Introduction.                 xix




       then there master . . . did make an assault . . . with the said Axes . . . did
       severally strike so that . . . the head of the said Hawkins . . . was then and
       there broke . . . breaking in Severall pieces the skull . . . of the Depth of
       Three Inches of the breadth of One Inch and the length of One Inch and a half e
       whereupon . . . the said Hawkins instantly of the said blowes Died so that
       they . . . of their mallice aforethought . . . voluntaryly & wickedly feloniously
       and Traytorousiy did Kill against the peace of the Lord Proprietary his rule
       and Dignity (post, p. 3). With the indictment the Attorney General laid before
       the grand jury all the papers about the business. The witnesses were present
       and were heard. The grand jury withdrew “into a private Roome to consider
       of their verdict” and came back half an hour later with a true bill. The prisoners
       were brought to the bar and asked how they plead. Three of the five plead
       not guilty and chose to be tried “by God and his Country,” that is, by a jury.
       One, Robert Warry, confessed his guilt and the jailer was at once commanded
       to look to him. When it appeared that Tony the Negro spoke no English,
       “his pleading was respited that the Court and the Jury . . . might see how
       farre . . . [he] was concerned in this business.” The jury which the sheriff
       of St. Mary's had summoned was brought into the court and was sworn in.
       The jurymen were to decide whether the prisoners were guilty or not, and if
       they found them guilty, they were to ask what lands and other possessions they
       had. The Baltimore County coroner and three other witnesses testified, and
       the jurors went from the bar to consult. On their return, with a verdict, the
       prisoners were called to the bar to hear that verdict. Sail and Speare and
       John the Negro were declared guilty, and Robert Warry had confessed. Tony
       the Negro who spoke no English was declared not guilty, and, when no one
       alleged any other crime or misdemeanor against him, he was freed. On the
       convicted four the Governor pronounced sentence of death by hanging. The
       gallows was to be set up at St. Mary's City, and Tony the Negro who had
       just been acquitted of guilt was to be the hangman (post, pp. 2-8).
        Petty treason, it goes without saying, would today be no different from
       any other murder. Besides this interesting case, there were three charges
       against women for murdering their bastards, and one other murder charge.
       Isabella Yausley gave birth to a male child secretly and alone, and later she
       killed the child. She was indicted, and on the indictment the grand jury returned
       a true bill. Brought to the bar, she plead not guilty and put herself upon the
       country. The trial jury heard the witnesses and heard Isabella also. Then,
       after a half hour's retirement, they pronounced her guilty. Amid a general
       silence, “the Chancelour made a short Repitition of the foulnes of her Offence
       and advising her to prepare for her End, and the passed Sentence as followeth

        “Thou Isabella Yausley art to . . . be hanged by the neck untill thou shalt
       be dead”.

       And the sheriff was ordered to see to it that she was hanged on April 17, 1671
       (post, 9-11). For Mary Stevens and Ann Pattison, also charged with murder
       ing their bastards, the process was almost the same, but the outcome was dif
       ferent. In the case of Mary Stevens, “the Court Examining the busines fully