by Giles Milton
At last the fiscal called for the trembling Beomont who had been outside the torture chamber all this time. He was repeatedly questioned and accused, 'all of which hee denied with deep oaths and protestations'. His denials were to no avail for he was strung up against the wall with a cloth bound tightly around his neck, and the bloody instruments of torture displayed to him. But before they could be used the Governor suddenly halted Beomont's torture and declared that 'hee would spare him a day or two because he was an old man'.
The following day was a Sunday. After a longer than usual service at the castle chapel attended by van Speult and his gang of interrogators the tortures continued. First into the chamber was Robert Brown, a tailor, who broke down and confessed before the fiscal had a chance to torture him. Collins, the next in line, caused them more of a problem. Informed of the accusations laid against him, he denied everything 'with great oathes and execrations'. This angered the fiscal who ordered his henchmen to 'make his hands and feete fast to the rocke [and] bound a cloth about his throate'.When Collins saw what he would have to endure he begged to be taken down, promising to confess everything. But no sooner had he been released than he once again denied any knowledge of the plot, stating that since they were determined to use torture, 'to make him confesse anything, though never so false, they should do him a great favour, to tell him what they would have him say, and hee would speake it to avoid the torture'.
'The fiscal hereupon said: "What? Do you mocke us" and bade, "Up with him again," and so gave him the torment of water which he not being able to endure prayed to be let down again to his confession. Then he devised a little with himself and told them that about two months and a half before himself, Thomson, Johnson, Brown and Fardo had plotted with the help of the Japans to surprise the castle.' 'Here he was interrupted by the fiscal and asked whether Towerson were not of the conspiracy. He answered, "No."
' "You lie," said the fiscal. "Did he not call you to him and tell you that those daily abuses of the Dutch had caused him to think of a plot and that he wanted nothing but your consent and service?"
' "Yes," interjected a Dutch merchant — one John Joost — that sat by: "Did you not swear upon the Bible to be secret to him?"
'Collins answered with great oaths that he knew nothing of any such matter. Then they made him fast again. Whereupon he then said all was true that they had spoken. Then the fiscal asked him whether the English in the rest of the factories were not consenting to this plot. He answered "No." The fiscal then asked him whether the president of the English at Jakarta or M Welden in Banda were not plotters or privie to the business. Againe he answered "No." '
The fiscal now asked Collins how the Japanese planned to carry out their attack, at which poor Collins 'staggering and devising of some probable fiction', at length turned to the fiscal and silently shook his head. The fiscal was only too willing to help, supplying him with the story that was wanted: 'Should not the Japaners have gone to each point of the castle, and two to the Governors chamber doore; and when the hurly-burly had been without, and the Governor coming to see what was the matter, the Japaners to have killed him?'
Even the torturers were shocked when they heard the fiscal put such leading words into Collins' mouth and 'one that stood by said to the fiscal, "Do not tell him what he should say but let him speak for himself." ' After further torments, Collins agreed to everything that was asked of him and was sent away in chains, 'very glad to come clear of his torture though with certain belief that he should die for his confession'.
Next in line was Samuel Coulson, factor at Hitu, who was so distraught when he saw Collins, 'his eyes almost blowne out of his head,' that he chose to confess everything, 'and so was dismissed, comming out weeping, lamenting, and protesting his innocency'.
John Clarke, also from Hitu, proved the most resilient of all, refusing to confess to a single crime. 'They tortured him with water and fire' for two hours but still he protested his innocence. Like the others he was subjected to the horrific 'torment of water' which left the person grotesquely deformed. 'First they hoisted him up by the hands with a cord on a large dore, where they made him fast upon two staples of iron, fixd on both sides at the top of the doreposts, haling his hands one from the other as wide as they could stretch. Being thus made fast, his feete hung some two foot from the ground, which also they stretched asunder as far as they would reach and made them fast.'This being done they bound a thick piece of canvas about his neck and face leaving an opening at the top. Then,'they poured the water softly upon his head untill the cloth was full, up to the mouth and nostrils, and somewhat higher, so that he could not draw breath but he must suck in all the water.'
