Crimes and Punishments.

James Fitzpatrick. - The character of "Sandy Flash," in Bayard Taylor's "Story of Kennett," is founded on the adventures and the deeds of a sturdy freebooter, who for more than a twelvemonth kept the good people of the county of Chester in constant alarm and dread by his audacious and frequent crimes. The name of James Fitzpatrick in Chester and Delaware Counties is still surrounded with that peculiar glamour of crime which is so often associated with the acts of bold, bad men, and to this day his deeds are recalled by the representatives of the old families of this section with no little local pride, for the subject of their theme was, at least, no ordinary desperado.

James Fitzpatrick was born in Chester County, and when quite a lad was indentured by his father, an Irish emigrant in indigent circumstances, to John Passmore, of Doe Run, as an apprentice to the trade of blacksmithing. His early life was distinguished by no unusual incidents. He worked faithfully at the anvil until he attained his majority and acquired some local prominence as a shoer, and was known the neighborhood round as an excellent judge of horses. His bodily strength is said to have been enormous, his physical endurance noticeable, and he conspicuously excelled all the young men of the locality where he resided in athletic sports. Personally he was handsome; above the average height in stature, he was erect and graceful in carriage, his complexion florid, his features well formed, his eyes a clear bright blue in color, and his hair sandy and luxuriant. On several occasions he had exhibited extraordinary personal courage, circumstances which, subsequently remembered, increased the alarm of the Whigs when Fitzpatrick became an active, unscrupulous partisan of the cause of the king.

After serving the full term of his apprenticeship with Mr. Passmore, he worked as a journeyman at several forges in the county until the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, when he enlisted in the military service of the province. Subsequently, in the shaping of events, he became attached to the Flying Camp, and accompanied that organization to the city of New York. There, for some slight breach of military discipline, he was punished by flogging. The penalty imposed for his dereliction was more than he would bear, and deserting in the night-time, he swam the Hudson River, and made his way across New Jersey to Philadelphia, intending to proceed to his home in Chester County. In the latter city he was recognized, apprehended, and being absent without leave of his commanding officers, was lodged in the old Walnut Street prison, whence he was released on consenting to re-enter the Continental army, for at that time men were eagerly sought for to bear arms. The imprisonment was resented by Fitzpatrick as a wrong that had been done him; therefore, at the first opportunity which presented itself, he again deserted and returned to his home in Chester County, where, for a time, he worked honestly at his trade and in odd jobs at harvesting for the farmers in the neighborhood.

During the summer of 1777, Fitzpatrick, with several other men, was mowing in the field of his late master, John Passmore, in West Marlborough township, when he was taken into custody as a deserter by two Continental soldiers, who had been sent from Wilmington to arrest him. Fitzpatrick having been captured by surprise, was compelled to resort to subterfuge to recover his liberty. By a plausible story respecting clothing that he would require, and a request to be permitted to bid good-by to his aged mother, he prevailed upon the soldiers (who were instructed to bring their captive to Wilmington) to accompany him to his mother's residence, a tenant-house on Mr. Passmore's land. When they reached the dwelling, Fitzpatrick opened the door and quickly grasped his rifle from behind it, where he was accustomed to keep that firearm, leveled it at the soldiers, and swore that he would kill them if they did not leave immediately. They had learned sufficiently of the determination of character of their prisoner to believe that he would not hesitate an instant to make his threat good; hence, acting upon the better part of valor, they hastily retreated. Fitzpatrick, as soon as the men had fled, returned to the meadow where he had been at work, and renewed his labor as coolly as if no unusual incident had occurred to disturb the placidity of his every-day life.

The implacable hatred to the patriot cause which was engendered in the mind of Fitzpatrick as the result of corporal punishment inflicted on him while with the Continental army in New York soon had the opportunity to vent itself upon the Whigs of Chester County, whom he believed had betrayed his whereabouts to the colonial military authorities. On the 25th of August, 1777, the British forces, eighteen thousand men, under Gen. Howe, landed at the head of the Elk, in the movement against Philadelphia which resulted in the capture of that city. Fitzpatrick promptly repaired to the camp of the British army, was subsequently present at the battle of Brandywine, and accompanied the victorious enemy to Philadelphia, from which city he made many petty