 CHAPTER 42 A TRUE AND PERFECT ACCOUNT OF THE EXAMINATION, CONFESSION, TRIAL, CONDEMNATION, AND EXECUTION OF JOHN PERRY, HIS MOTHER AND BROTHER, FOR THE SUPPOSED MURDER OF WILLIAM HARRISON, GENTLEMAN. LEPENDICS Although the several histories which are related within the compass of this appendix do not so properly fall under the general title of this work, most of them having fallen out in a period of time long before that, to which I have fixed the beginning of these memoirs of the unfortunate victims to public justice. Yet there are two reasons which determine me to give these narratives a place in this collection. The first is that the wonders of providence signalized in these transactions might hereby be recorded and preserved to posterity, and that the other from the perusal the wicket might be deterred from pursuing their vicious courses from the prospect of those sudden, dreadful, and unexpected strokes which the best-hit criminal practices have met with from the unsearchable conduct of divine justice. And as these arguments had weight enough with me to engage me to the performance of this work, so I hope that they will also incline my readers to peruse them with that improvement and delight which I have ever aimed to excite in the course of my labors. A true and perfect account of the examination, confession, trial, condemnation, and execution of John Perry, his mother and brother, for the supposed murder of William Harrison, gentlemen. Upon Thursday, the 6th of August, 1660, William Harrison, steward to the Lady of Icount, Camden, at Camden in Glauchester. Being about 70 years of age, walked from Camden aforesaid to Scharringworth, about two miles from thence, to receive his lady's rent, and not returning so early as formerly, his wife, Mrs. Harrison, between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, sent her servant, John Perry, to meet his master on the way from Scharringworth. But neither Mr. Harrison nor his servant John Perry were returning that night. Early the next morning, Edward Harrison, William's son, went towards Scharringworth to inquire after his father. On the way he met Perry, coming thence, and being informed by him that he was not there, they went together to Ebrington, a village between Scharringworth and Camden, where they were told by one Daniel that Mr. Harrison called at his house, the evening before, in his return from Scharringworth, but stayed not. Then they went to Paxford, about half a mile from thence, where, hearing nothing of Mr. Harrison, they returned towards Camden. And on the way, hearing of a hat, band, and a comb, taken up on the highway between Ebrington and Camden by a poor woman and leasing, gleaning in the field, they sought her out. With her they found the hat, band, and comb, which they knew to be Mr. Harrison's, and being brought by the woman to the place where she found the same in the highway between Ebrington and Camden. Near unto a great furs break, they there searched for Mr. Harrison, supposing he had been murdered, the hat and the comb being hacked and cut into band bloody, but nothing more could there be found. The news hereof coming to Camden so alarmed the town that the men, women, and children hasted thence in multitudes to search for Mr. Harrison's poset dead body, but all in vain. Mrs. Harrison's fears for her husband were now much increased, and having sent her servant Perry the evening before to meet his master, and he not returning that night, caused a suspicion that he had robbed and murdered him. Thereupon the said Perry was the next day brought before a justice of the peace, by whom being examined concerning his master's absence, and his own staying out the night he went to meet him, gave this account of himself, that his mistress sending him to Mises' master between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, he went down Camden Field towards Charingworth about a land's length, where meeting one William Reed of Camden he acquainted him with his errand, and farther told him that as it was growing dark he was afraid to go forwards, and would therefore return and fetch his young master's horse and return with him. He went to Mr. Harrison's court gate, where they parted. He stayed till one Pierce, coming by, he went again with him about a bow shot into the fields, and returned with him likewise to his master's gate, where they also parted. And the said John Perry, avirred that he went into his master's henrush, where he lay about an hour, but slept not, but when the clock struck twelve, rose and went towards Charingworth, until a great mist arising, he lost his way, and so lay the rest of the night under a hedge. At break of day on Friday morning he went to Charingworth, where he inquired for his master of one Edward Pleisterer, who told him he had been with him the afternoon before, and received three and twenty pounds of him, but stayed not long with him. He went to William Curtis of the same town, who told him he heard his master was at his house the day before, but being not at home did not see him. After which he said he returned homewards at being about five o'clock in the morning, when on the way he met his master's son, with whom he went to Ebrington and Paxford, etc. Curtis, being examined, affirmed what Perry had said concerning them to be true. Perry, then being asked by the justice of peace how he, who was afraid to go to Charingworth at nine o'clock, became so bold as to go thither at twelve, answered that at nine o'clock it was dark, but at twelve the moon shone. Being further asked why returning twice home after his mistress had sent him to meet his master, and staying until twelve o'clock, he went not into the house to know whether his master was come, before he won a third time, at that time of night, to look after him. He answered that he knew his master was not at home, because he saw a light in his chamber window, which never used to be there so late when he was at home. Yet notwithstanding this that Perry had said about staying forth at night, it was not thought fit to discharge him until further inquiry was made after Mr. Harrison, and accordingly he continued in custody at Camden, sometimes in an inn there and sometimes in the common prison, from Saturday August the 18th to the Friday following. During which time he was again examined at Camden by the aforesaid justice of peace, but confessed nothing more than before, nor at that time could any further discovery be made as to what was become of Mr. Harrison. But it hath been said that during his restraint at Camden he told some, who pressed him to confess what he knew concerning his master, that a tinker had killed him, and to others he said that a gentleman's servant of the neighborhood had robbed and murdered him, and others again he told that he was murdered and hid in a bean-rick in Camden, where a search was in vain made for him. At length he gave out that if he was again carried before the justice, he would discover that to him which he would not do to anybody else, and thereupon he was on Friday August the 24th, again brought before the justice of peace, who first examined him, and asking him whether he would confess what had become of his master, he answered he was murdered but not by him. The justice of peace then telling him that if he knew him to be murdered, he knew likewise by whom he was. So he acknowledged he did in being urged to confess what he knew concerning it, affirmed that it was his mother and brother that had murdered his master. The justice of peace then advised him to consider what he said, telling him that he feared he might be guilty of his master's death, and that he should not draw more innocent blood upon his head, for what he now charged his mother and brother with might cost them their lives. But he affirmed he spoke nothing but the truth, and that if he were immediately to die he would justify the justice desired him to declare how and when they did it. He then told him that ever since he came into his master's service, his mother and brother had lained him to help them to money, telling him how poor they were, and that it was in his power to relieve them by giving them notice when his master went to receive his lady's rents, for they would then wail at him and rob him. And further he said that upon the Thursday morning, when his master went to Charingworth, going on an errand into town, he met his brother in the street, whom he then told wither his master was going, and if he way-laid him he might have his money. And further said that in the evening, when his mistress sent him to meet his master, he met his brother in the street before his master's gate, going as he said to meet his master. And so they went together to the churchyard, about a stone's throw from Mr. Harrison's gate, where they parted. He