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depredations, he was detected at Mr Derrimore’s, at Kentish Town, stealing some plate from that gentlemen’s dining room; when several other similar robberies coming against him in that neighbourhood, he was, in compassion of his youth, placed in the Philanthropic Asylum; but being now charged with Mr Princept’s robbery, he was taken, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, but was afterwards respited, and returned to that Institution.
    He is little, and well-looking; and has robbed to the amount of £3,000 during his five years’ career. This surprising boy has since broke out and escaped the Philanthropic, went to his old practices, was again tried at the Old Bailey, and is transported for life.’

    Piracy, Murder, And Rape: Part One
    In the year 1735, Captain De Tracy, a Frenchman of a distinguished family, had acquired considerable wealth by his extensive plantations in the vicinity of Samana, in the island of St Domingo. He had constantly resided on one of his own estates, and had married a Creole lady of remarkable beauty and accomplishments, and was blessed by her with an early family of healthy and interesting children. De Tracy, of an open-hearted and generous disposition, uniformly conducted himself towards his slaves and dependants with kindness and affability. The family of De Tracy consisted at that time of one daughter, verging on fifteen, and a second one year older, a fine grown boy of thirteen, another of eight years old, and a smiling infant at the mother’s breast. The elder daughters possessed all the personal charms, with all the gentleness of their mother; of the boys it need only be said, that they bade fair to inherit the noble-mindedness of their parents.

    De Tracy, with his amiable and fair family, had resided since his marriage entirely on his principal estate in the island of St Domingo; but in the summer of the year 1735, he determined to visit the Bahama Islands, of which Madame De Tracy was a native, and where she had now become possessed of considerable property by the bequest of her father, recently deceased. A residence of some months in the Bahamas being advised to the re-establishment of Madam De Tracy’s health, it was arranged that the whole family should accompany them.
    In the month of January preceding, a brig, apparently designed for a vessel of war, with a mixed crew of twenty men, and commanded by a Frenchman, was driven, in a severe gale, on the coast, and, having received extensive damage, had been compelled to remain on the island for repair and refitted. Her captain described himself as a naval commander, educated in the French marine, but compelled to resort to the pursuits of commerce to repair the destruction of his early pursuits and fortune. The numbers and appearance of his crew seemed to be at variance with this account, and the vessel itself bore strong resemblance, in its sitting and general equipment, to one used for the purpose of privateering depredation, rather than the peaceful occupations of trade. The account which La Force, the commander, gave of himself, however, ran, that he was on an outward-bound voyage from Marseilles to the gulph of Florida, with a cargo of Dutch and English manufactured goods, to trade with the Spaniards; and that the unusual number of his crew arose from his having shipped, as passengers, several Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians, who were proceeding to settle in the Spanish South-American dominions. The relation accounted tolerably well for the doubtful appearance of his men, and the presence of a number of bales and packages of every variety of sizes, marks, and denominations. The guns of his vessel, with the ammunition, and a quantity of small arms, had, in fact, been thrown overboard as a matter of necessity during the gale, as well to lighten and ease the ship, as to remove all violent cause of suspicion, from the shore on which they were inevitably driving. In few words, to relieve the suspense of the reader, the brig