The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2 / being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.

THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY.

Captain Bligh on taking muster of the remains of his crew left to him, found that he had in his boat the boatswain, the carpenter, the gunner, the surgeon’s-mate, two midshipmen, and one master’s-mate, with Mr. Nelson the botanist, and a few inferior officers. After a short consultation, it was deemed expedient to put back to the Friendly Islands; and having reached the coast of one of them, they landed, in hopes of improving their stock of provisions. For several days they continued unmolested; but at length, on the 30th of April, they were attacked by the natives with such violence

The Mutiny of the Bounty.
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that one man was killed, and several wounded. They were, therefore, compelled immediately to sheer off; and it became now the subject of inquiry and deliberation as to what should be their next place of destination. Otaheite was proposed, as it was supposed that the natives would be friendly to them; but the apprehension of falling in with the Bounty determined them against this course; and with one assent they made up their minds to shape their course for Timor, a settlement belonging to the Dutch.

To effect this enterprise they were compelled to calculate the distance with a view to the apportionment of their provisions; and having discovered that it was near four thousand miles, they agreed that their rations should not exceed an ounce of bread and a gill of water a day for each man. Upon this scanty allowance they subsisted without any other nourishment until the 6th of June, when they made the coast of New Holland, and collected a few shell-fish; and with this small relief they held on their way to Timor, which they reached on the 12th, after being forty-six days in a crazy open boat, so confined in its dimensions as to prevent any of them lying down for repose, and without the least awning to protect them from the rain, which fell almost incessantly for forty days; a heavy sea and squally weather augmenting their misery during a considerable part of the time.

On their reaching Timor, they received every assistance from the governor; and having remained until the 20th of August to recruit their strength, they procured a vessel, in which they took their passage to Batavia. They reached that port on the 2nd of October, and from thence they immediately embarked for the Cape of Good Hope. Captain Bligh quitted the Cape in the month of December, and having reached England, he communicated the particulars of the mutiny to the Admiralty, and H. M. S. the Pandora was immediately despatched in search of the mutineers.

It was not until the 25th of April 1792, that despatches were received from Captain Edwards, stating that on the Pandora appearing off Otaheite, two men swam from the shore, and solicited to be taken on board. They proved to be two of the Bounty’s mutineers, and gave intelligence where fourteen of their companions were concealed on the island. A part of the Pandora’s crew were sent in search of them; and after some resistance they were taken and brought prisoners on board.

It then turned out that Christian had taken upon himself the command of the Bounty immediately on the captain’s having quitted her, and that his crew consisted of twenty-five men. When the Pandora arrived, Christian, with the other nine mutineers, had previously sailed in the Bounty to some remote island, and every exertion to discover their retreat proved ineffectual. On her return home, the Pandora struck upon a reef of rocks in Endeavour Straits. Her crew escaped from their perilous situation to an island in the Straits, except thirty-three men, and three of the Bounty’s people, who perished by the boat oversetting. Captain Edwards was reduced to the necessity of sending one of his officers and some seamen in a small boat to Timor, which they were fourteen days in reaching, and where a vessel was procured, which proceeded to the assistance of the remainder of the crew.

So much had the mutineers of the Bounty conformed to the custom and manners of Otaheite, that when two men of Christian’s crew swam off to the Pandora, they were so tattooed, and exhibited so many other characteristic stains, that on being first received on board, the Pandora’s people took them for natives of the island. The names of the above metamorphosed mutineers were, Peter Heywood, a midshipman, and Joseph Coleman, the armourer; the latter of whom, Captain Bligh observes, “was detained by Christian contrary to his inclination.”

On the 12th of September a court-martial commenced on board the Duke, in Portsmouth harbour, on Joseph Coleman, Charles Norman, Thomas Mackintosh, Peter Heywood, Isaac Morris, John Millward, William Muspratt, Thomas Birkett, Thomas Ellison, and Michael Burn. The evidence for the prosecution closed on Friday night, the 14th, and the Court indulged the prisoners till Monday to give in their defence; and on Tuesday took the whole into their consideration, when they were pleased to pass sentence of death on Heywood, Morris, Millward, Muspratt, Birkett, and Ellison, the two first of whom the Court recommended to mercy. Coleman, Norman, Mackintosh, and Burn were acquitted, and discharged.

On the 29th of October, Millward, Birkett, and Ellison, were executed on board the Brunswick: Heywood and Morris were pardoned, in compliance with the recommendation of the Court.

NATHANIEL LILLEY, JAMES MARTIN, MARY BRIANT, WILLIAM ALLEN, AND JOHN BUTCHER.

CONVICTED OF RETURNING FROM TRANSPORTATION.

Their trial took place on the 8th of July 1792, and the following facts were proved. It appeared that the prisoners had all been tried in England, and sentenced to undergo various terms of transportation, and in pursuance of their sentence were sent to Botany Bay. The small settlement which then existed would be hardly recognised in the flourishing colony which, through the employment of English wealth and enterprise, now rears its head upon the shores of New Holland; and it is not surprising that these unhappy persons should have been anxious to escape from a place where slavery and misery alone awaited them. For this purpose they formed a species of society or club among themselves, and having collected together what money they possessed, they entrusted one of their number, named Briant, the husband of the prisoner Mary Briant, to apply to Captain Schmidt, the commander of a Dutch vessel, who had recently before brought a cargo of provisions to the colony, to induce him to sell them one of his boats, a sail, a quadrant, and the necessary quantity of provisions for the voyage which they intended to make. The enterprise was dangerous to both parties, for it was a felony to aid the escape of convicts; but the Dutchman tempted by the bribe, which was considerable, let them have an old six-oared boat, with a lug-sail, and about 100 lbs. of rice, and 14 lbs. of pork, with which, together with about 200 lbs. of flour, which they purchased of a baker in the colony, they determined to set sail on their expedition. Having got all their provisions on board, they started on the night of the 28th March 1791; the party consisting of Briant and his wife and two children, of the ages of one and three years, the three male prisoners, and also Samuel Bird, James Cox, and William Martin; the point of their destination being Timor, which by the nearest run is distant about 1300 miles from the place of their embarkation.

