Francis Uss handed a manuscript to a visitor a “day or two before his suffering.” The manuscript was an account of his life and crimes, and it gives a remarkable picture of a man waiting to be hanged.

Back and Forth

Uss said that he was born in 1761 to “reputable parents,” who lived in Strasburg in the province of Alsace in northeastern France. In 1770, his family moved to Philadelphia, and at the age of twelve he was bound as an apprentice to a tailor and served three years.

Around the time that Uss turned sixteen, his father died. Uss traveled back overseas to Amsterdam and then returned to Strasburg to live with an uncle. After nine months Uss began to feel restless, so he left his uncle and traveled through France until he met up with a company of dragoons, who convinced him to sign on with them. Soon after, France joined America in its revolutionary fight against Great Britain, so Uss’s regiment was sent to America.

The War in America

Uss and his company sailed on the St. Clara, a transport ship, but they became separated from their convoy at sea and were seized by a British frigate. The British carried them to Pensacola, FL and imprisoned them there. The heat and humidity of the region oppressed the men so much that they offered to enlist in the British army to get away from the area. The British officers granted their request, but before their oaths of allegiance could be administered, Uss and twenty other men ran away.

The group headed up the eastern shore through the wilderness. While crossing a river, three of their company drowned. They also lost in the water the few guns they carried with them and any means of kindling a fire. As they traveled on, their circumstances deteriorated rapidly. They resorted to eating unpalatable plants and an occasional land tortoise, which they were forced to consume raw.

After traveling north for about 400 miles, they met a tribe of Creek Indians. Unfortunately for them, the Creeks were aligned with the British. They seized the weary travelers and turned them over to the English army, who forced Uss and his companions to retrace their steps back to Pensacola. The group feared harsh punishment for their unsanctioned excursion, but they were instead traded back to the French.

Uss and his new French unit went up to Rhode Island, where he learned that his former regiment was now in Petersburg, VA. He raced southward and in a matter of days rejoined his fellow soldiers. Uss saw a fair amount of action during the war, including the final battle at Yorktown, where he received two wounds. At the finish of the war, his regiment embarked for France, but Uss did not want to re-cross the Atlantic, so he deserted the army and went to his mother, who still lived in Philadelphia.

After the War

Uss worked as a tailor for three years in Philadelphia until he ran into trouble with John Hummel. Uss does not indicate what transpired, but he was thrown into prison with “a large number of criminals; among whom no additions were made to my virtue.” Upon his release from prison, Uss moved to New York and got married.

Uss’s downfall began when he traveled to Poughkeepsie and committed several small thefts along the way. After he arrived in town he visited the shop of Major Andrew Billings. Uss became so enamored of the items on display that he broke into the shop at night and robbed it. This act proved to be a big mistake, because he was arrested and found guilty of burglary.

Uss initially claimed that he was a mere accomplice in the burglary, but once it became clear that his sentence was going to stick and that he had no hope for a pardon, he confessed that he was the sole perpetrator of the crime.

Awaiting Execution

After recounting his life and spelling out the reason he faced execution, Uss’s narrative suddenly shifts to the present tense as he chronicles his thoughts during his remaining time on earth:

Ah! me unhappy what shall I do? Writhing in agony, and convuls’d with grief, I fall amid the clanging of my chains prostrate on the floor of my dungeon and WISH a supplication to my maker, for my poor distracted mind is incapable of coherence, and the half-form’d syllables die upon my tongue.

If groans unutterable, and sighs from the inmost soul have a language, mine is most pathetic.

The terrors of the approaching awful Friday rise up in fearful anticipation before me! I have realized them so often that they cease to be ideal. Once more I will indulge them and, hand in hand with horror, once more walk over the gloomy stage.— —

Albany Gazette, August 6, 1789 - From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.

After a night spent in disturbed slumbers and terrific dreams, I rise from the floor and see the gleamings of a rising sun which I never never more will see go down. The birds hail in cheerfullest notes the new-born day—but music to me has lost its charms, and to me the new-born day brings woe unutterable. Food is set before me; but I turn with loathing [from(?)] nourishment, for what connexion is there between life and me? My pious friends surround me, and retire not, till they have wearied Heaven with the most fervent supplications in my behalf. Oh that I felt their fervor, had their faith, and enjoyed their consolations?—The day fast advances—I hear the din of crouds assembled in the streets—Again there is a noise at the prison door! The massy key grates upon the wards of the lock, and grates too upon my very soul. The door recoils, and enter the ministers of justice. Pity is painted on every countenance. The sounding file is applied, my chains drop to the earth, and my limbs are once more free, only soon to be bound in never-ending obstruction.

Heavens! What are my feelings while the suffocating cord is adjusted to my throat! Death is in the very touch and I think with unutterable . . .

Uss’s story essentially ends here, because the last page of the only extant copy of Uss’s narrative is vertically ripped in half.

Uss was publicly hanged in Poughkeepsie on July 11, 1789 at the age of 29. The last two legible words of his published narrative read, “—no more.”

Sources

• Uss, Francis. The Narrative of the Life of Francis Uss. [Poughkeepsie?], NY, 1789. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• “Poughkeepsie, August 1.” Albany Gazette. August 6, 1789, vol. VI, issue 282, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

John Sheehan saw the purchase of the bundle as his ticket to independence, but what he bought was more than he bargained for.

Sheehan was born in Cork, Ireland in 1763 to “reputable and honest” parents. He worked as an apprentice for seven years until his brother, who was living in America, wrote to ask Sheehan to join him. Sheehan jumped at the chance, although he failed to inform his parents, his sisters, or his friends that he was leaving Ireland.

Sheehan arrived in Boston on November 11, 1786, but he could not locate his brother. Unable to find work, he enlisted in the American army. After serving four and a half months, an order of Congress led to a general discharge of soldiers, so Sheehan received his pay, found his brother, and stayed with him.

A Chance Meeting

One morning, Sheehan met Edmond Miller carrying a bundle of goods, which included some silver plate. Miller offered to sell the goods to Sheehan at a cheap price. Sheehan figured he could sell the contents of the bundle close to their true value and use the proceeds to support himself as he struck out on his own. He purchased the goods with part of the money he received from his discharge, ate breakfast with his brother and his family, and then set out to find work and sell his newly acquired commodities.

Not long after setting out, Sheehan ran into Miller and another man, Thomas Whitnell, sitting by a stream. Each of them was carrying a bag of goods, and they said that they were traveling to New London. Sheehan, who was heading to Providence, joined them for part of the journey. Whitnell claimed he had an acquaintance in Providence, so he remained with Sheehan when Miller split off from the threesome. As they arrived in the city, Whitnell asked Sheehan not to disclose where he got the items he was going to sell, and Sheehan agreed.

Sheehan took his bundle to a silversmith, and in the course of negotiating a price, the smith noticed that the marks on the plate had been rubbed off. Two justices of the peace were called, and they started questioning Sheehan: How did he get the goods? Where did he come from? Where was he staying, and who was with him? Sheehan’s answers landed both him and Whitnell in jail.

Back to Boston

Sheehand and Whitnell were transferred back to Boston, where Sheehan was tried by the Supreme Judicial Court, found guilty of burglary, and condemned to die.

But Sheehan had friends in high places. General Jackson, Sheriff Henderson, and other officers he knew from his time in the army convinced the legislature to create a committee to look into the possibility of pardoning Sheehan. The commission concluded that the legislature did not have a constitutional right to commute a punishment after sentencing. The governor, who did possess the authority to grant pardons, put Sheehan’s case before a council, but they did not rule in Sheehan’s favor either.

Independent Gazetteer, December 6, 1787 - From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.

Up until the end, Sheehan maintained that he did not rob the two people who originally owned the goods in his possession. But he did acknowledge that when he purchased the bundle from Miller he assumed that its contents were stolen. At most, Sheehan should have been found guilty of receiving stolen goods. Such a conviction could have ended with the same result, though, since under a 1785 Massachusetts statute receivers of stolen goods were subject to the same punishment as the thief. But since neither Miller nor Whitnell were convicted of burglary, Sheehan most likely would have avoided a death sentence were he charged with his true offense.