going the footway beyond the church they met again, and so went together, the way leading to Charingworth, until they came to a gate about a bow-shot from Camden Church that goes into a ground of the Lady Camden's, called the Coneygree, which to those who have a key to go through the garden is the nearest from that place to Mrs. Harrison's house. When they came near unto that gate, he, said John Perry, said he told his brother that he believed his master was just gone into the Coneygree, for it was then so dark they could not discern any man, so as to know him. But perceiving there was no way but for those who had a key through the gardens, he concluded it was his master who had gone through, and so told his brother, if he followed him, he might have his money, and he in the meantime would walk a turn in the fields, which accordingly he did, and then followed his brother. About the middle of the Coneygree he found his master on the ground, his brother upon him, and his mother standing by. Being asked whether his master was dead, he answered no for that after he came to them. His master cried, Rogues, will you kill me? At which he told his brother he hoped he would not kill his master. His brother replied, peace, peace, you're a fool, and so strangled him. Which having done, he took a bag of money out of his pocket, and threw it into his mother's lap, and then he and his brother carried his master's dead body into the garden, adjoining to the Coneygree, where they consulted what to do with it, and at length agreed to throw it into the great pool by Wallington's mill, behind the garden. His mother and brother bid him go up to the court next to the house to hearken whether anyone was stirring, and they would throw the body into the pool. And being asked whether it was there, he said he knew not for that he left it in the garden, but his mother and brother said they would throw it there, and if it was not there, he knew not where it was, for that he returned no more to them, but went into the court gate, which goes into the town. He met with John Pierce, with whom he went into the field, and again returned with him to his master's gate, after which he went into the henroast, where he lay until twelve o'clock at night, but slept not, and having, when he came from his mother and brother, brought with him his master's hat, band, and comb, which he laid in the henroast. He carried the said hat, band, and comb, and threw them after he had given them three or four cuts with his knife and the highway, where they were found afterwards. After being asked what he intended by so doing, he said he did it that it might be believed his master had been there robbed and murdered, and having thus disposed of his hat, band, and comb, he went towards Charingworth as hath been related. Upon this confession and accusation, the justice of peace gave order for the apprehending of Joan and Richard Perry, the mother and brother of John Perry, and for searching the pool where Mr. Harrison's body was said to be thrown, which was accordingly done, but nothing of him could be found there. The fish pools likewise in Campton were drawn in search, but nothing could be found there either, so that some were of the opinion that the body might be laid in the ruins of Campton House, burnt in the late wars, and not unfit for such a concealment, where was likewise search made, but all in vain. On Saturday, August 25, Joan and Richard Perry, together with John Perry, were brought before the justice of peace, who acquainted, the said Joan and Richard, with what John had lain to their charge. They denied all, with many implications on themselves, if they were at the least guilty of anything of which they were accused. But John, on the other side, affirmed to their faces that he had spoken nothing but the truth, and that they had murdered his master, further telling them that he could never be at quiet for them since he came into his master's service, being continually followed by them to help them to money, which they told him he might do by giving them notice when his master went to receive his lady's rents. In that meeting his brother Richard in Camden Town, the Thursday morning his master went to Charringworth. He told him whether he was going, and upon what errand. Richard confessed he met his brother that morning and spoke with him, but nothing passed between them to that purpose. Both he and his mother told John he was a villain to accuse them wrongfully, as he had done, but John, on the other side, affirmed that he had spoken nothing but the truth, and would justify it to his death. One remarkable circumstance happened in these prisoners' return from the Justice's house to Camden. V is Richard Perry following a good distance behind his brother John, pulling a clout out of his pocket, dropped a ball of inkle, which one of his guards, taking up, he desired him to restore it, saying it was only his wife's hair lace. But the party, opening it and finding a slipknot at the end, went and showed it unto John, who was then a good distance before, and knew nothing of the dropping and taking up of this inkle. Being showed it and asked whether he knew it, he shook his head and said yes to his sorrow, for that was the string his brother strangled his master with. This was sworn upon the evidence at their trial. The morrow being the Lord's day, they remained at Camden, where the minister of the place, designing to speak to them, if possible, to persuade them to repentance and a farther confession. They were brought to church, and in their way thither, passing by Richard's house, two of his children meeting him. He took the lesser in his arm, and was leading the other in his hand. One on a sudden both their noses fell a bleeding, which was looked upon as ominous. Here it will be no impertinent digression to tell how the year before Mr. Harrison had his house broken open between eleven and twelve o'clock at noon, upon Camden market day, whilst himself and his whole family were away. A ladder being set up to a window of the second story, and an iron bar wrenched thence with a plowshare which was left in the room, and seven score pounds and money carried away, the authors of which robbery could never be found. After this, and not many weeks before Mr. Harrison's absence, one evening a Captain Gordon, his servant Perry, made a hideous outcry, whereas some who heard it, coming in, met him running and seemingly affrighted with a sheep-pick in his hand, to whom he told the story of how he'd been set upon by two men in white with naked swords, and how he defended himself with his sheep-pick. The handle were of was cut in two or three places, as was likewise a key in his pocket, which he said was done with one of their swords. The passages, the justice of the peace having before heard, and calling to mind upon Perry's confession, asked him first concerning the robbery, when his master lost seven score pounds out of his house at Noonday, whether he knew who did it. He answered, yes it was his brother, and being further asked whether it was with him he answered no. He was at church, but that he gave him notice in the money and told him in which room it was, and where he might have a ladder that would reach the window, and that his brother after told him he had the money and had buried it in his garden, and that they were at Michael Mass next to have divided it, whereupon search was made in the garden, but no money could be there found, and being further asked concerning the other passage of his being assaulted in the garden, he confessed it was all a fiction, and that he did it having it designed to rob his master, so that rogues being believed to haunt the place when his master was robbed they might be thought to have done it. At the next Assizes which were held in September following, John, Joan and Richard Perry had two indictments found against them, one for breaking into William Harrison's house and robbing him of one hundred and forty pounds in the year sixteen fifty nine, the other for robbering and murdering, the said William Harrison on the sixteenth day of August sixteen sixty. Upon the last indictment the judge of the Assizes or C.T. would not try them, because the body was not found, but they were then tried upon the other indictment for robbery, to which they pleaded not guilty, but someone whispering behind them they soon pleaded guilty, humbly begging the benefit of his majesties, Grace's pardon, and the act of oblivion, which was granted them. But then they pleaded guilty to their indictment, being there unto promised as probable by some who were unwilling to lose time and trouble the court with their trial as the act of oblivion pardoned them. Yet they all afterwards and at their death denied that they were guilty of that robbery, or that