The National Register.
London, England, 1816-06-30 00:00:00

SPECIAL COMMISSION.

•
SATURDAY, JUNK 22.—This morning at nine, the Conrt
reassembled? when judgment of death was passed on the fol-
lowing prisouers, who had been con v ifted of capital offences:—
Aaron Chesil!, Richard Jessop,Joseph Easey,Thomasltouth,and
Mark Benton, for burglary in the dwelling-house of Josiah
Dewey, of Littleport ; also Thomas South, William Dann, and
Robert Crab'', for stealing in the dWellin.,e-house of Robert
Spceehley, of Littleport; also James Newell and Isaac Harley,
fur robbery front the person of the Rev. J. Vachell, clerk of
Littleport ; also John Dennis,John Jefferson, and Richard Rut-
ter, for a robbery from the person of Robert Edwards, of Ely ;
also William Beamiss the younger, for robbery from the person
of lingh Robert Evans of Ely: also :%aroa Layton, John Den-
nis, Richard Jessop, William Atkin, Sarah Hobbs, John Micky,
John Cooper, and John Jefferson, for robbery from the person
of William Cooper,of Ely ; also John Dennis, Aaron Layton,
William Atkin, and James Cammell, ter robbery front the per-
son of George Stevens, of Ely; also William Beamiss the elder,
and Aaron Chevill, for robbery front the person of Henry Tan-
aley of Littleport; also Jelin Ensey, John Walker, *Robert
Butcher, and George Crow, for stealing in the dwelling-house
of Rebecca Waddelow and Henry Marlin, of Littleport ; also
William Beamiss the elder, and William Beamiss the younger,
for robbery I.ann the person of Robert Cheeseright, Little-
port.
Mr. Justice Abbott then addressed them to the following tercet
" Prisoners tit the bar—You stand here, t persona in number, a
melancholy example to all who arc here present, and to all your c oun-
t r , of the sad edicts of indulging in those brutal and violent passions
by which you all appear to have been occulted in the comme.sion of
the crimes of which you have been convicted. You seem to have
thought, that by your own strength, and your own threats, you should
net only be able to cippn.wi and intimidate your peaceable neighbours,
but even to resist the strong ant of die law mat: How vain tbat
thouitt, your present situation shows. It was suggested abroad. that
yon hail
beeninduced to perpetrate these violent Outrages, by hard
necessity and want; but, atter attending cloiely and strictly to the
whole totem of the evidence, which has occupied the attention of the
court for several days, there has not appeared in the condition, cir-
cumstances, or behaviour of any one of you, any reason to suppose
that you were instigated by distress. By what motive, or under what
Mistaken advice or disposition, you began to act in the way you did, is
best and minim; only known to God and your own consciences. The
preservation not imly of the good order and peace of society, the pre-
servati..a of life itself, imperioosly calls upon the court to declare, that
many of you nisi expect to undergo the full sentence of the law. It
is some consolatien tothe court to be able to say, that in attending to and
distinguishing the chases of each particular individual, we have found
in many of them circumstances which will warrant us in giving to many
of you &hope that your lives will he owed. The gentlemen of the
jttry have pointed out some of you to our attention: and in se doing
they have acted with that mercitul disposition and accurate discrimina-
tion which they have shown throughout the whole of your trials. Such
of You whose lives may, perhaps, be raved by the crown--that power
.
alone on earth who can save them—must not expect that you shall be
dismissed front your offences without under going some severe punis'i-
mem. Many of you noet expect to be sent away for a greater or
less portion of time, and a few even ter el° whole period of their
lives, from that country wkose peace they have thus disturbed, and
which they have thus disgraced. Human justice, however it may
be administered, as it is always in this country with mercy, requires
that some of you should undergo the full sentence, in order that
others may be deterred from following the example of your crimes.
You William Beamiss the elder, you George Crow, you John I tennis,
you bone Harley. you Thomas South the younger; Itt nie exhort
you to prepare for that sentence: let me entreat you to apply your-
selves, durieg the short remainder of the time which can be allowed to
you in tear , world, by prayer and penitence, to appease that Almighty
power whoo )ou hat* offended: tiddress rm.:wives seriously and
fervently to that throne of girt, ti-onf which licrUsOr you may CAM

