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)
Thistlewood having been first called upon to ascend the gallows, he did
so with much alacrity, and he was immediately followed by Tidd, who
shook hands with all his companions, except Davidson, who was standing
apart from the rest. At the moment he was going out Ings seized him by
the hand, exclaiming with a shout of laughter, "Come, give us your hand;
good bye," but the remark was coldly received by the unfortunate
convict, who dropped a tear, at the same time making some observation
with regard to his "wife and daughter." Ings, however, with the most
astonishing degree of levity, cried out "Come, my old cock-o'-wax, keep
up your spirits, it will be all over soon," and Tidd appeared to squeeze
his hand, and then attempted to run up the steps to the scaffold. In his
haste and agitation he stumbled, but he quickly recovered himself, and,
with a species of hysterical action, jumped upon the stage, and there
stamped his feet as if anxious for the executioner to perform his
dreadful office. He was received by the gazing multitude with loud
cheers, which he acknowledged by repeated bows. While the executioner
was fixing the fatal noose he appeared to recognise a friend at an
opposite window, and he nodded to him with much ease and familiarity of
manner. He repeatedly turned round and surveyed the assembled mob; and
catching sight of the coffins, which were ranged behind the gallows, he
smiled upon them with affected indifference and contempt. While waiting
for the completion of the preparations for the execution of those whom
he had left behind him in the press-room, he, as well as Thistlewood,
was observed repeatedly to refresh himself by sucking an orange; but
upon Mr. Cotton's approaching him, like that prisoner, he rejected his
proffered services.
Ings was the next who was summoned, and while on the scaffold he
exhibited the same indecent levity of manner which he had shown in the
press-room. He laughed while he sucked an orange, and on his being
called, he screamed with a sort of mad effort,
"Oh! give me Death or Liberty!"
to which Brunt, who stood near him, rejoined, "Ay, to be sure: it is
better to die free than to live like slaves."
On being earnestly and charitably desired to turn their attention to
more serious subjects, and to recollect the existence of a God, into
whose presence they would soon be ushered, Brunt said, "I know there is
a God;" and Ings, agreeing to this, added "that he hoped he would be
more merciful to them than they were then."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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