Chapter XXI: Part 21

Lord George Gordon, the leader and instigator of these riots, was subsequently tried in the Court of King's Bench, and by some good fortune escaped conviction. There was little doubt that he was occasionally subject to aberrations of intellect. His death took place some years afterwards in the King's Bench Prison. He had been indicted for a libel on Marie Antoinette, the late unfortunate French queen, and the Count d'Ademar, one of the ministers of state, and having been convicted, fled from punishment; and was afterwards apprehended in Birmingham, attired in the garb of a Jew, with a long beard, &c., where he had undergone circumcision, and had embraced the religion of the unbelievers. He died professing the same faith.

Many of the rioters were apprehended, and having been recognised, were convicted, and suffered death in most instances opposite to the places in which the scenes were enacted, in which they were proved to have taken a part. Among them were many women and boys but there was not one individual of respectability or character. They were all of the lowest class, whose only object was plunder.

Among the rioters, to sum up the account of their infamy and wretchedness, was Jack Ketch himself. This miscreant, whose real name was Edward Dennis, was convicted of pulling down the house of Mr. Boggis, of New Turnstile. The keeper of Tothill-fields' Bridewell would not suffer Jack Ketch to go among the other prisoners, lest they should tear him to pieces. In order that he might hang up his brother rioters, he was granted a pardon!

The following is an extract from the king's speech to both houses of parliament, the 18th of June, soon after the riots were ended:--

"My Lords and Gentlemen,--The outrages committed by bands of lawless and desperate men, in various parts of this metropolis, broke forth with such violence into acts of felony and treason, had so far overborne all civil authority, and threatened directly the immediate subversion of all legal power, the destruction of all property, and the confusion of every order of the state, that I found myself obliged, by every tie of duty and affection to my people, to suppress, in every part, those rebellious insurrections, and to provide for the public safety by the most effectual and immediate application of the force entrusted to me by parliament. I have directed copies of the proclamations issued upon that occasion to be laid before you.

"Proper orders have been given for bringing the authors and abettors of these insurrections, and the perpetrators of such criminal acts, to speedy trial, and to such condign punishment as the laws of their country prescribe, and the vindication of public justice demands.

"Though I trust it is not necessary, yet I think it right, at this time, to renew to you my solemn assurances that I have no other object but to make the laws of the realm, and the principles of our excellent constitution in Church and State, the rule and measure of my conduct; and that I shall ever consider it as the first duty of my station, and the chief glory of my reign, to maintain and preserve the established religion of my kingdoms, and, as far as in me lies, to secure and to perpetuate the rights and liberties of my people."

ABRAHAM DURNFORD AND WILLIAM NEWTON.

EXECUTED FOR ROBBERY.

In the case of these men we present a species of robbery different in the plan of its commission from every one yet described.

It was proved, on their trial at the Old Bailey, that they hired an empty house, No. 21, Water-lane, Fleet-street; and, having a bill of exchange lying at the bank of Smith, Wright, and Gray, they directed it for payment at this house. They made preparation for cleaning, in order, as they pretended, to furnish it with despatch; but the landlord, not liking this extraordinary haste, or his new tenants, desired Mrs. Boucher, the mistress of a public-house opposite, to have an eye on their proceedings.

Accordingly, on the day the bill became due, being the 5th of August, 1780, she observed the new tenants, Durnford and Newton, then prisoners at the bar, enter the house, and open the parlour windows. Soon after she saw a third man knock at the door, which was open, and he entered. Watching the event, she heard an uncommon noise, and, stepping over the way to listen, heard the cry of "Murder!" as from a hoarse faint voice, succeeded by a kind of groaning, which very much alarmed her; and, looking through the key-hole, she saw two men dragging a third down the cellar stairs; on which she cried out loudly "They're murdering a man!" She knocked hard at the door, and begged the people in the street to break it open; but none would interfere. Being enraged at their not assisting her, she burst open the window, and was entering the house, when Newton jumped out of the one pair of stairs' window, and was running off; but, on the cry of "Stop thief!" he was instantly taken; Mrs. Boucher seized the other by the throat herself, and dragged him to her own house.

The house was then immediately searched, and in a back cellar was found a man, bound, and nearly choked to prevent his calling out. He proved to be a collecting clerk for Smith, Wright, and Gray, named James Watts. They had robbed him of his pocket-book, and would have murdered him had not the woman saved his life.

Mr. Watts, a young Quaker, aged eighteen, the party robbed and alluded to, would not, according to the doctrines of the particular sect to which he belonged, be sworn, which is required by the law in all cases, so that their conviction rested chiefly on the evidence of Mrs. Boucher; but not a shadow of a doubt existed of their guilt, and they were convicted and executed on the 22nd of November, 1780.

