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Crime Poems: “That Notorious Cheat”

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Crime Poems: “That Notorious Cheat”

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In June 1761, Jeremiah Dexter of Walpole, MA was caught trying to pass counterfeit dollars of his own making. As punishment, Dexter was forced on September 10 to stand in the pillory for one hour and pay a fine of 20 pounds. Among the crowd who showed up that day to ridicule Dexter was the eccentric Dr. Seth Hudson, a wealthy Dutchman who drew the attention of the city’s populace with his flamboyant crimson velvet outfits.

Hudson landed in Boston earlier in the year during his leisurely travels, and he quickly began to move within the inner circles of the Boston elite. But his travels, it turns out, were not entirely “for his own amusement.” In March, he began offering 100-pound treasury notes that guaranteed six percent returns to the wealthy client base he had been carefully cultivating.

When Hudson learned about Dexter’s counterfeiting scheme, he took great interest in it. Indeed, so great that John Boyle, a witness to the spectacle of Dexter’s punishment, noted that those in the crowd “were very liberal in bestowing rotten eggs upon Mr. Dexter, particularly Dr. Seth Hudson.” Hudson’s enthusiasm at the pillory was most likely motivated by his desire to protect his new business, since the detection of counterfeit bills could reduce public confidence in paper currency and adversely affect sales of his own treasury notes.

Hudson’s fears were well founded, because one month later the operations of yet another counterfeiter, Joshua Howe, were exposed. Howe confessed soon after he was apprehended that he did not act alone: he was “a partner in villainy with Doctor Hudson.”

On October 8, both Howe and Hudson were thrown in jail for counterfeiting.

A Liar and a Thief

It will come as no surprise that Seth Hudson was not born in Holland as he claimed, but rather in Marlborough, MA on April 13, 1728. His title of “Doctor” seems to have had some justification: he may or may not have received formal medical training, but he did begin a medical career in 1749 as a surgeon at Fort Massachusetts, where he later became a commanding officer.

In October 1757, Hudson was kicked out of the military after he was accused of being a liar and a thief, although the details of exactly what he did to bring about such charges are sketchy. He eventually landed in New Hampshire, where he probably met the experienced counterfeiter, Joshua Howe. There, the two of them hatched a scheme to print Massachusetts treasury notes in 100 pound increments and sell them to wealthy Bostonians.

Howe and Hudson created their fake 100 pound notes by first printing the bills using tools they acquired from the notorious New Hampshire counterfeiter, Glazier Wheeler. They then placed the fake note over a real one, traced the original signature with a sharp instrument so that an impression of it was transferred over to the fake one, and then filled in the impression with black ink. The second step of creating the signature was not nearly as successful as the first step of printing of the bills. The Boston Post-Boy reported that the printed notes were “every Way like the true Notes, save that the written Part is badly done.”

All together, Hudson sold 800 pounds worth of these fake notes. One of Hudson’s victims was the gullible Samuel Wells, a merchant and judge of the Court of Common Pleas, who back in 1749 was the target of a failed extortion scheme carried out by James Williams and Mary Richards.

Conviction and Punishment

While Hudson and Howe waited in prison for their trial, Howe was punished on February 2, 1762 for a previous counterfeiting conviction by being forced to stand in the pillory for one hour and be whipped 20 times. No doubt motivated by Howe’s description of his experience, Hudson tried to escape from prison two days later, but he was easily captured and returned to jail.

On Feburary 26, so many people showed up for the trial of Hudson and Howe that it had to be moved from the courthouse to the largest meetinghouse in Boston. The evidence presented against the two was so strong that the jury members did not even leave the room to deliberate. They found Hudson guilty of four counts of counterfeiting, and he was sentenced to one hour in the pillory, 20 lashes at the whipping post, and a 100-pound fine for each count. In addition, he received a 1-year prison term. They also found Howe guilty of two counts of counterfeiting, and he was handed the same set of penalties as Hudson, except that he was to receive 39 stripes at the whipping post.

