The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 1/2

THE GRE

wgate for life-Parliament growing more powerful insists of execution of six Jesuits suffered to linger on in Newgate-Irish rebels taken on high seas, in Newgate-Also offenders against plague ordinances, and against religion or morality-Strange news from Newgate-Interior of gaol-Condition of prisoners-Fanatical conduct of keeper-Nefarious practices of turnkeys-They levy black mail-"Coney catching" described-Several cases of such swindling-C

ance continued to breed persecution. All sects which differed from that professed by those in power were in turn under the ban of the law. The Romish priest still ventured into the hostile heretic land where his life was not worth a minute's purchase; Puritans and Nonconformists were committed to gaol for refusing to surrender their hete

ry and espionage.[49] "William Richardson, a priest of Seville College (the date is 1603), was discovered to the Chief Justice by one whom he trusted, and arraigned and condemned at Newgate for being a priest and coming to England. When examined he answered stoutly, yet with great modesty and discretion, moving many to compassionate him and speak against the Chief Justice, on whom he laid the guilt of his blood." He was executed at Tyburn, hanged and quartered, but his head and quarters were buried. "Such spectacles," says the writer, Ant. Rivers, to Giacomo Creleto, Venice, "do nothing increase the gospel...." A further a

sy with his prisoners. Questions are suggested to be put to him, examining him as to his connivance with recusants, and allowing them to escape or enjoy great liberty. In 1611 Sir Thomas Lake writes to Lord Salisbury to the effect that the king is resolved the keeper of Newgate shall be very severely punished for allowing reverence to priests and masses to be said in the prison.[51] It was evident they were permitted some license, although contraband, for Se

before the council when he shall be thereunto called. He has given security to that purpose; we therefore command you to set him at liberty." The queen herself at times personally applied for the release of prisoners confined in Newgate for matters of religion. Often priests committed escaped incarceration, and were found to be at liberty after arrest. But it was not always easy to obtain enlargement when once laid by the heels. Here is the petition to the queen (State Papers, May 1634) of Thomas Rey

, and stating his readiness to do any penance the council may command, beseeches to know what his punishment may be." His long imprisonments in Newgate and elsewhere have "stript petitioner, even of clothes from his back, and from that of the bearer of the letter, his lame child." He prays that he may be forthwith either banished according to their order of the 28th October of the 5th King Charles (1630), or be allowed close prisoner in some other place where he may have some allowance to preserve him from starving. Six years more pass, and again (1639) he petitions the council, stating that there was neither legal warrant for his commitm

es, and thinking they belonged to the Earl of Dorset, went to the Old Bailey, where Lord Dorset was sitting on the bench, to deliver them up. "One Barnes was to be tried," states Coleman subsequently in a petition, "and there was some one there to beg his estate, whereupon the Earl of Dorset committed the prisoner (Coleman) to Newgate, where he has been ever since detained, and could not bring the writings to the secretary;" "prays that he may be allowed to come to him for that purpose." Christopher Crowe, a prisoner in Newgate, and another victim to the oppression of a great noble, about the same date (1632) petitions the council: "I am in great misery," he says, "having no friends nor means." For six weeks he has had for his allowance but a halfpenny in bread one day and a farthing's wort

of Furnival's Inn, or to the sheriffs of London, to take the shed away. Next comes a greater personage, John Andrews, the Mayor of Sudbury, who has unhappily fallen foul of a messenger of the Star Chamber named Potter. This messenger came to Andrews with a warrant claiming his assistance for the apprehension of certain unlicensed dealers in tobacco in Sudbury, to which warrant he "gave due obedience." Potter was presently himself brought before the mayor, "accused of many blasphemies and oaths," and for compounding for money with the culprit who had unlawfully tr

to Newgate by the Lord Mayor and court of aldermen, "according to their oaths and the custom of the city." For this they were sharply repr

e cause of his being detained so long in prison, where he has been kept a year next April without coming to his answer. Thinks they have forgotten him. If he be a false prophet and a blasphemer and a seducer, as most people report that he is, the high commissioners would do well to bring him to trial. What he wrote before he came into prison and what he has written since he will stand to.... If he does not get his answer this summer he intends to complain to the king, believing that it is not his pleasure his subjects should suf

