THE TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION OF Col. DANIEL AXTELL, who guarded the High-Court of Injustice. Col. FRANCIS HACKER, who guarded His Sacred Majesty to the Scaffold. Cap. HEWLET, who was proved to be the man that Butchered His Majesty. Together with, Their several Pleas, and the Answers thereunto.  
At the Sessions-house in the Old-baily, on Monday the 15. of October, 1660.  
By the Judges appointed by the King for that purpose.  Malum persequitur peccatores. 
LONDON, Printed for H. Deacon, 1660.   

ON Monday the 16. day of October, the Court for Trial of all such as had conspired the King's Death, called to the Bar 

Col. Daniel Axtell.  
Col. Francis Hacker.  
Capt. Hewlet.    
After Hewlet had been Indicted and pleaded not Guilty, Col. Axtell was called to the Bar, and the Jury being Sworn, The King's Council stood up and charged the Prisoner to the following effect.  
My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury.  
The High Court of Injustice that was erected for the Trial of the King had all the Formalities of a Court to put in Execution that Bloody Act, they had their Precedent, their Council, their Chaplain, and their Guards. You have Tried some of the Court, one of their Council and their Chaplain, and this Gentleman that is now Prisoner at the Bar commanded that Black and Cruel Guard which attended them; The course of the Evidence is this, that during the time of that Bloody Trial, he commanded the Soldiers, he kept the Entrance into the Hall, and when Bradshaw taxed the King for trifling away Time and for Delays, & bid him Answer to the Charge Exhibited by the Commons of England; A Noble person in the Gallery there said it was a Lie, for above half the Commons of England disowned it; the Prisoner at the Bar commanded the Soldiers to Shoot and Kill Her; he did several times command the Soldiers to cry Justice, Justice, and the last day or that wicked Trial called by them the day of Judgement to cry Execution, Execution: and when they would not do as he bid them, he was the Man that had the Valour to beat them. Gentlemen, if we can prove any of these things it is Equal in point of Law as if he had been the very Man that had cut off the Kings Head.  
The Witnesses being called and Sworn, their Evidence was as followeth.  
That they saw Coll. Axtell commanding the Guards of Westminster-Hall Gate when the High Court of Justice sat; That he saw Col. Axtell command the Soldiers to Shoot at the LADY that (as he said) Disturbed the Court by the words aforesaid, and being asked who the Lady was, he answered that he could not tell, but it was reported to be the Lady Fairfaix.  
Col. Hunks said, that hearing of the Warrant that was directed to him & others from the High Court of Justice to see the King Executed, he came to Whitehall, and went to Cromwell's Chamber where Ireton and Harison lay a bed together, Cromwell was making himself ready; where Col. Hunks was Ordered to Sign a Sub-Warrant to the Executioner for cutting off the King's Head, which denying Col. Axtell stood up and said, Col. Hunks I am ashamed of you to think that now we are going into a safe Harbour you should strike Sail before we have cast Anchor:  
Another Witness said that Col. Axtell was very busy and Active in putting forward the Soldiers to cry Justice, Justice, the First day of the King's Trial in Westminster Hall.  
And that the last day of the King's trial, he animated them to cry Execution, Execution against the King: That he had a Soldier under his command which he brought before Mr: Cook to be a Witness against the King, and that he sent a File of Musqueteers to find out the Common-Hangman to execute the King; that he commanded his own Company to draw up in the Banqueting House that morning the King was beheaded; that he did acknowledge to another that he was the Man that managed the Execution of that Affair: several other things were sworn against him to evidence his forwardness in that horrid Murder, which made him appear a blacker person than it was thought he would.  
Col. Axtell in answer, desires to know by what Statute he was tried; to which he was told by a Statute of the 25. of Edward the Third.  
Then he pleaded to the following purpose, he hoped he could not be found guilty of that Statute, for compassing, contriving, councelling or imagining the Death of the King, that what he did was as a Soldier, and so must obey the Commands of his superior Officers; that the Power that did condemn the King were owned both at home and abroad, by Foreign States and Kingdoms; that the Members and Officers of State acted under them, that the Judges sat by their Authority, etc. Therefore I hope that doing things by their Order I am justified; as also I hope that what I have done as a Soldier, deriving my power from my General, will not make me guilty of that Fact: I did it not voluntarily but compulsively; and it is my Duty by the Law of War, to put in Execution the General's Commands: I was no Counsellor, no Contriver of that business, no Parliament Man, do Judge, none that sat, and none that signed; and therefore cannot be said to be guilty.  
Here he began to rip up the business of the War between the Parliament and the King, and that his Commission was from his General, grounded upon his, which was from the Lords and Commons.  