The irony of Hudson’s behavior during Dexter’s punishment and the sensation of his own case were too rich for satirists and pamphleteers to pass up. At least two poetic broadsides of Hudson’s “speech” and “confession” were circulated during his several trips to the pillory, which probably was located on State Street in Boston.


____________________


The Humble Confession of that
NOTORIOUS CHEAT,
Doctor SETH HUDSON.
1762.

I Come, I come, the Villain cries,
With Terror sparkling in his Eyes;
While Fires from Hell his Soul inflame,
Distrest with Guilt–and stab’d with Shame.

Ye murder’d Hours so gaily flown,
These present Pangs are all your own.
My tortur’d Soul reflects with Pain,
On all the thoughtless, guilty Train.

Forgive, My Country, O forgive;
With deep Remorse I plead to live:
With Pity all my Crimes chastise,
And drink Repentance from these Eyes.

Hard’ned to Crimes–prone to rebell,
I dar’d assault the Gates of Hell:
No Vice my callous Heart declin’d;
No Ray of Grace illum’d my Mind.

Now all my Sins like Fiends arise,
And burning Tortures blast my Eyes:
Mercy from injur’d Heav’n implore,
Resolve by Grace to sin no more.

I come–submit to all my Shame,
Nor dare my injur’d Country blame:
Some Pity sure a Wretch may share,
Nor let me double Tortures bear.

Contempt I know is my Desert;
But O let Pity reach the Heart:
And let these transient Pangs atone;
Nor smile insulting while I groan.–

But ye whose Breasts are rib’d with Steel,
Whose marble Hearts disdain to feel,
Go lay our lurking Vices bare,
And judge with Rigour Follies there.–

And ye whose Souls relenting prove,
Those Twins of Virtue, Pity, Love;
May righteous Heav’n at length bestow
That Mercy, you to other’s show.

But O though Power of Grace divine,
Thy Mercy grant–for Mercy’s thine;
Tho’ Man condemn–do though forgive,
And let a Rebel Sinner live.

Pillory and Stocks


____________________


H-ds-n’s SPEECH from the Pillory.

What mean these Crouds, this Noise and Roar!
Did ye ne’er see a Rogue before?
Are Villains then a Sight so rare,
To make you press and gape and stare?
Come forward all who look so fine,
With Gain as illy got as mine:
Step up—you’l soon reverse the Show;
The Croud above, and few below.

Well—for my Roguery here I stand,
A Spectacle to all the Land:
High elevated on this Stage,
The greatest Villain of the Age.
My Crimes have been both great and many,
Equal’d by very few, if any:
And for the Mischief I have done
I put this wooden Neckcloth on.

There HOW his brawny Back is stripping,
Quite callous grown with often whipping.
In vain you wear your Whip-Cord out,
You’l ne’er reclaim that Rogue so stout.
To make him honest, take my Word,
You must apply a bigger Cord.

Now all ye who behold this Sight,
That ye may get some profit by’t,
Keep always in your Mind, I pray,
These few Words that I have to say.
Follow my Steps and you may be
In Time, perhaps, advanc’d like me;
Or, like my fellow Lab’rer How,
You’l get at least a Post below.

Apparently a “bigger Cord” was never found for Joshua Howe, because he never entirely gave up his counterfeiting career. In 1764 his name appeared in an escape advertisement for breaking out of the Cambridge jail. The notice describes Howe as “a stout fat Man,” who “wears a Cap, is very grey haired, has a short blue Jacket, a red Waistcoat, dirty Leather-Breeches, and light-worsted Stockings.” In 1768, the New-York Gazette reported that Howe was committed to jail once again for counterfeiting, this time in New Hampshire, and claimed that he was one of “a Clan of these Gentry of at least 500, who correspond thro’ all the Colonies, as far as North-Carolina.” Howe denied that he had counterfeited any money and said that he only rented out at 10 dollars per day certain tools that could presumably be used for such a purpose. He was later acquitted of the charges due to a lack of evidence.

As for Seth Hudson, he did not fully serve out his one-year prison sentence, because in July 1762 he was allowed to join the navy and was later released from service in December. He eventually moved to Albany, NY where in 1767 he died of smallpox. There was nothing fake about Hudson’s death, because while on his deathbed, he passed the virus on to one of his old associates, who also died of the disease.

