68 THE HISTORY OF THE DORCHESTER GALLOWS. 



eternity. They were probably drawn on hurdles in most 

 places to the gallows ; " sledges " is the name given to the 

 rude vehicles used in Dorchester and Lyme. At Lyme Regis 

 two sets of horses refused to draw the sledge ; they ended by 

 kicking it to pieces, and the prisoners therefore went on foot 

 through the streets. The quarters of 12 men were distributed 

 in Dorchester and the neighbourhood, the head of one being 

 fixed on the spike that till lately was an interesting ornament 

 of the porch of St . Peter's Church . This spike is now preserved 

 in the museum. There is no entry in the Borough Records 

 of any expense connected with the executions ; it was outside 

 their department. But a horrible set of entries is to be found 

 in the Weymouth records ; they are published in Moule's 

 " Catalogue of Charters, &c., of Weymouth and Melcombe 

 Regis." The Mayor of this borough was ordered through the 

 Sheriff to prepare a gallows for the execution of 12 persons. 

 It was erected on or near Greenhill, in the confines of the 

 borough. Thirty -two quarters and six heads were dis- 

 tributed in the villages round, while 16 quarters and six heads 

 were reserved for Weymouth itself. Then the bill of costs 

 is given " Disbursements for the gallows, burning and boiling 

 the rebels executed per order at this town 15 14s. 3d." 

 From the " Western Martyrology " we gather that the ghastly 

 preparations for the final disposal of the bodies went on in 

 the sight of the victims. Roger Satchel, at Weymouth, 

 is described, when delivering his dying speech from the ladder, 

 as " pointing to the wood that was to burn his bowels." The 

 barbarous proceedings conducted at Weymouth were no doubt 

 repeated at Dorchester and at other towns. I notice also 

 in the same book the statement that " some scores died every 

 week of small pox " in the gaol. This, I think, must be an 

 exaggeration, as there is no indication of a corresponding 

 number of burials in our Burial Register. Eighteen only 

 are there entered as " prisoners " at that time. Yet possibly 

 friends who could afford it removed the dead to their own 

 churchyards, all over the country, and a much larger number 

 could thus be accounted for. 



