eracted, by his conversation and by the jests
he made of all religious subjects, the labors of Dr. Cotton to
produce repentance and remorse among the prisoners in the cells;
and he died as he lived, hardened and unrepenting. He sent to me
the day before his execution, and when I saw him _he maintained the
innocence of the woman convicted with him_ (Fricker, before
mentioned), asserting that not her, but a boy concealed, opened
the door and let him into the house. When I pressed him to tell me
the names of the parties concerned, whereby to save the woman's
life, he declined complying without promise of a pardon. I urged as
strongly as I could the crime of suffering an innocent woman to be
executed to screen criminal accomplices; but it was all to no
effect, and he suffered, maintaining to the last the same story.
With him was executed a lad of nineteen or twenty years of age,
whose fears and remorse Kelly was constantly ridiculing.

About this time, Mrs. Fry noted in her journal the encouragement she had
received from those who were in authority, as well as the eager and
thankful attitude of the poor women themselves. Kindred spirits were
being drawn around her, ready to participate in her labors of love. In
one place she wrote almost deprecatingly of the publicity which those
labors had won; she feared notoriety, and would, had it been possible,
have worked on alone and unheralded. But perhaps it was as well that
others should learn to cooeperate; the task was far too mighty for one
frail pair of hands, while the increased knowledge and interest among
the upper classes of society assisted in procuring the "sinews of war."
For this was a work which could not be successfully carried on without
pounds, shillings and pence. Clothing, books, teachers, and even
officers had to be paid for out of benevolent funds, for not an idea of
the necessity for such funds had ever crossed the civic mind.

A very cheering item, in April, 1817, was the formation of a ladies'
society under the title of "An Association for the Improvement of the
Female Prisoners in Newgate." Eleven Quakeresses and one clergyman's
wife were then banded together. We cannot find the names of these good
women recorded anywhere in Mrs. Fry's journal. The object of this
association was: "To provide for the clothing, instruction, and
employment of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of th