Sources

  • “Boston.” Boston Evening-Post, September 14, 1761, issue 1359, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Boston.” Boston Evening-Post, June 28, 1762, issue 1399, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Boston, April 11.” New-York Gazette, April 18, 1768, issue 859, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Boston, March 15.” Boston Post-Boy, March 15, 1762, issue 239, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Boston, July 15.” Boston News-Letter, July 15, 1762, issue 3029, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Boston, June 11.” Boston News-Letter, June 11, 1761, issue 2971, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Boston, October 12.” Boston Post-Boy, October 12, 1761, issue 217, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • Boston Evening-Post, March 1, 1762, issue 1383, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • Boston Evening-Post, September 14, 1767, issue 1668, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • Boston Evening-Post, October 3, 1768, issue 1723, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • Boston Post-Boy, May 7, 1764, issue 351, p. 4. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Extract of Another Letter from London, Dated Nov. 19th.” Boston Evening-Post, February 8, 1762, issue 1380, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • H-ds-n’s Speech from the Pillory. Boston: N. Hurd, [1762]. Database: America’s Historical Imprints, Readex/Newsbank.
  • The Humble Confession of That Notorious Cheat. [Boston, 1762]. Database: America’s Historical Imprints, Readex/Newsbank.
  • Scott, Kenneth. Counterfeiting in Colonial America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957.
  • Simons, D. Brenton. Witches, Rakes, and Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in Boston, 1630-1775. Beverly, MA: Commonwealth Editions, 2005.
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Crime Poems: “Cot-er’s Speech from the Pillory”

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

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In 1768, James Cotter was convicted of making and passing several counterfeit coins. On Friday, April 22, 1768 in front of a crowd in Boston, he “stood one Hour in the Pillory, and was whip’d 20 Stripes at the public Whipping post” as part of his punishment. The following “Speech” was published by an anonymous source to honor the occasion.


Cot-er’s Speech from the Pillory.

[Who was sentenced by the Superiour Court held at Boston, to set in the Pillory one Hour, be whip’d 20 Stripes, and pay Costs of prosecution, for counterfeiting Quarters of Dollars.]

I.

HEAVENS! what a num’rous Throng do here attend,
To see a Man the Pillory ascend;
Where unrivaled Merit is display’d
In all it’s [sic] Beauty to the World convey’d.

II.

Few, I believe, with equal right could claim
So good a Title to so great a Fame,
Or even think my Glory to excel,
In any Place, except the depths of Hell.

III.

Great is my Post, unenvy’d is my Pride,
I am singled out from all the World beside:
How great have Things conspir’d, or where or when,
To make me thus the happiest of Men?

IV.

Sure if this Honor be not justly due,
It would not be conferr’d by all of you;
Who do with Admiration view my Fate,
And gaze with wonder on my happy State.

V.

How every Person assembled here to-Day,
With anxious Hearts would gladly find a Way
To gain so noble, so glorious a Place,
And with themselves the Pillory to grace.

VI.

But vain their hopes, unless by me they’re taught,
How in the Net of Fortune to be caught:
Vain their desires, unless like me they strive
To tread such Steps, and by such Precepts thrive.

VII.

Pray Pupils let one Moment’s silence Reign,
And I’ll recount to you the various Train
Of previous Steps which all of you must take,
’Fore in this Joy you can participate.

VIII.

Lying is the first that I propose to mention,
Which ought to engross the whole of your attention,
As ’tis the only Rule and Ground of all,
On which your Grand Design must stand or fall.

IX.

Cheating the next, which often comes of Course,
Yet must be always learnt with equal force;
With equal Vigour ought to be pursu’d,
That so the next with ease may be subdu’d.

X.

Stealing, though ’tis a Virtue of the Age,
Yet is not always honor’d with a Stage;
Yet it is manifest upon Record,
It never fails to meet some great Reward.

XI.

But Coin your Cash yourselves, and then you’ll find,
You’ll have a Birth that’s suited to your mind:
Such a high Birth as I this Day enjoy,
Need all the Arts that you can well employ.

