington. A little after they were come into the fields, they attacked +a gentleman and took from him eight shillings, with which Gilburn was +very much pleased, though they had little luck after, so that they +returned at last to their lodgings, weary and fatigued, and were obliged +to mount guard the next morning. When their guard was over, they were, +as Mr. Gilburn expresses it in his last speech, as bare as a bird's +arse, so no time was to be lost, and accordingly that very night they +made their second expedition. Nobody coming in their way, Gilburn began +to fret, and at last falling into a downright passion, swore he would +rob the first man he met. He was as good as his word, and the booty he +got proved a tolerable provision for some days. + +But guard-day drawing nigh again, Wilson told him there was no mounting +without money, and the same methods were taken as formerly; but as the +leagues by which men are united in villainy are liable to a thousand +inconveniencies which are uneasily born, and yet hard to be remedied, so +Wilson's humours being very different from that of Gilburn, they soon +began to differ about the money they acquired by plunder. At last, +coming one night very much tired and fatigued to a public-house where +Wilson was acquainted, they called for some drink to refresh themselves, +which when they had done, Gilburn was for dividing the money, himself +standing in need of linen and other necessaries. Wilson, on the other +hand, was for having a bowl of punch, and words thereupon arose to such +a height that at last they fell to fighting. This quarrel was +irreconcilable, and they absolutely parted company, though Gilburn +unfortunately pursued the same road; and having robbed a gentleman on +horseback of several yards of fine padusoy, he was shortly after +apprehended and committed to Newgate. + +At first he absolutely denied the fact, but when he was convicted, and +saw no hopes of pardon, he acknowledged what had been sworn against him +by the prosecutor to be true, attended with much gravity at chapel, and +seemed to be greatly afflicted through a due sense of those many sins +which he had committed. Wilson, his companion, had a little before been +executed at Kingston, and Gilburn with all outward signs of contrition, +suffered the same death at Tyburn, at the same time with the +before-mentioned malefactor, being at the time of his death about +twenty-two years of age. + + + + +The Lives of JAMES O'BRYAN, HUGH MORRIS and ROBERT JOHNSON, Highwaymen +and Street-Robbers + + +Amongst the many flagrant vices of the present age, there is none more +remarkable than the strange property we see in young people to commit +the most notorious crimes, provided they may thereby furnish themselves +with money enough to support their lavish expenses in vices which in +former times were scarce heard of by lads of that age, at which our +boldest highwaymen begin to exert themselves now. + +The first of these unfortunate lads, James O'Bryan, was born at Dublin, +was brought over hither young, and had a good education given him which +he had very little inclination to make a proper use of. Nothing could +persuade him to go out to a trade; on the contrary, he pretended he +would apply himself to his father's employment, which was that of a +plasterer. But as working was required, he soon grew out of humour with +it, and addicted himself wholly to strolling about the streets with such +wicked lads as himself, and so was easily drawn in to think of supplying +himself with money by the plunder of honest people, in order to carry on +those debaucheries in which, though a lad, he was already deeply +immersed. + +Women, forsooth, drew this spark away from the paths of virtue and +goodness at about sixteen years old, after which time he lost all sense +of duty to his parents, respect of laws divine or human, and even care +of himself. It seems he found certain houses in Chick Lane, where they +met abundance of loose young men and women, accustomed themselves to +every kind of debauchery which it was possible for wicked people to +commit or the most fruitful genius to invent. Here he fell into the +company of his two companions, Morris and Johnson. + +The first of these was the son of an unfortunate tradesman who had once +kept a great shop, and lived in good reputation in the Strand, but +through the common calamities of life, he was so unfortunate as to +break, and laying it too much to heart, died soon after it, happy, +however, in one thing, that he did not live to see the deplorable end of +his son by the hand of justice. + +Robert Johnson was the son of honest parents, and had a very good +education, but put it to a very ill use; for having all his life time +been addicted to pilfering and thieving, at last he fell into the +company of these unfortunate young men who led him a directer way to the +gallows than perhaps he might have found himself. One of his chief +inducements to forfeit reputation and hazard life by engaging in street +robberies, was his commencing an amour with his father's servant-maid, +and not long after falling into a multitude of such like adventures, the +ready road to inevitable ruin. + +These three sparks, together with Bernard Fink, and another person who +turned evidence against them, came all at the same time to a resolution +of attacking people in the streets; and having provided themselves with +pistols and whatever else they thought necessary for putting their +design in execution, they immediately set about it, and though but boys, +committed bolder and more numerous robberies than had ever hitherto been +heard of. It may, indeed, seem surprising that lads of their age should +be able to intimidate passengers, but when it is considered that having +less precaution than older rogues, they were more ready at firing +pistols or otherwise injuring those whom they attacked, than any set of +fellows who had hitherto disturbed the crown, this wonder will wear off. + +It was not above two months that they continued their depredations, but +in that time they had been exceedingly busy, and had committed a +multitude of facts. One gentleman whom they attacked in Lincoln's Inn +Fields, refused to surrender, and drew his sword upon Morris. That young +robber immediately fired his pistol, and the rest coming to his +assistance, the gentleman thought it but prudent to retire, the noise +they made having alarmed the watch and so prevented his losing anything. + +After this it became a very common practice with them, as soon as they +stopped anybody, to clap a pistol under their nose, and bid them smell +at it, while one of their companions, with a thousand execrations, +threatened to blow their brains out if they made the least resistance. +As soon as the business of the night was over, they immediately +adjourned to their places of rendezvous at Chick Lane, or to other +houses of the same stamp elsewhere, and without the least consideration +of the hazards they had run, squandered the wages of their villainies +upon such impudent strumpets as for the lucre of a few shillings +prostituted themselves to them in these debaucheries. + +Mr. O'Bryan was the hero of this troop of infant robbers; he valued +himself much on never meddling with small matters or committing any +meaner crime than that of the highway. It happened he had a mistress +coming out of the country and he would needs have his companions take +each of them a doxy and go with him as far as Windsor to receive her. +They readily complied, and at Windsor they were all seized and from +thence brought to town, two of their own gang turning evidence, so that +on the clearest proof, they were all three convicted. + +Under sentence of death they behaved with great audacity, seemed to +value themselves on the crimes they had committed, caused several +disturbances at chapel and discovered little or no sense of that +miserable condition in which they were. O'Bryan died a Papist, and in +the cart read with great earnestness a book of devotions in that way. He +wrote a letter to his father the day before he died, and also something +which he called verses to his sister, both of which I have subjoined +_verbatim_ that my readers may have the better idea of the capacity of +those poor creatures. + + To Mr. Terrance O'Bryan, living in Burleigh Street in the Strand. + Honoured Father and Mother, + + The uneasiness I give you is more terror to me than the thoughts of + death, but pray make yourselves as easy as you can, for I hope I am + going to a better place; for God is my refuge and my strength, and + my helper in time of tribulation, and pray take care of my brother + now whilst he is young, and make him serve God, and keep him out of + bad company. If I had served God as I ought to have done, and kept + out of bad company, I had not come to this unhappy misfortune, but I + hope it is for the good of my soul, it is good I hope what God has + at present ordained for me, for there is mercy in the foresight of + death, and in the time God has given me to prepare for it. A natural + death might have had less terror, for in that I might have wanted + many advantages which are now granted me. My trust is in God, and I + hope he won't reward me according to my deserts. All that I can + suffer here must have an end, for this life is short, so are all the + sufferings of it, but the next life is Eternal. Pray give my love to + my sister, and desire her not to neglect her duty to God. I hope + you are all well, as I am at present, I thank God. So no more at + present. + + From your unhappy and undutiful son, + James O'Bryan. + +The verses sent by James O'Bryan to his sister two days before his +execution: + + My loving tender sister dear, + From you I soon must part I fear. + Think not on my wretched state, + Nor grieve for my unhappy fate, + But serve the Lord with all your heart, + And from you He'll never part. + When I am dead and in my tomb, + For my poor soul I hope there's room, + In Heaven with God above on high, + I hope to live eternally. + +At the time of their execution James O'Bryan was about twenty, Hugh +Morris seventeen, and Robert Johnson not full twenty years of age, which +was on the 16th of November, 1730. + + + + +The History of the Life and surprising adventures of JOHN GOW, _alias_ +SMITH, a most notorious Pirate and Murderer + + +The principal use to which a work of this nature can be applied is to +engage persons to refuse the first stirrings of their passions, and the +slighted emotions of vice in their breasts, since they see before their +eyes so many sad examples of the fatal consequences which follow upon +rash and wicked enterprises, of which the following history exhibits as +extraordinary an instance as perhaps is anythere to be found. + +In giving an account of this malefactor, we are obliged to begin with +his embarking on board the vessel which he afterwards seized and went +a-pirating in. It was called the _George_ galley, and was of about two +hundred tons burden, commanded by Oliver Ferneau, a Frenchman, but a +subject of the Crown of England, who entertained this Gow as a private +seaman only, but afterwards, to his great misfortune, preferred him to +be the second mate in the voyage of which we are next to speak. + +Captain Ferneau being a man of reputation among the merchants of +Amsterdam, got a voyage for his ship from thence to Santa Cruz on the +coast of Barbary, to load beeswax, and to carry it to Genoa, which was +his delivering port; and as the Dutch, having war with the Turks of +Algiers, were willing to employ him as an English ship, so he was as +willing to be manned with English seamen, and accordingly among the +rest, he unhappily took on board this Gow with his wretched gang, such +as MacCauly, Melvin, Williams and others. But not being able to man +themselves wholly with English or Scots, he was obliged to take some +Swedes, and other seamen to make his complement, which was twenty-three +in all. Among the latter sort, one was named Winter, and another +Peterson, both of them Swedes by nation, but wicked as Gow and his other +fellows were. They sailed from the Texel in the month of August, 1724, +and arrived at Santa Cruz on the second of September following, where +having a super-cargo on board, who took charge of the loading, and four +chests of money to purchase it, they soon got the beeswax, on board, and +on the third of November they appointed to set sail to pursue the +voyage. + +That day the ship having lain two months in the road at Santa Cruz, +taking in her lading, the captain made preparations to put to sea, and +the usual signals for sailing having been given, some of the merchants +from on shore, who had been concerned in furnishing the cargo, came on +board in the forenoon to take their leave of the captain, and wish him a +good voyage, as is usual on such occasions. Whether it was concerted by +the whole gang beforehand, we know not, but while the captain was +treating and entertaining the merchants under the awning upon the +quarter deck, as is the custom in those hot countries, three of the +seamen, viz., Winter and Peterson, two Swedes, and MacCauly a Scotchman, +came rudely upon the quarter deck as if they took the opportunity +because the merchants were present, believing the captain would not use +any violence with them in the presence of the merchants. + +They made a long complaint of all their ill-usage, and particularly of +their provisions and allowance, as they said, being not sufficient nor +such as was ordinarily made in other merchant ships, seeming to load the +captain, Monsieur Ferneau, with being the occasion of it, and that he +did it for his private gain, which however had not been true. If the +fact had been true, the overplus of provisions (if the stores had been +more than sufficient) belonged to the owners, not to the captain, at the +end of the voyage, there being also a steward on board to take the +account. In making this complaint they seemed to direct their speech to +the merchants as well as to the captain, as if they had been concerned +in the ship, or as if desiring them to intercede for them with the +captain, that they might have redress and a better allowance. + +The captain was highly provoked at this rudeness, as indeed he had +reason, it being a double affront to him as it was done in the view of +the merchants who were come on board to him, to do him an honour at +parting. However, he restrained his passion, and gave them not the least +angry word, only that if they were aggrieved they had no more to do but +to let him have know of it; that if they were ill-used it was not by his +order that he would enquire into it and if anything was amiss it should +be rectified, with which the seamen withdrew, seemingly well satisfied +with his answer. + +About five the same evening they unmoored the ship and hove short upon +their best bower anchor, awaiting the land breeze (as is usual on that +coast) to carry them out to sea; but instead of that, it fell stark +calm, and the captain fearing the ship would fall foul of her own +anchor, ordered the mizen top-sail to be furled. Peterson, one of the +malcontent seamen, being the nearest man at hand seemed to go about it, +but moved so carelessly and heavily that it appeared plainly he did not +care whether it was done or no, and particularly as if he had a mind the +captain should see it and take notice of it. Which the captain did, for +perceiving how awkwardly he went about it, he spoke a little tartly to +him, and asked him what was the reason he did not stir a little and furl +the sail. Peterson, as if he had waited for the question, answered in a +surly tone, and with a kind of disdain, _So as we eat, so shall we +work._ This he spoke aloud, so that he might be sure the captain heard +him and the rest of the men also, and it was evident that as he spoke in +plural numbers, _We_, so he spoke their minds as well as his own, and +words which they all agreed to before. + +The captain, however, though he heard plain enough what he said, took +not the least notice of it, or gave him the least reason to believe he +had heard him, being not willing to begin a quarrel with the men and +knowing that if he took any notice at all of it, he must resent it and +punish it too. + +Soon after this, the calm went off, and the land breeze sprang up, and +they immediately weighed and stood out to sea; but the captain having +had these two bustles with his men just at their putting to sea, was +very uneasy in his mind, as indeed he had reason to be; and the same +evening, soon after they were under sail, the mate being walking on the +quarter deck, he went, and taking two or three turns with him, told him +how he had been used by the men, particularly how they affronted him +before the merchants, and what an answer Peterson had given him on the +quarter deck, when he ordered him to furl the mizen top sail. The mate +was as surprised at these things as the captain, and after some other +discourse about it, in which it was their unhappiness not to be so +private as they ought to have been in a case of such importance, the +captain told him he thought it was absolutely necessary to have a +quantity of small arms brought immediately into the great cabin, not +only to defend themselves if there should be occasion, but also that he +might be in a posture to correct those fellows for their insolence, +especially should he meet with any more of it. The mate agreed that it +was necessary to be done, and had they said no more, or said this more +privately, all had been well, and the wicked design had been much more +difficult, if not the execution of it effectually prevented. + +But two mistakes in this part was the ruin of them all. First, that the +captain spoke it without due caution, so that Winter and Peterson, the +two principal malcontents, who were expressly mentioned by the captain +to be corrected, overheard it, and knew by that means what they had to +expect if they did not immediately bestir themselves to prevent it. The +other mistake was that when the captain and mate agreed that it was +necessary to have arms got ready, and brought into the great cabin, the +captain unhappily bid him go immediately to Gow, the second mate and +gunner, and give him orders to get the arms cleared and loaded for him, +and to bring them up to the great cabin; which was in short to tell the +conspirators that the captain was preparing to be too strong for them, +if they did not fall to work with him immediately. + +Winter and Peterson went immediately forward, where they knew the rest +of the mutineers were, and to whom they communicated what they had +heard, telling them that it was time to provide for their own safety, +for otherwise their destruction was resolved on, and the captain would +soon be in such a posture that there would be no muddling with him. +While they were thus consulting, as they said, only for their own +safety, Gow and Williams came into them with some others to the number +of eight, and no sooner were they joined by these two, but they fell +downright to the point which Gow had so long formed in his own mind, +viz., to seize upon the captain and mate, and all those that they could +not bring to join with them; in short, to throw them into the sea, and +to go upon the account. All those who are acquainted with the sea +language know the meaning of that expression, and that it is, in few +words, to run away with the ship and turn pirates. + +Villainous designs are soonest concluded; as they had but little time +to consult upon what measures they should take, so very little +consultation served for what was before them, and they came to this +short but hellish resolution, viz., that they would immediately, that +very night, murder the captain and such others as they named, and +afterwards proceed with the ship as they should see cause. And here it +is to be observed that though Winter and Peterson were in the first +proposal, namely to prevent their being brought to correction by the +captain, yet Gow and Williams were the principal advisers in the bloody +part, which however the rest came into soon; for, as I said before, as +they had but little time to resolve in, so they had but very little +debate about it but what was first proposed was forthwith engaged in and +consented to. + +It must not be omitted that Gow had always had the wicked game of +pirating in his head, and that he had attempted it, or rather tried to +attempt it before, but was not able to bring it to pass; so he and +Williams had also several times, even in this very voyage, dropped some +hints of this vile design, as they thought there was room for it, and +touched two or three times at what a noble opportunity they had of +enriching themselves, and making their fortunes, as they wickedly called +it. This was when they had the four chests of money on board and +Williams made it a kind of jest in his discourse, how easily they might +carry it off, ship and all. But as they did not find themselves +seconded, or that any of the men showed themselves in favour of such a +thing, but rather spoke of it with abhorrence they passed it over as a +kind of discourse that had nothing at all in it, except that one of the +men, viz., the surgeon, once took them up short for so much as +mentioning such a thing, told them the thought was criminal and it ought +not to be spoken of among them, which reproof was supposed cost him his +life afterwards. + +As Gow and his comrade had thus started the thing at a distance before, +though it was then without success, yet they had the less to do now, +when other discontents had raised a secret fire in the breasts of the +men; for now, being as it were mad and desperate with apprehensions of +their being severely punished by the captain, they wanted no persuasions +to come into the most wicked undertaking that the devil or any of his +angels could propose to them. Nor do we find that upon any of their +examinations they pretended to have made any scruples or objections to +the cruelty of the bloody attempt that was to be made, but came to it at +once, and resolved to put it in execution immediately, that is to say, +the very same evening. + +It was the captain's constant custom to call all the ship's company into +the great cabin every night at eight o'clock to prayers, and then the +watch being set, one went upon deck, and the other turned in, or, as +the seamen phrase it, went to their hammocks to sleep; and here they +concerted their devilish plot. It was the turn of five of the +conspirators to go to sleep, and of these Gow and Williams were two. The +three who were to be upon the deck were Winter, Rowlinson, and Melvin, a +Scotchman. The persons they immediately designed for destruction were +four, viz., the captain, the mate, the super-cargo, and the surgeon, +whereof all but the captain were gone to sleep, the captain himself +being upon the quarter deck. + +Between nine and ten at night, all being quiet and secure, and the poor +gentlemen that were to be murdered fast asleep, the villains that were +below gave the watch-word, which was, _Who fires next?