But being told that this Act was done when they had Rebelled against that Power which gave them their Commissions, when they had turned the greatest part of them out of Doors, and would not suffer them; that it was against the will of the Lords, who must be no longer Lords because they would not join in that Horrid Murder; here the Lord Aunesley stood up and brought to the Prisoners Memory the passages of that Transaction wherein he was a forward Instrument. And told him:  
That the King and the two Houses were upon Terms of Peace, that the whole Nation thirsted after it, and Terms of Peace were propounded and agreed upon between them; and then comes up the Army who were the Parliaments Servants till that time, and then offer Accusations against the Generality of the House, calling them Rotten Members, &c: And that he could not but remember how forward he was at the Bar of the House upon that business; then came in a thing never heard of before, a few Members of about Forty Five who were fit to serve the Armies turn in carrying on this Horrid Murder, and these and none but these are allowed to fit, by the Army, the rest being driven away and imprisoned; then an Act is set on foot for constituting A High Court of Justice calling themselves by the name of the Parliament of England whereas almost all the Cities of England, almost all the Knights of the Shires, and almost all the chief Burrougheses of England had none left to represent them, when this Act was set on Foot, and past as an Act of Parliament by a few and the most inconsiderable of the House Commons, which was so fare from being accounted an Authority that they had not the least colour for it.  
Col. Axtell further pleaded the obedience to his Officers by Virtue of his Commission and the Rules of War to be enough to plead his Excuse it being grounded upon a Commission given by the Lords and Commons to the General.  
To which was answered that they did not task him for any thing done by the Commission of the Lords and Commons, but for the subsequents which were committed after their Illegal Interruption, the King and the Parliament having laid all misunderstandings (before those Violent and Wicked proceed) a sleep and so not to be mentioned at that time; If he had been Indicted for Levying War against the King that Plea had been good, but being Indicted for an Actor upon the sad Tragedy of the King's Death which was done after the aforesaid oessation of the house of Lords and Commons, all that he could say upon that account was not to be taken notice of in the least, For the Lord Fairfax himself at that time had no Authority himself, for the two Houses of Parliament gave him his Commission.  
Then it was asked whether it was mentioned in his Commission that he should cry Justice, Justice, and whether if his Superior Officers had commanded him Treason that could justify him? the Gild being the greater for his obeying Man before God; there being a double obedience Active and Passive, and Col. Hunks for denying to Sign the Warrant for that wicked Act, suffered no inconveniency at all; in a word there was no other Authority but your own Law and Wills, and although both Houses had given you Commission to do that horrid Act, it could not justify you.  
Then Colonel Axtell pleaded the King's Declaration; in which he said was expressed, that the Parliament that were to except, was to be a Free Parliament, and such a one as was to be called by his own Writ.  
To which was answered, that the King owned this as his Parliament, that in his Declaration from Bredah, he said he would leave it to the Parliament, which could be understood of no other but this Parliament; as being those that he did intrust with the vindication of his Father's Death, and directing his Letter in these words, To the Speaker of the House of Commons Assembled in Parliament.  
After several other things, which he endeavoured to use for his vindication, which were easily answered, The Court asked if he had any thing more to say, to which he replied no: Whereupon the JURY without going forth immediately found him Guilty of the aforesaid TREASON of conspiring and compassing the DEATH of our said late SOVEREIGN:  
Col. Axtell being taken from the Bar, the Court called for Colonel Hacker, whose Indictment being read in the Form aforesaid; The King's Council stood up and charged him likewise of High Treason to the following effect.  
My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury:  
Francis Hacker the prisoner at the Bar stands indicted for contriving, councelling, and compassing the Death of his late Majesty of ever blessed Memory, the other things mentioned in the Indictment, as assembling, meeting, and propounding to Murder and Destroy him are laid but as Evidences to show his traitorous imagination thereof; he was one that was upon the Guard to the intent the King might be brought to that Mock-court of Injustice. He was so highly entrusted by those Miscreants as to have a Warrant directed to him to take into his custody the King's person, and to see Execution done. Accordingly he took the person of the King from col. Thomlinson, and was the Man in pursuance of the aforesaid Warrant that brought him to the fatal AXE; he gave a Warrant to that bloody Fellow that did the Act: he did it not ignorantly; for he knew the contents of that horrible Warrant; he was on the Scaffold at the time of the Execution; he had the Axe in his hand, and was the person that managed the whole business of the King's Murder:  
Witness being produced, it was sworn, that he confessed he signed a Warrant for the King Execution.  
That he did demand the person of the King from col. Thomlinson by Virtue of a Warrant directed to him from the High-court of Justice.  
That Cromwell (when he saw Hunks refused to sign a Warrant to the Executioner) writ something with his own hand, which was thought to be the King's Execution, which Hacker signed, and that the King came upon the Scaffold immediately after; and that colonel Hacker was upon the Scaffold.  
col. Hacker said he did believe he did sign such a Warrant; and being asked to whom he directed it, he answered he could not tell!  
