Quote 106 of 281

From the diary of Samuel Pepys (1663-1703)

Up; and after sending my wife to my aunt Wight's to get a place to
see Turner hanged, I to the office, where we sat all the morning.
And at noon, going to the Change and seeing people flock in that, I
enquired and found that Turner was not yet hanged; and so I went
among them to Leadenhall street at the end of Lyme street, near
where the robbery was done, and to St. Mary Axe, where he lived; and
there I got for a shilling to stand upon the wheel of a Cart, in
great pain, above an hour before the execution was done---he
delaying he time by long discourses and prayers one after another,
in hopes of a reprieve; but none came, and at last was flung off the
lather in his cloak.  A comely-looked man he was, and kept his
countenance to the end---I was sorry to see him.  It was believed
there was at least 12 or 14000 people in the street.

		-- Pepys' Diary, 21 Jan. 1664

Tags: cart wheel execution prayers flock robbery wight lyme cloak shilling countenance reprieve discourses lather stmaryaxe pepysdiary