Ancestor
London
Ancestor
Copy of Verses.
Is there not one spark of pity,
For five poor unhappy men,
Doomed, alas! in London city,
On a tree their lives to end?
The dreadful crime which they committed,
On the raging, stormy sea, By every one must be admitted,
They each deserved to punished be.
Five poor unhappy sailors
On the drop did trembling stand,
And their lives did pay a forfeit,
For their deeds on board the Flowery Land.
Sometimes at sea there's cruel usage,
And men to frenzy oft are drove,
They're always wrong by men in power,
And that there's many a sailor knows.
But those unhappy seven sailors,
Did commit a dreadful deed,
Killed and slaughter'd, sad to mention,
On board the Flowery Land, we read.
Great excitement through the nation,
This most sad affair has caused,
Sent across the briny ocean,
To be tried by English laws;
Seven tried and there convicted,
And sentenced each to hanged be,
For the dreadful murders they committed,
When sailing on the raging sea.
For two of them they did petition,
Alas, there nothing could them save
Sad indeed was their condition,
To lie side by side in a murderer's grave;
Far away from friends and kindred,
They unpitiedon the drop did stand,
Sad was the deed that they committed,
On board the fatal Flowery Land.
Thousands flocked from every quarter,
Seven unhappy men to see,
Sailors from distant foreign nations,
Suspended on a dreadful tree.
The fatal signal soon was given,
The awful drop at length did fall,
It caused a groan—it caused a shudder,
May God receive their guilty souls.
May this to sailors be a warning,
The dreadful sight the world did see,
In London, that fatal morning,
The seven died on Newgate's tree.
Was there not a tear of pity,
While trembling they in death did stand,
To die for crimes in London city.
Committed on the Flowery Land.
Their victims they did show no mercy,
No time for to prepare did give,
They kill'd them in a barbarous manner,
And though they were not fit to live,
We pity to them on the gallows,
Englishmen could not deny,
Now, alas, their days are ended,
They died on Newgate's gallows high
Disley, Printer, 57, High Street, St. Giles's.
SOURCE: Curiosities of Street Literature, London, Reeves and Turner, 196, Strand, 1871.