they knew who did it. Yet at his Assizes several credible persons have affirmed, John Perry still persisted in his story that his mother and brother had murdered his master, and further added that they had attempted to poison him and gaol, so that he durst neither eat nor drink with them. At the next Assizes, which was held the spring following, John Joan and Richard Perry were by the then judge of Assize, or BH, tried upon the indictment of murder, and pleaded there unto severally not guilty. And when John's confession before the justice was proved viva voce by several witnesses who heard the same, he told them he was then mad and knew not what he said. The other two, Richard and Joan Perry, said they were wholly innocent of what they were accused, and that they knew nothing of Mr. Harrison's death, nor what was become of him. And Richard said that his brother had accused others as well as him of having murdered his master, which the judge bidding him prove, he said that most of those who had given evidence against him knew it, but naming none, nor did any speak to it. And so the jury found them all three guilty. Some few days after being brought to the place of their execution, which was on Broadway Hill, inside of Camden, the mother who was reputed a witch into have bewitched her sons so that they would confess nothing while she lived, was executed first, after which Richard, being upon the latter, professed as he had done all along that he was wholly innocent of the fact for which he was then to die, and that he knew nothing of Mr. Harrison's death, nor what was become of him, and did with great earnestness beg and beseech his brother for the satisfaction of the whole world and for his own conscience to declare what he knew concerning him. But he with a dogged and surly carriage told the people he was not obliged to confess to them. Yet immediately before his death he said he knew nothing of his master's death, nor what had become of him, but they might hear after possibly hear. Mr. Harrison's account of his being absent two years and of his return home addressed to Sir Thomas Overberry night. Honored Sir, in obedience to your commands I give you this true account of my being carried away beyond the seas, my continuance there and return home. On Thursday in the afternoon, in the time of harvest, I went to Charringworth to demand rents due to my Lady Camden, at which the tenants were busy in the fields, and were late ere they came home, which occasioned my stay there till the close of the evening. I expected a considerable sum, but received only twenty-three pounds and no more. In my return home in the narrow passages amongst Ebrington-Fersis there met me one horseman and said, Art thou there, and I fearing that he would have rode over me, struck his horse over the nose, whereupon he struck me with his sword, several blows, and ran it into my side, while I with my little cane made my defense as well as I could. At last another came behind me, ran me in the thigh, laid hold on the collar of my doublet, and drew me to a hedge near to the place. Then came in another. They did not take away my money, but mounted me behind one of them, drew my arms about his middle, and fastened my wrist together with something that had a spring lock to it, as I conceived, by hearing it give a snap as they put it on. Then they threw a great cloak over me and carried me away. In the night they alighted at a hay-rick which stood near unto a stone pit by a wall-side where they took away my money. This was about two hours before day, and I heard one of them tell the other he thought it had to be then. They tumbled me into the stone pit. They stayed as I thought about an hour at the hay-rick when they took horse again. One of them bade me come out of the pit. I answered that they had my money already and asked what they would do with me, whereupon he struck me again, drew me out and put a great quantity of money into my pockets, and mounted me again after the same manner. And on Friday after sunset they brought me to a lone house upon a heath by a thicket of bushes where they took me down, almost dead, being sorely bruised with a carriage of the money. When the woman of the house saw that I could neither stand nor speak, she asked them whether or no they had brought a dead man. They answered no but a friend that was hurt, and they were carrying me to a surgeon. She answered if they did not make haste their friend would be dead before they could bring him to one. There they laid me on the cushions and suffered none to come into the room but a little girl. There we stayed all night, they giving me some broth and strong waters. In the morning very early they mounted me as before, and on Saturday night they brought me to a place where were two or three houses, and one of which I lay all night on cushions by their bedside. On Sunday morning they carried me from thence, and about three or four of the clock they brought me to a place by the seaside, called Deal, where they laid me down in the ground. One of them staying by me, the other two walked a little off to meet a man with whom they talked, and in their discourse I heard them mention seven pounds, after which they went away together, and about half an hour after return. The man whose name as I after heard was Renshaw, said he feared I would die before they could put me on board. Then they put me into a boat and carried me on shipboard where my wounds were dressed. I remained in the ship as near as I could reckon about six weeks in which time I was indifferently recovered of my wounds and weaknesses. Then the master of the ship came in and told me, and the rest who were in the same condition, that he discovered three Turkish ships. We all offered to fight in defense of the ship and ourselves, but he commanded us to keep close and said he would deal with them well enough. A little while after he called us up, and when we came on deck we saw two Turkish ships close by us. Into one of them we were put in place in a dark hold, where, how long we continued before we were landed, I know not. When we were landed they led us two days' journey and put us into a great house or prison where we remained four days and a half, and then came to us eight men to view us, who seemed to be officers. They called us and examined us of our trades and callings, which everyone answered. One said he was a surgeon, another that he was a broadcloth weaver, and I, after two or three demands, said I had some skill in physics. We three were set by and taken by three of these eight men who came to view us. It was my chance to be chosen by a grave physician of eighty-seven years of age who lived near Smyrna, who had formerly been in England and knew Crowland and Lincolnshire, which he preferred before all others in England. He employed me to keep his still house and gave me a silver bowl, double guilt, to drink him. My business was most in that place, but once he set me to gather cotton wool, which I not doing he struck me to the ground, and after drew his deletto to stab me. But I, holding up my hands to him, he gave me a stamp and turned from me, for which I render thanks to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who stayed his hand and preserved me. I was there about a year and three quarters, and then to my master fell sick on a Thursday, and sent for me, and calling me as he used, by the name of Bell, told me he should die and bid me shift for myself. He died on the Saturday following, and I instantly hastened with my bowl to a port almost a day journey distant, the way to which place I knew, having been twice there employed by my master about the carriage of the cotton wool. When I came there, I addressed myself to two men who came out of a ship of Hamburg, which as they said was bound for Portugal within three or four days. I inquired of them for an English ship. They answered there was none. I entreated them to take me into their ship, but they answered they durst not for fear of being discovered by the searchers, which might occasion the forfeiture, not only of their goods, but also of their lives. I was very important with them, but could not prevail. They left me to wait on Providence, which at length brought me another, out of the same ship to whom I made known my condition, craving his assistance for my transportation. He made me the like answer as the former, and was as stiff in his denial, and until the sight of my bowl put him to pause. He returned to the ship, and after an hour's space came back again, accompanied by another seamen, and for my bowl undertook to transport me. But he told me I must be contented to lie down in the keel, and endure much hardship, which I was content to do to gain my liberty. So they took me on board, and placed me below in the vessel, in a very