Jonathan Wild

Director of a Corporation of Thieves, and a most famous
Receiver. Executed at Tyburn, 24th of May, 1725

Jonathan Wild was born at Wolverhampton, in
Staffordshire, about the year 1682. At about fifteen
years of age Jonathan, having made some progress at school
in writing and arithmetic, was bound apprentice to a buckle-
maker at Birmingham. When his time was expired he
married an honest woman at Wolverhampton, by whom he
had one son. But they had not been married two years before
Jonathan took into his head to leave his wife and child and
go up to London. He had been but a few months in town
before he ran himself so far into debt that he was arrested
and thrown into Wood Street Compter. He said himself
(in a pamphlet which he published in vindication of his
character) that by misfortunes in the world he was subject
to the discipline of the compter for above the space of four
years, during which time he was, in some measure, let into
the secrets of the criminals there under confinement ; of
which knowledge he afterwards availed himself.

Here it was he contracted a close familiarity with one
Mary Milliner, a common street-walker. She had run
round the whole circle of vice, knew all the ways of the
town, and most of its felonious inhabitants.

He took a little house in Cock Alley, opposite to Cripple-
gate church, where Jonathan, by his own industry and his
helpmate’s assistance, was in a short time made acquainted
with all the thieves of any note, from the desperate highway-
man down to the more subtle impostor. He soon knew all
their usual haunts, and how they proceeded, and in conse-
quence of this knowledge he had their lives in his power,
and from a confidant became a director.

Formerly, when a thief had got a prize, he could easily
find people enough to take it off his hands at something
less than the real value, for the law had provided no punish-
ment for the receiver. But after the legislature had passed
an Act which made it felony to receive stolen goods, know-
ing them to be stolen, a considerable stop was put to this
practice. The few who continued it were obliged to act
very cautiously, and, as they ran great hazards, they insisted
on such extravagant profits that the thieving trade was in
danger of coming to nothing.

But Jonathan contrived a scheme that gave new life to
the business, and convening some of his chief prigs he laid
the matter before them.

” You know, my bloods,” quoth he, ” that as trade goes
at present you stand but a queer chance ; for when you
have made anything, if you carry it to the pawnbrokers,
those unconscionable dealers in contraband goods will
hardly tip ye a quarter of what it is worth, and if ye offer
it to a stranger, it’s ten to one but ye are babbled. So that
there is no such thing as a man’s living by his labour; for
if he don’t like to be half starved he must run the hazard
of being scragged, which, let me tell you, is.a d–d hard
case. Now, if you will take my advice, I’ll engage to pay
back the goods to the cull that owns them, and raise you
more money upon that account than you can expect from
the rascally brokers ; and at the same time take care that
you shall be all insured.”

This was received with general approbation, and immedi-
ately put in practice. No sooner was a robbery committed
than Jonathan was informed what the goods were, when,
how and from whom they were taken. The goods were
deposited in some convenient place, but not in his own
house; for at his first setting up in business he acted
very cautiously, though afterwards he grew daring. When
things were thus prepared, away went Jonathan, or the bone
of his bone, to the persons who had been plundered, and
addressed them to this purpose:

” I happened to hear that you have lately been robbed,
and a friend of mine, an honest broker, having stopped a
parcel of goods upon suspicion, I thought I could do no less
than give you notice of it, as not knowing but some of them
might be yours; if it proves so (as I wish it may), you may
have them again, provided that nobody is brought into
trouble, and the broker has something in consideration of
his care.”

People who have been robbed are willing to recover their
goods with as little trouble as possible, and therefore it was
no wonder that they easily fell into Jonathan’s measures. But
if, as it sometimes happened, the person was too inquisitive
— ” Sir,” says Jonathan, ” I only came to serve you, and if
you think otherwise, I must let you know that you are
mistaken. I have told you that, some goods being offered
to pawn by a suspected person, the broker had the honesty
to stop them; and and therefore, Sir, if you question me
about thieves, I have nothing to say to you but that
I can give a good account of myself: : my name is Wild,
and I live in Cock Alley, by Cripplegate, where you may
find me any day in the week; and so, Sir, your humble
servant.” By this affected resentment he seldom failed
of bringing the injured person to treat with him upon
his own terms, which on such occasions he commonly
advanced.

