mountain

Posted on June 10, 2007 by aaust6yp

1.theatrics– “we were on the spot at the hour agreed upon, and disguised ourselves for the adventure. hyde and wilson were dressed in white frocks and boots, with their faces painted yellow to resemble Molattoes. Mountain was dressed in the same manner, with the addition of a large tail wig, white gloves and a black mask over his face. This creates a setting. we have discussed several times how this era of narratives produced a sort of theatrical setting-a form of entertainment for its readers. this narrative captures this idea at tis heart. mountain’s acquaintance with a traveling guild set the stage for his crime which eventually became, through this text, a readable form of entertainment for many.

2. villain– Mountain appears to be a villain of a modern day crime film; the ultimate robber as dramatized by an actor. in the darkness of the night, one unlucky bypasser hears, ” you know my profession, deliver or death.” this becomes these thieves’ catchphrase. not only this, but the fact that they have a broker portrays a shift in power as well as adding one more character to the drama. at the time of the robbery, the villian, or mountain, has the most power, controlling whomever is unfortunate to be robbed. however, this power is then shifted to the broker who ultimately determines the value of the villains’ work. “he then threw me his purse, which containex about 10 guineas, and a sliver watch, which was valued by our broker at 6.1.” this whole scene seems to common to a modern American, very entertaining, movie, although it took place in 1790.

3. gentlemen-Mountain’s narrative captures the essence of the high-class glamorous criminal- something very different from the narratives we began reading but more similar to crimes we hear about very often today. through his robbing other “virtuous” gentlemen, Mountain produced a life of luxury for himself. “we now concluded to remain in london for a while, as gentlemen of pleasure. the repeated robberies had furnished us with cash in abundance…we went from york to newmarket to attend the famous races which took place about the first of June…”

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mountain

Posted on June 10, 2007 by chard3ah

Money- Joseph Mountain is a criminal for pure monetary gain—he robs people because he likes money, and likes money because he likes to live well: “the repeated robberies had furnished us with cash in abundance, and we indulged in every species of debauchery” (291).  His narrative is filled with details of how much money he robbed from people or how much items were worth if they didn’t have any cash.  When Mountain joins a highway gang, one member is kicked out because he only produces sixteen guineas: profit becomes the mark of a good criminal.  When describing his wife, all Mountain tells us is that she was white and eighteen before telling us how much money she had, and that he spent it all.

 

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. 

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My Very Late Post on Patience Boston

Posted on June 10, 2007 by mtt3e

Convictions– Although “convictions” usually suggests an absolute and unwavering value, for Patience it seems to mean a value she wishes she were convinced of.  She talks about abandoning her “convictions” about God and returning to drinking and sin.  Like Esther Rogers, she becomes convinced she is saved, but unlike Esther Rogers, she changes her mind many times.  These wavering convictions seem like more normal human behavior than Rogers’ unflinching conviction that she is saved and special in the eyes of God. 

 

 

Fixation– Patience is obsessed with truth and lying.  She seems to think telling a lie about killing her child is worse than killing her child, saying of her lie  “This I  thought was a greater sin than if I had indeed murdered my child.”  She also says “Having solemnly sworn that I would be the death of the child, I was so far from repenting of it, that I thought I was obliged to fulfill it.”  Instead of stopping the drunken lies about killing her child, she wants people to take those lies seriously.  It’s a strange twist on the commonly held value of keeping one’s word.

 

Wicked– A lot of the process of redemption in these narratives is acknowledging that one led a wicked life and repenting.  Wicked seems to pertain more to the overall lifestyles of the criminals than to the crimes themselves.  Patience describes her first reaction upon being put in jail:  “I was in a distressed condition, not so much for my wicked heart or wicked life; for I saw little of either:  as for fear of death and Hell, not being fit to go into another world.”  This is before her murder of her child; the wickedness she talks about is her drinking, lying, and not praying.  The puritans seemed to endorse a sorrow for offending God rather than a fear of God because one should not be concerned for one’s own state, even though they stressed the idea of hell and made people fear for their eternal lives.