XII.

Yet still one loftier Place you can obtain,
(And hope ’twill be my lot e’r long to gain)
I mean the Gallows, that exalted State,
Where you’ll arrive at Fortune’s utmost Height.

Back in October 1767, a James Cotter along with John Clanse were pursued from Plymouth, MA on suspicion of stealing a silver can, a silver watch, and other articles from someone in town. Along the way, they stole two horses to aid their getaway. Clanse was captured in Newport, RI, where he acknowledged taking the goods, but he said that his partner, who managed to get away, was in possession of them. Cotter soon showed up, however, in Boston when he was put in jail after he stole some cloth “to make a Great-Coat.”

If this James Cotter was the same one who appeared on the pillory six months later, the petty counterfeiter portrayed in the poem may have been even more of a criminal mastermind than its author supposed.

Sources

  • “Boston, April 18.” Boston News-Letter, April 21, 1768, issue 3368, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Boston, April 28.” Boston News-Letter, April 28, 1768, issue 3369, p. 3. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • Cot-er’s Speech from the Pillory. [Boston, 1768]. Database: America’s Historical Imprints, Readex/Newsbank.
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Early American Criminals: Joseph Quasson’s Repentance

Wednesday, May 2, 2012
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When Native American, Joseph Quasson, learned that he would spend eight or nine months in prison before he could face trial for murder, he secretly believed that he could properly repent in a quarter of the time. After all, he had once regularly attended church when he was young. But as the time for his inevitable execution drew near, he began to “Wonder that any graceless Soul should hope to do any thing, before Conversion, that might, in the least, recommend such an one [as him] to the Favour of God.”

Repentance, it turns out, was much more difficult than he first thought.

Servitude

Quasson was born on March 28, 1698 in what is now Chatham on Cape Cod. When he was six years old, his father died with five pounds of outstanding debt to Samuel Sturges of Yarmouth, which left his mother little choice but to bound Quasson to Sturges as a servant.

Sturges got his money’s worth, so to speak, because Quasson remained in his service for twelve years. While living with the Sturges family, Quasson learned to read, studied catechism, and attended church. His mistress instilled a fear of sin in him, so at the age of thirteen when he was put in charge of his master’s warehouse and some apprentices tried to talk him into stealing some gunpowder for them, he refused. But he encouraged them to perform the act themselves, which he later regretted.

Quasson received his freedom when he turned eighteen, and Sturges made sure that when Quasson left him he was dressed well, and he presented him with a new Bible as a going-away present. Quasson worked a little, but it was not long before he became idle, fell into bad company, and started drinking. He soon ran out of money, so he sold his clothes and his Bible to fuel his drunkenness. Due to his shabby appearance, he no longer could attend English church services, so instead he went to Indian meetings, where he could not understand the language.

"Death of Father Sebastian Rale" - A scene from Father Rale's War or Drummer's War.

Quasson volunteered to serve in the English militia to fight in Father Rale’s War (1722-1725)–otherwise known as Drummer’s War, the 4th Indian War, and several other names–which was the result of a border disagreement between France and England in what is now southern Maine. On August 28, 1725 during what was likely a drunken fight, Quasson shot in the upper thigh a fellow Native-American soldier, John Peter, who was also from Yarmouth. Quasson was immediately arrested and put in prison in York, ME. Three or four days later, Peter died, so Quasson faced murder charges for his impulsive act.

Because the two Native Americans were living in the white community, Quasson’s case fell under the jurisdiction of the English courts. But the Superior Court, which was to try Quasson, was not scheduled to meet until May, so Quasson had plenty of time to repent for his crime.

”Heart-work is hard work”

While in prison, Quasson discovered that “Heart-work, is hard work.” He later said that when he entered prison, he believed that “being a poor Indian and in a strange Place, especially in a Time of War; People would be little concerned about me.” But he sent for the minister in town, who began the work of attending to Quasson’s soul. For two months Quasson read the Scriptures and attended services to the point where he felt “mightily affected” and his “Heart seemed to relent.” At other times, however, his “Heart seemed hard and senseless.”

