is
brother after firing a pistol or two, rode off as fast as he could. At
the ensuing sessions at the Old Bailey he was indicted for both offences
and upon very full and dear evidence convicted.

It was impossible to describe the agonies which this unhappy man
suffered while under sentence of death, the sense of his own condition,
the reflection on his former character, unsullied and untainted amongst
his whole neighbourhood, the consideration of leaving a wife and five
small children behind him, with small provision for their support, and
what was worse exposed to the reflection of the world on the score of an
unhappy father, scandalous in the last actions of his life, and
ignominious in his death. However, returning to his former principles of
piety and religion, he comforted himself under the weight of all his
misfortunes, by leaning on the mercy of God, praying fervently to Him to
grant him patience and protection under those dreadful evils which he
suffered. He acknowledged all to be exactly true which was deposed
against him at his trial, confessed the justice of his sentence, and
prepared to undergo it with as much submission and resignation as was
possible, and indeed perhaps no criminal ever behaved with more
penitence than he did. He died on Monday, the 22nd of December, 1729,
being then forty years of age.

The Lives of WILLIAM CAUSTIN and GEOFFREY YOUNGER, Footpads

The first of these unhappy men, William Caustin, was born somewhere in
the country, but the particular place is not mentioned in any papers I
have before me. Neither am I able to say of what condition his parents
were, yet whether poor or rich they afforded him a very tolerable
education, and when he was grown big enough to be put out apprentice,
bound him to a barber, to whom he served out his time with remarkable
fidelity. When out of his time he married a wife and set up for himself;
yet whether through inevitable misfortunes, or for want of good
management, I cannot say, but he failed in a very short time after, and
so was reduced to be a journeyman again. However, his character remained
so unblemished that he was never out of business, nor ill-treated by any
masters where he worked. On the contrary, he was caressed wherever he
came, and treated with as much civility as if he had been a relation to
those whom he had served.

His wife unfortunately falling sick upon his hand, he became thereby
thrown out of business, and in that ti