James Sheppard, High Treason

And here is a most horrible example of the scum that resides here at Newgate. James Sheppard was indicted in 1717 for High Treason, in imagining and compassing the death of our sacred Majesty King George the First, God rest his soul. Wake up Jimmy-boy!! Don't you want to say a few words to the people on the tour?

"I'd rather sit here in silence by myself. Oh, well, you won't leave till I tell you, eh? Fine, then. My name is James Sheppard. I wrote a letter condemning the King of England, and my friends and my servants acted as Brutuses and turned me in. Then, they were witnesses against me in a court of law. I was convicted of high treason, which carries the most horrible sentence to be drawn and quartered.

"Before receiving my sentence, I will be asked, as is usual, what I have to say why judgment should not pass upon me according to law. I will reply that I could not hope for mercy 'from a king I would not own' [1]. 

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