They were forced to keep along the coast, as much as they could, for the convenience of procuring supplies of fresh water; and on these occasions, and when the weather was extremely tempestuous, they would sometimes sleep on shore, hauling their boat on the land. The savage natives, wherever they put on shore, came down in numbers to murder them; and they now found two old muskets, and a small quantity of powder which Captain Schmidt had given them, particularly serviceable in firing over the heads of these multitudes, on which they ran off with great precipitation; but they were always forced to keep a strict watch. In lat. 26. 27. they discovered a small uninhabited island, where were plenty of turtles, which proved a great relief to them; but they were very near being lost in landing. On this island they dried as much turtle as they could carry, which lasted them ten days.

At length, after suffering almost innumerable hardships and dangers, they landed at Cupang, on the island of Timor, a Dutch settlement, on 6th June 1791, having sailed considerably more than five thousand miles, and been ten weeks all but one day in performing this voyage. At Cupang they informed the governor that they had belonged to an English ship, which was wrecked on her passage to New South Wales, and he treated them with great humanity; but at length overhearing a conversation among them, he discovered that they were convicts, who had escaped from the colony in New South Wales.

On the 29th of August 1791, the Pandora, of twenty guns, Captain Edwards, was wrecked on a reef of rocks near New South Wales. The captain, and those of the crew who were saved, got to Cupang in their boats; when the governor gave the captain an account of the eleven persons he had there, and of the conversation he had overheard.

The captain took them with him to Batavia, where William Briant and his eldest child died. The rest were put on board a Dutch ship, in which Captain Edwards sailed with them, for the Cape of Good Hope. On their passage to the Cape, James Cox fell overboard and was drowned, and Samuel Bird and William Martin died. At the Cape, Captain Edwards delivered the survivors to Captain Parker, of the Gorgon, and they sailed with him for England; and in their passage home, the younger child of Mary Briant died.

On their trials the prisoners described the hardships which they had undergone in the most piteous manner; and the Court, in consideration of their sufferings, ordered them to remain on their former sentence, until they should be discharged by the course of law.

THE REV. RICHARD BURGH, JOHN CUMMINGS, THOMAS TOWNLEY M‘CAN, ESQRS., JAMES DAVIS, AND JOHN BOURNE.

CONVICTED OF A CONSPIRACY TO BURN THE KING’S BENCH PRISON.

Edward Webb was then examined, and he said he knew all the prisoners; he was introduced into a society, called “The Convivials,” held in a room in the King’s Bench Prison, of which the prisoners were members. M‘Can expressed himself very freely upon the subject of Lord Rawdon’s bill, then pending, respecting insolvent debtors, and said if that bill did not pass into a law, he and others were determined to do something to liberate themselves, and that there was a scheme in agitation for that purpose, but that the parties were sworn to secrecy, and therefore he could not divulge it; the witness said he might safely communicate the business to him; and the prisoners, Cummings and Davis, being present, M‘Can said, the plan in which he and the other prisoners were concerned, was to effect their own enlargement by demolishing the walls of the prison, as they were determined not to be confined within those walls for debt; the execution of this plan would, however, depend upon the rejection of Lord Rawdon’s bill: after they had effected their escape by setting fire to the prison, they would then go to the Fleet Prison, and liberate the prisoners; after which they should proceed to the houses of Lords Thurlow and Kenyon, which they would destroy. Davis said he should not hesitate, himself, to blow out the brains of those noble lords; the same witness saw the other defendants, who conversed upon the subject; and it was proposed to procure some sailors to assist them. This scheme was, however, defeated by the vigilance of the marshal, who sent for the guards and had the prison searched. The witness soon afterwards saw the prisoners M‘Can, Cummings and Davis, who said that they were defeated in their former scheme, and that they were determined to put some other plot into execution; and, on the next day, Cummings, who was nick-named “the Captain,” said that the best plan would be “to blow the d—d walls up.” He then conducted the witness to the bake-house, and pointed to a place where the drain was opened, saying, that he meant to introduce a box into it, containing 50lbs. weight of gunpowder; and that he had planned how the tubes, by which the fire should be conveyed to it, should run. He then asked the witness to get the box made; and the plan having been communicated to M‘Can and Davis, they declared that it would be “glorious,” and that they would lose their lives in the attempt. Bourne was then acquainted with the plot, as he had some gunpowder, and he acquiesced in it; and it was determined that, as he had not got enough powder, a motion should be made at the next meeting of the Convivials for a subscription of five shillings each to buy more, under the pretence that it was to fee counsel, to know whether the marshal had any right to enter their rooms when he pleased. It was then further agreed that the powder should be deposited in a hole in the floor of Burgh’s room, which was looked upon as the best place of concealment; and that on the day of the “explosion,” M‘Can and Bourne were to get up a sham fencing-match, in order to give all the prisoners an opportunity of being collected together and making their escape in a body. The day fixed upon for the completion of the scheme was Sunday, and it was determined that seven o’clock should be the hour of the train being fired, because there were generally a great number of strangers in the prison then; but the whole affair being in the mean time communicated to the marshal, the plot was put an end to, by the apprehension of the prisoners, and the seizure of their powder.

