Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolitionGriffiths, Arthur
History
Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolition
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
dark and dreadful revenge, and thus the conspiracy in which he was the
prime mover took shape, and came to a head.
The Government obtained early and full information of the nefarious
scheme. One of the conspirators, by name Edwards, made a voluntary
confession to Sir Herbert Taylor one morning at Windsor; after which
Thistlewood and his accomplices were closely watched, and measures
taken to arrest them when their plans were so far developed that no
doubt could remain as to their guilt. The day appointed for the murder
and rising actually arrived before the authorities interfered. It
was the day on which Lord Harrowby was to entertain his colleagues
at dinner in Grosvenor Square. The occasion was considered excellent
by the conspirators for disposal of the whole Cabinet at one blow,
and it was arranged that one of their number should knock at Lord
Harrowby's door on the pretence of leaving a parcel, and that when
it was opened the whole band should rush in. While a few secured the
servants, the rest were to fall upon Lord Harrowby and his guests.
Hand-grenades were to be thrown into the dining-room, and during
the noise and confusion the assassination of the ministers was to
be completed, the heads of Lord Castlereagh and Lord Sidmouth being
carried away in a bag. Lord Harrowby's dinner-party was postponed,
but the conspirators knew nothing of it, and those who watched his
house were further encouraged in their mistake by the arrival of
many carriages, bound, as it happened, to the Archbishop of York's.
Meanwhile the main body remained at their headquarters, a ruined
stable in Cato Street, Edgeware Road, completing their dispositions
for assuming supreme power after the blow had been struck. Here they
were surprised by the police, headed by a magistrate, and supported by
a strong detachment of Her Majesty's Guards. The police were the first
to arrive on the spot, the Guards having entered the street at the
wrong end. The conspirators were in a loft, approached by a ladder and
a trap-door, access through which could only be obtained one by one.
The first constable who entered Thistlewood ran through the body with a
sword, but others quickly followed, the lights were extinguished, and
a desperate conflict ensued. The Guards, headed by Lord Frederick Fitz
Clarence, now reinforced the police, and the conspirators gave way.
Nine of the latter were captured, with all the war material, cutlasses,
pistols, hand grenades, and ammunition. Thistlewood and fourteen more
succeeded for the moment in making their escape, but most of them were
subsequently taken. Thistlewood was discovered next morning in a mean
house in White Street, Moorfields. He was in bed with his breeches on
(in the pockets of which were found a number of cartridges), the black
belt he had worn at Cato Street, and a military sash.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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