All this while, as Jonathan had his profits out of what
was paid to the broker, he took no money from those to
whom he restored the goods, by which means he kept up a
tolerable reputation, and at the same time there was no law
in being that could affect him.

But as he soon became eminent in his profession he
altered some of his measures. He no longer applied to
those who had lost anything, but they were obliged to apply
to him if they expected his assistance, and he received them
in his office with much formality. At their entrance it was
hinted to them that they must deposit a crown as a fee for his
advice. This being done, he demanded their names, where
they lived, where and how they were robbed, if they sus-
pected any persons and what kind of persons they were,
the particular goods that were lost, and what reward would
be given if the goods were returned, These articles being
known were entered in a book he kept for that purpose,
and then the persons were assured that a careful inquiry
should be made, and if they called again in two or three
days he might possibly give them some intelligence.

When they came according to appointment and desired
to know what success he had met with –” Why, indeed,”
says Jonathan, ” I have heard something of your goods, but
the person I sent to inquire tells me that the rogues pretend
they can pawn them for more than you offer, and therefore
if ever they make restitution it must be upon better terms.
However, if I can but once come to the speech of the rascals,
I don’t question but I shall bring them to reason.”

Jonathan had always some advantage or other in examin-
ing so minutely into the circumstances of a robbery. If, as
was often the case, he knew as much of the matter before-
hand as those who came for his assistance could tell him,
his inquiries then served to amuse them, and prevent
their suspecting his knowledge. But if he had not already
been let into the whole or any part of the secret, the exact
information he received by this means was such a check
upon the thieves that they seldom dared to conceal any-
thing from him; and if they did, or refused to accept of his
terms, it was at their peril.

Jonathan now appeared with a sword by his side, and the
first use we find he made of it was in an engagement with the
wife of his bosom. She had some time so provoked him to
wrath that he swore by the Lord he would mark her, and
thereupon drawing his sword he smote off one of her ears.
This occasioned a divorce; but, however, Jonathan, in
grateful consideration of the services she had done him, by
bringing him into so large an acquaintance, and assisting
him in his business, allowed her a weekly pension as long
as she lived.

In the year 1715 Wild removed from his house in Cock
Alley to a Mrs Seagoe’s, in the Old Bailey, where he pursued
his business with the usual success ; but while resident
there a controversy of a most singular character arose be-
tween him and a fellow named Charles Hitchin, who was
a City Marshal, but was later suspended for malpractices,
to whom Jonathan, before his adoption of the lucrative
profession which he now carried on, had acted as assistant.
These celebrated copartners in villainy, under the pretext
of controlling the enormities of the dissolute, paraded the
streets from Temple Bar to the Minories, searching houses
of ill-fame, and apprehending disorderly and suspected
persons; but those who complimented the reformers with
douceurs were allowed to practise every species of wicked-
ness with impunity. Hitchin and Wild however, grew
jealous of each other and, an open rupture taking place,
they parted, each pursuing the business of thief-taking on
his own account.

These rivals in villainy appealed to the public, and attacked
each other with all possible scurrility in pamphlets and
advertisements. Never was the Press so debased as in
publishing the productions of their pens. Hitchin published
what he called The Regulator; or a Discovery of Thieves and
Thief-Takers. It is an ignorant and impudent insult to the
reader, and replete with abuse of Wild, whom he brands,
in his capacity of thief-taker, with being worse than the
thief. Wild retorts with great bitterness ; but Hitchin
having greatly debased the respectable post of City Marshal
the Lord Mayor suspended him from that office. In order
to repair his loss he determined, as the most prudent step,
to strive to bury his aversion, and confederate with Wild.
To effect this he wrote as follows :-

” I am sensible that you are let into the knowledge of
the secrets of the compter, particularly with relation to the
securing of pocket-books ; but your experience is inferior
to mine. I can put you on a far better method than you are
acquainted with, and which may be done with safety; for
though I am suspended, I still retain the power of acting
as constable, and notwithstanding I cannot be heard before
my Lord Mayor, as formerly, I have interest among the
aldermen upon any complaint.

” But I must first tell you that you spoil the trade of thief-
taking in advancing greater rewards than are necessary. I
give but half-a-crown a book, and when thieves and pick-
pockets see you and me confederate, they will submit to
our terms, and likewise continue their thefts, for fear of
coming to the gallows by our means. You shall take a turn
with me, as my servant or assistant, and we’ll commence
our rambles this night.”

