was such, that Price found no difficulty whatever in negotiating
through his means notes to the amount of about fifteen hundred pounds,
which were principally expended in the purchase of lottery-tickets and
shares; but the unfortunate wretch was eventually taken into custody,
and was left by his employer to suffer all the fears likely to arise in
his mind upon the contemplation of the supposed consequences of his
crime. His innocence was, however, at length proved, and he was set at
liberty, but not until he had suffered nearly twelve months'
imprisonment. His late master in the mean time had retired from public
life, and nothing more was heard of him until the year 1782, when,
having exhausted the proceeds of his former villanies, he was compelled
to come forth again to renew his depredations on the public. He began by
employing a lad named Power as the instrument of his minor proceedings,
but emboldened by success, through the medium of his disguises, he
succeeded occasionally in obtaining very large sums. The following
anecdote is related of the success with which he carried on his trade.
He had frequently been at the shop of a Mr. Roberts, grocer, in Oxford
Street, where he now and then bought a few articles, and took many
opportunities of showing his importance. Upon one occasion he called in
a hackney-coach, disguised as an old man, and bought some few articles:
a day or two afterwards he repeated his visit; and on a third day, when
he knew Mr. Roberts was not in the way, went again, with his face so
painted that he appeared to be diseased with the yellow-jaundice. The
shopman, to whom he enumerated his complaints, kindly informed him of a
prescription for that disorder, by which his father had been cured of
it. Price gladly accepted of the receipt, promising that if it
succeeded, he would call again, and handsomely reward him for his
civility: in conformity with which he entered the shop a few days
afterwards, apparently perfectly free from the complaint, and
acknowledged his great obligations to the shopman; after which he
expatiated freely on his affluent circumstances, the short time he had
to live, and the few relations he had to leave his property to, and made
him a present of a ten-pound bank-note. It will naturally be conceived
this was a forgery, but it had the desired effect with Price; for at the
same time he said he wanted cash for another, which was a fifty-pound
note. This the obliging and unsuspecting shopman got change for at an
opposite neighbour's. The next day, during Mr. Roberts's absence, he
called again, and entreated the lad to get small notes for five other
notes of fifty pounds each: the lad, however, telling him his master was
not at home, Price begged he would take them to his master's bankers',
and there get them changed. This request was immediately complied with.
The bankers, Messrs. Burchall and Co., complied with Mr. Roberts'
supposed request, immediately changed them, and small notes were that
day given to Price for them.
He practised his frauds with equal effect upon Mr. Spilsbury, the vender
of a celebrated quack-medicine, with whom he traded in the name of
Wilmot, and upon many others; and so great was his success, that in one
day he negotiated sixty 10_l._ notes, and besides, exchanged fourteen
50_l._ for seven 100_l._ notes of the Bank of England.
In his last attempt on the Bank, which ended in his detection, he
assumed the name of Palton, pretending he was an Irish linen factor, and
employed two young men to circulate his notes, whilst he, still greatly
disguised, kept back in obscurity.
By means of a pawnbroker, he was found out with great difficulty; and on
his seizure he solemnly declared his innocence, and before the
magistrate behaved with considerable insolence. His detection took place
on the 14th of January, 1786; and notwithstanding his disguises, he was
soon sworn to by more persons than one; and seeing no way to escape, he
pretended, to his wife in particular, great penitence. The Bank was
fully intent on his prosecution, and there appeared no doubt of his
dying by the hands of the executioner; but even this he managed to
avoid, for one evening he was found hanging against the post of his
door, in the apartment allotted him in Tothillfields' Bridewell. In this
situation he was discovered by the keeper of the prison, who cut him
down quite dead, and found in his bosom three letters; in one of which,
addressed to the directors of the Bank, he confessed everything relative
to the forgery, and the manner of circulating the notes; another,
addressed to his wife, was written in a most affecting style; and in the
third, directed to the keeper, he thanked him for the very humane
treatment he had experienced during his confinement.
A coroner's jury was summoned, as usual in such cases, and returned a
verdict of "self-murder;" in consequence of which his body was thrown
into the ground in Tothillfields, and a stake driven through it.
