committee, that we should get a couple of hundred young women together,
and dress them in white, who were to walk first, in order to take off
the attention of the soldiers. We were all actively employed in
distributing bills announcing the meeting for the 2nd December, and in
going from one public-house to another to secure the co-operation of the
soldiers and labourers; and I hired a waggon to be taken to Spafields to
be used as a stage for the speakers: young Watson and I were also
employed in purchasing fire-arms for our own party. Flags and cockades
were then prepared and delivered into my custody. On the morning of the
day of meeting, we assembled at the Black Dog in Drury-lane, and it was
agreed that the colours should be affixed to the staff, and that in the
event of any of the civil authorities interfering they were to be shot,
or run through. Some bullets and slugs were put into an old stocking,
and tied in an old dirty white handkerchief, in order to be carried to
the waggon. I afterwards found Keens preparing the banner, bearing the
inscription "The brave Soldiers are our Friends, treat them kindly," and
I then went to the place whither I was ordered, namely London Bridge,
to meet the smiths, but I found everything quite quiet, and saw no one I
knew. I next proceeded to Tower Hill, and I found the gates shut, and an
extra sentry on duty, and on inquiring I found that the gates were
closed on account of the meeting. I afterwards went to the Bank, which
was also closed, and then to Little Britain, and there I met a great mob
headed by Dr. Watson, with his dirk-stick drawn, and Thistlewood. I
inquired where young Watson was, and his father answered 'To the Tower,
first to the Tower! or we shall be too late.' They passed on, and I lost
sight of them, and afterwards on my seeing Keens, he told me what had
occurred at Spafields, that he had been in the waggon, that he was
afraid that he had left the balls and bullets behind him.
"We afterwards overtook Mr. Hunt going towards Spafields; he was in a
landau; and I stopped him and asked him why he was so late; he inquired
what was the matter; I answered, that Dr. Watson had gone to attack the
Tower. Keens and I then went towards the Tower, and stepped into a
gunsmith's shop, and stopped some time. After that, I saw young Watson
close by the Bank, at the back of the Exchange; he had in his hand a
drawn sword, and was encouraging the mob to follow him. A great many
were firing in the air: there were about two hundred men and boys.
"I then left young Watson, and went to Tower Hill, where I saw old
Watson and Thistlewood; they went up close to the Tower rails, and
seemed to be addressing themselves to the soldiers across the walls of
the Tower, but I was not near enough to hear what was said. They turned
up the Minories to go to Spafields, to get a greater force, as the
soldiers did not seem to take any notice of them; but when near the top,
thirty or forty soldiers met them, and the mob threw down their arms and
ran away. I walked forward with the soldiers as if I had nothing to do
with it, till the soldiers had passed me, and then turned back again,
and went down towards Tower Hill. At the corner of Mark-lane, I went
into a little public-house, and stopped until nearly dark, when I went
to No. 1, Dean-street, where I arrived about six or half-past six
o'clock. I found there the two Watsons, Preston, and Thistlewood. The
elder Watson and Thistlewood began to pack up their linen, as if going
away. I inquired where they were going to, and Thistlewood said, they
were going a little way in the country, and we should hear from him in
the course of a day or two. I inquired what had become of Hooper, and he
said, Hooper was taken with the colours, and some of us must expect to
be taken. I inquired if young Watson had shot anybody, and he said he
did not know, but that he was perfectly well satisfied that the people
were not ripe enough to act. We parted a little after; he and the two
Watsons went away together about seven o'clock, but I stopped at the
public-house until near dark."
On his cross-examination it appeared that this witness was a government
spy, and that his morals admirably fitted him for such an employment.
There were few crimes, short of murder, with which he was not made to
charge himself.
On the close of the case for the prosecution Mr. Wetherell proceeded to
comment on the evidence which had been given, in a strain of
argumentative eloquence which evinced at once the deep lawyer and
brilliant advocate.
On the 6th day of the trial Mr. Hunt and several other witnesses were
called whose testimony went to impeach the credit of Castles and others
for the prosecution, after which counsel was heard for the prisoner, and
the attorney-general spoke in reply.