Wild readily accepted the ex-Marshal’s proposals, and
they accordingly proceeded to take their walks together,
imposing upon the unwary and confederating with thieves,
whom at the same time they did not hesitate to make their
slaves. One or two instances of their mode of doing business
may not be uninteresting. They are taken from a pamphlet
written by Wild, and may therefore be supposed to be
correct:

” A biscuit-baker near Wapping having lost a pocket-book
containing, among other papers, an Exchequer bill for one
hundred pounds, applied to Wild for its recovery. The
latter advised him to advertise it, and stop the payment of
the bill, which he did accordingly; but getting no account
of his property, he came to Wild several times about it,
and at length told him that he had received a visit from a
tall man, with a long peruke and sword, calling himself the
City Marshal, who asked him if he had lost his pocket-book.
He said that he had, and desired to know the inquirer’s
reasons for putting such a question, or whether he could
give him any intelligence; but he replied no, he could not
give him any intelligence of it as yet, and wished to be
informed whether he had employed any person to search
after it. He said that he had employed one Wild; where-
upon the Marshal told him he was under a mistake: that
he should have applied to him, as he was the only person
in England who could serve him, being well assured it was
entirely out of the power of Wild, or any of those fellows,
to know where the pocket-book was (this was very certain,
he having it at that time in his custody) ; and begged to
know the reward that would be given. The biscuit-baker
replied that he would give ten pounds, but the Marshal
said that a greater reward should be offered, for that
Exchequer bills and those things were ready money, and
could immediately be sold; and that if he had employed
him in the beginning, and offered forty or fifty pounds, he
would have served him. Wild gave it as his opinion that
the pocket-book was in the Marshal’s possession, and that
it would be to no purpose to continue advertising it ; and
he advised the owner rather to advance his bidding, con-
sidering what hands the note was in, especially as the Marshal
had often told him how easily he could dispose of bank-
notes and Exchequer notes at gaming-houses, which he very
much frequented. Pursuant to this advice, the losing party
went to the Marshal and bid forty pounds for his pocket-
book and bill, but ‘ Zounds, sir,” said the Marshal, ‘ you
are too late! ‘ and that was all the satisfaction he gave
him.

” Thus was the poor biscuit-baker tricked out of his
Exchequer bill, which was paid to another person, though
it could never be traced back. But it happened that a short
time after some of the young fry of pickpockets, under the
tuition of the Marshal, fell out in sharing the money given
them for this very pocket-book; whereupon one of them
came to Wild and discovered the whole matter — viz. that
he had sold the pocket-book, with the one-hundred-pound
Exchequer note in it, and other bills, to the City Marshal,
at a tavern in Aldersgate Street, for four or five guineas.

” The Marshal going one night up Ludgate Hill observed
a well-dressed woman walking before him, whom he told
Wild was a lewd woman, for that he saw her talking with a
man. This was no sooner spoken but he seized her and
asked who she was. She made answer that she was a
bailiff’s wife. ‘You are more likely to be a prostitute,’ said
the Marshal, and as such you shall go to the compter.’
” Taking the woman through St Paul’s Churchyard, she
desired liberty to send for some friends, but he would not
comply with her request. He forced her into the Nag’s
Head tavern, in Cheapside, where he presently ordered a hot
supper and plenty of wine to be brought in, commanding
the female to keep at a distance from him, and telling her
that he did not permit such vermin to sit in his company,
though he intended to make her pay the reckoning. When
the supper was brought to the table he fell to it lustily, and
would not allow the woman to eat any part of it with him,
or to come near the fire, though it was extremely cold weather.

When he had supped he stared round, and applying himself
to her, told her that if he had been an informer, or such a
fellow, she would have called for eatables and wine herself,
and not have given him the trouble of direction, or else
would have slipped a piece into his hand; adding: ‘ You
may do what you please; but I can assure you it is in my
power, if I see a woman in the hands of informers, to dis-
charge her and commit them. You are not so ignorant
but you must guess my meaning.’ She replied that she
had money enough to pay for the supper, and about three
half-crowns more; and this desirable answer being given,
he ordered his attendant to withdraw while he compounded
the matter with her.

” When Wild returned, the gentlewoman was civilly asked
to sit by the fire and eat the remainder of the supper, and in
all respects treated very kindly, only with a pretended repri-
mand to give him better language whenever he should
speak to her for the future ; and after another bottle drunk
at her expense, she was discharged.”

