 Chapter 11 of Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 by Arthur L. Hayward Chapter 11. 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 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 repine 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, that is, 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 reported with as fair character as any man there about. 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 pretenses 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 throster 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, that is, 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, avering with his last breath that it was the first and last act which he had ever committed being at the time of death about 37 years old. The second of these male factors, 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 see. 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 endeavored 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 pistols. 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 subsistence themselves standing in again for Newfoundland where the captain paid the person who was owner of the sheep and hugs 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 vents linen and other things to a very great value. For this offense 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 offense. 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 his 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 37 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 petty 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 furkin of butter which he saw standing in a cheese-monger'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, that is, securing the public from any of their future repines without sending the poor wretches to the gallows and pushing them head long into the other world for every little offence. The galleys in other nations serve for this purpose and the government 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 malifactors, hemp, bird, Austin, and foster, before mentioned, on the twenty-second of December, seventeen twenty-five at Tyburn. End of Chapter 11, Recording by Linda Johnson Chapter 12 of Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are on the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Benny, Munich, Germany Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 by Arthur L. Haywood Chapter 12 The Life of Francis Bailey, a notorious highwayman That bad company in an habitual course of indulgent 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. It's a thing we so often meet with that its frequency alone is sufficient to instruct men of the danger there isn't become unacquainted, 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 Worshester Shire 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 wasn't a fair way of doing well if he would have been industrious but instead of that he quit his employment to fall into the sink of vice and laziness the entering into a regiment as a common soldier. However it were he behaved himself in the state of farewell that he became a corporal and a sergeant which last though a preferment of small value was seldom given to persons of no education but it seems Bailey had a dress 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 my highway though we 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 you not therefore how to employ his hours it happened one evening that among his there was one who had been formally 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 that he had saved about seven hundred pounds where with he retired as this men said to Jamaica and lived there in great splendour having set up a tavern and by his facious conversation acquired more custom there too than any other public house had in the island as Bailey listened with the great attention to this story so it ran in his head that night that this was the easiest method of obtaining money and that of the 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 a dusk sellied 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 head who there upon 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 40 pounds in gold in his purse so ill is setting out might have marred a high woman 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 became a little to himself and had caught his horse he resolved by looking more carefully after the next price to make up whatever he fancied he had lost by the parson. With this intent he rode on about a mile where he met with a wagon in which there 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 not of standing there were three men belonging to the wagon stopped it and rifled it of seven pounds and then attendedly retired to his quarters. Flushed with 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 roped 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 quit it such exploits for good and all. Bailey being one day at an ale house not far from Moorfields fell into the conversation of an Irishman of a very gay alert temper perfectly suited to the humour of our night 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 foal. Thither accordingly he walked. His companion came in soon after to supper they went and parted about twelve in high good humour pointing to meet the next evening but one. Bailey the day after was upon the Barnard Road following his usual occupation when looking by chance over the hedge he perceived the person he parted with the night before a sloppy chariot with two ladies in it and as soon as he had dropped them right down a cross-lane. Bailey here upon after taking nine guineas from a nobleman's steward whom he met about a quarter of an hour after returned to his lodging set 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 stayed at the 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 ale house in 4th 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 oh like sir don't you remember gentlemen and red you spoke to hear the other day. Yes replied Bailey does he live here about? I don't know says the woman where he lives but he was brought to a surgeon's hand 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 back into 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 and 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 his 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 and as well as a 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 exacerbations to this purpose he suffered death at Tyburn the 14th of March, 1725 being then about thirty-nine years old and company with Jones, Barton, Gates and Swift of whose behavior under sentence we shall have occasion to speak by and by. The Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Andrea Kaye Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 by Arthur L. Hayward Chapter 13 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 was 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 Barton 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 humor with work that he associated himself with some idle young fellows and 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 and could have been contented with the fruits of his honest labor. 