fortifications about England, the number of ships in the navy, and had
observed their weight of metal and their number of men, and had been to
France two or three times to inform Silas Deane, the American envoy, of
his discoveries; that Deane gave him bills to the amount of three
hundred pounds, and letters of recommendation to a merchant in the city,
which he had burned, lest they should lead to a discovery. He informed
Baldwin further, that he had instructed a tinman's apprentice at
Canterbury to make him a tin canister, which he carried to Portsmouth,
where he hired a lodging at one Mrs. Boxall's, and tried his
preparations for setting fire to the dock-yard. After recounting the
manner of preparing matches and combustibles, he said that, on the 6th
of the preceding December, he got into the hemp-house, and having placed
a candle in a wooden box, and a tin canister over it, and sprinkled
turpentine over some of the hemp, he proceeded to the rope-house, where
he placed a bottle of turpentine among the loose hemp, which he
sprinkled also with turpentine; and having laid matches, made of paper
daubed over with powdered charcoal and gun powder diluted with water,
and other combustibles, about the place, he returned to his lodgings.
These matches were so contrived as to continue burning for twenty-four
hours, so that by cutting them into proper lengths he might provide for
his escape, knowing the precise time when the fire would reach the
combustibles. He had hired lodgings in two other houses to which he also
intended to set fire, that the engines might not be all employed
together in quenching the conflagration at the dock. On the 7th he again
went to the hemp-house, intending to set it on fire; but he was unable
to effect his object, owing to a halfpenny-worth of common house matches
that he had bought not being sufficiently dry. This disappointment, he
said, rendered him exceedingly uneasy, and he went from the hemp-house
to the rope-house, and set fire to the matches he had placed there. His
uneasiness was increased because he could not return to his lodging,
where he had left a bundle containing an "Ovid's Metamorphoses," a
"Treatise on War and making Fireworks," a "Justin," a pistol, and a
French passport, in which his real name was inserted; and also because
he could not fire them too, in accordance with his original plan.
When he had set fire to the rope-house he proceeded towards London,
deeply regretting his failure in attempting to fire the other building,
and was strongly inclined to discharge a pistol into the windows of the
women who had sold him the bad matches. He jumped into a cart, and gave
the woman who drove it sixpence to induce her to drive quick; and when
he had passed the sentinels, he observed that the fire had made so rapid
a progress that the elements seemed in a blaze. At about ten o'clock the
next morning he arrived at Kingston, and having remained there until
dusk, at that time he proceeded on towards London in the stage. Soon
after his arrival, he went to the house of the gentleman on whom the
bills had been drawn, but having related his story, he was received with
distrust, and therefore went away. On his reaching Hammersmith he wrote
back to the merchant, saying that he was going to Bristol; and he added,
that "the handy works he meant to perform there would soon be known to
the public." Soon after his arrival in Bristol, he set fire to several
houses, which were all burning at one time and the flames were not
extinguished until damage to the amount of 15,000_l._ had been caused.
He also set fire to some combustibles which he had placed among the
oil-barrels on the quay; but in this instance without the effect which
he desired.
His trial commenced on the 6th of March, 1777, at Winchester Castle,
when witnesses were produced from different parts of the country, who
proved the whole of his confession to Baldwin to be true, and gave other
evidence of his guilt.
When called upon for his defence, he complained of the reports
circulated to his prejudice; and observed, that it was easy for such a
man as Baldwin to feign the story he had told, and for a number of
witnesses to be collected to give it support. He declared that God alone
knew whether he was, or was not, the person who set fire to the
dock-yard; and begged it might be attended to how far Baldwin ought to
be credited: that if he had art enough, by lies, to insinuate anything
out of him, his giving it to the knowledge of others was a breach of
confidence; and if he would speak falsely to deceive him, he might also
impose upon a jury.
The learned judge having delivered his charge to the jury, after a
moment's consideration, they returned a verdict of Guilty. The sentence
of death was immediately passed upon the prisoner, and he was ordered
for execution on the 10th of March following, when he was hanged within
sight of the ruins which he had occasioned.
His body for several years hung in chains on Blockhouse Point, on the
opposite side of the harbour to the town.
