Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals Who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining or other offences
The assailant is strangling his victim with a whip-thong; nearby is a typical roadside gallows with two highwaymen dangling from the cross-tree ( From the Newgate Calendar )
To close the scene of all his actions he
Was brought from Newgate to the fatal tree;
And there his life resigned, his race is run,
And Tyburn ends what wickedness begun.
If there be a haunted spot in London it must surely be a few square yards that lie a little west of the Marble Arch, for in the long course of some six centuries over fifty thousand felons, traitors and martyrs took there a last farewell of a world they were too bad or too good to live in. From remote antiquity, when the seditious were taken ad furcas Tyburnam , until that November day in 1783 when John Austin closed the long list, the gallows were kept ever busy, and during the first half of the eighteenth century, with which this book deals, every Newgate sessions sent thither its thieves, highwaymen and coiners by the score.
There has been some discussion as to the exact site of Tyburn gallows, but there can be little doubt that the great permanent three-beamed erection—the Triple Tree—stood where now the Edgware Road joins Oxford Street and Bayswater Road. A triangular stone let into the roadway indicates the site of one of its uprights. In 1759 the sinister beams were pulled down, a moveable gibbet being brought in a cart when there was occasion to use it. The moveable gallows was in use until 1783, when the place of execution was transferred to Newgate; the beams of the old structure being sawn up and converted to a more genial use as stands for beer-butts in a neighbouring public-house.
The original gallows probably consisted of two uprights with a cross-piece, but when Elizabeth's government felt that more adequate means must be provided to strengthen its subjects' faith and enforce the penal laws against Catholics, a new type of gibbet was sought. So in 1571 the triangular one was erected, with accommodation for eight such miscreants on each beam, or a grand total of twenty-four at a stringing. It was first used for the learned Dr. John Story, who, upon June 1st, was drawn upon a hurdle from the Tower of London unto Tyburn, where was prepared for him a new pair of gallows made in triangular manner . There is rather a gruesome tale of how, when in pursuance of the sentence the executioner had cut him down and was rifling among his bowels , the doctor arose and dealt him a shrewd blow on the head. Doctor Story was followed by a long line of priests, monks, laymen and others who died for their faith to the number of some three thousand. And the Triple Tree, the Three-Legged Mare, or Deadly Never-green, as the gallows were called with grim familiarity, flourished for another two hundred years.
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EDITED BY
ARTHUR L. HAYWARD
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INTRODUCTION
VOLUME ONE
THE PREFACE
The Life of WILLIAM BARTON, a Highwayman
ROBERT PERKINS, Thief
BARBARA SPENCER, Coiner, etc.
WALTER KENNEDY, a Pirate
The Life of MATTHEW CLARK, a Footpad and Murderer
The Life of JOHN WINSHIP, Highwayman and Footpad
The Life of JOHN WIGLEY, a Highwayman
The Life of WILLIAM CASEY, a Robber
The Life of RICHARD JAMES, a Highwayman
The Life of JAMES WRIGHT, a Highwayman
The Life of JOHN JONES, a Pickpocket
The Life of WILLIAM COLTHOUSE, a Thief and Highwayman
The Life of WILLIAM BURRIDGE, a Highwayman
The Life of JOHN THOMSON, a thief, Highwayman, etc.
The Life of JAMES BOOTY, a Ravisher
The Life of NATHANIEL JACKSON, a Highwayman
The Life of THOMAS WILSON, a Notorious Footpad
The Lives of ROBERT WILKINSON and JAMES LINCOLN, Murderers and Footpads
The Life of MATTHIAS BRINSDEN, a Murderer
The Life of JOHN LEVEE, a Highwayman, Footpad, etc.
The Lives of RICHARD OAKEY and MATTHEW FLOOD, Street-Robbers and Footpads
The Life of WILLIAM BURK, a Footpad and Highwayman
The Life of LUKE NUNNEY, a murderer
The Life of RICHARD TRANTHAM, a Housebreaker
The Lives of JOHN TYRRELL, a Horse-dealer, and WILLIAM HAWKSWORTH, a Murderer
The Life of JAMES BUTLER, a Most notorious Highwayman, Footpad, etc.
The Life of CAPTAIN JOHN MASSEY, who died for Piracy
The Life of CAPTAIN STANLEY, a Murderer
The Life of STEPHEN GARDINER, a Highwayman and Housebreaker
The Lives of SAMUEL OGDEN, JOHN PUGH, WILLIAM FROST, RICHARD WOODMAN, and WILLIAM ELISHA, Highwaymen, Footpads, Housebreakers, etc.
