Within five days of his arrest, William Staley was condemned to
death. In vain he protested his innocence, pointed out the
improbability of his using such words in a public room, and
referred to his character as a loyal man and worthy citizen. He
was condemned and executed as a traitor.
The next victim was Coleman. He denied having hired assassins to
murder his majesty, or entertained desires for his death; but
honestly stated he had striven to advance his religion, not by
bloodshed, but by tolerance. Whilst lying in chains at Newgate
prison under sentence of death members of both Houses of
Parliament visited him, and offered him pardon if he confessed a
knowledge of the plot; but, in answer to all persuasions and
promises, he avowed his innocence; protesting which, he died at
Tyburn.
A little later, three Jesuits, named Ireland, Whitehead, and
Fenwick, and two attendants of the queen's chapel, named Grove
and Pickering, were executed on a charge of conspiracy to kill
the king. Oates and Bedlow swore these Jesuits had promised
Grove fifteen hundred pounds as price of the murder; Pickering
chose as his reward to have thirty thousand masses, at a shilling
a mass, said for him. Three times they had attempted this deed
with a pistol; but once the flint was loose, another time there
was no powder in the pan, and again the pistol was charged only
with bullets. These five men died denying their guilt to the
last.
Meanwhile, Dr.
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