The object of these allegations on the part of Wild may
be easily seen, and the effect which he desired was at length
produced; for the Marshal, having been suspended, and
subsequently fined twenty pounds and pilloried for a crime
too loathsome to be named, was at length compelled to
retire. And thus he left Wild alone to execute his plans of
depredation upon the public. The latter, not unmindful
of the tenure upon which his reputation hung, was too wary
to allow discontent to appear among his followers, and
therefore he found it to his interest to take care that where
he promised them protection his undertaking should not
be neglected or pass unfulfilled. His powers in supporting
his word were greater than can be well imagined, in the
present state of things, where so much corruption had been
got rid of; and where his influence among persons in office
failed him, his exertions in procuring the testimony of false
witnesses to rebut that evidence which was truly detailed,
and the nature of which he could always learn beforehand,
generally enabled him to secure the object which he had in
view. His threats, however, were not less amply fulfilled
than his promises; and his vengeance once declared was
never withdrawn, and seldom failed in being carried out.

By his subjecting such as incurred his displeasure to
the punishment of the law he obtained the rewards offered
for pursuing them to conviction, and greatly extended his
ascendancy over the other thieves, who considered him with
a kind of awe; while, at the same time, he established his
character as being a man of great public utility.

A few anecdotes of the life and proceedings of this worthy
will sufficiently exhibit the system which he pursued.

A lady of fortune being on a visit in Piccadilly, her
servants, leaving her sedan at the door, went to refresh
themselves at a neighbouring public-house. Upon their
return the vehicle was not to be found; in consequence
of which the men immediately went to Wild, and having
informed him of their loss, and complimented him with
the usual fee, they were desired to call upon him again in
a few days. Upon their second application Wild extorted
from them a considerable reward, and then directed them
to attend the chapel in Lincoln’s Inn Fields on the following
morning, during the time of prayers. The men went accord-
ing to the appointment, and under the piazzas of the chapel
perceived the chair, which upon examination they found to
contain the velvet seat, curtains and other furniture, and that
it had received no kind of damage.

A thief of most infamous character, named Arnold Powel,
being confined in Newgate on a charge of having robbed a
house in the neighbourhood of Golden Square of property
to a great amount, was visited by Jonathan, who informed
him that in consideration of a sum of money he would save
his life ; adding that if the proposal was rejected he should
inevitably die at Tyburn for the offence on account of which
he was then imprisoned. The prisoner, however, not be-
lieving that it was in Wild’s power to do him an injury,
defied him. He was brought to trial; but through a
defect of evidence he was acquitted. Having gained intelli-
gence that Powel had committed a burglary in the house of
Mr Eastlick, near Fleet Ditch, Wild caused that gentleman
to prosecute the robber. Upon receiving information that
a bill was found for the burglary, Powel sent for Wild, and
a compromise was effected, according to the terms which
Wild himself had proposed, in consequence of which Powel
was assured that his life should be preserved. Upon the
approach of the sessions Wild informed the prosecutor
that the first and second days would be employed in other
trials ; and, as he was desirous Mr Eastlick should avoid
attending with his witnesses longer than was necessary, he
would give timely notice when Powel would be arraigned.
But he contrived to have the prisoner put to the bar ; and,
no persons appearing to prosecute, he was necessarily
dismissed, and the. Court ordered Mr Eastlick’s recognis-
ances to be estreated. Powel was ordered to remain in
custody till the next sessions, there being another indict-
ment against him; and Mr Eastlick represented the be-
haviour of Wild to the Court, who reprimanded him with
great severity. Powel now put himself into a salivation, in
order to avoid being brought to trial the next sessions
but, notwithstanding this stratagem, he was arraigned and
convicted, and was executed on the 20th of March, 1717.

At this time Wild quitted his apartments at Mrs Seagoe’s
and hired a house adjoining to the Coopers’ Arms, on the
opposite side of the Old Bailey. His unexampled villainies
had now become an object of so much consequence as to
excite the particular attention of the legislature.

Accordingly, in the year 1718 (at the instigation and by
the procurement of Sir William Thompson, the recorder), an
Act was passed for the further preventing of robberies and
felonies, and for the more effectual transportation of felons.
By a clause it was made felony for any persons to take a
reward under pretence of restoring stolen goods, except
they prosecuted the felons who stole them.

