Chapter 1

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AN AUTHENTIC HISTORY

OF THE

CATO-STREET CONSPIRACY;

WITH THE

TRIALS

AT LARGE
_OF THE CONSPIRATORS_,

FOR

High Treason and Murder;

A DESCRIPTION OF THEIR

WEAPONS AND COMBUSTIBLE MACHINES,

AND

EVERY PARTICULAR CONNECTED WITH THE RISE, PROGRESS,
DISCOVERY, AND TERMINATION OF THE HORRID PLOT.

_With Portraits of all the Conspirators, taken during their Trials, by
Permission, and other Engravings._

BY GEORGE THEODORE WILKINSON, ESQ.
EDITOR OF THE NEW NEWGATE CALENDAR IMPROVED.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR THOMAS KELLY, 17, PATERNOSTER-ROW,
_And sold by all Booksellers in the United Kingdom_.

PREFACE.

To those, who are accustomed to look with an observant eye upon the
causes which lead to the fall and destruction of nations, the present
epoch offers materials for their most weighty consideration. They have
seen their country involved in one of the most destructive and arduous
contests ever recorded in its annals; they have seen the combined
force of the civilized world directed against its very existence; they
have witnessed its unexampled and glorious struggle; the loyalty and
patriotism of the people, and finally they have beheld it, rising at
the close of the contest, not subdued nor conquered, but towering with
renovated fame and lustre, and scattering to their loathsome dens the
dark demons of anarchy and ruin; they beheld the industrious artisan
returning to the shuttle--the laborious peasant to the plough--the
war-worn soldier was seated at his native hearth telling the story
of his battles, and the weather-beaten sailor, in the fulness of
his pride, was glorying in the wounds obtained in the defence of
his country. Peace gave to the nation its blessings, and round the
consecrated altars of our fathers knelt the children of this favoured
land in grateful prayer to that God, who had gone forth with them
in the day of battle; and who, in the wreck of surrounding kingdoms,
had vouchsafed to spread over this his protecting hand. But, in the
midst of these cheering prospects, the pestilential air of Atheism and
Infidelity was raging abroad like the blasting heat of the Simoon in
the desert, and throwing its sickening hue over the beautiful forms
of Religion and Virtue. Men, if such an exalted name can be given
them, who have openly thrown off all submission--all reverence--all
duty and love to their God; who, in the most blasphemous manner,
had reviled and denied their divine Redeemer, considered themselves
enfranchised from every moral and religious duty, from allegiance to
their earthly Sovereign and obedience to the laws of the country. In
the latter they beheld an irksome, and disagreeable restraint upon the
exercise of their degenerate passions, they tore themselves away from
the great human Society, despised its relations and its duties, and in
their midnight assemblies traitorously plotted the massacre of some
of the most exalted individuals of the country. In themselves they
united the dreadful characters of traitor, incendiary, and murderer.
Apostates from their religion, a spirit of horrible infidelity hardened
their hearts against all the tender feelings of humanity and virtue,
blinded their understandings to the dictates of truth, and rendered
them capable of the vilest crimes. But the eye of Providence watched
over their victims in the dark recesses where their hellish plots were
engendered; the Omnipresent Being marked their actions, and, at the
very moment of their expected accomplishment, dragged them forth to the
execration and vengeance of their injured country.

We live in times teeming with events of such uncommon magnitude,
that they seem to laugh to scorn all that we used to call important
in our former history. Let us not deceive ourselves. It is no petty
danger that threatens us; we are not anxious about some dubious point
of honour, nor are we contending for any secondary interest; but for
the very body and substance of our Island: not for the foliage, nor
even the branches, but for the trunk of the British Oak; that Oak so
different in all respects from the Tree of Liberty, intended to be
reared in the Country by certain pretended Patriots; that Oak beneath
which a grateful and a happy people had so long sheltered; and under
which the distressed of other countries have often found a refuge, when
driven to seek protection from the stormy blasts in their own less
happy land.

