CRUEL PUNISHMENT i6i 



hangin;^ half an hour, they placed faggots round her 

 body, and consumed her to ashes. On April 20, 

 1787, fifteen convicts were hung on the new drop at 

 Newgate. Amongst them was Wm. Trapshaw, 

 for breaking open in the daytime the apartment of 

 Jas. Sinney, and stealing a linen gown and an apron. 

 Probably at the present day he would have had a 

 month's imprisonment. Of six criminals left for 

 execution in November 1 799, two were only twenty 

 years of age, two were eighteen, one fourteen, and the 

 youngest only twelve. I have not been able to dis- 

 cover if these children were executed, nor have I 

 ascertained for what crimes they were convicted. I 

 mention them to show how bloodthirsty our criminal 

 law was at this period. As another instance, I find 

 that on December 17, 1799, at the Old Bailey, 

 twenty-six convicts were sentenced to death ! 

 thirty-three to be transported for seven years, seven 

 to be imprisoned in Clerkenwell, five to be publicly 

 whipped, and two to be whipped and discharged. 

 This was indeed a general gaol delivery. 



At the next summer assizes at Aylesbury, Henry 

 Richardson, for robbery at Langley Marsh, and 

 Wm. Brown, for breaking into a house at High 

 Wycombe, were sentenced, and both hung at 

 Gallows Road, Aylesbury; and 'Galloping Dick,' 

 a famous highwayman, was also hung at the same 

 time. Several of these crimes were, doubtless, of 

 great atrocity, but most of them would be considered 

 minor offences at the present day. I have often 

 heard a story, which has never been contradicted, 



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