convicted, and suffered death in most instances opposite to the places
in which the scenes were enacted, in which they were proved to have
taken a part. Among them were many women and boys but there was not one
individual of respectability or character. They were all of the lowest
class, whose only object was plunder.
Among the rioters, to sum up the account of their infamy and
wretchedness, was Jack Ketch himself. This miscreant, whose real name
was Edward Dennis, was convicted of pulling down the house of Mr.
Boggis, of New Turnstile. The keeper of Tothill-fields' Bridewell would
not suffer Jack Ketch to go among the other prisoners, lest they should
tear him to pieces. In order that he might hang up his brother rioters,
he was granted a pardon!
The following is an extract from the king's speech to both houses of
parliament, the 18th of June, soon after the riots were ended:--
"My Lords and Gentlemen,--The outrages committed by bands of lawless and
desperate men, in various parts of this metropolis, broke forth with
such violence into acts of felony and treason, had so far overborne all
civil authority, and threatened directly the immediate subversion of all
legal power, the destruction of all property, and the confusion of every
order of the state, that I found myself obliged, by every tie of duty
and affection to my people, to suppress, in every part, those rebellious
insurrections, and to provide for the public safety by the most
effectual and immediate application of the force entrusted to me by
parliament. I have directed copies of the proclamations issued upon that
occasion to be laid before you.
"Proper orders have been given for bringing the authors and abettors of
these insurrections, and the perpetrators of such criminal acts, to
speedy trial, and to such condign punishment as the laws of their
country prescribe, and the vindication of public justice demands.
"Though I trust it is not necessary, yet I think it right, at this time,
to renew to you my solemn assurances that I have no other object but to
make the laws of the realm, and the principles of our excellent
constitution in Church and State, the rule and measure of my conduct;
and that I shall ever consider it as the first duty of my station, and
the chief glory of my reign, to maintain and preserve the established
religion of my kingdoms, and, as far as in me lies, to secure and to
perpetuate the rights and liberties of my people."
ABRAHAM DURNFORD AND WILLIAM NEWTON.
EXECUTED FOR ROBBERY.
In the case of these men we present a species of robbery different in
the plan of its commission from every one yet described.
It was proved, on their trial at the Old Bailey, that they hired an
empty house, No. 21, Water-lane, Fleet-street; and, having a bill of
exchange lying at the bank of Smith, Wright, and Gray, they directed it
for payment at this house. They made preparation for cleaning, in order,
as they pretended, to furnish it with despatch; but the landlord, not
liking this extraordinary haste, or his new tenants, desired Mrs.
Boucher, the mistress of a public-house opposite, to have an eye on
their proceedings.
Accordingly, on the day the bill became due, being the 5th of August,
1780, she observed the new tenants, Durnford and Newton, then prisoners
at the bar, enter the house, and open the parlour windows. Soon after
she saw a third man knock at the door, which was open, and he entered.
Watching the event, she heard an uncommon noise, and, stepping over the
way to listen, heard the cry of "Murder!" as from a hoarse faint voice,
succeeded by a kind of groaning, which very much alarmed her; and,
looking through the key-hole, she saw two men dragging a third down the
cellar stairs; on which she cried out loudly "They're murdering a man!"
She knocked hard at the door, and begged the people in the street to
break it open; but none would interfere. Being enraged at their not
assisting her, she burst open the window, and was entering the house,
when Newton jumped out of the one pair of stairs' window, and was
running off; but, on the cry of "Stop thief!" he was instantly taken;
Mrs. Boucher seized the other by the throat herself, and dragged him to
her own house.
The house was then immediately searched, and in a back cellar was found
a man, bound, and nearly choked to prevent his calling out. He proved to
be a collecting clerk for Smith, Wright, and Gray, named James Watts.
They had robbed him of his pocket-book, and would have murdered him had
not the woman saved his life.
Mr. Watts, a young Quaker, aged eighteen, the party robbed and alluded
to, would not, according to the doctrines of the particular sect to
which he belonged, be sworn, which is required by the law in all cases,
so that their conviction rested chiefly on the evidence of Mrs. Boucher;
but not a shadow of a doubt existed of their guilt, and they were
convicted and executed on the 22nd of November, 1780.