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 dexterous fellow and thereby much in favor 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 neighborhood 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 widdle lady's house of some plate which stood in the butler's room at Noonday. Accordingly thither he went dressed in the habit of a footman 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 slightly lighted a fireball at the fireside clapped it into a closet on the side of the stairs in which the foul clothes were kept and 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 twelve month 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 misgive 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 dexterous 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 knack 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 than 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 foot-pads 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 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 twelve month. 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. In 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 humor of Barton was to appear equally gay and cheerful though in these sad circumstances as he had ever done in the most disillute part of his foregoing life. In consequence of which foolish notion he smiled on a persons telling him his name was included in the death warrant and that 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 behavior of such a kind on such an occasion seemed in the eyes of this poor wretch so high a testimony in favor 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 formally 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 23 years of age. Chapter 14 of Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Andrea Kay Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 by Arthur L. Hayward Chapter 14 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 labor 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 sodding with them at their haunts when by bawling about the streets he had got just as much as would suffice to sort with. There is no doubt but that he now and then shared with them in what among such folks at least pass for trivial offenses but that he engaged in the great exploits of the road did not appear to any other case than that for which he died. He was taking four tablecloths, eight napkins, two shirts, and other things from Mary Castle. 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 gains 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 behavior of Swift was at first such a nature that it is not easy to conceive why when all hopes of safety were lost and he was full of acknowledgement 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 brought so strongly as to make the ignominy of the halter the least dreadful part of his execution. The day on which the three last-mentioned persons together with Yeats or Gates, Alias Vulcan, a Deer Stealer and Benjamin Jones for housebreaking have been executed. These miserable persons frame to themselves the most absurd project of preserving their lives that could possibly have entered into the heads of men. Forgetting, 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 endeavored 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 their safe and out of reach. Though Barton and Yates received each of them they were greatly wounded and 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 where upon 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, Damn 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 capel and another were companions with me therein. Swift at the time of his execution was about 27 years of age or a little over. End of Chapter 14 Recording by Andrea Kay Chapter 15 of Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 2 by Arthur L. Hayward Chapter 15 The Lives of Edward Bernworth Alias Frazier William Bluett Thomas Berry Emanuel Dickinson William Marjoram John Higgs, etc. Robbers, Footpads, Housebreakers and Murderers Part 1 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, banditi or whatever other appellation you'll please to bestow on them have endeavored 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 or 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 Bernworth, 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 that is to a buckle maker in Grubb 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 Byrneworth'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 Byrneworth's grand associates were these William Blewett Emmanuel Dickinson Thomas Berry John Levy William Marjoram John Higgs John Wilson John Mason Thomas Makins 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 that is 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 Sharon Cross here they stuck a good while nor is it probable they would ever have risen higher if Byrneworth their captain had not been detected in an affair of this kind and committed thereupon to Bridewell from Wentz 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 there 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, Barry, Blewitt and Dickinson in whose company he remained continually never venturing abroad in the daytime 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 Bernworth strolled about in such little body houses he had formally frequented and where he had 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 Wilde were in close pursuit of him and that one of them was in the inner room by himself Bernworth 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 quarter 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 Bernworth'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 Bernworth 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 peak for having formerly committed Bernworth 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 Eilington and from thence to Copenhagen House where they spent the greatest part of the day on parting the booty Bernworth 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 Bernworth 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 Blewitt, Berry, Dickinson, Higgs, Wilson, Levy and Marjoram who joined the company Bernworth and Barton agreed to toss up at whose disposal the silverware should be they did so and it fell to Bernworth to dispose of it as he thought fit upon which he carried it immediately to the new riverside 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 humor 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 drinking 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 tonight 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 Bernworth 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 Bernworth 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 Bernworth 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 neighbors 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 wither 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 Bernworth heard what everyone 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 water side 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 council was held to settle the operation of the night there Bernworth 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 Wilde'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 Bernworth 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 Bernworth had scarce made an end of his bloody proposal before they all testified their assent to it with great alacrity Higgs only accepted who, seeming to disapprove thereof it put the rest into such a passion that they abraded him in the most approprious 