Sheehan was executed by hanging on the Boston Common on Thursday, November 22, 1787. In its report on his execution, the Independent Gazetteer noted that “except in the burglary for which he suffered, [he] does not appear, by his life, to have been guilty of any atrocious offences.”

Sources

• “American Intelligence. Boston, November 26.” Independent Gazetteer. December 6, 1787, vol. VII, issue 620, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• “A Correspondent Gives Us the Following Articles of Intelligence.” Independent Chronicle. November 30, 1787, vol. XIX, issue 996, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Hirsch, Adam J. “From Pillory to Penitentiary: The Rise of Criminal Incarceration in Early Massachusetts.” Michigan Law Review 80:6 (May, 1982), 1179-1269.
• Salem Mercury. November 27, 1787, issue 59, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Sheehan, John. Life, Last Words and Dying Speech of John Sheehan. Boston: E. Russell, [1787]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.

Johnson Green was born in Bridgewater, MA on February 7, 1757 to unmarried parents. His father was a servant who worked for Timothy Edson. His mother was a widow named Sarah Johnson. His mother’s maiden name was Green, so he was sometimes called Joseph-Johnson Green. Green’s father was African American; his mother was Irish.

Green grew up to be a prodigious thief and burglar. In his Life and Confession, Green catalogs over 60 criminal acts and omits many others for fear of boring his reader. His mixed racial background certainly played a part in his turn to crime as a profession, but we get little direct evidence that this was the case in his account. The influence that being a “mulatto” had on his life choices is obscured by the conventions of criminal narrative and the limitations of eighteenth-century vocabulary in articulating the prejudice and oppression faced by racial minorities.

Bound into Service

Poor people in early America were often bound into service at a young age, which is precisely what happened to Green. At the age of five, Green’s mother bound him as an apprentice to Seth Howard of Bridgewater to learn agriculture. Given his ancestral background, Green did not have access to public education, so he remained illiterate throughout his life. Green contends that he was treated well in the hands of Howard, who guided him in following Christian values. Green’s mother also maintained at least some presence in his life through this time, because she counseled him not to associate with people who use bad language and discouraged him from joining the army or going out to sea.

At about the age of twelve, Green committed his first act of theft when he grabbed four gingerbread cakes and six biscuits out of a horse cart. Emboldened by his success, he continued to steal small items without being detected. At fourteen, he was finally caught stealing a dozen lemons and a chocolate cake and was reprimanded. Soon afterward, he stole some hens. At this point, his master was so fed up with his behavior that he sold him to a cousin.

Green’s new environment did not put a stop to his thieving ways. At one point, he took his new master’s key and stole two shillings from a chest. His act was discovered, and he was punished. But Green admitted his punishment was not as severe as he deserved.

The Army

Going against his mother’s advice, Green enlisted in the American army to fight against the British during the Revolutionary War. Black soldiers served alongside white soldiers at the time, so perhaps he was drawn to the more egalitarian existence it offered. Unfortunately, though, his tour in the army had the negative effect on him that his mother predicted. While in the army he became “addicted to drunkenness, the keeping of bad company, and . . . lewd women.” He did not abandon his criminal ways, either. While in service, he stole fifteen shillings, a bottle of rum, a dozen biscuits, and a pillow case filled with sugar from a tavern in Sherborn, MA.

In March 1781, Green married Sarah Phillips, who also had African ancestry, and together they had two children. His treatment of her was “exceeding ill.” He frequently abandoned her for long stretches of time and was unfaithful.

One month after his marriage, Green was caught stealing a pair of silver shoe buckles and received one hundred lashes as punishment. In October of that same year, he and two other associates found themselves without any provisions, so they stole three cheeses, butter, and some chocolate. Green, however, was the only one of the three who was caught. He received yet another hundred lashes.

Housing for free African-Americans was generally terrible during this time and prejudice made finding employment difficult. Facing these conditions, free blacks often resorted to crime for simple subsistence. No doubt, Green was already well-versed in thieving before he married, but despite receiving harsh punishments within a six-month time span, he appeared to take up crime more as a profession than as a series of whims after his marriage.

Bolder and Bolder

Over the next year, Green traveled throughout southern New England stealing food, clothing, small amounts of money, and household objects. He eventually sold some of the items he had acquired at the market in Providence, RI.

On April 23, 1785, Green was imprisoned for the first time on Nantucket after attacking a fireman and other bystanders while intoxicated. He was released the next day after paying a fine and prosecution costs.

Green became bolder and bolder in carrying out acts of crime. He broke into Capt. Bent’s tavern in Stoughtonham, MA by climbing down the chimney with a rope. After entering the tavern, Green propped open a window with his jack-knife in case he needed to make a fast getaway from a family member. His forward thinking was for naught.

A man soon came to the tavern calling for the landlord in order to purchase a gallon of rum. The daughter of the house waked up, and in the course of helping the man noticed the knife holding up the window. She figured that it was left there earlier in the evening by some boys who had stopped by the tavern on the way to a community gathering to husk corn. Fearful that he would be discovered if he went out the window when the man initially arrived at the door, Green pulled himself back up the chimney and stood on a crossbar until the man left and everyone in the house had once again fallen asleep. Once he felt the coast was clear, he lowered himself back down the chimney, took three dollars, and escaped up the chimney undetected.

In another close call, Green hid some goods he had stolen in Natick in a barn belonging to Nathaniel Foster of Middleborough and then asked him for some work. Instead, he was arrested for stealing a horse that he had taken four miles away and was put in the Plymouth county jail. Green was let go due to a lack of evidence, but in the mean time Foster discovered the items hidden in his barn and advertised them in order to find their owner. Before suspicion could fall on him, Green quickly sent his wife to retrieve the goods.

Green’s life as a professional criminal does not match the humorous picaresque existence commonly represented in literature. While reflecting on his criminal methods and motives in his Life and Confession, he discloses the hardships he often faced:

Some of the things I have stolen I have used myself—some of them I have sold—some have been taken from me—some I have hid where I could not find them again—and others I have given to lewd women, who induced me to steal for their maintenance. I have lived a hard life, by being obliged to keep in the woods; have suffered much by hunger, nakedness, cold, and the fears of being detected and brought to justice—have often been accused of stealing when I was not guilty, and others have been accused of crimes when I was the offender. I never murdered any person, nor robbed any body on the high-way.

Arrest

In 1786, Green made his way to Shrewsbury where he lodged in a barn belonging to a Mr. Baldwin. The next evening, he broke into Baldwin’s house and stole three shillings, three pence, and nine dollars worth of clothing. That same night, he broke into the houses of Mr. Farror and Mr. Ross Wyman.

Green hid in the woods through the next day and headed off to Boston in the evening. He did not get far. Green was taken up by a guard patrolling a bridge at the edge of Westborough. Green confessed to the burglaries and was thrown in the Worcester jail. He was only tried and found guilty of burglarizing Mr. Baldwin’s house, because this act alone was enough to sentence him to death.

While being held in the Worcester jail, Green was visited by ministers and “other pious persons” to prepare him for his execution. At one point, his cell was deemed in need of repairs, so the Under-Sheriff secured Green to the floor with chains to keep him in place while the workmen went in and out of the room. During this time, Green freed himself from his irons and “went off undiscovered among a number of people, who were in and about the goal.” A thirty dollar reward for his return was promptly offered by the jailor.

Salem Chronicle, June 15, 1786 - From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.

After breaking out of prison, Green returned to his “vicious practices, ‘like the dog to his vomit, and the sow that is washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’” He lived in the woods and continued breaking into houses and stealing as he made his way to Providence. He had a close call in Easton when two men tried to seize him on suspicion that he had broken out of jail, but Green escaped from them.

While in Providence, Green broke into the cellar of Justice Belknap and stole 30 pounds of salt pork, one neat’s (calf) tongue, and some tools. On July 13, 1786, Green was arrested for this crime and one week later transferred back to the Worcester jail. Coincidentally, the day he was arrested was the very day that he was originally scheduled to be executed back in Worcester.

