Litchfield enquirer., 1860-04-05

ton" it is called, of the "new scaffold" a, Newgate. with ten men hanging at once On the 23d of April, 17S5, nineteen me, were executed together, aud not one fo,
 murder Most were hanged for robberie.
 and burglaries, and no less than three for re
 turning from transportation before their time
 had expired. On the 10th of November
 the same year, eighteen were hanged in front of Newgate, and moi one for murder and on b. cembtr l, nine more were hanged, all
 for robberes and burg|nries. Tine bodies of mnrderers, VIC may remark, were almost in. varIably given to the surgeons for dissec- tion-unl.ss ordered to ha.,g in clains-an.] they were publicly exposed to the gaze ol young and ol,! on the iissectinx table of the Surgeons Hall, Old Bailey. .y-
 It was very ancient custom for the bell. man of the parish of St. Sepulclres to 20 beneath the walls of Newgate oil the night prior to the execution of condemned con victs, and ringing his bell, to recite these admontory lines
 | All you that in the condemned hold do lie Prepare you for tomorrow you shall die
 | Watch all, and pray the hour is drawing near That you before tn Almighty must appear Examine we'll yourselves ; in time repent,
 That you may not t eternal flames be sent.
 And when St. Sepuchres bell to morrow tolls, The Lord above have mercy on your souls,
 Past twelve o'clock
 St. Sepnlchre's bell toled on the morning o1 execution, and the cart used to stop be- fore the church, whilst the bclman again did his office by ringing his bell and repeat l''S several lines It would appear, howcy- er, that Il clergyman ought to have been. and originally was, the rccitcr of the verses, for in the edition of S:owe's Surrey of Lon- don. printed in lGl8, we read that Rob rrt Dpue Citizen and Merchant Taylor of London, gave to the parish church of St. sepulchre the summc of $50, that after the several sessions of London, when the prisoners remaine in the goale, as conde demned men to death, expecting execution on the morrow following the clarke the clergy man of the church should come li the night time. and likewise early in the morning, to the window of the prison where they lye, and there ringing certain tots with haud- bell, appointed for the purpose, he doth af- terwnrds Gin most Christian mauner) put them in n"d of their present condition, and rts'l'ng e1erutio,, desiring them to be pre- pared therefore as they ought to be When they are in the Cart, und brought before the wall of the church, there he stuuslcth ready with the >ame bell, and after certain tolvs, rrlesrseth m np:pinted praier, desiring all the people there present to pray for them. Thc beadIe, also, of Merchant TayIor's Hail hath all honest stipend allowed to see that
 It WAS also customary for the cart to stop on its way to Tyburn, that the male- factors m ght be presented with bowl of aIe--t cir last druught on earth. This cus- tom prevailed in the county of York later than any where else and curious anec- dote is told of U sadder of Baw,ry, wio "l lost hs life in consequence of declining the relreshment as had he stopped us usual, his rtpreve, which was actually on the road, would have arrived time enough to have saved him. Hence arose the saying, that the saddlrr of Bawtry was hanged for leav- ing hls ale"
 It is startling to read Of mere boys being hanged for offences which, now a-dnys, would probably bc punished by a few months iul- pr;sunnlent or by seclusIon iu rctormato- ry. Peter M'Cioud aged sirtcen, Was hanged at Tyburu, May 27, I772, for housebreak ing. Another boy not sixteen, was hanged for murder at Wlsbeach, July IS, 1907, and we notice his case on account of the very extraordinary cxpedient used to Tender hum peliitent prlpr to h:s execution. This boy tlnd committed a most atrucious murder at Whittlesea, by killing child age4 twelve, in revenge for the cMld's mother having ac cidvntaliy thrown some wuter over hm
 The hardened young Wretch threatened to murder the clergyman who attended the jail, aud any one else who dared to approach h.u aud so ieroclOus Was hlS conduct, that it was necessary to chain him down, hand aud foot, iu his dungeon, and even then he behaved in frightfui mauIlrr. We will quote what followed in the words of tllu nar- ratiye before ns At length, to prevet the termination of his existeuce in this de- praved state, the expcdicnt was dey.scd of procuring ch,ld about the size of tine one murdered, and similar in feature and dress, whom two clergymcn unexpectedly led be- tween them by thu haiids luto his cell, where !.c lay, sulklly chained to the ground but. on thelr approach, he started, aud seemed 50 completely terrified, that he trelnbled Ill every l'mb, cold drops of sweat proiuscy falling from hum, and was almost nu,uenta- rily in such dreudtuI state of agitation, that he cntrcated the clergyman to continue with him, aud from shat Instant became as contr.te a pen.tent as he had been before culous and inselsible" What would be tine comments of tine press on such an affair as this, had it occurred at the present day
 Tue masller i'll which prisoucrs, both bc- fore aud alter conviction, were allowed to conduct themselves in prison, was disgrace fnl in the extreme. Those who had money, seemed to have lived much the same as though they were m a tavern, treating their felIow-prisoners and the friends who Came to visit them, with dinners and suppers-dri.k being supplied to an extent often sufficient to intux.cate the whole party. We could give many cur,ous anecdotes of the actions
 which various doomed maleractors were per
 nitted to perform. One Avershaw, afte' being sentenced to dcath-which he richi! mcrited-uo sooner got back to prison tha' he procured some black cherries, and divert ed himself by using their juice to paint o' : the white walls of the room in wl:ich he Wal confined, number of sketches of the high Way robberies he had committed "on J representing him running up to the horses . heads of post-chaise, presenting pistu 2 2 ct the driver unother, where he was firin, ut the chaisc a third, where the partie 6 had quilted the carrinre and annthar i;