Other witnesses confirmed this testimony, and the prisoners were found guilty.

On Tuesday, 12th February 1793, they were placed at the bar to receive judgment, and were severally sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in different jails.

LAURENCE JONES,

INDICTED FOR ROBBERY.

During his abode here he defrauded Mr. Hudson, a silversmith, of plate, to the value of near three thousand pounds; Mr. Kempton, a mercer, of silks, and other goods, to a large amount; and Mr. Bailey, a watchmaker and jeweller, of a gold repeater, and other goods, to the value of three hundred pounds.

The time of payment coming on, and suspicion being entertained of his honesty, he thought it time to decamp, and he effected his purpose just in time to avoid a warrant out against him.

After this he lived privately for some time, that suspicion might die away before he again began his fraudulent practices, which he carried on with his usual success, till the occurrence of the affair for which he was condemned; the particulars of which are as follow:—

Mr. Campbell, the collecting clerk to Vere, Lucadou, and Co., bankers, in Lombard-street, in the course of his business called at a house in Hatton-garden for the purpose of demanding payment of a bill. No sooner had he knocked at the door than it was opened by a person, in appearance a gentleman, who desired him to walk into the counting-house, and, having entered, a man came behind him, and covered his head and face over with a thick cap, so that he could see nothing. He was then thrown on the floor, and wrapped in a green baize, in which condition he was bound hand and foot, and carried down stairs. His assailants now proceeded to rob him of his pocket-book, with bank-notes and bills to the amount of nine hundred pounds, and having secured the money, they took measures to prevent a discovery before they could receive the money for the bills, &c. which they had stolen.

They first laid their victim flat on his back on a board, and chained him hand and foot, and then carried him down stairs into a back kitchen, where they chained him to the bars of a grate, threatening that if he made a noise they would blow his brains out. Then, after placing before him some bread, some ham, and some water, they left him.

In this condition he remained for about eight hours, not daring to make the least noise, expecting every moment to be murdered if he spoke: but Providence preserved him from this dreadful fate; for, hearing no more of them for so many hours, he at last had the courage to call out, and he at length succeeded in alarming a man who was at work in a house behind that in which he was confined. The fellow had the resolution to break open the door of the house from whence the noise proceeded, when, directed by the cry, he went down stairs, and there discovered the unfortunate Mr. Campbell almost expiring, and exhausted with struggling and crying out.

Jones was afterwards apprehended by Jealous and Kennedy, officers of Bow-street, at the King’s Arms, in Bridge-street, Westminster, and on being seen by Mr. Campbell, he was immediately recognised by him as one of the men by whom he had been robbed.

Being committed to Newgate, he was afterwards tried, and found guilty, when he received sentence, and was ordered for execution on Wednesday, December 8, 1793, in Hatton-garden, near the house where he committed the robbery; but on the Saturday previous, about six o’clock in the morning, when the turnkey entered the cell to prepare him to hear the condemned sermon and to receive the sacrament, he found him dead. It appeared that he had made several attempts on his life before, but was prevented: and the manner in which he at last accomplished his purpose was very extraordinary: he had taken the knee-strings with which his fetters were supported, and tied them round his neck; then, tying the other end to the ring to which his chain was fastened, he placed his feet against the wall, and strangled himself. The coroner’s jury pronounced a verdict of Felo de se.

In consequence of this verdict, the body was, on Wednesday morning, carried out of Newgate, extended upon a plank on the top of a cart, his face being covered with a cloth, and his clothes being upon his person, and in that condition, with a stake driven through his body, he was thrown into a pit, which was dug at the end of Hatton-garden, at the brow of Holborn hill, and buried.

ROBERT WATT AND DAVID DOWNIE.

CONVICTED OF HIGH TREASON.

After explaining more fully the distinct species of treason which applied to the present case, Mr. Anstruther said that he trusted that if he could prove any design whereby the king’s life was put in jeopardy, that would be considered an overt act. He should now state the facts, upon which these principles of law were to be founded. The present conspiracy was not that of a few inconsiderable individuals; it had risen indeed from small beginnings, from meetings for pretended reforms. It had been fostered by seditious correspondence, the distribution of libellous writings, and had at last risen to a height, which, but for the vigilance of the administration, might have deluged the country, from one end to the other, with blood. The proceedings of these societies, calling, or rather miscalling, themselves Friends of the People, were well known: their first intention was apparently to obtain reform; but this not answering their purpose, they proceeded to greater lengths. He meant to detail the general plans and designs formed among the seditious, and then to state how far the prisoners were implicated in them.

The first dawning of this daring plan was in a letter from Hardy, secretary to the London Corresponding Society; to Skirving, the secretary to the Friends of the People in Scotland. He wrote that, as their petitions had been unsuccessful, they must use separate and more effectual measures; and Skirving answered, and admitted the necessity of more effectual measures, and said that he foresaw the downfall of this government. Here also was the first notice of a Convention; a measure which it was no wonder they were fond of, when they saw its effects in a neighbouring kingdom (France). They meant not to petition Parliament, but to proceed in their own plan, and to supersede the existing government of the country: and, in that case, the king’s life was put in danger.

Soon after, a Convention, a body unknown to the laws of this country, met; and in this there would have been little harm, had their views been peaceable; but their objects were avowedly unconstitutional, for their intention was to carry on their plans by force, and thus virtually to lay aside the prerogative of the king. This convention met, using all the terms and regulations adopted by the convention of another country. They meant not to apply to Parliament; for whenever that was mentioned, they proceeded to the order of the day. They resolved to oppose every act of Parliament which they deemed contrary to the spirit of the Constitution, and were determined to sit, until compelled to rise by a force superior to their own.

