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London Lives 1690 to 1800
Crime, Poverty and Social Policy in the Metropolis
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776.
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MICHAEL SWIFT
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was indicted for that he
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in the King's highway, with a certain blunderbuss (loaded with gun-powder and divers balls) which he held in both his hands, did wilfully and maliciously shoot at
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Charles West
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, against the statute,
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September 25th
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CHARLES WEST
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sworn.
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I am
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boatswain
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of the Censor Frigate, a convict ship; I went down into one of the
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guard boats; they had hove one of the sets over board that we steady the lighters with to heave the ballast up.
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Michael Swift
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jumped into the boat; he stabbed me with a knife, and then took up a blunderbuss, and said, You bloody bugger! if you don't go out of the boat I will blow your brains out! there were others in the boat. Knowing if I went into the river I should be drowned, I asked him where he would have me go to; he said draw along the lighter, which I did; and he bid us all get out of the boat; before we could get out he fired the blunderbuss; it was charged; I had seen the captain charge it, and a brace of pistols; it was in the stern of the boat. If a man, who was in the boat, had not that instant tossed the mouth of it up I believe it would have shot me, and all that were in the boat. When he fired it he gave it to another man to load again.
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WILLIAM ELBY
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sworn.
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On Wednesday, September the 30th, going along by Wellclose-square I heard a disturbance; I was informed that
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Michael Swift
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had escaped from some of the officers. I went after him, he said, If you come after me, you bugger, I will blow your brains out! and he snapped a knife at me, which he had in his hand; I pursued him still, and knocked him down, and secured him; when I took him, he said he was afraid he was a dead man, for he had jumped into the boat, and taken a blunderbuss, and fired it at the boatswain; and had likewise stabbed him in his thigh; he begged we would let him go, for he said he was a dead man if he was taken!
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JOHN FARRELL
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sworn.
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Elby and I took the prisoner; I have no more to say than what Elby has said.
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PRISONER's DEFENCE.
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I did not fire the blunderbuss at him, nor stab him. The usage of the place is enough to make any man try to escape; they not only starve them, but murther them. I have no witnesses.
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GUILTY
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Death
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Tried by the First Middlesex Jury before Mr. RECORDER.
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