But to what are the temporal evils which now afflict the country to be
traced? Undoubtedly to apostacy in religion, and to the alarming growth
of infidelity and deism. Conspirators never found an asylum in the
habitations of Christians. The roll of turbulent revolters that History
has recorded and transmitted to us, as the assertors of the _Rights of
Men_, exhibits not one disciple of the meek and lowly Jesus. The true
believer in the doctrines of Christ feels himself, in the view of the
picture exhibited of the real Christian, grounded still stronger upon
the sure foundation of his faith upon the solid rock of this heavenly
dispensation. His soul catches new fire from the host of examples which
Christian History records: he shudders at the attempts which are made
proud and factious men to withdraw subjects from their allegiance, to
plunge them into the horrors of anarchy and civil war; he trembles with
astonishment and indignation, when men rejoice over the mangled remains
of Princes and of statesmen, and over the bloody corpses of Sovereigns
butchered by the hands of their own rebellious subjects. It is to the
progress of irreligion and the decay of morals, that the increase of
crime which now stigmatises the country, is to be attributed. It is to
the fatal neglect of their religious duties, and to the renunciation
of the blessings which Christianity offers them, that the miserable
men, whose dreadful acts are recorded in the following pages, have been
doomed to expiate their crimes on the scaffold. Religion does not leave
the interests of mankind within the contracted circle of his social
duties: its influence is extended in its protection to the utmost
possible degree. The Christian is not only obliged by his profession to
be a good man, but also to be a good citizen. He must be obedient to
the governing powers under which he is born and placed. No subtilty of
reasoning, nor any perversion of language or texts of Scripture will
countenance him in acts of rebellion against his lawful Sovereign.
Whenever, indeed, the standard of rebellion is unfortunately lifted up
against our Prince, it is the duty of the Christian to be active in his
allegiance, and to defend the Government to which he belongs, with all
possible energy.

It has, however, pleased an Almighty Providence to protect the Rulers
of this Country from the diabolical machinations of a set of lawless
wretches who sought to erect their own interest on murder, rapine,
and treason. Their names are transmitted to posterity, branded with
the most horrible crimes that disfigure human nature; their lives are
forfeited to the injured Laws of their Country: and, although they may
have attempted to console themselves with the vain belief that the
punishment for their deeds ends in this world, the dread reality has
now flashed upon them that there is also another world in which the
hardened and unrepentant sinner will meet his everlasting doom.

To the Atheist and the Infidel let the blood of these men speak with
the most solemn admonition. The time is fast approaching when the veil
of earthly things will be removed from their sight; when the cobweb
texture of their fancied theories will be torn asunder; and truth, with
its radiant light, burst upon them. Then let them pause, ere it be too
late: a dreadful example has been set before them of the effect of
irreligion and immorality. If the Atheist bear the holy name of father,
let him ponder well ere he resign his soul to everlasting perdition:
let him, as his babes cling around him, picture to himself the horrors
of that grave on which no morning breaks; and the excruciating horrors
of that death-bed which is not blessed with the hope of a future state.
Let him, in his dispassionate moments, visit the grave of the murderer
Thistlewood; let him there reflect upon the end of a life of infidelity
and irreligion; and then may that Almighty Being, who looks with a
benignant eye upon the weaknesses of his creatures, guard him from the
error of his ways, and teach him that real and substantial happiness on
earth is only to be found in RELIGION, VIRTUE, and MORALITY.

ADDRESS.

Among all the wild, wicked, and visionary schemes of which we have seen
the rise and fall, in this age of infidelity and disaffection, none
can be compared with that of which we are about to give the frightful
history, for extravagance in its origin, ferocity in its details, or
fiend-like triumph in its anticipated consummation. It is an event
which must for ever blot with disgrace the fair page of British
history, and it exhibits an awful and humiliating view of the state
of degradation to which the human mind may be brought, when once it
has cast off the fear of God, as inculcated in the divine precepts of
Christianity.

The present work professes to be an authentic and digested history
of the rise, progress, discovery, and termination of the atrocious
Cato-street Conspiracy; interspersed with so much of the personal
history of the individuals concerned, as may be necessary to illustrate
the principle which it is the main object of this work to inculcate,
namely, that to the abandonment of the duties of our holy religion
alone, is it to be attributed that we have men among us wicked enough
to conceive, and others so weak as to assist in, such preposterous and
atrocious schemes.

The first part contains the history of the plot; its detection; the
murder of Smithers, the peace-officer, in the execution of his duty;
particulars of the subsequent arrests; all the proceedings before the
Police Magistrates, and the Privy Council; and a full and accurate
description of the horrid weapons of destruction, and infernal
combustible machines, intended to be used by this detestable gang of
assassins.