The story of Mr. Watts was that on his knocking at the door, he was admitted immediately, and having entered the house he was collared and seized by two men, whom he afterwards knew to be the prisoners, who attempted to gag him, and forced him down stairs. Fearing that their intention was to murder him, he succeeded in getting from them by an extraordinary effort, and ran to the street-door; but finding it locked he was unable to offer any further opposition to their violence. His screams providentially alarmed Mrs. Boucher, but not until his book, containing upwards of 4000_l._ had been taken from him. It is rather singular that Mr. Watts was himself convicted of robbing his employers in the year 1781, and subjected to two years' imprisonment.

FRANCIS HENRY DE LA MOTTE.

EXECUTED FOR HIGH TREASON.

The offence of this man was one of the most despicable character. A native of France, and in the service of the French king, he lived long in London, employing himself as a spy upon the proceedings of the English government. He occupied elegant lodgings in Bond-street, dressed like a gentleman, kept the best company, and passed for a foreigner of fortune. At length, however, suspicions arose of his real character, and a watch being set upon his motions, they were found to be fully justified, and he was apprehended and committed to the Tower.

On his trial various acts of treason were proved against him, and he was found guilty.

Sentence was immediately pronounced upon him, "that he should be hanged by the neck, but not until he was dead; that he should then be cut down, and his bowels taken out and burnt before his face; and that his head should be taken off, his body cut into four quarters, and be placed at his majesty's disposal."

He was remanded to the Tower, and at the expiration of a fortnight a warrant was issued from the office of the secretary of state for his execution.

The sheriffs demanded his body, on the 27th of July, 1781, of the lieutenant of the Tower, and carried him to Newgate, from thence in about a quarter of an hour they set out with him to Tyburn.

La Motte was dressed in a suit of black. His deportment was manly and serious: he seemed to be totally abstracted from the surrounding multitude, as he scarcely ever took his eyes from a devotional book which he held in his hand.

Upon his arrival at the fatal tree he was immediately removed from the sledge in which he had been conveyed. He then employed some minutes in earnest devotion; after which he twice bowed respectfully to the sheriffs, and turned to the executioner, desiring him immediately to perform his office.

After hanging fifty-seven minutes the body was cut down and laid on a block, when (a fire having been previously kindled) the executioner severed the head from the trunk, and making an incision from his breast, ripped out the heart, which, after being exposed to the surrounding spectators, was thrown into the flames.

The body was then scorched, together with the head, and put into a very handsome coffin, which was delivered to an undertaker for interment.

Amongst other effects of the handiwork of La Motte in favour of his own country, it is said that the attack of a French fleet under the command of Commodore Suffrein upon the British fleet under Commodore Johnstone, in the neutral harbour of Port Praya Road, on its way to the East Indies, whither it was convoying a number of merchantmen, was attributable to him. The English fleet was taken in an unexpected manner. As many as one thousand five hundred of its men are related to have been on shore at the time of the attack; some of whom were employed in collecting water, and others in obtaining exercise, when the Frenchmen hove in sight; and before the necessary arrangements could be made to receive them, forced their way in line into the very midst of the British vessels. Commodore Johnstone, however, with the bravery of a British sailor, succeeded in compelling them to sheer off; but not until he had sustained a loss of upwards of two hundred men. The movements and strength of the English fleets were at that time made no secrets; and La Motte, having obtained the necessary information in the instance in question, conveyed it to his own country through the medium of one Luttorlok, a Dutchman, who succeeded in effecting his escape, while his companion in iniquity suffered an ignominious death.

JOHN DONELLAN, ESQ.

EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF SIR THEODOSIUS BOUGHTON, BART., HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW.

The case of Mr. Donellan is one of a very remarkable nature, and from the character of the testimony produced has been the subject of much conversation and remark amongst persons connected with the professions of medicine and chemistry.

The accused, Mr. Donellan, had been a captain in the army, and was the son of Colonel Donellan. At the age of twelve years he entered into the Royal Regiment of Artillery, with part of which he went to the East Indies in 1754. On his arrival there he changed his service into the 39th foot; but on that regiment being ordered home, he, with many other of his officers, had his majesty's leave to remain in the service of the East India Company, without prejudice to their rank in the army. He then obtained a company, and certainly distinguished himself as a good soldier, not only having been much wounded in the service, but, if his own account may be credited, being singularly instrumental to the taking of Mazulapatam. Being appointed, however, one of the four agents for prize-money, he condescended to receive presents from some black merchants, to whom part of their effects had been ordered to be restored, for which he was tried by a court-martial, and cashiered. He subsequently purchased a share in the Pantheon, where he figured for some time as master of the ceremonies; and after a variety of applications he at length obtained a certificate from the War-office, that he had behaved in the East Indies "like a gallant officer;" in consequence of which he was put upon half-pay in the 39th regiment. But notwithstanding the most strenuous memorials and petitions representing his great services, and insisting that the offence for which he was broke was of a civil nature only, and not cognizable by a court-martial, he never could obtain a restoration into the Company's service. In June, 1777, he married Miss Boughton; and on Friday, March 30th, 1781, he was tried at the assizes at Warwick for the wilful murder of Sir Theodosius Edward Allesley Boughton, Bart., his brother-in-law. The evidence was of such a nature that the fairest mode of stating it will be by repeating it as it appeared on the trial.