uneasy place, and obscured me with boards and other things, where I lay undiscovered, notwithstanding the strict search that was made in the vessel. My two Chapman, who had my bowl, honestly furnished me with vituals daily, until we arrived at Lisbon in Portugal, where as soon as the master had left the ship, and was gone into the city, they set me unsure, moneyless, to shift for myself. I knew not what course to take, but as Providence led me, I went up to the city, and came into a fair street, and being weary, I turned my back to a wall, and leaned upon my staff. Over against me were four gentlemen discoursing together. After a while one of them came to me, and spake to me in a language that I understood not. I told him I was an Englishman, and understood not what he spoke. He answered me in plain English that he understood me, and was himself born in Wisbeck in Lincolnshire. Then I related to him my sad condition, and he, taking compassion on me, took me with him, provided me with lodging and a diet, and by his interest with a master of a ship bound for England, procured my passage, and, bringing me on shipboard, he bestowed wine and strong waters on me, and, at his return, gave me eight stivers, and commended me to the care of the master of the ship, who landed me safe at Dover. From thence I made a shift to get to London, where, being furnished with necessaries, I came into the country. Thus, honoured sir, I have given you a true account of my great sufferings, and happy deliverance by the mercy and goodness of God, my most gracious Father in Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer, to whose name be ascribed all honor, praise and glory. I conclude and rest your worships in all dutiful respect. Before I part with this story it is proper for me to remark that, though it does not contain any extraordinary mark of the wisdom of Providence, yet being in its nature strange and hitherto, having escaped any other collection, I thought it not improper to be preserved here, since some of the circumstances are of such a nature as not to be paralleled in any English story. CHAPTER 44 OF LIVES OF THE MOST REMARCABLE CRIMINALS VOL. 3 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 Greg Giordano. Lives of the most remarkable criminals. Volume 3 by Arthur L. Hayward A relation of the surprising discovery of the murder of Mary Barwick. Committed by William Barwick, her husband, on the 14th of April, 1690, upon which he was convicted, at the Lent Assizes at York, before the honorable Sir John Powell Knight, then one of the judges of Assize. In the following relation I have kept strictly up to the motives which I have mentioned in the beginning of this appendix, and I hope that will atone for the inserting of this story, which I confess can be of no other use than to gratify the curiosity of the reader. As murder is one of the greatest crimes a man can be guilty of, so it is no less strangely and providentially discovered when secretly committed. The foul criminal believes himself secure, because there was no witness of the fact. Now considering that the all-seeing eye of heaven beholds his iniquity, and by some means or other bringing it to light, never permits it to go unpunished. Indeed, so certainly does the revenge of God pursue the abominated murderer, that when witnesses are wanting of the fact, the very ghosts of the murdered parties cannot rest quiet in their graves, and so they have made the detection themselves. Of this we are now to give the reader two remarkable examples that lately happened in Yorkshire, and no less signal for the truth of both tragedies, as being confirmed by the trial of the offenders, and to last the size he has held for that county. The first of these murders was committed by William Barwick, upon the body of Mary Barwick his wife, at the same time, big with child. But were the motives that induced the man to do this horrid fact, does not appear by the examination of the evidence, or the confession of the party, only it appeared upon his trial that he had got her with trout before he married her, that being then constrained to marry her, he grew weary of her, which was the reason he was so willing to be rid of her, that we ventured body and soul to accomplish his design. The murder was committed upon Monday, being then the fourteenth of April, about two o'clock in the afternoon, at which time the said Barwick drilled his wife along, until he came to a certain close, within sight of Kawa Castle, where he found the conveniency of a pond. He threw her by force into the water, and when she was drowned and drawn forth again by himself upon the bank of the pond, he had the cruelty to behold the motion of the infant, yet warm in her womb. This done, he concealed the body, as it may readily be supposed, among the bushes that usually encompass a pond. The next night when it grew dark, fetching a hay-spade from a rick that stood in the close, he made a hole by the side of the pond, and there slightly buried the woman in her clothes, having thus dispatched two at once, and thinking himself secure, because unseen, he went the same day to his brother-in-law, one Thomas Lopped House of Russforth, within three miles of York, who had married his drowned wife's sister, and told him he had carried his wife to one Richard Harrison's house in Selby, who was his uncle, and would take care of her. But Heaven would not be so deluded, but raise up the ghost of the murdered woman to make the discovery. It was Easter Tuesday following, about two o'clock in the afternoon, that the aforementioned Loft House, having occasioned to water a quick-set hedge, not far from his house. As he was going for the second pail-full, an apparition went before him in the shape of a woman, and soon after set down against a rising green grass-plot, right over against the pond. He walked by her as he went to the pond, and as he returned with the pail from the pond, looking sideways to see whether she continued in the same place, he found she did, and that she seemed to dangle something in her lap, that looked like a white bag, as he thought, which he had not observed before. So as soon as he had emptied his pail, he went into his yard, and so it still to turn whether he could see her again. But she was vanished. In this information, he says, that the woman seemed to be habited in a brown-colored petticoat, waistcoat, and a white hood, such a one as his wife's sister usually wore, and that her countenance looked extremely pale and wan, with her teeth in sight, but no gums appearing, and that her physiognomy was like that of his wife's sister, who was wife to William Barwick. But notwithstanding the ghastliness of the apparition, it seems it made a little impression on Loughthouse's mind, that he thought no more of it. Neither did he speak to anybody concerning it until the same night, as he was a family duty of prayers, when the apparition returned again to his thoughts, and discomposed his devotion, so that after he made an end of his prayers, he told the whole story of what he had seen to his wife, who, laying in circumstances together, immediately inferred their sister was either drowned or otherwise murdered, and desired her husband to look after her the next day, which was the Wednesday and Easter week. Upon this Loughthouse recollecting what Barwick had told him was carrying his wife to his uncle at Selby, prepared to Harrison before mentioned, who found all the Barwick had said to be false. For Harrison had neither heard of Barwick nor his wife, neither did he know anything of them, which notable circumstance, together with that other of the apparition, increased his suspicion to that degree, that now concluding his wife's sister was murdered, he went to the Lord Mayor of York, and having obtained his warrant, he got Barwick apprehended, who was no sooner brought before the Lord Mayor, but his own conscience then accusing him, he acknowledged the whole matter, as it has been already related, and as it appears by the examination and confession herewith printed. On Wednesday, 16 September 1690, the criminal, William Barwick, was brought to his trial before the honorable Sir John Powell Knight, one of the judges of the Northern Circuit, at the asaisies held at York, where the prisoner pleaded not guilty to his indictment. But upon the evidence of Thomas Loughthouse and his wife, and a third person, that the woman was found buried in her clothes, close by the pondside, agreeable to the prisoner's confession, and that she had several bruises on her head, occasioned by the blows the murderer had given her to keep her under water, and upon reading the prisoner's confession before the Lord Mayor of York, attested by the clerk, who wrote the confession, and miswore the prisoner's owning and signing it