This gave a check to Jonathan’s business for a while,
but it was not long before he ventured to revive it again,
though with more caution than before, and by altering his
measures he thought still to evade the law.

When people had been two or three times with him
in quest of what they had lost, he would tell them that he
had made inquiry after their goods and received informa-
tion that if such a sum of money was sent to such a place
the goods would be delivered to the person who carried it.
This being agreed on, a porter was called, the money put
into his hands, and directions given him to go and wait
at the corner of the street ; when he came to the place
appointed, or perhaps on his way thither, he was met by
somebody who delivered him the goods upon his paying
the money.

At other times the owners of the goods, as they were going
home, were overtaken by a stranger, who put the goods
into their hands, and at the same time a note, in which was
written the sum of money they were to pay for them.

But in some hazardous cases he commonly put the
people themselves upon taking the first step, by advertising
what goods they had lost, and offering a reward to anyone
who would bring them to Jonathan Wild, who was thereby
empowered to receive them without asking questions.

In the two former cases he never saw the thief, nor
received the goods, nor took the money; and in the latter
the principal part was the act of the parties robbed, and
he appeared merely as a friend in whose honour they could
safely confide; and in serving them this way there was no
necessity of supposing him to be a confederate with the
felons who had robbed them.

When they had got their goods, and desired to know
what he must have for his trouble, he would tell them,
with an air of indifference, they might do as they pleased;
he demanded nothing: he was glad it had been in his
power to serve them; what he had done was from a principle
of doing good, and without any view of self-interest; and
if they thought proper to make him a present it would be
their own act, the pure effect of their generosity, and he
should not take it as a reward, but merely as a favour.

Jonathan’s business being now greatly increased, he
found it necessary to take a larger house, and accordingly
removed to a more convenient habitation at the King’s
Head, in the Old Bailey.

It is said that Jonathan, resolving to carry on a trade
with Holland and Flanders, purchased a sloop, and put
in the famous Roger Johnson to command her; that he
carried over gold watches, rings, snuff-boxes and other
plate, and sometimeg perhaps bank-notes, which had been
spoken with by the way of the mail. His chief trading port
was Ostend, from whence he travelled up to Bruges, Ghent,
Brussels and other considerable towns, where he disposed
of his effects and took in a lading of hollands and other
goods, returned to England, and usually brought his cargo
to land in the night, without giving the least trouble to the
officers of the custom-house.

This business was carried on pretty successfully for about
two years, when by some mismanagement two pieces of
holland were lost, and Johnson stopped the value of them
out of the mate’s wages. The man was so provoked at this
that he went immediately and gave information of Johnson’s
running a vast quantity of goods ; whereupon the vessel
was exchequered, and Johnson was cast in seven hundred
pounds’ damages, which put an end to his trading to Holland.

There had long been great animosity betwixt Johnson
and Tom Edwards, who kept the Case, in Long Lane. One
evening, as he was coming out of the Black Lion ale-house in
the Strand, which was then kept by one Butler (the brother
to Tom Butler, who received his pardon in order to be an
evidence against Wild), he met with Johnson and seized
him, and charging him with felony carried him to a tavern.
Johnson sent for one of Wild’s men, who came with a
constable and a warrant against Edwards, and carried him
before a justice, who committed him to the compter for a
highway robbery.

Some time afterwards, Edwards, being again at liberty,
and having received intelligence of a large quantity of
valuable stolen goods lodged in one of Jonathan’s private
warehouses, got a warrant and seized them. Jonathan was
so provoked at this, though he did not think it proper to
claim the goods as his own, that he took out an action in
the name of Johnson, to whom he said the goods belonged,
arrested Edwards, and threw him into the Marshalsea,
where he lay one night, but the next day gave ball for his
appearance.

Edwards vowed revenge. He got several informations
against Johnson, and only wanted to find where he was.
After a long search to no purpose he accidentally met with
him on the Stratford Road, seized him, and, sending for a
constable, carried him to an ale-house hard by. Johnson
sent a messenger to inform Wild of what had happened.
Wild and his man, Quilt Arnold, went down directly to
Johnson ; a quarrel arose, and Johnson made his escape.

