Broadside entitled 'Lamentation for George Gilchrist, Under sentence of Death in Edinburgh'

Transcription

Lamentation for George Gilchrist
Under sentence of Death in Edinburgh,

Come all ye night walkers a warning take by me,
Now I have received my sentence to die most shamefully;
OH the third day of August', at the head of Libberton Wind
You will behold my wretched fate, a warrning take in time
On the twenty-fourth of March, in this same year thirty-one;
Me and my brother William and Morrison and Brown
We into the Prince Regent coach as passengers inside,
Drtst in a female's garb-,'twas my knavery to hide.

By Satan's dark delusions from bad to worse I came
And how to plunder the bank box I soon fell on a plan;
There I did act a modest part, like those of women kind.
And the guard, I'm sure,never dream'd what then ran in my mind

A hammer and a chissel there, with pistols too I had.
To execute my dark design, and not a word was said
Then one firm stroke I gave the box which made the hinges fly
The coach it still being running on, no noise the could dis[ ]

the booty then I made my own and soon we all went on,
But little did the coachman dream what I had been about;
'when they arrived in Bathgate, with horror and dismay,
They found the box had opened been, and the money taken away

Who then could be suspected, those c[ ]achsm n they were clear,
But the eye of justice on them suspicious did appear;
They little thought George Gilchrist, whom they took for a wife
Had been the one that robbed it, and now forfeits his life.

Now there are three that have got clear,and I am left to die
But for to scandalize them I never mean to try;
I dare not say they're guilty, the law it set them free
But only for King's evidence, one would have died with me.
But now is time that I prepare for that great bar on high,

The Judge omnipotent there sits, and justice is his throne,
From him I hope for mercy when from this world I'm gone

My sentence here, I must confess,, that it on earth is just,
And may it prove a warning when I'm laid in the dust,
To all who follow gambling, for nothing good ensues,
To them that drops their business and idleness pursues.
My days on earth are numbered, no mercy here I'll find,
'Soon I must bid adieu to all the busy scenes of time ;
But there is mercy out of sight, concealed from mortal eyes,
The greatest sinner that returns the Lord will not despise.

.Death's dreadful apparatus will soon erected be,
,Upon the third of August a dreadful sight you'll see ;
From the Tron Church till the West Bow the crowd will there
extend.

Upon that awful morning to witness my sad end.
The fatal drop it will give way, then time to me is past,
Stretch forth thy arms, thou gracious Judge, and help me
          the last;

Even yet I hope for mercy through thy redeeming Son,
New I must bid you all adieu, my glass is nearly run.

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