The Newhampshire gazetteer — Exeter, N.H., 1790-12-18 00:00:00, page 1

From the American Mercury.
Sketches of the Life of Joseph Mountain, *
Negro, who was executed at Ne wbauen, on the
loth da, of October, 1790, for a rape committed ex
the 26th da, of Ma, last.
(Concluded from our lafl.)
FATIGUED with fucha jaunt, End fearing left
too frequent adventures might expose me, £
determined on tarrying a while at home. My horse
was given to another, and he directed to seek for
prey. After one month's absence he returned with
only 16 guineas, and was treated accordingly by
the gang. He was inadequate co the business, arid
was therefore ordered to tarry at home, just to vi6t
the playboufes and (bar, it among people who
might easily be choufed bf their property. Each
took his tower of duty in cburfe / some succeeded ;
others, from misfortune or want 01 Spirit, were dif
grac^d. One young fellcw of the party was about
this time detected at Guilford in„ Surry, tried, con
demned and executed. He made no difeovery ;
4ho' we all trembled. A plan was now in agitati
on to dispatch two or three of the gang to Ports
mouth, to attack some of ihc navy officers— ; t was
finally adopted, and one Billy Coats, a Londoner
and Mountain were Telexed as the most suitable
for the expedition. We mounted our horses on the
next morning, and reached Portsmouth that day,
a diflance of more than 70 miles. We took lodg
ings at an ion kept by a rich o ! d miser. We were
soon convinced that he had cash in plenty, and that
it " was our duty to get it ;" but the difficulty was
shat plan should be concerted. At length, by a
flratafyem which was deeply laid, and faithfully ex
ecuted, we- plundered the old man's house of 300
guineas, and 501. sterling in (hillings and fixpenc^
es. There was a very great clamour raised the
next morning. The house was unrounded with the
populace. The old fellow was raving at a great
rate for his loss of money. I was a fpefldtor of
this colleaign, and now perfectly remember the
chagrin of the old man and his wife. We remain
ed at Porffmouth two days, arid -then returned to
London richly laden,'anJ received the applause of
bur companions. The three following months I
spent in frequenting alehouses, defrauding and
cheating with falfe dice, and praflifing every fpe
ties .of,im petition Which ingenuity Could invent;
or the moft' depraved heart execute.
* 'lnih'e beginning of June 1780, I joined the mob
beaded by Lord George Gordon. This-mbS was
; th'e° refillt of a 'depute between the Papiffs and Pro
feftants. It wri a matter of the mot fovefei^n in
- 'difference td trie, whether the rebellion was just or
unjust : I eagerly joined the fpoft, rejoicing that
an opportunity preferred whereby I might obtairi
eonfiderable .plunder in the general confofion.—
Lord Gorderi represented to us £ in a speech of some
-length, the open attempts upon the protestant reli
,oibn; arid the manner in which the petitions of the
injured had been treated by Parliament. He ex
llotted us all to follow him to the house of commons
and protea him while he fhotfld present, with his
own hand,the parchment roll,containing the names
tifthofe who had signed the petition, to the amount
inf about:120,000 protestants. His speech was an^
hfoered with hrd huzzas, and repeated assurances
:of our zeal to support him and, his cause. Ihc
owhole body of us in number about <O,OOO, left st. !
2©eorgels fields, and marched directly for the Par
-liament house ; We were in four separate divisions.
A most tremendous shout was heard from all quar
.;ten, upon our arrival before- both hoofes; Lord
5 Garden moved that he might introduce the petiti
on: butthe hoofs would not Consent thaj it should
bb^hen taken up., The mob,: became greatly in
flifyed ; they insulted feveraF members of fc house
jirfloMs, who narrowly escaped with their lives/
Several gentlemen of Rarliament reprobated the,
conduit of Lord Geoage:in the fevhreff terms ; and
-.'Col/Gordon, a relation of his Lordship, threaten
ed him with inffant death the moment any of, the
rioters should, enter the house. At length, when
the qceftion was put in the house of commons, in
defiance of the menaces of the mob, only, fix out of
foo hundred voted for the petition. ,<The rioters
now dispersed rhemfelves into,various parts of the
city, deftrarmg and burning the Chapels of the Ro
rnan Catholicks and their -hoofes. The five fuc
ceedin* davs Were employed in demoliming the
.fofes of Sir George Saville, in burning Newgate,
1- nd relieving afatgoouderTona confined in it,,
^ab^nder .fenfence of death) in fating fire to
Kind's Bench and Tlcriprifons, and in innamera
(A•,
Saturday, December Is, 1790.]