_ At which they +all got out of their hammocks with as little noise as they could, and +going in the dark to the hammocks of the chief mate, super-cargo and +surgeon, they cut all their throats. The surgeon's throat was cut so +effectually that he could struggle very little with them, but leaping +out of his hammock, ran up to get upon the deck, holding his hand upon +his throat. But be stumbled at the tiller, and falling down had no +breath, and consequently no strength to raise himself, but died where he +lay. + +The mate, whose throat was cut but not his windpipe, struggled so +vigorously with the villain who attacked him that he got away from him +and into the hold; and the super-cargo, in the same condition, got +forwards between decks under some deals and both of them begged with the +most moving cries and entreaties for their lives. And when nothing could +prevail, they begged with the same earnestness for but a few moments to +pray to God, and recommend their souls to mercy. But alike in vain, for +the wretched murderers, heated with blood, were past pity, and not being +able to come at them with their knives, with which they had begun the +execution, they shot them with their pistols, firing several times upon +each of them until they found they were quite dead. + +As all this, even before the firing, could not be done without some +noise, the captain, who was walking alone upon the quarter-deck, called +out and asked what was the matter. The boatswain, who sat on the after +bits, and was not of the party, answered he could not tell, but he was +afraid there was somebody overboard; upon which the captain stepped +towards the ship's side to look over. Then Winter, Rowlinson and Melvin, +coming that moment behind him, laid hands on him, and lifting him up, +attempted to throw him overboard into the sea; but he being a nimble +strong man, got hold of the shrouds and struggled so hard with them that +they could not break his hold. Turning his head to look behind him to +see who he had to deal with, one of them cut his throat with a broad +Dutch knife; but neither was that wound mortal, for the captain still +struggled with them, and seeing he should undoubtedly be murdered, he +constantly cried up to God for mercy, for he found there was none to be +expected from them. During this struggle, another of the murderers +stabbed him with a knife in the back, and that with such a force that +the villain could not draw the knife out again to repeat his blow, which +he would otherwise have done. + +At this moment Gow came up from the butchery he had been at between +decks, and seeing the captain still alive, he went close up to him and +shot him, as he confessed, with a brace of bullets. What part he shot +him in could not be known, though they said he had shot him in the head; +however, he had yet life enough (though they threw him overboard) to +take hold of a rope, and would still have saved himself but they cut +that rope and then he fell into the sea, and was seen no more. + +Thus they finished the tragedy, having murdered four of the principal +men in command in the ship, so that there was nobody now to oppose them; +for Gow being second mate and gunner, the command fell to him, of +course, and the rest of the men having no arms ready, not knowing how to +get at any, were in utmost consternation, expecting they would go on +with the work and cut their throats. In this fright everyone shifted for +himself. As for those who were upon deck, some got up in the round tops, +others got into the ship's head, resolving to throw themselves into the +sea rather than be mangled with knives and murdered as the captain and +mate, etc., had been. Those who were below, not knowing what to do, or +whose turn it should be next, lay still in their hammocks expecting +death every moment, and not daring to stir lest the villains should +think they did it in order to make resistance, which however they were +in no way capable of doing, having no concert one with another, not +knowing anything in particular of one another, as who was alive or who +was dead. Had the captain, who was himself a bold and stout man, been in +his great cabin with three or four men with him, and his fire-arms, as +he intended to have had, those eight fellows had never been able to have +done their work. But every man was taken unprovided, and in the utmost +surprise, so that the murderers met with no resistance; and as for those +what were left, they were less able to make resistance than the other, +so that, as has been said, they were in the utmost terror and amazement, +expecting every minute to be murdered as the rest had been. + +But the villains had done. The persons who had any command were +dispatched, so they cooled a little as to blood. The first thing they +did afterwards, was to call up all the eight upon the quarter deck, +where they congratulated one another, and shook hands together, engaging +to proceed by joint consent in their resolved design, that is, of +turning pirates. In older to which, they unanimously chose Gow to +command the ship, promising all subjection and obedience to his orders, +so that we must now call him Captain Gow, and he, by the same consent of +the rest, named Williams his lieutenant. Other officers they appointed +afterwards. + +The first orders they issued was to let all the rest of the men know +that if they continued quiet and offered not to meddle with any of their +affairs, they should receive no hurt, but chiefly forbade any man to set +a foot abaft the main mast, except they were called to the helm, upon +pain of being immediately cut to pieces, keeping for that purpose one +man at the steerage door, and one upon the quarter deck with drawn +cutlasses in their hands. But there was no need for it, for the men were +so terrified with the bloody doings they had seen, that they never +offered to come in sight until they were called. + +Their next work was to throw overboard the three dead bodies of the +mate, the surgeon, and the super-cargo, which they said lay in their +way; that was soon done, their pockets being first searched and rifled. +From thence they went to work with the great cabin and with all the +lockers, chests, boxes and trunks. These they broke open and rifled, +that is, such of them as belonged to the murdered persons, and whatever +they found there they shared among themselves. When they had done this, +they called for liquor, and sat down to drinking until morning, leaving +the men, as above, to keep guard, and particularly to guard the arms, +but relieved them from time to time as they saw occasion. + +By this time they had drawn in four more of the men to approve of what +they had done, and promised to join with them, so that now there were +twelve in number, and being but twenty-four at first, whereof four were +murdered, they had but eight men to be apprehensive of, and those they +could easily look after. So the next day, they sent for them all to +appear before their new captain, where they were told by Gow what his +resolution was, viz., to go a-cruising or to go upon the account. If +they were willing to join with them and go into their measures, they +should be well used, and there should be no distinction among them but +they should all fare alike; he said that they had been forced to do what +they had done by the barbarous usage of Ferneau, but that there was now +no looking back; and therefore, as they had not been concerned in what +was past, they had nothing to do but to act in concert, do their duty as +sailors, and obey orders for the good of the ship, and no harm should +come to any of them. + +As they all looked like condemned prisoners brought up to the bar to +receive sentence of death, so they all answered by a profound silence, +which Gow took as they meant it, viz, as a consent because they durst +not refuse. So they were then permitted to go up and down everywhere as +they used to do, though such of them as sometimes afterwards showed any +reluctance to act as principals, were never trusted, always suspected +and very often severely beaten. Some of them were in many ways inhumanly +treated and that particularly by Williams, the lieutenant, who was in +his nature a merciless, cruel, and inexorable wretch, as we shall have +occasion to take notice of again in its place. + +They were now in a new circumstance of life, and acting upon a different +stage of business, though upon the same stage as to the element, the +water. Before they were a merchant ship, laden upon a good account, with +merchants' goods from the coast of Barbary, and bound to the coast of +Italy; but they were now a crew of pirates, or as they call them in the +Levant, Corsairs, bound nowhere but to look out for purchase and spoil +wherever they could find it. In pursuit of this wicked trade they first +changed the name of the ship, which was before called the _George_ +galley, and which they called now the _Revenge_, a name, indeed, +suitable to the bloody steps they had taken. In the next place they made +the best of the ship's forces. The ship had but twelve guns mounted when +they came out of Holland, but as they had six more good guns in the hold +with cartridges and everything proper for service (which they had in +store through being freighted for the Dutch merchants, and the Algerians +being at war with the Dutch), they supposed they might want them for +defence. Now they took care to mount them for a much worse design, so +that now they had eighteen guns, though too many for the number of hands +they had on board. In the third place, instead of pursuing their voyage +to Genoa with the ship's cargo, they took a clear contrary course, and +resolved to station themselves upon the coasts of Spain and Portugal, +and to cruise upon all nations; but what they chiefly aimed at was a +ship with wine, if possible, for that they wanted extremely. + +The first prize they took was an English sloop, belonging to Pool, +Thomas Wise commander, bound from Newfoundland with fish for Cadiz. This +was a prize of no value to them, so they took out the master, Mr. Wise +and his men, who were but five in number, with their anchors, cables and +sails, and what else they found worth taking, and sunk the vessel. The +next prize they took was a Scotch vessel, bound from Glasgow with +herrings and salmon from thence to Genoa, and commanded by one Mr. John +Somerville, of Port Patrick. This vessel was likewise of little value to +them, except that they took as they had done from the other, their arms, +ammunition, clothes, provisions, sails, anchors, cables, etc., and +everything of value, and sunk her too as they had done the sloop. The +reason they gave for sinking these two vessels was to prevent their +being discovered, for as they were now cruising on the coast of +Portugal, had they let their ships have gone with several of their men +on board, they would presently have stood in for shore, and have given +the alarm, and the men-of-war, of which there were several, as well +Dutch as English, in the river of Lisbon, would immediately have put out +to sea in quest of them, and they were very unwilling to leave the coast +of Portugal until they had got a ship with wine, which they very much +wanted. + +After this they cruised eight or ten days without seeing so much as one +vessel upon the seas, and were just resolving to stand more to the to +the coast of Galicia, when they descried a sail to the southward, being +a ship about as big as their own, though they could not perceive what +force she had. However they gave chase, and the vessel perceiving it, +crowded from them with all the sail they could make, hoisting up French +colours, and standing away to the southward. They continued the chase +three days and nights, and though they did not gain much upon her, the +Frenchman sailing very well, yet they kept her in sight all the while +and for the most part within gunshot. But the third night, the weather +proving a little hazy, the Frenchman changed her course in the night, +and so got clear of them, and good reason they had to bless themselves +in the escape they had made, if they had but known what a dreadful crew +of rogues they had fallen among if they had been taken. + +They were now gotten a long way to the southward and being greatly +disappointed, and in want of water as well as wine, they resolved to +stand away for the Madeiras, which they knew were not far off; so they +accordingly made the island in two days more, and keeping a large +offing, they cruised for three or four days more, expecting to meet with +some Portuguese vessel going in or coming out. But it was in vain, for +nothing stirred. So, tired with waiting, they stood in for the road, and +came to anchor, though at a great distance. Then they sent their boat +towards the shore with seven men, all well armed, to see whether it +might not be practicable to board one of the ships in the road, and +cutting her away from her anchors, bring her off; or if they found that +could not be done, then their orders were to intercept some of the +boats belonging to the place, which carry wines on board the ships in +the road, or from one place to another on the coast. But they came back +again disappointed in both, everybody being alarmed and aware of them, +knowing by their posture what they were. + +Having thus spent several days to no purpose, and finding themselves +discovered, at last (being apparently under a necessity to make an +attempt somewhere) they stood away for Porto Santo,[102] about ten +leagues to the windward of Madeiras, and belonging also to the +Portuguese. Here putting up British colours, they sent their boat ashore +with Captain Somerville's bill of health, and a present to the governor +of three barrels of salmon, and six barrels of herrings, and a very +civil message, desiring leave to water, and to buy some refreshments, +pretending to be bound to ----. + +The Governor very courteously granted their desire, but with more +courtesy than discretion went off himself, with about nine or ten of his +principal people, to pay the English captain a visit, little thinking +what kind of a captain it was they were going to compliment, and what +price it might have cost them. However, Gow, handsomely dressed, +received then with some ceremony, and entertained them tolerably well +for a while. But the Governor having been kept as long by civility as +they could, and the refreshments from the shore not appearing, he was +forced to unmask; and when the Governor and his company rose up to take +their leave, to their great surprise they were suddenly surrounded with +a gang of fellows with muskets, and an officer at the head of them. +These told them, in so many words, they were the captain's prisoners, +and must not think of going on shore any more until the water and +provisions which were promised should come on board. + +It is impossible to conceive the consternation and surprise the +Portuguese gentry were in, nor is it very decently to be expressed. The +poor Governor was so much more than half dead with fright that he really +befouled himself in a piteous manner, and the rest were in not much +better condition. They trembled, cried, begged, crossed themselves, and +said their prayers as men going to execution, but it was all one, they +were told flatly that the captain was not to be trifled with, that the +ship was in want of provisions, and they would have them, or they should +carry them all away. They were, however, well enough treated, except for +the restraint of their persons, and were often asked to refresh +themselves; but they would neither eat not drink any more all the while +they stayed on board, which was until the next day in the evening, when +to their great satisfaction they saw a great boat come off from the +fort, and which came directly on board with seven butts of water, a cow +and a calf, and a good number of fowls. + +When the boat came alongside and delivered the stores, Captain Gow +complimented the Governor and his gentlemen, and discharged them to +their great joy, and besides that gave them in return for their +provisions two cerons of beeswax, and fired them three guns at their +going away. It is to be supposed they would have a care how they went on +board any ship again, in compliment to their captain, unless they were +very sure who they were. Having had no better success in this out of the +way run to the Madeiras, they resolved to make the best of their way +back again to the coast of Spain and Portugal. They accordingly left +Porto Santo die next morning with a fair wind, standing directly for +Cape St. Vincent or the Southward Cape. + +They had not been upon the coast of Spain above two or three days, +before they met with a New England ship, one Cross commander, laden with +slaves, and bound for Lisbon, being to load there with wine for London. +This was also a prize of no value to them, and they began to be very +much discouraged with their bad fortune. However, they took out Captain +Cross and his men, which were seven or eight in number, with most of the +provisions and some of the sails, and gave the ship to Captain Wise, the +poor man whom they took at first in a sloop from Newfoundland; and in +order to pay Wise and his men for what they took from them, and make +them satisfaction, as they called it, they gave to Captain Wise and his +mate twenty-four cerons of wax, and to his men who were four in number, +two cerons of wax each. Thus they pretended honesty, and to make +reparation of damages by giving them the goods which they had robbed the +Dutch merchants of, whose super-cargo they had murdered. + +The day before the division of the spoil they saw a large ship to +windward, which at first put them into some surprise, for she came +bearing down directly upon them, and they thought she had been a +Portuguese man-of-war, but they found soon after that it was a merchant +ship, had French colours and bound home, as they supposed from the West +Indies; and so it was, for they afterwards learned that she was laden at +Martinico and bound for Rochelle. + +The Frenchmen not fearing them came on large to the wind, being a ship +of much greater force than Gow's ship, carrying thirty-two guns and +eighty men, besides a great many passengers. However, Gow at first made +as if he would lie by for them, but seeing plainly what a ship it was, +and that they should have their hands full of her, he began to consider; +and calling his men together upon the deck, told them what was in his +mind, viz., that the Frenchman was apparently superior in force in every +way; that they were but ill-manned, and had a great many prisoners on +board, and that some of their own people were not very well to be +trusted; that six of their best hands were on board the prize; and that +all they had left were not sufficient to ply their guns and stand by the +sails, and that therefore as they were under no necessity to engage, so +he thought it would be next to madness to think of it. + +The generality of the men were of Gow's mind, and agreed to decline the +fight, but Williams, his lieutenant, strenuously opposed it; and being +not to be appeased by all that Gow could say to him, or any one else, +flew out into a rage at Gow, upbraiding him with being a coward, and not +fit to command a ship of force. The truth is, Gow's reasoning was good, +and the thing was just, considering their own condition; but Williams +was a fellow incapable of any solid thinking, had a kind of savage, +brutal courage, but nothing of true bravery in him, and this made him +the most desperate and outrageous villain in the world, and the most +cruel and inhuman to those whose disaster it was to fall into his hands, +as had frequently appeared in his usage of the prisoners under his power +in this very voyage. Gow was a man of temper, and notwithstanding all +the ill-language Williams gave him, said little or nothing but by way of +argument against attacking the French ship, which would certainly have +been too strong for them; but this provoked Williams the more, and he +grew so extraordinary an height, that he demanded boldly of Gow to give +his orders for fighting, which Gow declining still Williams presented +his pistol at him, and snapped it, but it did not go off, which enraged +him the more. + +Winter and Peterson standing nearest to Williams, and seeing him so +furious, flew at him immediately, and each of them fired a pistol at +him. One shot him through the arm, and the other into his belly, at +which he fell, and the men about him laid hold of him to throw him +overboard, believing he was dead; but as they lifted him up, he started +violently out of their hands, and leaped directly into the hold, and +from thence ran desperately into the powder-room with his pistol cocked +in his hand, swearing he would blow them all up. He had certainly done +it, if they had not seized him just as he had gotten the scuttle open, +and was that moment going to put his hellish resolution into practice. + +Having thus secured the distracted, raving creature, they carried him +forward to the place which they had made on purpose between decks to +secure their prisoners, and put him amongst them, having first loaded +him with irons, and particularly handcuffed him with his hands behind +him, to the great satisfaction of the other prisoners, who knowing what +a butcherly furious fellow he was, were terrified to the last degree to +see him come in among them, until they beheld the condition he came in. +He was, indeed, the terror of all the prisoners, for he usually treated +them in a barbarous manner, without the least provocation, and merely +for his humour, presenting pistols to their breasts, swearing he would +shoot them that moment, and then would beat them unmercifully, and all +for his diversion as he called it. Having thus laid him fast, they +presently resolved to stand away to the westward, by which they quitted +the Martinico ship, who by that time was come nearer to them, and +farther convinced them they were in no condition to have engaged her, +for she was a stout ship and full of men. + +All this happened just the day before they shared their last prize among +the prisoners, in which they put on such a mock face of doing justice to +the several captains and mates and other men, their prisoners, whose +ships they had taken away, and