In a box belonging to Price were found, after his death, two artificial
noses, very curiously executed, in imitation of nature. These, it is
obvious, he occasionally wore as a part of the various disguises by
which he had been enabled so long to elude the hand of justice. The
counterfeit plates were found buried in a field near Tottenham-court
Road, the turf being replaced on the spot, and, with the rolling-press,
and other materials found at his lodgings, were ordered by Sir Sampson
Wright, the presiding magistrate, to be destroyed.
His wife, who had been confined with him as an accomplice, and by whom
he had a family of eight children, was ordered to be discharged
immediately after his burial.
HENRY STERNE, _alias_ GENTLEMAN HARRY.
CONVICTED OF STEALING THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT'S "GEORGE."
This offender was one of the class called "gentlemen pickpockets." Being
a fellow of good address, and of tolerable education, he managed by some
means to intrude himself into decent society, where he found it easy to
carry on his schemes of depredation.
He was indicted on the 12th of September, 1787, for robbing his Grace
the Duke of Beaufort of his "George," meaning the star of the order of
the garter, on the 4th of June previous, which was the King's birthday.
From the evidence of his grace, it appeared that he was quitting his
majesty's levee on the day in question, followed by his servants, his
"George" being pendent from his neck by the ribbon; when, on his
reaching the corner of St. James's-street, he found himself suddenly
surrounded by a great crowd of people, who pushed him about. He did not
at first understand the meaning of it, when presently a thought struck
him that the object was to rob him, and he found that his "George" was
gone. He called for his servants, who directly came up, and his grace
pointed out a man in black as the thief. He was searched, however, but
nothing found; and then the prisoner being seized, the ornament was
discovered in his pocket.
The prisoner denied the charge imputed to him, and hoped that the jury
would not suffer any reports which they had heard of his character to
operate to his prejudice; but he was found guilty, and sentenced to be
transported for seven years to Botany Bay.
SAMUEL BURT.
CONVICTED OF FORGERY.
Mr. Burt, previously to the occurrence for which he was tried and
executed, bore a most exemplary character. The particulars of the
forgery of which he was guilty do not appear to have come out on the
trial, when the prisoner pleaded guilty; but his object in its
commission, as well as in refusing to deny his guilt, may be collected
from the manner in which he addressed the Court on his being called up
for judgment.
He said, "My lord,--I am too sensible of the crime I have committed, and
for which I justly deserve to suffer, not to know that I have forfeited
my life, and I wish to resign it into the hands of Him who gave it. To
give my reasons for this would only satisfy an idle curiosity: no one
can feel a more sensible, heartfelt satisfaction in the hopes of shortly
passing into eternity, wherein, I trust, I shall meet with great
felicity. I have no desire to live; and as the jury and court in my
trial thought proper to recommend me to mercy, if his majesty should in
consequence thereof grant me a reprieve, I here vow in the face of
Heaven, that I will put an end to my own existence as soon as I can. It
is death that I wish for, because nothing but death can extricate me
from the troubles in which my follies have involved me."
Sentence was then passed in due form, but we do not find any entry of
its having been carried out; and it is therefore very likely that the
recommendation of the jury, alluded to by the prisoner, was attended to.
The last notice which is taken of the case in the books is in the
following terms:--"Samuel Burt, the unhappy youth who, under a
depression of mind, abhorring the guilt of suicide, committed a forgery
in order to suffer death by the law, was respited;" dated December,
1787.
From the observations made by the prisoner, it is pretty evident that he
was labouring under a species of insanity, by which he was persuaded
that he must suffer death. The following instances of a similar
description are of a character far more melancholy, inasmuch as that in
each the murder of a fellow-creature was the means adopted by the
unhappy maniac, for the offenders can be considered in no other light,
to secure his own death.
On the 4th of September, 1760, when North America was a British
province, Mr. Robert Scull and several gentlemen were playing at
billiards in Philadelphia, when Captain Bruluman, late of the Royal
American regiment, came into the room, and, without the smallest
provocation, levelled a loaded gun, which he had brought with him, and
shot Mr. Scull through the body just after he had struck his ball.
It afterwards appeared that this desperate man had been brought up a
silversmith; and that having entered the army, he became an officer in
the Royal American regiment, but was broke on his being detected in
counterfeiting or uttering base money. He then returned to Philadelphia,
and growing insupportable to himself, and yet unwilling to put an end to
his own life, he determined upon the commission of some crime, for which
he would certainly be hanged by the law.
