Samuel Peyton, convict, for having on the evening of the King's
birth-day broke open an officer's marquee, with an intent to commit
robbery, of which he was fully convicted, had sentence of death passed
on him at the same time as Corbet; and on the following day they were
both executed, confessing the justness of their fate, and imploring the
forgiveness of those whom they had injured. Peyton, at the time of his
suffering, was but twenty years of age, the greatest part of which
had been invariably passed in the commission of crimes, that at length
terminated in his ignominious end. The following letter, written by a
fellow convict to the sufferer's unhappy mother, I shall make no apology
for presenting to the reader; it affords a melancholy proof, that
not the ignorant and untaught only have provoked the justice of their
country to banish them to this remote region.
Sydney Cove, Port Jackson,
New South Wales, 24th June, 1788.
"My dear and honoured mother!
"With a heart oppressed by the keenest sense of anguish, and too much
agitated by the idea of my very melancholy condition, to express my own
sentiments, I have prevailed on the goodness of a commiserating friend,
to do me the last sad office of acquainting you with the dreadful fate
that awaits me.
Pages:
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104