* * * * *
_July, 1736_--Reynolds, condemned upon the Black Act, for going armed in
disguise, in pulling down Lothbury turn-pike, with one Baylis,
(reprieved, and transported for 14 years,) was carried to Tyburn, where,
having prayed and sung psalms, he was turned off, and being thought
dead, was cut down by the hangman as usual, who had procured a hole to
be dug at some distance from the gallows, to bury him in; but just as
they had put him into his coffin, and were about to fasten him up, he
thrust back the lid, and to the astonishment of the spectators, placed
his hands on the sides of the coffin in order to raise himself up. Some
of the people, in their first surprise, were for knocking him on the
head; but the executioner insisted upon hanging him up again; when the
mob, thinking otherwise, cried, "Save his life," and fell upon the poor
executioner, (who stickled hard for fulfilling the law,) and beat him in
a miserable manner; they then carried the prisoner to a public-house at
Bayswater, where he was put to bed; he vomited about three pints of
blood, and it was thought he would recover; but he died soon after. The
sheriffs' officers, believing the prisoner dead, had retired from the
place of execution before he was cut down.
_Sept. 3, 1736._--Venham and Harding, two malefactors, were executed
this day at Bristol. After they were cut down, Venham was perceived to
have life in him, when put in the coffin; and some lightermen and
others, having carried him to a house, a surgeon, whom they sent for,
immediately opened a vein, which so far recovered his senses, that he
had the use of speech, sat upright, rubbed his knees, shook hands with
divers persons he knew, and to all appearance a perfect recovery was
expected. But notwithstanding this, he died about eleven o'clock in
great agony, his bowels being very much convulsed, as appeared by his
rolling from one side to the other.
It is remarkable also, that Harding came to life again, and was carried
to Bridewell, and the next day to Newgate, where several people visited
him and gave him money, who were very inquisitive whether he remembered
the manner of his execution; to which he replied, he could only remember
his having been at the gallows, and knew nothing of Venham being with
him.