Last and Dying Words

While awaiting his execution, Green dictated his life story, which he signed with an “X.” The content of his account was a bit unusual for the time. During the eighteenth century there was an incremental rise in the number of criminal narratives involving rape, and increasingly these accounts involved African-Americans. Before 1765, all criminal narratives involving African-Americans were cases of property crime or murder. After 1765, only three out of twenty accounts about black criminals fail to mention rape. Green’s account is one of them.

But Green’s sexuality is not entirely absent from his tales of travel and crime. Near the end of his Life and Confession, Green can barely conceal in pious terms his boasts about his sexual prowess:

I have had great dealings with women, which to their and my shame be it spoken, I often too easily obtained my will of them. I hope they will repent, as I do, of such wicked and infamous conduct. I have had a correspondence with many women, exclusive of my wife, among whom were several abandoned Whites, and a large number of Blacks; four of the whites were married women, three of the blacks have laid children to me besides my wife, who has been much distressed by my behaviour.

If Green’s life reveals the economic difficulties that often pushed people with African ancestry into a life of crime, it also shows that such a background was hardly an impediment to sexual relations in the eighteenth century. But the circumstances of Green’s parents also demonstrate that sexual relations between races failed to translate into equal social relations.

Green was executed in Worcester, MA on August 17, 1786 at the age of 29. Newspapers described him as being “as great a villain for house-breaking and stealing as ever was hung in this commonwealth.”

Sources

• Green, Johnson. The Life and Confession of Johnson Green. Worcester, [1786]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• Greene, Lorenzo J. “Johnson Green—Burglar.” Phylon 7:1 (1st Qtr., 1946), 71-77.
• “Massachusetts.” Salem Chronicle. June 15, 1786, vol. 1, issue 12, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Massachusetts Centinel. June 3, 1786, vol. V, issue 22, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Massachusetts Centinel. July 22, 1786, vol. V, issue 36, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Slotkin, Richard. “Narratives of Negro Crime in New England, 1675-1800.” American Quarterly 25:1 (Mar., 1973), 3-31.
• Williams, Daniel. Pillars of Salt: An Anthology of Early American Criminal Narratives. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1993.
• “Worcester, Aug. 17.” American Recorder. August 18, 1786, vol. 1, issue 70, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

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On August 21, 1784, a man entered the house of Capt. James Dagget of Reheboth, MA in the middle of the night and took several valuable items. He was soon caught and committed to the Taunton Gaol, where he gave his name as Abiel Brigs. The authorities knew better. They easily recognized him as John Dixon, who only three weeks earlier had broken out of the Norwich Gaol in Connecticut with two other prisoners.

The jury found Dixon guilty of burglary at his trial before the Supreme Court in Taunton, and he was sentenced to death. A considerable number of people rose to Dixon’s defense. They openly questioned the lawfulness of his impending execution and asked whether someone who did not commit murder deserved to be put to death. But Dixon’s behavior, both before and after his sentencing, did not make it easy to support his cause.

Defiance in Prison

Dixon’s escape from prison before his arrest was actually the second time he had escaped from the Norwich Gaol, which was new and unfinished at the time. But Dixon could also boast about his daring escapes from the Springfield Gaol, the Windham gaol, and, despite being loaded down with chains around his neck at the time, the Worcester Gaol. Knowing his reputation, the keepers of the Taunton Gaol, where Dixon was being held after his burglary conviction, did not want to take any chances, so they held him in chains as well.

Norwich Packet, April 1, 1784 - From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.

Execution narratives in early America generally followed the same script. The criminal commits a string of heinous crimes throughout his life until he is finally caught and brought to justice. While in prison awaiting his execution he is visited by a minister, who convinces him of the error of his ways and prepares him spiritually for his journey to the afterlife. The criminal then demonstrates his repentance by making a speech at his execution that warns spectators against traveling down the same sinful path that he did.

Dixon seemed determined not to cooperate in the construction of this common narrative. One newspaper reported that after his arrest for the Dagget burglary, Dixon “appeared previous to and at his trial a most hardened wretch–making a jest of death, judgement and eternity, in such an extraordinary manner, that the Judges and spectators were very much affected.”

While Dixon was held in the Taunton Gaol, he was visited by Rev. Perez Fobes, pastor of the church in Raynham, MA. Ministers who attended a criminal awaiting execution normally got to know him so well that they published an authoritative history of his life along with the sermon they gave on the occasion of his execution. Fobes was no exception. He published his sermon and story of Dixon’s life as well, but he noted, “The principal account, we can at present give of this unfortunate young man, is that which was taken from his own mouth, while in prison: And as he was utterly averse from such confessions as have been usually made under such circumstances, his history will be short.”

Dixon’s History

Dixon was born in 1762 in East Haddam, CT. His father died while he was young, but his mother, brother, and sister continued to live in the same town at the time of his execution. His mother sent him to school at a young age, but he concentrated more on mischief than on studying.

Against the wishes of his mother, he signed up to serve on board a ship bound for France, but “his villainous conduct” earned him stiff punishment from the captain. At the first chance he got, Dixon left the ship and enlisted in the American army in exchange for a bounty. After enlisting, he promptly deserted from his unit. He then turned around and enlisted once again, collected his bounty, and deserted the army a second time. He continued this pattern eighteen times, all the while collecting both bounties and punishments whenever he was detected.

At one point, Dixon was sentenced to death for the number of enlistments and desertions he carried out with the army. For some reason, he was pardoned and sent back to his regiment, and within a few hours he stole a horse from an officer and rode off.

Dixon traveled throughout the country breaking into houses and stores and stealing goods, money, clothing, and cattle. He quickly spent whatever he gained “at taverns, in grog-shops, and over the gameing-table.”

One time, Dixon was caught stealing a pair of shoes from a shoemaker. He pleaded with the shoemaker to allow him to work off his punishment rather than turn him over to the authorities, who probably would have sentenced him to a whipping. The shoemaker reluctantly agreed and put him behind a team of oxen. At first opportunity, Dixon drove the oxen to a river, swam the team across it, sold them on the other side, and ran off with the money.

He was once accused of committing rape.

Fobes reports that in telling his history, Dixon’s “‘mouth was full of cursing’ and swearing, of oaths and blasphemies of the most horrible sound, that his imagination could invent. He shewed no regard to the holy sabbath; rarely ever read the scriptures, or attended public worship, and never gave any attention to the word preached when present.”

Response to the Public Outcry

The public outcry against Dixon’s execution prompted Rev. Fobes to add an appendix “On the Nature and Enormity of Burglary” onto the printed version of the sermon he gave before Dixon’s execution. The appendix is a “short vindication” of Dixon’s punishment using arguments based on scripture in support of executing convicted burglars. One of the problems in taking such a position, however, is that burglary itself is never spelled out as a capital crime in the Bible.

In his treatise, Fobes observes that “God himself has set a peculiar brand of infamy and enormity upon theft,” and reasons that if common theft is an egregious crime that calls for death as punishment, then certainly burglary should as well. He also points out that God commands that other crimes of less magnitude than burglary be punishable by death, so burglary should follow suit.

As to why burglary isn’t treated like other crimes in the Bible, Fobes explains that at the time the Bible was written, most of the people were shepherds who lived in tents. Even when the people moved into houses, the structures were constructed so simplistically that they offered little opportunity for housebreakers. For these reasons, burglary simply was not an issue back then in the way that it is today.

Fobes concludes his defense by siding with those who say that the justness in executing burglars is so obvious that it does not need proofs from the Bible to support its practice. He asks,

is it possible to suppose, that a body of judicial laws, though made in heaven, for a people who existed some thousand years ago, and so different from us in their manners, connexions, pursuits, situation, soil, climate, and an endless variety of other circumstances, can, or ever ought in equity, and in particular, to bind us, or any other nation on earth, at this day[?]

These assertions are a radical break from the Pilgrim’s original intention 150 years earlier of creating a society based solely on Biblical law.

