to avoid bad company. He suffered at Tyburn, Nov. 9, 1762, aged 28.

DUCE, WILLIAM, (FOOTPAD,) was a native of Wolverhampton, and by trade a buckle. maker, which he followed some time in London; but being imprisoned in Newgate for debt, he there made connections which greatly tended to corrupt his morals. He was no sooner at large than he commenced footpad, and, in company with another man, robbed a gentleman in Chelsea-fields of four guineas: after this he connected himself with John Dyer and James Butler, with whom he committed a variety of robberies. Their plan was to go out together, and only one to attack the party intended to be robbed; but to give a signal for his accomplices to come up, if any resistance should be made. After committing several depredations in the neighbourhood of London, they joined in a scheme with four other villains to rob Lady Chudleigh, between Hyde-park-corner and Kensington; but her ladyship's footman shot oue of the gang, named Rice, through the head, which prevented the intended robbery. Becoming too well known in the vicinity of London, they went on the Portsmouth road, where they not only stopped the passengers, but even proceeded to the perpetration of murder, with a view to prevent detection Meeting Mr. Bunch, a farmer, near a wood on the road side, they robbed him of his money, and then dragging him into the wood, they stripped him, and Duce firing at him with a pistol, the ball lodged in his mouth. Supposing the man dead, they were about to depart, when Mr. Bunch turning, Butler loaded another pistol, in order to dispatch him, on which he begged that they would yet spare his life; but finding that they entertain

ed

ed no sentiments of compassion, he exerted all his strength, and springing on his legs, ran off, and alarming the inhabitants of an adjacent village, immediate pursuit was made after the villains, all of whom were apprehended, except Duce, who escaped, and got to London. Darker, Wade, and Meads, three of the gang, were hanged at Winchester; but Butler was sent to take his trial at the Old Bailey, for robberies committed in the county of Middlesex, and was acquitted for want of sufficient evidence. Duce's gang was exceedingly desperate. On the road to Gravesend they stopped four gentlemen, who, refusing to be robbed, the above-mentioned Meads shot a servant who attended them in the breast, so that he died in a few days. Disappointed of their booty in this attempt, their passions were so irritated, that, meeting a gentleman on horseback, they fired, and having wounded him in the head and breast, the next day he expired. Butler, soon after his acquittal, joined his old companions; and Duce, Dyer, and he, meeting Mr. Holmes near Buckingham-house, robbed him of his money, hat, and handkerchief. On the following evening they stopped a hackneycoachman near Hampstead, and robbed him of gs. after the coachman had told them that the words

stand and deliver" were sufficient to hang a man. Jonathan Wild being informed of these robberies, caused the offenders to be apprehended, at a house kept by Duce's sister. Dyer having been admitted an evidence, Duce and Butler were brought to trial, when the latter pleaded guilty; and the former, after spending some time in denying the robberies of Mr. Holmes and the coachman, for which he was indicted, and arraigning the conduct of Jonathan Wild, was found guilty,. and

2 3

and both of them received sentence of death.After conviction, their behaviour was more resigned and devout than could have been expected from men whose repeated crimes might be supposed to have hardened their hearts; but the terrors of death had due effect. Butler was a Roman Catholic, and Duce a Protestant. The latter was urged by the ordinary to discover the names of some of his old accomplices; but this he refused to do, because, he said, they had left off their practices, and now lived honest lives. A few moments before they were launched into eternity, Butler declared that the circumstances of cruelty with which their crimes had been attended, gave him more pain than the thoughts of death; and Duce acknowledged the enormity of his offences, and begged the forgiveness of all whom he had injured.They suffered at Tyburn, August 14, 1723. See ANGIER, HUMPHREY.

DUELL, WM. (MURDERER,) was convicted of occasioning the death of Sarah Griffin, at Acton, by robbing and ravishing her. We have in'serted his name in this collection, on account of the following singular circumstances which succeeded his execurion. Having suffered Nov 24, 1740, at Tyburn, with Tho. Clock, Wm. Meers, Margery Stanton, and Eleanor Munoman, (who had been convicted of several burglaries and felo-nies,) his body was brought to Surgeons'-hall to be anatomized; but after it was stripped and laid on the board, and one of the servants was washing him in order to be cut, he perceived life in him, and found his breath to come quicker and quicker, on which a surgeon took some ounces of blood from him in two hours he was able to sit up in his chair, and in the evening was again committed

to

to Newgate. His sentence was afterwards changed

to transportation.

DUNCALF,

DUNTAP,

See COOPER, JAMES.

See M'NAUGHTON, J.

EASTERBY,

E.

See CODLIN, WM. EDMONDSON, MARY, (MURDERER,) was the daughter of a farmer near Leeds in Yorkshire, and sent to reside with her aunt, Mrs. Walker, of Rotherhithe, who was a widow lady, and with whom she lived two years, comporting herself in the most decent manner, and regularly attending the duties of religion. A lady named Toucher having spent the evening with Mrs. Walker, Mary Edmondson lighted her across the street on her way home; and soon after her return, a woman who cried oysters through the street, observed that the door was open, and heard the girl cry out,— "Help! murder! they have killed my aunt!" Edmondson now ran to the house of Mrs. Odell, wringing her hands, and bewailing the misfortune; and the neighbours being by this time alarmed, some gentlemen went from a public house where they had spent the evening, in order to enquire into the affair. They found Mrs. Walker, with her throat cut, lying on her right side, and her head near a table, which was covered with linen. One of the gentlemen, named Halloway, said, "this is very strange-I know not what to make of it let us examine the girl." Her account of the matter was, that four men, had entered at the back door, one of whom, putting his arms round her aunt's neck, another, who was a

tal!

tall man, dressed in black, swore that he would kill her if she spoke a single word. Mr. Holloway, observing the girl's arm was cut, asked her how it happened; to which she replied, that one of the men, in attempting to get out, had jammed it with the door but Halloway, judging from all appearances, that no men had been in the house, said he did not believe her, but supposed she was the murderer of her aunt. On this she fell into a fit, and, being removed to a neighbour's house, was blooded by a surgeon, and continued there till the following day, when the coroner's inquest sat on the body, and brought in a verdict of wilful murder, whereupon she was committed to prison. Mrs. Walker's executors, anxious to discover the truth, caused the house to be diligently searched, and found that a variety of things which Mary Edmondson had said were stolen, were not missing nor could they discover that any thing was lost. Mrs. Walker's watch, and some other articles, which she said had been carried off by the murderers, were found under the floor of the privy. Being committed to the new gaol, Southwark, she remained there till the next assizes for Surry, when she was tried at Kingston, and convicted on evidence which, though acknowledged to be circumstantial, was such as, in the general opinion, admitted little doubt of her guilt. She made a defence, indeed, but not sufficiently probable to have any weight. Being condemned on Saturday, to be executed on the Monday following, she was lodged in the prison at Kingston, whence she wrote to her parents, most solemnly avowing her innocence. She likewise begged that the minister of the parish would preach a sermon on the occasion of her death. She asserted her innocence on the Sunday;

when