Watson having declined to make any defence after the ability displayed
by his counsel, Lord Ellenborough proceeded to charge the jury, who
returned a verdict of acquittal, founded apparently upon the
incredibility of the testimony of the witness Castles.
The subsequent proceedings against Thistlewood and his companions, which
terminated more unfavourably for the safety of the former, will be given
hereafter.
PATRICK DEVANN.
EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF THE LYNCH FAMILY.
In the county of Louth in Ireland, and at the distance of about nine
miles from the town of Dundalk, stood some years ago a house called
Wild-Goose Lodge--a name conferred upon it from its whimsically chosen
situation on a small peninsula jutting into a marsh meadow, which was
occasionally transformed into a lake by the winter floods of the Louth.
In summer, the residence was reached from the meadow without difficulty;
but during winter, the case was very different, it being then
approachable only by a narrow neck of land hemmed in by the surrounding
waters. At a period to which we refer, Wild-Goose Lodge was tenanted by
an industrious man, name Lynch, and his family. Lynch had been
successful in improving a few fields attached to his dwelling, and
somewhat elevated above the yearly inundations; he was in the habit also
of raising a considerable quantity of flax, which he manufactured into
cloth, and carried to the adjoining markets of Dundalk or Newry, where
it was readily sold to advantage. By these means he rose in
respectability among his neighbours, and comfort and contentment smiled
around his dwelling. But an evil hour came, and he himself was unhappily
in some measure instrumental in bringing it on.
An illegal association, bound by secret oaths, sprung up among the Roman
Catholics living around Wild-Goose Lodge. Lynch, though a moderate man,
believed that such a combination, on the part of those who held the same
opinions with himself, was necessary to counteract similar
demonstrations on the opposite or Protestant side, and he therefore
joined the association. A very short time sufficed to show him the
imprudence of his conduct. Wild-Goose Lodge was a central point in a
remote and secluded district; and the members of the association, not
without the countenance at first of the occupier, began to make the
house their usual point of assemblage. Their numbers, however, speedily
increased so much as to submit the family to great inconvenience; and
their views, besides, so far exceeded Lynch's own in violence, as to
place him under just apprehensions lest he should be held as the leading
promoter of all that might be said or done by those who made his
dwelling their nightly haunt. Forced to act, in this dilemma, for the
sake of himself and his family, he came to the resolution of desiring
his neighbours to assemble no more under his roof. This interdict
excited a strong feeling of ill-will against him among the leaders of
the combination, and they afterwards habitually gave him every annoyance
they could think of, with the view of ejecting him from the place.
Once liberated, in some degree, from the consequences of his imprudence,
Lynch persisted in the line of conduct he had entered upon. The result
was, that one night a party of men, disguised, entered his house,
stripped him in presence of his family, and after flogging him,
destroyed his furniture, insulted his wife, and cut the web in the loom
from the one selvage thread to the other down to the beam on which it
rested. These wanton injuries to an honest, industrious, and (leaving
aside his junction of an illegal union) well-conducted man, were galling
and hard to bear. Lynch was the husband of an amiable, affectionate
wife, and the father of a young family, depending on him for
subsistence. If he did bear it in silence, further injuries might
follow, and himself, with the wife of his bosom and his helpless babes,
be deprived of their all, and thrown upon the world to beg for
subsistence. Again, to denounce those with whom he had joined in an
oath, was a proceeding not only full of danger, but to which Lynch could
with difficulty bring his mind. Anxious and irresolute, he appealed to
the minister of his religion for protection, but it was of no avail. His
midnight persecutors continued to harass him; and at last, seeing the
ruin of his family inevitable, unless he bestirred himself, and being
able to point out and identify those who had injured him, Lynch
determined to brave the anger of his assailants, and appeal to the laws
of his country. Having formed this resolution, he held to it, in spite
of the most awful and ominous endeavours to intimidate him; and two of
the party, who had attacked his house, were prosecuted, convicted, and
suffered death.
Terrible was the wrath of the secret associates, among whom it chanced
there were some men of such characters as are happily rarely to be met
with in the world. One of the oaths taken by this body was, that no one
member should bring another before the bar of justice. Certainly this
oath, bad as it was in every sense, never contemplated that one member
was not to resent the gross injuries done to him by another. But, as
might have been anticipated from the previous exhibition of feeling,
Lynch was held, in the strongest sense of the word, to have violated the
oaths he had taken.
