In the Times of February 11th, 1819, mention is made of a gang of
nearly thirty persons, male and female, and all presenting the
most shocking appearance of both want and depravity, who were
brought to the Marlborough Street Office. Among these wretched
beings was a woman named Hewitt, said to be the wife of one
Captain Hewitt, a leader of the ton, who, after ruining himself
and family at the gambling table, ran away from them, and was not
since heard of. His wife being left to herself, and having
probably been tainted by his evil example, by an easy gradation
became first embarrassed, then a prostitute, then a thief, and on
the occasion above mentioned exhibited one of the most
distressing spectacles of vice and misery that could be
conceived.
TRURTELL THE MURDERER.
This man, it is well known, was executed for the murder of Weare.
Thurtell was evidently no common man. His spoken defence, as
reported, is one of the finest specimens of impassioned
eloquence--perfectly Demosthenic. His indignation at the reports
circulated in prejudice of his case was overwhelming. Nothing
can be finer than the turn of the following sentence:--'I have
been represented by the Press--WHICH CARRIES ITS BENEFITS OR
CURSES ON RAPID WINGS from one extremity of the kingdom to the
other--as a man more depraved, more gratuitously and habitually
profligate and cruel, than has ever appeared in modern times.
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