[RIDDELL] CANADIAN STATE TRIALS 397 
course in making his own defence not very judicious and left the case 
fairly to the jury. 
The jury returned in about twenty minutes with a verdict of 
guilty, and that “he had no goods or chattels, lands or tenements at 
the time of Felony and High Treason by him committed or at any 
time since to their knowledge” (15). 
The Attorney General at once moved for judgment of death: 
Counsel for the prisoner moved in arrest of judgment on two grounds 
(1) that the Statute under which the prisoner was convicted was a 
local Statute applying only to England and (2) that the Indictment 
did not state that the prisoner was a subject of the King. Both points 
were argued at length with much citation of authorities (16),but the 
motion was hopeless and was promptly refused. 
The prisoner was again asked to say why he should not be sentenc- 
ed to death; he had ‘nothing more to say,’ and the dread sentence 
was pronounced by Chief Justice Osgoode: “That you David McLane 
be taken to the place from whence you came and from thence you are 
to be drawn to the place of execution, where you must be hanged by 
the neck but not till you are dead; for you must be eut down alive and 
your bowels taken out and burned before your face; then your head 
must be severed from your body which must be divided into four 
parts and your head and quarters be at the King’s disposal; and the 
Lord have mercy on your soul.” (17). 
On motion of the Attorney General, the Court appointed Friday, 
July 21st, as the day of execution, and the proceedings closed. 
“This important trial commenced at seven o’clock in the morning, 
was concluded at nine in the evening and was attended by the most 
numerous audience ever assembled in Quebec.” 
On Friday, July 21st, McLane was taken from the common gaol, 
placed upon a hurdle and drawn to the glacis without the Garrison 
wall where a gallows was erected; he was accompanied by the Sheriff 
and Peace Officers, a military guard of fifty men and a great multitude 
of spectators. The procession arrived at the gallows about a quarter 
to ten; McLane dressed in white linen grave clothes and wearing a white 
cap at once rose up from the hurdle and attended by the Rev. Messrs. 
Mountain and Sparks engaged for several minutes in fervent prayer. 
He then informed the executioner that he was ready and was directed 
by him to mount the ladder which he did immediately, descending 
a step or two on the executioner’s direction; he then addressed the 
spectators; ‘“This place gives me pleasure, I am now going where I 
have long wished to be and you who see me now, must follow me in a 
short time, some of you perhaps in a few days; let this be a warning 
to you to prepare for your own death.” Then he addressed the 
Sec, I & II, Sig. 6 
