The summing-up was brief, but to the purpose. The jury, consisting of three gentlemen, one yeoman, three brewers, a baker, brazier, starch-maker, gardener, and cloth-worker, promptly replied to it, by finding Towneley ‘guilty.’ The colonel heard the word and the sentence which followed, so horrible in its details of strangling and burning, without being much moved. His dignity never failed him; and the crowd through which he returned to his dungeon was less savage, in its expletives, than the loyal press in its comments. ‘The commission from the French king,’ said the ‘Penny Post,’ ‘was treated with the contempt it deserved, and must convince the Jacobites that such foolish and wicked contrivances can have no effect on men of understanding.’ ‘Hear! hear!’ cried the Whig papers; ‘so much for the nominal Colonel!’ While these trials were in progress, a curious enquiry was attracting not a few of ‘the mobile’ to another part of the town. A goodly number of King George’s soldiers were made prisoners by the Jacobites, at the battle of Preston Pans. These had been recovered, but they did not return to the ranks unquestioned. They were compelled to appear, in batches, at Hicks’s Hall, Clerkenwell, to clear themselves from the imputation of cowardice and desertion; and to undergo the rough wit of the populace as they went to and fro. Other soldiers, against whom the above imputation could not be laid, offended in another way. For acts of murderous violence and robbery in the London streets, six soldiers were hung on the same day, at Tyburn. As long as such spectacles were provided, the mob little cared to which side the victims belonged. [Sidenote: _CAPTAIN FLETCHER._] Three prisoners were tried on the following day, July 16th, Fletcher, Chadwick, and Battragh. Maddox, the approver, stated, as in Towneley’s case, that he had expressed a wish to withdraw, but that Fletcher had said: ‘That it would be a scandalous shame to retreat;’ and, added the witness, ‘putting his hand in his pocket, he pulled out a great purse of gold, and told me I should not want while that lasted! I have seen him in the assembly with ladies, he was a chapman and dealt in linen before this affair.’ Bradbury, another witness, said, ‘When the recruiting sergeant had finished his speech, at Manchester, with “God save King James and Prince Charles!” Captain Fletcher pulled off his hat and hallooed.’ For the defence, Anne Aston, an old servant of seven and twenty years’ standing, stated that Fletcher carefully managed his mother’s business at Salford; that he was always loyal, but that the Jacobites had carried him off by force, from the house, and that he went away weeping. It was, however, said that he gave 50_l._ for his captain’s commission. He was found _guilty_, was again put in fetters, and was taken back to prison. ‘I would do it again!’ was his bold remark, as he turned away from the bar. [Sidenote: _THE MANCHESTER OFFICERS._]