were saved from execution by the prince's return [with Buckingham from Spain?] on that day. They pester the gaol, which is already reported crowded, this hot weather, and would do better service as soldiers if pardoned, 'for they would not dare to run away.'" A warrant is made out June 5, 1629, to the sheriffs of London to deliver to such persons as the Swedish ambassador shall appoint forty-seven persons, of whom one was Elizabeth Leech-was she to be employed as a sutler or vivandière?-being prisoners condemned of felonies, and remaining in the gaols of Newgate and Bridewell, who are released "to the end that they may be employed in the service of the King of Sweden"-Gustavus Adolphus, at that time our ally. There are numerous entries of this kind in the State papers. Sometimes the prisoners volunteer for service. "John Tapps, by the displeasure of the late Lord Chief Justice and the persecution of James the clerk and one of the keepers,[54] has been kept from the benefit of the pardon which has been stayed at the Great Seal. Begs Lord Conway to perfect his work by moving the Lord Keeper in his behalf, and in the mean time sending some powerful warrant for his employment as a soldier." Certain other convicted prisoners in Newgate, who had been pardoned in respect of the birth of Prince Charles (Charles II.), petition that they are altogether impoverished, and unable to sue out their pardons. They pray that

ship-money. "Some pay and many refuse; but such as do refuse he requires to enter into a recognizance of so much money to attend the council. Three citizens stand committed to Newgate, not because they refuse to pay ship-money, but because they refuse to enter into bond to attend the Board to answer their not paying the same. Divers others refused, and were sent to Newgate; but upon better cons

e heard that Prague is taken, and goodman Palsgrave and goodwife Palsgrave (Elizabeth) have taken to their heels and run away." This puerile, gossip seriously occupied both houses of Parliament, and eventually the Lords awarded and adjudged that Edward Floyde be deemed an infamous person, incapable of bearing arms as a gentleman, whose t

fied tranquillity." Parliament had also petitioned that "execution might be imposed upon" these priests; but the king would not condescend thereunto till his further pleasure, "whereupon they (the Jesuits) have continued secure in Newgate ever since, one man being solely excepted, viz. Goodman, who died last Good Friday, and at once deceived both Gregory[56] and Tyburn." But the Parliament was at this date too near its rupture with the king to submit to be thus put off, and re-petitioned, stating "these Jesuits were an obstacle to their assiduous proceedings;" and His Majesty replied that if they were "the obstruction and hindrance of reformation in the Church they migh

e detained, "and still continue in prison." The court was to examine them further; but as this did not come off, the Parliament would, it was thought, censure them. These, found to be ten in number, five of them friars, four soldiers, and one a pilgrim, were at length examined "before a committee in the court of wards, who dema

ia doing pena

as to the oath of supremacy, he replied that he was an ignorant man, and did not understand what it meant." Three of the others could not speak a word of English, whereupon the master did interpret what they spake. "It seems by the expo

e and brought a quantity of salted fish to the door for sale. Yet all the time Susan Wheelyer, a maid-servant of Smith's, was shut up in the house infected with the plague. Smith had unlawfully abandoned his house. Fenn was apprehended and shut up with the late infected servant under a better guard. "I have committed the warder," says Sir William Slingsby, who makes the report, "and commanded the fish to be carried in again, and the doors locked and guarded.... Thes

for the prevention of the spreading of infection. Diligent circumspection was to be used to prevent the removal of goods or persons from London or Westminster to other towns and villages, or up and down the Thames; als

his was in 1638. Another story of the same kind, but with a different issue, is of the same date. George Harrison in Newgate petitions the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lords of the High Commission Court for enlargement. A certain John Cock had, it appears, discovered the incontinent life of John Thierry and Ursula Baythorpe. The latter offered Cock ￡27 to be silent, which he was willing to accept, and went with the petitioner Harrison to a tavern, the place appointed for the handing over of the money. But they fell into a trap, and were arrested at the tavern; thence they were carried to the Compter and committed to Newgate. Afterwards at a sessions they were indicted, and, on the testimonies of the merchant and the said Ursula's sister and her husband, were whipped three times to the pillory, where they s

nded and carried before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, where he was examined seriously and at length, although no doubt a religious lunatic." He was asked whether he had worked miracles, whether he was married, ... "with divers other arguments objected against him, which he was not able to answer, but remained obstinate in his devilish and satanical opinion." But after some time spent upon his examinatio

ng with a petition about their fens; "for the losing of the fens would be the losing of their livelihood." Upon this Powell was summoned before Mr. Justice Goodrick, but denied the charge. Next day Mr. Goodrick, going into the market-place, found a crowd there with cudgels in their hands, and Powell with them. Powell, interrogated, asked whether the king's market was not open to all, and rejoined his company. As the result of these disturbances, Powell was arraigned and sentenced to a fine of ￡200, and to be imprisoned, and "now lies in execution for the same. Since his removal from the prison at Ely to Newgate, the poor people are very quiet and in good order." Powell from his

begs at the same time her protection for person and estate from any claims in regard to the pretended marriage. Knights of the road have already begun to operate; they have already the brevet rank of captain, and even lads of tender years are beguiled into adopting the profession of highway robber. Counterfeiting the king's or other great seals was an offence not unknown. A Captain Farrar is lodged in Newgate (1639), accused of counterfeiting His Majesty's signature and pri

