Nine silver watches and one of gold were stolen from the dwelling of Andrew Moran. For this felony, Richard Nichols, a barber and peruke-maker aged forty years, was condemned principally upon the testimony of Thomas Neeves. The record depicts him as a man of hitherto civil and reputable conduct; he denied all knowledge of the theft. Later, when Neeves was conveyed to Tyburn, he confessed that he had never laid eyes on Nichols prior to his apprehension, and begged forgiveness for the perjury that had brought an innocent man to his death, according to the terms preserved in the account. The ten men named in the calendar suffered on the same day, yet they belonged to separate confederacies and answered for diverse infractions.
On the twenty-eighth of February, 1728, Christopher alias Thomas Rawlins, Isaac Ashley alias Alseby, and John Rouden alias Hulks were arraigned for having assaulted Francis Williams as he travelled by coach, robbing him of a silver watch, two guineas, and a moidore. Williams related that he heard his driver commanded to halt. A man then approached the vehicle, pistol in hand, whilst four others presented themselves at the windows, pressing for his money. One of their number ransacked his pocket and carried off the watch. Dalton, an accomplice turned King's evidence, stated that he had seized the coin whilst Rouden took the watch; he added that he and Rawlins had concealed a guinea from their fellows and pledged the watch for two guineas more.
Another witness, Jones, produced the watch before the court, swearing he had received it from Dalton. The latter identified the three prisoners and a fourth man who had not yet been taken into custody. He detailed the part played by each. The accused denied the whole of the charge, protesting that they knew nothing of Dalton. Wyatt, who had lodged them, confounded this denial: he knew them intimately, affirming that they all resided beneath his roof. Upon their capture, the constables likewise discovered weapons; according to the depositions, Rawlins and Rouden offered resistance with drawn swords, whilst Ashley hid himself beneath a bed.
The chronicle does not make these three men answerable to the testimony of Neeves: the case of Williams rested upon other witnesses and upon the watch produced before the bench. It passes thence to different accusations. Edward Benson, known also in the text by the names of Brown and Boyston, was joined with George Gale, called Kiddy George, and Thomas Crowder in the robbery of James Colver, from whom a watch and five shillings were said to have been taken. Neeves, who had been a companion in their "exploits," tendered information against them. All three were convicted; the narrative does not establish that their fate hung solely upon his word.
Gale, a youth of some seventeen years, protested that he was the victim of Neeves, who well knew he possessed neither friends nor interest wherewith to prove his innocence. Benson partially confirmed this account, asserting that he alone had committed the theft for which he lay condemned. Gale persisted to the very end in denying his participation in these highway robberies, though acknowledging he had been a thief. The chronicler sets down these utterances without furnishing any further inquiry whereby one might adjudicate between the men.
Thomas Crowder had served his apprenticeship to a cabinet-maker before taking to the sea. Returning from a voyage, he fell in with Neeves, who spoke to him of a projected trade with Holland. The narrative affirms that Crowder spent several days in his company, notably at the time of Neeves's nuptials, before being apprehended and charged with having robbed James Colver in concert with Benson and Gale. Crowder disowned all connection with the assault, maintaining he had been enticed solely by the prospect of honest commerce. The Ordinary of Newgate, however, professed reasons for believing him guilty, a gentleman having reported to him a confession made by Crowder in the chapel on the day of his demise. This second version rests upon hearsay, quite apart from the accusation leveled by Neeves.
James Toon was another man convicted upon the information of Neeves. The indictment against him concerned the assault upon James Flemming on the third of April, alongside Gale and Benson, and the theft of a silver watch and two guineas. Toon had labored as a mariner and subsequently as a waterman; he denied having had any hand in the robbery, though acknowledging he had led a life he deemed sinful. The year corresponding to the third of April is omitted from the record. In his dying speech, Toon maintained his denial, remarking that he accounted his time under sentence an occasion for solemn reflection. The chronicle portrays him as resigned to the decrees of Providence.
The case of John Hornby concerned Edward Ellis, who was despoiled upon the highway of a silver watch and two guineas. The source depicts Hornby as a young joiner who had turned to pickpocketing before being drawn into violent robberies. He admitted to unlawful practices, yet would not confess to the fact for which he was to die. The chronicle notes that he had married very young, before he was able to maintain his wife, and that he wept bitterly over the calamities brought upon his kin. As for William Sefton, the charge against him alleged an assault upon Henry Bunn and the theft of a silver watch, two pieces of foreign gold, and two pounds eleven shillings. Sefton acknowledged the crime, which he professed to have committed under the sway of another man whose name the source does not preserve.
The source proceeds to describe the demeanour of the condemned, without attributing to them any uniform posture. Rawlins owned the crimes he had committed; Rouden admitted the justice of his sentence. The chronicler portrays the former as retaining his old, clamorous temper: he would speak of repentance one moment, only to utter profane oaths the next. After the arrival of the death warrant, he appeared more composed and inclined to prayer. A few days prior to his execution, he cut the tassels from the pulpit cushion in the chapel. Ashley confessed to numerous thefts, yet denied having taken part in the attack for which he was sentenced; even Rawlins and Benson supported him in this particular. On the Sunday preceding their execution, Ashley purloined several handkerchiefs within the chapel. When questioned upon this matter by the Ordinary at the tree, he confessed the deed, explaining that he stood in need of sustenance.
Benson, for his part, acknowledged his guilt and expressed contrition regarding his private conduct. He confessed to having lived in adultery with two women, both of whom claimed to have been lawfully wedded to him. Gale denied the highway robberies whilst owning to other larcenies. Crowder held fast to the end to his account of the Dutch trading venture; Toon and Hornby denied the specific indictments, despite admitting to their unlawful courses. Sefton acknowledged the robbery of Bunn. These divergent declarations did not overturn the sentences pronounced, yet they forbid us from regarding these ten men as a single gang, a solitary trial, or a company of felons whose guilt was of one and the same measure.
The ten men were executed on the twentieth of May, 1728. Their recorded ages ranged from seventeen years for Gale to forty for Nichols. Amongst them, some owned the felonies for which they died, others disclaimed all part therein, and the posthumous testimony of Neeves cast upon one of the convictions a confession ruinous to the credibility of his own witness. The history of this company is not, therefore, summed up in a common doom: it preserves the trace of distinct robberies, of evidence unequal in weight, and of a belated word that could no longer preserve the life it exonerated.