Briadside entitled 'Some Account of John Sherry'

Transcription

Some Account of JOHN SHERRY, who was Executed in
of the New Jail of Glasgow, on Wednesday the 1st of No
ber, 1815, pursuant to his Sentence, for Highway Robbery
the road leading from Glasgow to Paisley, on the 19th May

JOHN SHERRY, who this day under-
went the sentence of the law,   was a
native of Ireland,    and   was born in the
Country of Monaghan. He was about 29
years of age, and has left a wife and five
children, the oldest of whom is about seven
years of age, to lament his untimely end.

He was put to the weaving business, but
left his parents when little more than eight
years of age-a circumstance which he has
often regretted; for, after he left their pro-
tection, he soon fell a prey to bad company,
forsook his industry, went from place to
place, and from one bad scene into another,
until he committed the crime which this day
terminated his existence.

It is about ten years since he left Ireland,
and whether he worked at his trade in Scot-
land is a circumstance which could not be
learned-but it appears that he had recent-
ly fallen in with a set of bad men at Carlisle,
who were guilty of house-breaking, and one
of whom was apprehended and executed
for that crime. Sherry was suspected of
being concerned in the affair, but, along
with others, made his escape. He was,         
however, afterwards apprehended at Glas-
gow, and remained in jail a week, when he
was sent off to Carlisle, under the care of a
Messenger, who came here for the purpose
of conducting him thither. The mode of
conveyance was the top of the coach, the
inside being full; but, on the road to Car-
lisle, Sherry complained that he was in great
pain, on account of his arms being too hard
bound, and requested the Messenger to ease
the cords, in order that he might travel a
little more comfortably. This request be-
ing humanely complied with, and Sherry
now finding he could use his arms with con-
siderable freedom, watched an opportunity,
sprung from the top of the coach, and, be
fore the astonished Messenger could get
down, was out of sight, and succeeded in
making his escape.

He was no more heard of till he committed
the robbery on the Paisley road, in May last,
and for which he was apprehended at Glas-
gow, in June, and tried and condem[ned]
the last Circuit.

Shortly after his condemnation he [was]
very penitent, and seemed sincerely resig[ned]
to his fate. He was a Catholic and
carefully attended by the Re\ill\ Mr. S (?)
one of the Clergymen of that persuas[ion]
but he made no objection, to converse
other pious Gentlemen, of a different
session, who waited on him.

Sherry was married when about ninete[en]
years of age, and seemed always to have
affectionate regard for his wife,who visited
him frequtently during his confinement.

A few days before his execution, he sent
for   his   wife's   Bible in order to mark
several portions of Scripture, which had
struck himself forcibly. The last interview
he had with his wife was a very affecting
one, and such as to excite the liveliest emo-
tions of sympathy.

He was very grateful for the humane at-
tention paid him by every person under
whose immediate care he was during his
confinement, often expressed himself to that
effect, and took an affecting farewel of them
previous to leaving the Jail.

It is hoped that the fate of this unfortun-
are young man will be a warning to the pro-
fligate, and open their eyes to a sense of the
dreadful situation they place themselves in
when they forsake the paths of honourable
industry to procure a wretched and ignoble
subsistence by robbing others on the public
highways.

Whenever a man feels himself inclined
to abandon the course by which he can alone
come honestly through life, let him look to
the fate of Sherry, ignominiously cut off in
the very days of his youth; and let him re-
member, that the same awful fate awaits him,
when overtaken by the arm of justice,
which, sooner or later, never fails to reach
the guilty, and convince   them that they
cannot possibly long exist by crime.

Printed by T. Duncan, 159, Saltmarket, Glasgow.

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