The Execution of Five Pirates, for Murder, Which Took Place on Monday, February 22nd, at the Old Bailey
This morning, Monday, February 22nd, 1864, will long be remembered by the inhabitants of the city of London, as one of the most remarkable in the annals of hanging, by the execution of five foreign sailors, viz.: John Lyons, Francisco Bianco, Mauriccio Durranna, Marcus Watter, Miguel Lopez, alias Joseph Chances, alias The Catelan, for the wilful murder of George Smith upon the high seas. The attendance of persons to witness the execution was enormous, being greater than was ever remembered by the oldest inhabitant in the City, and was much of the same class as usually attend these exhibitions, with the addition of a fair sprinkling of seafaring men. The prisoners have been very assiduously attended by the worthy Priests of the Catholic persuasion, to which creed the prisoners belong, and they had been brought to a full knowledge of the enormity of the crimes which they had committed; and to such a state of religious feeling had they been brought, that they all fully acknowledged the share each one took in the horrible crime, and recognized the justice of their punishment. The sheriffs, with their usual attendants, arrived at a very early hour at the prison, and immediately visited the various criminals in their cells. The worthy priests who had been attending the criminals since their condemnation, was in the prison the whole night, and were early in their attendance on the unhappy criminals. After the usual formalities had been gone through of demanding the bodies of the prisoners into their custody, the executioner, with his assistants, commenced pinioning the prisoners, which operation was quickly performed, considering the number of prisoners. The arrangements having been completed, the mournful procession began to move towards the scaffold, the worthy priests praying fervently with the wretched prisoners, who appeared to have been fully brought to a thorough state of penitence. The prisoners ascended the scaffold in an orderly manner, and directly they appeared on the drop, the immense multitude gave a deep and loud groan, which seemed to make some of the wretched men tremble. The executioner having adjusted the fatal ropes, and drawn the caps over their eyes, left the platform, and the priests administered the last parting words of scriptural consolation to them. The signal was then given, the bolts were withdrawn, and the wretched murderers were launched into eternity.
Copy of Verses
Is there not one spark of pity,
For five poor unhappy men,
Doomed, alas! in London city,
On a tree their lives to end?
The dreadful crime which they committed,
On the raging, stormy sea,
By every one must be admitted,
They each deserved to punished be.
Five poor unhappy sailors
On the drop did trembling stand,
And their lives did pay a forfeit,
For their deeds on board the Flowery Land.
Sometimes at sea there’s cruel usage,
And men to frenzy oft are drove,
They’re always wrong by men in power,
And that there’s many a sailor knows.
But those unhappy seven sailors,
Did commit a dreadful deed,
Killed and slaughter’d, sad to mention,
On board the Flowery Land, we read.
Great excitement through the nation,
This most sad affair has caused,
Sent across the briny ocean,
To be tried by English laws;
Seven tried and there convicted,
And sentenced each to hanged be,
For the dreadful murders they committed,
When sailing on the raging sea.
For two of them they did petition,
Alas, there nothing could them save
Sad indeed was their condition,
To lie side by side in a murderer’s grave;
Far away from friends and kindred,
They unpitied on the drop did stand,
Sad was the deed that they committed,
On board the fatal Flowery Land.
Thousands flocked from every quarter,
Seven unhappy men to see,
Sailors from distant foreign nations,
Suspended on a dreadful tree.
The fatal signal soon was given,
The awful drop at length did fall,
It caused a groan—it caused a shudder,
May God receive their guilty souls.
May this to sailors be a warning,
The dreadful sight the world did see,
In London, that fatal morning,
The seven died on Newgate’s tree.
Was there not a tear of pity,
While trembling they in death did stand,
To die for crimes in London city.
Committed on the Flowery Land.
Their victims they did show no mercy,
No time for to prepare did give,
They kill’d them in a barbarous manner,
And though they were not fit to live,
We pity to them on the gallows,
Englishmen could not deny,
Now, alas, their days are ended,
They died on Newgate’s gallows high.
H. Disley, Printer, 57, High Street, St. Giles.