To these particulars we shall add his confession. On the morning after
his condemnation he informed the turnkey, of his own accord, that he
felt an earnest desire to confess his crime, and to lay the history of
his life before the public; and that by discovering the whole of his
unaccountable plots and treasonable practices, he might make some
atonement to his injured country for the wrongs he had done it, of which
he was now truly sensible.
This request being made known to the Earl of Sandwich, then first lord
of the admiralty, that nobleman directed Sir John Fielding to send down
proper persons to take and attest his confession.
He said that the diabolical scheme of setting fire to the dock-yards and
the shipping originated in his own wicked mind, on the very breaking out
of the rebellion in America; and he had no peace until he proceeded to
put it in practice. The more he thought of it, the more practicable it
appeared; and with this wicked intent he crossed the Atlantic. He had no
sooner landed than he proceeded to take surveys of the different
dock-yards; and he then went to Paris, and had several conferences with
Silas Deane, the rebel minister to the court of France. Deane was
astonished at Hill's proposals, which embraced the destruction of the
English dock-yards and the shipping; but finding the projector an
enthusiast in the cause of America, and a man of daring spirit, he
gradually listened to his schemes, and supplied him with money to enable
him to carry them into execution, procured him a French passport, and
gave him a letter of credit on a merchant in London. He then confirmed
the evidence given against him, and in particular that of the witness
Baldwin; and he added, that had he been successful in his attempt upon
Portsmouth and Plymouth dock-yards, he should have been rewarded with a
commission in the American navy.
FRANCIS MERCIER, _alias_ LOUIS DE BUTTE.
EXECUTED FOR MURDER.
The case of this criminal was attended by circumstances of very great
atrocity. The malefactor and his unfortunate victim were natives of
France.
The unfortunate Jacques Mondroyte was a jeweller and watchmaker of
Paris, and had made a journey to London, in order to find a market for
different articles of his manufacture. His stock consisted of curious
and costly trinkets, worth, as was computed, a few thousand pounds. He
took lodgings in Prince's-street, and engaged Mercier, who had resided
some time in London, as his interpreter, on a liberal gratuity, and
treated him as a friend.
It appeared that the ungrateful villain had long determined upon
murdering his employer, in order to possess himself of the whole of his
valuable property. To this diabolical end, he gave orders for an
instrument to be made of a singular construction, which was a principal
means of leading to his discovery as the murderer. It was shaped
somewhat like an Indian tomahawk; and this instrument of death he
concealed until an opportunity offered to effect his detestable purpose.
One day, his employer, Monsieur Mondroyte, invited him to spend the
evening: they played at cards, sang some French songs, and took a
cheerful glass, but with that moderation peculiarly observable among
Frenchmen; and a late hour having arrived, the kind heart of the host
forbade his dismissing his friend without offering him a bed for the
night. The offer was accepted after some hesitation, and both parties
retired to rest. As soon as the neighbours were wrapped in sleep,
Mercier took from the lining of his coat, where it had remained
constantly concealed, the fatal weapon which had been prepared, and with
it he struck his victim repeated blows on the head until he killed him.
He then thrust the body into one of the trunks in which the owner had
brought over his merchandise, and having ransacked and plundered the
apartments, he locked the doors and made his escape.
On the next day he had the hardihood to return to the house, and to
inquire whether Monsieur Mondroyte had set off, pretending that he had
proposed a journey into the country; and the people of the house
concluding that he had let himself out before they had risen, and that
this accounted for their finding the street door on the latch, replied
that he must have departed, giving that circumstance as a reason for
such belief. This audacious farce was acted by the murderer for some
days, during which time he frequently called to know whether his friend
had returned. The family, however, beginning to entertain suspicions of
some foul play, procured a ladder, entered the chamber window of their
unfortunate lodger, and soon discovered the body crammed into the trunk,
which was only two feet four inches long, already beginning to putrefy.
There appeared on the head several deep wounds.
A warrant was thereupon granted to apprehend Mercier, who was taken just
as he was alighting from a post-chaise, in which he had been jaunting
with a woman of the town. In his lodgings, and on his person, were found
sixteen gold watches, some of great value; a great number of brilliant
diamond and other rings; a variety of gold trinkets; and seventy-five
guineas.