An information was made against Wild for his manage-
ment in this affair, being informed of which, he absconded
for three weeks; and then, imagining the danger was over,
ventured to appear again in public; but he found himself
mistaken, for the high constable of Holborn, hearing that
he had returned to his own house, went thither with two
assistants and apprehended him, on 15th of February, 1725.

He was carried before Sir John Fryar, Bart., and charged
upon oath with assisting one Johnson, a highwayman, to
make his escape from a constable at Bow, near Stratford,
in the county of Middlesex, and was thereupon committed
to Newgate.

The sessions at the Old Bailey beginning on Wednesday,
the 24th of the same month, he entered his prayer to be
tried that sessions, or bailed, or discharged. But on the
Friday following there came down a warrant of detainer,
which was produced in court with several informations upon
oath, to the following effect:-

1. That for many years past he had been a confederate
with a great number of highwaymen, pickpockets, house-
breakers, shoplifters and other thieves.
2. That he had formed a kind of corporation of thieves,
of which he was the head or director, and that notwithstand-
ing his pretended services, in detecting and prosecuting
offenders, he procured such only to be hanged as concealed
their booty, or refused to share it with him.
3. That he had divided the town and country into so
many districts, and appointed distinct gangs for each, who
regularly accounted with him for their robberies. That
he had also a particular set to steal at churches in time of
divine service; and likewise other moving detachments to
attend at Court on birthdays, balls, etc., and at both Houses
of Parliament, circuits, and country fairs.
4. That the persons employed by him were for the most
part felons convict, who had returned from transportation be-
fore the time for which they were transported was expired,
and that he made choice of them to be his agents because
they could not be legal evidence against him, and because
he had it always in his power to take from them what part
of the stolen goods he thought fit, and otherwise use them
ill, or hang them, as he pleased.
5. That he had from time to time supplied such con-
victcd felons with money and clothes, and lodged them in
his own house, the better to conceal them; particularly for
counterfeiting and diminishing broad-pieces and guineas.
6. That he had not only been a receiver of stolen goods
for nearly fifteen years past, but had frequently been a
confederate, and robbed along with the above-mentioned
convicted felons.
7. That in order to carry on these vile practices, and to
gain some credit with the ignorant multitude, he usually
carried a short silver staff, as a badge of authority from the
Government, which he used to produce when he himself
was concerned in robbing.
8. That he had under his care and direction several
warehouses for receiving and concealing stolen goods ;
and also a ship for carrying off jewels, watches and other
valuable goods to Holland, where he had a superannuated
thief for his factor.
9. That he kept in pay several artists to make alterations
and transform watches, seals, snuff-boxes, rings and other
valuable things, that they might not be known, several of
which he used to present to such persons as he thought
might be of service to him.
10. That he seldom or never helped the owners to the
notes and papers that they had lost, unless he found them
able exactly to specify and describe them, and then often
insisted on more than half the value.
11. And lastly, it appears that he has often sold human
blood, by procuring false evidence to swear persons into
facts they were not guilty of, sometimes to prevent them
from being evidence against himself, and at other times for
the sake of the great reward given by the Government.

The jury found him guilty on one of the indictments
and he was sentenced to death. He endeavoured to prevent
his execution by drinking laudanum, but the largeness of
the draught, together with his having fasted before, instead
of destroying him immediately, was the cause of his not
dying by it.

After taking the liquid laudanum he grew so drowsy
that he could not hold up his head nor keep open his eyes
at prayers, and in this condition he was put into the cart
and conveyed to Tyburn.

It is not easy to express with what roughness he was
treated by the mob, not only as he went to the tree but even
when he was at it. Instead of those signs of pity which they
generally show when common criminals are going to execu-
tion, they reviled and cursed him, and pelted him with dirt
and stones continually. By the time he came to the end of
his journey he was considerably recovered from the disorder
the laudanum had thrown him into. The other malefactors
being ready to be turned off, and the executioner telling
Jonathan he might take any reasonable time to prepare
himself, he continued sitting in the cart for a little while,
but the mob grew so outrageous at this indulgence that they
called out incessantly to the hangman to do his office, and
threatened to knock him on the head if he did not immedi-
atcly perform it. He found delays were dangerous, and
therefore no longer deferred giving the populace the satis-
faction they demanded. Thus ended the life of Jonathan
Wild, 24th of May, 1725.

Source: Celebrated Trials and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence, George Borrow, 1825