Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 1: From the twelfth to the eighteenth centuryGriffiths, Arthur
History
Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 1: From the twelfth to the eighteenth century
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
Pope's capture of the highwayman Lewis was outdone by that of William
Belchier, a few years previous, by William Norton, a person who,
according to his own account of himself, kept a shop in Wych Street,
and who "sometimes took a thief." Norton at the trial told his story
as follows. "The chaise to Devizes having been robbed two or three
times, as I was informed, I was desired to go into it, to see if I
could take the thief, which I did on the third of June, about half an
hour after one in the morning. I got into the post-chaise; the post-boy
told me the place where he had been stopped was near the half-way
house between Knightsbridge and Kensington. As we came near the house
the prisoner (Belchier) came to us on foot and said, 'Driver, stop.'
He held a pistol and tinder-box to the chaise, and said: 'Your money
directly, you must not stop; this minute, your money.' I said, 'Don't
frighten us, I have but a trifle—you shall have it.' Then I said to
the gentlemen,—there were three in the chaise,—'Give your money.' I
took out a pistol from my coat pocket, and from my breeches pocket a
five-shilling piece and a dollar. I held the pistol concealed in one
hand and the money in the other. I held the money pretty hard. He said,
'Put it in my hat.' I let him take the five-shilling piece out of my
hand. As soon as he had taken it I snapped my pistol at him. It did not
go off. He staggered back and held up his hands, and said, 'Oh, Lord!
oh, Lord!' I jumped out of the chaise; he ran away, and I after him
about six or seven hundred yards, and then took him. I hit him a blow
on his back; he begged for mercy on his knees. I took his neckcloth off
and tied his hands with it, and brought him back to the chaise. Then I
told the gentlemen in the chaise that was the errand I came upon, and
wished them a good journey, and brought the prisoner to London."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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