to whom now they made reparation, by +giving them what they had taken violently from another, so that it was a +strange medley of mock justice made up of rapine and generosity blended +together. + +Two days after this they took a Bristol ship bound from Newfoundland to +Oporto with fish. They let her cargo alone, for they had no occasion for +fish, but they took out almost all their provisions, all the ammunition, +arms, etc., and her good sails, also her best cables, and forced two of +her men to go away with them, and then got ten of the Frenchman on board +and let her go. But just as they were parting with her, they consulted +together what to do with Williams the lieutenant, who was then among the +prisoners and in irons. And after a short debate, they resolved to put +him on board the Bristol-man and send him away too, which accordingly +was done, with directions to the master to deliver him on board the +first English man-of-war they should meet with, in order to get his +being hanged for a pirate, as they jeeringly called him, as soon as he +came to England, giving the master an account of some of his villainies. + +The truth is, this Williams was a monster rather than a man. He was the +most inhuman, bloody and desperate creature that the world could +produce, and was even too wicked for Gow and all his crew, though they +pirates and murderers, as has been shown. His temper was so savage, so +villainous, so merciless, that even the pirates themselves told him it +was time he was hanged out of the way. + +One instance of the barbarity of Williams cannot be omitted, and will be +sufficient to justify all that can be said of him. When Gow gave it as a +reason against engaging with the Martinico ship, that he had a great +many prisoners on board, and some of their own men that they could not +depend on, Williams proposed to have them all called up one by one, and +to cut their throats and throw them overboard--a proposal so horrid that +the worst of the crew shook their heads at it. Gow answered him very +handsomely, that there had been too much blood spilled already; yet the +refusing this, heightened the quarrel, and was the chief occasion of his +offering to pistol Gow himself. After which his behaviour was such as +made all the ship's crew resolved to be rid of him, and it was thought +if they had not had an opportunity to send him away, as they did by the +Bristol ship, they would have been obliged to have hanged him +themselves. This cruel and butchery temper of Williams being carried to +such a height, and so near to the ruin of them all, shocked some of +them, and as they acknowledged gave some check in the heat of their +wicked progress, and had they had an opportunity to have gone on shore +at that time, without falling into the hands of Justice, it is believed +the greatest part of them would have abandoned the ship, and perhaps the +very trade of a pirate too. But they had dipped their hands in blood, +and Heaven had no doubt determined to bring them, that is, the chief of +them, to the gallows for it, as indeed they all deserved, so they went +on. + +When they put Williams on board the Bristol-man, and he was told what +directions they gave with him, he began to relent, and made all the +intercession he could to Captain Gow for pardon, or at least not to be +put on board the ship, knowing that if he was carried to Lisbon, he +should meet with his due from the Portuguese, if not from the English; +for it seems he had been concerned in some villainies among the +Portuguese before he came on board the _George_ galley. What they were +he did not confess, nor indeed did his own ship's crew trouble +themselves to examine him about it. He had been wicked enough among +them, and it was sufficient to make them use him as they did. It was +more to be wondered, indeed, that they did not cut him to pieces upon +the spot and throw him into the sea, half on one side of the ship, and +half on the other, for there was scarce a man in the ship but on one +occasion or other had some apprehensions of him, and might be said to go +in danger of his life from him. But they chose to shift their hands of +him this bloodless way, so they double fettered him and brought him up. +When they brought him among the men, he begged they would throw him +into the sea and drown him; then entreated for his life with a meanness +which made them despise him, and with tears, so that one time they began +to relent. But then the devilish temper of the fellow over-ruled it +again, so at last they resolved to let him go, and did accordingly put +him on board, and gave him many a hearty curse at parting, wishing him a +good voyage to the gallows, which was made good afterwards, though in +such company as they little thought of at that time. The Bristol captain +was very just to him, for according to their orders, as soon as they +came to Lisbon, they put him on board the _Argyle_, one of His Majesty's +ships, Captain Bowles commander, then lying in the Tagus, and bound home +for England, who accordingly brought him home. Though, as it happened, +Heaven brought the captain and the rest of the crew so quickly to an end +of their villainies that they all came home time enough to be hanged +with their lieutenant. + +But to return to Gow and his crew. Having thus dismissed the +Bristol-man, and cleared his hands of most of his prisoners, with the +same wicked generosity he gave the Bristol captain thirteen cerons of +beeswax, as a gratuity for his trouble and charge with the prisoners, +and in recompense, as he called it, for the goods he had taken from him, +and so they parted. + +This was the last prize they took, not only on the coast of Portugal, +but anywhere else, for Gow, who, to give him his due, was a fellow of +council and had a great presence of mind in cases of exigence, +considered that as soon as the Bristol ship came into the river of +Lisbon, they would certainly give an account of them, as well of their +strength, and of their station in which they cruised, and that +consequently the English men-of-war (of which there are generally some +in that river) would immediately come abroad to look for then. So he +began to reason with his officers that the coast of Portugal would be no +proper place at all for them, unless they resolved to fall into the +hands of the said men-of-war, and they ought to consider immediately +what to do. In these debates some advised one thing, some another, as is +usual in like cases. Some were for going to the coast of Guinea, where, +as they said, was purchase[103] enough, and very rich ships to be taken; +others were for going to the West Indies, and to cruise among the +Islands, and take up their station at Tobago; others, and not those of +the most ignorant, proposed standing in to the Bay of Mexico, and +joining in with some of a new sort of pirates at St. Jago de la Cuba, +who are all Spaniards, and call themselves _Guarda del Costa_, that is +Guard ships for the coast (though under that pretence they make prize of +ships of all nations, and sometimes even of their own countrymen too, +but especially of the English), but when this was proposed, it was +answered they durst not trust the Spaniards. Others said they should go +first to the islands of New Providence [Bahama Islands], or to the mouth +of the Gulf of Florida, and then cruising on the coast of North America, +and making their retreat at New Providence, cruise from the Gulf of +Florida, north upon the coast of Carolina, and as high as the Capes of +Virginia. + +But nothing could be resolved on, until at last Gow let them into the +secret of a project, which, as he told them, he had long had in his +thoughts, and this was to go away to the North of Scotland, near the +coast of which, as he said, he was born and bred, and where he said, if +they met with no purchase upon the sea, he could tell them how they +should enrich themselves by going on shore. To bring them to concur with +this design, he represented the danger they were in where they were, the +want they were in of fresh water, and of several kinds of provisions, +but above all, the necessity they were in of careening and cleaning +their ship; that it was too long a run for them to go to southward, and +that they had not provisions to serve them till they could reach to any +place proper for that purpose, and might be driven to the utmost +distress, if they should be put by from watering, either by weather or +enemies. + +Also, he told them, if any of the men-of-war came out in search of them, +they would never imagine they were gone away to the northward, so that +their run that way was perfectly secure, and he could assure them of his +own knowledge that if they landed in such places as he should direct, +they could not fail of considerable booty in plundering some gentlemen's +houses, who lived secured and unguarded very near the shore; and that +though the country should be alarmed, yet before the Government could +send any men-of-war to attack them, they might clean their ship, lay in +a store of fresh provisions, and be gone. Beside that, they would get a +good many stout fellows to go along with them upon his encouragement, so +that they should be better manned than they were yet, and should be +ready against all events. + +These arguments and their approaching fate concurring, had a sufficient +influence on the ship's company to prevail on them to consent, so they +made the best of their way to the northward; and about the middle of +January they arrived at Carristoun,[104] in the Isles of Orkney, and +came to an anchor in a place which Gow told them was safe riding under +the lee of a small island at some distance from the port. But now their +misfortunes began to come on, and things looked but with an indifferent +aspect upon them, for several of their men, especially such of them as +had been forced or decoyed into their service, began to think of making +their escape from them, and to cast about for means to bring it to pass. + +The first to take an opportunity to go away was a young man who was +originally one of the ship's company, but was forced by fear of being +murdered (as has been observed) to give a silent assent to go with them. +It was one evening when the boat went on shore, for they kept a civil +correspondence with the people of the town, that this young fellow, +being one of the ship's crew and having been several times on shore +before, and therefore not suspected, gave them the slip and got away to +a farm-house which lay under a hill out of sight. There, for two or +three pieces-of-eight, he got a horse, and soon by that means escaped to +Kirkwall, a market town and chief of the Orkneys, about twelve miles +from the place where the ship lay. As soon as he came there he +surrendered himself to the Government, desiring protection, and informed +them who Gow was, and what the ship's crew were, and upon what business +they were abroad, with what else he knew of their designs, as to +plundering the gentlemen's houses, etc. Upon this they immediately +raised the country, and got a strength together to defend themselves. + +But the next disaster that attended the pirates (for misfortunes seldom +come alone) was more fatal than this, for ten of Gow's men, most of them +likewise forced into their service, went away with the long-boat, making +the best of their way for the mainland of Scotland. These men, however +they did it, or what shift soever they made to get so far, were taken in +the Firth of Edinburgh, and made prisoners there. + +Hardened for his own destruction and Justice evidently pursuing him, Gow +grew the bolder for the disaster, and notwithstanding that the country +was alarmed, and that he was fully discovered, instead of making a +timely escape, he resolved to land, and so put his intended project of +plundering the gentlemen's houses into execution, whatever it cost him. + +In order to this he sent the boatswain and ten men on shore the very +same night, very well armed, directing them to go to the house of Mr. +Honeyman of Grahamsey, sheriff of the county, and who was himself at +that time, to his great good fortune, from home. The people of the house +had not the least notice of their coming, so that when they knocked at +the door, it was immediately opened. Upon which they all entered the +house at once, except one Panton, who they set sentinel and ordered him +to stand at the door to secure their retreat, and to hinder any from +coming in after them Mrs. Honeyman and her daughter were extremely +frightened at the sight of so many armed men coming into the house, and +ran screaming about like people distracted, while the pirates, not +regarding them, were looking about for chests and trunks, where they +might expect to find some plunder; and Mrs. Honeyman in her fright +coming to the door asked Panton, the man who stood sentinel there, what +the meaning of it all was. He told her freely they were pirates, and +that they came to plunder her house. At this she recovered some courage, +and ran back into the house immediately, and knowing where her money +lay, which was very considerable and all in gold, she put the bag in her +lap and boldly rushing by Panton, who thought she was only running from +them in a fright, carried it all off, and so made her escape with the +treasure. + +The boatswain being informed that the money was carried off, resolved to +revenge himself by burning the writings and papers, which they call +there the charters of their estates, and are always of great value in +gentlemen's houses of estates but the young lady, Mr. Honeyman's +daughter hearing them threaten to burn the writings, watched her +opportunity, and running to the charter-room where they lay, tied the +most considerable of them up in a napkin and threw them out of the +window, jumped out after them herself, and escaped without damage, +though the window was one storey high at least. + +However, the pirates had the plundering of all the rest of the house +besides, and carried off a great deal of plate, and things of value, and +forced one of the servants, who played very well on the bagpipes, to +march along, piping before them, when they carried it off to the ship. +The next day they weighed anchor, intending though they had cleaned but +one side of the ship, to put out to sea and quit the coast. But sailing +eastward, they came to anchor again at a little island called Calf +Sound. And having some further mischief in their view here the boatswain +went on shore again with some armed men; but meeting with no other +plunder they carried off three women, whom they kept on board some time +and used so inhumanly that when they set them on shore again they were +not able to go or stand, and it is said one of them died on the beach +where they left them. + +The next day they weighed again, holding the same course eastward, +through the openings between the islands, till they came off Ross Ness; +and now Gow resolved to make the best of his way for the Island of Eday, +to plunder the house of Mr. Fea, a gentleman of a considerable estate, +and with whom Gow had some acquaintance, having been at school together, +when they were youths. On the 13th of February in the morning, Gow +appearing with his ship off Calf Sound, Mr. Fea and his family were very +much alarmed, not being able to get together above six or seven men for +his defence. He therefore wrote a letter to Gow intending to send it on +board as soon as he should get into the harbour, to desire him to +forbear the usual salutes, with his great guns, because Mrs. Fea his +wife was so very much indisposed, and this as he would oblige his old +school fellow; telling him at the same time that the inhabitants were +all fled to the mountains, on the report of his being a pirate, which he +hoped would not prove true. In which case, he should be very ready to +supply him with all such necessities as the island would afford, +desiring him to send the messengers safe back, at whose return the +alarms of the people would immediately be at an end. + +The tide it seems runs extremely rapid among those islands, and the +navigation is thereby rendered very dangerous and uncertain. Gow was an +able seaman, but was no pilot for that place, and which was worse, he +had no boat to assist in case of extremity, to ware the ship, and in +turning into Calf Sound, he stood a little too near the point of a +little island called the Calf, and which lay in the middle of the +passage. Here his ship missing stays, was in great danger of going on +shore; to avoid which, he dropped an anchor under his foot, which taking +good hold, brought him up, and he thought the danger was over. Gow was +yet in distress and had no remedy but to send his small boat on shore to +Mr. Fea to desire his assistance, that is to say, to desire him to lend +him a boat to carry out an anchor and heave off the ship. Mr. Fea sent +back the boat, and one James Laing in it, with the letter already +mentioned. Gow sent him back immediately with an answer, by word of +mouth, viz., that he would write to nobody, but if Mr. Fea would order +his people to assist him with a boat to carry out an anchor, he would +reward them handsomely. + +In the meantime Mr. Fea ordered his great boat, for he had such a one as +Gow wanted, to be staved and launched into the water and sunk, and the +masts, sails and oars to be carried out of sight. While this was doing +Mr. Fea perceived Gow's boat coming on shore, with five persons in her. +These men having landed on the main island, left their boat on the +beach, and altogether marched directly up to the mansion house. This put +him into some surprise at first, however, he resolved to meet them in a +peaceable manner, though he perceived they were all double-armed. When +he came up to them, he entreated them not to go up to the house, +because of the languishing condition of his wife, who was already +frighted with the rumours which had been raised of their being pirates, +and that she would certainly die with the fear she was in for herself +and family, if they came to the door. + +The boatswain answered they did not desire to fright his wife, or +anybody else, but they came to desire the assistance of his boat, and if +he would not grant them so small a favour, he had nothing to expect from +them but the utmost extremity. Mr. Fea returned that they knew well +enough he could not venture to give them or lend them his boat or any +help, as they appeared to be such people as were reported, but that if +they would take them by force, he could not help himself. But in the +meantime, talking still in a friendly manner to them, he asked them to +go to a neighbouring house, which he said was a change-house, that is a +public-house, and take a cup of ale with him. This they consented to, +seeing Mr. Fea was alone; so they went all with him. In the meantime Mr. +Fea found means to give secret orders that the oars, masts and sails of +the pirates' boat should be all carried away, and that a quarter of an +hour after they had sat together, he should be called hastily out of the +room, on some pretence or other of somebody to speak with him; all which +was performed to a tittle. When he was got from them, he gave orders +that his six men, who before he had got together, and who were now come +to him well armed, should place themselves at a certain stile behind a +thick hedge, and which was about half way between the alehouse and his +own house, saying that if he came that way with the boatswain alone, +they should suddenly start out upon them both, and throwing him down, +should seize upon the other, but that if all the five came with him, he +would take an occasion to be either before or behind them, so that they +might all fire upon them, without danger of hurting him. + +Having given these orders, and depending upon their being well executed, +he returned to the company and having given them more ale, told them he +would gladly do them any service that he could lawfully do, and that if +they would take the trouble of walking up to his house in a peaceable +manner so that his family might not be frighted with seeing him among +them, they should have all the assistance that was in his power. The +fellows (whether they had taken too much ale, or whether the condition +of their ship and the hopes of getting a boat to help them, blinded +their eyes, is not certain) fell with ease into this snare, and agreed +readily to go along with Mr. Fea; but after a while resolved not to go +all of them, only deputed the boatswain to go, which was what Mr. Fea +most desired. + +[Illustration: A GANG OF MEN AND WOMEN TRANSPORTS BEING MARCHED FROM +NEWGATE TO BLACKFRIARS + +Chained neck to neck and hand to hand these wretches were led through +the streets to Blackfriars Stairs, where they were taken aboard a barge +and carried down the river to the vessel which was to transport them to +America. + +(_From the Newgate Calendar_)] + +The boatswain was very willing to accept of the trust, but it was +observed he took a great deal of care of his arms, which were no less +than four pistols, all loaded with a brace of bullets each, nor would he +be persuaded to leave any of them behind him, no not with his own men. +In this posture, Mr. Fea and the boatswain walked along together very +quietly, until they came to the stile, having got over which Mr. Fea, +seeing his men all ready, turned short about upon the boatswain, and +taking him by the collar, told him he was his prisoner and the same +moment, the rest of his men rushing in upon them, threw both down, and +so secured the boatswain, without giving him time so much as to fire one +pistol. He cried out, indeed, with all his might to alarm his men, but +they soon stopped his mouth by first forcing a pistol into it, and then +a handkerchief; and having disarmed him, bound his hands behind him and +his feet together. Then Mr. Fea left him there under a guard, and with +his other five men, but without arms, at least such that could be seen, +returned to the alehouse to the rest. The house having two doors, they +divided themselves and rushing in at both doors at the same time, they +seized the four men before they were aware, or had time to lay hold of +their arms. They did indeed what men could do, and one of them snapped a +pistol at Mr. Fea, but it did not go off, and Mr. Fea at the same time +snatching at the pistol to divert the shot if it had fired, struck his +hand with such force against the cock, as very much bruised it. + +They were all five now in his power, and he sent them away under a good +guard to a village in the middle of the island, where they were kept +separate from one another, and sufficiently secured. Mr. Fea then +despatched expresses to the gentlemen in