The story of Mr. Watts was that on his knocking at the door, he was
admitted immediately, and having entered the house he was collared and
seized by two men, whom he afterwards knew to be the prisoners, who
attempted to gag him, and forced him down stairs. Fearing that their
intention was to murder him, he succeeded in getting from them by an
extraordinary effort, and ran to the street-door; but finding it locked
he was unable to offer any further opposition to their violence. His
screams providentially alarmed Mrs. Boucher, but not until his book,
containing upwards of 4000_l._ had been taken from him. It is rather
singular that Mr. Watts was himself convicted of robbing his employers
in the year 1781, and subjected to two years' imprisonment.
FRANCIS HENRY DE LA MOTTE.
EXECUTED FOR HIGH TREASON.
The offence of this man was one of the most despicable character. A
native of France, and in the service of the French king, he lived long
in London, employing himself as a spy upon the proceedings of the
English government. He occupied elegant lodgings in Bond-street, dressed
like a gentleman, kept the best company, and passed for a foreigner of
fortune. At length, however, suspicions arose of his real character, and
a watch being set upon his motions, they were found to be fully
justified, and he was apprehended and committed to the Tower.
On his trial various acts of treason were proved against him, and he was
found guilty.
Sentence was immediately pronounced upon him, "that he should be hanged
by the neck, but not until he was dead; that he should then be cut down,
and his bowels taken out and burnt before his face; and that his head
should be taken off, his body cut into four quarters, and be placed at
his majesty's disposal."
He was remanded to the Tower, and at the expiration of a fortnight a
warrant was issued from the office of the secretary of state for his
execution.
The sheriffs demanded his body, on the 27th of July, 1781, of the
lieutenant of the Tower, and carried him to Newgate, from thence in
about a quarter of an hour they set out with him to Tyburn.
La Motte was dressed in a suit of black. His deportment was manly and
serious: he seemed to be totally abstracted from the surrounding
multitude, as he scarcely ever took his eyes from a devotional book
which he held in his hand.
Upon his arrival at the fatal tree he was immediately removed from the
sledge in which he had been conveyed. He then employed some minutes in
earnest devotion; after which he twice bowed respectfully to the
sheriffs, and turned to the executioner, desiring him immediately to
perform his office.
After hanging fifty-seven minutes the body was cut down and laid on a
block, when (a fire having been previously kindled) the executioner
severed the head from the trunk, and making an incision from his breast,
ripped out the heart, which, after being exposed to the surrounding
spectators, was thrown into the flames.
The body was then scorched, together with the head, and put into a very
handsome coffin, which was delivered to an undertaker for interment.
Amongst other effects of the handiwork of La Motte in favour of his own
country, it is said that the attack of a French fleet under the command
of Commodore Suffrein upon the British fleet under Commodore Johnstone,
in the neutral harbour of Port Praya Road, on its way to the East
Indies, whither it was convoying a number of merchantmen, was
attributable to him. The English fleet was taken in an unexpected
manner. As many as one thousand five hundred of its men are related to
have been on shore at the time of the attack; some of whom were employed
in collecting water, and others in obtaining exercise, when the
Frenchmen hove in sight; and before the necessary arrangements could be
made to receive them, forced their way in line into the very midst of
the British vessels. Commodore Johnstone, however, with the bravery of a
British sailor, succeeded in compelling them to sheer off; but not until
he had sustained a loss of upwards of two hundred men. The movements and
strength of the English fleets were at that time made no secrets; and La
Motte, having obtained the necessary information in the instance in
question, conveyed it to his own country through the medium of one
Luttorlok, a Dutchman, who succeeded in effecting his escape, while his
companion in iniquity suffered an ignominious death.
JOHN DONELLAN, ESQ.
EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF SIR THEODOSIUS BOUGHTON, BART., HIS
BROTHER-IN-LAW.
