The unfortunate object of his love

This evening, as Miss Reay was coming out of Covent-garden theatre, in order to take her coach, accompanied by two friends, a gentleman and a lady, between whom she walked in the Piazza, a man stepped up to her without the smallest previous menace, or address, put a pistol to her head, and shot her instantly dead. He then fired another at himself, which, however, did not prove equally effectual.

The ball grazed upon the upper part of the head, but did not penetrate sufficiently to produce any fatal effect; he fell, however; and so firmly was he bent upon the entire completion of the destruction he had meditated, that he was found beating his head with the utmost violence with the butt end of the pistol, by Mr. Mahon, apothecary, of Covent-garden, who wrenched the pistol from his hand. He was carried to the Shakespeare, where his wound was dressed.

In his pockets were found two letters; one a copy of a letter which he had written to Miss Reay, and the other to his brother-in-law, in Bow-street. The first of these epistles is replete with warm expressions of affection to the unfortunate object of his love, and an earnest recommendation of his passion. The other contains a pathetic relation of the melancholy resolution he had taken, and a confession of the cause that produced it. . He said, he could not live without Miss Reay; and since he had found, by repeated application, that he was shut out from every hope of possessing her, he had conceived this design as the only refuge from a misery which he could not support. He heartily wished his brother that felicity which fate had denied him, and requested that the few debts he owed might be discharged from the disposal of his effects.

When he had so far recovered his faculties as to be capable of speech, he enquired with great anxiety concerning Miss Reay; being told she was dead, he desired her poor remains might not be exposed to the observation of the curious multitude. About five o'clock in the morning Sir John Fielding came to the Shakespeare, and not finding his wounds of a dangerous nature, ordered him to be conveyed to Tothill-fields Bridewell.

This ill-fated criminal was a clergyman; about four years ago he was an officer in the army; but not meeting with success in the military profession, by the advice of his friends he soon after quitted it, and assumed the gown.

The body of the unhappy lady was carried into the Shakespeare tavern for the inspection of the coroner.

When the news of this misfortune was carried to a certain nobleman, the Earl of S____ch, it was received by him with the utmost concern; he wept exceedingly, and lamented with every other token of grief the interruption of a connexion which had lasted for 17 years with happiness to both.

She had had nine children by the noble Lord, five of whom are now living, and have been instructed by her with motherly attention.

This morning, about nine o'clock, the Reverend Mr. James Hackman was brought from Newgate to the bar of the Sessions-house in the Old Bailey, where he was arraigned for firing a pistol at Miss Reay, as she was coming out of Covent-garden playhouse, on Wednesday the 7th inst, which killed her on the spot; to which indictment he pleaded Not Guilty; when the several witnesses were examined, they gave the fame evidence as they had given before Sir John Fielding, which being gone through with, Judge Blackstone, who tried him, called on Mr. Hackman to make his defence, or, if he chose it, he might leave it to his counsel.

After Mr. Hackman had wiped a flood of tears from his eyes, he pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket, and read, the substance of which was nearly to this purport: "My Lord, I now stand arraigned for a heinous crime, and if found guilty, must suffer the death that the laws of my country have allotted in such cases; and as I have taken away the life of one whose life was dearer to me than my own, I therefore shall meet my unhappy fate with fortitude and resignation, and acknowledge the justness of my sentence."

The Judge afterwards summed up the evidence, and gave his charge to the Jury in an excellent speech, in which he said, that the letter found in the prisoner's pocket, directed to his brother-in-law, was sufficient to conclude he was not insane. The Jury, without going out of court, found him guilty, when the Deputy-recorder passed sentence on him, and he was executed the Monday following.