o their long home. The magistrates who think them unfit to breathe their native air when living bury them as brethren when dead." All kinds of robbery and oppression were practised within the precincts of the gaol. Inside, apart from personal discomfort, the inmates do much as they please. "There are seditious preachings by fifth monarchy men at Newgate," say the records, "and prayers for all righteous blood." Some time previous, when the Puritans were nominally the weakest, they also held their services in the prison. Samuel Eaton, a prisoner committed to Newgate as a dangerous schismatic, is charged with having conventicles in the gaol, some to the number of seventy persons. He was, moreover, permitted by the keeper to preach openly. The keep

t have been a cause of continued extortion, although those who pandered to the cupidity of the bar-keepers occasionally got into trouble. Sir Francis Mitchell, we read, was sent on foot and bareheaded to the Tower on accoun

oop, having two saucer-like eyes, and an iron chain about his neck. The public-house must be a well-customed house where such a porter keeps the door and calls in company." The writer enters it and describes the scene. He finds "English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Dutch, and French in several rooms; some drinking the neat wine of Orleans, some the Gascony, some the Bordeaux. There wanted neither sherry sack nor charnico, paligo nor Peter Seeme, amber-coloured canary or liquorish Ipocras, brown beloved Bastard, fat Alicant, or any quick-spirited liquor that might draw their will into a circle...." Not desiring to mix with such company, the writer sat himself and called for his "whole pint" alone. Presently he was joined by a "poor thin-gut fellow with a face as red as the gilded knobs of an alderman's horse-bridle, who as it seemed had newly come out of limbo." The two treated ea

as a new art. Three parties were needed to practise it, called respectively the setter, the verser, and the barnacle; their game, or victim, was the coney. The first was the decoy, the second was a confederate who plied the coney with drink, the third came in by accident should the efforts of the others to beguile the coney into "a deceit at cards have failed." In the end the countryman was completely despoiled. Later on there was a new nomenc

him an angel to spend in drink, and I will undertake we will not see you at this time." The stranger, however, would not be imposed upon, and said they were coney-catching knaves, and that they should not wrong him in any respect. "Whereupon the two sent for a constable, and charged the other with felony. The constable, recognizing the two as officials, took the stranger into custody and deprived him of his weapons. Then the two told the constable they would be answerable for his prisoner, and took charge of him. Now mark what followed. As these two knaves

nded, the reckoning was called for, the shot paid, and, all things discharged, the coneys would fain have been gone. "But one of the knaves said nay: ... thus it is, such a man was robbed within this week, and hath got out a warrant for you by name. He hath lost ￡10; now, if you will restore the money, and bestow xx shillin

f was to be paid to the man in the moon, for I dare take it upon my death neither

this time the cut-purse is afraid, but for that time he scapeth their fingers. After this the swindler makes it his business to seek out the victim of the robbery, and on discovering him, promises that if he will only be guided by him he will help him to most of his money again. The honest fellow, a countryman, delighted, offers "at first word" one half to get other half back, the whole amount being ten pounds. "Then away goeth the coney-catcher to a justice," from whom he obtains a warrant to take up all suspected persons. The warrant obtained, the coney-catcher is as "pleasant as a pie," and with his countryman spend some time drinking a pottle of wine, after which the turnkey takes leave of his client, who goes to his lodging, and "the coney-catcher about

eth him that these which he had apprehended did none of them cut the purse, and for that he hath gotten knowledge who did, he desireth

ut-purse to confess nothing, "what proof soever come against him," assuring him further, that the man who lost the money, although sore bent against, "yet he will partly be ruled by him, H." But the arrest is made; the thief is conveyed to Newgate, and there, by way of welcome, a good pair of bolts and shackles are clapped upon his legs. Then H. sends for the countryman, telling him the good news that the thief is taken and in limbo; and together they go before the justice, to whom H. "signifieth how the case standeth,

ainst him; that if he may have his money again he will presently go out of town." The cut-purse, taking H.'s hand (as witness) that no man shall give evidence against him at the sess

ceed no further against the party, he hath it to pay him; marry he will not be known to the countryman, but that he had that mon

h but three pounds ten shillings, whereas the coney-catcher by this account hath got at one hand and another very near forty marks. The money shared, the countryman t

