|Preston might well be full. Without counting the Government troops,
fifteen hundred and fifty prisoners of all ranks were detained within
the town.
Some few escapes took place, and amongst those who got off was Tom
Syddall. Unfortunately, he was afterwards captured.
After a few days' detention, General Forster, Lord Derwentwater, Lord
Widdrington, Brigadier Mackintosh, the Scottish lords and chiefs, with
the leading Northumbrian officers, were sent under a strong guard to
Wigan on the way to London.
Other less important prisoners were sent to Lancaster, Chester, and
Liverpool, and confined in the jails of those towns.
Six insurgent officers were detained at Preston, and subsequently tried
by court-martial for desertion and taking up arms against the king.
These were Lord Charles Murray, Captain Dalziel, Major Nairn, Captain
Philip Lockhart, Ensign Erskine, and Captain Shaftoe. The lives of the
two first were spared, but the others were condemned to be shot next
day.
As Captain Shaftoe was a great favourite in Preston, his sentence caused
profound grief, and application was made for a reprieve, but General
Wills refused to grant it unless Shaftoe would acknowledge that he had
been guilty of rebellion, and sue for mercy from King George.
Captain Shaftoe, however, absolutely refused, declaring he had simply
done his duty, and would not renounce King James, even if a pardon were
offered him.
Next morning, at an early hour, the rebel officers were taken by a party
of foot soldiers to a field below the church. Among the spectators, were
some young women, whose distressed condition touched the hearts of all
who beheld them.
A few moments were spent by the rebel officers in preparation. After
they had embraced, and bade each other farewell, Major Nairn came
forward, and begged of the officer in command that his eyes might not be
bandaged, and that he himself might give the order to the men to fire.
Neither request was accorded.
Not till he had laid Major Nairn in his coffin, with his own hands,
would Captain Lockhart submit to his fate and when all was over, he was
cared for as anxiously as his friend.
Only one was left.
As the spectators beheld the tall handsome figure standing erect before
them an irrepressible murmur arose.
Looking around, Shaftoe at once discovered the young women, and as his
eye settled upon one of them he called out:
“Do not forget.”
A white kerchief was waved in reply.
A proud smile lighted up his handsome countenance when his eyes were
bound, and his last words, distinctly heard by all were:
“Long live King James the Third.”
Half a dozen bullets were instantly lodged in his breast. For a moment
he stood erect, and then fell.
Thereupon a very beautiful young woman, whose features were as white
as her attire, stepped quickly forward, followed by two others, and
motioning back the soldiers, took up Shaftoe's body and placed it in his
coffin.
This done, she who had first come forward, and who was no other than
Dryope, knelt down, and fixing a look of unalterable affection upon her
dead lover, kissed his brow.
Placing a few flowers beside him, she then arose and disappeared with
her companions.
Thus died, and thus was mourned, one of the most gallant gentlemen of
the rebel army.