Despite his efforts, Quasson’s progress returned to square one when in February another prisoner joined him in his cell. When his cellmate was not singing, he was “full of vain or profane Talk,” and under his influence, Quasson lost his desire to pray and stopped attending church.

After the prisoner left, Quasson returned to his daily struggle. People from the town regularly visited him and brought him religious books, which he read several times over. He was particularly affected by the story of Esther Rogers and her conversion after she committed repeated murders.

Yet Quasson continued to struggle with the idea of God forgiving someone who had committed such a horrible crime as he had. When Rev. Samuel Moody visited Quasson a few days before his execution to record his story, the prisoner responded, “To tell the World . . . what a stupid hardned [sic] Creature I have been! What will they say? There’s a wicked Wretch gone to Hell!” But when Moody explained that giving an account of his life for publication would serve “the Glory of God and good of Souls” and could help his cause with God, Quasson relented.

“A very remarkable Alteration”

Quasson’s guilt was never in doubt, and he did nothing to contest his conviction. But the question of the state of his soul remained. Finally, after he attended his last Sabbath meeting before his execution, “a very remarkable Alteration was observed in him.” As Quasson prayed, Moody reported, he now “seemed much more affected, and even melted,” This time, his repentance appeared to stick.

Quasson was accompanied by most of the ministers of the county during his mile-long walk to the gallows, which was erected in a valley so that the three thousand spectators could easily see the proceedings while standing on the sides of the surrounding hills. After he climbed the ladder of the scaffold, Quasson turned to the people and shouted,

I would have you all take Warning by me, I am come here to die a shameful Death; and I acknowledge the Justice of God in it, ‘tis Drunkenness that has brought me to it. I would have you all to leave off your Drunkenness; for if you don’t leave it off, it will certainly bring you to some dreadful End.

No one was able to write down the prayer that Quasson recited after this short speech, but Moody assures us that “he prayed so freely, so distinctly, & so pertinently, that it was to the Admiration of the Wisest and Best.”

Moody used the conversion story of Esther Rogers as inspiration in writing up his account of Quasson, but he saw in Quasson an opportunity to take the lesson one step further: namely, to demonstrate that if even someone as low as “a poor Indian and Malefactor” can repent and save his soul, then so can we all.

When Samuel Moody’s Account of the Indian Executed at York, June 29, 1726 appeared, it was the first criminal conversion narrative that was published as a separate work. Until that point, conversion narratives were normally included at the end of a published sermon that was given by a minister on the occasion of the criminal’s execution. Moody’s work marks the beginning of a publishing trend where the life of the criminal, rather than the words of the ministers, began to command the attention of the reading public.

Sources

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Crime Poems: Philip Kennison’s Prison Writings

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

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When Thomas Fleet, publisher of the Boston Evening-Post learned in 1738 that Philip Kennison was going to be executed in Cambridge, MA for burglary, he sensed a business opportunity.

While Kennison waited in prison for his sentence to be carried out, he spent a good deal of time writing “a Narrative of his Wicked Life,” a letter to his oldest sister, and “a Verse suitable to the mournful Occasion.” Surely, the public would be interested in reading what this burglar (or at least someone pretending to be him) had written! So in the September 11th edition of his newspaper, Fleet promised to publish Kennison’s works and make them available on September 15, the day of his execution.

When that day finally arrived, Kennison listened to Rev. William Williams of Weston, MA deliver a sermon, which Fleet also published one month later. Kennison did not say much during the ceremony except for a short prayer, but the prolific writer handed the sheriff a paper he had written and asked him to read it out loud to the crowd. The New England Weekly Journal later published it, and it basically announces Kennison’s acceptance of God’s word and his hope that Jesus Christ will offer him salvation in Heaven.

Boston Evening-Post - September 18, 1738 (From Early American Newspapers, an Archive of Americana Collection, published by Readex (Readex.com), a division of NewsBank, inc.)