the neighbouring island to +acquaint them with what he had done, and to desire their speedy +assistance, also desiring earnestly that they would take care that no +boat should go within reach of the pirates' guns. And at night Mr. Fea +caused fires to be made upon the hills round him, to alarm the country, +and ordered all the boats round the Island to be hauled up upon the +beach, as far as it was possible, and disabled also, lest the pirates +should swim from the ship, and get any of them into their possession. + +Next day, the 4th, it blew very hard all day, and in the evening about +high water, it shifted to W.N.W., upon which the pirates set their +sails, expecting to get off and so to lay it round the island, and put +out to sea. But the fellow who was ordered to cut the cable, missing +several strokes, the cable checked the ship's way, and consequently on a +sudden she took all aback. Then the cable being parted when it should +have been held, the ship ran directly on shore on the Calf Island, nor +could all their speed prevent it. With an air of desperation Gow told +them they were all dead men, nor could it indeed be otherwise, for +having lost the only boat they had, and five of their best hands, they +were able to do little or nothing towards getting their ship off; +besides, as she went on shore at the top of high water, and a spring +tide, there was no hope of getting her off afterward. Wherefore the next +morning, being Monday, the 15th, they hung out a white flag, as a signal +for a parley, and sent a man on shore upon Calf Island, for now they +could go on shore out of the ship at half flood. + +Now Mr. Fea thought he might talk with Gow, in a different style from +what he did before; so he wrote a letter to him, wherein he complained +of the rude behaviour of his five men, for which he told him, he had +been obliged to seize on them, and make them prisoners, letting him know +that the country being all alarmed would soon be too many for him, and +therefore advised him to surrender himself peaceably, and be the author +of a quiet surrender of the rest, as the only means to obtain any +favour; and then he might become an evidence against the rest, and so +might save his own life. This letter Mr. Fea sent by a boat with four +armed men to the island, to be given to the fellow that Gow had sent on +shore, and who waited there; at the same time, he gave them a letter +from Gow to Mr. Fea, for now he was humbled enough to write, which +before he refused. Gow's letter to Mr. Fea was to let him have some men +and boats, to take out the best of the cargo, in order to lighten the +ship, and set her afloat; offering himself to come on shore and be +hostage for the security of men and boats and to give Mr. Fea a thousand +pounds in goods for the service. He declared at the same time, that if +this small succour was refused him, he would take care nobody should +better himself by his misfortunes, for rather than they would suffer +themselves to be taken, they would set fire to the ship, and would all +perish together. + +Mr. Fea replied to this letter that he had a boat indeed, that would +have been fit for his service, but that she was staved and sunk; but if +he would come on shore quietly without arms, and bring his carpenter +with him to repair the boat, he might have her. Mr. Fea did this to give +Gow an opportunity to embrace his first offer of surrendering. But Gow +was neither humble enough to come in nor sincere enough to treat with +him fairly, if he had intended to let him have the boat; and if he had, +it is probable that the former letter had made the men suspicious of +him, so that now he could do nothing without communicating it to the +rest of the crew. About four in the afternoon Mr. Fea received an answer +to his last letter, the copy of which is exactly as follows: + + From on board our Ship the + _Revenge_, Feb. 16th, 1725. + + Honoured Sir, + + I am sorry to hear of the irregular proceedings of my men; I gave no + orders to that effect, and what hath been wrongfully done to the + country, was contrary to my inclinations. It is my misfortune to be + in this condition at present; it was in your power to have done + otherwise in making my fortune better. Since my being in the + country, I have wronged no man, nor taken anything but what I have + paid for. My design in coming was to make the country better, which + I am still capable to do, providing you are just to me. I thank you + for the concern you have for my bad fortune, and am sorry I cannot + embrace your proposal as to being evidence, my people have already + made use of that advantage. I have by my last signified my design of + proceeding, provided I can procure no better terms. Please to send + James Laing on board to continue till my return. I should be glad to + have the good fortune to commune with you upon that subject. I beg + that you would assist me with a boat, and be assured I do no man + harm, were it in my power, as I am now at your mercy. I cannot + surrender myself prisoner, I'd rather commit myself to the mercy of + the seas; so that if you will incline to contribute to my escape, I + shall leave my ship and cargo at your disposal. + + I continue, + Honoured Sir etc., + John Smith + +Upon this letter, and especially that part wherein Gow desired to +commune with him, Mr. Fea, believing he might do some service in +persuading him to submit, went over to Calf Island and went on shore +alone, ordering his boat to lie in readiness to take him in again, but +not one man to stir out of her, and calling to Gow with a speaking +trumpet desired him to come on shore. This the other readily did, but +Mr. Fea, before he ventured, wisely foresaw that whilst he was alone +upon the Island, the pirates might unknown from him, get the ship by +different ways, and under cover of shore might get behind and surround +him. To prevent which, he set a man upon the top of his own house, which +was on the opposite shore and overlooked the whole island, and ordered +him to make signals with his flag, waving his flag once for every man +that he saw come on shore, but if four or more came on shore, then to +keep the flag waving continually, till he (Mr. Fea) should retire. This +precaution was very needful, for no sooner was Mr. Fea advanced upon the +island, expecting Gow to come on shore to meet him, but he saw a fellow +come from the ship, with a white flag, a bottle, a glass and a bundle, +then turning to his own house, he saw his man make the signals +appointed, and that the man kept the flag continually waving. Upon which +he immediately retired to his boat, and he was no sooner got into it, +but he saw five fellows running under shore, with lighted matches and +grenadoes in their hands to have intercepted him, but seeing him out of +their reach, they retired to the ship. + +After this the fellow with the white flag came up and gave Mr. Fea two +letters; he would have left the bundle, which he said was a present to +Mr. Fea, and the bottle which he said was a bottle of brandy, but Mr. +Fea would not take them, but told the fellow his captain was a +treacherous villain, and he did not doubt that he should see him hanged, +and as to him (the fellow) he had a great mind to shoot him; upon which +the fellow took to his heels, and Mr. Fea being in his boat did not +think it worth while to land again to pursue him. This put an end to all +parley for the present, but had the pirates succeeded in this attempt, +they would have so far gained their point, either that they must have +been assisted, or Mr. Fea must have been sacrificed. + +The two letters from Gow were one for Mr. Fea, and the other for his +wife. The first was much to the same purpose as the former, only that in +this Gow requested the great boat with her masts, sails and oars, with +some provisions to transport themselves whither they thought fit to go +for their own safety, offering to leave the ship and cargo to Mr. Fea, +and threatening that if the men-of-war arrived (for Mr. Fea had given +him notice that he expected two men-of-war) before he was thus assisted, +they would set fire to the ship, and blow themselves up, so that as they +had lived so they would die together. The letter to Mrs. Fea was to +desire her to intercede with her husband, and plead that he was their +countryman and had been her husband's schoolfellow, etc. But no answer +was returned to either of these letters. + +On the 17th, in the morning, contrary to expectation, Gow himself came +on shore upon the Calf Island[105], unarmed except for his sword, and +alone, only one man at a distance, carrying a white flag, making signals +for a parley. Mr. Fea, who by this time had gotten more people about +him, immediately sent one Mr. Fea, of Whitehall, a gentleman of his own +family, with five other persons well-armed over the island, with orders +to secure Gow if it were possible by any means, either dead or alive. +When they came on shore, Gow proposed that one of them, whose name was +Schottary, a master of a vessel, should go on board the ship as hostage +for this Gow's safety, and Schottary consenting, Gow himself conducted +him to the ship's side. + +Mr. Fea perceiving this from his own house, immediately took another +boat and went over to the island himself, and while he was expostulating +with his men for letting Schottary go for hostage, Gow returned, and Mr. +Fea made no hesitation, but told him that he was his prisoner. At this +Gow started and said that it ought not to be so, since there was a +hostage delivered for him. Mr. Fea said he gave no order for it, and it +was what they could not justify, and since Schottary had ventured +without orders, he must take his fate, he would run the venture of it; +but he advised Gow, as he expected good usage himself, that he would +send the fellow who carried his white flag back to the ship with orders +for them to return Schottary in safety, and to desire Winter and +Peterson to come with him. Gow declined giving any such orders, but the +fellow said he would readily go and fetch them, and did so, and they +came along with him. When Gow saw them, he reproached them for being so +easily imposed on, and ordered them to go back to the ship immediately, +but Mr. Fea's men, who were too strong for them, surrounded them and +took them all. When this was done, they demanded Gow to deliver his +sword, but he said he would rather die with it in his hand, and begged +them to shoot him, but was denied; and Mr. Fea's men disarming him of +his sword, carried him with the other two into their boat, and after +that to the main island, where Mr. Fea lived. + +Having thus secured the captain, Mr. Fea prevailed with him to go to the +shore over against the ship, and to call the gunner and another man to +come on shore on Calf Island, which they did. But they were no sooner +there, but they also were surrounded by some men which Mr. Fea had +placed out of sight upon the island for that purpose. Then they made Gow +call to the carpenter to come on shore, still making them believe they +would have a boat; and Mr. Fea went over and met him alone, and talking +with him, told him they could not repair the boat without help and +without tools. So persuading him to go back and bring a hand or two with +him, and some tools, some oakum, nails, etc., the carpenter being thus +deluded, went back and brought a Frenchman and another with him, with +all things proper for their work. All of whom, as soon as they came on +shore, were likewise seized and secured by Mr. Fea and his men. + +But there were still a great many men in the ship, whom it was necessary +to bring if possible to a quiet surrender; so Mr. Fea ordered his men to +make a feint as if they would go to work upon the great boat which lay +on the shore upon the island but in sight of the ship. There they +hammered and knocked and made a noise as if they were really caulking +and repairing her, in order to her being launched off and put into their +possession; but towards night he obliged Gow to write to the men that +Mr. Fea would not deliver the boat until he was in possession of the +ship, and therefore he ordered them all to come on shore, without arms, +and in a peaceable manner. This occasioned many debates in the ship, but +as they had no officers to guide them and were all in confusion, they +knew not what to do. So after some time bewailing their hard fate, and +dividing what money was left in the ship among them, they yielded and +went on shore, and were all made prisoners, to the number of +eight-and-twenty, including those who were secured before. + +Being now all secured and in custody in the most proper places in the +island, Mr. Fea took care to give notice to the proper officers in the +country, and by them to the Government of Edinburgh, in order to get +help for the carrying them to England. The distance being so great, it +took up some time; for the Government at Edinburgh not being immediately +concerned in it, but rather the Court of Admiralty of Great Britain, +expresses were dispatched from thence to London, that his Majesty's +pleasure might be known; in return to which, orders were despatched into +Scotland to have them immediately sent up into England with as much +expedition as the case would admit. Accordingly they were brought up by +land to Edinburgh first, and from thence being put on board the +_Greyhound_ frigate, they were brought by sea to England. This +necessarily took up a great deal of time, so that had they been wise +enough to improve the hours that were left, they had almost half a +year's time to prepare themselves for death, though they cruelly denied +the poor mate of a few moments to commend his soul to God's mercy, even +after he was half murdered before. They were most of them in custody the +latter end of January, and were not executed till the 11th of June. + +The _Greyhound_ arrived in the river the 25th of March, and the next day +came to an anchor at Woolwich; and the pirates being put into boats +appointed to receive them, with a strong guard to attend them, were +brought on shore on the 30th, and conveyed to the Marshalsea prison in +Southwark, where they were delivered to the keepers of the said prison, +and were laid in irons. There they had the mortification to meet +Lieutenant Williams, who was brought home by the _Argyle_ man-of-war, +from Lisbon, and had been committed to the same prison but a very few +days before. + +Indeed, as it was a mortification to them, so it was more to him, for +though he might be secretly pleased that those who had so cruelly, as he +called it, put him into the hands of Justice by sending him to Lisbon, +were brought into the same circumstances with himself, yet on the other +hand, it could not but be a terrible mortification to him that here were +now sufficient witnesses found to prove his crimes against him, which +were not so easy to be had before. + +Being thus laid fast, it remained to proceed against them in due form, +and this took up some long time still. On Friday, the 2nd of April, they +were all carried to Doctors' Commons, where the proper judges being +present, they were examined; by which examination the measures were +taken for the farther proceedings. For as they were not equally guilty, +so it was needful to determine who it was proper to bring to an +immediate trial, and who, being less guilty, were more proper objects of +the Government's clemency, as being under force and fear and +consequently necessitated to act as they did; and also who it might be +proper to single out as an evidence against the rest. After being thus +examined they were remanded to the Marshalsea. On Saturday, the 8th of +May, the five who were appointed for evidence against the rest, and +whose names are particularly set down in its place, were sent from the +Marshalsea prison to Newgate, in order to give their information. + +Being thus brought up to London, and committed to the Marshalsea prison, +and the Government being fully informed, what black uncommon offenders +they were, it was thought proper to bring them to speedy justice. In +order to this, some of them, as has been said, who were less criminal +than the rest, and who apparently had been forced into their service, +were sorted out, and being examined (giving first an account of +themselves, and then of the whole fraternity) it was thought fit to make +use of their evidence for the more clear detecting and convincing of the +rest. These were George Dobson, John Phinnes, Timothy Murphy, and +William Booth. + +These were the principal evidences, and were indeed more than +sufficient, for they so exactly agreed in their evidence, and the +prisoners (pirates) said so little in their defence, that there was no +room for the jury to question their guilt, or to doubt the truth of any +part of the account given in. Robert Read was a young man, mentioned +before, who escaped from the boat in the Orkneys, where he surrendered +himself, after getting a horse at a farmer's house, and conveying +himself to Kirkwall, the chief town of the said Orkneys. Nevertheless, +he was brought up as a prisoner with the rest, nor was he made use of as +an evidence but was tried upon most, if not all the indictments with the +rest. But Dobson, one of the witnesses, did him the justice to testify +that he was forced into their service, as others were, for fear of +having their throats cut, as many had been served before their faces, +and that in particular he was not present at, or concerned in any of the +murders for which the rest were indicted. Upon which evidence, he was +acquitted by the jury. Also he brought one Archibald Sutor, the man of +the house said before to be a farm-house, as to whether the said Read +made his escape in the Orkneys, who testified that he did so escape to +him, and that he begged him to procure him a horse, to ride off to +Kirkwall, which he did, and there he surrendered himself; also he +testified that Read gave him (Sutor) a full account of the ship and the +pirates that were in her, and what they were; and that he (Sutor) +revealed it all to the collector of the Customs, by which means the +country was alarmed, and he added, that it was by this man's means that +all the prisoners were apprehended (though that was going too far, for +'tis plain, that it was by the vigilance and courage of Mr. Fea, +chiefly, that they were reduced to such distresses as obliged them to +surrender). However, it was true that Read's escape did alarm the +country, and that he merited very well of the public for the timely +discovery he made, so he came off clear as indeed it was but just, for +he was not only forced to serve them, but as Dobson testified for him, +he had often expressed his uneasiness at being obliged to act with them, +and that he wished he could get away, and he was sincere in those +wishes, as appeared by his taking the first opportunity he could get to +put it in practice. This Dobson was one of the ten men who ran away with +the pirates' long-boat from the Orkneys, and who were afterwards made +prisoners in the Firth of Leith, and carried up to Edinburgh. + +Gow was now a prisoner among the rest in the Marshalsea. His behaviour +there was sullen and reserved, rather than penitent. It had been hinted +to him by Mr. Fea, as by others, that by his behaviour he should +endeavour to make himself an evidence against others, and to merit his +life by a ready submission, and obliging others to do the like. But Gow +was no fool, and he easily saw there were too many gone before who had +provided for their own safety at his expense, and besides that he knew +himself too deeply guilty of cruelty and murder to be accepted by public +justice as an evidence, especially where so many other less criminals +were to be had. This made him, with good reason, too, give over any +thoughts of escaping by such means as that; and perhaps seeing so +plainly that there was no room for it might be the reason why he seemed +to reject the offer, otherwise he was not a person of such nice honour +as that we should suppose he would not have secured his own life at the +expense of his comrades. Gow appeared to have given over all thoughts of +life, from the first time he came to England. Not that he showed any +tokens of his repentance, or any sense of his condition suitable to that +which was before him, but continuing sullen and reserved, even to the +very time he was brought to the bar, when he came there, he could not be +tried with the rest, for the arraignment being made in the usual form, +he refused to plead. The Court used all the arguments which humanity +dictates in such cases,[106] to prevail on him to come into ordinary +course of other people in like government, laying before him the +sentence of the law in such cases, namely that he must be pressed to +death, the only torturing execution which however they were obliged to +inflict. + +But he continued inflexible, carried on his obstinacy to such a height +as to receive the sentence in form, as usual in such cases. The +execution being appointed to be done the next morning, he was carried +back to Newgate in order to it. But whether he was prevailed with by +argument and the reasons of those about him, or whether the apparatus +for the execution and the manner of the death he was to die terrified +him, we cannot say, but the next morning he yielded, and petitioned to +be allowed to plead, and he admitted to be tried in the ordinary way. +Which being granted, he was brought to the bar by himself and pleaded, +being arraigned again upon the same indictment upon which he had been +sentenced as a mute, and was found guilty. + +Williams the lieutenant, who was put on board the Bristol ship (as hath +been said) with orders to deliver him on board the first English +man-of-war they should meet with, comes, of course, to have the rest of +his history made up in this place. The captain of the Bristol ship, +though he received his orders from the crew of pirates and rogues, whose +instructions he was not obliged to follow, and whose accusation of +Williams they were not obliged to give credit to, yet punctually obeyed +the order, and put him on board the _Argyle_, Captain Bowler, then lying +in the port of Lisbon and bound for England; who, as they took him in +irons, kept him so, and brought him to England, in the same conditions. +But as the pirates did not send any of their company, nor indeed could +they do it, along with him to be evidence against him, and the men who +went out of the pirate ship on board the Bristol ship, being till then +kept as prisoners on board the pirate ship (and perhaps could not have +said enough, or given particular evidence, sufficient to convict him in +a course of justice), Providence