The case of Mr. Donellan is one of a very remarkable nature, and from
the character of the testimony produced has been the subject of much
conversation and remark amongst persons connected with the professions
of medicine and chemistry.
The accused, Mr. Donellan, had been a captain in the army, and was the
son of Colonel Donellan. At the age of twelve years he entered into the
Royal Regiment of Artillery, with part of which he went to the East
Indies in 1754. On his arrival there he changed his service into the
39th foot; but on that regiment being ordered home, he, with many other
of his officers, had his majesty's leave to remain in the service of the
East India Company, without prejudice to their rank in the army. He then
obtained a company, and certainly distinguished himself as a good
soldier, not only having been much wounded in the service, but, if his
own account may be credited, being singularly instrumental to the taking
of Mazulapatam. Being appointed, however, one of the four agents for
prize-money, he condescended to receive presents from some black
merchants, to whom part of their effects had been ordered to be
restored, for which he was tried by a court-martial, and cashiered. He
subsequently purchased a share in the Pantheon, where he figured for
some time as master of the ceremonies; and after a variety of
applications he at length obtained a certificate from the War-office,
that he had behaved in the East Indies "like a gallant officer;" in
consequence of which he was put upon half-pay in the 39th regiment. But
notwithstanding the most strenuous memorials and petitions representing
his great services, and insisting that the offence for which he was
broke was of a civil nature only, and not cognizable by a court-martial,
he never could obtain a restoration into the Company's service. In
June, 1777, he married Miss Boughton; and on Friday, March 30th, 1781,
he was tried at the assizes at Warwick for the wilful murder of Sir
Theodosius Edward Allesley Boughton, Bart., his brother-in-law. The
evidence was of such a nature that the fairest mode of stating it will
be by repeating it as it appeared on the trial.
Mr. Powell, apothecary of Rugby, deposed that he had attended Sir
Theodosius Boughton for two months before his death, on account of a
slight complaint of a certain description.
On Wednesday morning, the 27th of February, he was sent for to Lawton
Hall, and on his arrival there at a little before nine o'clock, Capt.
Donellan conducted him to the apartment of Sir Theodosius. On his
entering, he perceived that the baronet was dead, and on his examining
the body he concluded that it was about an hour since life had fled. He
had some conversation with Captain Donellan with regard to the deceased,
and he was told by him that, he had "died in convulsions." He could not
recollect the precise nature of the conversation, but the general effect
of what Captain Donellan said was, that the deceased gentleman had taken
cold.
Lady Boughton, the mother of the deceased, deposed that Sir Theodosius
was twenty years old on the 3rd of August last. On his coming of age, he
would have been entitled to above 2000_l._ a year; and in the event of
his dying a minor, the greater part of his fortune was to descend to his
sister, the wife of Mr. Donellan. It was known in the family on the
evening of Tuesday, the 26th, that Sir Theodosius was to take his physic
the next morning. He used to put his physic in the dressing-room. He
happened once to omit to take it; upon which Mr. Donellan said, "Why
don't you set it in your outer room? then you would not so soon forget
it." After this he several times put the medicines upon his shelf over
the chimney-piece in his outer room. On the evening of Tuesday, the
26th, about six o'clock, Sir Theodosius went out fishing, attended only
by one servant, Samuel Frost. Witness and Mrs. Donellan took a walk in
the garden, and were there above an hour. To the best of her
recollection she had seen nothing of Mr. Donellan after dinner till
about seven o'clock, when he came out of the house-door in the garden,
and told them that "he had been to see them fishing, and that he would
have persuaded Sir Theodosius to come in, lest he should take cold, but
he could not." Sir Theodosius came home a little after nine, apparently
very well; and he went up into his own room soon after, and went to bed.
He requested her to call him the next morning and give him his physic.
She accordingly went into his room about seven in the morning, when he
appeared to be very well. She asked him "Where the bottle was?" and he
said "It stands there upon the shelf." He desired her to read the label,
which she accordingly did, and found there was written upon it "Purging
draught for Sir Theodosius Boughton." As he was taking it, he observed,
"it smelled and tasted very nauseous;" upon which she said "I think it
smells very strongly like bitter almonds." He then remarked that "he
thought he should not be able to keep the medicine upon his stomach."