This was continued for hours until water 'came out of his nose, eares and eyes; and often as it were stifling and choking him, at length took away his breath and brought him to a swoune or fainting'. At this point the torturers had to act quickly. Releasing the cloth from his face and neck 'they made him vomit up the water' and as soon as he was breathing again 'they triced him up.'
Clarke endured this terrible torment four times in succession, 'till his body was swollen twice or thrice as bigge as before, his cheekes like great bladders, and his eyes staring and strutting out beyond his forhead'. Still he refused to confess, at which point the fiscal and torturers grew worried, 'saying that he was a Devill, and no man, or surely was a witch; at least had some charme about him, or was enchanted, that he could bear so much. Whereupon they cut off his haire very short, as supposing he had some witchcraft hidden therein.'
There was a brief discussion as to whether they should continue the torture. All agreed that it was necessary, whereupon 'they hoisted him up againe as before, and then burnt him with lighted candles in the bottome of his feete, untill the fat dropt out the candles; yet then applyed they fresh lights unto him. They burnt him also under the elbowes, and in the palmes of the hands, likewise under the arme-pits, until his inwards might evidently be seene.'
At last he was taken down and, 'being thus wearied and overcome by the torment, he answered yea to whatsoever they asked.' With the confession down on paper and, 'having martyred this poor man, they sent him out by foure blacks who carried him between them to a dungeon, where he lay five or six daies without any surgeon to dress him until (his flesh being putrified) great maggots dropped and crept from him in a most loathsome and noisesome manner.' With the torturers now exhausted after their ordeal, 'they thus finished their Sabbath day's work.'
Over the next week the rest of the English were individually brought into the torture chamber. All endured various degrees of disfiguration before being thrown back into the castle dungeon burned and bleeding, their sores and wounds infected and putrefied. Griggs confessed early on, saving himself from being burned, Fardo endured the water torture before breaking, and then Beomont, the aged invalid, was carried in for the second time. Several of his tortured colleagues were brought in to denounce him but Beomont denied all the charges 'with great earnestness and deep oaths'.The fiscal soon tired of waiting for a confession and the stubborn prisoner was 'triced up and drenched with water till his innards were ready to crack'. After an hour or so of endurance, 'he answered affirmatively to all the fiscal's interrogatories' and 'had a great iron bolt and two shackles riveted to his legs and then was carried back to prison.'
Desperate to avoid torture George Sharrocks was the most inventive in his story. Seated before a water butt and surrounded by candles he was told that unless he confess he would be tortured to death then 'drawne by the heels to the gallows and there hanged up'. This was too much for the poor man and he began a rambling tale of conspiracies against the Dutch. Since the prisoners were forbidden from talking to each other, his story bore little resemblance to the others that the fiscal had been told. Sharrocks continually denied that Towerson had ever spoken to him on the subject and said that he had not seen his fellow countrymen for four months — long before the so-called conspiracy was hatched - since he lived on the north of the island. D
espite these protests his confession was prepared and read out and Sharrocks was asked if it was true.' "No," said Sharrocks. "Why then," said the fiscal, "did you confess it?" "For fear of torment," replied Sharrocks.' At this, 'the fiscal and the rest in a great rage told him he lied; his mouth had spoken it, and it was true, and therefore he should subscribe it.'
At long last Gabriel Towerson was brought to the examination chamber 'deeply protesting his innocence'. The fiscal told him that all the others had accused him of conspiracy, then ordered three of them into the room to reaffirm in Towerson's presence the crimes they had accused him of perpetrating. Coulson was the first brought in: pale and trembling he stood silent, his head hung in shame. At length he was told he would be tortured again if he did not speak, at which point Coulson 'coldly reaffirmed' his confession. Next Griggs and Fardo were led in and stood before Towerson. A dramatic scene then followed, for Towerson 'seriously charged them, that as they would answer it at the dreadful day of judgement, they should speak nothing but the truth. Both of them instantly fell down upon their knees before him, praying him for God's sake to forgive them, and saying further openly before them all, that whatsoever they had formerly confesed was most false and spoken only to avoid torment.' On hearing this the fiscal exploded and threatened them with more torture, 'which they would not endure, but then affirmed their former confessions to be true'.
