The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1820-05-02 00:00:00

EXECUTION OF THE CONSPIRATORS.

Last morning the dreadful sentence of the low
was executed upon Thisileseood, lag, 7 idd, Dep.
rime, and Brunt, at the usual place of execut;oss
in front of the Old Bailey. The scaffold was erect-
ed in front of the Debtors' door, but made of larger
dimensions, to admit space for the coffins of the
wretched sufferers, and room for the blocks oos
which, in pursuance of the awful serener for high
treason, the heads of the unhappy sitifei ere were
&collated, after they had remained suspended
hellion hour. At four o'clock in the morning a
number of persons began to assemble ut !he neigh-
borhood of Newgre, and occupy such place, as
they had previously provided in the woo,dons rod
no the tops of the houses in the Old Bailey whiclo
commanded any view, however tolerable. of she
fatal preparations for the execution. A guinea
was., given, without hesitation, for soy place
from *inch a near view of the scaffold could be
had., Every window was filled, and the roofs of
the bosses covered. The exorbitant prices demand-
ed for seats were every where given, and many
houdrgda additional would have been occupied
upon still higher terms, were they attainable for the
applicants who thronged the neighborhood be-
tween the hours of four and six in the rooming.
. .

At five o'clock immense crowds had as.embled;t
the end of Newgate-street and across the space in
front of St. Sepulchre's Church, Fleet-lane, the
Ludgate-hill side of the Old Bailey, and every
avenue which led towards Newgate, presented con.
pact masses of people. A square area of considera-
ble size was railed in before Newgate and enclosed
the site on which the scaffold stood. No person but
constables was permitted to enter within this rail-
ing, the interior of which was nearly filled by
peace officers, and the square flanked by a large
division of life guards. Troops of the same corps
were stationed at each end of the Old _Bailey during
the execution ; they were also distributed in dale.
rent parts of the City, by orders from Lord Sid-
mouth, and provided with stabling and every other
necessary accommodation. A company of dying era
tillery were stationed in the middle of Blackfriars-
road. While these imposing preparations were
making without the walls of Newgate, the necessary
forebodings were observed within for the wretched
sufferers. We understand they oil spent • good
night, and that Thistlewood slept from twelve
o'clock until past four io the morning. They were
severally visited in the course af Sunday evening
by the respectable Chaplain of Nonce, who seri-
ously admonished them to make the usual Chris-
tian preparation* for the awful change which they
were so soon about to undergo; but all, except
Davison, the man of colour, disregarded the sa-
lutary advice of the Chaplain ; the refusal was,
however, conveyed in • respectful manner, and
unaccompanied by any of that wail, boastitle
which would have enhauced the folly of such
indifference. Davison throughout the whole 4.f
Sunday was absorbed in devotional exercises,
and he repeated to the Chaplain the roost:riotous
he received from such a source, and the strong
hopes Ciey inspired him of mercy from his Re.
(termer. lie also prayed devoutly for his Majesty
and the good of the people, forgave his enemies,
but still adhered to a strong bias against the
conduct of his Majesty's Ministers, signiori whose,
however. be disclaimed say personal ill-wills
The other Prisoners, though they unfortunately
deprived themselves of the religious consolation in
which Davison, so happily for himself, indulged.
were nevertheless calm and resigned. At a tittle
after six o'clock lest "owning they were separately
visited by the Chaplain in the cells adj sg the
press-yard. Devisees received the sacrament with
the most fervent expression of humility end dem-
lion ; he clasped his hands together. suit implored
pardon of the Almighty for his transgressions; but
unfortunately his example was still rejected by the
other Prisoners. who avowed themselves Deists, and
declined the proffered assistance of soy Minister of
religion, still expressing their hopes in a belts
state, and declaring their readiness to die in peace
with all mankind. Thistlewood wits offered a•
glass of wine, which he politely declined, but
took a glass of water and a biscuit. 'r he other
Prisoners also took some alight erfrer•liment. At
ftd minutes past seven o'clock the Sheriff. or-
dered the Prisoners to be brought one by one
from their respective cells into the presslard„
to have their irons struck off on a block pre-
pared for the purpose. At this time is nomber of
military officers were in the yard, told sever ) net.
sonagea of rank. We observed Lori/ Alvaiph-y,
Lord Chetwyucl, Lord Montfort, several Members
of the Common Council, several Alit. rotes). the
Under. Sheriffs, Mr. Brown, the Keeler of New.
gate, and some of his assistants. At
o'clock precisely Thistlewood toss I.r..iight front
his cell into tlieTard, by three of Mr. Brown'. men;
he looked thin and pole as on his trial, ors dressed
in the same clothes with his coat buttoned chine up.
He seemed, klheiever, perfectly cool aid
and looked up towards the sky with so uir of great
indifference,; remarking to the pet•oit next hint,
that it Demean fine morning; he bowed re•pret.
fully to Usti -Gentlemen around him, and Ant
his leg Di or block with a firm rarli to have
the irons:srlticb bound his fret tosinvelled. As
the smith.was about to strike them on; an ts.i.
pleasant altercation arose between Mr. Alderman
Wood and Mr. Sheriff Bothwell, the former 41.
vancing towards Thistlewood. and i
to pot
some questions, which the above-named Sheriff re-
sisted, though his colleague. Mr. Sheriff Psi kilo.,
not only justified the course about to b • taken by
Mr. Alderman Wood. but authutised the wuttliy
Alderman to persevere in it.
Mr. Sheriff Bothwell said he lied it responsible
duty to perform, and was astonished that the
worthy Alderman who had served the offices of the
city so diligently, should propose taking a course
calculated to disturb the last motorist,' of a dy tog
man. It was due to that awful moment out t.,
withdraw the unfortunate 0111 U from e sense of h.%
serious situation.