Conversion

After spending time in prison with Rev. Fobes, Dixon seemed to realize that his impending punishment was not a joke, and he was more willing to follow the usual execution protocols. One newspaper reported that Dixon’s

Conduct in Prison, previous to his Trial, was intermixt with Profanity and Dissoluteness, gratifying every Lust which his close Confinement would possibly admit of. But after his Trial, and receiving Sentence, the poor deluded Man was in some Measure brought to a Sense of his sorrowful Situation, and conducted himself with a Decency becoming a Person under Sentence of Death.

On November 11 at eleven o’clock, Dixon was brought out of the prison by the sheriff and his officers. He was also guarded by one hundred “decently equipped” men. The number of guards present had probably less to do with the fear that Dixon would concoct an escape than that the two or three thousand spectators who showed up to witness the execution would rise up and attempt to stop the proceedings.

Dixon was taken to the meeting house, where he listened to Rev. Fobes’s sermon, and then to the place of execution. After the warrant of execution was read, Dixon stepped onto his coffin and addressed the crowd “with Steadiness and modest Composure”:

My BRETHREN and FRIENDS,
I WOULD solemnly warn and caution you all against hard drinking, gaming and keeping bad company: for following these practices is what has brought me to this untimely end. And I desire you all to take warning by me, and avoid the bad practices I have run into.

Dixon went on to thank the sheriff for his kind treatment while in prison and recognized the favors he received from the people of the town.

Providence Gazette, November 13, 1784 - From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.

At two o’clock, the time for his execution had arrived. Fobes reported that Dixon, “leaped into the cart, assisted in adjusting the rope about his neck, and even in turning himself off, with an appearance of fortitude, which surprised every spectator; but this, whether from principles of infidelity, stupefaction, or Christianity, we dare not pronounce.”

Fobes wasn’t the only person to express skepticism over Dixon’s conversion. The Providence Gazette reported that “At the Place of Execution, [Dixon] behaved in the same unbecoming Manner as when on Trial.”

Dixon hanged for about 20 minutes before he was taken down and buried.

Ill-fated youth! compute your gain,
Pain purchas’d pleasure, ends in pain:
The strangling noose, in death destroys,
The fabric of your guilty joys!

Sources

“Boston, Thursday, November 4.” Continental Journal. November 4, 1784, Issue 455, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

Fobes, Perez. The Paradise of God. Providence, RI: Bennett Wheeler, [1785]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.

“Norwich, April 1.” Norwich Packet. April 1, 1784, Vol. X, Issue 491, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

“Norwich, September 2.” Norwich Packet, September 2, 1784, Vol. X, Issue 513, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

“Providence, August 28.” Providence Gazette. August 28, 1784, Vol. XXI, Issue 1078, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

“Providence, Nov. 13.” Providence Gazette, November 13, 1784, Vol. XXI, Issue 1089, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

“Taunton, November 12, 1784.” United States Chronicle. December 8, 1784, Vol. 1, Issue 50, p. 2-3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

Williams, Daniel E., ed. Pillars of Salt: An Anthology of Early American Criminal Narratives. Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers, 1993.

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Even though William Huggins and John Mansfield were both born into good families, their backgrounds couldn’t have been more different. Huggins was raised in New York, served in the army, and then worked the land as a farm laborer. Mansfield was born in the Province of Maine and traveled the sea as a sailor. But after the two met in Stockbridge, MA in the summer of 1782, the fates of this unlikely duo became one.

William Huggins

William Huggins was born in Fish-Kill, NY in 1759. He was educated and grew up in a religious household. At the age of 18, Huggins enlisted in the army for five months and then returned home to live with his parents. While in the army, Huggins gained a love of gambling, cheating, and drinking. His parents tried to reform him, but to no avail. After two years, Huggins became anxious to be out on his own again and left his parents to become a farm laborer.

His plan didn’t last long. Unhappy with the amount of work farming required, Huggins enlisted in the army again, and when he received his discharge after six months, he returned to his parents a prodigal son. Huggins’s latest engagement in the army was hard, and this time he resolved to reform his ways and listen to his parents. But once again he became unsatisfied with life at home and left his parents one last time. His father died soon after.

Huggins traveled to Stockbridge, MA and returned to farming. He fared well, but he spent money as fast as he earned it. Around this time, he met John Mansfield, who had traveled west seeking work as a laborer.

John Mansfield

John Mansfield was born in Maine in 1761 to parents with a good reputation and influence in the community. One of his relatives commanded a ship and took a liking to him, so at the age of twelve Mansfield went to sea. After two years, Mansfield returned to his parents, but he missed life on board the ship, so at the age of 15 he left his parents for good and became a sailor.

Mansfield prospered in this profession. He saved 400 dollars in cash and built up a wardrobe of clothes worth 300 dollars. In September 1781, Mansfield signed up for a voyage in Salem, MA and took all that he had in the world with him. A day after setting sail, an English man of war seized Mansfield’s ship and took it to Halifax. The English locked Mansfield away in a prison-ship in the harbor and seized all of his possessions, down to the buckles on his shoes.

Mansfield spent the long winter in the prison-ship, but in May he escaped. Lacking money or suitable clothing, Mansfield set out through enemy territory in bare feet. He stuck to the woods for fear that he would be captured and spent five days without food, except for a fowl that he caught and ate. He finally arrived at St. Mary’s Bay, where he was rescued by a Dutchman, and made his way back to Beverly, MA.

Mansfield was too prideful to return to his family and friends in destitution, so he headed into the country to make his fortune. He soon discovered that he could not earn as much money working as a farm laborer as he did as a sailor. He continued looking for work until he reached Stockbridge, which is where he met William Huggins. Since the two of them had little money to their names, they decided to leave Stockbridge and travel to Salem to go to sea together.

Their Journey

Without food, clothing, and other supplies, Huggins and Mansfield had to beg for food as they went along–until they arrived in Pelham, MA. That evening they knocked on the door of Mr. Gray, who graciously let them in. Seeing that Mr. Gray, his wife, and a few young children were the only ones at home, they tied up Mr. Gray and put him on his bed. They locked Mrs. Gray in the cellar and, at her request, provided her with clothes and a candle. With the family secured, Mansfield and Huggins ransacked the house. They took a watch and some clothing before leaving.

Huggins and Mansfield headed for Harvard, MA and went to the inn of Mr. Packhurst. They purchased some liquor, and while they sipped their drinks they spotted a watch hanging in the adjoining bedroom. They also observed how Mr. Packhurst took a box out of a nearby closet to make change for the drinks they bought. Upon leaving, the two decided they should return to steal the watch and the money, so they traveled two miles to another tavern, where they ate dinner and waited for nightfall.

Between midnight and one o’clock, Huggins and Mansfield returned to the Packhurst inn. Mansfield entered the house by lifting up a window and made his way to the bedroom. The room was so dark that the only way that Mansfield knew that Mr. Packhurst and his wife were nearby was by the sound of their breathing while they slept. Nonetheless, Mansfield located the cash box, pocketed the fifteen dollars in it, and grabbed the watch. He then escaped out of the house undetected.

Their Last Stop

The day after they committed the Packhurst burglary, Huggins and Mansfield were pursued and captured in Concord. They were questioned and held in the Concord Gaol for 13 days until they were transferred to Worcester, where they appeared before the Supreme Judicial Court. They were both found guilty of burglary and were sentenced to be executed on June 19, 1783.

The day before their execution, Huggins and Mansfield attempted to escape from the Worcester Gaol. They secured a crowbar by reaching through the grate of their prison door and used it to wrench the iron staples that held their chains to the floor. They then broke open the casing of the prison vault and after entering it attempted to break through the wall.

As soon as the prison-keeper awoke in the morning, he discovered the two prisoners missing and sounded the alarm. The guards suspected that the two had entered the vault, so the floor of the prison was ripped open, and the two prisoners were found lying next to the wall “in a miserable condition.”

While they were held in the Worcester Gaol, the two wrote their autobiographical Last Words. Huggins’s account offers few details about the two burglaries and leaves the impression that they were simple cases of breaking and entering. Only when readers get to Mansfield’s account does the truth emerge of how calculated and sinister their acts really were.