The New-Hampshire Gazetteer.
ble other a&s of violence and outrage towards those
who opposed ui. The bank was twice avail
ed, but was too well guarded for our attempts. On
the 7th day we were overpowered by fuperiour forces
and obliged to disperse. During this confulion, I
provided for myfelf, by plundering at different
times, about 5001. sterling.
After leading a life (if such dissipation for five or
fix years, an incident occured which caused me,
for some time, to abandon my former pursuit, and
fettle down in tolerable regularity. 1 became ac
quainted with a Miss Nancy Allingame, a white
gir' of about 18 years of age. She was possessed
bf about 5001. in ptrfoaal property, and a house at
Islington. It may appear singular to many that a
woman of this description (hould be in the lead in
terested in my favour ; yet such was the fad, that
ffie not only endured my society ; but actually
married me in about fix months after our firit ac
quaintance. Her father and friends remonstrated
againf tthis connexion ; but the quitted them all,
and united herfelf to me. My whole residence
with her Was about three years ; during which
time I exhausted all the property which came into
my possession by the marriage. We then separated,
and ihc was received by her father.
In June 1782, having joined Hyde and Wilson;
we determined to quit England and fee if the French
Gentlemen could bear " touching." We accor
dingly crofied at Dover, and at Dunkirk about 7
o'clock in the evening robbed a gentleman of a
bout zoo French crowns. We then proceeded to
Paris byway of Breft# On the fecood evening
after our arrival in this city, we robbed Count
Dillon, on his return from the plays, of a gold
watch and 12 French guineas. The next day a
bout i o'clock in the afternoon, we attacked Go
vernour Du Boyer, at his - country feat, about four
miles from Paris, and took from him about 2001.
in bank bills. Hyde and Wilson performed this,
while I lay about 259 yards distant.
Dispatch in travelling,after such bold adventures,
became very necessary. We immediately quitted
Paris, and rode all night for Havre de Grace,where
we arrived the evening of the next day. Here we
found an advertifement,which prevented our chang
ing the notes and induced us to burn them.
Bayonne was the next obje& of our pursuit. At
this place Hyde robbed two gentlemen in one
night ; Wilson one, and Mountain one—the whole
bfihat evening's plunder amounted to about 5001.
.fferling. France now became dangerous, and
therefore we pulhed with all poflible expedition for
Spain, and arrived at Madrid, the capital, in a few
days. The regulations of this city were such, that
we were obliged to quit the objed of bur pursuit.
.The city was strongly walled in, and most scrupu
lously guarded. The gates were shut every even
ing at 8 o'clock and every man compelled to be
.in hi, own habitation. After spending several
mon hs in rioting on our booty, we went to Gib
raltar. ,We bribed the Spanish centinel, and en
tered the British lines. We appeared beforf ghe
English commander, General Elliot, and inform
ed him we were Englishmen, arid mecbanicks by
prefeffion. The fleet commanded by Lord Howe,
arrived there on the fourth day after us. General
Elliot consented that we should enter on board the
fleet as fearnan. Accordingly I joined myfelf to
the Magnificent of'74 guns; commanded by Capt.'
John Elverfton ; Hyde entered the Victory, Lord
Howe; and Wilson a 74 gun ship, whose name I
do not recoiled. This was in the fall of 1782.
I never saw Hyde and Wilfefa again until fi nee the
peace took place britwen England and the United
States. -I tarried on board the Magnificent about
three months, during which time we had an ea
• gagemerit with the French and Spanish fleets. We
-drove them out of the Straits, funk their jurik ships
1 with hot (hot, and captured the, St, Michael, a
Spanish ftiip of ,4 guns. The Magnificent failed
with the fleet for Spithead, where, diredly after
infy arrival, 1 made my escape from ^er by bribing
the centinel with 5 guineas, and swimming three
quarters of a mile to the Isle pf Wight. From this
, placet went to Lbndon byway of Plymouth. The
41 landlord at the old plate of resort received me ve
ry cordiallyf,
" The business of robbing again solicited my de
tention, and in the fall of the year 1783, as I was
walking in Wapping, in quest of plunder, I acci
dentally fe4l in compan, with my old companions,
Hyde arid Wilson. They had remained in the sea
service ever since we left Gibraltar. We conclud
ed it advifeable to join ourselves to the gang at
Harrifon'i, and resume our occupation. Holland
Published by H. Ranlet, in the Main Street, Exeter.
