In these operations he did not proceed unobserved, and the next day a
warrant was issued for apprehending him. He was accordingly carried
before a meeting of justices, and by them committed to the county gaol,
to take his trial for the felony at the next assizes. Mr. Tyrrel was
determined to prosecute the offence with the greatest severity; and his
attorney, having made the proper enquiries for that purpose, undertook
to bring it under that clause of the act 9 Geo. I. commonly called the
Black Act, which declares that "any person, armed with a sword, or other
offensive weapon, and having his face blackened, or being otherwise
disguised, appearing in any warren or place where hares or conies have
been or shall be usually kept, and being thereof duly convicted, shall
be adjudged guilty of felony, and shall suffer death, as in cases of
felony, without benefit of clergy." Young Hawkins, it seemed, had
buttoned the cape of his great coat over his face, as soon as he
perceived himself to be observed, and he was furnished with a
wrenching-iron for the purpose of breaking the padlocks. The attorney
further undertook to prove, by sufficient witnesses, that the field in
question was a warren in which hares were regularly fed. Mr. Tyrrel
seized upon these pretences with inexpressible satisfaction. He
prevailed upon the justices, by the picture he drew of the obstinacy and
insolence of the Hawkinses, fully to commit the lad upon this miserable
charge; and it was by no means so certain as paternal affection would
have desired, that the same overpowering influence would not cause in
the sequel the penal clause to be executed in all its strictness.

This was the finishing stroke to Hawkins's miseries: as he was not
deficient in courage, he had stood up against his other persecutions
without flinching. He was not unaware of the advantages which our laws
and customs give to the rich over the poor, in contentions of this kind.
But, being once involved, there was a stubbornness in his nature that