Page:History of John Gregg, and his family, of robbers and murderers.pdf/6

(6) him and was inſtantly murdered before his face, the female cannibals cutting her throat, and ſucking her blood with as great guſt, as tho' it had been wine. This done, they ripp'd her up, and pull'd out her entrails; which diſmal ſpectacle cauſed the man to make the more reſiſtance. It pleaſed Providence, while he was engag'd, thirty people came in a body together from the fair; on which John Gregg and his crew withdrew, and made the beſt of their way thro' a wood to their den.

This was the firſt man that ever fell in their way and came off alive: He told the company what had happened, and ſhew'd the mangled body of his wife, which the murderers had not time to carry off. They were ſtruck with amazement, and went and made it known to the Mayor of Exeter, who immediately ſent to the king. In a few days his Majeſty in perſon with a body of about four hundred men, ſet out for the place where theſe tragedies were acted, in order to find out this helliſh crew, which ſo long had been a nuiſance to that part of the Kingdom. The man who had been attacked was the guide, and care was taken to have a large number of blood hounds, that no human means