Having formed this design, he loaded his gun with a brace of balls, and
asked his landlord to go shooting with him, intending to murder him
before his return; but the landlord, fortunately for himself, being
particularly engaged at home, escaped the danger. He then went out
alone, and on the way met a man whom he was about to kill; but
recollecting that there were no witnesses to prove him guilty, he
suffered the man to pass.
He next proceeded to the tavern, where he drank some liquor; and hearing
people playing at billiards in a room above that in which he sat, he
went up stairs, and entered into conversation with the players in
apparent good humour. In a little time he called the landlord, and
desired him to hang up the gun. Mr. Scull having struck his antagonist's
ball in one of the pockets, Bruluman said to him, "Sir, you are a good
marksman; now I'll show you a fine stroke." He immediately took down his
gun, levelled it, deliberately took aim at Mr. Scull (who imagined him
in jest), and shot both the balls through his body. He then went up to
the dying man, who was still sensible, and said to him, "Sir, I have no
malice or ill will against you; I never saw you before; but I was
determined to kill somebody that I might be hanged, and you happen to be
the man; and I am very sorry for your misfortune." Mr. Scull had just
time left in this world to send for his friends, and make his will. He
forgave his murderer, and if it could be done, desired he might be
pardoned; but Bruluman died on the gallows, exulting in his fate.
The same volume from which we make the above extract contains another
case of the like nature, and, if possible, more extraordinary. It
appears, however, that in this instance the judges of the unfortunate
offender treated him as was most proper--as a maniac. The scene of this
second murder is not mentioned.
It is stated that a youth of the name of David Williams, when about
fifteen years of age, was one day against his wish detained from school
by his stepfather, who greatly wanted his assistance on the farm. While
thus employed, a log rolled on one of his legs, which injured it to such
a degree that it became nearly useless; and by another accident he soon
after hurt the other limb, so that he was rendered a cripple before he
had attained the years of manhood.
At these misfortunes he continually repined; blamed his stepfather for
keeping him that day from school, whereby he received his first injury;
and, mortified at his appearance among his comrades, some of whom, he
said, ridiculed him, he became weary of the world, and determined to
terminate his misfortunes with his life.
For this end suicide and murder presented themselves. The first he
thought the most eligible; but then it brought to his mind the horrors
of appearing by his own violence before God, for which he feared he
should not be pardoned; and therefore he was induced to abandon that for
the latter, which he conceived would afford him a better excuse to the
Almighty. He familiarised himself with this act of desperation by
continually thinking of it; so that in time it became a pleasing
subject of contemplation.
The idea of the grief which it must occasion his mother at times almost
unbent his resolution; but then the idea of its proving a sweet revenge
on his stepfather bore down every other consideration. Thus determined,
the next step of this unhappy youth was to select a proper subject on
whom the deed should be committed. A grown person or a child was the
question. The former, he concluded, must be under sin and guilt;
therefore by sudden death and thus unprepared, his damnation might be
chargeable to him, and he be doubly guilty: the latter being innocent,
he might avoid that charge, and he therefore resolved upon murdering
some child.
Now the particular object for this horrid purpose was the next
consideration; but he confessed that, though he thought of it more than
six months, yet none occurred until within five minutes of his
committing his long-determined and bloody deed.
All the morning of the fatal day he said that he felt an unaccountable
and far stronger desire to commit murder than before;--to use his own
words, "something like hankering after fruit."
At this unfortunate moment he chanced to spy a little boy, named Ira,
the son of Mr. Lane, a neighbour, gathering plums; and finding the
parents absent, he determined on seizing the opportunity and subject. He
instantly took a gun, fired at, and slightly wounded the child in the
side of the abdomen. Finding his victim yet alive, he limped to him, led
him to the house, placed him upon a bed, and took a station at the door.
The poor devoted little Ira had yet strength left to get from the bed,
in order to see "whether his father was coming to cure him;" and
Williams answered that his father would come by-and-by, and bade him go
to bed again and lie still. Again the murderer listened for the dying
groan of the boy; but finding his work incomplete, (horrid to relate!)
he took an axe, went to the bed, looked upon the innocent child, and
while it held up its little hands for help, the monster struck it on the
head, and, by repeated blows, chopped it in pieces.
