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Show 1 j Historic Blackguards 1 1 I By ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE J Copyright, by the Press Publishing Co. (The New York World). William Cunningham, Jailer of New York "Revolution Martyrs" nOLK O f r-- I4 fashion, do fi c o m p lain V right griev-ously griev-ously that the p- tf groanings and la-mentable la-mentable cries of trTTK the rebel prisoners j. (both here In New fffK- jffk York and in the jtS .Hi ; 8 prison ship on the CAPT. WILLIAM Breucklen shore) CUNNINGHAM aisturb their slumbers. And they pray that Master Cunningham, our provost marshal, will devise some means to keep the poor wretches quiet 4 nights." So runs an old letter written in New York during the darkest days of the American Revolution. The British Brit-ish had captured New York and Philadelphia. Phila-delphia. To both cities but chiefly to New York they brought thousands of patriot soldiers, captured In battle, and many non-combatants who had risked freedom and life to help the cause of liberty by money, gifts or by patriotic speeches. These unlucky captives were not treated like prisoners of war. They were housed and fed or, rather, Btarved in a way the law nowadays would not permit for cattle or swine. And the man In charge of them was a blackguard whose own countrymen loathed him, William Cunningham. Cunningham was the son of a British Brit-ish dragoon and waB born In the regimental barracks at Dublin. In 1774 he came to America and settled In New York, where he made a living for some time by "breaking" colts and by giving riding lessons. When the Revolution Revo-lution broke out, in 1775, he became Involved in a political row with some local patriots and was forced to flee to Boston, there to seek the protection of the British army. His noisy loyalty to King George III. got him Into trouble there and attracted at-tracted the notice of Thomas Gage, the English general. Gage appointed him provost marshal to the royal army. His chance for "revenge" had come. Cunningham was sent back to New York and was put In charge of the Revolutionary prisoners there and In Philadelphia. There were several lm- Charles II, the Merry Monarch "Here lies our sovereign lord, the King, Whose word no man relies on; He never says a foolish thing, Nor ever does a wise one." THIS scurril- t o u s verse was found , jIm scrawled one f- i Jj morale, on the - if ? ) bedroom door of J vSlf L his majesty, King -Charles II. of Eng- J- land. The king j ; . j' read the rhyme, ftiz?' smiled carelessly I , 11 1 1 J at the horrified CHARLES II. courtiers and passed on. Another man might have taken offense at being thus lampooned. But Charles had two remarkable traits that saved him much bother: He never carried a grudge and he never felt gratitude. When Charles II. was a mere boy his father, Charles I., had been overthrown over-thrown and beheaded by England's" "Parliamentary Party." T'.nj young fellow had not stayed in England to fight to the death in hM father's cause. Instead he had slipped over to Holland, Hol-land, where he was living in jolly security. But on hearing of the king's execution he promptly proclaimed himself "King Charles II." The proclamation proc-lamation did him little good. For the parliamentary party (with Oliver Cromwell at Its head) had for the time made England an impossible place for kings. Still, the Scotch, ever restless (and probably forgetting they had betrayed and sold his fugitive father to the English), offered to make Charles their king If he would give them certain cer-tain promises. These promises seemed to him disgraceful. Yet a promise was one thing that Charles was alway willing to give, knowing he could readily break his word later. He went to Scotland and in lfi.'il was crowned. Then he invaded England Cromwell quickly rc-jted him out of both England and Scotland and sent him scuttling to France for safety. But when Cromwell died, England grew tired of Puritanism and the parliament's rule and the people gladly welcomed Charles home as their king It was the beginning of modern England, and of a reign whose profligacy and scandals set the whole world agog. Charles embarked at promptu prisons In New York where the patriot captives were lodged. One was the city hall, another the famous old "Sugar House," another, King's (now Columbia) college; another the "new gaol" (the old hall of records in City Hall park), torn down only a few years ago), and worst of all the "prison ship 'Jersey,' " moored on tue Brooklyn shore. Churches were also turned into jails. In the prison ship the captives were herded by hundreds in dark, foul pens, destitute of pure air and sunlight They were given such food as a dogj might well scorn, and In such tiny quantities as would not suffice to keep a dog alive. The water they drank was filthy. No medical care or chance for cleanliness or exercise was granted them. Prison fever and other maladies scourged their ranks. They died like so many flies. To such fearful condition were they reduced that the lowest city outcasts were touched by pity and secretly sent them food. The fate of the captives In the new gaol, or hall of records, was little better. bet-ter. Here is an extract from Pln-tard's Pln-tard's account of their sufferings: "So closely were they packed together to-gether that when they lay down at night to rest, on the hard oak planks, and they wished to turn, it was all together, by word of command 'right' 'left' being bo wedged as to form almost a solid mass of human bodies." All war Is cruel. But such torture as this was inexcusable. And (though the British government might perhaps have bettered matters had they chosen chos-en to) the lion's share of the blame was Cunningham's. Cunningham went back to England after the war and took to riotous living. liv-ing. Being short of money to squander squan-der on dissipation, he forged a draft. For this crime he was tried, condemned, con-demned, and, on August 10, 1791, was hanged. He Is said to have been responsible for the shameful death of nearly 2,500 American patriots. Nor could mere hatred for .the colonists account for this wholesale slaughter, since he dishonestly dis-honestly sold for his own profit the provisions allotted to them. once on a life of pleasure. He turned a deaf ear to the pleas of those who had beggared themselves In behalf of his father and himself. He said he had no money to spend on sucn people. peo-ple. But he squandered fortunes at the gambling table and In heaping wealth and rank upon such women as he chanced to fancy. , He neglected and Ill-treated his homely little wife, broke state pledges at will, lavished money on low favorites favor-ites and mismanaged the nation. Rochester In calling him "a merry monarch, scandalous and poor," had but spoken the truth. Charles's chief advisers were five noblemen (Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Bucking-ham, Arlington and Lauderdale), who aided him to defy parliament and cheat the people. The first letters of these men's names In order spelled "Cabal," and the oddly coined word has ever since been used to describe any -conspiracy against the state. To get money for his own purposes Charles sold two English towns to France. He also accepted a large yearly sum of money from the French king (Lculs XIV.) to act In that monarch's mon-arch's interests. All this did not add to his popularity with his own people, who hated France. In 1G63 war broke Out between England and Holland. A Dutch fleet Invaded England, sailed up the Med-way Med-way river as far as Chatham, destroying destroy-ing everything in Its path. London In 1GG5 was swept by the plague and in 1G66 by fire. Plots, religious disturbances, disturb-ances, national discontent -all sorts of misfortunes piled up. Through It all the Merry Monarch pursued his calm, blackguardly way; seriously disturbed by nothing; enriching vice and allowing virtue to starve; his life and his court the scandal of the civilized civ-ilized world. He would probably have been assassinated were it not that his brother James duke of York, the most unpopular man In England would have succeeded him as king. For Charles nnd the queen had no children. In February, 1686, Charles II. died. To the last he was the Merry Monarch, Mon-arch, whimsically begging his cour-I cour-I tiers' pardon "for being such a long time In dying." Courage, wit and jolly nature were his only good qualities. qual-ities. There were perhaps still fewer bad ones he did not possess. |