Not far from Wild-Goose Lodge stood a chapel, where the association met
after the ejection of its members from the house of Lynch. The leading
man of the body, Patrick or Paddy Devann, was clerk to the priest of the
district, and had the charge of the chapel. Within this building,
consecrated for widely different purposes, the midnight band assembled
on a night destined by the leaders of the party for the destruction of
the unfortunate Lynch. Devann, the principal agent in the scene, in
order to make a deeper impression on the minds of the crowds present in
the chapel, assembled them around the altar, and after administering an
oath of secrecy to them, descanted on the falling off of Lynch, and the
necessity of suppressing all defections among themselves. He then darkly
hinted the object of the meeting to be Lynch's punishment, and hoped
that it would serve as a warning to them all to be firm to the
obligations on which they had entered, and true to the interest of the
body. Having finished his address, Devann then lifted from before the
altar a potsherd containing a piece of burning turf, and, moving from
the chapel, desired them to follow him.
Some scores of the band were on horseback, having come from distant
places at the imperative summons sent to them. Many more were on foot;
and all these moved stealthily onwards, Devann preceding them, towards
the devoted victim. To the credit of human nature it must be stated,
that few of this numerous party had the slightest idea of what was
intended by the originators of the movement. As the men went along, they
were inquiring among themselves in whispers, what was to be done; even
those who had heard Devann's threats did not believe that they would be
enforced, or that any further injury would be done than had been
inflicted before.
Silence reigned along the party's route, as they approached the abode of
the unoffending, unsuspecting, and sleeping family.
While the majority of the persons present still remained ignorant of
what was to be accomplished, but obeyed their leaders passively, an
extensive circle of men was formed by Devann's directions around the
devoted dwelling. Then those few who were aware of all the enormity of
the project, crept forward along the ground towards the house, the pike
in one hand and the lighted turf in the other. Well did the wretches
know that there was no chance of escape for those within, for the house
was filled with the flax by which poor Lynch made his bread; and as soon
as it was caught by the flame, extinction was a thing next to
impossible. The turfs were applied, and in a few minutes the house was
on fire--with a family of thirteen souls beneath its blazing roof! The
flames rose towards the sky, and illuminated the adjacent scene.
Speedily were heard from within the supplicating cries of the miserable
victims, "Mercy! for God's sake, mercy!" But the cry was vain. So far
from evincing any feelings of compunction while the work of destruction
was going on, the wretches who had caused it stood ready with their
pikes to thrust back those who might attempt to escape. One attempt was
made to move their pity; and had the men hearts, they must have been
moved. The wife of Lynch, while her own body was already enveloped in
flames, had endeavoured to preserve the infant at her breast, and she
appeared at the windows, content to die herself, but holding out her
child for mercy and protection. Frantically she threw it from her. And
how was it received? On the points of pikes, and instantly tossed back
into the burning ruins, into which at the same time sunk its hapless
mother. One other only of those within, and this was a man, one of
Lynch's assistants, appeared on the walls, beseeching for mercy; but he
likewise received none. The veins of his face were visible, swollen like
cords, and horror was painted on his whole aspect. He, and all who were
within, perished. Lynch himself, either cut off early, or resigned to
his fate, never appeared, either to denounce the act of his persecutors,
or to supplicate their pity.
It is impossible to say with what feelings the main party encircling the
house at a little distance beheld the consummation of the purposes of
the night. The majority of them certainly felt horror, while others, in
whose mind a blind hatred of Lynch was predominant, felt mingled
sensations of horror and exultation; and the conjoined feelings expended
themselves in cries, that were re-echoed by the groans of the victims.
The terrified peasantry of the neighbourhood who had not joined the
associated throng, started from their pillows, and gazed towards the
ascending flames of Wild-Goose Lodge with fear and shrinking; for they
too well
[Illustration: _Burglars attempting to roast Mr. Porter._
_P. 17._]
knew the feelings of the district to regard it as a common accident,
which it would have been their duty and their pleasure to have aided in
suppressing and relieving. Until all sounds of life, therefore, were
extinct within the burning house, the authors of the deed looked on
undisturbed. When all was over, they skulked away, each to his own home.
