they were sentenced to death, but had been reprieved on condition of
their being transported for life. They had been at the hulks only about
seven days, when they committed the murder for which they were executed.
ANNE BROADRIC.
INDICTED FOR MURDER.
The case of this unfortunate young woman excited at the time of its
occurrence nearly universal pity.
It appeared that Mr. Errington, the object of her attack, was a
gentleman of large landed and personal property residing at Grays, in
Essex, and his name had become well known from the circumstance of his
having been divorced from his wife, a few years before the melancholy
event which we are about to relate. About three years after the
termination of the proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts, he became
acquainted with Miss Broadric, who was a young lady possessed of
considerable accomplishments, of a fine figure, and in personal charms
superior to the generality of her sex. Miss Broadric before this had
lived with a Captain Robinson, but it appears that being addressed by
Mr. Errington with great solicitude, she consented to reside with him in
the character of his wife. A mutual attachment sprung up in the course
of their connexion; but after a lapse of three years, during which they
lived together with every appearance of domestic felicity, Mr. Errington
bestowed his affections and his hand on a lady of respectability in the
neighbourhood, acquainting Miss Broadric that he could see her no more.
On her quitting him, he made what he conceived to be a suitable
provision for her future wants, and she retired apparently deeply
grieved at the unfortunate change which had taken place in the feelings
of her late protector. On the 11th September 1794, she wrote a letter to
him in the following terms:--
"Dear Errington,--That you have betrayed and abandoned the most tender
and affectionate heart that ever warmed a human bosom, cannot be denied
by any person who is in the least acquainted with me. Wretched and
miserable as I have been since you left me, there is still a method
remaining that would suspend, for a time, the melancholy sufferings and
distress which I labour under at this moment; and still, inhuman as thou
art, I am half persuaded, when I tell you the power is in your hands,
that you will not withhold it from me.--What I allude to is the
permission of seeing you once more, and, perhaps, for the last time. If
you consider that the request comes from a woman you once flattered into
a belief of her being the sole possessor of your love, you may not
perhaps think it unreasonable. Recollect, however, Errington, ere you
send a refusal, that the roaring of the tempest, and the lightnings from
heaven, are not more terrible than the rage and vengeance of a
disappointed woman. Hitherto you can only answer for the weakness and
frailty of my nature. There is a further knowledge of my disposition you
must have if you do not grant me the favour demanded. I wish it to come
voluntarily from yourself, or else I will force it from you. Believe me,
in that case I would seek you in the farthest corner of the globe, rush
into your presence, and, with the same rapture that nerved the arm of
Charlotte Cordet, when she assassinated the monster Marat, would I put
an end to the existence of a man, who is the author of all the agonies
and care that at present oppress the heart of
"ANNE BROADRIC."
"P. S. This comes by William (the servant you have discarded on my
account), who has orders to wait for your answer."
Her request being refused, she persisted by letters to endeavour to
induce Mr. Errington to permit her once more to see him, but finding him
inexorable, she wrote to him that if nothing could induce him to do her
an act of justice, he must prepare himself for the fatal alternative, as
she was determined that he should not long survive his infidelity.
To this, as well as to the rest of her letters, Mr. Errington preserved
a strict silence, and in about a month after Miss Broadric carried out
her dreadful resolution. On Friday morning, the 15th of May, she dressed
herself elegantly, and going to the Three Nuns Inn, Whitechapel, she
took her place in the Southend coach, which passed close to Mr.
Errington's seat. Having descended at the avenue-gate, she went towards
the house, but being seen by Mr. Errington, he begged Mrs. Errington to
retire for a few minutes, saying that "his tormentor was coming, but
that he would soon get rid of her." The latter, however, desired him to
leave the interview to her management, and desiring her husband to go
into the drawing-room, she awaited the arrival of Miss Broadric in the
parlour. In the mean time the latter had entered the house by the
kitchen, and having learned from the footman that Mr. Errington was at
home, she was proceeding up stairs, attended by the gardener, when she
met Mrs. Errington. She demanded to see Mr. Errington, and was told that
he was not to be seen, but saying "I am not to be so satisfied; I know
the ways of this house too well, and will search for him:" she rushed up
stairs into the drawing-room. She there found the object of her inquiry,
and going up to him she suddenly drew from her pocket a small
brass-barrelled pistol, with a new hagged flint, and presenting it to
his left side in a direction towards his heart, exclaimed, "Errington, I
am come to perform my dreadful promise," and she immediately fired. Mrs.
