Mr Knox’s carriage was rolling through County Derry in the early days of November 1761. His daughter sat beside him. A blacksmith accompanied father and maiden; suddenly, four armed men broke from cover. Two leveled their pistols at the postilion to force a halt. John M’Naughton was among the assailants. He discharged a blunderbuss first at the smith, but missed his mark. One of his fellows struck the man in the arm, the wound rendering him unable to bring his primed musket to bear.
M’Naughton and another then fired into the coach. The window was hastily drawn up. M’Naughton hastened to the opposite side of the carriage and discharged a piece loaded with five balls. The shot struck Miss Knox. A maidservant drew down the blind, crying aloud that her young mistress was murdered. Mr Knox’s footman, who had concealed himself behind a turf-stack, fired upon M’Naughton; Mr Knox himself discharged a piece from within the coach. Struck in the back, M’Naughton mounted his horse and fled.
Miss Knox was carried to a neighboring cottage. She expired some three hours after receiving her wounds. On the morrow, a detachment of light horse apprehended M’Naughton and conveyed him to Lifford Gaol. The Lord Lieutenant proclaimed a reward of five hundred pounds for the capture of his accomplices. They were soon taken; one was admitted as evidence for the Crown. George Borrow sets these occurrences at the end of a long dispute concerning the young lady. His relation begins long before the assault upon the coach.
A native of Londonderry, the son of a merchant and grandson of a Dublin alderman, M’Naughton had received a liberal education. An uncle had bequeathed him an annual revenue of six hundred pounds. He contracted a first marriage, leased a fine house in Dublin, and spent far beyond his means. A creditor obtained a writ against him. When the sheriff arrived to levy the execution, M’Naughton was seated in the parlor with his pregnant wife. Borrow connects the terror of that sudden arrest with the pangs that forthwith seized her: she was delivered of a stillborn infant and perished a few days later.
Years elapsed. M’Naughton ingratiated himself with Mr Knox, a gentleman of fortune in County Derry. Knox’s daughter was entitled to five thousand pounds upon attaining her majority, under the marriage settlement of her parents. M’Naughton paid his addresses to her; she promised to bestow her hand upon him, provided her father gave his consent. Knox refused and forbade the suitor the house. M’Naughton entreated that the door should not be shut against him so abruptly, pleading that a sudden breach would give rise to ill surmises in the neighborhood. Knox consented to receive him once more.
M’Naughton thereupon resumed his visits and pressed his suit with redoubled ardor. He obtained from her a promise of marriage at the expiration of two years, seeing that she was still a minor. Yet, at a meeting in a neighbor’s house, he gave out that they were already husband and wife. Miss Knox denied it and reported the matter to her father. Knox addressed a letter to him forbidding all further visits and rebuking his past conduct. Nor did M’Naughton reply only to his correspondent: he caused an advertisement to be published in the gazette asserting that Miss Knox was his lawful wife. Knox published a rejoinder.
The father next carried the matter before the Ecclesiastical Court. The court dismissed the pretended marriage and pronounced that, if M’Naughton deemed himself aggrieved, he must seek redress at common law. M’Naughton carried his appeal to the Court of Delegates. A warrant was issued by a judge for his apprehension. In a transport of fury, he wrote to the judge declaring he would kill him when he came to ride the circuit. This threat procured a warrant from the Court of King’s Bench. M’Naughton fled Ireland for London, where he deemed himself in greater safety.
Miss Knox remained his fixed object. He returned to Ireland in disguise and lurked in the vicinity of her father’s seat. Borrow remarks that the family took no measures for their defense, despite the peril attending his return. The blacksmith who attended the coach was tied to the household: his wife had formerly been in the service of the Knoxes. Facing him and the domestic servants, M’Naughton arrived with three confederates. Thus, the assault recounted in the chronicle engaged not merely father and suitor: it drew the retainers of the house into the fray.
A special commission of oyer and terminer was issued for the trial of the prisoners. Two judges repaired to Lifford. The proceedings were appointed to open on the 8th of December, but M’Naughton’s counsel raised such an array of exceptions that the cause was adjourned for three days. The sitting began at eight of the clock in the morning and continued until eleven at night. The two judges quitted not the bench during the whole of the trial.
One of the confederates gave evidence for the prosecution; another was acquitted. M’Naughton and a third man, named Dunlap, were found guilty of capital crimes. Following his condemnation, M’Naughton sued for mercy on Dunlap’s behalf, declaring that the man had acted solely upon his commands. The plea availed nothing against the sentence of the law.
Upon the day of execution, M’Naughton was still exceedingly languid. Two men supported him to the scaffold. Borrow details his attire: a nightcap secured with a black ribbon, white hose, black buckles, a flannel waistcoat laced with black, black buttons, and crape about his arm. M’Naughton urged the executioner to perform his office with dispatch. When the ladder was presented, he mounted it forthwith. But, as the cord was adjusted about his neck, he threw himself off with such violence that the rope snapped asunder.
Borrow observes that he might have effected his escape had his bodily strength and presence of mind sustained him. The concourse opened a passage, as though minded to shield him for an instant from the rigor of the law. He was lifted up and brought back to the gibbet. The executioner then took Dunlap’s halter, fixed it about M’Naughton’s neck, ascended the ladder, and secured the rope to the gallows. This time the convict swung off and expired almost immediately. Dunlap witnessed his death before suffering the same fate. Both men were executed near Strabane on the 15th of December 1761. The promise of marriage had failed to confer upon M’Naughton the rights he so fiercely challenged. The maiden who had disputed his claim lay dead; Dunlap, for whom he had begged for life, was now borne after him into the grave.