for truth, he was found guilty, and sentenced to death, and afterwards ordered to be hanged in chains. All the defense that the prisoner made was only this, that he was threatened into the confession that he had made, and it was in such a consternation that he did not know what he said or did. But then it was sworn too, by two witnesses, that there was no such thing as any threatening made use of, that he made a free and voluntary confession, only with this addition at first, that he told the Lord Mayor he had sold his wife for five shillings, but not being able to name either the person or the place where she might be produced, that was looked upon as too frivolous to outweigh circumstances that were too apparent. The examination of William Barwick, taken the 25th of April, 1690, whose sayeth and confesseth that he carried his wife over a certain wane bridge, called Bishop Dyke Bridge, between Catewood and Sherbourne, and within the lane about one hundred yards from the said bridge, and on the left hand of the said bridge, he and his wife went over a style, on the left hand of a certain gate, entering into a certain close, on the left hand of the said lane, and then upon, in the said close, adjoining to a quick wood hedge, he did drown his wife, and upon a bank of the said pond did bury her, and further, that he was within sight of Catewood Castle, on the left hand, and there was but one hedge betwixt the said close, where he drowned his wife, and the bishop slates, belonging to the said castle, William Barwick. Exam, captain did et cetera, anno super dictum, quorum me. S. Dawson, Mayor. End of Chapter 43, Recording by Greg Giordano, Newport Ritchie, Florida Chapter 44 of Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals, Volume 3 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 3 by Arthur L. Hayward, Chapter 44 An Account of the Conviction and Execution of Mr. Walker and Mark Sharp for the Murder of Ann Walker I am conscious that my collecting these relations may expose me to the railery and ridicule of a very numerous tribe of wits in this age who value themselves extremely on their contempt of supernatural stories and their disbelief of all things which relate to apparitions or returns from that state in which souls go when they depart from the body. Yet the following story is so remarkable, the proofs so exceedingly cognant and the mistakes made in the relation of it by various authors so likely notwithstanding to bring it in the course of time into discredit that I thought I could not do a greater service to the public than to preserve it in its genuine purity which I have had occasion to retrieve from the side of some papers which related there to and from which the following account is written verbatim without any alteration so much as in a letter. About the year 1631 there lived in a place called Chester in the street in the county Palatine of Durham one Mr. Walker a yeoman of good fortune and credit he was a widower and kept a young woman one Ann Walker a relation of his in his house as housekeeper it was suspected it seems by some of the neighbors that she was with child immediately upon which she was removed to on dame cares an aunt of hers in the town of Lumley hard buy the old woman treated her with much kindness and civility but was exceedingly earnest to know of her who was the father of the child with which she went but the young woman constantly avoided answering that question but at last perceiving how uneasy the old woman was because she could get no knowledge how the poor babe was to be provided for this and Walker at last said that he who got her with child would take care of both her and it with which answer her aunt was tolerably satisfied some time after of an evening her old master Walker and one mark sharp with whom he was extraordinarily intimate came to her aunt's house and took the said and Walker away about a fortnight passed without her being seen or heard of and without much talk of the neighborhood concerning her supposing she had been carried somewhere to be privately brought to bed in order to escape her shame but one James Graham a miller who lived two miles from the place where Walker's house was being one night between the hours of twelve and one grinding corn in his mill and the mill door shut as he came downstairs from putting corn into the hopper he saw a woman standing in the middle of the floor with her hair all bloody hanging about her ears and five large wounds in her head Graham though he was a bold man was exceedingly shocked at this spectacle at last after calling upon God to protect him he in a low voice demanded who she was and what she wanted of him to which the woman made answer I am the spirit of Anne Walker who lived with Walker at Chester in the street and being got with child by him he promised to send me to a private place where I should be well looked to until I was brought to bed and well again and then I should come to him again and keep his house and I was accordingly late one night sent away with mark sharp who upon the more just by the yellow bank head slew me with a pick an instrument wherewith they did coals and gave me these five wounds and afterwards threw me into a culpit hard buy and hid the pick under the bank his shoes and stockings also being bloody he endeavored to wash them but seeing the blood would not go forth he hid them there too and now James grime so the country people pronounce Graham I am come to you that by revealing this bloody act my murderers may be brought to justice which unless you do I will continually pursue and haunt you the Miller returned home to his house very melancholy and much astonished at this site yet he held his peace hoping that if he did not reveal it she would go to somebody else he was fearful of blasting the character of Mr. Walker who was a man of substance by telling such a tale concerning him to a justice of peace however he avoided as much as he was able being in the mill alone especially at nights but not withstanding all his care and though other persons were not far off she appeared to him there again and in a harsh tone demanded why he had not made known what she had spoken up to him he made her no answer but fled to the other end of the place where the people were yet some little time after just after sunset she met him in his own garden and spoke to him with such a cruel aspect and with such fearful threats that he promised to go the next morning to a magistrate which he accordingly did on the morrow being saint thomas's day he applied to a justice of the peace and told him the story the justice having tendered him his oath and taking his information and writing forthwith issued his warrant and apprehended mr. walker and mark sharp who by trade was a collier that is dug coals out of a mine they made light of the thing before the justice although he in the meanwhile had caused a place which gram said the apparition had spoken of to be searched and there found the dead body wounded in place and manner as before described with the pick the shoes and the stockings however walker and sharp were admitted to bail and at the next to sizes appeared upon their trial judge davin port heard the several circumstances of the woman's being carried out by sharp her being suspected to be with child by her master walker and the story which gram repeated exactly upon oath as he had done before the justice the foreman of the jury did depose that he saw a child standing upon the shoulders of the prisoner walker at the bar and the judge himself was under such a concern and uneasiness that as soon as the jury had found the prisoners guilty he immediately rose up and passed sentence of death upon them a thing never known before nor since in Durham the custom being not to pass sentence until the close of the assizes end of chapter 44 chapter 45 of lives of the most remarkable criminals volume three 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 Gillian Henry lives of the most remarkable criminals volume three by Arthur L. Hayward the life of Jacques Pévié a French robber and murderer as I have stepped in the former stories a little back in time so in this I shall make bold to go out of our own nation to relate a very extraordinary passage which happened at Paris in the beginning of the last century because it will serve as a notable instance of that confusion and fear which guilt brings over the souls of the most hardened villains and thereby renders them often instruments of justice upon themselves so that it seems not virtue only is its own reward but vice also brings upon itself those torments which it ought to feel thus Providence ordereth with inscrutable wisdom that every man should feel happiness or misery according as his own demeanour serves but it is now time that we harken to