And this Fellow was so mad, as to run headlong into a Net, which had long been spread for him. He betakes himself to the Company of Thief-takers, as before observed, and intending to be an Evidence against Holmes, he sends them after him; but Holmes telling them of this Robbery, turn'd the Tables upon him, and Brown being taken, was convicted upon his Evidence. He always appeared of a sullen, morose Disposition, and was not without some Difficulty brought to any Sense of his past mispent Life. Till the Warrant for Execution came down, he was scarce at all concern'd about the Matter; but then began to be a little more serious, and tothink of dying. Tho' he had so many Escapes by being admitted an Evidence against others, who perhaps had not so richly deserved it as himself, and had seen them executed, yet did he entertain Hopes against all that might to the contrary be said to him. When he found no Hopes left, he began to recant, and to own his wicked Practices in the general. He had run a long Course of Villainy in few Years, and Providence thought fit that he should now be cut off.

2. William Newman< no role > , aged near 21, was born in St. Giles's in the Fields , and, as he says, was the last Child baptized there before the old Church was pulled down, in order to be rebuilt. He was put to School, and never would attend to learn his Book; so that by his own Fault he was illiterate. He was of an untractable Temper from his Childhood, and as he grew up, nothing went more against the Grain with him than Business of any Sort. He left his Father while very young, being enticed by Playfellows, when he was incapable of distinguishing Vice or Virtue. He might have been put to any Trade that his Capacity would suit, but at last he took to the Seas. He was in the Fleet that was sent to guard the Coast of Scotland in 1745, and says he was Servant to a Person of Eminence in that Expedition, with whom he was in some Esteem. After his Return from thence he still continued in the Navy , and was kept on Board a King's Ship, which had her Station to cruize upon the French Coast and in the English Channel. All this while nothing remarkable occurr'd to affect himself. He left that Ship, and went on Board a Lighter at Sheerness , which lay there for the Purpose of weighing Ships Anchors, &c. from which, when he was discharged, he says he came to London , and liv'd with his Sister.

While he was Abroad, a Relation of his Mother's dying, left him 100 l. when he arrived at the Age of 21. It seems he would have been entitled to it had he lived till Christmas, which his own Folly and Wickedness has been the Cause of preventing. After he came Home he drew 15 l. out of the 100, which having squandered away in an idle and dissolute Manner, he was reduced to the utmost Straits and Necessity; and tho' he had been thus foolish, and run headlong to his own Ruin, yet there seemed to be a Softness of Nature in him, which, properly managed in his early Days, might have fitted him for a better Fate.

Above twelve Months Newman has been from on Board of Ship, he says, and has owned that he was guilty of many pilfering Tricks, at least for six Months past. Press'd with Necessity, his own Inclination, back'd with the Advice of some wicked ones he met with, led him to rely upon the Industry of his Fingers to procure him a common Subsistence; and he was indefatigable in the Practice of picking Pockets.

The Place he generally plied at was the Royal Exchange , and nothing was more common with him than to make three or four Handkerchiefs in the Middle of the Day, and sometimes Things of more Value. He was a Lad that generally appeared pretty well dressed, of a free and easy Turn of Countenance, not very liable to be suspected; which made his Attempts in his wicked Undertakings so much the more plausible.

He had been acquainted with his Associates but a few Weeks, when the Fact was committed for which he suffered. He never would own any particular Highway Robberies, tho, doubtless, this was not the first. As it appeared upon the Evidence, the Fact was a downright Attack made upon James Daniel< no role > , but Newman always represented it in a different Light. The Prosecutor deposed, that two of the three in Company laid Hands on him as soon as they overtook him, and the other rifled him in George Yard ; the Evidence confirmed the same. But nothing of this Story would Newman be induced to own, but always said, that indeed they did go out together, and wandered they scarce knew where, but happened to stumble into this George Yard ,