Fleet used all manner of cross-promotion in an attempt to capitalize on Kennison’s prison writings. One week after announcing his intention to publish them in his newspaper, he ran an advertisement that they were now available for purchase at the Heart and Crown in the Cornhill section of Boston (where City Hall Plaza now stands). In addition, after giving place-of-publication information at the bottom of Kennison’s published verses and on the title page of William’s published sermon, Fleet inserted a short announcement that the “Narrative of Kennison’s Life, written by himself” was also available for purchase.

But despite Fleet’s efforts, we know little about Philip Kennison–except that he supposedly liked to put pen to paper and that he was 28 years old when he was executed–because no known copies of “A Short and plain, but faithful Narrative of the wicked Life of Philip Kennison” survive today.


The
Dying LAMENTATION and ADVICE
OF
Philip Kennison,

Who was Executed at Cambridge in New-England (for Burglary) on Friday the 15th
Day of September, 1738, in the 28th Year of his Age.

All written with his own Hand, a few Days before his Death:

And published at his earnest Desire, for the good of Survivors.

Good People all both great & small,
to whom these Lines shall come,
A warning take by my sad Fall,
and unto God return.

You see me here in Iron Chains,
in Prison now confin’d,
Within twelve Days my Life must end,
my breath I must resign.

For Sin hath so inclosed me
and compass’d me about,
That I am now remediless,
if Mercy help not out.

O let me then this Caution give
to every one of you,
Especially to you that live
in Sin and spend your Youth.

To seek the Lord with one accord,
now while you have the Light,
Lest you be left, and then you’l fall
in darksom gloomy Night.

O then the Judgments of the Lord
will on you fast abide;
And then your Pleasures all will flee,
and all your Friends likewise.

For this I see apparently,
and by Experience know,
For now my Friends do from me flee
and laugh to see my Wo.

None of my Friends have I to see,
nor none to comfort me;
For I am left of God to see
my doleful Misery.

Now I must go my Doom to hear,
my Wages to receive;
O how shall I endure to hear?
O it doth make me grive [sic].

For when my Sins are judg’d and try’d,
the Heavens will record
That God is just, all must abide
the Judgment of the Lord.

He doth prepare his mortal Dart,
his arrows keen and sharp;
For them that do him persecute,
and do at Mischief laugh.

He doth rebuke the Heathen kind,
and wicked to confound;
That afterwards the Memory
of them cannot be found.

Thus I am made a Laughing Stock,
to all that’s round about;
My Enemies do at me mock,
they clap their Hands and shout.

O let me be a Warning then
to every one of you;
That see me here confin’d in Chains,
lest you with me should rue.

Alas I am as brought to Grave,
and almost turn’d to Dust;
My Portion here you see I have
with lude Men and unjust.

Fear and the Snare is come on me,
waste and Destruction;
Because that I refus’d to hear
the Lord’s instruction.

My Heart doth pant for want of Breath
it panteth in my Breast;
With Terror, and the dread of Death
my Soul is much opprest.

Such dreadful Fears on me do fall,
that I therewith do quake;
Such Sorrow overwhelmeth me,
that I no Sh[ift?] can make.

My wicked Life so far excels,
that I shall [___?] therein;
But Lord forgive my great misdeeds,
and purge [them?] from my Sin.

So come I to the Throne of Grace,
where Mercy doth abounds
Desiring Mercy for my Sins,
to heal my deadly Wounds.

____________________________

Cautions and Warnings

MY dearest Friends, before I die,
these Verses I have made;
Commit them, to your Memory,
mind them when I am dead.

First unto God, do bequeath
my wicked sinful Soul,
To be with Christ in final Rest,
where nothing can controul[?].

Next unto you these Lines I write
to caution you to fear
The Lord of Heaven and of Might,
and love your Saviour dear.

O that my Eyes with Tears of blood
as Waters down might flow;
So that my Writing might do good,
which to the World I show.

O that you would this Warning take
by my unhappy Fall;
So as that you may then escape
the endless burning Thraul.

Do not your self with that content,
nor any such ill kind;
To say at last if I repent
then Mercy I shall find.

That is a very foolish Thing,
for you for to believe;
The Devil doth but tempt to Sin,
at last he’l you deceive.

That is his whole Employment then,
in Scripture you may see;
For to deceive the Sons of Men,
and that we often see.