On his examination he confessed his guilt, which, added to the proof
that the manufactured articles had been the property of Mondroyte,
secured his conviction. He was subsequently tried at the Old Bailey, and
a verdict of Guilty being returned, he was sentenced to be hanged on the
following Monday.
He was carried to execution opposite the place where he committed the
murder; and no man ever met death with more dread. He used every evasion
to prolong the fatal hour, repeatedly craving time for his devotions,
until the sheriff, perceiving his motive, gave the signal, and he was
turned off, on the 8th of December 1777, amidst the execrations of the
surrounding spectators.
JOHN HOLMES AND PETER WILLIAMS.
WHIPPED FOR STEALING DEAD BODIES.
These impious robbers were of a class now, happily, no longer in
existence, thanks to the exertions of modern legislators, who have made
such enactments as render the stealing dead bodies no longer profitable.
The names by which such fellows were formerly known were
"resurrectionists," and "body-snatchers;" and so common--nay, so
necessary was their trade for the purposes of science, that it was
carried on without the smallest attempt at concealment. A monthly
publication, in March 1776, says, "The remains of more than twenty dead
bodies were discovered in a shed in Tottenham-court-road, supposed to
have been deposited there by traders to the surgeons, of whom there is
one, it is said, in the Borough, who makes an open profession of dealing
in dead bodies, and is well known by the name of "The Resurrectionist."
It is notorious that when Hunter, the famous anatomist, was in full
practice, he had a surgical theatre behind his house in Windmill-street,
where he gave lectures to a very numerous class of pupils, demonstrating
upon stolen "subjects." To this place such numbers of dead bodies were
brought during the winter season, that the mob rose several times, and
were upon the point of pulling down his house. Numberless were the
instances of dead bodies being seized on their way to the surgeons; and
it was known that hackney-coachmen, for an extra fare, and porters with
hampers, were often employed by the resurrection-men to convey their
plunder to its market.
In more recent days the establishment of Brookes, which was carried on
for a purpose exactly similar to that of Hunter, has been equally well
known to be supplied in the same manner. But at the same time that such
a trade must have been most disgusting, and its effects most harrowing
to persons, the bodies of whose friends or relations may have been
carried off to be placed under the knife of the anatomist, every excuse
must be made for those by whom it was supported. The advancement of
science was most desirable to be obtained, and most important for the
existing generation; and where the law was deficient in providing the
proper means of obtaining this great end, it became requisite that
measures, unlawful in themselves, it must be owned, should be adopted
to secure an object, the absolute necessity of which was universally
admitted.
Provisions have recently been made by Parliament, by which all
body-stealing has been effectually stopped. The bodies of unclaimed
paupers and suicides are now submitted to the anatomist; and under the
excellent arrangements of a superintendant officer who is appointed, all
hospitals and schools are well supplied, the number of bodies at his
disposal being generally more than adequate to meet the demand. It
should be added, that the remains are invariably buried with all that
decorum and respect, which would be observed in the interment of a body
under other circumstances.
But to proceed to the case now before us. Holmes, the principal
offender, was grave-digger of St. George's, Bloomsbury; Williams was his
assistant; and a woman named Esther Donaldson was charged as an
accomplice. They were all indicted, in December 1777, for stealing the
body of Mrs. Jane Sainsbury, who departed this life on the 9th of
October then last past, and whose corpse had been interred in the
burying-ground of St. George's on the Monday following. They were
detected before they could secure their booty; and the widower, however
unpleasant, determined to prosecute them. In order to secure their
conviction, he had to undergo the painful task of viewing and
identifying the remains of his wife.
The grave-digger and his deputy were convicted on the fullest evidence;
and the acquittal of the woman was much regretted, as no doubt remained
of her equal guilt. She was therefore released; but Holmes and Williams
were sentenced to six months' imprisonment, and to be whipped twice on
their bare backs from the end of Kingsgate-street, Holborn, to
Dyot-street, St. Giles's, a distance of half a mile. The sentence was
duly carried out, amidst crowds of well-satisfied and approving
spectators.
DR. WILLIAM DODD.
EXECUTED FOR FORGERY.