163

to find that mercy which cannot be extended to you here. You William
licainisa the elder are a person whose condition in life ought to Lave
taught you to restrain any unruly and turbulent disposition in your less
enlightened neighbours, instead of becoming one of the most forkar4
in the perpetration of those offences which placed your town for .leveral
days in a state of trepidation and alarm. You boasted, however, of your
situation, and took with you your own son to be the partner of your
crimes. Considering his youth, and the influence which voor evil
example may be supposed to have had upon him, he is phseed among
those who are recommended to the mercy of the throne. You ta,a,roe
Crow were one of the number who, at a late hour of the night, brae
into the dwelling of two peaceable individuals against whom you had
no muse of offence. One of them, whose age and infirmities were
entitled to protection and respect, was subjected to your violence and.
plunder: the other had the good fortune to escape fully by Hying from
you. Your offence, therefore, is not merely that of which you have
been convicted: you came there, not with that intention alone, but to
destroy the life of Inc person. You John Dennis are also a per-
son whose condition in life might have taught you to restrain
the wicked passions of others. You endeavoured, on your first
i appearance n this place, to represent to the court, that you had been
compelled by firm to leave the place of your dwelling, and give your
assistance in plundering the inhabitants of this city. The Jury
to whom this representation was referred did even, ou that occasion,
repudiate the evidence: two other trials followed, and you were fiaund
standing forward as the leader of that lawless hand which entered
this city for the purposes of plunder and violence, and armed with
a more dangerous weapon than the rest of your associates. You
Isaac Harley were the first person who assaulted the reverend
minister of your parish at his own door: you stood the first
of that wicked assembly, and demanded money of him: and have
ing ransed that moderato sum he Mired. you enforced from
him the delivery of hie money by your dyer, bodily strengths
forced your way into his dwelling, and compelled him and his tianilf
to fly at that late hour for their lives. You Thomas South the youn-
ger appear to have been one of the most active in those wicked trans.
actions which took place in your town ; von took from one of your
neighbours the savings perhaps of many years; and then proceeded to
mother, and forced him to part wit;i so cli sums as you and your law.
less companions demanded. With a deadly weapon in jour hand. you
afterwards went to tile house of an aged woman, and simok it over her
head. In addition to these outrages, there are no less than four other
eases in which the grand jury of your country have found bills of ine
dictment against you. You then, the five whom I have addressed, Itt
me again exhort you to apply yourselves by peniteuce and,prayer to ob.
tain from Heaven the parden of your crimes. ft now remains for me to
pronounce on each and every one of you the awful sentence of death ;-
end that sentence is, that you and ea.- o of you he takenfrombence to the,
place from whence you came, and from thence to some place of mom-
don, where you are to be hung by the reek until you ere dead. And as
to you William Bearniss the elder, Geerge Crow, John Dennis, Isaac
Harley, and Thome" gout!' the younger, apply to the God of mercy,
that he would have merry on you."
During the whole of this awful sentence the prisoners were
deeply affected, and were taken from the bar ill agony of ea lei.
Joseph Lavender, who lied been convicted of stealing ammo
silver spoons, the property of the Hey. John Vaehell, was then
brought up, and prayed the benefit of clergy, according to .the
statute.

Mr. Justice Abbot addressed the prisoner. He told him that
he had imen found guilty of stealing a part, though a very small
part, of the property of the Rev. J. Vachell.which was carried
away by a most violent and outrageous asiembly. It had not
appeared, however, that he was one of those who first broke
into the house. Had that fact or any thing had:ng to that con-
clusion, been proved against him, the cowl would have been
called upon to pronounce a sentence as severe as the case re-
quired. Considering, therefore, all that bad been brought against
him, and drawing a favourable conclusion, they sentenced hint
to be imprisoned in the gaol of that city for 12 calendar months.

The prisoners who were allowed yesterday to enter into re-
cognizanees for their good behaviour were then brought up am(
di,charged.

The remainder or the prisoners being put to the bar, Mr.
Gurney stated, that he was instructed ou the pert of the Croon
not to preret aaly proseention agairst them. 1 hes were there.
tore immediately discharged by proclaanation. The court the•
rose, and the special commission was concluded.