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Chapter XVIII
Crimes and Punishments.
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| of a lawless Gang of Loose fellows, common disturbers of the public peace," and that for some reason they had been admitted to bail. The records of our county, however, are silent as reference thereto further than already given. April 17, 1718, before David Lloyd, chief justice, and his associates, at Chester, the case was tried, resulting in a verdict of guilty. Deputy Governor Sir William Keith was also present. The prisoners were sentenced to be hanged on May 9, 1718.1 The following is a copy of the death-warrant: | 1 See for full particulars of the matter before Provincial Council, Colonial Records, vol. iii. pp. 40, 41. | ||
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"Chester, ss:
"Whereas Hugh Pugh & Lazarus Thomas have this Day before us at a Court of Oyer & Terminer & Gaol Delivery held for the sd County been convicted of the murder of One Jonathan Hayes & have received Sentence to be Hanged by the neck until they be Dead.
These are therefore in his majesties name by virtue of the Power to us Granted by the Governours Comission Comand you that upon Fryday the Ninth day of May next betwixt the hours of Eight & Twelve in the forenoon of the same Day you Cause the sd Sentance to be put in Execucon, ffor which this shall be your Warrant. Given under Our Hands & Seals at Chester aforesd the Seventeenth day of April In the ffourth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George King of Great Britain &c. Annoq Dom. 1718.
"Da'd Lloyd The day previous to that fixed for their execution - May 8th - the condemned men petitioned the Governor for a reprieve until the pleasure of the king could be known, they having appealed to the crown, alleging that the following legal errors invalidated the whole proceedings:
"1st. Because seventeen of the Grand Inquest who found the bill of Indictment against them and eight of the Petty Jury who found them guilty were Quakers or Reputed Quakers, and were Qualified no otherwise than by an affirmacon or Declaracon contrary to a statue made in the first year of your Mat'ies Reign. | 2 1715. The act designated was "for the case of such as conscientiously sought to take the solemn affirmation formerly allowed in Great Britain." It was repealed July 21, 1719. | ||
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The petition for a reprieve was rejected, and doubtless the culprits were executed at the time designated in the warrant. Although the legal matter suggested in the prisoners' petition was never passed upon by a competent tribunal, for we have no record of any action of the supreme judges thereon, yet the points taken aroused such public alarm as to the legality of the proceeding, that in twenty-two days after the execution of Pugh and Thomas - May 31, 1718 - the law was passed, which adopted the fierce criminal law of England in the province, simply in exchange for the right to use affirmations in place of "corporal oaths," the Assembly well knowing that the king would approve and confirm the act, which was done early in the following year.3 At the Court of Oyer and Terminer, held at Chester, June 20, 1722, by David Lloyd, chief justice, and associates, the case of Rex vs. William Hill and Mary Woolvin, was tried on an indictment for murder. They were convicted, and as the sentence ran, "must be hanged by ye neck until they and each of them be dead." The case of these convicts, together with one William Batten, who was then in Chester jail under sentence of death, was considered by the Provincial Council, Aug. 3, 1722, "and it was the advice of all the members present, to which the Governor was pleased to agree, that the said William Hill and Mary Woolvin be reprieved for the space of twelve months, in case no orders shall come from the Crown for the execution before the expiration of the said term; that the said William Batten, being convicted of divers horrid complicated crimes, be executed and hung in irons in the most public place at such times as the Governor shall appoint, and that the warrant for the execution be issued before the Governor set out for Albany."4 Aug. 27, 1723, Edward Murphy was tried for murder and acquitted. "Same day Elizabeth Murphy was indicted for murder and found guilty by ye Petty Jury and must be hanged by ye neck until she is dead. And ye Sherif is ordered to Execute her accordingly on ye 13th of 7 month 1724."5 Sept. 1, 1724, the bill of costs in the above cases, amounting to £2 6s. 6d. each, signed by Robert Assheton, was allowed by the commissioners and assessors.6 At a Court of Oyer and Terminer, held May 21, 1727, "John Hendricks who was indicted for shooting by misfortune one Albert Hendricks, late of the county |
3 See also in confirmation of this statement "the humble address and representation of the Governor and General Assembly;" the -- day of May, 1718 (Proud's "History of Pennsylvania," vol. ii. p. 101, wherein the address to the king sets forth, "That for this end we have laboured, more generally of late, to regulate the proceedings in our Courts of judicature, as near as possibly could be done, to the constitution and practice of the laws of England.
"That, from many years experience, we are not only convinced that the solemn affirmation allowed in Great Britain to the people called Quakers, doth, in all respects, and in every case, here answer the legal and essential purpose of an oath." 4 The last case wherein I find that a man was gibbeted in Pennsylvania was that of Thomas Wilkinson, who had been found guilty of piracy April 23, 1781, and sentenced to be hanged. The Supreme Executive Council, May 17, 1781, directed the execution to take place Wednesday, May 25, 1781, between 10 A.M. and 2 o'clock P.M. that day, on Windmill Island, in Delaware River, and that "the body of the said Thomas Wilkinson be taken down to Mud Island, in the said river, and hanged in chains on the north end of the said island." (Colonial Records, vol. xii. p. 730.) Some doubt arising as to the legality of the prisoner's conviction, on May 22d Council reprieved Wilkinson for twenty-one days (Ib.,732), after which the record is silent as to his fate, except on Oct. 6, 1781 (Ib., xiii. p. 76), David Henderson was paid £17 16s. 0d. specie, "amount of his account for making a gibbet for Thomas Wilkinson." 5 Supreme Court Docket, Prothonotary's office, Media, Pa. 6 Futhey and Cope's "History of Chester County," p. 407 | ||