The wretched murderer was a youth of extraordinary mental talents for
his years until the fatal gloom overspread him. After the horrid deed
was done, he spoke of it with calmness, observing that, though he had
often considered the grief he should bring on his own mother, it never
occurred to him the distraction it must cause her who bore the murdered
child.
His whole intent was to get himself hanged; and he supposed that the
palliating circumstances under which the murder was committed would
induce the Almighty to forgive him.
Upon his trial he was deemed to be insane, and was treated as such.
THOMAS GORDON, THE YOUNGER.
EXECUTED FOR MURDER.
Mr. Gordon, the father of this wretched youth, was a surgeon and
apothecary in London, from whence he removed his family into
Northamptonshire not long before the fatal circumstance, which is about
to be described, happened.
Mr. Gordon continued to practise in the country, and soon became envied
and disliked from his being a stranger; and the consequence was, that
frequent quarrels took place. At length a justice's warrant was obtained
against the father on a pretended charge of assault, and the constable
went to Mr. Gordon's house in order to apprehend him; but the wife and
son told the officer he was not at home. The constable, however, knew
that he was in the house and went away, but soon returned with some
neighbours, and with them was about to make a forcible entry, when the
mother and son opposed them, the latter being armed with a gun. The
populace threw stones at the windows, when the mother, in an unlucky
moment, bade her son fire: he did so, and killed the constable on the
spot.
Both mother and son were tried, and found guilty of the murder; but
Baron Thompson, who presided on the bench, observing that the mother was
indicted as an accessory before the fact, and that the evidence proved
that she was a principal, he had doubts whether she was properly
convicted, and therefore reserved the case for the opinion of the twelve
judges, who, upon solemn argument, confirmed the sentence against the
son, but at the same time adjudged the indictment against the mother to
be bad; and the poor youth received sentence of death. He was three
times reprieved; from which he hoped, and the world flattered him with
an opinion, that his pardon would ultimately follow; but an order at
length came for his execution, and although he was in a state of
insanity at the time, brought on by the cruel suspense in which he had
been kept as to his fate, he was executed at Northampton on the 17th of
August, 1789, aged only nineteen years.
THOMAS PHIPPS, ESQ. THE ELDER, AND THOMAS PHIPPS, THE YOUNGER.
EXECUTED FOR FORGERY.
These malefactors were father and son; and their final exit from this
life was attended by circumstances of the most heart-rending and
melancholy description. The father was a man of good property, and lived
on his own estate at Llwyney Mapsis, in Shropshire; and he and his son
were indicted for uttering a note of hand for twenty pounds, purporting
to be that of Mr. Richard Coleman of Oswestry, knowing the same to have
been forged.
It was proved on their trial that Mr. Coleman never had had any
transactions with Mr. Phipps that required the signing of any note
whatever; that about the Christmas before, Mr. Coleman was served with a
copy of a writ at the suit of Mr. Phipps the elder, which action Mr.
Coleman defended, and for want of further proceedings on the part of the
plaintiff, a _non pros._ was signed, with two pounds three shillings
costs of suit against Phipps. Upon this an affidavit was drawn up and
sworn by Phipps the elder, Phipps the younger, and William Thomas, their
clerk, for the purpose of moving the Court of Exchequer to set aside the
judgment of _non pros._ and therein they swore that the cause of action
was a note of the said Coleman's for twenty pounds, which was given as
satisfaction for a trespass by him committed in carrying some hay off
the land of one of Mr. Phipps the elder's tenants.
The Court thereupon granted a rule to show cause why the judgment
should not be set aside; but Mr. Coleman insisting that the note was a
forgery, the present prosecution was instituted against the father, son,
and Thomas.
After a full hearing at the assizes at Shrewsbury, the father and son
were pronounced "Guilty of uttering and publishing the note, knowing it
to be forged;" and William Thomas was found "Not Guilty."
Though convicted on the fullest evidence, the unhappy men, until the
morning of their execution, persisted in their innocence; but when about
to leave the jail, young Phipps made the following confession: "It was I
alone who committed the forgery: my father is entirely innocent, and was
ignorant of the note being forged when he published it."