The character and the offence of this unfortunate divine are too well
known to render it necessary that any introduction to the recital of the
circumstances of his case should be attempted.
Dr. Dodd was the eldest son of a clergyman who held the vicarage of
Bourne in the county of Lincoln, and was born at Bourne on the 29th of
May 1729; and after finishing his school education, was admitted a sizar
of Clare Hall, Cambridge, in the year 1745, under the tuition of Mr.
John Courtail, afterwards Archdeacon of Lewes. At the University he
acquired the approbation of his superiors by his close attention to his
studies; and at the close of the year 1749 he took his first degree of
bachelor of arts with considerable reputation, his name being included
in the list of wranglers. It was not only in his academical pursuits,
however, that he was emulous of distinction. Having a pleasing manner, a
genteel address, and a lively imagination, he was equally celebrated for
his accomplishments and his learning. In particular he was fond of the
elegances of dress, and became, as he ludicrously expressed it, "a
zealous votary of
[Illustration: _Resurrectionists._]
the god of Dancing," to whose service he dedicated much of that time
which he could borrow from his more important avocations.
The talent which he possessed was very early displayed to the public;
and by the time he had attained the age of eighteen years, prompted by
the desire of fame, and perhaps also to increase his income, he
commenced author, in which character he began to obtain some degree of
reputation. At this period of his life, young, thoughtless, volatile and
inexperienced, he precipitately quitted the University, and, relying
entirely on his pen, removed to the metropolis, where he entered largely
into the gaieties of the town, and followed every species of amusement
with the most dangerous avidity. In this course, however, he did not
continue long. To the surprise of his friends, who least suspected him
of taking such a step, without fortune, and destitute of all means of
supporting a family, he hastily united himself, on the 15th of April
1751, in marriage with Miss Mary Perkins, daughter of one of the
domestics of Sir John Dolben, a young lady then residing in
Frith-street, Soho, who, though endowed with personal attractions, was
deficient in those of birth and fortune. To a person circumstanced as
Mr. Dodd then was, no measure could be more imprudent, or apparently
more ruinous and destructive to his future prospects in life. He did
not, however, seem to view it in that light, but, with a degree of
thoughtlessness natural to him, he immediately took and furnished a
house in Wardour-street. His friends now began to be alarmed at his
situation, and his father came to town in great distress upon the
occasion; and in consequence of the advice which he gave him, his son
quitted his house before the commencement of winter, and, urged by the
same preceptor, he was induced to adopt a new plan for his future
subsistence. On the 19th of October in the same year, he was ordained a
deacon by the Bishop of Ely, at Caius College, Cambridge; and, with more
prudence than he had ever shown before, he now devoted himself with
great assiduity to the study and duties of his profession. In these
pursuits he appeared so sincere, that he even renounced all his
attention to his favourite objects--polite letters. At the end of his
preface to the "Beauties of Shakspeare," published in this year, he
says, "For my own part, better and more important things henceforth
demand my attention; and I here with no small pleasure take leave of
Shakspeare and the critics. As this work was begun and finished before I
entered upon the sacred function in which I am now happily employed, let
me trust this juvenile performance will prove no objection, since
graver, and some very eminent, members of the Church have thought it no
improper employ to comment upon, explain, and publish the works of their
own country poets."