Mr. Powell, apothecary of Rugby, deposed that he had attended Sir Theodosius Boughton for two months before his death, on account of a slight complaint of a certain description.

On Wednesday morning, the 27th of February, he was sent for to Lawton Hall, and on his arrival there at a little before nine o'clock, Capt. Donellan conducted him to the apartment of Sir Theodosius. On his entering, he perceived that the baronet was dead, and on his examining the body he concluded that it was about an hour since life had fled. He had some conversation with Captain Donellan with regard to the deceased, and he was told by him that, he had "died in convulsions." He could not recollect the precise nature of the conversation, but the general effect of what Captain Donellan said was, that the deceased gentleman had taken cold.

Lady Boughton, the mother of the deceased, deposed that Sir Theodosius was twenty years old on the 3rd of August last. On his coming of age, he would have been entitled to above 2000_l._ a year; and in the event of his dying a minor, the greater part of his fortune was to descend to his sister, the wife of Mr. Donellan. It was known in the family on the evening of Tuesday, the 26th, that Sir Theodosius was to take his physic the next morning. He used to put his physic in the dressing-room. He happened once to omit to take it; upon which Mr. Donellan said, "Why don't you set it in your outer room? then you would not so soon forget it." After this he several times put the medicines upon his shelf over the chimney-piece in his outer room. On the evening of Tuesday, the 26th, about six o'clock, Sir Theodosius went out fishing, attended only by one servant, Samuel Frost. Witness and Mrs. Donellan took a walk in the garden, and were there above an hour. To the best of her recollection she had seen nothing of Mr. Donellan after dinner till about seven o'clock, when he came out of the house-door in the garden, and told them that "he had been to see them fishing, and that he would have persuaded Sir Theodosius to come in, lest he should take cold, but he could not." Sir Theodosius came home a little after nine, apparently very well; and he went up into his own room soon after, and went to bed. He requested her to call him the next morning and give him his physic.

She accordingly went into his room about seven in the morning, when he appeared to be very well. She asked him "Where the bottle was?" and he said "It stands there upon the shelf." He desired her to read the label, which she accordingly did, and found there was written upon it "Purging draught for Sir Theodosius Boughton." As he was taking it, he observed, "it smelled and tasted very nauseous;" upon which she said "I think it smells very strongly like bitter almonds." He then remarked that "he thought he should not be able to keep the medicine upon his stomach."

Here a bottle was delivered to Lady Boughton, containing the genuine draught, which she was desired to smell at, and inform the Court whether it smelt like the medicine Sir Theodosius took. She answered in the negative. She was then desired to smell at another, containing the draught with the addition of laurel-water, which she said had a smell very much like that of the medicine she gave to Sir Theodosius. Lady Boughton then proceeded with her evidence. In two minutes after Sir Theodosius had taken the draught, he struggled very much. It appeared to her as if it was to keep the draught down. He made a prodigious rattling in his stomach, and guggling; and these symptoms continued about ten minutes. He then seemed as if he was going to sleep, or inclined to dose; and perceiving him a little composed, she went out of the room. She returned in about five minutes after, and to her great surprise found him with his eyes fixed upwards, his teeth clenched, and foam running out of his mouth. She instantly desired a servant to take the first horse he could get and go for Mr. Powell. She saw Mr. Donellan in less than five minutes after. He came into the room where Sir Theodosius lay, and said to her, "What do you want?" She answered that she wanted to inform him what a terrible thing had happened; that it was an unaccountable thing in the doctor to send such a medicine, for if it had been taken by a dog it would have killed him; and she did not think her son would live. He inquired in what way Sir Theodosius then was; and on being told, he asked her where the physic bottle was; on which she showed him the two draughts; when he took up one of the bottles, and said, "Is this it?" She answered "Yes." He then, after rinsing it, emptied it in some dirty water that was in a wash-hand basin; and on his doing so she said, "What are you at? you should not meddle with the bottles." Upon that he snatched up the other bottle and rinsed it, and then he put his finger to it and tasted it. She repeated that he ought not to meddle with the bottles; upon which he replied, that "he did it to taste it." Two servants, named Sarah Blundell and Catherine Amos, afterwards came into the room, and he desired the former to take away the basin and the bottles, and he put the bottles into her hands. The witness, however, took the bottles from her, and set them down, bidding her not to touch them; and the prisoner then desired that the room might be cleaned, and the dirty clothes thrown into the inner room. This being done, the witness turned her back for a moment, on which the prisoner again handed the servant the bottles, and bid her take them away, and she accordingly removed them. Witness soon afterwards went into the parlour, where she found Mr. and Mrs. Donellan; and the former told his wife "that her mother had been pleased to take notice of his washing the bottles, and that he did not know what he should have done, if he had not thought of saying that he put the water into them to put his finger to it to taste." The witness made an answer to this observation, and the prisoner directed his wife to ring the bell in order to call up the servant. When the servant came, he ordered him to send in the coachman; and when he came, the prisoner said, "Will, don't you remember that I set out of these iron gates at seven o'clock this morning?" "Yes, sir," said he. "And that was the first time of my going out; I have never been on the other side of the house this morning: you remember that I set out there this morning at seven o'clock, and asked for a horse to go to the wells?" "Yes, sir." Mr. Donellan said, "then you are my evidence." The servant answered, "Yes, sir." She did not recollect that the prisoner made any observation. The witness further said that Mr. Donellan received a letter from Sir William Wheeler, desiring the body might be opened, and that he showed her his answer to this letter. She told him he had better let it alone, and not to send such a letter as that; but she did not tell him the reason of her disliking it. He replied, that "it was necessary to send an answer, and he would send that." She afterwards attended before the coroner and the jury in order to be examined, when Mr. Donellan also was present; and she mentioned to the jury the circumstance of the prisoner's rinsing the bottles. Being returned to Lawford Hall, the prisoner said to his wife before the witness, that she had no occasion to have told the circumstance of his washing the bottles: she was only to answer such questions as were put to her; and that question had not been asked her. Being asked whether Mr. Donellan did not endeavour to account to her for her son's death, she answered, that when the things were removed in order to be put in the inner room, he said to the maid, "Here, take his stockings; they have been wet; he has catched cold, to be sure: and that might occasion his death." On that she examined the stockings, and there was no mark or appearance of their having been wet. In answer to some further questions, she denied that she or any of the family had ever declined eating of the same dishes that Sir Theodosius did. Mr. Donellan, indeed, had recommended to her not to drink out of the same cup, because he was affected with a certain disorder; nor to touch the bread he did, because there might be arsenic about his fingers, as he used that poison when he was fishing.