The Convention, indeed, was dispersed by the spirited conduct of a magistrate, (Provost Elder,) but another Convention was attempted to be called, who were to frame their own laws, and to be independent of the Legislature; or, as they said, independent of their plunderers, enemies, and oppressors, meaning the King, Lords, and Commons: their resolutions would prove that they meant to create a government of their own, to do away the authority of what they called hereditary senators, and packed majorities; all which proved the intention of putting the king’s life in danger.

But what, it might be said, was all this to the prisoner at the bar? who, surprising as it might appear, about two years before wrote letters to Mr. Secretary Dundas, offering to give information as to certain designs of the Friends of the People. Those letters were answered by that honourable gentleman with that propriety which had ever marked his public conduct. The prisoner then corresponded with the Lord Advocate, but since September 1793, this correspondence had ceased. Previous to that period, the prisoner was not a member of the Society of Friends of the People, nor of the British Convention; but his accession since to its measures, and the calling of another Convention, could be substantiated. A Committee of Correspondence, of which the prisoner was a member, was instituted by a new Convention, whose object it was to carry into effect the views of the last British Convention, and to elect delegates to a new one. Mr. Watt attended this committee, and coincided in its measures, which were expressly to supersede the Legislature. The prisoner had moved for a Committee of Union; and another was appointed, called the Committee of Ways and Means; of both which he was a member. This last was a Secret Committee, kept no minutes, was permanent, and empowered to collect money to support “the great cause.” Mr. Downie was appointed treasurer, and it was to be the medium through which all instructions and directions were to be given to all friends of the people throughout the kingdom, and was to procure information of the number of those that would spare no exertions to support the great cause. They corresponded with Hardy respecting the calling of a new Convention, which was to follow up the purposes of the old one; and, as the prisoner was present, he was in this way coupled with the British Convention.

Their next attempt was to debauch the minds of the soldiers, and to excite them to mutiny; for which purpose a paper was printed, and circulated among a regiment of Fencibles then at Dalkeith. This paper, which was evidently seditious, was brought home to the prisoner, for the types from which it was printed were found in his house, and a copy traced from him into the hands of a soldier.

The next charge to be brought against the prisoner, and the committee of which he was a member, was a distinct and deliberate plan to overturn the existing government of the country. The plan proposed was this:—A fire was to be raised near the Excise-office (Edinburgh), which would require the attendance of the soldiers in the Castle, who were to be met there by a body of the friends of the people; another party of whom were to issue from the West Bow, to confine the soldiers between two fires, and cut off their retreat; the Castle was next to be attempted; the judges (particularly the Lord Justice Clerk) were to be seized; and all the public banks were to be secured. A proclamation was then to be issued, ordering all the farmers to bring in their grain to market as usual; and enjoining all country gentlemen to keep within their houses, or three miles from them, under penalty of death. Then an address was to be sent to his majesty, commanding him to put an end to the war, change the ministers, or take the consequences. Such was the plan of the Committee of Ways and Means, as proposed by the prisoner.

Previous to this, it should have been mentioned that all the friends of the people were to be armed; for which purpose, one Fairley was despatched round the country to levy contributions, and disperse seditious pamphlets; for which he received particular instructions from the prisoner. Reports were spread through the same channel that the Goldsmiths’ Hall Association were arming, and that it was necessary for the friends of the people to arm also, for they would be butchered either by them or the French. It was proved that the prisoner gave orders to Robert Orrock to make four thousand pikes; and also to one Brown for the same purpose. These were to be used for completing the great plan; and Fairley’s mission was to inform the country of these intended proceedings. Another representative body was also formed, called “collectors of sense and money,” who were to have the distribution of the pikes, and to command the different parties.

Mr. Anstruther then recapitulated shortly the different heads, and concluded an elaborate and most clear and distinct pleading of more than two hours and a half, by requesting the jury to lay no farther stress on what he had said than it should be proved, as it was meant merely as a clue to the evidence which should be brought before them. Witnesses were then called who spoke to the facts alluded to by the learned counsel, and who proved to the fullest extent the charge made against the prisoner.

The evidence for the Crown being closed,

Mr. W. Erskine, junior counsel for the prisoner, proceeded to open the defence. He said that he would rest his defence upon the correspondence carried on between the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, the lord-advocate, and the prisoner, by which it would appear that he had attended the meetings of the Friends of the People with no other view than a design to give information of their proceedings. A letter from the prisoner to Mr. Secretary Dundas was read, which stated in substance that, as he did not approve of the dangerous principles which then prevailed in Scotland, and was friend to the constitution of his country, he thought it his duty to communicate to him, as a good subject, what information he could procure of the proceedings of those who styled themselves “Friends of the People.” From an acquaintance with several of the leading men among them, he flattered himself he had this in his power; and he then went on to mention some of the names of those leading men in Perth, Dundee, and Edinburgh. In the first of these places, he said, he had been educated, and had resided in the two last for a considerable number of years. It concluded with enjoining secrecy.

To this letter an answer was returned which was also read. It acknowledged the receipt of Mr. Watt’s; and after expressing a hope that things were not so bad as he represented, desired him to go on, and he might depend upon his communications being kept perfectly secret. Another letter from Mr. Dundas to Mr. M‘Ritchie, the prisoner’s agent, was next read in answer to one from Mr. M‘Ritchie, requesting of Mr. Dundas what letters he had of the prisoner’s. The answer was that all the letters he had received from Mr. Watt had been delivered to the lord-advocate.