Their Last Words also notes that while their given names were indeed their true ones, the surnames under which they were tried and convicted–“Huggins” and “Mansfield”–were not. They each gave different last names in order to protect their families from the shame of their actions.

Sources

Last Words of William Huggins and John Mansfield. Worcester, MA: [Isaiah Thomas, 1783]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.

“Worcester, April 24.” Massachusetts Spy. April 24, 1783, Vol. XIII, Issue 626, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

“Worcester, June 19.” Massachusetts Spy. June 19, 1783, Vol. XIII, Issue 634, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

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Isaac Frasier was colonial America’s most prolific burglar. In his Brief Account of the Life, and Abominable Thefts, of the Notorious Isaac Frasier, he recorded over 50 acts of burglary and theft and stated that he committed many more that he could not specifically remember. He toured all over New England and into New York, covering hundreds of miles at a time and committing burglaries all along the way. Even though Frasier was an itinerant burglar, he tended to revisit the same towns over and over again and even stole from the same people two or three times.

The Windup

Isaac was born on February 9, 1740 in North Kingston, RI to John and Martha Frasier. At the age of five, his father died in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745) during King George’s War. Frasier’s mother was too poor to educate him properly, so he only learned the alphabet and how to write his name. In time, he even forgot how to do that, so at the end of his life he dictated his Brief Account and signed it with an X-mark.

Frasier’s first act of theft was taking some ears of corn from a neighbor’s field. When his mother found out, she punished him and forced him to return the corn to its owner. At the age of eight, she placed Frasier in an apprenticeship with a shoemaker, where he learned more about theft than about making shoes. His master mistreated him and fed him so little that Frasier was forced to steal food to satisfy his hunger. The mistress of the house also contributed to Frasier’s education in theft. She would regularly send him off to steal snuff from a nearby snuff mill to satisfy her desire and encouraged him to pocket trifles for her from neighboring businesses. Frasier left his apprenticeship at the age of 16 when the shoemaker’s business began to fail.

In 1756 Frasier followed in his father’s footsteps by joining the army. He participated in several campaigns in the French and Indian War until he settled in Newport, RI in February 1760. Not long afterward, Frasier stole a watch and between 600 and 700 pounds from a Mr. Gent. After being arrested on suspicion, Frasier confessed to carrying out the crime. As punishment he was whipped at the cart’s tail and sold to a privateer. Frasier participated in one successful voyage before slipping away to Boston. He enlisted in several more military campaigns until he contracted small pox while living in Norton, MA.

The Pitch

Frasier’s poor health put an end to his military career. He moved to Newtown, CT, where he worked for Hezekiah Booth as a laborer for five months and then hired himself out to surrounding farmers for another two years. Throughout this time Frasier was accused of numerous thefts and lost his reputation, so he moved on to Goshen, CT and then to Canaan.

While in Canaan, Frasier lived an honest life and built up his reputation as an industrious worker. He even bought some land, met a young woman, and got married. But Frasier grew impatient with the slow progress of putting together their house, so he traveled to Woodbury, where he broke into the shop of Trueman Hinman and took 70 to 80 pounds worth of goods. After Frasier was caught, he privately settled the matter with Hinman, but word of his crime made it back to Canaan. His wife now refused to associate with him and his friends abandoned him.

Strike One

Stripped of his family and friends, Frasier became destitute, but he resolved to find some way to become rich and went on a crime spree. His career in crime had an inauspicious start. Frasier was apprehended and thrown in jail three times–in Goshen, NY, Litchfield, CT, and Fairfield, CT–although in each case he escaped. Frasier was turning out to be a terrible burglar, but a prodigious escape artist.

Not easily deterred from his goal, Frasier broke into the shops of Mr. Tomlinson in Woodbury and of Joseph Hopkins, a goldsmith, in Waterbury, CT. He fled to Rhode Island, but he was picked up with the stolen goods in his possession and transported back to Connecticut. He appeared before the Superior Court in New Haven, where he was tried and convicted on his first offense for housebreaking. As punishment, Frasier was whipped, cropped in the ear, and branded.

Strike Two

After receiving his punishment in New Haven, Frasier traveled to Massachusetts, where he broke into shops and houses all over the colony. At one point, he found himself in the Cambridge gaol, where he was whipped. At another time, he was committed to the Worcester gaol and broke out with three other criminals.

Frasier returned to Waterbury, CT, found a key in the door of the same goldsmith shop that had led to his first major punishment, and used it to let himself in. He took three silver spoons, some buckles, and a few other items. He then returned to Newtown, where he entered a shop he had robbed twice before. This time, he did not find much cash or items of value. Disappointed with the results, he broke into yet another shop that same night, but was caught.

Frasier was placed in the Fairfield gaol to await his trial by the Superior Court, which found him guilty of burglary once again, sentenced him to the same punishment as he received in New Haven, and warned him that his next burglary offense would result in his execution. After receiving his punishment, Frasier was recommitted to the Fairfield gaol, but he broke out and headed back to Boston.

Foul Ball

In a replay of his earlier tour of Massachusetts, Frasier committed burglaries and thefts throughout the colony, was recommitted to both the Cambridge and Worcester gaols, and escaped from each. Frasier broke out of the Worcester gaol with “Arthur, a Negro Man”–who one year later was executed for rape–and another criminal. The three jailbirds proceeded to commit a string of petty thefts in various towns between Worcester and Boston before parting ways.

Frasier returned to Connecticut, where he committed four burglaries in one night, and then went to New York, where he claims he did not commit any thefts and possibly married another woman under a different name.

In March 1768, Frasier broke into the shop of Samuel Bradley in Fairfield, CT and set out to return to New York. He stole a horse from a pasture and then stopped at a house a few miles down the road to look for a saddle, but he was discovered by the family and thrown in the Fairfield gaol.

Frasier conspired to break out with a fellow prisoner named Hoit, who was being held for debt. Hoit was imprisoned in an adjoining room, but he delivered an ember to Frasier under the door that separated them. At about eleven or twelve at night, Frasier used the ember to light a fire in an attempt to burn a hole in the side of the jail. The fire quickly grew out of control. Frasier and Hoit would have suffocated from the smoke were it not for one of the jailer’s family members hearing their cries and raising an alarm.

The fire continued to burn so high and furious that it moved from the jail to the adjoining court house, and the two buildings, along with the jailer’s apartment, burned to the ground. Before the jail was completely destroyed by Frasier, it had been newly built and was considered the strongest place of confinement in the colony. The two prisoners were transferred to the jail in New Haven.

The Superior Court sentenced Frasier to be hanged for the Bradley burglary and for his disastrous escape attempt. The judges, loathe to put someone to death, delayed the warrant of execution by 4 months. Frasier took full advantage of the delay. On July 28, 1768 he acquired a small saw and knife, and with them he broke out of his irons and escaped.

Stephen Munson, the New Haven jailer, offered a twenty dollar reward for his capture and return, and a newspaper carrying the story described Frasier as being “of middling Stature, black Hair, pitted with the Small-Pox, has both his Ears cropt, and branded twice on his Forehead with the Capital Letter B, his Fore-Teeth gone, aged about Twenty-Eight Years; had on a brown Great Coat, a Pair of old Homespun Breeches, and a Check Shirt.”

After escaping from the New Haven gaol, Frasier made his way to Boston. While on the road he met an Irish girl, and the two traveled together until they came to a tavern near Roxbury where they got a room together. The girl somehow gained possession of Frasier’s money, but when he tried to get it back, she was protected by the landlord and several other ruffians staying in the house. In the end, she gave 19 of the 40 dollars back to him after he pleaded his case with her.

Strike Three

The watering trough and the flagstone at the base are all that remains of Beaman's Tavern, which is now under water.

Frasier made his way to Beaman’s Tavern in Shrewsbury, MA, where he stayed two days and then left in the night with a waistcoat, a watch, a silver cup, and 14 pounds. He was captured, though, and held in the Worcester gaol. Frasier settled the affair privately with Beaman, but he was given ten stripes for another theft he had committed. While he was being held in custody, word of his involvement in the affair in New Haven reached Worcester, and he was transferred back to Connecticut to face his execution. Upon his arrival, the Superior Court in Fairfield ordered Frasier to be loaded with chains and the jail to be guarded every night until his execution.

