From Discipline and Punish Class WIki
As time wore on, during the eighteenth century, crime began to be viewed as a secular act and in turn the penitence of those sentenced to death, in the crime narratives we have read, lessened. During the time of the Puritan controlled mindset, the apprehended criminal was much more likely to reveal the truth of the deeds committed than are criminals near the end of the century. This is the case because the tightly held reins of Puritan thought viewed crime as distinct condemnations of God. This religious and social pressuring led to a large proportion of criminals, who were sentenced to death, to come to terms with their crime and ready themselves for the eternal judgment. These criminals were led to believe by the clergy that came to visit them that their only hope lay in the merciful hands of lord and that they should abandon any earthly pursuits in order to foster a true relationship with God. As the narratives approach the end of the century this common story of penitence begins to fade from the forefront of the genre and instead begins to explore the lengths to which criminals will go to avoid their just fate.
The narrative of an internal struggle that the criminal fights inside their jail cell, while awaiting death, was replaced by narratives in which criminals relayed there every move to the reader, highlighting the external struggle they have undergone while simultaneously running from their past crimes and towards those to be committed in the future. The notion of a static text is exhibited in the earlier works that we have studied where as the later texts display a mobile element of crime in which it is advantageous for the criminal to be fleet. For example the narratives of Esther Rodgers, Patience Boston, and Rachel Wall all begin by stating that the following words were taken in encounters with the criminals from their jail cells, the rooms in which they have resigned themselves to death.
At the outset of “A Faithful Narrative of the Wicked Life and Remarkable Conversion of Patience Boston” we are introduced to the text with these words, “This astonishing Relation of a bloody Malefactor’s Conversion, was taken from her Mouth while she was in Prison…” (Page 119) This shows a drastic difference between the texts nearer to the end of the eighteenth century in that we are immediately made aware of the fact that the criminal has been apprehended. The element of surprise in the text is placated by this and instead of dwelling on the acts of the sinner we are given a text saturated with religious rhetoric where a lesson must be learned from the wicked life that Boston has lived.
Repentance becomes the focus of the work as can be seen in this quotation, “After I was shut up, I encouraged my self that I should have a long Space to repent, and have nothing else to do for most Part of a Year; and I set on Praying and Reading, Day and Night.” Boston shows her resignation to her impending death sentence as well as highlighting her steps toward reform when she states, “…I was resolved and fixed in my Mind, not to tell any more Lies; for I knew that if I went out of the World with a lie in my Mouth, my Punishment from the Hand of God would be greater; and I had little or no Hope of Escaping Punishment from the Hand of Man.” Here it becomes obvious that Boston believes that her escape from the crimes she committed comes in another world and she must dedicate herself to conversion rather than attempting to avoid punishment here on earth. Instead she uses her time left in her cell to bolster her faith and renounce her former misdeeds.
Much like Boston, “The Declaration and Confession of Esther Rodgers” is also said to have been taken whilst she was incarcerated. Thusly belaboring the need to repent becomes the focus on her narrative as well. Although she was at first very unreceptive to the repeated attempts to pacify her soul through penitence Rodgers would eventually undergo a conversion where she claims of her character, “…I am sure there is a great Change, I think a thorow Change wrought in my whole nature: I now see all things otherwise then I did before; Sin is become very odious, and Christ very precious to me…” This statement is indicative of the earlier texts because it shows that the criminal mind as not focused with the negative consequences in Earthly terms but in terms of divine justice; once apprehended she did not even entertain the thought of escape but rather sought to cleanse her soul.
It is also interesting to note the similarities of Boston, Rodgers and the earlier texts in regards to their focus on crimes of morality, like murder and bestiality. As the course progresses, the narratives begin to reflect a society that is based on the dollar; capitalism begins to shape the nature of crime as being related to property and habitual offenses become the norm. In the burgeoning colonies, the expansion of the criminal enterprise coincided with the general economic and populace expansion felt throughout the new land. The legitimate forms of growth in the agricultural sector led to economic opportunities through both legitimate and illegitimate enterprises; thusly we are confronted with a class of criminal who believe their crimes to be their profession.
“A Brief Account of the Life and Abominable thefts of the Notorious Isaac Frasier” shifts the focus away from penitence and towards the relation of his crimes; it explores the notion of a mobile criminality by detailing the litany of people and places from which he stole. It immediately tells the reader that Frasier, “…behaved with a good Deal of seeming Unconcernedness, ‘til a little while before he was turn’d off- it is generally though that he had a secret Hope of escaping his Punishment.” Here we are given the notion of the criminal being altogether more worried with the punishment of man than the vengeance of God; this fear of punishment is what creates the escape narrative.
