end to his existence by his own hand; and the morning appointed for his execution being come, the keeper went to his cell to bring him out, and to his great surprise found him almost expiring, having with a razor cut his left arm, above the elbow, and a little above the wrist, but missed the artery, by which means he had lost so much blood, that he was rendered very weak: a surgeon was sent for, who presently stopped the bleeding, and he was carried to the place of execution; where, though he was quite sensible, yet so feeble that he could not stand; a clergyman prayed with him, but being in so weak a condition, he was incapable of giving any attention. He was executed, and his body carried to Knaresborough Forest, where it was hung in chains, August, 1759.

GCraik shank send,

James Ashley.

JAMES ASHLEY, a brandy-merchant, residing in Bread-street, London, in the year 1752, was brought into considerable notice by a transaction which took place between him and Henry Simons, a Polish jew, who represented himself as being robbed by a person named Joseph Goddard, a publican, at Cranford-bridge, of five hundred and fifty-four ducats, which he had brought to England, for the purpose of laying out in watches and other goods. On this charge Goddard was tried at the Old Bailey, and honorably acquitted. Subsequently, a bill of indictment was preferred and found by the grand jury for the county of Middlesex, against Simons, for wilful and corrupt perjury. Ashley, who was present at the examination of Goddard, when charged with the robbery before Justice Chamberlayne, and understanding, on Goddard's acquittal, an indictment for perjury was issued against the jew, accidentally meeting Simons travelling on foot towards Ilford, from whence Ashley was coming to London,

he

gave information to a Mr. Ford, agent for Goddard, of the circumstance, who prevailed on him to accompany his clerk, in order to take the jew into custody, under a warrant he had in his possession; thinking Simons was making his way to Harwich, in order to escape out of the kingdom, Ashley and the clerk, having travelled in a post-chaise, gained information from a boy, near Witham, in Essex, that the jew was but a little way before; they followed, secured, and placed him in a cart, in order to carry him. before a justice; but, it being in the evening, they gave him in charge of a constable, who kept him all night. In the morning, the magistrate, before whom they carried him, advised them to conduct him to Chelmsford, where the justices of the county were then sitting, who, on learning the nature of the business, declined to act, and recommended the party to convey the jew to London; but, stopping at a public-house in Chelmsford, Simons accused Ashley of robbing him of some ducats, of which three appearing to be in one of his coat-pockets, among some walnuts, he insisted the jew had surreptitiously conveyed them there, for the purpose of revenging the zeal he had evinced in causing his apprehension. The warrant for the apprehension of Simons not