The second part contains, at great length, the TRIALS of all the
executed conspirators, and the disposal of the other persons arrested,
with a variety of additional particulars relative to the plot. The
accounts of the execution, and decapitation, which are given with great
correctness and fidelity, will be found interesting and affecting, and
the APPENDIX contains sketches of the lives and conduct of the executed
criminals, together with a copious history of the proceedings relative
to that base and infamous individual GEORGE EDWARDS, the Spy and
instigator to Treason.

The work is confidently submitted to the public, in the earnest
hope that it may be found so serious a comment on the intentions
and ultimate views of sanguinary and designing men,--who traverse
the country, intruding themselves into all classes of society, with
specious plans of reform in their mouths, but, in reality, with
revolution, massacre, and plunder in their hearts,--that every honest
man, and every Christian, may be induced to shun their councils as he
would a pestilence, and to adopt for his motto and rule of conduct the
truly-British sentiment of our forefathers,

“FEAR GOD AND HONOUR THE KING.”

TO THE BINDER.

Place this quarter sheet, (a) containing ADDRESS, _&c._
immediately between the Title and the Preface, and insert the
PLATES in the following order, viz.:

Portrait of Thistlewood to face Title-page.

View of the Premises in Cato-Street 10

Portrait of Adams}
---- Hyden } 109
---- Monument 167
---- Tidd 325
---- Davidson 339
---- Ings }
---- Brunt } 378

The Execution 385

HISTORY

OF THE

Cato-Street Conspiracy,

_&c. &c._

On the morning of Thursday the 24th of February 1820, the metropolis
was thrown into the greatest consternation and alarm, by the
intelligence, that, in the course of the preceding evening, a most
atrocious plot to overturn the government of the country, had been
discovered, but which, by the prompt measures directed by the privy
council, who remained sitting the greatest part of night, had been
happily destroyed by the arrest and dispersion of the conspirators.
Before day-light the following proclamation was placarded in all the
leading places in and about London:--

LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY,

_Thursday, February 24, 1820_.

Whereas _Arthur Thistlewood_ stands charged with high treason,
and also with the wilful murder of Richard Smithers, a reward of
_One Thousand Pounds_ is hereby offered to any person or persons
who shall discover and apprehend, or cause to be discovered or
apprehended, the said Arthur Thistlewood, to be paid by the
lords commissioners of his majesty’s treasury; upon his being
apprehended and lodged in any of his Majesty’s gaols. And all
persons are hereby cautioned upon their allegiance not to receive
or harbour the said Arthur Thistlewood, as any person offending
herein will be thereby guilty of high treason.

SIDMOUTH.

The above-named Arthur Thistlewood is about forty-eight years of
age, five feet ten inches high, has a sallow complexion, long
visage, dark hair, (a little grey), dark hazel eyes and arched
eye-brows, a wide mouth and a good set of teeth, has a scar
under his right jaw, is slender made, and has the appearance of
a military man; was born in Lincolnshire, and apprenticed to an
apothecary at Newark; usually wears a blue long coat and blue
pantaloons, and has been a lieutenant in the militia.

The particular part of the plan of the traitorous conspirators, which
had been frustrated by their arrest the previous evening, was the
following; and its atrocity fully justified the alarming impression
which the first rumours had created.

It had been ascertained by the gang, that the greater part of his
majesty’s ministers were to dine together at the Earl of Harrowby’s,
and this was considered as a favourable opportunity for effecting
their entire extermination: Thistlewood was to have knocked at Lord
Harrowby’s door, with a letter, purporting to be a despatch, or with
a red box, such as is used in all the public offices, desiring it to
be delivered immediately to the cabinet ministers at dinner, without
delay. The servant, it was supposed, would immediately proceed with
the despatch, while Thistlewood, with another of the conspirators,
entered the hall as if to wait. They were immediately to open the
street-door, others were to come in with hand-grenades, which were to
be thrown into the house; and, in the confusion produced by them, all
the rest of the conspirators were to rush into the dining-room, where
the ministers were at dinner, and the work of assassination was to have
been instantly begun.