A large number of people showed up in Fairfield on September 7, 1768 to witness Frasier’s execution. He showed little concern throughout the proceedings, which made people think that he held hope that he would at some point receive a reprieve. But as his final hour drew near and it became increasingly apparent that there was no escape, he began to display anxiety over his fate.

Frasier did not give a public speech, but he requested Noah Hobart to give the sermon at his execution. Hobart ended his address to Frasier and the spectators in dramatic fashion:

You are now on the very brink of an awful, and endless eternity; in an hour or two you must enter on the unseen world; and your everlasting condition will be fixed and determined. This is the last sermon you are to hear,—these are the last offers of pardon and salvation through CHRIST that are ever to be made you. O! accept them immediately, for your eternal happiness depends upon it.

At the time of his execution, Frasier did not know if his mother was still living in Rhode Island or was dead. He attributed the start of his thieving ways to his lack of education and his treatment while an apprentice. In his Brief Account, he beseeched parents to educate their children and to be careful when employing others to educate them. He also advised masters to instill principles of virtue and religion into their charges, since they were essentially filling the shoes of their parents.

Sources

• Arthur, A Negro Man. The Life, and Dying Speech of Arthur, a Negro Man; Who Was Executed at Worcester, October 20, 1768. For a Rape Committed on the Body of One Deborah Metcalfe. Boston: 1768. Database: Documenting the American South, http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/arthur/arthur.html.
• Cohen, Daniel A. Pillars of Salt, Monuments of Grace: New England Crime Literature And the Origins of American Popular Culture, 1674-1860. Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2006.
• Connecticut Journal. August 12, 1768, issue 43, p. 4. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Frasier, Isaac. A Brief Account of the Life, and Abominable Thefts, of the Notorious Isaac Frasier. New-London, [CT]: Timothy Green, [1768]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• “Hartford, August 1.” Boston News-Letter. August 4, 1768, issue 298, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Hobart, Noah. Excessive Wickedness, the Way to an Untimely Death. A Sermon. New Haven, [CT]: Thomas and Samuel Green, [1768]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• “New-Haven, April 8.” Connecticut Journal. April 8, 1768, issue 25, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• “New-Haven, April 29.” Connecticut Journal. April 29, 1768, issue 28, p. 4. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• “New-Haven, July 29.” Connecticut Journal. July 29, 1768, issue 41, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• “New Haven, August 26.” Connecticut Courant. August 29, 1768, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• “New Haven, Sept. 9.” Connecticut Journal. September 9, 1768, issue 47, p. 4. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

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Note: This post continues “Advice from a Condemned Burglar.”

Joseph Atwood and Levi Ames both participated in the burglary of Martin Bicker’s house in 1773, although the extent to which each one was involved was a matter of debate. Both said that the other was the mastermind of the burglary, and Atwood claimed that he never even entered the house. In the end, the court sided with Atwood and only convicted him of theft, not burglary. As punishment, Atwood received a whipping and a fine. Ames, however, was found guilty of the burglary and was put to death.

Many writers at the time used the case of Levi Ames as an example of what can happen to someone who does not listen to their parents and decides to pursue a life of crime. Joseph Atwood, even though he luckily avoided a death sentence in the Bicker burglary, apparently never learned the lesson that Levi Ames’s execution supposedly taught.

The Fall

A little over a year after Levi Ames was executed, Joseph Atwood was arrested again for burglary and placed in jail in Norwich, CT. Atwood had secretly hid himself in the store of Joseph Howland, and after it closed for the night, Atwood used the opportunity to pocket fifty pounds of money from the till and take eighteen pounds worth of goods.

As Atwood turned to leave, however, he fell through an open scuttle—a hole in the floor through which large casks and other objects can be hoisted up and lowered down between stories. The 30-foot fall into the cellar cut his head, dislocated his shoulder, and left him unconscious for some time. Eventually, he recovered and escaped out a window with the stolen money and goods.

Atwood had little time to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He was picked up the next morning and brought to a “Place of Flagelation,” where he received ten stripes. In a scene that could just as well have been out of an episode of MTV’s Jackass, the “notorious villain” John Brown burst out laughing at the site of his friend being flogged. In retaliation, Atwood impeached Brown in the theft of four leather skins from a Mr. Chenea. Atwood also confessed during his interrogation to participating in several crimes around the town of Norwich with a “Gang of Banditti.”

In Prison

Both Atwood and Brown were found guilty of their crimes and sentenced to terms in Connecticut’s newest prison, the Symsbury Mines, a.k.a. Old New-Gate Prison. The prison was unusual in that it housed its inmates underground in an abandoned copper mine.

Connecticut Gazette (November 25, 1774) - From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.

After languishing over a year in the Symsbury Mines, Atwood and Brown, along with 6 other prisoners, plotted an escape. Their plan was to take turns in shifts of four men at a time clearing loose rock out of a drift meant to drain water from the mine shafts. After removing quite a bit of rock from the tunnel, they encountered some boulders that were too large to move. The gang decided to gather together as much coal as they could and build a fire next to the rock in the hope that the heat would crack or break the rocks apart.

Unfortunately for them, the coal, which had been stored in the cold, damp mine, was too moist to burn freely, so it gave off a noxious smoke. The gang’s attempted escape soon became lethal. Two of the prisoners became “speechless and unable to help themselves.” They were presumably guided out by John Brown and two other prisoners, who managed to come out of the affair relatively unharmed.

Joseph Atwood and two other prisoners, however, died from the fumes.

Sources

• Domonell, William G. Newgate: From Copper Mine to State Prison. Simsbury, CT: The Simsbury Historical Society, 1998.
• “New London, November 25.” Connecticut Gazette. November 25, 1774, vol. XII, issue 576, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• “Norwich, November 1.” Boston Gazette. November 28, 1774, issue 1024, p. 1. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

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Note: This post continues “The Execution of Levi Ames.”

Levi Ames died a penitent burglar and thief, and before his death he was particularly concerned with the legacy of his actions and their consequences. He expressed remorse for ignoring the pleas of his mother to stop stealing when he was a boy, and he admonished youth to listen to their parents and not follow his example.

Detail from “An Address to the Inhabitants of Boston (Particularly to the Thoughtless Youth) Occasioned by the Execution of Levi Ames” – Library of Congress

The Root of His Troubles

Ames believed that the root of his troubles started early on and that he now had to pay the consequences as an adult. In his “Life, Last Words, and Dying Speech,” Ames asserts, “I am now made to feel the anger of GOD against me, for my disobedience to my parent! GOD will not let disobedient children pass unpunished.” He later devotes a good part of his autobiographical account to offering advice, both to help people protect themselves from other criminals like him and to avoid following in his footsteps:

And now as a dying man I mention the following things, viz.

1. To keep your doors and windows shut on evenings, and secured well to prevent temptation. And by no means to use small locks on the outside, one of which I have twisted with ease when tempted to steal. Also not to leave linen or clothes out at night, which have often proved a snare to me. Travellers I advise to secure their saddle bags, boots, &c. in the chambers where they lodge.

2. Parents and masters I entreat you who have any concern for, and connection with children, to have an eye over their actions, and to take special care for their precious and immortal souls.

3. All Persons whether old or young, who may see these lines, spoke as it were by a poor, dying sinful man, now bound in chains, and who has but a short space of time before he must launch into an endless eternity; guard against every temptation to sin. If at any time you are tempted to do any thing like the poor soul who now speaks to you, earnestly pray to GOD for strength to resist the temptation, as well as for repentance for your past sins.

The youth more especially I would solemnly caution against the vices to which they are most inclined—Such as bad women, who have undone many, and by whom I also have suffered much; the unlawful intercourse with them I have found by sad experience, leading to almost every sin. I also warn them to guard against the first temptation to disobedience to parents. Had I regarded the many kind intreaties and reproofs of my tender Mother, I had never come to his shameful and untimely death.

Profane cursing and swearing I also bear my dying testimony against, as a horrid sin, and provoking to GOD.