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 Bernworth and his party when they came to Ball's house and inquired 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 Bernworth 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 blew it and begged of him to be an intercessor for him and that they would not murder him but Bernworth 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 neighborhood might suppose the firing of the pistol to have been done without any ill intention and only to discharge the same blew it 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 thus executed their barbarous design they went down from Ball's house directly towards the falcon intending to cross the water back again footnote falcon stairs were just east of where Blackfriar's bridge now stands and footnote by the way they accidentally met with Higgs who was making to the water side likewise him they fell upon and rated for a pusillanimous cowardly dog as Bernworth called him that would desert them in an affair of such consequence and then questioned whether Higgs himself would not betray them Bernworth 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 humor Bernworth 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 Trigg stairs footnote Trigg Lane ran from Thames Street to the water's edge near Lambeth Hill end footnote 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 water side 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 o'clock when they separated themselves into parties for that night that is 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 blew it Barry and Dickinson soon after set out for Harwich and went over in a packet boat from thence for hella footslaus 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 just as 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. Paul'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. Delase 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 Bernworth 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 chairman have encouraged 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 Bernworth shot one of the chairman 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 Bernworth bluit 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 and came into the ale house at White Cross Street and read it publicly the discourse of the company turning there upon 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 to 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 damn 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 Levy being taken that night by his directions in White Cross Street and after examination committed to Newgate Bernworth 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. Beasley a great distiller near Claire 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 there upon hanged being one of the number under sentence when the condemned hold was shut up and the criminals refused to submit to the keepers Bernworth was particularly described in the proclamation and 300 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 particularize any other bravados 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 endeavoring 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 Bernworth 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 favor 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 where Kate, the wife of Kit Leonard, was to give them the signal about six o'clock in the evening of Shrove Tuesday Kate Leonard and her sister and Bernworth 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 Bernworth took off his shirt-out coat in the pocket of the lining whereof he had several pistols there was a little back door to the house which Bernworth 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 Bernworth and whilst her sister was frying the pancakes Kate went to the ale house for a pot of drink 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 Bernworth the six persons rushed into the room Bernworth 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 with 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 they were aware about 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 Bernworth 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 that is 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 End of Chapter 15 Part 1 Recording by Linda Johnson LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals Volume 2 by Arthur L. Hayward Chapter 15 The Lives of Edward Bernworth Alias Frazier William Bluett Thomas Berry Emanuel Dickinson Sram John Higgs etc Robbers Footpads Housebreakers and Murderers Part 2 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 Bernworth Upon suspicion of his being the projector of that enterprise was in the elbow 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 straight 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 tear 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 where upon they came immediately 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 Bluett who next to Frazier was a person in the gang He was one of St. Giles' 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 bringing him to wicked practices he soon got himself into a gang of young pickpockets with whom he practiced 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 Bluett 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 Bluett obtained his freedom which did not serve him for any better purpose than his return to London as soon as he 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 the attempt of the other malfactors 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 Byrneworth and his gang who taught him other methods of robbing than he had hitherto practiced 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 not withstanding the wickedness 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 Dickinson and survived them both his meeting Byrneworth 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 Byrneworth had been betrayed by only persons from whom he could reasonably hope assistance Higgs seized on board a ship where he fancied himself secure from all searches so blew it and his associates though they daily endeavored 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 Homburg's arms on the boom keys in that city he sent away a special messenger to inquire the truth thereof of which he was no sooner satisfied then he procured an order from the state's 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 blew it at the house wither they had been directed his two companions Dickinson and Barry had left him and were gone aboard a ship not caring to remain any longer in Holland they conducted their prisoner to the Stutt 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 they put them in the same place with their old associate blew it we shall now therefore take an opportunity of speaking of each of them and equating 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 Immanuel Dickinson 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 where upon 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 Immanuel of whom we are speaking who addicted himself to 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 for 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 Bernworth he was with the rest drawn into the murder of Ball after this he followed Bluett's advice thinking himself safe even in Holland he and Barry as has