Life, transactions, & execution of Thomas Connor and Bell M'Menemy
THE
Life, Transactions, & Execution
OF
THOMAS CONNOR AND
BELL M'MENEMY,
Who were Executed at Glasgow on the 22nd of October, 1828
for Assault and Robbery.
LIKEWISE,
A LIST OF ALL THE CRIMINALS
WHO HAVE BEEN EXECUTED IN GLASGOW
For the last 68 Years,
With their Names and Crimes, and the place and time of their
Sufferings
Being a very Curious and Interesting Book.
GLASGOW:
Printed and Sold by John Muir, 30, Prince’s Street.
1828.
EXECUTION, &c.
Glasgow, 22d October 1828—This morning, THOMAS CONNOR & BELL M‘MENEMY were Executed in front of the Court Houses, convicted at the last Assizes of the crime of Assault and Robbery.
It may be recollected that M'Menemy, on her trial, pleaded Guilty to the charge of decoying a Highland boatman of the name of M'Kinnou, to the banks of the Canal, near Port-Eglinton, on the morning of the 20th May last, to which place, Connor, by previous compact, followed, where, after cruelly maltreating their victim, and knocking him on the head with a stone, to tho great effusion of his blood, they robbed him of forty shillings in silver, which the poor Highlander had secreted in the leg of one of his stockings.
Connor, who was 21 or 22 years of age, was born in the County of Tyrone, Ireland. The officers of justice describe him as being a bad boy ever since he was able to crawl, and that this should have been the case there is no wonder whatever, for his mother encouraged her son, even from his boyish days, in evil practiees, and whenever he committed an act more characterized by dexterity and skilful depravity than another, he was sure to be rewarded by the caresses and applause of this ⟨most⟩ abandoned and most unnatural woman. Such being the footlag on which this unfortunate young man was placed at home, it would be endless to relate all his petty depredations and misdeeds; suffice it to say, that he was some years ago banished forth from the County of Renfrew for stealing an anvil and a cart wheel from a smith in Mearns, but it was never known by what means he succeeded in making away with the anvil, as it would have required three men at least to have removed it to any considerable distance. At another period of his guilty career he was banished from Glasgow for theft; and on the 12th May, 1826, he was tried at the CircuitCourt here for robbing a man of the sum of L.2 3s., but escaped by a verdict of Not Proven. The danger he had escaped was immediately forgot, and any slight impression which had been made by his long confinement—the ceremony and solemnity of the trial—and the doubts and uncertainty he felt regarding his fate, were speedily effaced by the derision with which his fears and his better feelings were always treated by his cruel and unrelenting parent—she goaded him on in his guilty and unreflecting career, until the commission of the deed which brought him to the gallows.
With this depraved young man, Bell M'Menemywhen she came to Scotland in the year 1821, got acquainted through the medium of another female, and shortly af-terwards, with his mother. Previous to this period no crime was ever imputed to her, and she had been creditably and industriously employed at a Steam loom Factory. From the day her friendship with Connor and his mother began, this unfortunate female herself dated all her wickedness, and all her misfortunes; she was hurried on from one crime to another with a rapidity which gave her no time for reflection; and she frequently acknowledged after her condemnation, that she had been guilty of many actions which, in her own apprehension, were as criminal as that for which she was about to suffer. She had been once in bridewell for stealing a watch. She was a good looking woman, about 23 years of age, fair complexion, with red hair, and also came from the county of Tyrone.
Since the condemnation of the unhappy prisoners, who were both Catholics, they were frequently visited by Bishop Scott, Messrs. M'Grigor and M'Donald, and altogether they behaveded with much propriety, and listened to the religious advice of these gentlemen with seeming penitence, especially the female prisoner, who seemed to be, from the questions she asked, not only a sensible, but a shrewd young woman.
They were recommended to mercy by the Jury on account of their youth, and petitions were transmitted to the proper quarter for a commuation of ther sentence but without effect, on learning which the female wept bitterly for some time.
Soon after 8 o’clock the unhappy culprits ascended the fatal scaffold, attended by the Rev. Gentlemen who visited them in their lonely cell. The female was dressed in a mourning cap, black bombazeen gown, white stockings, and Denmark satin shoes. Connor was also dressed in black. The apparatus of death having been finally adjusted, the prisoners shook hands, and after a short pause, Connor gave the signal, when the drop fell; and after a few struggles, they ceased to exist.
On account of the rare occurrence of the execution of a female, 85 years having elapsed since the last woman was executed here, the crowd was unusually great—not less than from 20 to 25,000. It was altogether a melancholy scene.
Soon after the bodies were taken down two body-snatchers made a bold attempt to get possession of the corpses, by calling at the prison and informing the officers that they had been sent by the friends to take away the bodies, but being discovered they took themselves off.
FINIS.
EXECUTIONS, &c.
The following authentic List of Criminals who have been Executed at Glasgow, are taken from Cleland's Annals of Glasgow, and other official records. The particulars of the other Criminals are extracted from Arnot's Criminal Trials, and must prove highly interesting to every intelligent Reader.
Executed at the Howgatehead, where the Monkland
Canal Basin is.
|
|
Date of Execution. |
|
Excecuted in the Castle-yard where the Infirmary
now stands.
|
James Jacks, robbery |
1784, July 7 |
|
|
Neil M'Lean, forgery |
1785, June |
|
Executed at the Cross.
|
Walter M'Intosh, robbery |
1783, Oct. 22 |
|
Executed in Front of the New Prison.
|
Wm. Higgins and Thomas Harold, robbery |
1814, Oct. 19 |
|
|
Wm. Baird and Walter Blair, robbery |
1818, June |
|
Thomas Aikenhead, for denying the Trinity, &e, was executed at the Gallowlee, on the 8th Jenuary, 1697.
John Ogilvie, a Catholic, was tried in 1615, before the Protestant Magistrates of Glasgow, for saying of Mass, &c. He was found guilty, and hanged that same afternoon! Such was the liberality of our Protestant ancestors.
FOR WITCHCRAFT.
Aison Pearson, was strangled and burned in May, 1588. Janet Grant and Janet Clark, were burned in August, 1590. The last person who was brought to the stake in Scotland, was condemmed by Capt. David Ross, Sheriff-depute of Sutherland in 1722. The devil has never been seen in Scotland since.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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