Nor must I omit to mention gaming, to which young people are much inclined, and which at this day prevails to the ruin of many. For when a youth hath gamed away all his money, he will be tempted even to steal from his master or parents, in order to get at it again. Besides, this sin leads to drunkenness another dreadful vice.

There is one sin more that I must warn all persons against, and that is a profanation of the Lord’s day, and of public worship. Oh! How many such days have I despised, and while others have been engaged in serving GOD, I have been employed in wickedness, which I now confess with grief of heart.

Legacy

Forty-four years after his death, the story of Levi Ames appeared in a pamphlet entitled Evil and Natural Consequences of Idleness (1817). Here, Ames’s case is briefly told with some slight change in emphasis and facts to illustrate the author’s point about idleness. In this account, Ames’s downfall came when he was “one day loitering about idle in Boston market, (as is the practice with many boys at the present day, but which we hope those whose duty it is will shortly put a stop to)” and met the wicked Atwood. Seizing on the opportunity presented by Ames’s loafing, Atwood lured him into committing the burglary that eventually led to Ames’s downfall.

The author continues by summarizing Ames’s list of warnings and concludes,

Thus died at the age of 21 years, this truly unfortunate young man, who if it had not been for giving way to the temptations which idleness exposed him to, might have lived respectably, and died happy.

Ames might have been comforted to know that, years after his death, his case continued to serve as a negative example for parents and children alike.

Note: The story of Levi Ames will conclude with “The Fate of Joseph Atwood, Levi Ames’s Accomplice.”

Sources

• Ames, Levi. The Last Words and Dying Speech of Levi Ames. Boston: Printed and Sold at the Shop Opposite the Court House in Queen Street, [1773]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• —. The Last Words and Dying Speech of Levi Ames. Salem[, MA]: Printing Office, [1773]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• Evil and Natural Consequences of Idleness. Boston: Farnham & Badger, 1817. Database: Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1800-1819), Readex/Newsbank.
• Mather, Samuel. Christ Sent to Heal the Broken Hearted . . . To Which is Added, His Life [Ames] Written by Himself. Boston: William M’Alpine, 1773. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.

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Note: This post continues “The Life of Levi Ames in Print.”

On October 21, 1773 at around two o’clock in the afternoon, Levi Ames, who was convicted of burglary, emerged from the prison yard. With his arms bound and a halter looped around his neck, he followed the cart carrying his coffin to the gallows set up in Boston Neck, where many other criminals had been executed over the years. Today, it was Ames’s turn.

The Journey

The Rev. Samuel Stillman, a Baptist minister, accompanied Ames on his journey to the gallows. Stillman had spent more time with Ames during his confinement than any other person, and he continued to give Ames spiritual counsel during these final hours.

Throngs of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of this now-famous criminal. At one point along the way, the halter Ames was carrying slipped from his arm, but he managed to catch it up again. As the procession continued, Stillman kept tabs on the state of Ames’s mind, but as they approached the site of his execution, the noise from the crowd that had gathered kept the two from conversing. By one estimate, seven or eight thousand people had shown up to witness the spectacle, and all of them clamored to get as close to Ames as possible.

Upon reaching the gallows, Ames was ordered to climb onto the cart and stand while the warrant of execution was read aloud to him. Once read, he sat down on his coffin. Stillman parted his company, and Ames was given a few moments to compose his final thoughts. He placed his head on his coffin for a time and then kneeled down beside it and prayed softly.

Dying Speech

With his end drawing near, Ames was told to stand up on his coffin while the other end of the halter circled around his neck was tied to the gallows. While these preparations took place, Ames used the opportunity to address the crowd:

Look at me, a sight enough to melt a heart of stone; I am going to die for my wickedness: But the death I am to die, is nothing compared with the death of JESUS CHRIST on the cross, for they pierced his hands and his side with a spear. O take warning by me—If you were my own brethren, near to me as my own soul, I could only tell you to beware of stealing, swearing, [and] drinking.

Ames made some private prayers and looked wistfully at the four o’clock sun. He pulled his cap over his eyes just before the cart drove out from under him. He died “without scarce a struggle” at the age of 21. By all accounts, he was a penitent thief.

Detail from “The Dying Groans of Levi Ames” – Library of Congress

Battle for the Body

After Ames was pronounced dead, the sheriff delivered his body to someone waiting in a cart, who drove it to the water and quickly transferred it into a boat. Twelve men manning the vessel then rowed the body across to Dorchester Point. These men were evidently hired by Stillman to protect Ames’s body and keep it from a group of Harvard-educated surgeons from who were eager to dissect it.

Before Ames’s execution, the surgeons had applied to Governor Thomas Hutchinson for a warrant to take control of Ames’s body after his death. The Governor informed them that they were too late; he had already promised the body to another group just fifteen minutes ago. Back when Ames was being held in prison, he had told Stillman that he did not want his body to go to the surgeons for dissection, and Stillman promised that he would not let that happen. Luckily for Ames and Stillman, they were able to reach the Governor before the surgeons did.

The doctors, however, were not to be denied. Once they saw the boat carrying Ames’s body land at Dorchester Point, they raced by land to the spot in an attempt to intercept the party. The route took them longer than they thought it would. They didn’t arrive at the point of landing until eleven o’clock at night. By then, the group carrying the body had disappeared. The surgeons searched in vain, but they eventually retired to the Punch Bowl Tavern in Brookline to drink away their disappointment.

The next day, the surgeons learned that the group carrying Ames’s body rowed back to Boston Neck, where they buried Ames in an undisclosed location. With this knowledge, a few of the surgeons continued the search but were again unsuccessful in their attempt to locate the body.

Presumably, the penitent thief continues to this day to rest in peace.

Note: The story of Levi Ames will continue with “Advice from a Condemned Burglar.”

Sources

• Bell, J. L. “The Difficulties of Medical Training in 1773.” Boston 1775. http://boston1775.blogspot.com/. Accessed: 29 March 2010.
• Mather, Samuel. Christ Sent to Heal the Broken Hearted . . . To Which is Added, His Life [Ames] Written by Himself. Boston: William M’Alpine, 1773. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• Stillman, Samuel. Two Sermons . . . Delivered the Lord’s Day Before the Execution of Levi Ames . . . to Which is Added, at the Request of Many, an Account of the Exercise of his Mind, from the Time of his Condemnation, until He Left the World. Second ed. Boston: E. Russell, 1773. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• Warren, Edward. The Life of John Warren, M.D. Boston: Noyles, Holmes, and Company, 1874, pp. 228-229.
• West, Bill. “Levi Ames,” Parts 1, 2, and 3. West in New England. http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/search/label/Ames%20Levi. Accessed: 29 March 2010.

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Note: This post continues “The Stories of Levi Ames, Burglar.”

After Levi Ames was sentenced to death for his part in the burglary of Martin Bicker in the early fall of 1773, he was held in prison to await his execution. At first, he hoped to find a means of escape, but he came to realize the futility of this plan. He then turned to strong alcohol to help ease the pain of anticipating his impending doom. Unsatisfied with its effect, Ames gave up drinking in favor of reading the Bible.

Sermons

Ames was visited in prison by a host of ministers who helped him prepare for his final journey. Ames also attended church, where he heard sermons that used his case as first-hand illustration of the perils of sin. These sermons were quickly printed up and sold on the strength that the condemned criminal was in attendance when they were given.

In the early days of printing in America, local ministers maintained tight control over the presses, so most crime literature took the form of sermons given on the occasion of a criminal’s execution. These works said little about the life of the criminal, and in some cases, if the criminal wasn’t mentioned in the title of the publication, readers would not have known that the sermon held any relationship to a particular offender. Still, the sermons were powerful stuff, since their subject involved real-life examples of sinners who paid the ultimate price for their actions.