They were taken in a mourning-coach to the place of execution,
accompanied by a clergyman and a friend who attended them daily after
their condemnation.
On their way to the fatal tree the father said to the son, "Tommy, thou
hast brought me to this shameful end, but I freely forgive thee;" to
which the son made no reply. It being remarkably wet weather, their
devotions were chiefly performed in the coach. When the awful moment
arrived, Mr. Phipps said to his son, "You have brought me hither; do you
lead the way!" which the youth immediately did, and in the most composed
manner ascended the ladder to a temporary scaffold erected for the
purpose of their execution, followed by his father.
When their devotions were finished, and the halters tied to the gallows,
this most wretched father and son embraced each other, and in a few
moments the scaffold fell, and they were hand-in-hand launched into
eternity, September the 5th 1789, amid a vast concourse of pitying
spectators.
The father was forty-eight, and the son just twenty years of age.
RENWICK WILLIAMS, COMMONLY CALLED "THE MONSTER."
IMPRISONED FOR A BRUTAL AND WANTON ASSAULT ON A FEMALE.
The mind is utterly at a loss to conceive any reason which could urge
this unnatural brute to the commission of the crimes which upon his
trial were distinctly proved against him. The offence of which he was
found guilty was that of making a most wanton and unmanly attack upon an
unprotected female, upon whom he inflicted a very severe wound, no
provocation whatever having been offered to him. For a considerable time
before the apprehension of this offender, a report was very generally
prevalent that many young and respectable females had been privately and
suddenly wounded in various parts of their person while walking through
the streets, in some cases in open day, by a villain, who invariably
succeeded in making his escape. Sometimes it was reported that the wound
was given at a time when the man approached the lady for the purpose of
presenting a nosegay to her; and it was said that, holding the flowers
to her nose, he would stab her in the face with a sharp instrument which
was concealed among their stems; while at others it was said that the
wound was given in the thigh, behind, or in private parts of the person,
so that occasionally the most serious injury was inflicted; and an
almost universal terror prevailed.
At length a man named Renwick Williams was apprehended, who was
distinctly sworn to by a Miss Porter, upon whom he had inflicted a
wound; and at the sessions held on the 18th of July 1790, he was put on
his trial at the Old Bailey for the offence alleged against him.
The indictment charged that the prisoner, on the 18th of January, with
force and arms, in the parish of St. James, on the King's highway upon
Anne Porter did make an assault; and that he did unlawfully, wilfully,
and maliciously inflict upon her a certain wound, &c. against the peace.
A second count charged the said Renwick Williams, that on the same day
and year he did unlawfully, wilfully, and maliciously tear, spoil, cut,
and deface the garments and clothes--to wit, the cloak, gown, petticoat,
and shift of the said Anne Porter, contrary to the statute, and against
the peace, &c.
Miss Anne Porter deposed that she had been at St. James's to see the
ball on the night of the 18th of January 1790, accompanied by her
sister, Miss Sarah Porter, and another lady; that her father had
appointed to meet them at twelve o'clock, the hour the ball generally
breaks up; but that it ended at eleven, and she was therefore under the
necessity either of staying where she was, until her father came, or of
returning home at that time. Her father, she said, lived in St.
James's-street, and kept a tavern and a cold bath there; and as it was
not far, she agreed to go home with her party. As they proceeded up St.
James's-street her sister appeared much agitated, and called to her to
hasten home, which she and her company accordingly did. Her sister was
the first to reach the hall-door, and as the witness turned the corner
of the rails she received a blow on the right hip. She turned round and
saw the prisoner stoop down: she had seen him before several times, on
each of which he had followed close behind her, and used language so
gross that the Court did not press on her to relate the particulars.
He did not immediately run away when he struck her, but looked on her
face, and she thus had a perfect opportunity of observing him. She had
no doubt, she said, of the prisoner being the man that wounded her. She
supposed that the wound was inflicted with a sharp instrument, because
her clothes were cut and she was wounded through them. The prisoner at
that time escaped; but on the 13th of June, as she was walking in St.
James's Park with her mother and two sisters, and a Mr. Coleman, she saw
him again, and being agitated, her alarm was remarked, and the prisoner
was eventually secured upon her pointing him out.