the story it happened that a certain architect who was in high esteem with the greatest nobles in France for his excellent skill in building after the Italian model and had thereby obtained both a great reputation and a large estate being a generous and charitable man took into his house one Jacques Pévié in the nature of an accountant for the better ordering of his affairs for the six years that this Jacques lived in his master's house never any man was known to behave better or more commendably than he did at length he married and had children so that the master looking upon him as a staid discreet person of whose fidelity he had indubitable proofs he therefore gave him the charge of everything when he went to a country house of his a small distance from Paris where he sometimes stayed for a week or so to unbent his mind and enjoy the benefit of the summer season at last Jacques observing what great wealth he had acquired began to be covetous and desirous of obtaining it and after having cast it long in his head how he might obtain it he at length resolved with himself to join with certain villains who at that time robbed in the streets and committed murders on the roads about Paris gaining notice of a house where such people frequented he found ways and means to be admitted into the room where they had their consultations and the person who introduced him having promised for his fidelity they listened very attentively to the proposal which he promised to make them and which after a little pause he performed in these words my good friends it is now upwards of six years since i have lived in the service of a rich and imminent person i thought that before this time i might have made my fortune under him and therefore have hitherto served him faithfully and honestly but finding my expectations herein deceived i come to make you an offer which may enrich you all he has a house in the country whether he retires with his daughter and maid servant only these may easily be dispatched and then all his effects will be our own i will venture to assure you they will be worth 10 000 crowns the thieves were not a little rejoiced at the thoughts of so extraordinary a booty and therefore after returning Perrier thanks they readily embraced his motion and promised him whatever assistance he should require it was not long before the unfortunate gentleman went as usual with his daughter and her maid to enjoy the pleasures of his rural habitation leaving the direction of his affairs to Jacques who no sooner saw him safe out of Paris but he went to give notice to his associates that the time was now come to execute his bloody proposal they quickly got all things in readiness and as soon as it was evening set out under the command of this desperate varlet to commit that horrible murder which he had contrived arriving at the house Perrier knocked at the door the maid knowing him supposed some extraordinary business had brought him dither and readily opened the door but she was exceedingly surprised to find him followed by five ruffians oddly dressed masked and with large staves in their hands however they did not give her much time to consider but followed her immediately into the kitchen where by the direction of their abominable leader they immediately with many cruel blows put her to death from thence they went upstairs into the old gentleman's apartment and found him sitting upon his bed as soon as they entered Perrier said his master is it thus that you return that kindness with which I have always treated you did I not take you from misery and want have I not maintained you and put it in your power to maintain your family will you repay this my charity with robbing me of all I have must the tenderness I have shown towards you drop upon me death from your hands and do you not think that the same god who had seen me cherish and relieve you will not bring upon you condone punishment for this execrable villainy they weren't going to commit Perrier was sensible of the truth of what he said but knowing it was impossible for him to go back he gave a sign to the murderers to fall about the execution of their work but the old man who was too wise to expect mercy from their hands endeavored to lay hold of a halberd which stood in his room designing their with as well as he could to defend himself but before he could get it into his hands the villains struck him down and with 30 or 40 wounds gave a passage for his soul into a better life the unfortunate young lady lay in the next room to her father's and being already got to bed heard with astonishment the execrable fact however full of fear and astonishment she covered herself with the bedclothes and endeavored all she was able to hide herself in the bed but alas her caution was to small purpose Perrier knew too well the situation of all things to be deceived by so trivial an artifice and therefore after pulling the bedclothes into the middle of the floor he exposed naked to his fellow ruffians the most beautiful young lady in France in vain she fell upon her knees and with all that tender elocution so natural to their sex when in distress besought them that they would spare her life which as she said could be of no benefit to them and could only serve to increase the number of their sins but they were too much flushed in cruelty and blood to give any attention to her entreaties and so without respect either to the softness of her sex or to her tender age with a shower of blows from their clubs they laid her dead upon the floor being thus become master of the house Perrier took the keys and opening the several apartments disclosed to them all the riches of his deceased master they immediately brought away all the ready money they found in the house which amounted to little less than 10 000 crowns all the rich movables they conveyed away to a boat which they had prepared for that purpose and had fastened in a creek of the river on a bank of which the house stood they loaded and unloaded this vessel five or six times for there was no hurry in carrying away the goods saying it was the dead time of the night and when they had thoroughly plundered it of everything that would yield money they then came away and went to the place where they laid up their spoils there it was resolved to divide the booty and Perrier claimed the largest share as well in right of his having put them upon that project as that he had assisted more strenuously in the execution of it than any of them for when men associate themselves to commit wickedness he who surpasses the rest in villainy claims the same reward and from the same reasons as he who in another society surpasses all his neighbours in virtue when this execrable fact was over and he had secured his share in the plunder he returned home to the house of his master and remained in carrying on the ordinary course of business of his master about two days after it happened that a man who had business with the old gentleman called at his country house and after knocking a good while at the door finding that nobody answered he went to town and meeting with Jack Perrier at his master's house he told him of his calling upon him in the country and that he found nobody there jack counterfeited the greatest surprise at the news and calling many assistants went down immediately to his master's seat and with all the seeming horror imaginable became a second time a witness of those barbarities which he and his villainous associates had committed at the site of the murdered maid in the kitchen he cried out with the greatest vehemence and seemed in an agony of sorrow but when he saw the body of his master he roared and stamped he cried out tore his hair and threw himself upon the body as if he had never more intended to have drawn breath all the persons he had carried with him were effectually deceived by his behavior and were under apprehensions lest his two violent grief should throw him into a fever or prompt him to lay hands upon himself he was not contented with acting thus upon the spot but resolved to play it over again when he came back to paris there abundance of people pitied him and looked on him as one whom the sincere love he had for his master had drawn to the utmost despair by reason of his unfortunate death but one of the old gentleman's relations who was a man of more penetration than the rest began to suspect his excessive affliction and by his arguments drew another gentleman who was also interested in the family affairs to be of his opinion whereupon Jacques was apprehended on suspicion and sent to prison solitude and confinement are often the roads to repentance and confession for the vanities of the world being no longer before them in such cases people are apt to retire into the recesses of their own breasts and having no avocations