The Lord-Advocate being sworn, in exculpation, he gave a distinct account of the transactions which he had had with the prisoner. He had conversed with him several times at his own lodgings; and he had at one time given him some information which he thought of importance. This was respecting the disaffection of some dragoons at Perth, which upon inquiry turned out to be ill-founded. In March 1793, his lordship said an offer had been made to him to disclose some important secrets, provided he would give the prisoner 1000l. This he absolutely refused. However, some time after the prisoner having informed him that he was much pressed for money to retrieve a bill of 30l., his lordship, who was then in London, not wishing he should be distressed for such a small sum, sent him an order for the payment of it. All this happened previous to the meeting of the convention, since which time he did not recollect to have seen or corresponded with the prisoner.

Upon this evidence it was contended by Mr. Hamilton, that the prisoner was engaged as a spy for government; and it was well known that a spy was obliged to assume not only the appearance of those whose secrets he meant to reveal, but even to take part in their proceedings in order to prevent a discovery. A spy in an army, he said, was obliged not only to assume the uniform of the enemy, but even to appear in arms; and it would be exceedingly hard indeed, if taken in a conflict, that he should be punished for discharging his duty. He concluded with hoping the jury would bring in a verdict finding the charges not proved.

The Lord-President, after clearly defining the laws of treason, summed up the evidence, narrating and explaining the various parts with much candour, and leaving it entirely to the jury to return such a verdict as their judgment should direct.

The jury withdrew about half-past five o’clock in the morning, and in about five minutes returned with a verdict—Guilty.

The trial lasted nearly twenty-two hours.

The case of Downie afterwards came on; and the jury after some time found him guilty, reconciling themselves to this verdict, by unanimously consenting to recommending him to mercy, which they did in a very strong manner.

Shortly after, the following awful sentence of the Court was passed upon these unfortunate men:—

“Robert Watt and David Downie, you have been found guilty of high treason by your peers. The sentence of the Court is, therefore, that you be taken from the place whence you came, from thence you shall be drawn on a sledge to the place of execution, on Wednesday the 15th of October, there to hang by your necks till you are both dead; your bowels to be taken out and cast in your faces; and each of your bodies to be cut in four quarters, to be at the disposal of his Majesty: and the Lord have mercy on your souls!”

The unfortunate prisoners received the dreadful sentence with much firmness and composure, and were immediately conducted to the Castle.

The prisoner Downie subsequently received a respite, and his punishment was changed for that of transportation for life; but Watt was ordered to be executed on the 15th of October.

On the appointed day, therefore, at half-past one o’clock, the two junior magistrates, with white rods in their hands, the Rev. Principal Baird, and a number of constables, attended by the town-officers, and the city-guard lining the streets, walked in procession from the Council-chamber to the east end of Castle-hill, when a message was sent to the sheriffs in the Castle, that they were there waiting to receive the prisoner.

The prisoner was immediately placed on a hurdle, with his back to the horse; and the executioner, with a large axe in his hand, took his seat opposite him at the further end of the hurdle.

The procession then set out from the Castle, the sheriffs walking in front, a number of county constables surrounding the hurdle, and the military keeping off the crowd. In this manner they proceeded until they joined the magistrates, when the military returned to the Castle, and then the procession was conducted to the place of execution.

When they had reached the Tolbooth door, the prisoner was taken from the hurdle, and carried into the prison, where a considerable time was spent in devotional exercise. He then came out upon the platform, attended by the magistrates, sheriffs, Principal Baird, &c.; and after a short time further being spent in prayer, he mounted the drop-board, and was immediately launched into eternity.

When the body was taken down it was stretched upon a table; and the executioner, with two blows of the axe, severed off the head, which was received into a basket, and then held up to the multitude, while the executioner called aloud, “There is the head of a traitor, and so perish all traitors!”

The body and head were then placed in a coffin and removed.

The execution was conducted throughout with the greatest solemnity, and the prisoner appeared to be deeply sensible of the awful situation in which he was placed. He was so emaciated that his appearance was entirely changed since his trial.

Robert Watt was born in the shire of Kincardine, and was at the time of his execution about thirty-six years old. He was the natural son of a Mr. Barclay, a gentleman of fortune and respectability; but like most other children of illegitimate parentage, he was brought up and educated under the name of his mother. He was, at about ten years of age, sent to Perth, where he received a very good education; and at the age of sixteen he engaged himself with a lawyer in that place; but being of a religious disposition, he was disgusted at his profession, and soon withdrew from the desk of his master. Soon after, he went to Edinburgh, and engaged as a clerk in a paper warehouse, where he lived happily and respectably for some years; but having a desire to share in the profits as well as the toils of the business, he wrote to his father, and prevailed upon him to assist him with some money, to enable him to procure a partnership with his master.

He then made proposals to the above purpose, which were, however, rejected by his employer; but being provided with money, he entered into the wine and spirit trade. His success in business continued very promising, until he was almost ruined by the commencement of the war. At this period his acquaintance with the Friends of the People commenced. Its unfortunate termination is already made known to our readers.

ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN, ESQ.

CONVICTED OF PUBLISHING A SEDITIOUS LIBEL.

