|OWING to his prodigious strength and daring, Brigadier Mackintosh was
more feared than any other of the rebels confined in Newgate, and it was
deemed necessary to place him in irons.
Highly indignant at such treatment, he complained of it in the strongest
terms to the governor, but was told it was done by the express order of
Lord Townshend.
“His lordship wishes to inflict a disgrace upon me,” he said; “but he
simply dishonours himself by treating a Highland commander like a common
felon. Tell his lordship his contemptible fetters will not prevent my
escape.”
After Forster's escape, which had caused an extraordinary sensation
throughout London, the vigilance of the jailers was doubled, and
Brigadier Mackintosh delayed the execution of the daring project he had
conceived till the latest moment.
Not till the night before his trial was fixed to take place at
Westminster Hall did he make the attempt.
Already he had partly sawn through the hateful fetters, so that he could
cast them off in a moment, and they were now rather advantageous to him
than otherwise, as they procured him greater freedom.
Colonel Mackintosh, who was likewise a prisoner, Charles Wogan, Robert
Hepburn of Keith, with several others, chiefly Scotsmen, were to be
partners in the flight, but the entire conduct of the enterprise was
left to the brigadier himself.
About eleven o'clock at night, Mackintosh, having freed himself from his
irons, cautiously descended the stairs leading from the upper ward to
the press-yard, and stationed himself at the door.
His friends remained in the dormitory, but were ready to join him in a
moment.
Presently the door was unlocked, as he expected it would be, by the
governor's black servant, Caliban, bearing a lantern.
Caliban was a powerful fellow, but no match for the brigadier, who
seized him by the throat with a gripe like that of a vice, and hurled
him to the ground.
The cries of the half-strangled black brought the governor, and Mr.
Ballard, the head turnkey, to the spot.
They were struck with amazement at seeing the brigadier, but did not
dare to grapple with him, now that he was free from his irons.
Leaving them to be dealt with by his followers, who were now thronging
the press-room, the brigadier hurried on--his object being to disarm the
sentinel.
Before the man could raise the musket to his shoulder, Mackintosh sprang
upon him like a tiger, and forced the weapon from his grasp, while young
Hepburn pinioned the man's arms.
Meantime, Ballard had been deprived of his keys, and he and Mr.
Pitts were thrust through the door leading to the staircase from the
press-room, and locked out.
The porter in the lodge alone remained--at least, it was thought so by
the fugitives--but he chanced to have a watchman with him at the time,
and this gossiping guardian of the night, hearing the disturbance,
endeavoured to rush out and spring his rattle.
But he was caught and deprived of his coat, lantern, and hat by the
brigadier, who thought the disguise might prove serviceable to some of
his followers.
In another minute the fugitives were out in the street, which was
fortunately quite deserted at the time, and the lodge gate being locked
outside, immediate pursuit was impossible.
Bidding each other a hasty farewell, the fugitives then separated, each
seeking the asylum which he knew had been provided for him.
Mr. Hepburn was uncertain where to go, when a light in a window at that
late hour attracted his attention, and he perceived an antique silver
tankard of peculiar shape, which he knew belonged to his family.
Without hesitation he entered the house and found his wife, who had
placed the cup in the window, hoping it might catch his eye.
Forster's flight from Newgate was completely eclipsed by that of
Brigadier Mackintosh and his companions.
That the first escape had been effected by bribery, very few persons
doubted; but this was a bold dashing affair, well calculated to excite
public admiration, and nothing else was talked about for a few days.
As previously mentioned, the trial of the rebels was to have taken place
in Westminster Hall on the following day. The court and juries met, but
no prisoners were forthcoming, and an adjournment took place; but though
a reward of one thousand pounds was offered for the apprehension of the
brigadier, and five hundred pounds for each of his associates, they were
not retaken.
After a temporary concealment, Mackintosh succeeded in making his escape
to France, where he remained for several years; but being unable to
resist the impulse to revisit his native land, he ventured back to
Scotland--a very hazardous step to take, since, being an outlaw, he was
excluded from the benefit of the Act of Indemnity.
The consequence was that the veteran warrior spent the remainder of his
life as a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle.
It is not our intention to follow the executioners in their sanguinary
circuit through Lancashire--not shall we even particularise the
insurgents who suffered the utmost rigour of the law at Lancaster,
Garstang, Preston, Wigan, Liverpool, and Manchester--but we will halt
for a moment at the latter place to allude to Tom Syddall, who was
barbarously put to death with four or five others at Knot Mill. His case
may stand for all the rest, since it was in no respect exceptional.
Taken on a hurdle to the gallows, partly hanged--but not till life was
extinct, he was drawn and quartered, and his head fixed on the market
cross.
Such was the punishment inflicted upon all the rebels of lower rank, who
were not transported to the colonies.