The Life of THOMAS BURDEN, a Robber
The Life of FREDERICK SCHMIDT, Alterer of Bank-Notes
The Life of JAMES HARMAN, Highwayman
The Life of JULIAN, a Black Boy and Incendiary
The Life of ABRAHAM DEVAL, a Lottery Ticket Forger
The Life of the Famous JOHN SHEPHERD, Footpad, Housebreaker and Prison-breaker
The Life of LEWIS HOUSSART, the French Barber, a Murderer
The Life of CHARLES TOWERS, a Minter in Wapping
The Life of THOMAS PACKER, a Highwayman
The Life of JOHN HEWLET, a Murderer
The Life of VINCENT DAVIS, a Murderer
The Life of MARY HANSON, a Murderer
The Life of JOSEPH WARD, a Footpad
The Life of JOSEPH MIDDLETON, Housebreaker and Thief
VOLUME TWO
THE PREFACE
The Life of ROBERT HARPHAM, a Coiner
The Life of the famous JONATHAN WILD, Thief-Taker
The Life of FOSTER SNOW, a Murderer
The Life of JAMES LITTLE, a Footpad and Highwayman
The Life of JOHN HAMP, Footpad and Highwayman
The Lives of JOHN AUSTIN, a Footpad, JOHN FOSTER, a Housebreaker, and RICHARD SCURRIER, a Shoplifter
The Life of FRANCIS BAILEY, a notorious Highwayman
The Life of JOHN BARTON, a Robber, Highwayman and Housebreaker
The Life of WILLIAM SWIFT, a Thief, etc.
The Life of JOHN GILLINGHAM, an Highwayman and Footpad, etc.
The Life of JOHN COTTERELL, a Thief, etc.
The Life of CATHERINE HAYES, a bloody and inhuman Murderess, etc.
The Life of THOMAS BILLINGS, a Murderer.
The Life of CAPTAIN JAEN, a Murderer
The Life of WILLIAM BOURN, a Notorious Thief
The Life of JOHN MURREL, a Horse-Stealer
The Life of WILLIAM HOLLIS, a Thief and an Housebreaker
The Life of THOMAS SMITH, a Highwayman
The Life of EDWARD REYNOLDS, a Thief, etc.
The Life of MARY STANDFORD, a Pickpocket and Thief
The Life of JOHN CARTWRIGHT, a Thief
The Life of MARY ROBINSON, a Shoplift
The Life of TIMOTHY BENSON, a Highwayman
The Life of ANTHONY DRURY, a Highwayman
The Life of WILLIAM MILLER, a Highwayman, etc.
The Life of ROBERT HAYNES, a Murderer, etc.
The Lives of THOMAS TIMMS, THOMAS PERRY, and EDWARD BROWN, Footpads
The Life of ALICE GREEN, a Cheat, Thief and Housebreaker
An Account of the horrid murder of MR. WIDDINGTON DARBY, committed in his chambers in the Temple, on the 11th of April, 1727, for which one HENRY FISHER was apprehended and committed to Newgate, from whence he escaped.
The Life of JOSHUA CORNWALL, a Thief and Housebreaker
VOLUME THREE
The Life of JOHN JOHNSON, a Coiner
The Lives of WILLIAM RUSSELL, ROBERT CROUCH and WILLIAM HOLDEN, Street-Robbers, Footpads
The Lives of GRIFFITH OWEN, SAMUEL HARRIS, and THOMAS MEDLINE, Highwaymen and Footpads
The Lives of HENRY GAHOGAN and ROBERT BLAKE, Coiners
The Life of JEPTHAH BIGG, an Incendiary, and Writer of Threatening Letters
The Life of BENJAMIN WILEMAN, a Highwayman
The Life of JAMES CLUFF, a Murderer, in which is contained a concise account of the nature of Appeals
The Life of JOHN DYER, a most notorious thief, highwayman and housebreaker
The Life of JAMES DRUMMOND
The Lives of WILLIAM CAUSTIN and GEOFFREY YOUNGER, Footpads
The Lives of HENRY KNOWLAND and THOMAS WESTWOOD, Footpads
The Life of WILLIAM NEWCOMB, a housebreaker
The Life of ABRAHAM ISRAEL, a Jew
The Life of EBENEZER ELLISON, a Notorious Irish Thief
The Life of JAMES DALTON, a Thief
The Life of JOHN DOYLE, a Highwayman
The Life of SAMUEL ARMSTRONG, a Housebreaker
The Life of NICHOLAS GILBURN, a Most Notorious Highwayman
The Lives of JAMES O'BRYAN, HUGH MORRIS and ROBERT JOHNSON, Highwaymen and Street-Robbers
A Relation of the Surprising Discovery of the Murder of MARY BARWICK, committed by WILLIAM BARWICK, her husband, on the 14th of April, 1690, upon which he was convicted, at the Lent Assizes at York, before the Honourable Sir John Powell, Knight, then one of the Judges of Assize
The Life of JACQUES PERRIER, a French Robber and Murderer