The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2Griffiths, Arthur
History
The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
carriage came up to him Oxford turned, put his hand into his breast,
drew a pistol, and fired at the Queen.
The shot missed, and as the carriage passed on, Oxford drew a second
pistol and fired again. The Queen saw this second movement, and stooped
to avoid the shot; the Prince too rose to shield her with his person.
Again, providentially, the bullet went wide of the mark, and the royal
party drove back to Clarence House, the Queen being anxious to give the
first news of the outrage and of her safety to her mother, the Duchess
of Kent. Meanwhile the pistol-shots had attracted the attention of the
bystanders, of whom there was a fair collection, as usual, waiting to
see the Queen pass. Oxford was seized by a person named Lowe, who was at
first mistaken for the assailant. But Oxford at once assumed the
responsibility for his crime, saying, "It was I. I did it. I'll give
myself up. There is no occasion to use violence. I will go with you." He
was taken into custody, and removed first to a police cell, thence
committed to Newgate, after he had been examined before the Privy
Council. Oxford expressed little anxiety or concern. He asked more than
once whether the Queen was hurt, and acknowledged that the pistols were
loaded with ball.
A craze for notoriety, to be achieved at any cost, was the one absorbing
idea in young Oxford's disordered brain. After his arrest he thought
only of the excitement his attempt had raised, nothing of its atrocity,
or of the fatal consequences which might have ensued. When brought to
trial he hardly realized his position, but gazed with complacency around
the crowded court, and eagerly inquired what persons of distinction were
present. He smiled continually, and when the indictment was read, burst
into loud and discordant fits of laughter. These antics may have been
assumed to bear out the plea of insanity set up in his defence, but that
there was madness in his family, and that he himself was of unsound
mind, could not be well denied. His father, it was proved in evidence,
had been at times quite mad; and Oxford's mental state might be inferred
from his own proceedings. Among his papers was found a curious document,
purporting to be the rules of an association called "Young England,"
which Oxford had evolved out of his own inflated self-conceit, and which
had never any real corporeal existence. "Young England" was a secret
society, with no aim or object. Its sworn members, known only to Oxford,
and all of them mere shadows, were bound to provide themselves with
sword, rifle, dagger, and a pair of pistols; to wear a black crape mask,
to obey punctually the orders of their commander-in-chief, and to assume
any disguise, if required to go into the country on the business of the
association.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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