Explore "Red O'Shaughnessy" by J.H.M. Abbott on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
EXACTLY three weeks after the rescue of Mr. Aylmer from his diabolical tormenters by Red O'Shaughnessy, as detailed in the preceding chapter of this veracious biography of the young Irishman, Mr. James Saxton, the only survivor of the bushranging firm of Saxton and Burrows, became 'the late' Mr. James Saxton, accomplishing his demise in a fashion not uncommon during those years in His Majesty's Territory of New South Wales.
This fortunate proceeding took place one sunny morning outside Newcastle Gaol, in the presence of practically all the white inhabitants of the Coal River Settlement and a few of the black, whilst the roar of the surf on the rocky beach hard by supplied solemnly appropriate music befitting the occasion. In the felon colloquialism of the period, he 'danced upon nothing,' 'had his neck stretched,' 'fought a round with Jack Ketch'--picturesque idioms whose meaning was expressed on the back of the warrant signed 'L. Macquarie,' received by the schooner from Sydney the day before, by the single word, 'Executed.'