The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841Pelham, Camden
History
The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841
Pelham, Camden
Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England)
"Preston, if he had not succeeded in taking the Tower, was to barricade
London Bridge, to prevent the artillery coming from Woolwich. He was
then to barricade Whitechapel, to prevent any troops coming from the
country that way; and then when he had a body sufficient, the main body
was to have met at the Bank.
"After this arrangement had been made, Watson calculated how much
combustibles it would take for every avenue, such as sulphur and spirits
of wine, and how much they would cost. He said they would come to one
hundred pounds. Thistlewood said, 'Let us not spare a hundred pounds;
let us roast them well.' Watson replied, that it would burn so rapidly,
and the stench would be so strong, that it would stifle them in a few
minutes. Young Watson and I were appointed to look after a house between
the King-street and the Portman-street barracks to lodge the arms and
combustibles in. We were to take it as an oil and colour shop, so that
no suspicion should be excited as to our receiving the combustibles. The
attack upon the barracks was to have been made on the Saturday night or
the Sunday morning, between the 9th and 10th of the month, as it was
supposed that at that time there would be a great number of persons
about drunk, and the greater confusion would be produced. It was then
arranged that we should have a committee of Common Safety, to be called
together, if we got the better of the soldiers. If the soldiers joined
us, we were to be called together, and to form a new parliament; the
greatest part of the names of the members were mentioned by Watson and
Thistlewood. These were, Sir Francis Burdett, the Lord Mayor, Lord
Cochrane, Mr. Hunt, Major Cartwright, Gale Jones, Roger O'Connor, Fawkes
of Bainbridge, a person named Brookes, Thompson, of Holborn Hill, the
two Evanses, Watson the elder, and Thistlewood. A proclamation was to be
issued immediately we had got the better, announcing that the new
government would be formed immediately, and offering a bounty of 100_l._
to the soldiers if they would join us, or double pay for life, at their
option. Things being thus far settled, and several meetings having been
held at public-houses in Spitalfields, and other places, it was at
length finally determined to call a public meeting to see how many
people could be collected together. The place talked of was Spafields,
and young Watson and some others left the committee sitting, to go and
inspect the ground. They returned saying that it was a famous place,
being so near the Tower and the Bank that they could get into the town
and take them by surprise. A placard was to be posted through the town
and hand-bills were to be distributed, and the bill having been drawn
up, it was read and agreed to, and it was determined that it should be
published in the "Statesman" newspaper immediately, as the meeting was
to be called on the 15th of November. Thistlewood then produced a 10_l._
note to pay for the printing of the bill, and to pay for the remainder
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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