supplied the want by bringing the whole +crew to the same place; for Williams was in the Marshalsea prison before +them, and by that means they furnished sufficient evidence against +Williams also, so that they were all tried together. + +In Williams's case the evidence was as particular as in Gow's, and +Dobson and the other swore positively that Williams boasted that after +MacCauly had cut the super-cargo's throat imperfectly, he (Williams) +murdered him, and added that he would not give him time to say his +prayers, but shot him through the head. Phinnes and Timothy Murphy +testified the same, and to show the bloody disposition of this wretch, +William Booth testified that Williams proposed afterwards to the company +that if they took any more ships they should not encumber themselves +with the men, having already so many prisoners that in case of a fight +they should not be safe with them; but that they should take them and +tie them, back to back, and throw them all overboard into the sea. + +It should not be omitted here also in the case of Gow himself (as I have +observed in the introduction) that Gow had long meditated the kind of +villainy which he now put in practice, and that it was his resolution to +turn pirate the first opportunity he should get, whatever voyage he +undertook, and that I observed he had intended it on board a ship in +which he came home from Lisbon, and failed only for want of a sufficient +party. So this resolution of his is confirmed by the testimony and +confession of James Belvin, one of his fellow-criminals, who upon trial +declared that he knew that Gow and the crew of the _George_ galley had a +design to turn pirates from the beginning, and added that he discovered +it to George Dobson, in Amsterdam, before the ship went out to sea. For +the confirmation of this, George Dobson was called up again, after he +had given his evidence upon the trials, and being confronted by Belvin, +he did acknowledge that Belvin had said so, and that in particular he +had said that the boatswain had a design to murder the master and some +others and run away with the ship. Being asked why he did not +immediately reveal it to the master, Captain Ferneau, he answered that +he heard Belvin tell the mate of it, and that the mate told the captain; +but the captain made light of it. But the boatswain finding himself +discovered, refused to go, upon which Gow was made second mate, and +Belvin was made boatswain; an he had been as honest afterwards as +before (whereas on the contrary, he was as forward and active as any of +them, except that he was not in the first secret nor in the murders), he +might have escaped what afterwards became so justly his due. But as they +acted together, Justice required that they should suffer together, and +accordingly, Gow and Williams, Belvin, Melvin, Winter, Peterson, +Rowlinson and MacCauly, received the reward of their cruelty and blood +at the gallows, being all executed together on the eleventh of June. + +It happened that Gow being a very strong man, and giving a kind of +spring, it so strained the rope that, on some people pulling him by the +legs, it broke and he fell down, after he had remained about four +minutes suspended. His fall stunned him a little, but as soon as he was +taken up, he recovered himself so far as to be able to ascend the ladder +a second time, which he did with very little concern, dying with the +same brutal ferocity which animated all his actions while alive. His +body hangs in chains over against Greenwich, as that of Williams does +over against Blackwall. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [102] The most northerly of the islands. + + [103] The word is here used in its original sense, indicating + something acquired by seeking--or hunting--_pour chasser._ + + [104] The island of Carrick. + + [105] According to Johnson's _History of the Pirates_ (Chap. + XVIII) Gow's real motive for returning to the Orkneys was to wed + a girl whose parents had repulsed him on account of his poverty. + She was the daughter of one Mr. G----, a well-to-do man. + + [106] One of these humane arguments, according to Johnson, _op. + cit._, consisted in tying his thumbs together with whipcord, + "which was done several times by the executioner and another + officer; they drawing the cord until it broke." + + + +APPENDIX + + +_Although the several histories which are related within the compass of +this Appendix do not so properly fall under the general title of this +work (most of them having fallen out in a period of time long before +that to which I have fixed the beginning of these memoirs of the +unfortunate victims to public justice) yet there are two reasons which +determined me to give these narratives a place in this collection. The +first is that the wonders of Providence signalized in these transactions +might hereby be recorded and preserved to posterity; and the other, that +from the perusal the wicked might be deterred from pursuing their +vicious courses, from the prospect of those sudden, dreadful, and +unexpected strokes which the best hid criminal practices have met with +from the unsearchable conduct of Divine Justice. And as these arguments +had weight enough with me to engage me to the performance of this work, +so I hope they will also incline my readers to peruse them with that +improvement and delight which I have ever aimed to excite in the course +of my labours._ + + + + +A true and perfect account of the examination, confession, trial, +condemnation and execution, of JOHN PERRY, his mother and brother, for +the supposed murder of WILLIAM HARRISON, Gent. + + +Upon Thursday, the 6th of August, 1660, William Harrison, steward to the +Lady Viscount Campden, at Campden in Gloucester, being about seventy +years of age, walked from Campden aforesaid to Charringworth, about two +miles from thence, to receive his lady's rent; and not returning so +early as formerly, his wife, Mrs. Harrison, between eight and nine +o'clock in the evening, sent her servant John Perry, to meet his master +on the way from Charringworth. But neither Mr. Harrison nor his servant +John Perry returning that night, early the next morning Edward Harrison, +William's son, went towards Charringworth to enquire after his father. +On the way he met Perry coming thence, and being informed by him that he +was not there, they went together to Ebrington, a village between +Charringworth and Campden, where they were told by one Daniel, that Mr. +Harrison called at his house the evening before, in his return from +Charringworth, but stayed not. Then they went to Paxford, about half a +mile from thence, where hearing nothing of Mr. Harrison, they returned +towards Campden. And on the way hearing of a hat, band and a comb, taken +up on the highway between Ebrington and Campden, by a poor woman then +leasing [gleaning] in the field, they sought her out. With her they +found the hat, band and comb, which they knew to be Mr. Harrison's; and +being brought by the woman to the place where she found the same, in the +highway between Ebrington and Campden, near unto a great furze-brake, +they there searched for Mr. Harrison, supposing he had been murdered, +the hat and the comb being hacked and cut, and the band bloody, but +nothing more could there be found. The news hereof coming to Campden, so +alarmed the town that the men, women and children hasted thence in +multitudes to search for Mr. Harrison's supposed dead body, but all in +vain. + +Mrs. Harrison's fears for her husband were now much increased, and +having sent her servant Perry the evening before to meet his master, and +he not returning that night, caused a suspicion that he had robbed and +murdered him. Thereupon the said Perry was the next day brought before a +Justice of the Peace; by whom being examined concerning his master's +absence, and his own staying out the night he went to meet him, gave +this account of himself. That his mistress sending him to meet his +master, between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, he went down +Campden Field towards Charringworth about a land's length,[107] where +meeting one William Read of Campden, he acquainted him with his errand, +and farther told him that as it was growing dark he was afraid to go +forwards, and would therefore return and fetch his young master's horse +and return with him; he went to Mr. Harrison's court gate, where they +parted. He stayed till one Pierce coming by, he went again with him +about a bow's shot into the fields, and returned with him likewise to +his master's gate, where they also parted; and the said John Perry +averred that he went into his master's hen-roost, where he lay about an +hour, but slept not, but when the clock struck twelve, arose and went +towards Charringworth, until a great mist arising, he lost his way, and +so lay the rest of the night under a hedge. At break of day on Friday +morning he went to Charringworth, where he enquired for his master of +one Edward Plaisterer, who told him he had been with him the afternoon +before, and received three-and-twenty pounds of him, but stayed not long +with him. He went to William Curtis of the same town, who told him he +heard his master was at his house the day before, but being not at home, +did not see him. After which he said he returned homewards, it being +about five o'clock in the morning, when on the way he met his master's +son, with whom he went to Ebrington and Paxford, etc. Curtis being +examined, affirmed what Perry had said concerning them to be true. + +Perry then being asked by the Justice of Peace how he, who was afraid to +go to Charringworth at nine o'clock, became so bold as to go thither at +twelve, answered that at nine o'clock it was dark, but at twelve the +moon shone. Being further asked why returning twice home after his +mistress had sent him to meet his master, and staying until twelve of +the clock, he went not into the house to know whether his master was +come, before he went a third time, at that time of night to look after +him, he answered that he knew his master was not at home, because he saw +a light in his chamber window, which never used to be there so late when +he was at home. + +Yet notwithstanding this that Perry had said about staying forth that +night, it was not thought fit to discharge him until further enquiry was +made after Mr. Harrison, and accordingly he continued in custody at +Campden, sometimes in an inn there, and sometimes in the common prison, +from Saturday, August the 18th, to the Friday following; during which +time he was again examined at Campden, by the aforesaid Justice of +Peace, but confessed nothing more than before, nor at that time could +any further discovery be made as to what was become of Mr. Harrison. But +it hath been said that during his restraint at Campden he told some (who +pressed him to confess what he knew concerning his master) that a tinker +had killed him; and to others he said that a gentleman's servant of the +neighbourhood had robbed and murdered him; and others, again, he told +that he was murdered and hid in a bean-rick in Campden, where search was +in vain made for him. At length he gave out that if he was again carried +before the Justice, he would discover that to him which he would not do +to anybody else; and thereupon he was, on Friday, August the 24th, again +brought before the Justice of Peace, who first examined him. And asking +him whether he would confess what had become of his master, he answered +he was murdered but not by him. The Justice of Peace then telling him +that if he knew him to be murdered, he knew likewise by whom he was, so +he acknowledged he did, and being urged to confess what he knew +concerning it, affirmed that it was his mother and brother that had +murdered his master. The Justice of Peace then advised him to consider +what he said, telling him that he feared he might be guilty of his +master's death, and that he should not draw more innocent blood upon his +head, for what he now charged his mother and brother with might cost +them their lives. But he affirming he spoke nothing but the truth, and +that if he were immediately to die he would justify it, the Justice +desired him to declare how, and when they did it. + +He then told him that ever since he came into his master's service his +mother and brother had lain at him to help them to money, telling him +how poor they were, and that it was in his power to relieve them by +giving them notice when his master went to receive his lady's rents, for +they would then waylay him and rob him. And further, he said that upon +the Thursday morning, when his master went to Charringworth, going on an +errand into the town, he met his brother in the street, whom he then +told whither his master was going, and if he waylaid him he might have +his money; and further said, that in the evening when his mistress sent +him to meet his master, he met his brother in the street before his +master's gate, going as he said to meet his master, and so they went +together to the churchyard, about a stone's throw from Mr. Harrison's +gate, where they parted. He going the footway beyond the church, they +met again, and so went together the way leading to Charringworth, until +they came to a gate about a bow's shot from Campden church that goes +into a ground of the Lady Campden's, called the Conygree, which to +those who have a key to go through the garden, is the nearest from that +place to Mrs. Harrison's house. When they came near unto that gate, he +(the said John Perry) said he told his brother that he believed his +master was just gone into the Conygree (for it was then so dark they +could not discern any man, so as to know him). But perceiving there was +no way but for those who had a key through the gardens, he concluded it +was his master who had gone through, and so told his brother if he +followed him, he might have his money, and he in the meantime, would +walk a turn in the fields. Which accordingly he did, and then followed +his brother. About the middle of the Conygree, he found his master on +the ground, his brother upon him, and his mother standing by. Being +asked whether his master was dead, he answered, No, for that after he +came to them, his master cried, _Ah, rogues! Will you kill me?_ At which +he told his brother he hoped he would not kill his master; his brother +replied, _Peace, peace, you're a fool_; and so strangled him. Which +having done, he took a bag of money out of his pocket, and threw it into +his mother's lap; and then he and his brother carried his master's dead +body into the garden, adjoining to the Conygree, where they consulted +what to do with it, and at length agreed to throw it into the great pool +by Wallington's Mill, behind the garden. + +His mother and brother bid him go up to the court next the house, to +hearken whether anyone was stirring, and they would throw the body into +the pool; and being asked whether it was there, he said, he knew not, +for that he left it in the garden, but his mother and brother said they +would throw it there, and if it was not there, he knew not where it was, +for that he returned no more to them, but went into the court gate, +which goes into the town. He met with John Pierce with whom he went into +the field, and again returned with him to his master's gate. After which +he went into the hen-roost, where he lay until twelve o'clock at night, +but slept not, and having, when he came from his mother and brother, +brought with him his master's hat, band and comb, which he laid in the +hen-roost, he carried the said hat, band and comb, and threw them after +he had given them three or four cuts with his knife, in the highway, +where they were after found. And being asked what he intended by so +doing, he said he did it that it might be believed his master had been +there robbed and murdered. And having thus disposed of his hat, band and +comb, he went towards Charringworth, as hath been related. + +Upon this confession and accusation, the Justice of Peace gave order for +the apprehending of Joan and Richard Perry, the mother and brother of +John Perry, and for searching the pool where Mr. Harrison's body was +said to be thrown, which was accordingly done, but nothing of him could +be found there. The Fish Pools, likewise, in Campden, were drawn and +searched, but nothing could be found there either; so that some were of +opinion that the body might be laid in the ruins of Campden House, burnt +in the late wars, and not unfit for such a concealment, where was +likewise search made, but all in vain. + +On Saturday, August 25th, Joan and Richard Perry, together with John +Perry, were brought before the Justice of Peace, who acquainted the said +Joan and Richard with what John had lain to their charge. They denied +all, with many imprecations on themselves if they were in the least +guilty of anything of which they were accused, but John on the other +side affirmed to their faces that he had spoken nothing but the truth +and that they had murdered his master, further telling them that he +could never be at quiet for them since he came into his master's +service, being continually followed by them to help them to money (which +they told him he might do by giving them notice when his master went to +receive his lady's rents), and that meeting his brother Richard in +Campden Town, the Thursday morning his master went to Charringworth, he +told him whither he was going, and upon what errand; Richard confessed +he met his brother that morning and spoke with him, but nothing passed +between them to that purpose. Both he and his mother told John he was a +villain to accuse them wrongfully, as he had done, but John on the other +side affirmed that he had spoken nothing but the truth and would justify +it to his death. + +One remarkable circumstance happened in these prisoners' return from the +Justice's house to Campden, viz., Richard Perry following a good +distance behind his brother John, pulling a clout out of his pocket, +dropped a ball of inkle,[108] which one of his guard taking up, he +desired him to restore it, saying it was only his wife's hair lace; but +the party opening it, and finding a slip knot at the end, went and +showed it unto John, who was then a good distance before and knew +nothing of the dropping and taking up of this inkle. Being showed it, +and asked whether he knew it, he shook his head and said, yes to his +sorrow, for that was the string his brother strangled his master with. +This was sworn upon the evidence at their trial. + +The morrow being the Lord's day, they remained at Campden, where the +minister of the place designing to speak to them, if possible to +persuade them to repentance and a farther confession, they were brought +to church; and in their way thither passing by Richard's house, two of +his children meeting him, he took the lesser in his arm, and was leading +the other in his hand, when on a sudden both their noses fell +a-bleeding, which was looked upon as ominous. + +Here it will be no impertinent digression to tell how the year before, +Mr. Harrison had his house broken open between eleven and twelve o'clock +at noon, upon Campden market-day, whilst himself and his whole family +were away, a ladder being set up to a window of the second story, and an +iron bar wrenched thence with a ploughshare, which was left in the room, +and seven score pounds in money carried away, the authors of which +robbery could never be found. After this, and not many weeks before Mr. +Harrison's absence, one evening in Campden garden his servant Perry made +a hideous outcry, whereas some who heard it coming in, met him running +and seemingly affrighted, with a sheep-pick in his hand, to whom he told +a story how he had been set upon by two men in white, with naked swords, +and how he defended himself with his sheep-pick, the handle whereof was +cut in two or three places, as was likewise a key in his pocket, which +he said was done with one of their swords. + +The passages the Justice of the Peace having before heard, and calling +to mind upon Perry's confession, asked him first concerning the robbery, +when his master lost seven score pounds out of his house at noon-day, +whether he knew who did it? He answered, Yes, it was his brother, and +being further asked, whether he was with him, he answered, No, he was at +church, but that he gave him notice of the money, and told him in which +room it was, and where he might have a ladder, that would reach the +window; and that his brother after told him he had the money, and had +buried it in his garden, and that they were at Michaelmas next to have +divided it, whereupon search was made in the garden, but no money could +be there found. And being further asked concerning the other passage, of +his being assaulted in the garden, he confessed it was all a fiction, +and that he did it having a design to rob his master, so that rogues +being believed to haunt the place, when his master was robbed they might +be thought to have done it. + +At the next assizes, which were held in September following, John, Joan +and Richard Perry had two indictments found against them, one for +breaking into William Harrison's house, and robbing him of one hundred +and forty pounds, in the year, 1659; the other for robbing and murdering +the said William Harrison on the 16th day of August, 1660. Upon the last +indictment, the judge of the assizes, Sir C. T., would not try them, +because the body was not found; but they were then tried upon the other +indictment for robbery, to which they pleaded not guilty. But someone +whispering behind them, they soon pleaded guilty, humbly begging the +benefit of his Majesty's gracious pardon and Act of Oblivion,[109] which +was granted them. But though they pleaded guilty to their indictment, +being thereunto promised (as probable) by some who are unwilling to lose +time and trouble the Court with their trial as the Act of Oblivion +pardoned them; yet they all afterwards and at their death, denied that +they were guilty of that robbery, or that they knew who did it. Yet at +his assize, as several credible persons have affirmed, John Perry still +persisted in his story that his mother and brother had murdered his +master, and further added that they had attempted to poison him in gaol, +so that he durst neither eat nor drink with them. + +At the next assizes, which was held the Spring following, John, Joan and +Richard Perry were by the then judge of assize, Sir B. H., tried upon +the indictment of murder, and pleaded thereunto severally not guilty. +And when John's confession before the Justice was proved, _viva voce_, +by several witnesses who heard the same, he told them he was then mad +and knew not what he said. The other two, Richard and Joan Perry, said +they were wholly innocent of what they were accused, and that they knew +nothing of Mr. Harrison's death, nor what was become of him; and Richard +said that his brother had accused others as well as him of having +murdered his master, which the judge bidding him prove, he said that +most of those who had given evidence against him knew it, but naming +none, nor did any speak to it. And so the jury found them all three +guilty. + +Some few days after being brought to the place of their execution, which +was on Broadway Hill, in sight of Campden, the mother, who was reputed a +witch and to have bewitched her sons, so that they would confess nothing +while she lived, was executed first. After which, Richard being upon the +ladder, professed as he had done all along that he was wholly innocent +of the fact for which he was then to die, and that he knew nothing of +Mr. Harrison's death, nor what was become of him, and did with great +earnestness beg and beseech his brother, for the satisfaction of the +whole world and for his own conscience, to declare what he knew +concerning him. But he, with a dogged and surly carriage, told the +people he was not obliged to confess to them; yet immediately before his +death, he said he knew nothing of his master's death, nor what had +become of him but they might hereafter possibly hear. + +Mr. Harrison's account of his being absent two years, and of his return +home, addressed to Sir Thomas Overbery, Knight + + Honoured Sir, + + In obedience to your commands, I give you this true account of my + being carried away beyond the seas, my continuance there and return + home. + + On Thursday, in the afternoon, in the time of harvest, I went to + Charringworth to demand rents due to my Lady Campden, at which the + tenants were busy in the fields, and were late ere they came home, + which occasioned my stay there till the close of the evening. I + expected a considerable sum, but received only twenty-three pounds + and no more. In my return home, in the narrow passages amongst + Ebrington Furzes, there met me one horseman, and said, _Art thou + there?