The sensations thus excited in the public mind, were by no means
allayed, when, in the course of the day, the details of the horrible
transaction began to develope themselves; every one felt a breathless
anxiety to probe to the bottom the secret workings of so detestable a
conspiracy, confidence between man and man became weakened, and that
social intercourse which constitutes the peculiar charm of society in
this happy country, seemed to be placed at the mercy of the midnight
assassin; the only hope left to the upright and the loyal portion of
the community was, that the discovery would finally terminate in the
beneficial result of purging society of some of the foulest members
that apparently ever moved in it.

For some time previous to the day on which the arrests took place, it
had been known to his Majesty’s government, that an attempt at the
assassination of his Majesty’s ministers was meditating, and that
Arthur Thistlewood was at the bottom of it. On Tuesday, the 22d of
February, certain advice was received, that the attempt was to be made
on Wednesday night, at the Earl of Harrowby’s, in Grosvenor-square. It
is supposed that the Earl of Harrowby’s was fixed upon, because, being
nearer the outlet from London than the residence of any other of the
cabinet ministers (Lord Westmoreland’s excepted, who lives in the same
square,) escape out of town, after the attempt had been made, would
have been more easy. Be this as it may, the conspirators, as soon as
they had ascertained that the cabinet dinner was to be held there, lost
no time in arranging their dreadful and diabolical project.

The place chosen to arrange finally their proceedings, to collect their
force, and to arm themselves, was near the Edgeware-road. John-street
is a short distance on the road, and intersected by another street,
called Cato-street.

Cato-street is rather an obscure street, and inhabited by persons in
an humble class of life; it runs from John-street into Queen-street,
and is parallel with Newnham-street. It is open at one end for the
admission of carriages, but is closed by posts at the other. The
premises occupied by the conspirators consisted of a three-stall
stable, with a loft above, in a very dilapidated condition. They
are the property of General Watson, and have been recently in the
possession of an old servant of his, who had turned cow-keeper. From
this man they had been engaged by some of the diabolical crew whose
machinations have been so happily discovered. The people in Cato-street
were utterly ignorant that the stable was let until Wednesday, when
several persons were seen to go in and out, and carefully to lock the
door after them. Some of these individuals carried sacks, and parcels
of various descriptions.

For two or three hours previous to the entrance of the stable, the
police-officers were on the spot, making their observations, but still
no suspicion was excited of the real object of their attack; and so
well was the plan of surprise laid, that, until the discharge of
fire-arms was heard, every thing remained perfectly quiet.

Thus accurately informed of the intentions of the conspirators,
warrants were issued to apprehend them while they were assembled. These
warrants were put into the hands of the police-officers, under the able
direction of Richard Birnie, Esq., the chief magistrate of Bow-street.
A detachment of the Coldstream Guards from Portman-street barracks,
were also ordered to accompany the police-officers. They proceeded to
the place of meeting in Cato-street, the police-officers proceeding
first. The conspirators had taken the precaution to place a sentinel
below.

The military consisted of the picket-guard of the 2d Coldstream
Regiment, which was stationed in Portman-street barracks. It consisted
of thirty men, including a sergeant and corporal, and commanded by
Captain Frederick Fitzclarence, who happened to be on duty at the
time. They were called out about a quarter to eight o’clock; each
man provided with twenty rounds of ball cartridge. The detachment
immediately proceeded in the direction of the Edgware-road. The men
were not acquainted with the business on which they were called out.
They supposed a fire had taken place, and that they had been sent for
to protect the property. On their arrival within about sixty yards
of the house in Cato-street, John-street, the place of the meeting,
they were halted for a few minutes, during which they were ordered by
Captain Fitzclarence to fix bayonets and shoulder arms. They were also
enjoined to observe the strictest silence. The detachment then marched
on, but had not proceeded more than a few yards when they heard the
noise of fire-arms. They were then ordered to advance in double quick
time, and instantly came in junction with the civil officers, who had
arrived previously on the ground, and were engaged with the party in
the house.