Catherine Amos corroborated the testimony of her mistress, and said, that she was called up stairs to the room where Sir Theodosius lay, at the time when the surgeons were engaged in opening the body, and she heard Mr. Donellan say "that there was nothing the matter; and that it was a blood-vessel which broke, which had occasioned the death of his brother-in-law." About a fortnight afterwards Mr. Donellan brought her a still, which had been recently washed, and he desired her to put it into the oven to dry, in order that it might not rust.

Mr. Kerr, surgeon of Northampton, deposed, that he attended Sir Theodosius when he was at Mr. Jones's. His disorder was so slight that he did not think it a subject of medicine at all. He ordered him some lotion to wash with, and dissuaded him from the use of medicine.

Dr. Rattray, of Coventry, deposed, that in consequence of an anonymous note which he received, and which desired him to bring Mr. Wilmer with him, in order to open the body of Sir Theodosius Boughton, they went together, and met Mr. Bucknell, Mr. Powell, and Mr. Snow, in Newbold churchyard. Mr. Bucknell opened the body. The witness then proceeded to describe the external appearances of the body, and its appearances in the dissecting. He was asked whether, as he had heard the evidence of Mr. Powell and Lady Boughton, he could, from that evidence, totally independent of the appearances he had described, form a judgment as to the cause of the death of Sir Theodosius. He answered, that, exclusive of these appearances, he was of opinion, from the symptoms that followed the taking of the draught, that it was poison, and the certain cause of his death. Being desired to smell at the bottle, and asked what was the noxious medicine in it, he said it was a distillation of laurel-leaves, called laurel-water. Here he entered into a detail of several experiments on animals, tending to show the instantaneous and mortal effects of the laurel-water. He knew nothing in medicine that corresponded in smell with that mixture, which was like that of bitter almonds. He further said that the quantity of laurel-water contained in the bottle shown to him was sufficient to be the death of any human creature; and that the appearances of the body confirmed him in his opinion that the deceased was poisoned, so far as, upon the viewing a body so long after the death of the subject, one could be allowed to form a judgment upon such appearances.

Mr. Wilmer and Dr. Parsons, professor of anatomy at Oxford, confirmed the evidence of Dr. Rattray.

Dr. Ashe, of Birmingham, was of opinion, from the symptoms described, that the deceased died by poison. If the laurel-water were distilled strong enough to collect the essential oil, a tea-spoonful of it would destroy animal life in a few seconds; and he believed as strong a poison might be made from bitter almonds.

Mary Lymnes deposed, that she had been servant to Lady Boughton. Mr. Donellan was in the habit of distilling roses occasionally, and he kept his still in an apartment which was called his room, and in which he slept when Mrs. Donellan lay in.

Francis Amos, gardener to Lady Boughton, deposed, that he was with Sir Theodosius the whole time he was fishing, the night before he died. Mr. Donellan was not there. Two or three days after Sir Theodosius died, he brought him a still to clean; it was full of wet lime. He said he used the lime to kill fleas. The witness used to gather lavender for him to distil. In the garden there were laurels, bays, and laurustinus.