If he be such an one as that,
great Care we ought to take,
Lest we fall in an evil Net,
and cry when it’s too late.

Remember Esau how he cry’d,
when it was all too late;
And for the Blessing he did cry,
and earnestly did seek.

But all in vain, it was too late,
his Time and Glass was run;
Although he sought with Tears at last,
but it could not be found.

Remember well the wicked Jews
in Blindness they do live;
Because they did their King refuse,
and did not him believe.

[So be not like those forsaken Jews?]
to sleep your Time away;
Who did our Saviour Christ refuse,
and fell into decay.

Fear yet the Lord, obey the King,
live quietly together;
And strive for to be born again,
that you may live for ever.

Fear to offend Almighty God,
keep his Commandements;
Or he will [smite with?] his sore Rod,
if you do not repent.

Let Heaven be your chiefest Care,
mind not this Earthly Mould;
But always strive to get a Share
in your Redeemer’s Fold.

For when you die, you will receive
most joyfully that Word,
Enter thou in into my Rest,
there will you see the Lord.

[But if?] that you will [not?] obey
the Call of God [_d __n?],
He’l you cut off in midst of Days,
your glass will soon be run.

Whilst Fools do haste their Time to waste
spending in Sport the Day;
Whilst that they just let thy Heart rest
in seeking Wisdom’s Way.

Remember Death and Judgment too,
mark what I here do say;
Remember what I say [to you?]
think on the Judgment Day.

My Friends adieu,
PHILLIP KENNISON

Sources

  • “Boston.” New-England Weekly Journal, September 19, 1738, issue 596, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Extract of a Letter from Ferry Land in Newfoundland Aug. 23th.” Boston Evening-Post, September 11, 1738, issue 161, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
  • “Just Published.” Boston Evening-Post, September 18, 1738, issue 162, p. 2. Database: America’s Historical Newspapers, Readex/Newsbank.
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Early American Criminals: The Conversion of Esther Rodgers

Wednesday, April 4, 2012
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The night before the special event, Esther Rodgers exclaimed to the group of people who had gathered in her cell, “Oh! I have had the joyfullest day to day that ever I had in my whole life. I bless God that ever I came into this Prison.”

Rodgers’s exclamation is remarkable. She had little exposure to religion growing up and had never given it much thought. She had had a long stay in prison–more than eight months–and when her confinement first commenced, she barely talked to the ministers or to the other Christian townspeople who regularly visited her, giving them no more than yes or no answers to the questions they posed. But one minister records that over time, “She felt the power of the Word preached, inlightning, convincing, humbling and softening of her heart,” and she began to read and collect passages from the Scriptures.

Rodgers’s comment is remarkable in other ways. Not only is it an expression of her conversion to an evangelical Christianity, but it also implies that had she not committed the crimes that she did, she may never have come to accept God’s word. Her potential salvation after death, in other words, would ultimately come on the backs of her victims. Can Divine Grace truly be handed out when her past actions against those victims are at least partially justified as a means to her personal salvation?

And finally, Rodgers’s remark is significant in that it is a window into her mental state on the night before the special event, i.e., her execution.

The Crimes

Esther Rodgers was born in Kittery, ME sometime in May 1680. In her “Declaration and Confession,” she mentions nothing about her parents or her early childhood and skips ahead to the age of thirteen, when she became an apprentice to Joseph Woodbridge of Newbury, MA. Even though the Woodbridge family exposed Rodgers to religion and taught her to read, she infrequently observed the Sabbath and never paid much attention to the sermons when she did attend church.

At the age of seventeen while still living with the Woodbridges, Rodgers “was left to fall into that foul Sin of Uncleanness, suffering my self to be defiled by a Negro Lad living in the same House.” She became pregnant. Fearful of the public shame that it would bring her, she hid the pregnancy, resolved to murder the child if it were born alive, and continued her relations with the boy.

When the time came, she delivered a living child, so she “stop[ped] the breath of it,” hid the body in her room, and in the dark of night the following day buried it in the garden. No one ever knew or suspected what had happened, including the father of the child.