It appears that after about two or three months of the term of imprisonment had expired, William Jackson, a divine of some notoriety in England, and several others were arrested on a charge of high treason, in which it appeared probable that Rowan would be implicated. He therefore determined on effecting his escape; and the manner in which he accomplished it has been thus narrated:—

Having discovered, on the 28th of April 1794, the extent of the danger in which he was involved, he arranged a plan of flight, to be put into execution on the night of the 1st of May. He had the address to prevail on the jailer of Newgate, who knew nothing farther of his prisoner than that he was under sentence of confinement for a political libel, to accompany him at night to his own house. They were received by Mrs. Rowan, who had a supper prepared in the front room of the second floor. The supper over, the prisoner requested the jailer’s permission to say a word or two in private to his wife in the adjoining room. The latter consented, on condition of the door between the two rooms remaining open; and he had so little suspicion of what was meditated, that, instead of examining the state of the other room, he contented himself with shifting his chair at the supper-table, so as to give him a view of the open door-way. In a few seconds his prisoner was beyond his reach, having descended by a single rope, which had been slung from the window of the back chamber, into the street. In his stable he found a horse ready saddled, and a peasant’s outside coat to disguise him; and with these he posted to the house of Mr. Matthew Dowling, his attorney, who was aware of his design, and was under an engagement to aid him, both by his advice and personal assistance. On his arrival at the attorney’s house, he found it full of company; but the host coming to him pointed out the imprudence of his giving him shelter, and directed him to wait for him at the Rotunda, a building in Sackville-street, where he would join him, as soon as he could dispose of his guests. For an hour and a half, tormented by hopes and fears, did the fugitive await the coming of his friend; but Irish gentlemen in those days, as well as in modern times, were not the men to quit their bottle; and it was not until the expiration of that time that Mr. Dowling made his appearance. He at length arrived, however; and after a short and anxious conference, it was determined that it was best for Mr. Rowan to proceed at once to the house of a friend, a Mr. Sweetman, about four miles off, at the north of the Bay of Dublin, whence it was anticipated he might in a day or two make his escape by boat. He accordingly proceeded thither with all possible speed, but three days elapsed before the design could be carried out. Mr. Sweetman’s pleasure-boat was then manned by some fellows who lived on the spot, and who undertook to convey their passenger to the coast of France. They put to sea at night; but a gale of wind coming on, they were compelled to put back, and take shelter under the Hill of Howth. They lay there at anchor until the following morning; and they were then about again to proceed on their voyage, when a small revenue cruiser sailing by threw into the boat copies of a proclamation, which had issued, offering a reward of 2000l. for the apprehension of the fugitive. The bills were read, but no remark made; and in the bustle attending the getting the little vessel under way, no further notice was taken of them. When they had reached mid-channel, however, a second inspection of them took place, and the unfortunate exile beheld the brows of his crew contracted, as they looked from the printed papers to him, apparently engaged in comparing the description which was given of the fugitive with his person. He knew the generous character of the Irish peasantry. He was himself an Irishman; he knew the loyalty and devotion of their hearts to persons in distress; and he could calculate upon receiving from them, as strangers, that aid which they would not have more readily given to their own brothers. His course was immediately determined upon; he admitted that their conjectures were right—that he was the runaway, Hamilton Rowan; but he added, “You are Irishmen.” The answer which he received was characteristic of their country. They gave a cheer, threw the proclamation overboard, and set about hastening their passage to the place of their destination.

On the third morning, a little after daybreak, they arrived in sight of St. Paul de Leon, a fortified town on the coast of Bretagne; and as the sun rose, a thick mist, which had hovered over them, was dissipated, and they discovered, about two miles astern, the British Channel-fleet moving along under easy sail; through which their little vessel had passed unperceived. The party soon effected a landing, and, being seen, were seized and conducted to prison as suspected spies; but, in a few days, their real character being explained, an order from the French Government procured for their liberation; and the honest crew returned to Dublin with their boat, while Mr. Rowan proceeded at once to Paris. In a political convulsion, which subsequently occurred in that city, it was his fate once more to effect his escape in a wherry down the Seine, in which he was unaccompanied by any person; and although the banks of that river were lined with military, he answered their challenges with so much address, that he was permitted to pass unmolested. Having reached a French port, he embarked for the United States of America, and there, unaffected by the political changes of his own country, he continued to live for several years.

At length, the merits of his personal character prevailed against the remembrance of his political aberrations; and an act of royal clemency, generously conceded without any humiliating conditions, restored him once more to his country; where he continued to reside, in the bosom of domestic quiet, and in the habitual exercise of every virtue. He had the satisfaction, too, in his old age, of finding that, in a public point of view, his debt of gratitude to the Crown had not been wholly unpaid. In his eldest son, Captain Hamilton, of the Cambrian frigate, he gave to the British navy one of its most gallant and distinguished commanders.

WILLIAM BUTTERWORTH AND FRANCIS JENNISON.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

At the Hants assizes, in the beginning of August 1794, William Butterworth and Francis Jennison, two convicts at Cumberland Fort, were tried before Mr. Justice Grose and Mr. Baron Thompson, for the murder of Mr. John Groundwater, one of the persons deputed to look after them. The circumstances of this murder were of the most brutal and atrocious nature. These hardened wretches, on being reprimanded by Mr. Groundwater, who threatened to report them for ill-behaviour, swore that they would rip his bowels out; and were heard by another of the convicts debating about the manner of perpetrating the murder. In accordance with a resolution which they arrived at, about six in the evening of the same day, they fell upon him with two iron shovels, with which they had been at work in spreading gravel, and with which they gave him three such wounds on the skull, that his brains fell out in the quantity of a double handful. They then struck down one of the shovels upon his neck, with intent to sever the head from the body, but, striking against the bone, it had not the intended effect. The rest of the convicts ran to the spot, and one of them caught hold of Butterworth, to prevent his mangling the body any more; but, after a struggle, he disengaged himself, ran back to the unfortunate sufferer, and, catching up the spade again, gave him several cuts, saying, “There, damn him, I have done him out and out.” On being remonstrated with for his inhuman conduct, he replied that he was transported for life, and he would rather be hanged than suffer that sentence. It is a most extraordinary circumstance, established on the evidence of Mr. Hill, surgeon, who attended him, that Mr. Groundwater lived eighteen hours after he had received these grievous wounds, notwithstanding the brains had fallen out, and a prodigious effusion of blood had taken place. He never spoke after the second blow was given him, but the action of the pulse was strong, and respiration continued during the whole of the eighteen hours above mentioned.