Errington, who had followed her, fainted, but Miss Broadric observing
that Mr. Errington did not fall, she said that she feared she had not
despatched him. Mr. Errington demanded to know how he had deserved such
treatment at her hands, but she made no answer, and the servants,
alarmed by the report of the pistol, then coming into the room, she
threw the pistol on the carpet, and exclaimed, laughing, "Here, take me;
hang me; do what you like with me: I do not care now." Mr. Miller, a
surgeon, soon after attended, and found that the ball had penetrated the
lowest rib, had cut three ribs asunder, and then passed round the back,
and lodged under the shoulder-bone, from whence every effort was made to
extract it, but in vain. Mr. Button, a magistrate, now came, who took
the examination of Mr. Errington after his wound was dressed. He asked
Miss Broadric what could induce her to commit such an act of extreme
violence, and her answer was, "That she was determined that neither Mr.
Errington nor herself should long outlive her lost peace of mind!" Mr.
Errington entreated the magistrate not to detain her in custody, but let
her depart, as he was sure he should do well; but this request Miss
Broadric refused to accept, and the magistrate to grant. Her commitment
being made out, she was conveyed that evening to Chelmsford jail, where
she remained tolerably composed till she heard of Mr. Errington's death,
when she burst into a flood of tears, and lamented bitterly that she had
been its cause. The coroner's inquest sat on the body on Tuesday, the
19th of May, and brought in their verdict, "Wilful murder, by the hands
of Anne Broadric." Mr. Errington was in the thirty-ninth year of his
age.
Friday, the 17th of July, was fixed for the trial of the prisoner, and
at six o'clock in the morning, the prisoner was conveyed from the jail,
in a chaise, to a room in the shire-hall; and about ten minutes before
the Lord Chief Baron Macdonald, the sheriffs, and magistrates, appeared
on the bench, she was conveyed into the bail-dock in the criminal court,
attended by three ladies and her apothecary. She was dressed in
mourning, without powder; and, after the first perturbations were over,
occasioned by the concourse of surrounding spectators, she sat down on a
chair prepared for her, and was tolerably composed, except at intervals,
when she discovered violent agitations, as her mind became affected by
various objects and circumstances. When the indictment was reading, she
paid a marked attention to it; and on the words, "that on the right
breast of the said G. Errington she did wilfully and feloniously inflict
one mortal wound," &c. she exclaimed, "Oh, my great God!" and burst into
a torrent of tears.
The facts above stated having been proved in evidence, the prisoner's
counsel proceeded to call witnesses in support of her defence, who all
joined in stating, that they had known her repeatedly to exhibit
symptoms of insanity.
This defence was not traversed by the counsel on the other side, and the
Jury, after a few minutes' consideration, returned a verdict of not
guilty.
The judges, on leaving the town, after the assizes were over, directed
that Miss Broadric should be examined before two magistrates, that she
might be safely removed, under their order, to the place of her
settlement, with a particular recommendation annexed thereto, that she
might be taken all possible care of.
THE REV. MR. JACKSON.
CONVICTED OF TREASON.
IN connexion with the case of the unfortunate, or rather the fortunate,
Mr. Hamilton Rowan, this case may prove interesting, as showing the
extent to which that gentleman was engaged in plotting against the
Government. Mr. Jackson was a native of Ireland, and a minister of the
Church of England. Early in life he preached at Tavistock Chapel,
London, and for several years resided in chambers in Lyon's Inn; but the
emoluments of his clerical occupation not affording him a sufficient
subsistence, he applied his talents to literature, and was for a
considerable time editor of a newspaper, in which situation he made
himself very conspicuous. He afterwards entered into a criminal
conspiracy, and was tried at Dublin for high treason, on the 23d of
April, 1795.
The indictment charged the prisoner with two species of treason, namely,
compassing the king's death, and adhering to his enemies; and stated
fourteen overt acts. The Attorney-general opened the prosecution on the
part of the Crown; and having dwelt at some length on the doctrine of
treason, proceeded to substantiate the charges in the indictment, for
which purpose he called Mr. Cockayne, an attorney of London, who deposed
that he had been for a series of years the law-agent and intimate friend
of Mr. Jackson, who a few years since went to France (as the witness
understood) to transact some private business for Mr. Pitt, where he
resided a considerable time. Soon after his return, Mr. Cockayne said he
called on Jackson, who told him in confidence that he had formed a
design of going to Ireland, to sound the people, for the purpose of
procuring a supply of provisions, &c. from them for the French, and
requested him (the witness) to accompany him. Having accepted the
invitation, he immediately waited on Mr. Pitt, and discovered to him the
whole of Mr. Jackson's plans. The minister thanked him for the
information, and hinted that, as the matter was to become a subject of
legal investigation, it would be necessary for him to substantiate the
allegations; the witness in consequence accompanied Mr. Jackson to
Ireland, for the purpose of making himself acquainted with his
proceedings. Shortly after their arrival in Dublin, where they lived
together, the prisoner expressed a wish to be introduced to Mr. Hamilton
Rowan, who was then confined in Newgate; and at length, through the
interference of a friend, he obtained an interview, at which Mr.