The only approach to this pandemonium was by a narrow ladder. Ruthven,
one of the principal Bow-street officers, led the way, and he was
followed by Ellis, Smithers, Surman, and others of the patrol. On the
door being opened, about twenty-seven or thirty men were seen within,
all armed in some way or other; and some of them engaged either in
charging fire-arms, or in girding themselves in belts similar to
those worn by the military, while others were in close and earnest
deliberation. There were tables about the room, on which lay a number
of cutlasses, bayonets, pistols, sword-belts, pistol-balls in great
quantities, ball-cartridges, _&c._

As the officers entered the room, the conspirators all started up, when
Ruthven, who had been furnished with a warrant from the magistrates,
exclaimed--“We are peace-officers! Lay down your arms!” In a moment
all was confusion. The notorious Arthur Thistlewood, opposed himself
to the officers, armed with a cut-and-thrust sword of unusual length.
Ruthven attempted to secure the door, and Ellis, who had followed him
into the room, advanced towards the man, and, presenting his pistol,
exclaimed--“Drop your sword, or I’ll fire instantly!” Thistlewood
brandished his sword with increased violence, when Smithers, the other
patrol, rushed forward to seize him; and on the instant the ruffian
stabbed him to the heart. Poor Smithers fell into the arms of his
brother-officer, Ellis, exclaiming--“Oh, God! I am----” and in the next
instant was a corpse.

Whilst this deed was doing, the lights were extinguished, and a
desperate struggle ensued, in which many of the officers were severely
wounded. Surman, one of the patrol, received a musket-ball on the
temple, but fortunately it only glanced along the side of his head,
tearing up the scalp in its way. The conspirators kept up an incessant
fire; whilst it was evident to the officers that many of them were
escaping by some back way. Mr. Birnie exposed himself every where,
and encouraged the officers to do their duty, whilst the balls were
whizzing round his head. At this moment Captain Fitzclarence (a young
officer well known for his gallantry and gentlemanly conduct) arrived
at the head of the detachment of the Coldstream Guards. They surrounded
the building, and Captain Fitzclarence, with Sergeant Legge and three
files of grenadiers entered the stable, where the first object that
presented itself to their sight, was one of the party running out of
the stable, apparently with intention to make his escape. He was seized
by one of the soldiers, when the ruffian instantly approached the
gallant captain, and presented a pistol at his breast; but, as he was
in the act of pulling the trigger, Sergeant Legge rushed forward, and,
whilst attempting to put aside the destructive weapon, received the
fire upon his arm. Fortunately for this brave man, the ball glanced
along his arm, tearing the sleeve of his jacket, from the wrist to the
elbow, and only slightly wounding him.

A black man was the next that was started from his place of
concealment; he was armed with a cutlass. He also aimed a blow at
Captain Fitzclarence, but was seized and secured by one of the
soldiers, James Basey, without any injury to the latter but a slight
cut on the finger. Then addressing himself to his friends in the house,
he exclaimed, “Fight on while you have a drop of blood in you--you may
as well die now as at another time.”

The detachment was then ordered to rush forward which they did, headed
by their captain, who darted into a stall, and seized by the collar a
fellow who was standing in it, and who grappled with him with one hand,
while he attempted to fire a pistol at him with the other, which did
not go off, the powder flashing in the pan. The miscreant still holding
firmly by the coat, the captain called out to his men to disengage
him. Two of them, James Revel and James Basey, immediately seized him,
and he surrendered himself, saying, “Do not kill me, and I’ll tell
you all.” This scene took place in the stable on the ground-floor.
It was a three-stalled stable, with a hay-loft over it, with which
it communicated by a ladder placed at one end. The detachment led by
Captain Fitzclarence then mounted the ladder and into the loft, now
filled with smoke, and only illuminated by the occasional flashes of
the fire-arms of the conspirators.

In the confusion naturally occasioned by the contest, Thistlewood
contrived to make his escape, almost unobserved, and the constables
had by this time retired for the purpose of surrounding the house, and
intercepting the flight of any others of the gang. On entering the
loft, the military came in contact with the dead body of the murdered
Smithers, (the constable), and a ruffian lying at his side all covered
with the blood of the dead man. The fellow rose, and did not appear to
have sustained any hurt or injury. Addressing himself to the soldiers,
he said, “I hope they will make a difference between the innocent and
the guilty.” Three others were next taken together; they were huddled
in a corner among some shavings. One of them jumping out said, “I
resign myself; there is no harm; I was brought in here innocent this
afternoon.”

These four were all of them found by the soldiers in the room, making,
with the man taken below in the stall, and the two outside, seven
prisoners. The constables had previously taken two, one of whom made
his escape down the street, but was pursued and re-taken. The moment he
was caught he fired a pistol, which he had concealed on his person: it
went off, but did no injury.