Mr. Alderman Wood persevered in 'iming 111.1
question., which were, when This, irwood first be.
came acquainted with Edwards ? —where ?.....:11,41
whether he ever received any money from turn ?
To these questions Thistlewood replied, that hr
first met Edwards last June at Preston's. and that .
be had occssionallusiceived • little money from lima.
Tidd was nest ht into the yard, and as vows

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us Moieties were struck off, be walked over to Thistles
vibe'', and shook I affectionately by the hood.
Brunt next underwent the same ceremony, and sat
on a seat brought into the yurd fur the to:commode-
tint, of the Prisoner', while they remained there.
logs was then conducted loan the °pr. •s-yard, and
his manor, « or foot molv indtffrrent to his awful si-
tuating", bat full of hardihood ; he 'tared armsful
him with a wild carelessness, and addressed Brunt
and Tloisilewood in familiar terms; Davison was
the last Prisoner brought into the yard ; he read
aloud from a prayersl kin his hand, and after
'perking to 11111 unfortunate compaitions, ejects.
Fated prayers with the utmost fervency. A fier the
~Ink of knocking off the irons had been gone
through, the Poisoners were conducted in the usual
form to the scaffold by the Sheriffs, &c. They
mounted it in the order in which they first came
into the prem-yard.
As soon as 'lhistlewood ascended he bowed to the
multitude with great composure, and addressed a
few words as it were to the people, but they could
he only heard by those immediately near him.
They were in substance that he had endeavoured to
do well for his countrymen, and hoped they would
consider he had done his duty. He observed that
i+e said this with sincerity, now when he bad only a
few minutes to live. It wanted ten minutes to
right o'clock when Thistlewuod ascended the scar
Cold, and the executioner immediately proceeded to
adjust the necessary preparations for launching
butt into eternity. When bogs stepped upon the
rcatliald lie tried to excite three cheers; he set
the example himself, and tried to accompany lois
voice with a motion of his arms as well as lie could
iu their pinioned state, but this melancholy ex-
ample of the 01-reguleted state of his mind no the
awful cooalitiou in which he was !dared, had no
afect upon the immense multitude present, 1111111
surveyed the dreadful spectacle before them with
becoming silence. logs immediately followed his
attempt to cheer, by sioging aloud the two first lines
of the popular song of as Girt me death or libe,ty?"
Tisk] drew the cap over his own eyes, and adjusted
the rope without the aid of the executioner ; Brunt
maintaiiled the Paine composure, and said, he would
rather die a thousand deaths than live in slavery.
Davison appeared absorbed in devotion. and parti-
cularly attentive to the conversation of the Chap-
lain ; his step was firm and his manner perfectly
composed and resigned. The preparatory busi-
ness of the executioner lasted nearly a quar-
ter of an hour, the fatal drop then fell, and
the wretched sufferers were lempelied into eter-
nity at five minutes past eight o'clock. The
struggles of lugs and Brunt acre protracted fur
several minutes, the other Prisoners seemed to die in
almost a moment.

After the bodies were suspended for 35 minutes,
They were cut down and let fall into the cuthirs
prepared for them. One of the executioners then
proceeded to carry into effect the remainder of the
dreadful sentence, by cutting off the heeds from
the bodies. This was performed by a man dressed
in sailor's clothes, with his face covered with black
craw!. He commenced by raising Thistlewourl's
lardy and placing it on the block ; he then severed
the head horn the body with anatomical adroitness
with a large knife, wed then held it up in his hand,
proclaiming it by mime the head of it traitor. The
same dreadful ceremony was gone through in suc-
cession with the four other heads. The whole
business of the execution occupied shout three-
/patters of an hour. The bodies were then remov-
ed into the gaol.
The immense crowd shortly after separated.
During the awful ceretnony, several persons
climbed on the railings opposite St. Sepulchre's
Church, which, in consequence of the pressure,
gave way, together with the wall attached to them,
nod covered several persons, who were very much
briai.rd. One maii, named Bandies, was carried to
St. Bartholomew's Hospital, seriously hurt. Fur-
tuuately no other accident occurred.

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