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Brooks, buchanan, ross

Posted on June 6, 2007 by bford

conspire – In this account of murder there is a large amount of build up to actual killing of Mr. Spooner.   But unlike many of the other narrative it does not serve to provide a backstory of criminal’s histpry but rather it contextualizes the event by detailing the back and forth discussions about the eventual murder.  Mrs. Spooner, a boy named Parker and Mr. Ross all talk of killing Mr. Spooner and eventually all involved begin to planthe best route for murder.

drinking – The intoxicant is constantly referenced as making part of an evil character, it is a common act in the life of sin and lays the groundwork for future misdeeds.  The criminals in this narrative recall several days of drinking liquor which all helped to iron out the details of the murder.  The victim himself was said to go to the tavern on multiple instances as well as drinking with his murderers.  Abuse of alcohol is the backdrop of many of the criminal narratives, helping to show the progression of the criminal mind.

death – The criminal narratives we had read all end with the execution of the condemned persons except for this one.  In this narrative we are left with the new that they perpetrators had been sentenced to death after drinking and boisting of having Mr. Spooner’s watch.  We are not given any account of repentance while incarcerated nor are we privy the last dying words of these murderers.  instead we all left with the thought of the impending and inevitable doom of the sentence.

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bloody register

Posted on June 6, 2007 by drummerboy

conscience – the awareness of your actions and the consequences that should morally follow; Williams chose to suffer the punishment due to his crime even though the evidence was not strong enough to convict.

list – throughout the entire register there is a recollection of the crimes that each individual has committed. These lists appear to be given as a way to boost up notoriety and fame.

love of money – putting the value of money over the value of anything else that may matter to a person. For example the convict who is a pirate is guilty of murdering a man due to his love of money. In effect the pirate’s desire to marry his girlfriend was overrun by the love of money and in a fit of rage he murdered a man, because he felt that he could not control his mischeivous nature.

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bloody register

Posted on June 6, 2007 by bford

friend – This term is used in the beginning of this serialized narrative to describe God.  This is included in a letter that was written to John Sullivan which urged to him to begin to build a relationship with the Almighty while incarcerated  as means for eternal salvation. His death sentence meant that all of his pursuits at this time must be ones that are guided towards salvation and no human possesses this power; the grace of God must be bestowed by the Almighty, man claiming to due so is blasphemous.  Although the role of ministers dues play a large role in the leading of a criminal to God it is only the criminals themselves that can foster a true relationship with God, thus enabling them to become examples of God’s mercy.

escape- In The Bloody Register the notion of escaping punishment by either running away becomes  commonplace.  The criminal stories relayed give much attention to the criminals ability to wiggle out of trouble somehow.  Their were frequent escapes from jail and numerous desertions of agreed upon lengths of serviceupon a ship or for military endeavors.  The criminals out the time much like todays seem to be willing to do anything and everything within their power to avoid what they are well aware will be the fate of their continued defiances of the law.

women- In relation of the pirate Alexander white’s tale we are exposed to sudden and dastardly change of his actions.  He proclaims his past to be one in which he served his full terms of apprenticeship and occupattions.  But after becoming a well   schooled mariner he set to the seas commanding his own ship and all was well and good until hedecided to marry.  This woman marks the change from a benevolent man to a man who heinously took the life of his brethren.  “…Love began to burn my poor and wounded heart; and being resolved to go through any difficulty that might impede us, I intended to take the life of my fellow-creature…” White also attributes his downfall to the fact that he had married a girl above his class which surely motivated his violent anamoly inlife.

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Ames

Posted on June 6, 2007 by bford

conscience – Ames seems to have a fairly distorted view of his own deeds at the outset of the narrative because he credits himself with having a conscience that keeps him from thieving during certain stages of his life. He is a habitual offender in every sense of the words. Although, he does seem to have a mind that occasionally betrays his misdeeds after having done them; he even says that his conscience made him return items he stole. He also expresses the his fear of his eternal sentence by saying that his conscience made him believe that his life was surely one that would lead him to the gates of Hell.

disobedience – Ames details the beginnings of his criminality by discussing his family life where he claims that his mother did as best she could to counsel him and encourage him to steer away from his path of disregard for her advice. He claims that he made her to believe that he would straighten up but he quickly fled from her watch in order to continue his acts of disobedience to any and everyone. “…I am now made to feel the anger of God against me, for my disobedience to my parent. ”

habitual – Ames resembles the majority of the criminal minds we learned about because of the fact that his temptations toward lustful desires seems to win out against all else. This leads to a life fraught with repitious acts of illwill towards others, utterly disregarding all sense of living with a moral code of conduct. Even while being fully aware of their actions these criminals often times seem incapable of quelling their urges to sin. Becoming trapped in the only type of lifestyle to which they are accustomed.