Frasier begins his text by detailing his involvement in military endeavors, he then quickly moves into his first confinement. Frasier shows himself to be a criminal unwilling to submit to his fate. In detailing this first incarceration Frasier writes, “…after taking one prize, we returned to port, when I was committed to Newport gaol, to secure me for another cruize, but growing sickly, got the liberty of the gaoler’s house; from whence I soon made my escape…” Here it is plain to see that although he has no qualms with thieving, Frasier does not take well to receiving punishment. Instead he determines that it is in his best interest to run and avoid his deserved penalties. Frasier continues his theft and openly acknowledges the fact that he had developed a reputation as a thief when he says, “From Newtown, after my character was entirely lost, I removed to Goshen in Connecticut where I made but a short tarry.” This quotation illustrates the fact that a thief wears out their welcome and must constantly seek new targets of their criminal lifestyle. Accordingly Frasier begins to live his life in a continual fugitive state where the numbers of places he thieves from becomes an impressive list.
Characteristic of the texts in the second half of the century Frasier openly admits that his process of theft and escape can be traced back to a, “covetous disposition, being extremely desirous to be rich…” This desire to attain wealth could be found throughout all reaches of society and helps to account for the large number of vagabonds who sealed their nomadic fate by preferring to escape rather than pay their debt to society. The decision of Frasier to continue his life of flight can be seen when he says, “…I lay till the superior court, when I was sentenced to suffer a repetition of the punishment inflicted at New Haven, which punishment I received; was recommitted, but broke out & escaped the first of October. The next course I steered was for Boston…” Immediately after having received discipline Frasier decides that he would rather not face punishment again and finds the “next course” of his criminal endeavors.
Frasier would ultimately be sentenced to death not for repeated crimes of theft but instead because of his natural inclination to evade his just deserts. Frasier writes of this fateful escape attempt, “There was one Hoit, a prisoner for debt in gaol, with whom I was confin’d in the same room, a day or two, who proposed a scheme to me of burning out of gaol…I set fire to the side of the gaol, but the fire getting the mastery of me, I was in eminent danger of being consumed in the flames…” Although Hoit and Frasier would both have their lives spared from the inferno, Frasier would receive a capital punishment for his latest plot to elude his punishment. After this sentencing Frasier says of his current condition, “I still entertained some hopes of escaping, which prevented the solemn exhortations of the neighboring ministers from having their due influence upon my mind…” Here it the preference of escape over penitence is made manifest and perhaps rightfully so because Frasier was able to escape yet again prior to being recaptured and ultimately sent for eternal judgment. Much like the Frasier narrative, “The Life and Confession of Herman Rosencrantz” firmly points the blame for his desolate future to a fatal weakness of which he says, “I gave myself over to an uneasy and restless mind, with an undue desire of gaining riches; which disposition, pushed on by the enemy of my soul, has been a means of my downfall.” All persons in a capitalist society are concerned with gaining wealth and as the separation between the wealthier classes and poorer classes grew larger, the means of crime began to gain favor within the minds of those unwilling to work tirelessly for their American dream; instead criminals became enamored with the notion of summarily gaining wealth. This is most certainly the case for Rosencrantz whose narrative begins to show the level of sophistication within criminality by exposing a system in which multiple persons coordinate the production and passing of counterfeited money in a number of different places.
The organization of this crime becomes evident almost immediately as Frasier writes, “When at this place, D______d R______lds and J___h B_____gs came to me; and introduced themselves by some frivolous excuses to further acquaintance.” This “frivolous excuse” was the passing of counterfeited money, an excuse which intrigued Rosencrantz and most certainly led to “further acquaintance.” Rosencrantz illustrates this moment as a turning point in which a wicked course was to be followed form there on out because, “…the love of money, the root of all evil, blinded my eyes, so that I received at their hands two of these counterfeit bills.” Rosencrantz would be apprehended and acquitted of this first act of counterfeiting and writes of this experience that, “…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.” In this selection from Rosencrantz he echoes a thought of many criminals in that he believes the failure to appropriately punish criminal offenders can only lead to a hardening of their dispositions; openly acknowledging they should have strayed from their paths of wickedness but being unable to do so because of a lust for wealth their cyclical criminality was left to play out its own course. This course being one of crime, suspicion of crime and escape, as Rosencrantz illustrates in this quotation, “When they returned, they said they had heard a report, that I was one that was concerned with B____gs and M_____ C___tz in making counterfeit money. I was much terrified at this piece of news, and hastily moved myself and family to Egg-Harbour. In this move I verified the scripture, where it says, that the wicked flee, when no man pursues.” It is noteworthy that Rosencrantz ties this all back to religion but in doing so clearly delineates that he is a part of the wicked, as are the rest of the criminal who seek to further their earthly pursuits rather than change their lifestyle and prepare for the afterlife. It is also important to trace the relationship that Rosencrantz has formed in the criminal underworld because these relationships that he has forged in the bonds of crime are what allow him to move to Egg-Harbour, George Town, New-Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Carlisle, and Philadelphia, among others, all while remaining in criminal enterprises.