William Crofts, one of the coroner's jury, deposed, that on the examination of Lady Boughton, when she said that "Captain Donellan rinsed the bottle," he saw the captain catch her by the gown, and give her a twitch.

John Darbyshire deposed, that he had been a prisoner in Warwick jail for debt; that Mr. Donellan and he had a bed in the same room for a month or five weeks. He remembered to have had a conversation with him about Sir Theodosius being poisoned. On his asking him whether the body was poisoned or not, he said, "There was no doubt of it." The witness said, "For God's sake, captain, who could do it?" He answered, "It was amongst themselves; he had no hand in it." The witness asked, "Whom he meant by themselves?" He said, "Sir Theodosius himself, Lady Boughton, the footman, and the apothecary." The witness replied, "Sure, Sir Theodosius could not do it himself!" He said he did not think he did--he could not believe he would. The witness answered, "the apothecary could hardly do it--he would lose a good patient; the footman could have no interest in it; and it was unnatural to suppose that Lady Boughton would do it." He then said, "how covetous Lady Boughton was! she had received an anonymous letter the day after Sir Theodosius's death, charging her plump with poisoning him; that she called him and read it to him, and she trembled; she desired he would not let his wife know of that letter, and asked him if he would give up his right to the personal estate, and to some estates of about two hundred pounds a year, belonging to the family." The conversation was about a month after the captain came into the jail. At other times he said, "that it was impossible he could do a thing that never was in his power."

This being the chief evidence, the prisoner in his defence pleaded a total ignorance of the fact, and several respectable characters bore testimony to his integrity. The jury, however, found him guilty, and he received sentence of death.

At seven o'clock on the next day, the 2nd of April, 1781, he was carried to the place of execution at Warwick, in a mourning-coach, followed by a hearse and the sheriff's officers in deep mourning. As he went on he frequently put his head out of the coach, desiring the prayers of the people around him.

On his arrival at the fatal spot he alighted from the coach, and, ascending a few steps of the ladder, prayed for a considerable time, and then joined in the usual service with the greatest appearance of devotion: he next in an audible tone of voice addressed the spectators to this effect:--That, as he was then going to appear before God, to whom all deceit was known, he solemnly declared that he was innocent of the crime for which he was to suffer; that he had drawn up a vindication of himself, which he hoped the world would believe, for it was of more consequence to him to speak truth than falsehood, and he had no doubt but that time would reveal the many mysteries that had arisen in his trial.

After praying fervently some time he let his handkerchief fall--a signal agreed upon between him and the executioner--and was launched into eternity. When the body had hung the usual time it was put into a black coffin, and conveyed to the Town Hall to be dissected.

It is almost needless to inform our readers, that the poison with which the unfortunate Sir Theodosius was murdered was prussic acid, at that time only recently introduced and little known.

DAVID TYRIE.

EXECUTED FOR HIGH TREASON.

The charge against this malefactor was that of sending intelligence of our naval affairs to France during the time of war. The prisoner was by birth a Scotchman, and having lived as a clerk in the service of a Mr. Powell for five years, he entered into business for himself, but was so far unsuccessful as to be made a bankrupt. He subsequently obtained a situation in the Navy Office, Portsmouth, where he was most traitorously guilty of the offence imputed to him.

He was tried at Winchester, by virtue of a special commission, on the 10th of August, 1782, when the charge alleged against him was supported by the following testimony.

Maria Harvey proved that a bundle of papers, the property of Tyrie, had been delivered to her by a Mrs. Askew, about the 13th of February; that the particular charge given with them had raised her curiosity to inquire into the contents of the bundle. She had been induced in consequence to open them, and thinking that the contents were of a dangerous nature, she carried them to a Mr. Page, in Westminster, who being of the same opinion, they were conveyed to the office of the secretary of state. The papers on being examined proved to be copies of papers called the "Navy Progresses;" being a list of all the ships of the navy, the situation and state of repair of each, &c. To these were added remarks on their destination, a description of the dock-yards at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and all the public, and even of several private, docks. They also contained a plan, by which it was proposed to furnish a person in France with intelligence on very moderate terms, when the importance of the object was considered; the particulars were, an express to be employed which would travel four hundred and fifty miles, to be paid at thirteen pence per mile; a monthly salary of five or six guineas to a person at each of the dock-yards; also a salary of two or three guineas to a man in the lesser yards. There were a number of other papers produced, all going to the purpose of giving information to the enemies.

Captain William James also proved that Tyrie had bargained with him to go to Boulogne to purchase wines. He had agreed to pay him fifteen guineas in money for the voyage, and to provide him with a letter of credit for fifty pounds to trade with. Upon his being about to sail, the prisoner delivered to him a packet of letters for the commandant of the port, and a passport for Boulogne or Cherbourg; but feeling that it was not proper to carry letters to the French coast in time of war, he consulted a Captain Harrison upon the propriety of doing so. The latter advised him against it, and they opened the packet: it contained five letters, which gave an account of the sailing of some frigates to intercept a fleet of French transports; a particular account of the departure of the East and West India fleets, together with the names and strength of their respective convoys, besides other important information of the same character. One of these letters, it appeared, was signed by the prisoner, in his own name, and the others in the name of Croix; and it was proved that the whole of them, as well as the papers produced by Mrs. Harvey, were in his handwriting.