Six months later, Rodgers left Newbury and moved into a public tavern in Piscataqua, NH, where she gave herself “up to other wicked Company and ways of Evil.” One year later she returned to the Woodbridge family, but the memories of what she did there forced her to move to another part of town, where, as she says, “I took all Opportunities to follow my old Trade of running out a Nights, or entertaining Sinful Companions in a back part of the House.”

Once again, Rodgers became pregnant by an African-American who lived in the same house as she did. Just like last time, she attempted to hide her pregnancy, but when the time came to deliver the child, she left the house and went out into a field. Rodgers claims that she was not sure whether the infant was born alive or dead, but either way, she took the child to the side of a pond, covered its body with dirt and snow, and returned home.

Some people suspected that Rodgers had left the house to deliver a baby and confronted her, but she avoided answering their questions. The next day some neighbors discovered the body of her dead infant, and when it was placed in front of Rodgers, she had no choice but to confess to the crime.

Samuel Sewall, one of the judges at the trial of Esther Rodgers.

Rodgers was held in Newbury for about one month before being transferred to the Ipswich prison where she went through her spiritual conversion. At her trial, she was found guilty of murder and condemned to die. One of the judges, Samuel Sewall, wrote in his diary that after Rodgers received her sentence, “She hardly said a word. I told her God had put two children for her to nurse: Her mother did not serve her so. Esther [of the Bible] was a great saviour; she a great destroyer. Said did not do this to insult over her, but to make her sensible.”

The Spectacle

On July 31, 1701, the High Sheriff prepared a cart to carry Rodgers to the place of execution, but she requested to walk on foot, and a few ministers joined her to talk spiritual matters as she went along. After about a mile, her pace began to falter under the weight of what she faced, but she recovered and gained strength when the gallows came into sight. As she reached the base of the scaffold, she turned to thank the ministers and then climbed up the ladder “without stop or trembling.”

When Rodgers reached the top, this formerly reserved woman addressed the estimated crowd of four or five thousand people by shouting out her last dying words, which concluded:

O my dear Friends–Take Warning by me. Here I come to Dy, and if God be not Merciful to my Soul, I shall be undone to all Eternity–If I do not turn by Repentance. I Bless God, I have found more Comfort in Prison, than ever before. O Turn to God now. O how hard it is to Repent; If you go on in Sin, God may give you up to a hard Heart. Oh! Turn whilst the Day of Grace lasts.

Rodgers recited a prayer, and with her eyes and hands lifted toward heaven, the officer bound her face with a handkerchief. After he placed the halter around her neck, she cried out, “O Lord Jesus, Now Lord Jesus, I am a Coming: O Come Lord Jesus by Thy Pardoning Mercy, to Save me Now, or I Perish for ever. My Blessed Jesus,–O Lord Jesus, have Pity upon me, O Good Lord.”

When she finished speaking, one of the ministers assured her, “We have Recommended you to God, and done all we can for you, and must now leave you.–If your Hopes can lay hold upon the irresistible Grace and Mercy of God in Christ, and you can cast your self into His Armes, you are Happy for Ever.–And so we must bid you Fare-Well.”

The Question

Whether or not Rodgers’s conversion was sincere, the entire spectacle–including the published account of her life, dying words, and interactions with the clergy–was carefully choreographed. At least seven ministers took credit for the spiritual conversion of Rodgers, and by their account, Rodgers played the role of the Christian convert that they had written for her perfectly.

But the question posed at the beginning of this narrative remains: can Divine Grace truly be handed out when the circumstances of the conversion came at the expense of two “poor murdered Infants” and when their mother’s actions possibly resulted in “sending them to Hell”? The ministers certainly thought so, since their intent in publishing the story of Esther Rodgers and her conversion was to show how even the most miserable sinner can be saved by the Christian God.

When one of the visitors to Rodgers’s cell the night before her execution confronted her with just this question, she answered, “I have greatly mourned for my cruelty and wrong to [the infants], as well as Sin against God in all that I have done.” When a visitor continued to press Rodgers by asking, “But how do you think to answer the Cry of their Blood?,” she responded, “I trust I have an Advocate, and many like things.”

Sources

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