The winds of autumn and the storms of winter had swept the ashes of
Wild-Goose Lodge over the fields which Lynch had cultivated, ere any one
of the actors in this atrocious crime was brought to justice. But the
presence of some of the less guilty of them having been discovered, and
brought home beyond a doubt, these, in order to save themselves, made a
revelation of all they knew and had seen. Anticipating this, the
ringleaders fled to various parts of the country; but the arm of the
offended law overtook them. Devann was found in the situation of a
labourer in the dockyards of Dublin, and others were taken at different
times and places. Eleven were executed; and to mark the atrocity of
their crime, their bodies were hung in chains at Louth and other spots
in the neighbourhood of Wild-Goose Lodge. Devann was executed within the
roofless walls of the house in which his victims were immolated, and his
body was afterwards suspended beside those of his associates.
The date of his trial was the 19th of July 1817, and he was executed
immediately afterwards.
JEREMIAH BRANDRETH, WILLIAM TURNER, AND ISAAC LUDLAM.
EXECUTED FOR HIGH TREASON.
IN an introductory paragraph to our account of the Spafields' riot we
took occasion to mention the most prominent causes of public discontent;
and though these had partially disappeared in 1817, still the impulse
given to disaffection continued to operate for a considerable time,
being protracted by the injudicious resort of Government to the system
of spies and informers, who no doubt fanned that flame of disloyalty
which had nearly caused a traitorous explosion in the county of Derby,
more formidable and appalling than that for which Brandreth and his
ill-fated companions suffered.
The agent for Government in the northern districts was a wretch named
Oliver, and it is imagined by some that the miserable individuals whose
names head this article were his victims.
The scene of this outbreak was Pentridge, Southwingfield, and Wingfield
Park, in Derbyshire, a neighbourhood hitherto peaceable, and in which
few would have looked for an insurrection of this kind.
Jeremiah Brandreth, better known by the name of the "Nottingham
Captain," was one of those original characters for which nature had done
much, and education nothing. Of his parents or early habits we know
nothing; for on these subjects he maintained a studied silence, and all
that was ascertained in reference to his life previously to his
execution was that he had been in the army, and that he had a wife and
three children, for whose support he was occasionally compelled to apply
to the parish-officers for relief. His age was about twenty-six, and he
is described as having presented a most striking appearance, from the
exceedingly bold and resolute expression of his face.
Turner and Ludlam were both men of good character up to the time of
their becoming parties to the transactions which cost them their lives.
The latter had a wife and twelve children, and, being a regular
attendant at a Methodist meeting-house, in the absence of the preacher
conducted the prayers of the people.
These unfortunate men acted under a complete illusion. Formal statements
of the number of the disaffected were given them, as well as the
quantity of arms and ammunition collected, &c., accompanied with
flattering pictures of the liberty, happiness, and wealth which were to
wait upon success.
On the 5th of June, Brandreth came from Nottingham to the neighbourhood
of Pentridge, to take command of the rebel forces; and on the 9th, they
proceeded on their march for Nottingham, where it was reported, several
thousands anxiously waited their coming, that they might unite in
forwarding a revolution. Their numbers were truly contemptible, not
exceeding forty or fifty; yet, small as they were, they committed
several excesses, and Brandreth shot one harmless man. It was during the
night that they commenced operations; and next morning, on the approach
of a score of cavalry, they precipitately fled, leaving their arms
scattered behind them. Several were then apprehended, and many more on
the two or three ensuing days, and Brandreth was among their number.
To try these rebels, a special commission was issued, which was opened
at Derby on the 15th of October 1817. Brandreth was the first put on his
trial; and as the evidence against him was conclusive, he was found
guilty. Turner and Ludlam were also convicted, as well as a young man
named Weightman, whose sentence was afterwards commuted to
transportation. Justice being now satisfied, twelve men pleaded guilty,
and the remainder were discharged. Those who pleaded guilty received
sentence of death, but were afterwards respited.