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rosencrantz

Posted on June 6, 2007 by bford

money – Like most of the criminal narratives we have read Rosencrantz begins by talking briefly of his family life and then adds that he went through significant losses and misfortunes after taking a family of his own. These misfortunes led to the desire of riches to which he attributes his “downfal”. He claims that he was unable to falll back on what he calls his “rock” and turned away from his former pious self and fell victim to their quest for money. He even goes so far as to say that money is “…the root of all evil.”

trial – The actual proceedings of the court has not yet entered much into our considerations of the course , aside from the all powerful death sentences that are sure to come, but here we are privy to a few new elements of the judicial system. Within this narrative we are first introduced to the concept of hiring representation to argue your case. We are also shown the criminal mind as unwilling to admit to their crimes as a means of avoiding the gallows, due to this craftiness and his team of legal minds rosencrantz was able to be acquitted of his crime before ultimately falling victim to the same lusts for money that originally endangered his life.

accomplice – Unlike a few of the narratives prior, i.e. Fly, Rosencrantz does not seem to have any qualms with ratting out the people with which he did his dirt. Although during the course of the narrative we are only given fragments of his associates at the conclusion we are given a comprehensive list that points the finger every which way as his last act. Rosencrantz does not employ the same sense of criminal pride that others have shown by openly stating in their final words that they would not betray those they used to be tied to in their criminal endeavors.

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herman rosencrantz

Posted on June 6, 2007 by aaust6yp

1. community-here i had a fair opportunity of being of service to the community; by discovering these pests of civil government, andbringing them to justice…” the community is seen in almost a reverse role here. in most past cases, it was the community coming to the aid of the convicted by means of ministers and townspeople praying for the lost soul of the prisoner. however, in this case, although rosencrantz neglected it, he acknowledges that he had an opportunity to civically serve the community.

2. venturesome-but instead of these difficulties i had gone through, being a warning to me, they rather, as will appear in the end, made me more venturesome.” rosencrantz, like the other thieves we have discussed, had an addiction to the criminal acts in which they were partaking. here, rosencrantz blatantly acknowledges the reason behond his continuous behavior; it was the thrill. it was not that he was addicted to the act of forging money, it was that he was addicted to the excitement that he felt everytime he was successful.

3. industrious– “i industriously set myself to work and might have lived comfortably, if it had not been for what follows.” Rosencrantz once again reverts back to money as the primary cause of this criminal acts. by working, he would earn a wage and perhaps be deterred from continuously counterfieting money. however, it seems that his reputation preceded him.

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Jubeart

Posted on June 6, 2007 by bford

Parents  – The notion of minded your parents advice is continually used to help contextualize the criminal as well as there wicked deeds. But in this narrative we are only told of the fact that Jubeart’s parents were reputable and tried as best they could to educate their son John.  This narrative does not speak of any disobedience on Jubeart’s part but instead focuses on the deep emotional ties that he had to them.  His mother’s death sparked an unsettling feeling that led to the continually relocation jubeart went through in the rest of his life.  This destabilizing factor is the spark that led to his destructive path.

curiosity – Jubeart claims that his first attempt to counterfeit money was not in the spirit of criminality for which he would directly benefit but rather an experiment.  This shows the nature of man being drawn to the notion of easy money.  This desire to take property/money without having to work tirelessly until it falls in your lap becomes a common theme of crime narratives.   This was Jubeart’s way of testing the boundaries of societal regulations, a temptation that led to his capture and subsequent death.

peace – The notion of resting in peace is common throughout our culture and in the case of persons sentenced to death achieving this peace is all that can be attained while still on this earth.  Therefore the entire confinement period until the execution was carried out was seen as a time for people to repent and come to terms both with their lives and their internally suspected fate.  Going to the gallows with a mind in a state of unrest is the worst possible punishment.

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