|
Chapter XVIII
Crimes and Punishments.
| |||
|
their expeditions from that city, repaired to the houses of Joseph Luckey and Peter Burgardine, where they committed acts of the most flagrant lawlessness. The whole neighborhood was aroused by the outrages, and Col. Andrew Boyd, the then lieutenant of the county, wrote to the Executive Council of Pennsylvania that he had caused diligent search to be made for the culprits, but unsuccessfully, as the loyalists of Newlin and adjoining townships aided and secreted the malefactors. Council thereupon declared the two men outlaws, and offered a reward of a thousand dollars for their arrest, or a like sum for that of Fitzpatrick alone. The Whigs of Chester County thereupon made cause against the men, and repeatedly large bands assembled to capture the outlaws, and numerous plans were resorted to to effect that object. Nevertheless the best-laid schemes looking to that end miscarried, the proscribed men eluded every ambushment, and by fresh outrages, in other sections of the county, added to the consternation which their deeds had created among the patriots. It is related that on one occasion a meeting of the Whigs was called at a tavern on the West Chester road to devise plans for the capture of Fitzpatrick and his companion. With amazing effrontery Fitzpatrick presented himself in disguise at the assembly. A militia captain present rendered himself peculiarly conspicuous by his repeated declarations that he wanted to see Fitzpatrick, whom he had never met, and volunteered to capture him and bring him to justice. The outlaw, who had heard these boasts, unperceived took a candlestick from the mantel-shelf, secreted it in his pocket, and then approaching the noisy captain, told him if he would withdraw with him into another room he would inform him how, when, and where he could see the brigand, and have an opportunity to capture him. The latter consented to go with him. Fitzpatrick, after they had entered the room designated, shut and locked the door, then leveled the candlestick at the captain's head, saying as he did so, -
"Young man, you want to see Captain Fritz. I am that person. I'll trouble you for your watch and the money you may have about you." The entrapped hero hastily complied with the request, whereupon Fitzpatrick tied his hands behind him with his own handkerchief. "Now, sir," he said, as he unlocked the door, "you may go back to your friends and tell them that you wanted to see Captain Fritz and you have seen him." The prominence given to Fitzpatrick by the Executive Committee in proscribing him and offering a large reward for his capture was accepted by the latter as a flattering recognition of his abilities, and the alarm with which his deeds were regarded by the Whigs. He was repeatedly shot at by concealed marksmen, but always escaped unscathed, until the notion became prevalent that his was a charmed life; his shrewdness in avoiding snares to entrap him, his ability, courage, and readiness in eluding pursuit, together with his apparent recklessness in thrusting himself almost within the clutches of his enemies merely to disappoint them afresh, served to deepen the general impression heretofore mentioned. A short time after a price was set upon his life, to manifest his contempt of the proclamation and his mean opinion of the bravery of his foemen, in broad daylight, armed only with a pair of pistols and a dagger, he entered the hamlet of Kennett Square, deliberately walked through its streets, the people whom he met making way for him to pass, and repaired to the "Unicorn," the ancient and most noted hostelry in the village, destroyed by fire in January, 1875. He unhesitatingly entered the bar-room, in which a crowd of twoscore men were assembled, talking of the outlaw - for he was the constant topic of conversation - and making copious draughts upon the good cheer of "mine host," the jolly, jovial Maj. John Bell, until they had become boisterously intoxicated. In that condition many of the men - as seems to have been customary on those occasions - expressed the desire to meet Fitzpatrick, whose personal peculiarities were well known to almost every one present. The reckless man, apparently as if an accustomed frequenter of the inn, called for a glass of liquor, drank it, and quietly walked away, without the least molestation by word or sign from any one. The insolent intrepidity of the act so utterly astonished the crowd that they did not recover their amazement until Fitzpatrick was out of range of their firearms. His robberies were bold, and to the sheer effrontery of many of his deeds was he indebted for his immunity from arrest. On one occasion, when a number of men were harvesting in a field on the farm of James Shields, Fitzpatrick and Dougherty presented themselves, and the former informed Mr. Shields that he had called at his house and borrowed his watch, his silver shoe-buckles, and his shoes. Shields said, promptly,- "You must return them." "That will depend altogether upon your behavior towards us," was the reply of the outlaw, with a laugh. Archibald Hambleton, a young man who was reaping in the field at the time, was taken into custody by Fitzpatrick and his companion, who compelled him to go with them to his parents' home. There the outlaws appropriated to their own use a rifle, powderhorn, and shot-pouch, and Fitzpatrick forced Hambleton to swear on a Bible that he would not follow, betray, disturb, or molest any of his (Hambleton's) neighbors, many of whom were Tories, in retaliation for the theft. He also told Hambleton if he violated his oath in any respect he and Dougherty would return there and burn not only his parents' house, but the houses of every rebel in the neighborhood. The brutal punishment of flogging, - then a part of the military law of every nation, - which had caused Fitzpatrick to desert the cause of the colonies and | |||