from considering how they have spent their former years the reflection often extorts truth which would never be by any other method discovered but it was not so with Perrier his dissimulation was of a stronger contexture and not to be broken even by sorrow and confinement he not only continued to deny the knowledge of the murder but also to lament the loss of so indulgent a master with such floods of tears and so many strong appearances of real sorrow and affection that no proof appearing against him the magistrates were afraid of having themselves reproached within justice if they had not given him his liberty to which after six months imprisonment he was restored the rest of the assassins seeing a long space of time elapsed and that still not the least discovery was made of the murder laid aside all fears of being taken and began to appear more openly than hitherto they had done since the perpetration of that fact but in the midst of their security the providence of god forced them to betray themselves for as the father son and cousin who were all concerned in the murder were sitting with one muscle another of the confederates with one mason making merry at a public house on a sudden they turned their heads and saw 10 or 12 archers or marshals men who have the same authority as constables in our country who by chance met together and came into the house to drink guilt on a sudden struck the whole company with apprehensions that they were come in search of them the fear of which made them throw down their knives and forks leave what they had upon the table and fly with the utmost precipitation as supposing they ran for their lives this extravagant behavior struck the archers with amazement and immediately calling from the landlord they inquired of him what should be the sudden cause of this terror in his guests he replied that it was impossible for him to tell certainly but from discourse which he had heard he took them to be persons of no very honest character and from the great sums of money he had heard them count out he was apprehensive that they had committed some robbery or other they're wanted not any further account to stir up the archers to a pursuit from whence they already assured themselves they should be considerable gainers the thing speaking for itself since honest people are not used to fall into such panics but only guilt creates apprehensions in men at the sight of the ministers of justice immediately therefore the officers pursued them in the road they had taken and the old man being less able to travel than the rest in about two hours time they came up with him at the side of a rivulet where for very weariness he had stopped as not being able to cross it no sooner did they come up to him but he surrendered and fear having brought a sudden repentance he without any equivocation began to confess all the crimes of his life he said that it was true they all of them deserved death and he was content to suffer he said moreover that in the course of his life he had murdered upwards of three score with his own hands he also carried the officers to an island in the river which was the usual place of the execution of those innocents who fell into the hands of their gang and acknowledged that of all the offenses he had committed nothing gave him so much pain as the having murdered a hopeful young gentleman for the sake of a trifle of money which he had about him by putting a stone about his neck and sinking him in the water of the other three two were apprehended but the third made his escape and was running hastily with the news to Jack Perrier and their other companions but he was soon after seized and carried to prison with the rest none escaping from the hands of justice but muscle and the cruel Perrier the author of all this mischief the three who were in prison endured the torture with the greatest constancy absolutely denying that they knew anything of the murders and robberies which had been committed yet when they were confronted by the old man their courage deserted them they acknowledged the fact and judgment was pronounced upon them that they should be broke alive upon the wheel before the house of the unfortunate architect whom they had murdered when they were brought there with a strong guard to suffer that punishment to which the law had so justly doomed them they appeared to be very penitent and sorrowful for their crimes and one of them in particular did with greatest vehemence beseech the pardon of Almighty God of the king his sovereign and of the people whom he had so much injured declaring that he could not die in peace without informing the multitude who were assembled to behold their execution of a certain kind of villainy in which he was particularly concerned he said it was his custom to watch about the sides of the road which lay near the woods and that having a cord with him he suddenly threw it about the neck of any passenger who was coming by and therewith immediately strangled him before he was aware or capable of resisting them and if at any time there came by several passengers together who demanded what he did there he replied that he was sent thither by his master to catch a cow and his going in the habit of a peasant gave such an aspect of truth to the story that he was never suspected though the concourse of people be generally very great yet the assembly on this occasion was much larger than ordinary and those who were spectators contrary to the ordinary custom showed but very little compassion at the miserable tortures which those riches endured on the contrary they continually cried out that they should discover what was become of Perrier and their other accomplice muscle these unfortunate men continued to assert in their last moments that they knew nothing of either of them but supposed that hearing of their apprehension they had immediately made their escape and were retired as far as they were able from the danger the people were infinitely satisfied with the death of these assassins and nothing was wanting to complete the triumph of justice but the apprehension of Perrier and his associate to whose adventures it is now time that we return in order to display the severe justice of providence and the admirable methods by which it disappoints all the courses that human wit can invent in order to frustrate its intent muscle had hit himself in a village not far from the city of tour where he concealed himself so effectually that the inhabitants had not the least suspicion of his being a dishonest man on the contrary he applied himself to an honest way of getting his livelihood and after so journeying there for a considerable space he married a young woman with the consent of her parents and seemed to be now established in a state of peace and security if it were possible for a guilty soul to know either security or peace a trivial accident in which no man but my son would have had a hand prove the instrument by which he was drawn to suffering that cruel death which his companions had before undergone and he so justly deserved there was it seems a young country fellow in the neighborhood where masson lived who was just married and according to a silly notion which prevails not only among the peasants of france but also among the clowns of all other nations in europe fancied himself bewitched by some charm or other which rendered him incapable of performing the rights of his marriage bed masson thereupon offered if he would give him a reasonable gratuity to free him from this insupportable malady and a bargain was accordingly struck for four crowns two of which the fellow gave him in his hand and two more were to be paid on the accomplishment of the cure when there were no more complaints of insufficiency upon this he immediately demanded the other two crowns which the other refused and our infatuated thief brought the cause before the magistrates where when it came to be examined it appeared plainly that masson had bragged to his companions that he had wrought the charm for the undoing of which he now claimed a reward and as the justice of the court required he was sentenced to be banished as a sorcerer after being first whipped at all the cross streets in town but behold the marvellous conduct of divine justice he appealed from this sentence to the parliament at paris whether he was no sooner conducted under a strong guard but he was immediately known to be one of that gang of assassins which had been executed for the murder of peries master and family immediately he was charged with this fact and the heirs of that unfortunate gentleman prosecuted their charge with such vigor that he received the like judgment to be broken alive upon the wheel at the same place where his associates had suffered death which sentence was rigorously executed five years