Once ministers began losing influence over the printing presses, crime literature in America began to resemble England’s, where the lives and words of the criminals themselves took center stage. In some respects, the sermons published for Ames’s execution–Rev. Samuel Mather’s Christ Sent to Heal the Broken Hearted: A Sermon Preached at the Thursday Lecture in Boston . . . When Levi Ames . . . Was Present to Hear the Discourse and Rev. Samuel Stillman’s Two Sermons: The First from Psalm CII. 19, 20. Delivered the Lord’s Day before the Execution of Levi Ames–were both old-fashioned in terms of crime literature. However, in order to increase their appeal, Mather added to his publication an account of the life of Levi Ames “written by himself” and Stillman, “At the request of many,” appended to the end of his a first-hand account of his interactions with the criminal before his execution.

The Life of Levi Ames

In the account of Ames’s life at the end of Mather’s sermon, Ames displays an amazing recall for what he stole and who he stole it from. His confession of over seventeen thefts sometimes reads like a shopping list, but a few of his exploits stand out.

Levi Ames was born on May 1, 1752 in Groton, MA to Jacob, jr. and Olive Ames, but his father died when he was two years old. At the age of seven Ames began stealing small items, such as eggs, fruit, a jack knife, and some chalk. Even though his mother scolded him when he was caught committing such petty acts, Ames felt compelled to continue.

As Ames got older, he became more daring. At the age of sixteen or seventeen, he turned a neighbor’s cattle out into the cornfield and then used the distraction it caused to rob his house. Unable to control him, Olive found Ames an apprenticeship, but he promptly ran away from his master. With no real means of supporting himself, Ames turned to the unlawful skills he had cultivated as boy for his livelihood.

During one of his burglaries, Ames twisted the padlock to the cellar of a minister’s house in Marlborough, MA and then went up the stairs, lit a candle, and helped himself to some food. At times, Ames teamed up with the notorious Tom Cook. After stealing two great coats together and selling them, Cook showed Ames where he had hidden away seven pounds of plate in a stone wall, “close to the sign of the bull on Wrentham road.” Cook offered to give Ames half if he could dispose of the booty, but Ames claimed that he was too afraid to do so. Ames and Cook also robbed the house of Jonathan Hammond, an officeholder in Waltham. In a likely attempt to replicate the robbery Ames carried out as a teenager, he and Cook let Hammond’s cattle loose in his cornfield, which caused considerable damage to his crops. Cook was later arrested for this act.

Even Ames’s time in jail did not convince him to abandon his life of crime. In fact, it offered him opportunities. After Ames was thrown in jail in Cambridge, he asked Mr. Braddish, the jail-keeper, to provide him with a spoon so that he could eat. Braddish gave him a silver one, and Ames stole it. During another stint in prison, a Mr. Meriam gave Ames detailed instructions in how to steal some money from the house of Meriam’s father-in-law, Mr. Symonds of Lexington. Ames speculated, “I supposed he gave me this information through envy against his father-in-law, through whose means he was then confined for debt.” Ames came away with ten or eleven pounds from the robbery.

Before Ames was sentenced to death for burglary, he had been branded twice and whipped two or three times for stealing. Clearly, these former punishments had little effect on him. But for someone who neglected church and led a life of crime from an early age, Ames proved to be a fast learner when it came to redemption. All of the ministers’ accounts of Ames’s final days in prison show a young man who is quite articulate in expressing his hope for salvation.

Poetry

The Dying Groans of Levi Ames – The Library of Congress

In addition to the newspaper reports, sermons, and accounts of Ames’s life, the execution of Levi Ames occasioned the publication of at least nine poetic broadsides. Most of the poems are cautionary in nature and focus on the negative example that Ames provides and the religious lessons that can be drawn from his punishment. Some of them were hastily written and obvious attempts to capitalize on a public eager to read about Ames and his execution.

One of the poetic broadsides, Theft and Murder! A Poem on the Execution of Levi Ames, is unusual in that it injects political controversy into Ames’s situation. The poem asks why murderers can be cleared by technicalities in the law, while common thieves, like Levi Ames, are hanged:

Must Thieves who take men’s goods away
Be put to death? While fierce blood hounds,
Who do their fellow creatures slay,
Are sav’d from death? This cruel sounds.

The author of the poem goes on to point out the apparent hypocrisy on the part of ministers and other community leaders regarding Ames’s case:

But, ah! Alas it seems to me,
That Murder now is passed by
While Priests and Rulers all agree
That this poor Criminal must die.
What can they no compassion have?
Upon the poor distressed Thief,
Will none appear his life to save
Or pray that he may have relief?
Oh no! The Ministers they say,
For him there can be no reprieve;
He must be hang’d upon the day,
And his just punishment receive.

The subject and tone of this poem is quite different from all of the others published about Ames’s execution. Why is Ames garnering so much sympathy here, and who are these murderers that are being let off on technicalities?

The poem refers to a case that started back in 1770, when Ebenezer Richardson accidentally shot a rioter. Richardson was accused of murder, and he appeared to be headed for certain execution. The authorities, however, believed that Richardson was innocent and used all of their power in the legal system to create delay until England could issue a pardon. The delay infuriated the public.

Even though Richardson’s guilt was far from certain, a fabricated criminal biography appeared, complete with tales of adultery, incest, and homicide. While Richardson sat in prison with the hope that he would eventually be freed, he was transformed into an embodiment of evil in the press and in public perception.

Finally, in the spring of 1773, Richardson received his pardon from England and was secretly released from prison. When news of his release got out, the public was livid. Richardson’s pardon created enough heated sentiment that the execution of Levi Ames in the fall reminded people of the perceived injustices of the Richardson case from the spring.

So Much Ink

There are several reasons why so much ink was used in telling the story of Levi Ames and why his case garnered so much interest. First, there were the competing stories of the burglary from Ames and his accomplice, Joseph Atwood. While the guilt of Ames was never in doubt, Atwood probably had a greater hand in the burglary than what came out in court. Atwood was lucky. He probably deserved the same sentence as Ames.

Ames also proved to be a model prisoner, which bolstered his standing in the public’s eyes. He immersed himself in Christian theology in a desperate attempt to find salvation for his soul. The fact that he never showed ill-will towards Atwood–and even sent his final meal to his former accomplice because he wasn’t hungry at the time–was taken as a sign of the depth of his repentance. Ames’s young age must have played into interest in his case as well. He was only twenty-one at the time. And finally, his cased tapped into a latent controversy over the punishment of thieves and murderers in Massachusetts.

Perhaps out of some show of mercy, the Governor delayed Ames’s execution by one week, moving it from Thursday, October 14 to October 21. But even the publication of Theft and Murder! and its arguments were not enough to commute or delay any further Ames’s execution.

Note: The story of Levi Ames continues with “The Execution of Levi Ames.”

Sources

• Mather, Samuel. Christ Sent to Heal the Broken Hearted . . . To Which is Added, His [Ames's] Life Written by Himself. Boston: William M’Alpine, 1773. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• A Prospective View of Death: Being a Solemn Warning to Inconsiderate Youth, Occasioned by the Trial and Condemnation of Levi Ames. Boston: E. Russell, [1773]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• “Salem, October 12.” Essex Gazette. October 12, 1773, vol. VI, issue 272, p. 43. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Simons, D. Brenton. Witches, Rakes, and Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in Boston, 1630-1775. Beverly, MA: Commonwealth Editions, 2005.
• Stillman, Samuel. Two Sermons . . . Delivered the Lord’s Day Before the Execution of Levi Ames . . . to Which is Added, at the Request of Many, an Account of the Exercise of his Mind, from the Time of his Condemnation, until He Left the World. Second ed. Boston: E. Russell, 1773. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• Theft and Murder! A Poem on the Execution of Levi Ames. [Boston, 1773]. Database: Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800), Readex/Newsbank.
• “Vital Records of Groton, MA, 1655 to 1849: Births.” The Massachusetts Vital Records Project. Accessed: 16 March 2010. http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Groton/BirthsA.shtml.
• Wilf, Steven. “Placing Blame: Criminal Law and Constitutional Narratives in Revolutionary Boston.” Crime, History, and Society 4.1: 31-61, 2000.

Note: Read more about Ebenezer Richardson at Boston 1775:

• “William Molineux Saves Ebenezer Richardson’s Neck“
• “Ebenezer Richardson: Customs Informer and Killer“

Read more about burglary in Early American Crime.