The case having been left to the jury for their consideration, they immediately returned a verdict of guilty.

Mr. Justice Heath then passed upon the unhappy prisoner the sentence of the law, which was the same as that in the case of La Motte, which has very recently been alluded to, and which was subsequently carried out in its fullest terms.

The prisoner behaved during his trial with remarkable composure, and met his fate without any apparent emotion.

WILLIAM WYNNE RYLAND.

EXECUTED FOR FORGERY.

In the execution of this unhappy man, the world may be said to have sustained a severe loss; for Mr. Ryland was an engraver of first-rate abilities, and of very considerable celebrity. He was a native of Wales, and his father having been patronised by the Welch baronet, Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, he was named after that individual. While yet young, he displayed considerable talent, and in the early part of his apprenticeship he engraved a head of his godfather in a style which betokened unusual taste and power. Having completed his term, he visited the French and Italian schools; and in the former obtained the honorary medal, which was presented to him in Paris. On his return to England, he introduced the admired art of engraving in imitation of chalk drawings; and soon after George III. had ascended the throne, he was appointed by him to the situation of his engraver, with a salary of two hundred pounds a year; and the queen added one hundred pounds a year more out of her privy purse, as a testimony of her approbation of his extraordinary talents.

A few years previous to the fatal act for which he suffered, Mr. Ryland entered into partnership with a Mr. Bryer, and they jointly opened a shop in Cornhill, where they carried on a very extensive trade in prints; the former still continuing to exercise his abilities in the art of engraving. But although their business was productive of great profit, several heavy losses, occurring almost at the same time, so deranged their pecuniary affairs, that a bankruptcy ensued.

Some years after this failure, Mr. Ryland, on his own separate account, opened a print-shop in the Strand, where he had every prospect of success; but being fond of a private life, he quitted his business, and retired to Pimlico, and thence to Knightsbridge, where, by one fatal act, he entirely ruined his reputation as a man; but his name, as an artist, will ever stand in the highest estimation. At this time Mr. Ryland had recovered his losses in trade, and was bequeathed shares in the Liverpool Water Works, which were then deemed to be worth ten thousand pounds: his business was worth two thousand pounds a year, and his stock was valued at ten thousand pounds more. Such was his own statement of his property, in his defence on his trial; and it was supposed that, in order to engross the remaining shares in his Liverpool concern, he committed the forgery for which he suffered.

The forged instruments so exactly resembled the real bills that it was scarcely possible to know one from the other; but it being discovered that two bills of the same tenor and date were out, and consequently that one of them must prove a forgery, suspicion fell so strong on Ryland that he was induced to secrete himself, and a reward was offered for his apprehension. He went in disguise to Stepney, and took an obscure lodging at the hovel of one Richard Freeman, a cobbler, accompanied by Mrs. Ryland, the wretched partner of his misfortune, passing as Mr. and Mrs. Jackson; and there he continued for some time to evade the search after him, till one fatal step of the unfortunate woman who was watching over his safety caused his apprehension. She took, unconscious of danger, one of her husband's shoes to the cobbler to be mended, with the name of "Ryland" on the inside of it. This was fatal: the cobbler, in order to obtain the reward, delivered up his lodger.

When the officers of justice went to apprehend Ryland, they found him in a corner of the room on his knees, and heard a noise like a guggling in his throat, and upon approaching him they found that he had attempted suicide. He had a razor in his hand, and a basin stood before him; but the wound which he had inflicted did not prove mortal.

On the 20th July, 1783, he was arraigned at the bar of the Old Bailey, on an indictment charging him with feloniously forging and uttering a certain bill of exchange for 210_l._ sterling, purporting to be a bill drawn by the gentlemen of the factory at Fort George, Madras, on the Hon. East India Company, with intent to defraud the said Company, &c.

The solicitor to the East India Company, who prosecuted the prisoner, endeavoured, by several proofs, to bring home the charge to the accused; but, though forgery was manifest, yet it was so nice a point to distinguish the true bill from the false one, that it was, during the trial, supposed that they could not convict him, until Mr. Whatman, paper-manufacturer at Maidstone, appeared as a witness.

Mr. Whatman deposed that the paper of the forged bill was of his manufacture. He then explained to the Court his reasons for thinking so: the moulds, he said, in which the paper of the bill was made, were received by him in February, 1780, but were not used before the December following: they were then worked with; and the first paper sent to London made by them was on the 27th of April, 1781: but he was convinced that the paper on which the bill was written was not sent before the 3d of May, 1782; and the way by which he knew it was, that there were defects in it, which exactly agreed with those in the sheets of paper which he produced, and which had been made by him at that period. It was further proved that the instruments bore date antecedent to the time of the paper being made; and this evidence being conclusive, in spite of the prisoner's arguments that his fortune being ample he had no reason to commit the offence imputed to him, he was found guilty.