The first service in which he was engaged as a clergyman was to assist
the Rev. Mr. Wyatt, vicar of West Ham, as his curate: thither he
removed, and there he spent the happiest and more honourable moments of
his life. His behaviour was proper, decent, and exemplary. It acquired
for him the respect and secured for him the favour of his parishioners
so far, that on the death of their lecturer, in 1752, he was chosen to
succeed him. His abilities had at this time every opportunity of being
shown to advantage; and his exertions were so properly directed, that he
soon became a favourite and popular preacher. Those who were at this
period of his life acquainted with his character and his talents, bear
testimony to the indefatigable zeal which he exhibited in his ministry,
and the success with which his efforts were crowned. The follies of his
youth seemed entirely past, and his friends viewed the alteration in his
conduct with the greatest satisfaction; while the world promised itself
an example to hold out for the imitation of others. At this early season
of his life, he entertained sentiments favourable towards the opinions
of Mr. Hutchinson, and he was suspected to incline towards Methodism;
but subsequent consideration confirmed his belief in the doctrines of
the Established Church. In 1752 he was selected lecturer of St. James,
Garlick-hill, which, two years afterwards, he exchanged for the same
post at St. Olave, Hart-street; and about the same time he was appointed
to preach Lady Moyer's lectures at St. Paul's, where, from the visit of
the three angels to Abraham, and other similar passages in the Old
Testament, he endeavoured to prove the commonly-received doctrine of the
Trinity. On the establishment of the Magdalen House in 1758, he was
amongst the first and most active promoters of that excellent charitable
institution, which derived great advantage from his zeal for its
prosperity, and which, even up to the unhappy termination of his life,
continued to be materially benefited by the exercise of his talents in
its behalf. His exertions, however, were not confined to this hospital,
but he was also one of the promoters of the Society for the Relief of
Poor Debtors, and of the Humane Society for the recovery of persons
apparently drowned.
From the time that he entered upon the service of the Church, Dr. Dodd
had resided at West Ham, and made up the deficiency in his income by
superintending the education of a few young gentlemen who were placed
under his care; an occupation for which he was well fitted. In 1759 he
took the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1763 he was appointed chaplain
in ordinary to the King; and about the same time he became acquainted
with Dr. Squire, the bishop of St. David's, who received him into his
patronage, presented him to the prebend of Brecon, and recommended him
to the Earl of Chesterfield as a proper person to be intrusted with the
tuition of his successor in the title. The following year saw him
chaplain to the King; and in 1766 he took the degree of Doctor of Laws
at Cambridge.
The expectations which he had long entertained of succeeding to the
rectory of West Ham now appeared hopeless; and having given up all
prospect of their being realised, after having been twice disappointed,
he resigned his lectureship both there and in the City, and quitted the
place--"a place," said he to Lord Chesterfield in a dedication to a
sermon entitled "Popery inconsistent with the natural Rights of Men in
general, and Englishmen in particular," published in 1768, "ever dear,
and ever regretted by me, the loss of which, truly affecting to my mind
(for there I was useful, and there I trust I was loved), nothing but
your lordship's friendship and connexion could have counterbalanced."
The "Thoughts in Prison" of the unfortunate gentleman contain a passage
of a similar tendency, from which it may be inferred that he was
compelled to quit this his favourite residence; a circumstance which he
pathetically laments, and probably with great reason, as the first step
to that change in his situation which led him insensibly to his last
fatal catastrophe.
On his quitting West Ham, he removed to a house in Southampton-row; and
at the same time he launched out into scenes of expense, which his
income, although now by no means a small one, was inadequate to
support. He provided himself with a country-house at Ealing, and
exchanged his chariot for a coach, in order to accommodate his pupils,
who, besides his noble charge, were in general persons of family and
fortune. About the same time it was his misfortune to obtain a prize of
1000_l._ in the state lottery; and elated with his success, he engaged
with a builder in a plan to erect a chapel near the palace of the Queen,
from whom it took its name. He entered also into a like partnership at
Charlotte Chapel, Bloomsbury, and both these schemes were for some time
very beneficial to him, though their proceeds were much inferior to his
expensive habits of living. His expectations from the former of these
undertakings were extremely sanguine. It is reported that in fitting up
his chapel near the palace, he flattered himself with the hopes of
having some young royal auditors, and in that expectation assigned a
particular pew or gallery for the heir-apparent. But in this, as in many
other of his views, he was disappointed.
In the year 1772 he obtained the rectory of Hockliffe in Bedfordshire,
the first cure of souls he ever had. With this also he held the vicarage
of Chalgrove; and the two were soon after consolidated. An accident
happened about this time, from which he narrowly escaped with his life.
Returning from Barnet, he was stopped near St. Pancras by a highwayman,
who discharged a pistol into the carriage, which, happily, only broke
the glass. For this fact the delinquent was tried, and, on Mrs. Dodd's
evidence, convicted and hanged. Early in the next year Lord Chesterfield
died, and was succeeded by Dr. Dodd's pupil, who appointed his preceptor
to be his chaplain.