Towerson bowed his head silently, realising now that his situation was hopeless. Neither Griggs nor Fardo could stand further torture and both assented to sign a declaration of guilt. When Griggs signed his confession he asked the fiscal 'upon whose head he thought the sinne would lie; whether upon his that was constrained to confesse what was false, or upon the constrainers?' At this the fiscal left the room to confer with van Speult before returning and ordering Coulson to sign.' "Well," quoth he, "you make me to accuse myself and others of that which is as false as God is true: for God is my witness, I am as innocent as the child new borne." '
What happened to Towerson after the signing of these confessions remains uncertain. There is no doubt that the most brutal treatment was reserved for him yet he withstood the torture to the very end. The two survivors later recorded that van Speult's henchmen used even more brutal methods, such as 'the splitting of the toes and lancing of the breast and putting in gunpowder, and the firing the same, whereby the body is not left entire, either for innocency or execution'. The stench of burned flesh was said to be so pungent in the castle dungeon 'that no one was able to endure the smell'.
There was a two day respite from the torture before the prisoners were assembled in the great hall of the castle to learn their fate. A handful, believing their sufferings would entitle them to compassion, were certain that they would be banished rather than murdered. But van Speult was not a man noted for his clemency. Seated at a massive table and flanked by his officers he gravely 'stated his suit and drew his conclusions'. All the men had confessed their guilt — all except Towerson whose continued protestations of innocence had so incensed the fiscal. As the men waited to hear the judgement read out, Towerson was once again 'brought up into the place of examination, and two great jarrs of water carried after him'. What he suffered during the hours he was interrogated will never be known for he was next seen at the scaffold, his features blenched and drawn.
Before the fiscal read the sentence, 'prayers were said to the Lord that He might govern their [the Council's] hearts in this gloomy consultation and that He might inspire them only with equity and justice.' With this done the fiscal called the room to order. Towerson was condemned to be decapitated and quartered and his head to be suspended from a post as a warning to others. The rest of the men were to be spared the quartering; they would simply be decapitated, along with their Japanese conspirators. As the men listened in horror a whisper arose among the Dutch officers. It was realised that by executing all of the men they would leave themselves with the burden of having to administer the affairs of the English factory. It was therefore decided to reprieve two of the men to look after the Company's interests. Beomont was one of the men spared; he was fortunate enough to have a Dutch merchant friend who argued for his release. To choose the second man it was decided that Coulson, Thomson and Collins should draw lots. They knelt on the cold flagstones and joined hands in communal prayer, and this being done they each delved their hands into the lottery box. Collins drew the right paper and was duly set free. The others resigned themselves to their deaths.
They were led back to their prison cells for their last night before execution. The men were visited by Dutch ministers who 'telling them how short a time they had to live, admonished and exhorted them to make their true confessions; for it was a dangerous and desperate thing to dissemble at such a time'.The English continued to protest their innocence, 'and prayed the Ministers that they might all receive the sacrament as a seale of the forgivenesse of their sinnes and withall thereby to confirme their last profession of the innocencie'. This was too much for the ministers and 'would by no means be granted'.
Coulson now begged the minister that he might ask a question.' "You manifest unto us the danger of dissimulation in this case," he said, "but tell us, if we suffer guiltlesse, being otherwise also true believers in Jesus Christ, what shall be our reward?" '
To this the minister had a ready answer:' "By how much the cleerer you are, soe much the more glorious shall be your resurrection."'The narrative continues:
With that word Coulson started up, embraced the preacher and gave him his purse with such money as
hee had in it, saying, 'Domine, God bless you. Tell the Governor I freely forgive him; and I entreat you to exhort him to repent of this bloody tragedy wrought upon us poor innocent souls.'
