Early American Crime

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In April 1791, Thomas Mount and James Williams were thrown in the Newport, RI jail to be held until their execution for burglary. Williams was reticent to discuss his life or the crime that the two committed, but Mount not only willingly talked at length about these topics, he divulged the inner-workings of the “Flash Company”—a gang of “foot-pads and highway-men, connected together under certain laws and regulations”—to which he supposedly belonged.

William Smith, the Newport minister who interviewed Mount in prison and then helped publish The Confession, &c. of Thomas Mount, contends that this “gang of plunderers has infected the United States ever since the late war; and almost all the persons who have been hanged of late in North-America, have belonged to this company.” The details of Mount’s life are not much different from other burglars who also published accounts of their lives during this time period. What is unique about Mount’s account is that he appends at the end a short cant dictionary and a group of flash songs that supposedly give insight into this league of criminals.

In and Out of the Armies

Mount was born in Middletown, NJ in 1764, but his family moved to New York when he was four or five. He and his two brothers attended school, but Mount “played truant, hated learning and every sort of good instruction.” He robbed orchards on Sundays and spread his “wicked example among all the boys I could get acquainted with.” When he reached ten or eleven years old, he began to despise his parents, so he signed on to a ship bound for Antigua.

At the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, Mount joined the American forces, although he soon became sick and was dismissed. After he recovered, he joined the army again, which started a pattern of him abandoning and rejoining armies throughout the conflict. While holed up in Valley Forge, he abandoned the Americans and joined the British army lying in Philadelphia. A few days later he committed his first act of theft when he and a couple companions broke into a shop and stole some soap.

As the British army moved through New Jersey and up to New York, Mount continued to break into stores and steal goods and money. Afraid that he would eventually be detected, he joined two companions in locking up the corporal in charge of the patrol and escaped back to the American army. The British later recaptured Mount and charged him with desertion, but he was acquitted on account of his young age.

At this point, Mount decided “to double my diligence, if possible to arrive at the head of my profession,” so he went on a spree of stealing watches and breaking into stores while still serving in the British army. While stationed on Long Island, he and another soldier stole two horses and rode off. They were both caught and tried for desertion. Mount was sentenced to receive 500 lashes, but he escaped from the guard house and headed toward the east end of the island. Once again, he was taken up, and while he was being transferred back to his regiment in a wagon, he picked the pocket of the man in charge of securing him and threw all of his papers out into the road. After reaching their destination, Mount told the officer that he saw the driver of the wagon pick his pocket and throw out his papers several miles back and used the diversion this story created to escape.

Salem Gazette - Sept. 13, 1785 - From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.

A Life of Crime

At the end of the war, Mount devoted himself entirely to a life of crime. Eventually he was arrested for stealing and cutting up a silver tankard. He received 100 lashes for the theft and an additional 25 “for giving the court saucy answers.” At another time he was taken up for burglary in Dedham, MA, and received 30 lashes, put on the gallows for one hour with a rope around his neck, and then sent to prison for three years at Castle William, otherwise known as Castle Island in Boston Harbor. After eighteen months of confinement, Mount escaped on a foggy day by swimming to shore.

After his escape from prison, Mount traveled up and down the eastern seaboard—through Providence, New London, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Annapolis, and Alexandria and then back up north—committing burglaries and thefts with scores of accomplices the entire way. At one point, he was held in the jail in York, ME, but escaped by filing through the bars of a window. The Essex Journal said of Mount:

He is one of the most hardened villains that ever disgraced a goal in this, or perhaps any of the United States—glorying in his acts of villainy—boasting of his thefts, and of his adroitness in making his escape from confinement; expresses the greatest indifference at what may be his fate, and often observes, that a man is not worthy the name of a thief, who dreads the gallows.

Downfall

Mount’s downfall finally came in Rhode Island when he, James Williams, and William Stanton set out to break into Joseph Potter’s store. Mount first broke into a mill in order to obtain a crowbar to carry out the burglary of the store. The three took seven hundred dollars worth of goods and some money, but they were apprehended the next day. Stanton and his wife gave evidence against the other two in exchange for immunity. Mount received 20 lashes for breaking into the mill, but received a death sentence for the burglary of Potter’s store.

Windham Herald - June 4, 1791 - From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.

While Mount was held under sentence of death, he tried to escape twice but was unsuccessful both times. He claimed it was the first time he was unable to break out of any prison.

Both Mount and Williams were executed by hanging on Friday, May 27, 1791. The Vermont Journal described a somber scene:

Multitudes mourned and bewailed him—no triumph over his melancholy end disgraced the feelings of humanity—for the space of a quarter of an hour, nothing was to be heard but prayers, mixed with sighs and groans. Every face displayed the signs of being affected with the solemnities of his death, and the most tender sympathies of woe trickled down almost every cheek.

Note: The story of Thomas Mount continues with “Thomas Mount’s Crime Tips.”

Sources

• “Boston, September 12.” Salem Gazette. September 13, 1785, vol. IV, issue 205, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Mount, Thomas. The Confession, &c. of Thomas Mount. Portsmouth, [NH]: J. Melcher, [1791]. Database: America’s Historical Imprints, Readex/Newsbank.
• “Portsmouth, Sept. 8.” Essex Journal. September 15, 1790, issue 324, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Providence Gazette. April 16, 1791, vol. XXVIII, issue 16, p, 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• “Rhode-Island. New Port, June 2” Vermont Journal. July 5, 1791, vol. VIII, issue 414, p., 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
• Williams, Daniel. Pillars of Salt: An Anthology of Early American Criminal Narratives. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1993.
• “Windham, June 4.” Windham Herald. June 4, 1791, vol. I, issue 13, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.

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.