_ and I, fearing that he would have rode over me, struck his + horse over the nose, whereupon he struck me with his sword several + blows, and ran it into my side, while I with my little cane made my + defence as well as I could. At last another came behind me, ran me + in the thigh, laid hold on the collar of my doublet, and drew me to + a hedge near to the place. Then came in another. They did not take + away my money, but mounted me behind one of them, drew my arms about + his middle, and fastened my wrists together with something that had + a spring lock to it, as I conceived, by hearing it give a snap as + they put it on; then they threw a great cloak over me and carried me + away. + + In the night, they alighted at a hayrick, which stood near unto a + stone pit, by a wall side, where they took away my money. This was + about two hours before day, as I heard one of them tell the other he + thought it to be then. They tumbled me into the stone pit. They + stayed, as I thought, about an hour at the hayrick. When they took + horse again, one of them bade me come out of the pit. I answered + they had my money already, and asked what they would do with me, + whereupon he struck me again, drew me out, and put a great quantity + of money into my pockets, and mounted me again, after the same + manner. And on Friday, about sunset, they brought me to a lone house + upon a heath, by a thicket of bushes, where they took me down, + almost dead, being sorely bruised with the carriage of the money. + When the woman of the house saw that I could neither stand nor + speak, she asked them whether or no they had brought a dead man? + They answered, no, but a friend that was hurt, and they were + carrying me to a surgeon. She answered, if they did not make haste + their friend would be dead before they could bring him to one. + There they laid me on the cushions and suffered none to come into + the room but a little girl. There we stayed all night, they giving + me some broth and strong waters. + + In the morning, very early, they mounted me as before, and on + Saturday night, they brought me to a place where were two or three + houses, in one of which I lay all night on cushions by their + bedside. On Sunday morning they carried me from thence, and about + three or four of the clock, they brought me to a place by the + seaside, called Deal, where they laid me down in the ground. One of + them staying by me, the other two walked a little off to meet a man, + with whom they talked; and in their discourse I heard them mention + seven pounds, after which they went away together, and about half an + hour after returned. The man (whose name, as I after heard, was + Wrenshaw) said he feared I would die before they could put me on + board; then they put me into a boat, and carried me on ship-board, + where my wounds were dressed. + + I remained in the ship, as near as I could reckon, about six weeks, + in which time I was indifferently recovered of my wounds and + weaknesses. Then the master of the ship came in and told me and the + rest who were in the same condition, that he discovered three + Turkish ships. We all offered to fight in defence of the ship and + ourselves, but he commanded us to keep close, and said he would deal + with them well enough. A little while after, he called us up, and + when we came on deck we saw two Turkish ships close by us; into one + of them we were put, and placed in a dark hold, where how long we + continued before we were landed, I know not. + + When we were landed they led us two days' journey, and put us into a + great house or prison, where we remained four days and a half, and + then came to us eight men to view us, who seemed to be officers. + They called us and examined us of our trades and callings, which + everyone answered. One said he was a surgeon, another that he was a + broad-cloth weaver, and I, after two or three demands, said I had + some skill in physic. We three were set by, and taken by three of + these eight men who came to view us. It was my chance to be chosen + by a grave physician of eighty-seven years of age, who lived near to + Smyrna, who had formerly been in England, and knew Crowland in + Lincolnshire, which he preferred before all others in England. He + employed me to keep his still-house, and gave me a silver bowl, + double gilt, to drink in. My business was most in that place, but + once he set me to gather cotton wool, which I not doing he struck me + to the ground, and after drew his stiletto to stab me; but I holding + up my hands to him, he gave me a stamp and turned from me, for + which I render thanks to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who + stayed his hand and preserved me. + + I was there about a year and three quarters, and then my master fell + sick on a Thursday, and sent for me, and calling me, as he used, by + the name of Bell, told me he should die and bid me shift for myself. + He died on the Saturday following, and I instantly hastened with my + bowl[110] to a port almost a day's journey distant, the way to which + place I knew, having been twice there employed by my master about + the carriage of the cotton wool. When I came thither I addressed + myself to two men who came out of a ship of Hamburg, which, as they + said, was bound for Portugal within three or four days. I enquired + of them for an English ship, they answered there was none. I + entreated them to take me into their ship, but they answered they + durst not, for fear of being discovered by the searchers, which + might occasion the forfeiture, not only of their goods, but also of + their lives. I was very importunate with them, but could not + prevail. They left me to wait on Providence, which at length brought + me another out of the same ship, to whom I made known my condition, + craving his assistance for my transportation. He made me the like + answer as the former, and was as stiff in his denial, until the + sight of my bowl put him to pause. He returned to the ship, and + after an hour's space came back again accompanied with another + seaman, and for my bowl, undertook to transport me; but he told me I + must be contented to lie down in the keel and endure much hardship, + which I was content to do to gain my liberty. + + So they took me on board, and placed me below in the vessel, in a + very uneasy place, and obscured me with boards and other things, + where I lay undiscovered, notwithstanding the strict search that was + made in the vessel. My two chapmen who had my bowl, honestly + furnished me with victuals daily, until we arrived at Lisbon in + Portugal, where, as soon as the master had left the ship and was + gone into the city, they set me on shore moneyless, to shift for + myself. I knew not what course to take, but as Providence led me, I + went up into the city, and came into a fair street, and being weary + I turned my back to a wall, and leaned upon my staff. Over against + me were four gentlemen discoursing together; after a while one of + them came to me, and spake to me in a language that I understood + not. I told him I was an Englishman and understood not what he + spoke. He answered me in plain English, that he understood me, and + was himself born in Wisbech, in Lincolnshire. Then I related to him + my sad condition, and he taking compassion on me, took me with him, + provided me with lodging and diet, and by his interest with a master + of a ship bound for England, procured my passage; and bringing me on + ship board, he bestowed wine and strong waters on me, and at his + return gave me eight stivers and commended me to the care of the + master of the ship, who landed me safe at Dover. From thence I made + a shift to get to London, where being furnished with necessaries I + came into the country. + + Thus, honoured Sir, I have given you a true account of my great + sufferings and happy deliverance by the mercy and goodness of God, + my most gracious Father in Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Redeemer, to + whose name be ascribed all honour, praise and glory. I conclude and + rest, + + Your Worship's, + In all dutiful respect, + William Harrison + +Before I part with this story, it is proper for me to remark that though +it does not contain any extraordinary mark of the wisdom of Providence, +yet being in its nature strange and hitherto having escaped any other +collection, I thought it not improper to be preserved here, since some +of the circumstances are of such a nature as not to be paralleled in any +English story. + +FOOTNOTES: + + [107] A local term for a strip of furrowed land. + + [108] A kind of broad linen tape. + + [109] Passed at the Restoration, in 1660, granting "free + general pardon, indemnity, and oblivion for all treasons and + state offences" committed between 1 Jan., 1637, and 24 June, + 1660. The regicides and certain Irish priests were excepted. + + [110] That is, the silver-gilt one his master had given him. + + + + +A Relation of the Surprising Discovery of the Murder of MARY BARWICK, +committed by WILLIAM BARWICK, her husband, on the 14th of April, 1690, +upon which he was convicted, at the Lent Assizes at York, before the +Honourable Sir John Powell, Knight, then one of the Judges of Assize + + +In the following relation, I have kept strictly up to the motives which +I have mentioned in the beginning of this Appendix, and I hope that will +atone for the inserting of this story, which I confess can be of no +other use than to gratify the curiosity of the reader. + +As murder is one of the greatest crimes that man can be guilty of, so it +is no less strangely and providentially discovered when secretly +committed. The foul criminal believes himself secure, because there was +no witness of the fact. Not considering that the all-seeing eye of +Heaven beholds his iniquity, and by some means or other bringing it to +light, never permits it to go unpunished. Indeed, so certainly does the +revenge of God pursue the abominated murderer, that when witnesses are +wanting of the fact, the very ghosts of the murdered parties cannot rest +quiet in their graves until they have made the detection themselves. Of +this we are now to give the reader two remarkable examples that lately +happened in Yorkshire, and no less signal for the truth of both +tragedies, as being confirmed by the trial of the offenders at the last +assizes held for that county. + +The first of these murders was committed by William Barwick, upon the +body of Mary Barwick his wife, at the same time big with child. What +were the motives that induced the man to do this horrid fact does not +appear by the examination of the evidence, or the confession of the +party; only it appeared upon his trial that he had got her with child +before he married her, that being then constrained to marry her, he grew +weary of her, which was the reason he was so willing to be rid of her, +though he ventured body and soul to accomplish his design. + +The murder was committed on Palm Monday, being then the fourteenth of +April, about two o'clock in the afternoon, at which time the said +Barwick drilled his wife along until he came to a certain close, within +sight of Cawood Castle, where he found the conveniency of a pond. He +threw her by force into the water, and when she was drowned and drawn +forth again by himself upon the bank of the pond, he had the cruelty to +behold the motion of the infant, yet warm in her womb. This done, he +concealed the body, as it may readily be supposed, among the bushes that +usually encompass a pond, and the next night when it grew dusk, fetching +a hay spade from a rick that stood in the close, he made a hole by the +side of the pond, and there slightly buried the woman in her clothes. +Having thus despatched two at once, and thinking himself secure, because +unseen, he went the same day to his brother-in-law, one Thomas Lofthouse +of Rusforth, within three miles of York, who had married his drowned +wife's sister, and told him he had carried his wife to one Richard +Harrison's house in Selby, who was his uncle, and would take care of +her. + +But Heaven would not be so deluded, but raised up the ghost of the +murdered woman to make the discovery. It was Easter Tuesday following, +about two-o'clock in the afternoon, that the afore-mentioned Lofthouse, +having occasion to water a quickset hedge not far from his house, as he +was going for the second pailful, an apparition went before him in the +shape of a woman, and soon after set down against a rising green grass +plot, right over against the pond. He walked by her as he went to the +pond, and as he returned with the pail from the pond, looking sideways +to see whether she continued in the same place, he found she did, and +that she seemed to dandle something in her lap that looked like a white +bag, as he thought, which he did not observe before. So soon as he had +emptied his pail, he went into his yard and stood still to turn whether +he could see her again, but she was vanished. In this information he +says that the woman seemed to be habited in a brown-coloured petticoat, +waistcoat and a white hood, such a one as his wife's sister usually +wore, and that her countenance looked extremely pale and wan, with her +teeth in sight, but no gums appearing, and that her physiognomy was like +that of his wife's sister, who was wife to William Barwick. + +But notwithstanding the ghastliness of the apparition, it seems it made +so little impression on Lofthouse's mind that he thought no more of it, +neither did he speak to anybody concerning it until the same night, as +he was at family duty of prayers, when that apparition returned again to +his thoughts, and discomposed his devotion; so that after he had made an +end of his prayers, he told the whole story of what he had seen to his +wife, who laying circumstances together, immediately inferred that her +sister was either drowned or otherwise murdered, and desired her husband +to look after her the next day, which was the Wednesday in Easter week. +Upon this, Lofthouse, recollecting what Barwick had told him of his +carrying his wife to his uncle at Selby, repaired to Harrison +before-mentioned, but found all that Barwick had said to be false, for +Harrison had neither heard of Barwick nor his wife, neither did he know +anything of them. Which notable circumstance, together with that other +of the apparition, increased his suspicion to that degree that now +concluding his wife's sister was murdered, he went to the Lord Mayor of +York. And having obtained his warrant, he got Barwick apprehended; who +was no sooner brought before the Lord Mayor, but his own conscience then +accusing him, he acknowledged the whole matter, as it has been already +related, and as it appears by the examination and confession herewith +printed. + +On Wednesday, the 16th of September, 1690, the criminal, William +Barwick, was brought to his trial before the Honourable Sir John Powel, +Knight, one of the judges of the Northern Circuit, at the assizes held +at York, where the prisoner pleaded not guilty to his indictment. But +upon the evidence of Thomas Lofthouse and his wife, and a third person, +that the woman was found buried in her clothes, close by the pond side, +agreeable to the prisoner's confession, and that she had several +bruises on her head, occasioned by the blows the murderer had given her +to keep her under water, and upon reading the prisoner's confession +before the Lord Mayor of York, attested by the clerk who wrote the +confession, and who swore the prisoner's owning and signing it for +truth, he was found guilty and sentenced to death, and afterwards +ordered to be hanged in chains. + +All the defence that the prisoner made was only this, that he was +threatened into the confession that he had made, and was in such a +consternation that he did not know what he said or did; but then it was +sworn to by two witnesses that there was no such thing as any +threatening made use of, but that he made a free and voluntary +confession, only with this addition at first, that he told the Lord +Mayor he had sold his wife for five shillings, but not being able to +name either the person or the place, where she might be produced, that +was looked upon as too frivolous to outweigh circumstances that were too +apparent. + + The Examination of William Barwick, taken the 25th of April, 1690 + + Who sayeth and confesseth that he carried his wife over a certain + wainbridge, called Bishop Dyke Bridge, between Cawood and Sherburn; + and within a lane about one hundred yards from the said bridge, and + on the left hand of the said bridge, he and his wife went over a + stile, on the left hand of a certain gate, entering into a certain + close, on the left hand of the said lane; and in a pond in the said + close, adjoining to a quick-wood hedge, he did drown his wife and + upon a bank of the said pond did bury her, and further, that he was + within sight of Cawood Castle, on the left hand, and there was but + one hedge betwixt the said close where he drowned his wife, and the + Bishops Slates, belonging to the said castle. + + William Barwick + _Exam, capt. did etc. + anno super dict. + coram me._ + + _S. Dawson, Mayor_ + + + + +An Account of the Conviction and Execution of Mr. WALKER, and MARK +SHARP, for the Murder of ANN WALKER + + +I am conscious that my collecting these relations may expose me to the +railery and ridicule of a very numerous tribe of wits in this age, who +value themselves extremely on their contempt of supernatural stories, +and their disbelief of all things which relate to apparitions or returns +from that state in which souls go when they depart from the body. Yet +the following story is so remarkable, the proofs so exceedingly cogent, +and the mistakes made in the relation of it by various authors so +likely, notwithstanding, to bring it in the course of time into +discredit, that I thought I could not do a greater service to the public +than to preserve it in its genuine purity, which I have had occasion to +retrieve from the sight of some papers which related thereto, and from +which the following account is written verbatim, without any alteration +so much as in a letter. + +About the year 1631, there lived in a place called +Chester-in-the-Street, in the County Palatine of Durham, one Mr. Walker, +a yeoman of good fortune and credit. He was a widower and kept a young +woman, one Ann Walker, a relation of his, in his house as housekeeper. +It was suspected, it seems, by some of the neighbours, that she was with +child, immediately upon which she was removed to one Dame Cair's an aunt +of hers in the town of Lumley, hard by. The old woman treated her with +much kindness and civility, but was exceedingly earnest to know of her +who was the father of the child with which she went, but the young woman +constantly avoided answering that question. But at last, perceiving how +uneasy the old woman was because she could get no knowledge how the poor +babe was to be provided for, this Ann Walker at last said that he who +got her with child would take care of both her and it, with which answer +her aunt was tolerably satisfied. + +Some time after, of an evening, her old master Walker, and one Mark +Sharp, with whom he was extraordinarily intimate, came to her aunt's +house and took the said Anne Walker away. About a fortnight passed +without her being seen or heard of, and without much talk of the +neighbourhood concerning her, supposing she had been carried somewhere +to be privately brought to bed, in order to escape her shame. But one +James Graham, a miller, who lived two miles from the place where +Walker's house was, being one night between the hours of twelve and one, +grinding corn in his mill, and the mill door shut, as he came downstairs +from putting corn into the hopper, he saw a woman standing in the +middle of the floor, with her hair all bloody, hanging about her ears, +and five large wounds in her head. Graham, though he was a bold man, was +exceedingly shocked at this spectacle. At last after calling upon God to +protect him, he, in a low voice, demanded who she was, and what she +wanted of him. To which the woman made answer, _I am the spirit of Anne +Walker, who lived with Walker at Chester-in-the-Street, and being got +with child by him, he promised to send me to a private place, where I +should be well looked to until I was brought to bed, and well again, and +then I should come to him again and keep his house. And I was +accordingly, late one night, sent away with Mark Sharp, who upon the +moor, just by the Yellow Bank Head, slew me with a pick, an instrument +wherewith they