after the perpetration of that execrable fact there remained nobody but jack perrier the author and contriver of this horrid villainy who had not suffered according to their deserts he after hiding himself for a while until he saw what became of his companions hastily betook himself to flight and endeavour to fly into england where if he once arrived he knew he should remain in safety but in this attempt he was disappointed although nobody pursued him for being arrived at cali the same covetous and wicked disposition which had prompted him to murder so kind a master and all his family egged him on to rob a certain rich merchant there which villainous design he affected whilst the gentleman was at church but he gained not much by that for the booty being too large to be concealed he was very quickly apprehended and for this fact condemned to be hanged he had more wit however than his companion muscle and therefore never dreamt of appealing to the parliament of paris where he knew he should meet with the same fate which had befallen the rest of the gang however when he came to suffer that death which was appointed him by law he did not stick to acknowledge that execrable parasite which he had projected as well as carried into execution so that when the news reached paris it occasioned universal joy that not one of these bloody villains had escaped but were so wonderfully cut off when they themselves fancied the danger to be over the french author from whom i have transcribed this account had swelled the relation with much of that false eloquence which was so common in the last age not only in france but throughout all europe except that i have rejected this i have been very faithful in this translation the story appearing to me to be very extraordinary in its kind and worthy therefore of being known to the public since it will sufficiently declare that as vice prevails generally throughout all countries and climates staring up men to cruel and atrocious deeds so the eye of providence is continually watchful and suffers not the blood of innocents to cry out for revenge in vain it remains a time for my readers that this villainy was transacted about the year 1611 and that muscle and jack pelier suffered in the year 1616 end of chapter 45 chapter 46 of lives of the most remarkable criminals volume three this is a liber vox recording all liber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liber vox.org recording by greg giordano lives of the most remarkable criminals volume three by arthur l hayward the lives of abraham white francis sanders john mines alias mincham alias mitchell and constants buckle thieves and housebreakers of these unfortunate lads abraham white was born of mean parents who had it not in their power to give him much education but taught him however the business of a bricklayer which was his father's trade and by which doubtless if he had been careful he might have got his bread but he unfortunately addicted himself from childhood to drinking and lewd company soon plunged himself into all manner of wickedness and quickly brought on a fatal necessity of stepping into the road of the gallows and associating himself with sanders and mincham they had all gone together upon the road for about six weeks before they were taken francis sanders was a young fellow of very tolerable arts and education he even put out a apprentice to a staymaker attained to a great proficiency in his trade and by the help of his friends who were very willing to lend him their assistance he might have done very well in the world if it had not been for that unfortunate inclination to roving which continually possessed him his acquaintance with a certain bad woman was an all probability the first cause of his addicting himself to ill courses and as in the papers i have before me relating to him her history is also contained i thought it would not be entertaining to my readers if i ventured to insert it this woman's true name was mary smith she was brought up while young from her native country of yorkshire to london were getting into the service of an eminent shopkeeper she might had she been honest and industrious had lived easily and with credit but unfortunately both for herself and her master's apprentice the young man took a liking to her and one night having first taken care to make himself master of the key of her door he came out of his chambers into hers where after a faint resistance he got to bed to her their correspondence was carried on for a good while without suspicion the young man having one night stole a bottle of rum with the design that it should make his mistress and he married together before they went to bed the inconsiderately drank so hardly of it that the next morning they slept so sound that their master and mistress came upstairs at ten o'clock and found them in bed together upon this the wench without more ado was turned out of doors and was forced to live at an ale house of ill repute where sanders used to come of an evening and so got acquainted with her john mention was an unfortunate wretch born of mean parents an equally destitute of capacity or education from the time he had been able to crawl alone he had known scarce in the other home than the street shoe blacks and such like vagabonds were his constant companions and the only honest employment he ever pretended to was that of a hackney coachman which the brethren of the whip had taught him out of charity thus furnished with bad principles and every way fitted for those detestable practices into which they precipitated themselves they first got into one another's company at a dram shop near st. giles in the fields which frequented by constants buckle and most lewd and abandoned strumpet and one roland jones a fellow of as bad principles as themselves one night having intoxicated themselves with the vile manufacture of the house they went out after they'd spent their money and in bloomsbury square attacked one john ross from whom they took away a hat value five shillings and four pence half penny and money this man it seems lived the very next door to the gin shop where they frequented going there the next day to make complaint he was immediately told that the people who had robbed him had sold his hat and were coming to thereby and by to drink the money out and gin upon this information ross procured proper assistance and the people keeping their appointment pretty exactly were all surprised and taken in the confusion they were under when first apprehended minch them and sanders in part owned the fact but roland jones making a full and frank discovery was accepted as an evidence and produced against them at their trial at the ensuing sessions of the old bailey where upon full evidence they were all convicted of this fact and frances sanders constants buckle and robber tyler were indicted for assaulting richard smith on the highway putting him in fear and taking from him a hat value five shillings roland jones the evidence deposed that the night of the robbery was committed he was in company with the prisoners at a brandy shop were having drunk until they were all pretty much elevated they went out in order to see what they could pick up and not far from the place they went from overtaking a man whom they saw had a pretty good hat on sanders hit him a blow in the face and then not doing the business he repeated it and at the second blow the hat fell off from his head where upon constants buckle caught it and clapped it under her coat the constable deposed that by the information of roland jones he apprehended the prisoners constants buckle acknowledged that she was in their company when the man was knocked down in the hat taken or upon the jury without withdrawing found them guilty and they received sentence of death the woman constants buckle pleaded her being with child and a jury of matrons being impaneled they found she was quick and thereby procured her a respite of execution and soon after her sentence was changed to transportation the rest under conviction behaved themselves very indifferently and manifested sufficiently that the custom and an evil disposition might make them bold in the commission of robberies he went death looked them steadily and unavoidably in the face all that resolution forsook them and in their last moments they behaved with all the appearances of terror which are usually seen in souls just awakened to a due sense of their own guilt they died on the 23rd of December 1730 white being 18 sanders near 18 and minch them 16 years of age end of chapter 46 recording by greg giardano newport richie florida end of lives of the most remarkable criminals who have been condemned and executed for murder the highway housebreaking street robberies coining or other offenses volume three by arthur l hayward