Cockayne was present. In the course of conversation, the prisoner
delivered two papers to Mr. Rowan, for the purpose of convincing him
that he was a person in whom he might confide. From that time an
intimacy took place between them; and the witness always accompanied Mr.
Jackson in his visits to Mr. Rowan, and constantly took a part in their
conversation. They agreed, he said, that a person should be sent to
France to procure a force to make a descent on Ireland; and Counsellor
Wolfe Tone was mentioned as a fit person for that purpose, who at first
appeared to acquiesce, but afterwards declined the office. Dr. Reynolds
was then proposed by Mr. Rowan, but objected to by the prisoner, as he
did not understand the French language. It was, however, at length
agreed that the doctor should undertake the embassy; but in a short
time, he also refused to enter into the business. On this, it was agreed
that Mr. Jackson should write several letters, which were directed for a
Mr. Stone, of the firm of Lawrence and Co., London. These contained
inclosures for houses at Hamburgh and Amsterdam; and some of them, to
the French agents, described the situation of Ireland at the time,
invited an invasion, and pointed out the proper places to land. These
letters having been sent to the Post-office, the witness went to the
secretary and informed him of the subject of them, on which they were
detained. The plot, matured thus far, having been discovered, the
prisoner was taken into custody.
The defence was grounded upon the suggestion, that the evidence adduced
in support of the prosecution was undeserving of credit; but the jury
found the prisoner guilty.
A motion, in arrest of judgment, was then made by Mr. Curran, who
appeared as counsel for the prisoner, on a point of law; in consequence
of which, he was remanded. He was brought up again on the 30th April;
when, before the arguments of counsel commenced, he was observed to be
in a sinking state, and an apothecary being called in, he was found to
have taken poison. He expired almost immediately afterwards in the
presence of the Court and Bar.
LEWIS JEREMIAH AVERSHAW.
EXECUTED FOR MURDER, IN SHOOTING A PEACE-OFFICER.
This criminal was one of the most daring and unrepentant sinners that
ever died by the hands of the executioner. There has too frequently
been, among the most hardened, an affected contempt of death, and a
foolhardiness of behaviour, on their exit from this world, which makes
every one shudder. In this criminal it was peculiarly exemplified.
Avershaw was an old offender, and had committed numerous crimes which
called aloud for justice. He was at length brought to trial at Croydon,
in Surrey, on the 30th of July, 1795, charged on two indictments; one
for having, at the Three Brewers' public-house, Southwark, feloniously
shot at, and murdered, David Price, an officer belonging to the
police-office, held at Union Hall, in the Borough; the other, for
having, at the same time and place, fired a pistol at Bernard Turner,
another officer attached to that office, with intent to murder him. Mr.
Garrow, the leading counsel for the prosecution, opened the case by
stating, that the prisoner at the bar, being a person of ill-fame, had
been suspected of having perpetrated a number of felonies; and the
magistrates of the police-office in the borough of Southwark, having
received information against him, sent, as was their duty, an order for
his apprehension. To execute the warrant, the deceased, Price, and
another officer, went to the Three Brewers, a public-house, where they
understood he was drinking in company with some other persons. At the
entrance of a parlour in the house the prisoner appeared in a posture of
resistance; and holding a loaded pistol in each of his hands he, with
threats and imprecations, desired the officers to stand off, as he would
otherwise fire at them. The officers, however, attempted to rush in and
seize him; on which he discharged both the pistols at the same instant,
lodging the contents of one in the body of Price, and with the other
wounding Turner very severely in the head. Price, after languishing a
few hours, died of the wound. Mr. Garrow was very pathetic and animated
in his description of the several circumstances composing the shocking
act of barbarity. To prove it, he would call four witnesses, whose
evidence, he said, would clearly establish the prisoner's guilt. He
accordingly called Turner, the landlord of the house, a surgeon, and a
fourth witness; but, as the substance of their evidence is comprised in
the opening of the indictment, it would be superfluous to repeat it.
Turner said positively, that he saw the prisoner discharge the pistols,
from one of which he himself received his wound, and the contents of the
other were lodged in the body of Price, who died very shortly after. The
surgeon proved that the death was in consequence of the wound. Mr.
Knowlys and Mr. Best were counsel for the prisoner; but the weight of
the evidence against him was too strong to be combated by any exertions.
Mr. Baron Perryn summed up the evidence; and the jury, after a
consultation of about three minutes, pronounced the verdict of guilty.
Through a flaw in the indictment for the murder, an objection was taken
by counsel. This was urged nearly two hours, when Mr. Baron Perryn
intimating a wish to take the opinion of the twelve judges, the counsel
for the prosecution, waving the point for the present, insisted on the
prisoner's being tried on the second indictment, for feloniously
shooting at Bernard Turner. He was accordingly tried; and, upon the
testimony of one witness, found guilty on a second capital indictment.