been said were actually on ship board in order to their departure Thomas Barry 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 there can't 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 Bernworth it brought him first to the commission 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 state's 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 and nor 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 approbrious 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 musketeers 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 huzzahs proclaimed their joy at seeing these egregious villains in the hands of Justice for they, like Jonathan Wilde 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 jail and taken such other precautions as they thought necessary to bring them they next did them the honour of conducting them upstairs to their old friend Edward Byrnworth 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 perhaps 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 Blewitt, upon all occasions made use of every opportunity to excite their charity alleging they had been robbed of everything when they were seized Byrnworth with an air of indifference replied Blewitt, 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 Byrnworth 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 Byrnworth, Blewitt Berry, Dickinson Levy and Higgs were all put into a wagon 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 that they're getting into the wagon and afterwards as they passed along the road to show their respect they bore them by hallowing 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 endeavored to show themselves very merry and pleasant by their facetious discourse to the spectators and frequently through money amongst the people who followed them diverting themselves with seeing the others strive for it and particularly Blewitt having thrown out some half-pence amongst the mob a little boy who was present picked up one of them and calling out to Blewitt told him that as sure as he the said Blewitt would be condemned at Kingston so sure would he have his name engraved thereon whereupon Blewitt 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 jail delivery for the county of Surrey before the right honourable the Lord Chief Justice Raymond and Mr. Justice Denton and the grand jury having found indictments against the prisoners they were severally arranged thereupon when five of them pleaded not guilty Bernworth absolutely refused to plead at all upon which after being advised by the judge not to force the court upon that rigor which they were unwilling at any time to practice and he still continued 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 sailed in law of the Pentfort Edur 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 24 hours a draft of water from the next puddle near the jail 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 continuing contumatious 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 four hundred twenty four pounds whilst he continued under the press he endeavored to beat out his brains against the floor during which time the high of 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 particulars of the several robberies by them committed Bernworth replied that were he to write all the robberies by him committed a hundred sheets of paper right as close as could be would not contain them not withstanding 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 Bernworth after conviction his behavior 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 six-penny 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 fourth day of April they were brought up again from the stock house to receive sentence of death casted 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 the 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 after 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 to the execution of it Birmworth's mother being surprised with several files etc. about her and the whole plot discovered by Bluett'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 jail together with Mr. Elliot the turnkey after they had got out they intended to have fired a slack of bathings firewood adjoining to the prison and thereby amused the inhabitants while they got clear off Birmworth'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 Birmworth affected to keep up the same spirit he had hitherto behaved and talked in a rudimentate 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 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 blew it perceiving one Mr. Warwick among the spectators desired that he might stop to speak to him granted he threw himself upon his knees and earnestly entreated 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 blew it and Dickinson especially prayed with great fervor 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 blew it 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 were turned off Dickinson 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 Bernworth and blew it were afterwards hung in chains over against the sign of the fighting cocks in St. George's fields Dickinson and Barry 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 Dickinson in order to be interred after it's 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 Levy and Higgs were hung up on Putney Common beyond Wandsworth which is all we have to add concerning these hardened malifactors 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 End of Chapter 15 Part 2 Recording by Linda Johnson Chapter 17 of Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals Volume 2 by Arthur L. Hayward Chapter 17 The Life of John Gillingham and Highwaymen The Pad, 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 Byrneworth and made one of the number in attacking the chair of the Earl of Scarborough near St. James' 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 Shirley Esquire upon the highway and taking from him a watch valiant twenty pounds. He was a second time indicted for assaulting Jean de 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 that is sending a letter to extort money from Simon Smith Esquire and which follows in these words Mr. Smith I desire you to send me the guineas by the bearer without letting him know what it is for he is innocent of the contents if you're offered 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 dashed 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 by the first opportunity therefore pray fail not strike me to instant death if I'm 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 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 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 behavior 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 Tibern End of Chapter 17 Recording by Linda Johnson Chapter 18 of Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals Volume 2 by Arthur L. Hayward Chapter 18 The Life of John Cotterill 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 Cotterill 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 birthing of two hundred 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 half-penny 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 he heard 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 52nd year of his age on the 9th day of May 1726 End of Chapter 18 Recording by Linda Johnson