State Trials, Political and Social. Volume 1 (of 2)
History
State Trials, Political and Social. Volume 1 (of 2)
Trials -- Great Britain
On the 19th of January Col. Turner and William Turner made a confession
as to their share in the crime. From this it appears that the burglary
was planned entirely by Col. Turner, and was committed by him, his son
William, one White, a solicitor, and an unnamed friend of White's. Col.
Turner procured an impression of Tryon's door-key in wax, and had
another key made to the pattern. By means of this all four men entered
Tryon's house about nine o'clock, and having bound and gagged Tryon,
stole his keys, opened the doors of the counting-house and the
warehouse, found the keys of his iron chest, and took the money and
jewels out of it. How much money or how many bags they took does not
appear, but everything was taken to a house in Duke's Place, from which
Col. Turner fetched away the money and the jewels to his own house the
next morning. The money was still in his house when it was searched by
the constable and the marshal on Friday night. William Turner was to
have £100, and White and his friend £20 a-piece for their pains. Neither
Mrs. Turner, John Turner, or Ely Turner knew of the robbery, but they
helped to move the money on Saturday morning. On being asked on Saturday
morning where the jewels were, Col. Turner said he had given them to
White at six o'clock that morning.
Col. Turner afterwards restored the carcanet, the only jewel which he
had not restored before.
On the same day in the evening he was condemned to be hung.
On the occasion of his execution, two days afterwards, he made a dying
speech of some length. After admitting the justice of his fate, and
declaring that he died in peace with all the world, he said--
Truly it is my sins, and the greatness of my sins hath brought
me hither, and the greatest sin that troubles me, and lies on
me, is that sin which I was much addicted to, and that was the
sin of profaneness, of blaspheming God, of taking his name in
vain. I never heard any man or woman, or whatever they were,
swear in my life but I did tremble for them, to hear them; for
keeping company with men of honour (they were men of quality,
though that was an ill quality in them) was the occasion of it I
never kept company with any poor, base, inferior people, with
any thief, or any suchlike base person in all my life, but fled
from them and avoided them till this accident. As I was telling
you, for that great sin of swearing; keeping company with
persons that did swear, I did get a habit of swearing, though I
hated it and loathed it, when I observed it in myself, and yet,
may be, did it again, forgetting presently, and not observing,
being of a hasty nature.
He then goes on to say that his sons were innocent of the present
matter, and asks the sheriff to procure their liberation from prison,
which he promises to do if he can. He laments the present state of the
world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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