So the Jury without going forth immediately found him 〈…〉 Guilty 〈…〉  
He being taken from the Bar, at lasst Capt. Hewlet was brought before the Court and after his Indictment read, was charged by the King's Council, viz.  
My Lords, etc.  
You have heard several of the King's Judges Indicted, their Council, their Chaplain and their Guard, who have been found Guilty by you. This prisoner at the Bar in the last place, was one of those that came upon the Scaffold, at the time of the King's Murder, with a Vizarrd upon his Face, and a Frock upon his Body, to do that bloody and unparallelled Act, and that he was the Man that gave the Fatal blow; We have Witness my Lord; to prove that he was there. Secondly, That he was so by his own confession; I doubt not likewise Gentlemen, but to prove that he had One hundred pound given, and was promised preferment likewise in Ireland for this horrid Murder. Gentlemen, he is Indicted for imagining the King Death; and if we can but prove any of those Circumstances, you are to find him Guilty, if we prove he came Disguised upon the Scaffold, it is enough 〈…〉 or if 〈…〉 prove any thing out of his own mouth, it will be a further Tre 〈…〉 y, and we doubt not but to pluck off his Vizard before we 〈…〉 ne.  
The substance of the Witnesses was to the following effect, 〈…〉 at he said he was to have one hundred pound, and prefer 〈…〉 in Ireland to cut off the King's Head, That a Sergeant in the 〈…〉 e Company with him heard his voice upon the Scaffold and 〈…〉 w his Breeches under his Frock, and that he had the Grayperriwig and Vizard, with a Graybeard, and that he was cal●ed Grandsire Graybeard all over the Regiment, after that day; That he was seen the day before and the day after upon the Guards, but was not to be heard of that day.  
Being asked where he was that day the King was Murdered, He answered that Col. Hewson clapped him up into prison, because he would not go upon the Scaffold, and Nine more with him.  
The Soldiers being asked whether any were imprisoned or not, answered that they were all asked but all denied, and no man was imprisoned, and that Hewlet was gone of sudden and no man saw him till ten of the clock that Evening.  
Col. Thomlinson was called as a Witness, and being asked who it was that did the Murder of the two in the Frocks on the Scaffold, said that the man in the Grey Periwig and Grey Beard with the Vizard did it, and that it was a man much about Hewlet's stature, and that he could not positively say it, but had often heard that Hewlet was the Man.  
Capt. Towgood is called to speak his knowledge in the business who first desired he might give an account what other men had said in the business, and then he would tell the Court what Hewlet had said himself.  
Capt. Towgood said that one day talking with Col. Hewson in Dublin, Hewlet came to them and after he was gone, Towgood asked Hewson what that fellow was (meaning Hewlet) to which Col. Hewson answered, I'll promise you he is a very mettled fellow, for 'twas he that did the King's business for him upon the Scaffold. That at another time, Towgood and Hewlet being in company together Capt. Towgood asked him whether he was the man that cut off the King's Head, that Hewlet answered him, with a Question saying who told you so? Towgood answered Col. Hewson, etc. To which Hewlet answered again, what I have done I am not ashamed of, and if it were to do again I would do it, And further Capt. Towgood said he had often heard him called Grandsire Grey Beard in Ireland, and that he used to call him so himself.  
Another Witness said, that being in company with Hewlet in Dublin, Drinking together he seriously discoursed with him to the following effect; saying, that he had oftentimes heard that he was the man that cut off the King's head, and desired he would resolve him whether it was true or no; To which Hewlet answered how should you know that, I never told any man living yet, the witness pressing of him further said I have heard you did not only cut off the Head, but took it in your hands and holding it to the people said it was the Head of a Traitor, to which Hewlet said again, Viz. whoever said it then, I say it now, it was the head of a Traitor.  
By another witness it was proved that he said that he did cut off the King's Head, and that he had a hundred pound for his days work.  
Another witness said, that we was a spectator near the Scaffold that day, and that the man in the Grey Periwig and the Vizard with a Grey Beard was the man that struck the Fatal blow. Hewlet desired the Gentleman might be asked where he stood that he could see it so plain, to which he answered that be stood in a place need Whitehall where Hewlet might easily have seen him if he had looked that way.  
Several other witnesses were Examined to the same purpose concerning his own confession of doing that wicked Act.  
Other witnesses were Examined, and particularly one who met the Common Hangman that day of the King's Murder, about Five in the Afternoon, and talking with him about the business the Hang man held up his hands and said, he thanked God he had escaped a most Horrid Act for it was intended that he should have cut off the King's Head, but he did it not, nor would not have done it for a thousand pound.  
Hewlet denied all confidently and desired time to prove the contrary, but the Court being satisfied with the witness, after same consultation among themselves it was resolved to leave it to the Jury to proceed according to Evidence, which the Jury made no longer business of, but brought him Guilty.  
FINIS.