The unfortunate Brandreth, on being removed to prison, after his
conviction, although he exhibited a manly firmness, was nevertheless
much affected. The other prisoners thronged around him in anxious
suspense to hear his fate; he uttered the single and appalling
word--Guilty; and, in a moment, a perfect change was visible in the
countenances of those whose lot was undecided.
Brandreth throughout his confinement seemed to have entertained a
confident expectation of acquittal; and this hope appears to have rested
solely on the supposed impossibility of identifying him, as he was a
total stranger in that part of the country where the outbreak had
occurred, and had, from the time of his committal, allowed his beard to
grow, which completely shaded his whole face. The singular cast of his
features, however, aided by the peculiar and determined expression of
his eye, rendered his identity unquestionable; and almost every one of
the witnesses swore to the person of the "Nottingham Captain." This
wretched man, both before and after his conviction, evinced the utmost
propriety of conduct. He appeared calm and happy, and exhibited great
firmness in the contemplation of his unhappy fate.
His companions in misfortune, however, evinced much less fortitude for
each appeared the very picture of despair. They attributed their
melancholy fate to Brandreth and a fellow named Bacon, who, however,
evaded the punishment due to his crime.
The execution of the convicts was fixed to take place on the 7th of
November 1817, and at a quarter past twelve o'clock at mid-day they were
carried to the scaffold on a hurdle.
The demeanour of Brandreth was calm in the extreme, and just before the
drop fell he cried out to the people assembled, "God bless you all, and
Lord Castlereagh." He died without a struggle; and when he had hung the
usual half-hour, his head was removed and exhibited at the four corners
of the scaffold, the executioner exclaiming, "Behold the head of a
traitor!" From the manner of this functionary the mob were apprehensive
that the head was to be flung in the midst of them, and they rushed back
in great precipitation. They were, however, soon undeceived, and upon
the same course being pursued with regard to Turner and Ludlam, they had
regained their confidence.
ABRAHAM THORNTON.
TRIED FOR MURDER.
This case is remarkable, not only for the lamentable atrocity of the
offence imputed to the unfortunate prisoner, but from the fact also of
the brother of the deceased person having lodged an appeal, upon which
the prisoner demanded "wager of battle," the consequence of which was
the repeal of the old law, by which the wager was allowed in former
ages, and which had already grown into disuse, although it still
remained in existence.
Thornton was a well-made young man, the son of a respectable builder,
and was by trade a bricklayer. He was indicted at the Warwick assizes in
August 1817, for the murder of Mary Ashford, a lovely and interesting
girl, whose character was perfectly unsullied up to the time at which
she was most barbarously ravished and murdered by the prisoner.
From the evidence adduced, it appeared that the poor girl went to a
dance at Tyburn, a few miles from Birmingham, on the evening of the 26th
of May 1817, where she met the prisoner, who professed to admire her
figure and general appearance, and who was heard to say, "I have been
intimate, and I will have connexion with her, though it cost me my
life." He danced with her, and accompanied her from the room, at about
three o'clock in the morning. At four o'clock she called at a friend's
at a place called Erdington, and the offence alleged against the
prisoner was committed immediately afterwards. The circumstances proved
in evidence, were that the footsteps of a man and woman were traced from
the path through a harrowed field, through which her way lay home to
Langley. The marks were at first regular, but afterwards exhibited
proofs of the persons whose footfalls they represented, running and
struggling; and at length they led to a spot where a distinct impression
of a human figure and a large quantity of coagulated blood were
discovered, and on this spot the marks of a man's knees and toes were
also distinguishable. From thence the man's footfalls only were seen,
and accompanying it blood marks were distinctly traced for a
considerable space towards a pit; and it appeared plainly as if a man
had walked along the footway carrying a body, from which the blood
dropped. At the edge of the pit, the shoes, bonnet, and bundle of the
deceased were found; but only one footstep could be seen there, and that
was a man's. It was deeply impressed, and seemed to be that of a man who
thrust one foot forward to heave something into the pit; and the body of
the deceased was discovered lying at the bottom. There were marks of
laceration upon the body; and both her arms had the marks of hands, as
if they had pressed them with violence to the ground.