He was executed at Tyburn on the 29th August, 1783, being the last person who suffered by the hands of the executioner at that place.

CHRISTOPHER TRUSTY, AND OTHERS.

EXECUTED FOR RETURNING FROM TRANSPORTATION.

The year 1783 crowded the prisons of England to a degree never before known, though the offences of the prisoners were not distinguished by any particular enormity, and were generally devoid of that interest which entitles them to a place in our Calendar.

Of these numerous offenders, one hundred and fifty were proceeding to North America, on board the Swift transport, pursuant to their sentence, when they rose on the captain and crew, in the Downs, on the 30th of August, and, after confining them, got on shore at Deal, and all made their escape.

On this intelligence reaching London, Mr. Justice Blackborow ordered the constables attending at his office to search for the fugitives in the different places of iniquitous resort. Having armed themselves each with cutlasses, Redgrave, Season, and Isaacs, accordingly went to a house in Onslow-street, Saffron-hill, where, in one room, they found five returned transports, two of whom ran up stairs, and escaped by lowering themselves from a back window, by means of the bed-clothes: but the others, arming themselves, one with a poker, another with a shovel, and a third with a clasp-knife, having a blade about six inches long, as with one voice, cried out "Cut away! we shall be hanged, if taken; and we will die on the spot, rather than submit!" All expostulation proving fruitless, the officers attempted to seize them, upon which a dreadful conflict ensued, and many wounds were given and received, but at length the villains surrendered, and were conveyed before Mr. Blackborow for examination. Being asked by the magistrate by what means they had procured their liberty, they acknowledged that they had run the ship on shore; adding, that to recover their liberty was not difficult, as, in compassion of their sufferings, the captain permitted eighteen or twenty convicts to be upon deck at one time, unfettered: that, on the third day of being thus indulged, they (the prisoners), and others who were upon deck, liberated the rest; and, having confined the captain and crew, ran the vessel on the sands, and got on shore in the two long-boats: that no cruelty was exercised upon any part of the crew, nor any property stolen from the vessel, except that some of the convicts obliged the sailors to change clothes with them: that they concealed themselves in hedges and ditches till night, and then took different routes: that they collected half-a-crown among themselves, which they gave to a countryman for conducting them to Rye, whence they walked up to London, where they had arrived but a very short time before they were apprehended.

In the September sessions, at the Old Bailey, Christopher Trusty, and twenty-three others, were capitally convicted of the offence of being found at large in this kingdom before the term for which they were ordered to be transported had expired, and received judgment of death.

Six of the ringleaders, viz. Charles Thomas, William Matthews, Thomas Millington, Christopher Trusty, David Hart, and Abraham Hyams, were selected for immediate execution, and were hanged on the 22d of September, sentence having been passed upon them on the 20th.

No fewer than fifty-four prisoners received sentence of death on the same day, in many of whose cases the extreme penalty of the law was subsequently inflicted.

SAMUEL HARRIS AND JOHN NORTH.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

At the Admiralty sessions, held on the 11th of November, 1784, these men were tried for the wilful murder of John M'Nier, one of the mariners belonging to his majesty's cutter the Nimble, in the service of the Customs.

On the trial it appeared that on the night of the 30th of April last, it being clear moonlight, a vessel was observed at about two miles distance from Deal, hovering or standing in towards the shore, which was supposed to be a smuggler. Lieutenant Bray, commander of the Nimble, being acquainted with the fact, manned three boats, and proceeded to speak to her, and, coming within hail, told them his name and business, which was to board and search her. He was answered by many voices with imprecations, bidding him keep off; and a volley was instantly fired into his boat, whereby M'Nier, one of the crew, received a shot in his right breast, near the pap, of which he instantly died. Lieutenant Bray then proceeded to board the vessel, which proved to be the Juliet lugger, of Deal, (laden with about four hundred tubs or half-ankers of spirits,) but he received another volley: he however persisted, and boarded the lugger, when an engagement began, in which some men fell. North leaped overboard, but was taken, and Harris was found concealed in the hold. He said that he was only a passenger, and had been waiter at the assembly-house at Margate, where he was then going; but unluckily for him he had on a pair of trousers and a seaman's jacket, in the pockets of which were found several musket and pistol balls.

On this evidence the prisoners were found guilty; and on the morning of the 13th, two days after conviction, they were taken from the cells of Newgate, put into a cart, and conveyed to the gallows, which was erected on a platform at Execution Dock, and there executed.

CHARLES PRICE.

CHARGED WITH FORGERY.