dig coals, and gave me these five wounds, and afterwards +threw me into a coalpit hard by, and hid the pick under the bank. His +shoes and stockings also being bloody he endeavoured to wash them, but +seeing the blood would not go forth, he hid them there too. And now +James Grime_ (so the country people pronounce Graham) _I am come to you, +that by revealing this bloody act my murderers may be brought to +justice; which unless you do, I will continually pursue and haunt you._ + +The miller returned home to his house very melancholy, and much +astonished at this sight, yet he held his peace, hoping that if he did +not reveal it she would go to somebody else. He was fearful of blasting +the character of Mr. Walker, who was a man of substance, by telling such +a tale concerning him to a Justice of Peace. However, he avoided as much +as he was able being in the mill alone, especially at nights, but +notwithstanding all his care, and though other persons were not far off, +she appeared to him there again, and in a harsh tone demanded why he had +not made known what she had spoken of to him. He made her no answer, but +fled to the other end of the place where the people were. Yet some +little time after, just after sunset, she met him in his own garden, and +spoke to him with such a cruel aspect and with such fearful threats that +he promised to go the next morning to a magistrate, which he accordingly +did. + +On the morrow, being St. Thomas's Day, he applied to a justice of the +peace and told him the story. The justice having tendered him his oath, +and taking his information in writing, forthwith issued his warrant, and +apprehended Mr. Walker and Mark Sharp, who by trade was a collier, i.e., +dug coals out of a mine. They made light of the thing before the +justice, although he in the meanwhile had caused a place which Graham +said the apparition had spoken of, to be searched, and there found the +dead body, wounded in place and manner as before described, with the +pick, the shoes and the stockings. However, Walker and Sharp were +admitted to bail, and at the next assizes appeared upon their trial. + +Judge Davenport heard the several circumstances of the woman's being +carried out by Sharp, her being suspected to be with child by her +master, Walker, and the story which Graham repeated exactly upon oath, +as he had done before the justice. The foreman of the jury did depose +that he saw a child standing upon the shoulders of the prisoner Walker, +at the Bar, and the judge himself was under such a concern and +uneasiness that as soon as the jury had found the prisoners guilty, he +immediately rose up and passed sentence of death upon them, a thing +never known before nor since in Durham, the custom being not to pass +sentence until the close of the assizes. + + + + +The Life of JACQUES PERRIER, a French Robber and Murderer + + +As I have stepped in the former stories a little back in time, so in +this I shall make bold to go out of our own nation, to relate a very +extraordinary passage which happened at Paris in the beginning of the +last century, because it will serve as a notable instance of that +confusion and fear which guilt brings over the souls of the most +hardened villains and thereby renders them often instruments of justice +upon themselves; so that it seems not virtue only is its own reward, but +vice also brings upon itself those torments which it ought to feel. Thus +Providence ordereth, with inscrutable wisdom, that every man should feel +happiness or misery according as his own demeanour serves. But it is now +time that we hearken to the story. + +It happened that a certain architect, who was in high esteem with the +greatest nobles in France for his excellent skill in building after the +Italian model, and had thereby obtained both a great reputation and a +large estate, being a generous and charitable man, took into his house +one Jacques Perrier, in the nature of an accountant, for the better +ordering of his affairs. For the six years that this Jacques lived in +his master's house, never any man was known to behave better or more +commendably than he did. At length he married and had children, so that +the master looking upon him as a staid discreet person, of whose +fidelity he had indubitable proofs; he therefore gave him the charge of +everything, when he went to a country house of his, a small distance +from Paris, where he sometimes stayed for a week or so to unbend his +mind and enjoy the benefit of the summer season. + +At last, Jacques observing what great wealth he had acquired, began to +be covetous and desirous of obtaining it; and after having cast it long +in his head how he might obtain it, he at length resolved with himself +to join with certain villains who at that time robbed in the streets and +committed murders on the roads about Paris. Gaining notice of a house +where such people frequented, he found ways and means to be admitted +into the room where they had their consultations. And the person who +introduced him having promised for his fidelity, they listened very +attentively to the proposal which he promised to make them, and which +after a little pause, he performed in these words. _My good friends, it +is now upwards of six years since I have lived in the service of a rich +and eminent person. I thought that before this time I might have made my +fortune under him, and therefore have hitherto served him faithfully and +honestly; but finding my expectations herein deceived, I come to make +you an offer which may enrich you all. He has a house in the country, +whither he retires with his daughter and maid-servant only. These may +easily be dispatched and then all his effects will be our own. I will +venture to assure you, they will be worth ten thousand crowns._ + +The thieves were not a little rejoiced at the thoughts of so +extraordinary a booty, and therefore, after returning Perrier thanks, +they readily embraced his motion and promised him whatever assistance he +should require. It was not long before the unfortunate, gentleman went, +as usual, with his daughter and her maid, to enjoy the pleasures of his +rural habitation, leaving the direction of his affairs to Jacques, who +no sooner saw him safe out of Paris, but he went to give notice to his +associates that the time was now come to execute his bloody proposal. +They quickly got all things in readiness, and as soon as it was evening, +set out under the command of this desperate varlet to commit that +horrible murder which he had contrived. Arriving at the house, Perrier +knocked at the door; the maid knowing him, supposed some extraordinary +business had brought him thither, and readily opened the door. But she +was exceedingly surprised to find him followed by five ruffians oddly +dressed, masked and with large staves in their hands. However, they did +not give her much time to consider, but followed her immediately into +the kitchen, where, by the direction of their abominable leader, they +immediately, with many cruel blows, put her to death. From thence they +went upstairs into the old gentleman's apartment, and found him sitting +upon his bed. As soon as they entered, _Perrier_, said his master, _is +it thus that you return that kindness with which I have always treated +you. Did I not take you from misery and want. Have I not maintained you, +and put it in your power to maintain your family? Will you repay this my +charity with robbing me of all I have? Must the tenderness I have shown +towards you draw upon me death from your hands, and do you not think +that the same God who hath seen me cherish and relieve you, will not +bring upon you condign punishment for this execrable villainy thou art +going to commit?_ + +Perrier was sensible of the truth of what he said, but knowing it was +impossible for him to go back, he gave a sign to the murderers to fall +about the execution of their work; but the old man, who was too wise to +expect mercy from their hands, endeavoured to lay hold of a halbert +which stood in his room, designing therewith, as well as he could, to +defend himself. But before he could get it into his hands the villains +struck him down, and with thirty or forty wounds gave a passage for his +soul into a better life. + +The unfortunate young lady lay in the next room to her father's, and +being already got to bed, heard with astonishment the execrable fact. +However, full of fear and astonishment, she covered herself with the bed +clothes, and endeavoured all she was able, to hide herself in the bed. +But alas, her caution was to small purpose. Perrier knew too well the +situation of all things to be deceived by so trivial an artifice, and +therefore after pulling the bedclothes into the middle of the floor, he +exposed, naked, to his fellow ruffians, the most beautiful young lady in +France. In vain she fell upon her knees, and with all that tender +elocution so natural to their sex when in distress, besought them that +they would spare her life, which, as she said, could be of no benefit to +them, and could only serve to increase the number of their sins; but +they were too much flushed in cruelty and blood to give any attention to +her entreaties, and so without respect either to the softness of her +sex, or to her tender age, with a shower of blows from their clubs they +laid her dead upon the floor. Being thus become master of the house, +Perrier took the keys, and opening the several apartments, disclosed to +them all the riches of his deceased master. They immediately brought +away all the ready money they found in the house, which amounted to +little less than ten thousand crowns. All the rich movables they +conveyed away to a boat which they had prepared for that purpose, and +had fastened in a creek of the river on a bank of which the house stood. +They loaded and unloaded this vessel five or six times, for there was no +hurry in carrying away the goods, seeing it was the dead time of the +night, and when they had thoroughly plundered it of everything that +would yield money, they then came away and went to the place where they +laid up their spoils. There it was resolved to divide the booty, and +Perrier claimed the largest share, as well in right of his having put +them upon that project, as that he had assisted more strenuously in the +execution of it than any of them; for when men associate themselves to +commit wickedness, he who surpasses the rest in villainy claims the same +reward, and from the same reasons, as he who in another society +surpasses all his neighbours in virtue. When this execrable fact was +over, and he had secured his share in the plunder, he returned home to +the house of his master, and remained in carrying on the ordinary course +of business of his master. + +About two days after, it happened that a man who had business with the +old gentleman called at his country house, and after knocking a good +while at the door, finding that nobody answered, he went to town, and +meeting with Jacques Perrier at his master's house, he told him of his +calling upon him in the country, and that he found nobody there. Jacques +counterfeited the greatest surprise at the news, and calling many +assistants, went down immediately to his master's seat, and with all the +seeming horror imaginable, became a second time a witness of those +barbarities which he and his villainous associates had committed. At the +sight of the murdered maid in the kitchen, he cried out with the +greatest vehemence, and seemed in an agony of sorrow; but when he saw +the body of his master, he roared and stamped, he cried out, tore his +hair and threw himself upon the body as if he had never more intended to +have drawn breath. All the persons he had carried with him were +effectually deceived by his behaviour, and were under apprehensions lest +his too violent grief should throw him into a fever or prompt him to lay +hands upon himself. He was not contented with acting thus upon the spot, +but resolved to play it over again when he came back to Paris. There +abundance of people pitied him, and looked on him as one whom the +sincere love he had for his master had drawn to the utmost despair by +reason of his unfortunate death. + +But one of the old gentleman's relations, who was a man of more +penetration than the rest, began to suspect his excessive affliction, +and by his arguments drew another gentleman, who was also interested in +the family affairs, to be of his opinion; whereupon Jacques was +apprehended on suspicion and sent to prison. Solitude and confinement +are often the roads to repentance and confession, for the vanities of +the world being no longer before them, in such cases people are apt to +retire into the recesses of their own breasts, and having no avocations +from considering how they have spent their former years, the reflection +often extorts truth which would never be by any other method +discovered. But it was not so with Perrier. His dissimulation was of a +stronger contexture, and not to be broken even by sorrow and +confinement. He not only continued to deny the knowledge of the murder, +but also to lament the loss of so indulgent a master, with such floods +of tears, and so many strong appearances of real sorrow and affection +that, no proof appearing against him, the magistrates were afraid of +having themselves reproached with injustice if they had not given him +his liberty, to which, after six months imprisonment, he was restored. + +The rest of the assassins seeing a long space of time elapsed, and that +still not the least discovery was made of the murder, laid aside all +fears of being taken, and began to appear more openly than hitherto they +had done since the perpetration of that fact. But in the midst of their +security the Providence of God forced them to betray themselves; for as +the father, son and cousin, who were all concerned in the murder, were +sitting with one Masson, another of the confederates, making merry at a +public-house, on a sudden they turned their heads and saw ten or twelve +archers or marshal's men (who have the same authority as constables in +our country) who by chance met together and came into the house to +drink. Guilt on a sudden struck the whole company with apprehensions +that they were come in search of them, the fear of which made them throw +down their knives and forks, leave what they had upon the table and fly +with the utmost precipitation, as supposing they ran for their lives. + +This extravagant behaviour struck the archers with amazement, and +immediately calling for the landlord, they enquired of him what should +be the sudden cause of this terror in his guests. He replied that it was +impossible for him to tell certainly, but from discourse which he had +heard, he took them to be persons of no very honest character, and from +the great sums of money he had heard them count out, he was apprehensive +that they had committed some robbery or other. There wanted not any +farther account to stir up the archers to a pursuit, from whence they +already assured themselves they should be considerable gainers, the +thing speaking for itself, since honest people are not used to fall into +such panics; but only guilt creates apprehensions in men at the sight of +the ministers of justice. Immediately, therefore, the officers pursued +them in the road they had taken, and the old man being less able to +travel than the rest, in about two hours time they came up with him at +the side of a rivulet, where, for very weariness he had stopped as not +being able to cross it. + +No sooner did they come up to him but he surrendered, and fear having +brought a sudden repentance, he, without any equivocation, began to +confess all the crimes of his life. He said that it was true they all of +them deserved death, and he was content to suffer; he said, moreover, +that in the course of his life he had murdered upwards of three-score +with his own hands. He also carried the officers to an island in the +river, which was the usual place of the execution of those innocents who +fell into the hands of their gang, and acknowledged that of all the +offences he had committed, nothing gave him so much pain as the having +murdered a hopeful young gentleman (for the sake of a trifle of money +which he had about him) by putting a stone about his neck and sinking +him in the water. + +Of the other three, two were apprehended, but the third made his escape +and was running hastily with the news to Jacques Perrier and their other +companions, but he was soon after seized, and carried to prison with the +rest, none escaping from the hands of Justice but Masson and the cruel +Perrier, the author of all this mischief. The three who were in prison +endured the torture with the greatest constancy, absolutely denying that +they knew anything of the murders and robberies which had been +committed, yet when they were confronted by the old man, their courage +deserted them, they acknowledged the fact, and judgment was pronounced +upon them that they should be broke alive upon the wheel, before the +house of the unfortunate architect whom they had murdered. + +When they were brought there, with a strong guard, to suffer that +punishment to which the Law had so justly doomed them, they appeared to +be very penitent and sorrowful for their crimes, and one of them in +particular did, with greatest vehemency, beseech the pardon of Almighty +God, of the king his sovereign, and of his people whom he had so much +injured, declaring that he could not die in peace without informing the +multitude who were assembled to behold their execution, of a certain +kind of villainy in which he was particularly concerned. He said it was +his custom to watch about the sides of the road which lay near the +woods, and that having a cord with him, he suddenly threw it about the +neck of any passenger who was coming by, and therewith immediately +strangled him before he was aware, or capable of resisting them, and if +at any time there came by several passengers together who demanded what +he did there, he replied that he was sent thither by his master to catch +a cow; and his going in the habit of a peasant gave such an aspect of +truth to the story that he was never suspected. + +Though the concourse of people be generally very great, yet the +assembly on this occasion was much larger than ordinary, and those who +were spectators, contrary to the ordinary custom, showed but very little +compassion at the miserable tortures which those wretches endured. On +the contrary, they continually cried out that they should discover what +was become of Perrier and their other accomplice, Masson. These +unfortunate men continued to assert in their last moments that they knew +nothing of either of them, but supposed that, hearing of their +apprehension, they had immediately made their escape, and were retired +as far as they were able from the danger. The people were infinitely +satisfied with the death of these assassins, and nothing was wanting to +complete the triumph of Justice but the apprehension of Perrier and his +associate, to whose adventures it is now time that we return, in order +to display the severe justice of Providence, and the admirable methods +by which it disappoints all the courses that human wit can invent in +order to frustrate its intent. + +Masson had hid himself in a village not far from the city of Tours, +where he concealed himself so effectually that the inhabitants had not +the least suspicion of his being a dishonest man. On the contrary, he +applied himself to an honest way of getting his livelihood, and after +sojourning there for a considerable space, he married a young woman, +with the consent of her parents, and seemed to be now established in a +state of peace and security, if it were possible for a guilty soul to +know either security or peace. A trivial accident, in which no man but +Masson would have had a hand, proved the instrument by which he was +drawn to suffering that cruel death which his companions had before +undergone, and he so justly deserved. + +There was, it seems, a young country fellow in the neighbourhood where +Masson lived, who was just married, and according to a silly notion +which prevails not only among the peasants of France but also among the +clowns of all other nations in Europe, fancied himself bewitched by some +charm or other, which rendered him incapable of performing the rites of +his marriage bed. Masson thereupon offered, if he would give him a +reasonable gratuity, to free him from this insupportable malady, and a +bargain was accordingly struck for four crowns, two of which the fellow +gave him in his hand, and two more were to be paid on the accomplishment +of the cure, when there were no more complaints of insufficiency. Upon +this he immediately demanded the other two crowns, which the other +refused, and our infatuated thief brought the cause before the +magistrates, where, when it came to be examined, it appeared plainly +that Masson had bragged to his companions that he had wrought the +charm, for the undoing of which he now claimed a reward. And as the +Justice of the Court required, he was sentenced to be banished as a +sorcerer, after being first whipped at all the cross-streets in town. + +But behold the marvellous conduct of Divine Justice. He appealed from +this sentence to the parliament at Paris, whither he was no sooner +conducted under a strong guard, but he was immediately known to be one +of that gang of assassins which had been executed for the murder of +Perrier's master and family. Immediately he was charged with this fact, +and the heirs of that unfortunate gentleman prosecuted their charge with +such vigour that he received the like judgment, to be broken alive upon +the wheel at the same place where his associates had suffered death; +which sentence was rigorously executed five years after the perpetration +of that execrable fact. + +There remained nobody but Jacques Perrier, the author and contriver of +this horrid villainy, who had not suffered according to their deserts. +He, after hiding himself for a while, until he saw what became of his +companions, hastily betook himself to flight, and endeavoured to fly +into England, where, if he once arrived, he knew he should remain in +safety. But in this attempt he was disappointed (although nobody pursued +him), for being arrived at Calais, the same covetous and wicked +disposition which had prompted him to murder so kind a master and all +his family, egged him on to rob a certain rich merchant there, which +villainous design he effected whilst the gentleman was at church. But he +gained not much by that, for the booty being too large to be concealed, +he was very quickly apprehended and for this fact condemned to