James Cromby of London, Wapping.
James Greenham of Marshfield, Gloucestershire.
John Horn of St. James’s Parish, London.
John Jessop of Wisbich, Cambridgshire.
David Rice of Bristol.
None of which, I hear, are now living, two others, viz. George Wilson and Thomas Oughterlaney, were respited from Execution, till his Majesty’s Pleasure should be known; the former dy’d abroad, and the latter came Home, and received his Majesty’s Pardon; the Account of the whole stands thus,
| Acquitted, | 74 |
| Executed, | 52 |
| Respited, | 2 |
| To Servitude, | 20 |
| To the Marshalsea, | 17 |
| Kill'd in the Ranger, | 10 |
| Kill'd in the Fortune, | 3 |
| Dy'd in the Passage to Cape Corso, | 15 |
| Dy'd afterwards in the Castle, | 4 |
| Negroes in both Ships, | 70 |
| Total, 276 |
I am not ignorant how acceptable the Behaviour and dying Words of Malefactors are to the generallity of our Countrymen, and therefore shall deliver what occurr’d, worthy of Notice, in the Behaviour of these Criminals.
The first six that were called to Execution, were Magnes, Moody, Sympson, Sutton, Ashplant, and Hardy; all of them old Standers and notorious Offenders: When they were brought out of the Hold, on the Parade, in order to break off their Fetters, and fit the Halters; none of them, it was observed, appeared the least dejected, unless Sutton, who spoke faint, but it was rather imputed to a Flux that had seiz’d him two or three Days before, than Fear. A Gentleman, who was Surgeon of the Ship, was so charitable at this Time, to offer himself in the room of an Ordinary, and represented to them, as well as he was able, the Heinousness of their Sin, and Necessity which lay on them of Repentance; one particular Part of which ought to be, acknowledging the Justice they had met with. They seem’d heedless for the present, some calling for Water to drink, and others applying to the Soldiers for Caps, but when this Gentleman press’d them for an Answer, they all exclaim’d against the Severity of the Court, and were so harden’d, as to curse, and wish the same Justice might overtake all the Members of it, as had been dealt to them. They were poor Rogues, they said, and so hang’d, while others, no less guilty in another Way, escaped.
When he endeavoured to compose their Minds, exhorting them to dye in Charity with all the World, and would have diverted them from such vain Discourse, by asking them their Country, Age, and the like; some of them answered, ‘What was that to him, they suffered the Law, and should give no Account but to God;’ walking to the Gallows without a Tear, in Token of Sorrow for their past Offences, or shewing as much Concern as a Man would express at travelling a bad Road; nay, Sympson, at seeing a Woman that he knew, said, ‘he had lain with that B—h three times, and now she was come to see him hang’d.’ And Hardy, when his Hands were ty’d behind him, (which happened from their not being acquainted with the Way of bringing Malefactors to Execution,) observed, ‘that he had seen many a Man hang’d, but this Way of the Hands being ty’d behind them, he was a Stranger to, and never saw before in his Life.’ I mention these two little Instances, to shew how stupid and thoughtless they were of their End, and that the same abandoned and reprobate Temper that had carried them thro’ their Rogueries, abided with them to the last.