which never separates religious hope from the living, would scarcely
justify confidence, founded on such demeanour and language between the
cell and the scaffold.

Scarcely had this scene closed, when the prisoners in the penitentiary,
allured by the prospect of escape, broke through the gaol, and seized a
boat: as they approached the _Emma Kemp_, a premature display of muskets
convinced them that their plan was discovered. It was, indeed, known by
the officers of the gaol prior to their departure; who, calculating on
their arrest, permitted the consummation of their plans. This cost them
their lives: they retreated to the shore, robbed Mr. Mortimer of eight
stand of arms, and commenced their career as bushrangers. They were
evidently unwilling adventurers, and soon taken. The Governor, at their
execution, compelled the attendance of the prisoners, in the fallacious
belief that the sight would prove admonitory as well as terrible.

Several were mere youths: their obituary, furnished by the indefatigable
chronicler of executions, Dr. Ross, is not without interest. There was
Dunhill, six feet three inches high and handsome, a frequent attendant
at criminal courts; whose father was a prisoner for life, and whose
family, once the terror of Yorkshire, were mostly transported or
executed. There was Child, the son of a Bristol merchant, who, as the
rope was adjusting, said, "I know I shall go to heaven!" There was a
Scotch boy, who sang as he went; but said he was ruined in the
penitentiary. Another had driven his mother to self destruction.

Nine men were executed towards the close of the following year, for the
murder of a constable, named George Rex, at Macquarie Harbour: their
leader, James Lacy, a person of considerable talent, was saved on a
former occasion by the mediation of the Rev. W. Bedford, who represented
that to Lacy's influence a settler owed his life. Having planned an
escape, they seized the constable; and having bound and gagged some
fellow prisoners, whom they rejected as accomplices, they took Rex and
pushed him into the water, and held down his head until life was
extinct. They then formed a raft, but it was insufficient to convey
them: three only landed on the main, and were pursued and retaken. The
sole witnesses summoned against them were prisoners, who prevaricated in
their testimony; but the presence of surgeon Barnes supplied the
evidence they thought proper to conceal, and insured the conviction