be +hanged. He had more wit, however, than his companion, Masson, and +therefore never dreamt of appealing to the parliament of Paris, where he +knew he should meet with the same fate which had befallen the rest of +the gang. However, when he came to suffer that death which was appointed +him by Law, he did not stick to acknowledge that execrable parricide +which he had projected, as well as carried into execution; so that when +the news reached Paris, it occasioned universal joy that not one of +these bloody villains had escaped, but were so wonderfully cut off, when +they themselves fancied the danger to be over. + +The French author from whom I have transcribed this account hath swelled +the relation with much of that false eloquence which was so common in +the last age, not only in France, but throughout all Europe. Except that +I have rejected this, I have been very faithful in this translation, the +story appearing to me to be very extraordinary in its kind, and worthy +therefore of being known to the public, since it will sufficiently +declare that as vice prevails generally throughout all countries and +climates, stirring up men to cruel and atrocious deeds, so the eye of +Providence is continually watchful, and suffers not the blood of +innocents to cry out for revenge in vain. It remains that I inform my +readers that this villainy was transacted about the year 1611, and that +Masson and Jacques Perrier suffered in the year 1616. + + + + +The Lives of ABRAHAM WHITE, FRANCIS SANDERS, JOHN MINES, _alias_ +MINSHAM, _alias_ MITCHELL, and CONSTANCE BUCKLE, Thieves and +Housebreakers + + +Of these unfortunate lads, Abraham White was born of mean parents who +had it not in their power to give him much education, but taught him, +however, the business of a bricklayer, which was his father's trade, and +by which, doubtless, if he had been careful, he might have got his +bread. But he unfortunately addicting himself from childhood to drinking +and lewd company, soon plunged himself into all manner of wickedness, +and quickly brought on a fatal necessity of stepping into the road of +the gallows; and associating himself with Sanders and Minsham, they had +all gone together upon the road for about six weeks before they were +taken. + +Francis Sanders was a young fellow of very tolerable arts and education. +He had been put out apprentice to a stay-maker, attained to a great +proficiency in his trade; and by the help of his friends, who were very +willing to lend him their assistance, he might have done very well in +the world if it had not been for that unfortunate inclination to roving, +which continually possessed him. His acquaintance with a certain bad +woman was in all probability the first cause of his addicting himself to +ill-courses, and as in the papers I have before me relating to him, her +history is also contained, I thought it would not be unentertaining to +my readers if I ventured to insert it. This woman's true name was Mary +Smith. She was brought up, while young, from her native country of +Yorkshire to London, where getting into the service of an eminent +shopkeeper, she might, had she been honest and industrious, have lived +easily and with credit; but unfortunately both for herself and her +master's apprentice, the young man took a liking to her, and one night, +having first taken care to make himself master of the key of her door, +he came out of his chamber into hers, where after a faint resistance, +he got to bed to her. Their correspondence was carried on for a good +while without suspicion, but the young man having one night stole a +bottle of rum with a design that it should make his mistress and he +merry together before they went to bed, they inconsiderately drank so +heartily of it that the next morning they slept so sound that their +master and mistress came upstairs at ten o'clock, and found them in bed +together. Upon this, the wench, without more ado, was turned out of +doors, and was forced to live at an alehouse of ill-repute, where +Sanders used to come of an evening, and so got acquainted with her. + +John Minsham was an unfortunate wretch, born of mean parents, and +equally destitute of capacity or education. From the time he had been +able to crawl alone, he had known scarce any other home than the street. +Shoe-blacks and such like vagabonds were his constant companions, and +the only honest employment he ever pretended to was that of a +hackney-coachman, which the brethren of the whip had taught him out of +charity. + +Thus furnished with bad principles, and every way fitted for those +detestable practices into which they precipitated themselves, they first +got into one another's company at a dram-shop near St. Giles in the +Fields, much frequented by Constance Buckle, a most lewd and abandoned +strumpet, and one Rowland Jones, a fellow of as bad principles as +themselves. One night, having intoxicated themselves with the vile +manufacture of the house, they went out, after they had spent their +money, and in Bloomsbury Square attacked one John Ross, from whom they +took away a hat value five shillings, and fourpence halfpenny in money. +This man, it seems, lived the very next door to the gin-shop where they +frequented. Going there the next day, to make complaint, he was +immediately told that the people who had robbed him had sold his hat, +and were coming thither by and by to drink the money out in gin. Upon +this information Ross procured proper assistance, and the people keeping +their appointment pretty exactly, were all surprised and taken. + +In the confusion they were under when first apprehended, Minsham and +Sanders in part owned the fact, but Rowland Jones making a full and +frank discovery, was accepted as an evidence, and produced against them +at their trial at the ensuing sessions at the Old Bailey, where, upon +full evidence, they were all convicted of this fact, and Francis +Sanders, Constance Buckle, and Robert Tyler, were indicted for +assaulting Richard Smith on the highway, putting him in fear, and taking +from him a hat value five shillings. + +Rowland Jones, the evidence, deposed that the night the robbery was +committed he was in company with the prisoners at a brandy shop, where +having drunk until they were all pretty much elevated, they went out in +order to see what they could pick up. And not far from the place they +went from, overtaking a man whom they saw had a pretty good hat on, +Sanders hit him a blow in the face, and that not doing the business, he +repeated it, and at the second blow, the hat fell off from his head, +whereupon Constance Buckle caught it and clapped it under her coat. The +constable deposed that by the information of Rowland Jones, he +apprehended the prisoners. Constance Buckle acknowledged that she was in +their company when the man was knocked down and the hat taken, whereupon +the jury, without withdrawing, found them guilty, and they received +sentence of death. + +The woman Constance Buckle pleaded her being with child, and a jury of +matrons being impannelled, they found she was quick, and thereby +procured her a respite of execution, and soon after her sentence was +changed to transportation. The rest, under conviction, behaved +themselves very indifferently, and manifested sufficiently that though +custom and an evil disposition might make them bold in the commission of +robberies, yet when death looked them steadily and unavoidably in the +face, all that resolution forsook them, and in their last moments they +behaved with all the appearances of terror which are usually seen in +souls just awakened to a due sense of their guilt. They died on the 23rd +of December, 1730; White being eighteen, Sanders near eighteen, and +Minsham sixteen years of age. + + + + +INDEX + +Abergavenny +Acton Common +African Company, the Royal +Allen, a felon +Alnwick +Amesbury +Amlow, Squire +Amsterdam +Anderson, Thomas, a thief +Andover +Angier, Humphrey, a highwayman +Annesley, Mr., his Murder +Ansell, James, a deer-stealer +Apparition, of a murdered woman +Appeals, nature of +Applebee, a footpad +Apprehension, of offenders +Armstrong, Samuel, a housebreaker +Artillery Ground +Aruba Island +Ashby, Joseph +Ashley, Isaac +Aspley, Mr. Fluellen +Audley, Lord +Austin, John, a footpad +Avery, Captain, a pirate + +Bagshot Heath +Bailey, Francis, a highwayman +Ball, Thomas +Baltic, expedition to +Barcelona +Barnham, a cheat +Barton, John, a robber + William, a highwayman +Barwick, William, a murderer +Bath +Beezely, Mr., a distiller +Bellamy, Martin, a thief +Belsize +Bennett, an apprentice +Benson, Edward, a thief + F., a thief + Timothy, a highwayman +Berry, Thomas +Bess, Edgeworth, _see_ Lion, Elizabeth +Belts +Beverley +Bewle, John +Bicester +Biddisford, a deer-stealer +Bigg, Jepthah, an incendiary +Billers, Sir William +Billings, Thomas, a murderer +Bird, Dick + James +Bishopsgate Street +Bishop Stortford +Black Act, the +Blacket, Frances, _alias_ Mary, a highwaywoman +Blackheath +Black Mary, _see_ Rawlins, Mary. +Blake, Joseph, _alias_ Blueskin, a highwayman + Robert, a coiner +Blewit, William +Bloomsbury Market +Blueskin (_see_ Blake) +Blunt, a corporal +Bohemia +Bond Street +Booty, James, a ravisher +Boston, New England +Bourn, William, a thief +Bow +Bradley, a baker + Thomas, a street-robber +Bradshaw, John, a pirate +Bramston, William +Branch, Benjamin +Brentford +Bridewell +Bridges, William +Brightwell, the brothers +Brinsden, Matthias, a murderer +Bristol + Mail, robbery of +Britton, Hannah +Brixton +Broom, Thomas +Brown, a thief + Edward, a footpad +Brownsworth, George +Buckle, Constance, a strumpet +Burden, Thomas, a robber +Burgess, Jonah +Burglary, laws concerning +Burk, William, a footpad +Burnet, Stephen, a street-robber +Burning alive, a capital punishment +Burnworth, Edward, _alias_ Frazier +Burridge, William, a highwayman +Burton, a shoplift +Bushey Heath +Butler, James, a highwayman +Butlock, Thomas, a thief +Byng, Admiral + +Calhagan +Calvo, Stefano di +Cammel, James, a thief +Campden, Gloucester +Candy, Joseph +Cane, Richard, a footpad +Carolina, America +Carrick (Carristoun), Orkney +Carrick, James, a highwayman +Carrol, a thief +Cartwright, John +Casey, William, a robber +Caustin, William, a footpad +Cawood Castle +Chambers, a felon +Chancery Lane +Charnock, Thomas +Charringworth, Glos. +Cheapside +Chelsea +Chester +Chester-in-the-Street +Chickley, Captain +Civil John, _see_ Turner, John +Clare Market +Clark, Eleanor +Clark, Matthew, a footpad +Claxton, John, a thief +Clean-Limbed Tom, a footpad +Cliffe, James +Clink Prison +Cluff, James, a murderer +Cobham, Lord +Coffee, William, a negro +Coining +Colthouse, William +Conyers, Symbol +Cope, Colonel +Copenhagen + House, Islington +Cork +Cornwall, Joshua, a thief +Cotterell, John, a thief +Cotton, Timothy, a highwayman +Covent Garden +Coventry Act +Cox, Mr., a surgeon +Crouch, Robert, a footpad +Crouches, Stephen +Crowder, Thomas, a thief +Croydon +Cullen Pierce +Currey, George +Curtis, Peter + +Da Costa, Mr. Jacob Mendez +Dalton, James, a thief +Darby, Widdington +Darien, colonials at +Davis, Captain Howel, a pirate + John + Lumley, a highwayman + Moll, a diver + Vincent, a murderer +Dawson, Mrs. +Deal +Dean, Mrs., wife of J. Wild +De Casteja, Baron +Delasay, Mr., Under-Secretary of State +Denton, Justice +Deval, Abraham, a forger +Dickenson, Emanuel +Dimmock, Mr., a sailor +Disney +Doncaster +Dorchester +Dormer +Dowdale, Stephen, a thief +Doyle, John, a highwayman +Drummond, James + Robert, a highwayman +Drury, Anthony + Lane +Dublin +Duce, William, a highwayman +Dumbleton, Abraham, a thief +Dyer, John +Dykes, John, a thief 52-54 + +Eaton, Mr., a Lifeguardsman +Ebrington, Glos. +Edgeworth, Bess, _see_ Lion, Elizabeth +Elisha, William, a highwayman +Elliot, Edward, a deer-stealer +Ellis, Colonel +Ellison, Ebenezer, an Irish thief +Epsom +Everett, John, a highwayman +Execution Dock +Exeter + +Falcon Stairs +Farnham Holt +Fea, Mr., of Eday, Orkneys +Featherby, John, a Street-Robber +Fenwick, Nicholas +Ferneau, Oliver +Ferris, a coiner +Field, William +Finch, Mr., resident at the Hague +Finchley, Common +Fink, Bernard +Fisher, Henry, a murderer +Fitzer, William +Fitzpatrick, Katherine, a shoplift +Flanders +Fleet Prison + Street +Flood, Matthew, footpad +Follwell, John +Foster, John, a housebreaker +Fowles, Amy +Fowls +Frazier, ring-keeper at Moorfields +Frost, William, a highwayman +Fulsom, a thief + +Gahogan, Henry, a coiner +Gale, George, a thief +Gambia River +Gardiner, Stephen, a highwayman +Garnet, William +Garraway +_George_ galley +Gerrard, Samuel, a constable +Gilburn, Nicholas, a highwayman +Gillingham, John, a highwayman +Gloucester + Statute of +Golden Tinman, the, _see_ Trippuck, John +Golding, Thomas +Goldington, Sarah +Gomeroon, Joseph +Gow, John, a pirate +Grace, Charles +Grahamsey, Orkneys +Gravesend +Great Ombersley +Green, Alice, a cheat + Jenny + Mary + Peter +Greenford +Greenwich +Griffin, Jane, a murderess +Griffith, Thomas +Grundy, Thomas James, a housebreaker +Guy, John, a deer-stealer + +Hall, Richard +Hammersmith +Hamp, John, footpad +Hampstead + Road +Hanson, Mr. + Mary, a murderer +Hanwell Green +Harman, James, a highwayman +Harpham, Robert, a coiner +Harris, Samuel, a highwayman +Harrison, William +Hartly, John +Harwich +Hatfield, Herts. +Hawes, Nathaniel, a thief +Hawksworth, William, a murderer +Hayes, Catherine, a murderess +Haymarket +Haynes, Robert, a murderer +Hereford +Hewlett, John, a murderer +Hide, Martha +Higgs, John +Highgate +Highwaymen, laws against +High Wycombe +Hoare, Mr., the banker +Hockley-in-the-Hole +Holborn +Holden, William, a footpad +Hollis, William, a thief +Holmes, Jane, a shoplifter +Honeyman, Mr., of Grahamsey +Hornby, John, a thief +Horseferry, Westminster +Horsely Down, Southwark +Houghton, Hugh, a robber +Hounslow Heath +Houssart, Lewis, a murderer +How, James, a highwayman +Hue and cry +Hughs, John, a footpad + Richard, a highwayman +Hulse, Dr. Edward +Hungerford +Huntingdon +Hyde Park + +_Ignoramus_, in law +Inns and Taverns: + Adam and Eve, St. Pancras + Baptist Head, Old Bailey + Black Boy, Goodman's Fields + Boar's Head, Smithfield + Brawn's Head, New Bond Street + Cardigan's Head, Charing Cross + Castle, Fleet Street + Coach and Horses, Old Palace Yard + Cock, Old Bailey + Dog and Dial, Monmouth Street + Elephant and Castle, Fleet Street + Farthing Pie House + Fighting Cocks, St. George's Fields + Globe, Hatton Garden + Green Lettuce, Holborn + Hampshire Hog + Horn, Fleet Street + King of Hearts, Fore Street + King's Arms, Red Lion Street + King's Head, Fish Street + One Tun, Strand + Pinder of Wakefield + Red Lion, Cow Cross + Red Lion, Lambeth + Rummer and Horseshoe, Drury Lane + Shoulder of Mutton, Billingsgate + Sieve, Little Minories + Thistle and Crown, Old Bailey + Three Bowls, St. James's + Three Pigeons + White Bear, Piccadilly +Insurance Offices, cheated +Islington +Israel, Abraham, a Jew + +Jackson, Nathaniel, a highwayman +Jaen, Captain, a murderer +Jamaica +James, Richard, a highwayman +Jenny, wife of T. Benson +Johnson, Jane + John, a coiner + Robert, a highwayman + Roger +Jones, Benjamin + Elizabeth + John, a pickpocket + Mr. Richard + Rowland +Julian, an incendiary +Justices of the Peace, remarks upon + +Kelley, Peter, a murderer +Kelly, Hugh +Kemp, Joseph, a housebreaker +Kennedy, Walter, a pirate +Kennington Common +Kensington +King, Robert +Kingshell, Robert, a deer-stealer +King's Road, Chelsea + Street, Westminster +Kingston +Kirkwall +Knap, John +Kneebone, Mr. +Knightsbridge +Knowland, Henry, a footpad + +Lamb, Anthony +Lambert, Justice +Langley, Captain + Claude +Larceny, laws concerning +Laws, Sir Nicholas +Law terms +Leadenhall Street +Leather Lane +Leeds, the Duke of +Leghorn, Italy +Leonard, Christopher, and Kate +Levee, John, a highwayman + Peter, a street-robber +Lewis, John, a thief +Lincoln, James, a murderer +Lincoln's Inn Fields +Lion, Elizabeth, or Edgeworth Bess +Lipsat, William, a thief +Little, James, a footpad + John, a housebreaker + Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn +Lock, William +Lofthouse, Thomas +Longmore, Henry +Lotteries +Low, Captain Edward +Lowther, Mr. + Captain, George + +MacCauly, a pirate +MacGuire, Bryan, a highwayman +Maggott, Mrs. +Maidstone +Man, Betty +Manley, Mrs., the author +Marjoram, William +Marlborough, Wilts. +Marple, William, a highwayman +Marshall, Henry, a deer-stealer +Marshal, William, a thief +Marshalsea Prison +Martin, Jane, a cheat + Peter, a Chelsea pensioner +Maryland, plantations in +Marylebone +Massey, Captain John +Maycock, Mrs. +Medline, Thomas, a highwayman +Meff, John, a housebreaker +Malvin, a pirate +Middleton, Joseph, a housebreaker +Miles, Mrs. +Miller, William, a highwayman +Milliner, Mary +Millington Common +Minsham, John, a thief +Mint, in Southwark +Mitcham +Molony, John, a thief +_Monmouth_, man-of-war +Moody +Moorfields +Morphew, John +Morris, Edward + Hugh, a highwayman +Murden, Sir Jeremiah +Murrel, John, a horse-stealer +Myring, Leonard, a barber + +Neal, Edmund, a footpad +Neasden +Neeves, Thomas, a thief +Newbury, Berks. +Newcastle-upon-Tyne +Newcomb, William, a housebreaker +Newfoundland +Newgate +Newman, Mr. Nathaniel +Newmarket +New Mint +New Prison +New York +Nichols, John + Richard, a thief + Robert +_Night Rambler_, a pirate sloop +Nisbet, a joiner +Northampton +Norwich +Nottingham +Nunney, Luke, a murderer + +Oakey, Richard, a footpad +Oblivion, Act of (1660) +O'Brian, a thief +O'Bryan, James, a highwayman +Ogden, Samuel, highwayman +Old Bailey +Old Spa, Clerkenwell +Oliver, Robert, a thief +Oporto +Osborn, Elizabeth +Ouranaquoy, an Indian chief +Overbery, Sir Thomas +Owen, Griffith, a highwayman +Oxford + Road + +Packer, Thomas, a highwayman +Palermo +Pall Mall +Parford, Mr. +Paris +Parvin, Richard, a deer-stealer +Paternoster Row +Patrick, Samuel +Payne, Mrs. Diana + John + Sarah, an infamous woman +_Peine fort et Dure_ +Pennsylvania +Penrice, Sir Henry +Perkins, Robert, a thief +Perrier, Jacques, a French robber +_Perry_ galley +Perry, Edward + John, and his family, murderers + Thomas, a footpad +Peterson, a pirate +Phelps +Philadelphia +Philip, a justice's clerk +Philpot, Mr., a surveyor +Piccadilly +Picken, Joseph, a highwayman +Pincher, William +Pink, Edward and John, deer-stealers +Pitts, Colonel +Plantations of America +Poison, Thomas, a footpad +Porto Santo, Madeira +Portsmouth + Road +Pots, Philip +Poultry Compter +Powell, Sir John +Prague, description of +Pressing, as a punishment +Price, John, a housebreaker +Pugh, John, highwayman +Purney, Ordinary of Newgate +Putney Common +Pye, Richard + +Quakers, robbed + +Rag Fair +Ransom, John +Ratcliff Highway +Rawlins, Christopher, a thief + Mary (Black Mary) + Thomas +Raymond, Lord Chief Justice +Read, Robert + William + William, of Campden +Reading, James +Receiving, practised by Wild +Reddey, Eleanor +Red Lion Fields + Square +Reeves, Thomas, a highwayman +_Revenge_, a pirate galley +Rewards, for apprehending criminals +Reynolds, Edward, a thief +Rice +Rivers, Thomas, a thief +Roberts, Dorcas +Robinson, Mary, a shoplift +Roche, Philip, a pirate +Rogers, William, a thief + Captain Woodes +Rondeau, Anne +Rose Sponging-house +Rotterdam +Rouden, John, _alias_ Hulks, a thief +Russell, William, a footpad + +Sadler's Wells +St. Albans +St. Andrew's, Holborn +St. George's Fields +St. Giles's Pound + Round-house +St. James's Park +St. Margaret's, Westminster +St. Pancras +St. Paul's, Covent Garden +St. Sepulchre's Bell-man +St. Swithin's Alley, Cornhill +St. Thomas's Hospital +Salisbury +Salter, Peter +Sanctuaries in London +Sanders, Francis, a thief +Sandford +Santa Cruz +Scarborough, Earl of +Schmidt, Frederick, alterer of bank-notes +Scrimgeour +Scurrier, Richard, a shoplift +Sefton, William, a thief +Sells, Samuel +Sharp, Mark, a murderer +Shaw, James, a highwayman +Sheldon, Mrs. +Shelterers, the +Shepherd, Jack, highwayman, and prisonbreaker + Richard, a housebreaker + Thomas, a thief +Sherbourne +Sherwood, James, a footpad +Shoreditch +Shrewsberry, _alias_ Smith, Joseph, a robber +Shrewsbury +Shrimpton, Ferdinand, a highwayman +Sikes, James +Simpson, William, a horse-stealer +Sleaford +Smith, Bryan, a blackmailer + John, a murderer + Mary, a whore + Simon + Thomas, a highwayman +Smithfield +Smoky Chimney Doctor, _see_ Drury, A. +Smyrna +Snow, Foster +Southampton Street +Spain, expedition to +Spencer, Barbara, a coiner +Sperry, William, a footpad +Springate, Mrs. +Spring Gardens +Stabbing, Statute of +Standford, Mary, a pickpocket +Stanley, Captain John, a murderer +Stephens, Catherine +Stepney +Stevens, Mary +Stinton, Thomas +Stockden, Worcestershire +Stocks, Market +Stone, John +Sunderland +Swaffo, Baron +Swift, William, a thief + +Tartoue, Peter +Taverns, _see_ Inns +Temple, The +Thompson, Sarah +Thompson, Sir William, recorder +Thomson, John, a highwayman +Tilt Yard, Westminster +Timms, Thomas, a footpad +Tompkins, Mr. +Toon, James, a thief +Tothill Fields, Bridewell +Tottenham + Court Road +Tower Hill +Towers, Mr. + Charles, a minter +Transportation +Trantham, Richard, a housebreaker +Trig Stairs +Trippuck, John, a highwayman +Turner, Mrs. Elizabeth + John, _alias_ Civil John, a highwayman +Turnham Green +Tyburn +Tyrrell, John, a horse-stealer + +Upton, John, a pirate + +Vanloden, Baron and Countess +Vaux, Thomas, a street-robber +Vigo +Vinegar Yard, Drury Lane + +Wakeling, Mr. +Walden, Matthew +Walker, Ann +Waller, John +Waltham Blacks, the +Wandsworth +Wapping +Ward Joseph, a footpad +Waterford +Watts, Sarah, a fence +Weaver, Charles, a murderer +Weedon, George, a footpad +Wendover +West, Jeddediah + John +Westbrook, a surgeon +West Chester + Chester, Pennsylvania + Haden, Northants +Westwood, James + Thomas, a footpad +Whalebone, _alias_ Welbone, John, a thief +Whinyard, Mr. +White, Abraham, a thief + James, a thief +Whitechapel +Whitefriars +Whittingham, Richard, a footpad +Wight, Isle of +Wigley, John, a highwayman +Wild, Jonathan, thief-taker +Wildgoose, a servant +Wileman, Benjamin, a highwayman +Wilkinson, Robert, a murderer +Willesden Green +Will the Sailor +Williams, a pirate +Willis, a constable +Willoughby, Mr. +Wilson, Thomas, a footpad +Windsor +Winship, John, a highwayman +Wise, Captain +Wood, Thomas +Woodbury Hill, Dorset +Woodman, Richard, a highwayman +Wood Street Compter +Worcester +Worebington, Roger +Wright, James, a highwayman + +Yarmouth +Yates, _alias_ Gates, _alias_ Vulcan +York, Mr. +Yorkshire Bob, a housebreaker +Young, John, a highwayman + Hon. William +Younger, Geoffrey, a footpad + +Zouch, William + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives Of The Most Remarkable Criminals +Who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining or other offences, by Arthur L. Hayward + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13097 *** |