Butterworth, though thus steeled in cruelty, was only nineteen years old; his wretched companion was twenty-five. The publicity of the deed, and the consequent clear evidence of their guilt, would not admit of their setting up any defence. The jury pronounced them guilty; and they were sentenced to be executed in three days after in Lanston Harbour, and their bodies were ordered to be hung in chains in Cumberland Fort.

They were taken from jail at about four o’clock on Monday morning, and reached Portsea about eleven. The number of spectators who crowded to see the execution was immense. Both the prisoners acknowledged that they alone were the persons who committed the murder, exculpating all the other convicts from a participation in this horrid offence. Their behaviour was very penitent, and they seemed to feel sensibly the enormity of their crime. The execution took place about twelve o’clock, and their bodies were afterwards hung in chains, pursuant to sentence, near the spot where the murder was committed.

Both prisoners, it appears, had been convicted of burglary, for which they were sentenced to death, but had been reprieved on condition of their being transported for life. They had been at the hulks only about seven days, when they committed the murder for which they were executed.

ANNE BROADRIC.

INDICTED FOR MURDER.

It appeared that Mr. Errington, the object of her attack, was a gentleman of large landed and personal property residing at Grays, in Essex, and his name had become well known from the circumstance of his having been divorced from his wife, a few years before the melancholy event which we are about to relate. About three years after the termination of the proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts, he became acquainted with Miss Broadric, who was a young lady possessed of considerable accomplishments, of a fine figure, and in personal charms superior to the generality of her sex. Miss Broadric before this had lived with a Captain Robinson, but it appears that being addressed by Mr. Errington with great solicitude, she consented to reside with him in the character of his wife. A mutual attachment sprung up in the course of their connexion; but after a lapse of three years, during which they lived together with every appearance of domestic felicity, Mr. Errington bestowed his affections and his hand on a lady of respectability in the neighbourhood, acquainting Miss Broadric that he could see her no more. On her quitting him, he made what he conceived to be a suitable provision for her future wants, and she retired apparently deeply grieved at the unfortunate change which had taken place in the feelings of her late protector. On the 11th September 1794, she wrote a letter to him in the following terms:—

“Dear Errington,—That you have betrayed and abandoned the most tender and affectionate heart that ever warmed a human bosom, cannot be denied by any person who is in the least acquainted with me. Wretched and miserable as I have been since you left me, there is still a method remaining that would suspend, for a time, the melancholy sufferings and distress which I labour under at this moment; and still, inhuman as thou art, I am half persuaded, when I tell you the power is in your hands, that you will not withhold it from me.—What I allude to is the permission of seeing you once more, and, perhaps, for the last time. If you consider that the request comes from a woman you once flattered into a belief of her being the sole possessor of your love, you may not perhaps think it unreasonable. Recollect, however, Errington, ere you send a refusal, that the roaring of the tempest, and the lightnings from heaven, are not more terrible than the rage and vengeance of a disappointed woman. Hitherto you can only answer for the weakness and frailty of my nature. There is a further knowledge of my disposition you must have if you do not grant me the favour demanded. I wish it to come voluntarily from yourself, or else I will force it from you. Believe me, in that case I would seek you in the farthest corner of the globe, rush into your presence, and, with the same rapture that nerved the arm of Charlotte Cordet, when she assassinated the monster Marat, would I put an end to the existence of a man, who is the author of all the agonies and care that at present oppress the heart of

“Anne Broadric.”

“P. S. This comes by William (the servant you have discarded on my account), who has orders to wait for your answer.”

Her request being refused, she persisted by letters to endeavour to induce Mr. Errington to permit her once more to see him, but finding him inexorable, she wrote to him that if nothing could induce him to do her an act of justice, he must prepare himself for the fatal alternative, as she was determined that he should not long survive his infidelity.

To this, as well as to the rest of her letters, Mr. Errington preserved a strict silence, and in about a month after Miss Broadric carried out her dreadful resolution. On Friday morning, the 15th of May, she dressed herself elegantly, and going to the Three Nuns Inn, Whitechapel, she took her place in the Southend coach, which passed close to Mr. Errington’s seat. Having descended at the avenue-gate, she went towards the house, but being seen by Mr. Errington, he begged Mrs. Errington to retire for a few minutes, saying that “his tormentor was coming, but that he would soon get rid of her.” The latter, however, desired him to leave the interview to her management, and desiring her husband to go into the drawing-room, she awaited the arrival of Miss Broadric in the parlour. In the mean time the latter had entered the house by the kitchen, and having learned from the footman that Mr. Errington was at home, she was proceeding up stairs, attended by the gardener, when she met Mrs. Errington. She demanded to see Mr. Errington, and was told that he was not to be seen, but saying “I am not to be so satisfied; I know the ways of this house too well, and will search for him:” she rushed up stairs into the drawing-room. She there found the object of her inquiry, and going up to him she suddenly drew from her pocket a small brass-barrelled pistol, with a new hagged flint, and presenting it to his left side in a direction towards his heart, exclaimed, “Errington, I am come to perform my dreadful promise,” and she immediately fired. Mrs. Errington, who had followed her, fainted, but Miss Broadric observing that Mr. Errington did not fall, she said that she feared she had not despatched him. Mr. Errington demanded to know how he had deserved such treatment at her hands, but she made no answer, and the servants, alarmed by the report of the pistol, then coming into the room, she threw the pistol on the carpet, and exclaimed, laughing, “Here, take me; hang me; do what you like with me: I do not care now.” Mr. Miller, a surgeon, soon after attended, and found that the ball had penetrated the lowest rib, had cut three ribs asunder, and then passed round the back, and lodged under the shoulder-bone, from whence every effort was made to extract it, but in vain. Mr. Button, a magistrate, now came, who took the examination of Mr. Errington after his wound was dressed. He asked Miss Broadric what could induce her to commit such an act of extreme violence, and her answer was, “That she was determined that neither Mr. Errington nor herself should long outlive her lost peace of mind!” Mr. Errington entreated the magistrate not to detain her in custody, but let her depart, as he was sure he should do well; but this request Miss Broadric refused to accept, and the magistrate to grant. Her commitment being made out, she was conveyed that evening to Chelmsford jail, where she remained tolerably composed till she heard of Mr. Errington’s death, when she burst into a flood of tears, and lamented bitterly that she had been its cause. The coroner’s inquest sat on the body on Tuesday, the 19th of May, and brought in their verdict, “Wilful murder, by the hands of Anne Broadric.” Mr. Errington was in the thirty-ninth year of his age.

