Page:Life and adventures of that notorious robber and murderer, Richard Turpin.pdf/24

Rh an air of assumed courage, as if ashamed of discovering any signs of fear. Having conversed with the executioner about half an hour, he threw himself off the ladder, and expired in a few minutes. The spectators of the execution were affected at his fate, as he was distinguished by the comeliness of his appearance. He had attained the thirty-third year of his age. At the execution he had a fellow sufferer in the person of John Stead, who was also found guilty on a similar indietment— namely horse-stealing.

Turpin’s corpse was taken to the Blue Boar in Castle Gate, York, where it remained till the next morning when it was interred in the churchyard of St. George’s parish, with an inscription on the coffin, initials of his name, and his age. The grave was dug remarkably deep; but notwithstanding the people who acted as mourners took such measures as they thought would secure the body, it was carried off about three o’clock on the following morning: the populace, however, got intimation where it was conveyed, and found it in a garden belonging to one of the surgeon’s of the city. Gaining possession of it, they laid it on a board, and carried it through the streets in a kind of triumphal manner; after which they filled the coffin with unslackened lime, and buried it in the grave where it had been before deposited.