Here a bottle was delivered to Lady Boughton, containing the genuine
draught, which she was desired to smell at, and inform the Court whether
it smelt like the medicine Sir Theodosius took. She answered in the
negative. She was then desired to smell at another, containing the
draught with the addition of laurel-water, which she said had a smell
very much like that of the medicine she gave to Sir Theodosius. Lady
Boughton then proceeded with her evidence. In two minutes after Sir
Theodosius had taken the draught, he struggled very much. It appeared to
her as if it was to keep the draught down. He made a prodigious rattling
in his stomach, and guggling; and these symptoms continued about ten
minutes. He then seemed as if he was going to sleep, or inclined to
dose; and perceiving him a little composed, she went out of the room.
She returned in about five minutes after, and to her great surprise
found him with his eyes fixed upwards, his teeth clenched, and foam
running out of his mouth. She instantly desired a servant to take the
first horse he could get and go for Mr. Powell. She saw Mr. Donellan in
less than five minutes after. He came into the room where Sir Theodosius
lay, and said to her, "What do you want?" She answered that she wanted
to inform him what a terrible thing had happened; that it was an
unaccountable thing in the doctor to send such a medicine, for if it had
been taken by a dog it would have killed him; and she did not think her
son would live. He inquired in what way Sir Theodosius then was; and on
being told, he asked her where the physic bottle was; on which she
showed him the two draughts; when he took up one of the bottles, and
said, "Is this it?" She answered "Yes." He then, after rinsing it,
emptied it in some dirty water that was in a wash-hand basin; and on his
doing so she said, "What are you at? you should not meddle with the
bottles." Upon that he snatched up the other bottle and rinsed it, and
then he put his finger to it and tasted it. She repeated that he ought
not to meddle with the bottles; upon which he replied, that "he did it
to taste it." Two servants, named Sarah Blundell and Catherine Amos,
afterwards came into the room, and he desired the former to take away
the basin and the bottles, and he put the bottles into her hands. The
witness, however, took the bottles from her, and set them down, bidding
her not to touch them; and the prisoner then desired that the room might
be cleaned, and the dirty clothes thrown into the inner room. This being
done, the witness turned her back for a moment, on which the prisoner
again handed the servant the bottles, and bid her take them away, and
she accordingly removed them. Witness soon afterwards went into the
parlour, where she found Mr. and Mrs. Donellan; and the former told his
wife "that her mother had been pleased to take notice of his washing the
bottles, and that he did not know what he should have done, if he had
not thought of saying that he put the water into them to put his finger
to it to taste." The witness made an answer to this observation, and the
prisoner directed his wife to ring the bell in order to call up the
servant. When the servant came, he ordered him to send in the coachman;
and when he came, the prisoner said, "Will, don't you remember that I
set out of these iron gates at seven o'clock this morning?" "Yes, sir,"
said he. "And that was the first time of my going out; I have never been
on the other side of the house this morning: you remember that I set out
there this morning at seven o'clock, and asked for a horse to go to the
wells?" "Yes, sir." Mr. Donellan said, "then you are my evidence." The
servant answered, "Yes, sir." She did not recollect that the prisoner
made any observation. The witness further said that Mr. Donellan
received a letter from Sir William Wheeler, desiring the body might be
opened, and that he showed her his answer to this letter. She told him
he had better let it alone, and not to send such a letter as that; but
she did not tell him the reason of her disliking it. He replied, that
"it was necessary to send an answer, and he would send that." She
afterwards attended before the coroner and the jury in order to be
examined, when Mr. Donellan also was present; and she mentioned to the
jury the circumstance of the prisoner's rinsing the bottles. Being
returned to Lawford Hall, the prisoner said to his wife before the
witness, that she had no occasion to have told the circumstance of his
washing the bottles: she was only to answer such questions as were put
to her; and that question had not been asked her. Being asked whether
Mr. Donellan did not endeavour to account to her for her son's death,
she answered, that when the things were removed in order to be put in
the inner room, he said to the maid, "Here, take his stockings; they
have been wet; he has catched cold, to be sure: and that might occasion
his death." On that she examined the stockings, and there was no mark or
appearance of their having been wet. In answer to some further
questions, she denied that she or any of the family had ever declined
eating of the same dishes that Sir Theodosius did. Mr. Donellan, indeed,
had recommended to her not to drink out of the same cup, because he was
affected with a certain disorder; nor to touch the bread he did, because
there might be arsenic about his fingers, as he used that poison when he
was fishing.