Here all the rest of the Englishmen signified their assent to this speech.
Then spake John Fardo to the rest in the presence of the ministers as followeth; 'My countrymen and brethren that are heere with mee condemned to dye, I charge you all as you will answer it at God's Judgement Seat if any of you bee guilty of this matter, whereof we are condemned, discharge your consciences and confesse the truth for satisfaction of the world.' Hereupon Samuel Coulson spake with a loud voyce, saying: 'According to my innocency in this treason so, Lord, pardon all my sinnes and if I be guiltie thereof, more or lesse, let me never be partaker of Thy heavenly joys.' At which words every one of the rest cryed out, 'Amen for me, amen for me, good Lord!' This done, each of them knowing whom he had accused, went one to another begging forgiveness for their false accusation, being rung from them by the pains or feare of torture. And they all freely forgave one another: for none had bene so falsely accused but he himself had accused another as falsely.
The Dutch ministers found themselves deeply moved by the spectacle of these condemned men professing their innocence and one of them offered to bring them a barrel of wine in order that they might 'drive away their sorrow'. But the men steadfastly declined the offer, not wishing to spend their final hours in a state of drunkenness. Instead they asked the ministers for ink and sat quietly writing their final protestations of innocence. One of these, bearing Samuel Coulson's signature, is inscribed into his copy of the Psalms of David which eventually found its way back to Europe. Written on 5 March 1623, 'aboard the Rotterdam lying in irons', it begins:
Understand that I, Samuel Coulson, late factor of Hitto, was apprehended for suspicion of conspiracy; and for anything I know must die for it: wherefore having no meanes to make my innocency knowne, have writ in this book, hoping some good Englishman will see it. I do here sweare upon my salvation, as I do hope by His death and passion to have redemption for my sinnes, that I am cleere of all such conspiracy: neither do I know any Englishman guilty thereof, nor other creature in the world. As this is true, God bless me — Samuel Coulson.
William Griggs also managed to scribble a few lines on that final night: 'We, through torment, were constrained to speake that which we never meant, nor once imagined; the which we take upon our deaths
and salvation, that tortured as with that extreme torment of fire and water, that flesh and blood could not endure ... And so farewell; written in the dark.'
How Towerson passed his final night is unknown for he was still held in isolation and unable to communicate with his compatriots. Everything he wrote was confiscated and destroyed except for a couple of lines which he scrawled onto a bill of debt against the Company. This passed undetected until it fell into the hands of an English agent in the Banda Islands: 'Firmed by the firme of me, Gabriel Towerson, now appointed to die, guiltless of anything that can be justly laid to my charge. God forgive them their guilt and receive me to His mercy. Amen.'
That his suffering was at least as great as the rest of the men is clear from an account by Beomont, one of the released, who visited him on the morning of his execution and 'found him sitting in a chamber all alone in a most miserable condition, the wounds of his torture bound up'. He clutched Beomont's hand weakly and prayed him that if he ever reached England he should seek out his brother Billingsley and certify him of his innocence 'which,' he said, 'you yourself know well enough'.
As day broke the men were reminded of their impending execution by the beat of drums and tramp of soldiers echoing through the town. This was to summon spectators wishing to view the bloodshed about to take place. Executions in Amboyna were colourful events; flags and bunting were strung out, bands played, and large crowds 'flocked together to behold this triumph of the Dutch over the English'. The prisoners, meanwhile, were assembled in the great hall for the last time. At the door stood 'the quit and pardoned', those lucky two who had been released on the orders of the governor. To these men the condemned now made their last farewells and solemnly charged them 'to bear witnesse to their friends in England ... that they died not traitors, but so many innocents merely murdered by the Hollanders, whome they prayed God to forgive their blood- thirstinesse and to have mercy upon their own soules'.