DEATH WARRANT de DEATH WARRANT - 1782

Kent n.p. 1782, 1782. An original death warrant for the hanging of Richard Kelshall, George Draper, Charles Draper and John Carter. The four men were convicted of Highway Robbery at the Assizes on 11th March 1782. The sentencing Judge was Sir William Henry Ashhurst (sic), described by a contemporary as "a man of liberal education and enlarged notions" which must have been a consolation to the four guilty men. The Warrant is written by (or, at least, for) Samuel Boys who was the Sheriff of Kent in 1782 and is addressed to "Thomas Watson my Gaoler". It orders Watson, who was the gaoler at Maidstone Prison, to carry out the hanging between 11am and 2pm on 28th March. The Warrant is written in black ink on one side of a single sheet of foolscap paper (335x210mm). The black wax seal is in the left margin. There are some tears to the edges especially on the right margin where one word has been lost.