Catherine Amos corroborated the testimony of her mistress, and said,
that she was called up stairs to the room where Sir Theodosius lay, at
the time when the surgeons were engaged in opening the body, and she
heard Mr. Donellan say "that there was nothing the matter; and that it
was a blood-vessel which broke, which had occasioned the death of his
brother-in-law." About a fortnight afterwards Mr. Donellan brought her a
still, which had been recently washed, and he desired her to put it into
the oven to dry, in order that it might not rust.
Mr. Kerr, surgeon of Northampton, deposed, that he attended Sir
Theodosius when he was at Mr. Jones's. His disorder was so slight that
he did not think it a subject of medicine at all. He ordered him some
lotion to wash with, and dissuaded him from the use of medicine.
Dr. Rattray, of Coventry, deposed, that in consequence of an anonymous
note which he received, and which desired him to bring Mr. Wilmer with
him, in order to open the body of Sir Theodosius Boughton, they went
together, and met Mr. Bucknell, Mr. Powell, and Mr. Snow, in Newbold
churchyard. Mr. Bucknell opened the body. The witness then proceeded to
describe the external appearances of the body, and its appearances in
the dissecting. He was asked whether, as he had heard the evidence of
Mr. Powell and Lady Boughton, he could, from that evidence, totally
independent of the appearances he had described, form a judgment as to
the cause of the death of Sir Theodosius. He answered, that, exclusive
of these appearances, he was of opinion, from the symptoms that followed
the taking of the draught, that it was poison, and the certain cause of
his death. Being desired to smell at the bottle, and asked what was the
noxious medicine in it, he said it was a distillation of laurel-leaves,
called laurel-water. Here he entered into a detail of several
experiments on animals, tending to show the instantaneous and mortal
effects of the laurel-water. He knew nothing in medicine that
corresponded in smell with that mixture, which was like that of bitter
almonds. He further said that the quantity of laurel-water contained in
the bottle shown to him was sufficient to be the death of any human
creature; and that the appearances of the body confirmed him in his
opinion that the deceased was poisoned, so far as, upon the viewing a
body so long after the death of the subject, one could be allowed to
form a judgment upon such appearances.
Mr. Wilmer and Dr. Parsons, professor of anatomy at Oxford, confirmed
the evidence of Dr. Rattray.
Dr. Ashe, of Birmingham, was of opinion, from the symptoms described,
that the deceased died by poison. If the laurel-water were distilled
strong enough to collect the essential oil, a tea-spoonful of it would
destroy animal life in a few seconds; and he believed as strong a poison
might be made from bitter almonds.
Mary Lymnes deposed, that she had been servant to Lady Boughton. Mr.
Donellan was in the habit of distilling roses occasionally, and he kept
his still in an apartment which was called his room, and in which he
slept when Mrs. Donellan lay in.
Francis Amos, gardener to Lady Boughton, deposed, that he was with Sir
Theodosius the whole time he was fishing, the night before he died. Mr.
Donellan was not there. Two or three days after Sir Theodosius died, he
brought him a still to clean; it was full of wet lime. He said he used
the lime to kill fleas. The witness used to gather lavender for him to
distil. In the garden there were laurels, bays, and laurustinus.
William Crofts, one of the coroner's jury, deposed, that on the
examination of Lady Boughton, when she said that "Captain Donellan
rinsed the bottle," he saw the captain catch her by the gown, and give
her a twitch.