The bonds forged between criminals more openly show importance in both the narratives of Joseph Mountain and Thomas Mount. Within these works the notion of mobility becomes much more fluid, most notably because of the way in which the both of them move via ships and are able to conduct their crimes in whatever location because of their ties to criminal organizations. They exhibit an understanding of the world as being a single fluid space within which one can constantly reinvent themselves and assume new lives through relocation; the change of scene breathes new life into their criminal endeavors.
In “The Confession &c. of Thomas Mount” we are immediately given Mount’s narrative as contextualized by his involvement in gangs in the statement, “Some years ago there was in England a company of foot-pads and highway-men, connected together under certain laws and regulations, having a language (and books printed in that language) peculiar to themselves, called the Flash Company, a similar gang of plunderers has infested the United States ever since the late war…Of this company are two convicts Thomas Mount and James Williams.” This narrative gives the most detailed account of the organization of crime during the time period, an organization that emerged from a class of persons who have willfully dedicated their lives to crime; the life of a vagabond.
Mount’s nomadic lifestyle was aided by his early exposure to a life at sea as is evidenced when he says, “…and at the age of ten or eleven, quitted my parents, who often told me I should one day come to an evil end, and went to sea on board one Captain Hammond bound for Antigua; thence to Statia, Nevis, St. Kitts, Santacruz, Sanctakes, Savannah.” Even at this tender age Mount becomes exposed to a world where location is malleable and never static. He became well aware of the ability to move freely about the globe as one so chooses; a notion that would serve to elevate him within his profession.
The accounts of his theft begin when Mount was an enlisted member of the army. He also writes of how he would switch between armies after pilfering as he sought fit as shown in this selection of the text, “Determined to desert for fear of discovery, I and two of my companions confined the corporal that commanded the patrole, and so we escaped and went off to the American army, in the Jersies.” Here mount shows that he bears no allegiance but to his companions and his needs to thieve and escape for fear of punishment.
Similar to other narratives of the time Mount also expresses his condition as a result of the prior inability of the powers that be to punish him when he says, “ Under no restraint, and already hardened by the escapes I had made, I determined to double my diligence, if possible to arrive at the head of my profession…” In this quote we are also made aware of the fact that Mount surely considers himself to be a thief above all else and expresses a desire to achieve within his given field; a goal that could only be achieved by employing the help of others and going to great lengths to relocate and escape capture, in the ceaseless battle for freedom with which these thieves are embroiled.
In “Sketches of the Life of Joseph Mountain, A Negro”, Mountain becomes the first true vision of an international crime figure within the Americas and can be viewed a true success story within the criminal ranks. Born a slave, Mountain becomes exposed to the world at sea and freedom of movement that Mount also found early in life. Once in England he becomes acquainted with Francis Hyde and Thomas Wilson whose “principal business” was “highway robbery”. The three of them conducted themselves with an air of professionalism that became illuminated at the end of the eighteenth century. Mountain makes it clear that he has determined his most promising opportunities lie in theft when he says, “You know my profession; deliver or death,” during a robbery. Here he shows that this vagabond lifestyle has become his profession and most essential to this profession is the escape as seen here, “We determined to quit England, and see if the French gentlemen could bear “touching.”” The notion of mountain being an international figure comes to forefront here as he begins to roam Europe plundering as he desires and then moves on to America; his adventures would take him to places such as: Paris, Madrid, Gibralter, Amsterdam, Boston and New York among many others. Mountain shows that crime is as elusive as it is frequent and for this became a renowned figure throughout the western world as a symbol of a man given nothing in life, who believes he must, and does, take everything he can.
The popularly held beliefs concerning crime undergo a metamorphosis during the eighteenth century. Crime was no longer being viewed solely in religious terms; the public began to scrutinize the details of crime and attained an earthly focus unbeknownst prior. Criminality came under examination and the extensive underworld organizations came to the forefront; contextualizing crime not as a blatant sin but rather a determined means of providing for oneself and family. Given the limited communications between authority figures in different towns, states and countries these criminals were able to exploit these authoritative weaknesses by maintaining a free moving lifestyle that eluded punishment and begot opportunity; inextricably linking the escape narrative to criminality.
