Regret- We see absolutely no regret in Frost’s narrative for either murder he commits, and after his account of how the murder is committed there is no mention of his feelings about it or any sort of remorse.  He never mentions the death of his father again or any feelings he has about the crimes he’s committed.

Honesty-  Frost, like Mount, seems to be a very honest character, although while Mount’s narrative was honest, Frost seems both honest in his narrative4 and his life.  He states that he has a great aversion to both stealing and lies, and the later third person account of his life also states that he was an extremely honest man, refusing to plead not guilty even when instructed to.     

Honesty- After going through the mandatory warning to others and request for mercy, Thomas Mount “secondly” goes into what seems to be the most sincere and honest account that was have read about the criminal’s feelings about death and the afterlife.  He is perhaps the first one to admit that he doesn’t want to die and is afraid of what will happen to him when he does.  He also admits that he isn’t sure that he is reformed at all and might return to stealing if he had the chance. 

Harshness-  Mount echoes the sentiment of Mountain, who stated that he had been punished early enough to petty crimes it might have reformed him.  Mount similarly says: “the mercy of government in pardoning thieves is no mercy at all to them, for every pardon they get hardens them” (323).    

Escape- Powers manages to escape from jail while awaiting execution, and even says at the conclusion of his narrative that the thought of escape eases his mind off of his execution. After the end of the story, we learn that Powers does in fact escape. This is very much unlike the other narratives we have read in which the criminals accept their fate and are not only willing, but somewhat excited to die. Powers attempts (and successes) in escaping show his unwillingness to accept his fate.

Intention- Powers states that he overtook a young woman “without any evil intentions,” but after raping her says that he “succeeded in my hellish design” (344). Powers’ narrative seems to be full of not evil intentions, but mere opportunity: “for when I saw the opportunity, the devil, or some other evil spirit, gave me the inclination” (334).

Duty- The gang of highway robbers that Mountain eventually joins sees stealing money as a duty: “we were soon convinced that he had cash in plenty, and that ‘it was our duty to get it’;” (295).  Mountain feels a real sense of duty to his highway robbery gang, and in fact sticks with them from England to France.  He never discredits them by blaming them for the crime that he is eventually executed for.

Guilt-  Interestingly, the crime for which Mountain is executed takes up only a few paragraphs of this relatively long narrative: he is very concerned with making himself a guilty character more than guilty of one specific crime.  We get a long explanation of the robberies and petty thefts that he commits, the short periods of time in which he is legally employed, and only a mention of the supposed rape that ends his life.  Although he argues that he didn’t really rape the girl, he says that the court was kind and lenient (despite quickly convicting him and sentencing him to death), probably because he sees himself as a guilty man in general, and thus deserving any punishment. 

Innocence- Like Rachel Wall, Elizabeth Wilson is concerned with the idea of her own innocence. She also has a modern conception of guilt an innocence, an idea of not guilty by reason of insanity: “or was an insensible, hardened creature, and did not expect to die for this crime” (271).

Force- Wilson says that Mr. Wilkinson kills her infants by stomping on their chests, and the force of the blow ends their lives. Also, he puts a pistol to
Wilson keeping her forcibly from being able to protect her babies

Guilt- Rachel Wall is the first person to express innocence of the crime for which she is being executed (unless we want to count Levi Ames’ assertion that he was let into a house, not the one who first broke in).  She confesses to other crimes, all some sort of theft, but still maintains that she is innocent of what she is being executed for.  She states, though, that God with ultimately judge the truth of the statement she is making.

Education-  Like many narratives, Rachel Wall’s starts out with her upbringing—how her parents treated her, what they did, and whether they attempted to make her a good honest person.  She says that they “gave me a good education, and instructed in me in the fundamental principles of the Christian religion” (283).  Wall blames her descent into crime on her husband, not her parents, but it appears that all of the narratives we’ve read have blamed it on someone.

Guilt- Alexander White’s sentencing introduces a very modern concept of guilt or innocence, one very caught up in circumstance and motive. At his trial, the “court seemed much affected with his plea and the rehearsal of his story”, and later “were so tender of his case, that they proceeded to examine sundry witnesses” (247). Although White is eventually found guilty and sentenced to death, it is still interesting to note that his story garnered the sympathy of the court.

Salvation- Alexander white is extremely concerned with his own salvation, long after he has accepted that he will die and that he deserves to. Even upon his execution, he expressed a belief that he will be saved by God.

Conscience- Levi Ames is troubled by his conscience, but it is still one dictated by religion—his main fear is that he will go to hell.  He tries to ease his fears first by drinking and then by reading the Bible, but neither work too effectively: “O! a wounded conscience who can bear?” (182). 

Warning- Levi Ames has all kinds of warnings before he dies—some about how to keep from becoming a criminal (the typical), but also warnings for ordinary people about how to keep from being robbed: what sort of locks to have, where to keep luggage, and how to watch over your children. 

Conscience- Buchanan says that at the ti me of the killing “I was instantly struck with the horror of conscience”, one of the earliest mentions we’ve seen of the conscience in these narratives (223). Interestingly, this mention of conscience has nothing to do with God and is also for a man who the murderers do not even know.

Warning- Buchanan, Ross, and Brooks conclude their account with the usual warning to youths of how to avoid becoming an executed criminal. They should “avoid bad company, excessive drinking, profane cursing and swearing, shameful debaucheries, disobedience to parents” (224). The three criminals, despite the fact that their narrative is very different from the ones that we have read up to this point, still conclude with the typical repentance, religious talk, and warning to the youth that we have come to expect.

Poverty-  In a state of self-induced poverty (having settled his estate upon his children), Jubeart mines some silver and makes money out it.  “His simplicity,  and being badly paid for his work, had reduced him so low that he was greatly in want of linen and several other necessities” (164). 

Experiment-  In these two pages, we have seen perhaps the three biggest reasons attributed to crime: the first being that is in the criminal’s nature or upbringing, the second that extenuating circumstances drove him or her to commit the crime, and perhaps the third being simple curiosity.  Jubeart says that when he counterfeited the money out of silver, rather than “any fraudulent intention to impose upon the public,” that “it was more for the sake of trying an experiment” (164).