Muddock, one of the soldiers, when he entered the loft, in the midst
of darkness, ran against something which he at the moment conceived
to be a part of the building. He was, however, soon undeceived, by a
wretch snapping a pistol at him, which happily missed fire. Failing in
this detestable purpose, the miscreant threw himself on the ground,
exclaiming, “_Use me honourably_,” and the gallant soldier contented
himself with making him prisoner. When this was mentioned to Captain
Fitzclarence, he asked Muddock why he had not stuck his opponent; the
reply of the brave fellow was, “Why, your honour, I had him by the
heels, and I took his pistol from him, and I wanted no more.” The
pistol was loaded nearly to the muzzle.

It is impossible to give a minute detail of the desperate conflict
which took place, or the numerous instances of personal daring
manifested by the peace-officers and the military, thus brought into
sudden contact with a band of assassins in their obscure den, and in
utter darkness. Unfortunately, this darkness favoured the escape of
many of the wretches, and the dreadful skirmish ended in the capture of
only nine of them. The military, on searching the loft, found a great
quantity of pistols, blunderbusses, swords, and pikes, about sixteen
inches long, made to screw into a handle. They also found a great many
common files, sharpened to a point at the ends, and made to be used as
pikes: they also found a large quantity of ammunition, consisting of
ball-cartridges, powder-flasks, slugs wrapt up in paper, and a sack
full of hand-grenades. The military, accompanied by the constables,
then withdrew, and proceeded to Bow-street-office with their prisoners.

The soldiers were laden with the arms and ammunition which they found
in the stable; and having delivered their prisoners and booty, four of
them were examined briefly by the Magistrates, _viz._, James Revel,
James Basey, William Curtis, and John Muddock. They identified the
prisoners who were then standing at the bar, as the persons whom they
had taken in the stable. The fire-arms and ammunition were then shown
to them, which they also identified. Captain Fitzclarence, with his
detachment, then marched back to Portman-barracks, to which also they
conveyed the arms and ammunition taken, and deposited them in the
Captain’s room.

Shortly after the arrival of the cavalcade at the police-office, in
Bow-street, Mr. Birnie, the Magistrate, arrived, and having taken
his seat at the bench, the prisoners were placed at the bar in the
following order:--

James Ings, a butcher,
James Wilson, a tailor,
Richard Bradburn, a carpenter,
James Gilchrist, a shoemaker,
Charles Cooper, a bootmaker,
Richard Tidd, a bootmaker,
John Monument, a shoemaker,
John Shaw, a carpenter, and
William Davidson, a cabinet-maker.

Davidson is a man of colour, and a worthy coadjutor of Messrs. Watson,
Thistlewood, and Co., upon many occasions. At the meeting in Finsbury
market-place, a few months ago, this fellow was one of the principal
speakers, and advised the persons assembled to go armed to all public
meetings; and was also the bearer of the black flag, with a death’s
head, in the mob which attempted to excite a tumult in Covent-garden,
during the election. When Ellis, the officer, was putting the handcuffs
on him, he amused himself by vociferating passages from the popular air
of “Scots wha ha’e wi’ Wallace bled,” and frequently exclaiming, “B--st
and d--n the eyes of all those who would not die for liberty.”

Ings is a fierce ruffian, a short stout man, apparently between 30
and 40, but of most determined aspect. His hands were covered with
blood; and as he stood at the bar, manacled to one of his wretched
confederates, his large fiery eyes glared round upon the spectators
with an expression truly horrible. The rest had nothing extraordinary
in their appearance. They were for the most part men of short stature,
mean exterior, and unmarked physiognomy.

The office was crowded with soldiers and officers, bringing in
arms and ammunition of various kinds, which had been taken on the
premises; muskets, carabines, broad-swords, pistols, blunderbusses,
belts, and cartouch-boxes, ball cartridges, gunpowder, (found loose
in the pockets of the prisoners), haversacks, and a large bundle of
singularly-constructed stilettoes. These latter were about 18 inches
long, and triangular in form: two of the sides being concave, and the
other flat; the lower extremity having been flattened, and then wrung
round spirally, so as to make a firm grip, and ending in a screw, as if
to fit into the top of a staff. Several staves indeed were produced,
fitted at one end with a screwed socket; and no doubt they were
intended to receive this formidable weapon.