isoned. It is a petition[59] which was presented to Parliament by Colonel Goret, who had commanded some of them in France. The petition sets forth that Daniel Dalley, master of a small barque, of "Kinsaile in Ireland," had been freighted, about the 10th November, 1641, out by two gentlemen, merchants of Kingsale, with beef, tallow, and hides for "St. Mallowes in France." There these commodities had been "vended," and the same merchants laid out their money in wine and fruits to freight the vessel home again. "All being done, and they ready to set sail, the governor (of St. Mallowes) sent a command to Daniel Dalley the master, that he should take nine gentlemen with him, which should pay for their passage." "By reason of the troubles,"[60] the master refused; but Dalley was obliged to take them on board, under threat of commi

d grave consideration for the better satisfaction of the kingdom, as for the prevention of such dangers as might follow from their landing in Ireland, made an order to bring the prisoners to London for examination. This was done with all proper precaution. Each sheriff saw to their safe conduct in his own county, "not suffering them to go together, but the commanders to be kept away from the rest."

Goret, till they were disbanded, and resolved to return home. They were, however, detained at Saltcombe, in the county of Devon, where they were imprisoned and their goods seized. Since then they had lain in Newgate, 'where they are liable to remain in great misery, to their loss of time, and utter destruction and ruin.' They begged, therefore, that they might be 'forthwith convented before the honourable assembly to answer their charge,' and having proved their loyalty, might be restored to their former liberty and fort

erties of the free commoners of England, confirmed to them by Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, and the Act for the Abolishment of the Star Chamber." Overton was therefore emboldened to refuse subjection to the said House. He was adjudged guilty of contempt, and committed to Newgate, where he was seemingly doomed to lie until their lordships' pleasure shall be further signified, which "may be perpetual if they please, and may have their wills, for your petitioner humbly conceiveth that h

alling in question their power. For this, although he had already done good service to the Parliamentary cause and had earned the grade of Lieutenant-Colonel in the field, he is first questioned, then sent to Newgate. He dates from thence, in 1646, a letter to Mr. Wollaston, the keeper of Newgate, or his deputy. He states that he has seen a warrant commanding the keeper to produce him before the House of Lords, but that the warrant expresses no reason why he shoul

, take this for an answer, that I cannot, without turning traitor to my liberty, dance attendance to their lordships' bar, being bound in conscience, duty to God, myself, thine, and my country, to oppose their encroachments to the death, which, by the strength of God, I am resolved to do. Sir, you may, or cause

fair-conditioned prisoner

Lilb

the press-yard of Newg

at the Sessions House, where he most courageously defended himself from Mr. Stale, the recorder's, violent assaults with his old buckler, Magna Charta, so that they have let him alone." "Freeborn John" was so popular with malcontents of all shades of opinion, that the authorities, from Oliver Cromwell downward, were really afraid of him. Oliver professed to be enraged against him, and anxious for his punishment, yet he privately paid him a pension equal to the pay of a Lieutenant-Colonel, and, as Thurloe says, "thought the fellow so considerable, that during

t is said that, but for the vigorous action of Fairfax, the Government would have been overthrown. The people mastered a part of the trainbands, seized their drums and colours, beat up for recruits, then forming into something like military order, they surprised Newgate and Ludgate in the night, and seized the keys. The rioters divided into

agent of the proclaimed King of Scotland. Later on, Colonel Clarke, already mentioned, was released on his signing the test, and finding securities for good behaviour. Captain Matthew Harrison is committed for bearing arms against the Parliament, and "drinking a health to Charles, the late king's son, by name King Charles II." The recorder is directed to examine Colonel Jones concerning Captain Harrison, and to see that he be proceeded against according to law. A declaration is made before the Council of State as to Charles Pullen, "lately a prisoner in Newgate," committed there for being found in the Hart frigate.

he House of Commons, and was ultimately passed, and sent to the House of Lords. A committee was sent from "the Commons' House to Newgate, which was to interview Judge Jenkins, and make the following offer to him-viz. that if he would own the power of the Parliament to be lawful, they would not only take off the sequestra

nthuser, they returned home that night."[61] Don Pantaleon made his escape from prison a few days later, but he was retaken. Strenuous efforts were then made to obtain his release. His trial was postponed on the petition of "the Portugal merchants." The Portugal ambassador himself had an audience of Cromwell, the Lord Protector. But the law took its course. Don Pantaleon pleaded his relationship, and that he had a commission to act as ambassador in his brother's absence; this was disallowed, and after much argument the prisoners pleaded guilty, and desired "to be tried by God and the country." A jury was called, half-denizens, half-aliens, six of each, who, after a full hearing, found the ambassador's brother and f

London, on the 8th February, they aided some persons, who complained that they had been robbed and wounded in pursuit of the thieves, and in attacking the robbers wounded one who has since died." Sir Thomas Towris, Baronet, petitions the king (Charles II.) "not to suffer him to lie in that infamous place, where he has not an hour of health, nor the necessaries of life.