now appeared an object worth attention. In No
vember 1783, we went to Oftend, and thence to
Amsterdam. On the road through Holland, we
knocked an old Dutchmab down, and took
from him 1100 guilders. The next day about
4. o'clock in the morning, Hyde attacked a mer
chant, and obtained about too guilders ; and the
evening following we robbed four gentlemen of
about 1501. flerling, and three silver watches of
small value. We continued living Very freely at
Amsterdam 4 weeks without effeffirig any thing:
During which period we were preparing to assail
it bank. At length, by the help of various instru
ments, we entered it about 1 o'clock at night. We
found an iron theft which we could not open. We
brought away two bags of gold, 'containing about
I tool, flerling. We buried them about 2 miles
distant, and fuffered them to remain there two
months. The noise relative to the robbery hav
ing by this tin fobfided, we toek our money, en
tered on boaru a vessel bound for England, and
were fafely back in London in the spring of the
year 1784. To invest our cash, &c. in real pro
perty and quit a course of life attended with so
much fatigue and hazzard, was thought the most
eligible plan. In pursuance of this idea, Hyde
bought him an house and lot about four miles from
London. My (hare was joined with Hyde's. Wil
son pufehafed him a situation at Cherry garden
fiairs. Each kept an hatife for the reception of
gamblers, swindlers and footpads.
The rioters who were concerned in Lord Gor
don's rebellion were now daily arrested, tried and
executed. Knowing myfelf deeply concerned in
this mob, and fuppofihg it probable that Moun
tain's turn might come next, I quitted London,
went on board an European vessel, and made a
voyage to Grenada. From this period until Au
gust 1789, I was employed as a sailor; during
fehich time I made two voyages to the cc^tt of
Guinea, and brought cargoes of regroes to Ja
maica; one voyage to Greenland ; one to Leg
horn and Venice ; three to Philadelphia, & one to
St. Kitts. Upon my return from voyages, I fre
quently went from Liverpool to London, and put
up at Hyde's cr Wjfon's. In October 1786, we
committed a burglary upori the house of General
Arnold, who then resided in London. We entered
his house about 2 o'clock at night, with a dark
lanthorn, and, from a bureau in the room where
the General and Lady were asleep, ^e itole about
1501. flerling,. in cash, and a pair of fone shoe
buckles.
In the month of August 1789, I left New-York
in the Briton, with a cargo of bread and flour own
ed by Mr. John Murray, jun. of New-Yo^k, and
went to Bilboa in Spaing The vessel proved leaky
and was fold. Being difeharged, I entered on
board the brig Aunt, commanded by Capt. Tho
mas Moseley, and owned by William Grav, of
Ballon, failed from Bilboa the 7th day of March,
and arrived in Boston the 2d of May last. On the
14th of the fame month I quitted Bolton on foot for
New-York. Or . toy journey, at Eaft-Hartford, I
stole five dollars from the cabin of a flcop lying in
Conneaicut river. ,1 was immediately apprehend
.ed, carried before George Pitkin, Esq. and adjudg
ed to be whipped ten stripes. The sentence was
executed forthwith, and I difmiOed. This was the
firft time I was ever arraigned before any court.—-
No event in my antecedent life produced such mor
tification as this ; that a highwayman of the firft
eminence, who had robbed in most of the capital
Cities in Europe, who had attacked .gentlemen of
the firft distinction with success ; who had escaped
King's bench prison and Old Bailey, that he should
be punished for such a petty offence, in such an
. obfeure part of the country, was truly humiliating.
On the Saturday, envening following, I arrived at
New-Haven. The Wednesday following, being
the 26th of May, about 2 o'clock, in the afternoon;
I fat out for New. York : At the diflance of one
mile, I met the unhappy girl whom I have so wan
tonly injured. She was in company with an elder
Lifter, going into New-Haven. 1 began a conver
sation with them, and attempted, by perfuafiop, to
effed my purpose. They were terrified at my con
; dud, and endeavoured to avoid me. Upon this I
seized theeldelt girl; she, however, struggled from
me. I then caught the younger, and threw on the
ground. I have uniformly thought that the witeef
les were mistaken in (wearing to the cornmiffion of
a Rape : That 1 abused her in a most brutal and
savage manner; that her tender years and pitiable
-Ihrieks were unavailable ; and that ro exertion
was wanting to ruin her, I frankly confab, Hew 4
[Vol. V, — Numb. 228