90 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



mittee to receive subscrijjtions 5 

 books accordingly were opened, 

 and the name of Loid Ga:iibier 

 was put down for the sum of ten 

 guineas. 



28. E!i/, Friday noon. — At nine 

 o'clock this morning the Oidi- 

 nary performed his last religious 

 offices in the gaol with the pri- 

 soners under sentence of death ; 

 and al)Out half an liour after, 

 John Dennis, George Crow, Wil- 

 liam Beaniis the elder, Thomas 

 South the younger, and Isaac 

 Harley, were brought out in a 

 cart covered with black cloth, to 

 be conveyed to the usual place of 

 execution. 



The procession reached the 

 fatal spot about eleven o'clock. 

 When the malefactors reached the 

 platform, they knelt down seve- 

 rally, and prayed fervently with 

 the ordinary for a considerable 

 time ; after this, John Dennis 

 addressed the spectators, and de- 

 clared tliat they had all confecscd 

 the crimes for wiiich they were 

 about to suffer ; he then, with a 

 loud voice, said, " he hoped all 

 who heard him would take ex- 

 ample by their fate, aad particu- 

 larly exhorted them to shim 

 drunkenness, whoredom, and sab- 

 bath-breaking, which had brought 

 them all to that untimely end." 

 The whole then prayed again for 

 some time, when, on a signal 

 given, the drop fell, and they 

 ■were launched into eternity al- 

 most without a struggle. After 

 hanging the usual time, the bo- 

 dies were put into coHins, and 

 given to their friends for inter- 

 ment. Harley, before he left the 

 gaol, discovered a wovnid in his 

 side, w'nich he had received in the 

 affair at Littleport, and lamented 



that his having three waistcoats on 

 prevented his death on that day. 

 He said, he died the death he ex- 

 pected. South confessed that his 

 case covdd not have been pardon- 

 ed ; Crow denied any intention 

 of murdering Mr. Martin, but was 

 checked by Dennis, who said — 

 Yes, yes — he would have been 

 murdered, had he been found" — 

 meaning by this that he saw the 

 temper of the mob, which he de- 

 clared he endeavoured to restrain ; 

 and he added, that he gave Mr. 

 Martin warning to keep out of 

 the way. Beamiss acknowledged 

 his general guilt ; but denied the 

 words imp\ited to him by Tans- 

 ley ; and at the gallows he called 

 out, " I forgive Mr. Tansley that 

 he swore falsely against me." The 

 drop fell as he was pronouncing 

 these words. Dennis and he were 

 the most awakened ; South was 

 the most violent in his gesticula- 

 tions, but all were resigned. 



The bodies of the five unhappy 

 sufferers were committed to the 

 care of the cliief constable, who, 

 at the express wish of their rela- 

 tions, provided a house to de- 

 posit them in, where they were 

 decently and respectfully laid in 

 their coffins, attended by four 

 constables, imtil the funeral took 

 place on Saturday evening, wlien 

 they were carried to church in the 

 following order: — A company of 

 singers from Littleport walked 

 before, singing the 104th Psalm 

 through the street to the church : 

 next the Chief Constable and Mr. 

 Barlow, keeper of the prison, 

 with their staves of office, covered , 

 with black, and themselves also 

 diessed in black ; then followed , 

 the corpse of Beamiss, being the 1 

 elder ; next his relations ; the other 



four 