Friday, the 17th of July, was fixed for the trial of the prisoner, and at six o’clock in the morning, the prisoner was conveyed from the jail, in a chaise, to a room in the shire-hall; and about ten minutes before the Lord Chief Baron Macdonald, the sheriffs, and magistrates, appeared on the bench, she was conveyed into the bail-dock in the criminal court, attended by three ladies and her apothecary. She was dressed in mourning, without powder; and, after the first perturbations were over, occasioned by the concourse of surrounding spectators, she sat down on a chair prepared for her, and was tolerably composed, except at intervals, when she discovered violent agitations, as her mind became affected by various objects and circumstances. When the indictment was reading, she paid a marked attention to it; and on the words, “that on the right breast of the said G. Errington she did wilfully and feloniously inflict one mortal wound,” &c. she exclaimed, “Oh, my great God!” and burst into a torrent of tears.

The facts above stated having been proved in evidence, the prisoner’s counsel proceeded to call witnesses in support of her defence, who all joined in stating, that they had known her repeatedly to exhibit symptoms of insanity.

This defence was not traversed by the counsel on the other side, and the Jury, after a few minutes’ consideration, returned a verdict of not guilty.

The judges, on leaving the town, after the assizes were over, directed that Miss Broadric should be examined before two magistrates, that she might be safely removed, under their order, to the place of her settlement, with a particular recommendation annexed thereto, that she might be taken all possible care of.

THE REV. MR. JACKSON.

CONVICTED OF TREASON.

The indictment charged the prisoner with two species of treason, namely, compassing the king’s death, and adhering to his enemies; and stated fourteen overt acts. The Attorney-general opened the prosecution on the part of the Crown; and having dwelt at some length on the doctrine of treason, proceeded to substantiate the charges in the indictment, for which purpose he called Mr. Cockayne, an attorney of London, who deposed that he had been for a series of years the law-agent and intimate friend of Mr. Jackson, who a few years since went to France (as the witness understood) to transact some private business for Mr. Pitt, where he resided a considerable time. Soon after his return, Mr. Cockayne said he called on Jackson, who told him in confidence that he had formed a design of going to Ireland, to sound the people, for the purpose of procuring a supply of provisions, &c. from them for the French, and requested him (the witness) to accompany him. Having accepted the invitation, he immediately waited on Mr. Pitt, and discovered to him the whole of Mr. Jackson’s plans. The minister thanked him for the information, and hinted that, as the matter was to become a subject of legal investigation, it would be necessary for him to substantiate the allegations; the witness in consequence accompanied Mr. Jackson to Ireland, for the purpose of making himself acquainted with his proceedings. Shortly after their arrival in Dublin, where they lived together, the prisoner expressed a wish to be introduced to Mr. Hamilton Rowan, who was then confined in Newgate; and at length, through the interference of a friend, he obtained an interview, at which Mr. Cockayne was present. In the course of conversation, the prisoner delivered two papers to Mr. Rowan, for the purpose of convincing him that he was a person in whom he might confide. From that time an intimacy took place between them; and the witness always accompanied Mr. Jackson in his visits to Mr. Rowan, and constantly took a part in their conversation. They agreed, he said, that a person should be sent to France to procure a force to make a descent on Ireland; and Counsellor Wolfe Tone was mentioned as a fit person for that purpose, who at first appeared to acquiesce, but afterwards declined the office. Dr. Reynolds was then proposed by Mr. Rowan, but objected to by the prisoner, as he did not understand the French language. It was, however, at length agreed that the doctor should undertake the embassy; but in a short time, he also refused to enter into the business. On this, it was agreed that Mr. Jackson should write several letters, which were directed for a Mr. Stone, of the firm of Lawrence and Co., London. These contained inclosures for houses at Hamburgh and Amsterdam; and some of them, to the French agents, described the situation of Ireland at the time, invited an invasion, and pointed out the proper places to land. These letters having been sent to the Post-office, the witness went to the secretary and informed him of the subject of them, on which they were detained. The plot, matured thus far, having been discovered, the prisoner was taken into custody.

The defence was grounded upon the suggestion, that the evidence adduced in support of the prosecution was undeserving of credit; but the jury found the prisoner guilty.

A motion, in arrest of judgment, was then made by Mr. Curran, who appeared as counsel for the prisoner, on a point of law; in consequence of which, he was remanded. He was brought up again on the 30th April; when, before the arguments of counsel commenced, he was observed to be in a sinking state, and an apothecary being called in, he was found to have taken poison. He expired almost immediately afterwards in the presence of the Court and Bar.