The subject of this narrative was born about the year 1730, in London--his father lived in Monmouth-street, and carried on the trade of a salesman in old clothes, and there he died, in the year 1752, of a broken heart, occasioned, it is said, by the bad conduct of his children.

In early life Price exhibited those traits of duplicity, which were manifested in his subsequent career, frequently defrauding his father, and disposing of the property, which he carried off to the Jews, disguised in his brother's clothes. By this means his brother was occasionally chastised in his place, while he escaped unpunished.

The following anecdote of his ingenuity is highly characteristic of his disposition. His father, tired of his tricks and knaveries, put him apprentice to a hosier in St. James's-street, but even here he was unable to restrain his appetite for fraud. Having managed, on the occasion of one of his visits to his home, to carry off a suit of clothes of elegant workmanship, he dressed himself with becoming taste, and, thus disguised, proceeded to his master's shop. Calling himself the Hon. Mr. Bolingbroke, he selected a variety of silk stockings of beautiful texture, undiscovered by his employer, and on quitting the house, he desired that the goods should be sent to him at Hanover House in an hour's time, when he promised that he would pay for them. Being perfectly aware that it would be his duty to carry home the goods, Price immediately stripped himself of his disguise, and, returning to his master's residence, was directed to convey the parcel to Hanover House. He soon came back declaring that Mr. Bolingbroke was out, and that he had left the stockings with the bill; but it being speedily ascertained that they had been lodged with a pawnbroker instead of the supposed customer, and his ingenious scheme being discovered, he was dismissed from his employment.

He had not been long at liberty, before he sailed for Holland, and there assuming the name of Johnson, he obtained a situation as clerk in the counting-house of a merchant, by means of a forged letter of introduction. Having debauched his master's daughter, and carried off a considerable sum of money, he thought it prudent to return to England; but having there soon expended the proceeds of his fraud in dissipation, he was again thrown upon the world.

His wits, however, were not exhausted, nor did they ever slumber long. He determined upon a trial to establish a brewery, by obtaining a partner with money; and as a first step towards it, in the year 1775, he issued the following curious advertisement:--

"Wanted,--A partner of character, probity, and extensive acquaintance, upon a plan permanent and productive. Fifty per cent. without risk, may be obtained. It is not necessary he should have any knowledge of the business, which the advertiser possesses to its fullest extent; but he must possess a capital of between five hundred and one thousand pounds to purchase materials, with which, to the knowledge of the advertiser, a large fortune must be made in a very short time.

"Address to P. C., Cardigan Head, Charing Cross.

"P. S. None but principals, and those of liberal ideas, will be treated with."

To this advertisement the famous comedian, Samuel Foote, paid attention. Eager to seize what he thought a golden opportunity, he advanced the sum of five hundred pounds for a brewery; we need not add, that the sum soon disappeared, and Foote retired from the concern, having gained nothing but experience and disappointment. Price, however, had the impudence to apply to him again, wishing him to unite in the baking trade; but the comedian archly replied, "As you have brewed, so you may bake; but I'll be cursed if ever you bake as you have brewed!"

After this unfortunate business, Mr. Price turned methodist preacher, and in this character defrauded several persons of large sums of money. Advertising in order to get gentlemen wives, he swindled a person of the name of Wigmore of fifty guineas, for which he was indicted; but having refunded a part, he effected his escape.

With astonishing impudence he afterwards again set up a brewery in Gray's Inn Lane; and after various frauds, he became a bankrupt in 1776. Ever fruitful in resources, he set out for Germany, where he engaged in some smuggling scheme, for which he was imprisoned; but he returned to England, having managed to pocket three hundred pounds in the course of his trip. A brewery in Lambeth was then again tried, but ineffectually; and he was afterwards successively a begging-letter impostor and a lottery office keeper; and then he assumed the trade by which he qualified himself to become the subject of remark in the Newgate Calendar. Having leagued himself with a number of adventurers whose business consisted in making and selling forged notes, he entered into their schemes; but, fearful of being himself employed in the dangerous act of putting off the notes, in the year 1780, memorable for the riots in London, he assumed the name of Brant, and engaged a plain, simple, honest fellow, as a servant, whom he converted into the instrument of passing his forged notes without detection. He advertised for this servant, and conducted himself in a manner truly curious towards him. The young man, having answered the advertisement, heard nothing relative to it for about a week. One evening, however, just about dusk, a coachman was heard inquiring for him, saying there was a gentleman over the way in a coach who wanted to speak to him. On this the young fellow was called, and went to the coach, when he was desired to step in; and there he found an apparently old man, affecting the foreigner, seemingly very much afflicted with the gout, as he was completely wrapped up in flannel about the legs, and wearing a camlet surtout, buttoned over his chin, close up to his mouth; a large black patch over his left eye; and almost every part of his face so hid, that the young fellow could scarcely discover a feature except his nose, his right eye, and a part of that cheek. The young man's character was found to suit, and he was engaged; but his surprise may easily be imagined, when on his next seeing his employer, he found him a thin, genteel-looking young man.