The prisoner, who, contrary to general expectation, had in a great
measure hitherto refrained from his usual audacity, now began with
unparalleled insolence of expression and gesture, to ask his lordship if
he "was to be murdered by the evidence of one witness?" several times
repeating the question, till the jury returned him--guilty. When Mr.
Baron Perryn put on the black cap, the prisoner, regardless of his
dreadful situation, at the same time put on his hat, observing the judge
with contemptuous looks while he was passing the sentence.
When the constables were removing him from the dock to a coach, he
continued to vent torrents of abuse against the judge and jury, whom he
charged with, as he styled it, his murder. As his desperate disposition
was well known, he was, to prevent resistance, handcuffed, and his
thighs and arms also bound strongly together; in which situation he was
conveyed back to prison. So callous was this ruffian to every degree of
feeling, that on his way to be tried, as he was passing near the usual
place of execution on Kennington Common, he put his head out of the
coach window, and, with all the _sang froid_ imaginable, asked some of
those who guarded him, if they did not think he would be _twisted_ on
that pretty spot by Saturday? After receiving sentence of death, he was
conducted back to prison; where having got some black cherries, he
amused himself with painting on the white walls of the room in which he
was confined, various sketches of robberies which he had committed; one
representing him running up to the horses' heads of a post-chaise,
presenting a pistol at the driver, and the words,--"D--n your eyes,
stop," issuing out of his mouth; another exhibited a scene, where he was
firing into the chaise; a third, where the parties had quitted the
carriage, and several others, in which he was described in the act of
taking the money from the passengers, being fired at, where his
companions were shot dead, &c.
At the place of execution, he appeared entirely unconcerned. He had a
flower in his mouth, his bosom was thrown open, and he kept up an
incessant conversation with the persons who rode beside the cart;
frequently laughing and nodding to others of his acquaintance, whom he
perceived in the crowd.
He suffered August 3, 1795, at Kennington Common.
WILLIAM TILLEY, JOHN CROSSWELL, GEORGE HARDWICK, JAMES HAYDEN, JOHN
HAWDEN, SIMON JACOBS, JOHN SOLOMONS, JOHN PHILLIPS, AND JOHN HENLEY.
CONVICTED OF A CONSPIRACY.
This most extraordinary conspiracy to procure the liberation of a
prisoner occurred on the 4th of April 1795.
It appears that a fellow named Isdwell, a Jew, stood charged with a
forgery on the Stamp-Office, and for security was committed to the
custody of the keeper of the New Prison, Clerkenwell. On the day in
question, he persuaded two of the turnkeys that an aunt of his, who was
very rich, then lay at the point of death, and that he had been informed
that, could she see him before she died, she would give him one thousand
pounds.
He proposed, therefore, that if they would let him out, and accompany
him to the place, he would give them fifty guineas each for their
trouble: and suggested that the matter might be effected without the
knowledge of the keeper of the prison, or any other person, they having
the keys of it at night, and the time required being very short. To this
proposal the turnkeys agreed; and accordingly, about one o'clock in the
morning, the gates were opened, and Isdwell, with his irons on, was
conducted in a hackney-coach by one of them, armed with a blunderbuss,
to the house in Artillery-lane, Bishopsgate-street, where, inquiring for
the sick lady, they were ushered up stairs.
Isdwell entered the room first, on which several fellows rushed forth,
and attempted to keep the turnkey out; but, not succeeding, they put the
candles out, wrested the blunderbuss out of his hand, and discharged it
at him. At this instant Isdwell was endeavouring to make his escape out
of the window, but he received the whole charge in his body, and fell
dead on the spot. A desperate conflict then took place, in the course of
which the jailor was very severely beaten, but some persons being
attracted to the spot by the uproar, the officer was rescued, and the
prisoners were apprehended, and lodged in safe custody.
The prisoners were tried for the murder of their companion, to which
their offence in reality amounted, his death having been caused by them
in executing an unlawful deed, on the 21st April; but the prosecution
failed in consequence of the absence of any proof to establish the fact
distinctly, the occurrence having happened in the dark; but, being
detained to be tried for the conspiracy to procure the liberation of the
deceased Isdwell, they were convicted, and received sentence of
transportation.
CHARLES SCOLDWELL.
CONVICTED OF STEALING.
The case of this fellow may prove a wholesome lesson to some of the
constables and bailiffs of the present day.
The very remarkable transaction, upon which the indictment against the
prisoner arose, took place at Bedfont; and the trial came on at the Old
Bailey, on the 23rd July 1796. The indictment charged the prisoner with
feloniously stealing, taking, and carrying away two live tame ducks, the
property of John Spurling, on the 22nd of the previous month of June.