26. Collapse of a Terrible Plot
Guy Fawkes and his accomplices rented a cellar that extended beneath the House of Lords in Westminster Palace. There, Parliament was scheduled to hold its opening session on November 5th, 1605. The plotters crammed the cellar with 36 barrels of gunpowder rigged up to explode, concealed beneath piles of coals and sticks. The plot was uncovered, however, because of an anonymous letter sent to an English peer, warning him to stay away from Parliament’s opening session. During a search on November 4th, Fawkes was discovered in the cellar guarding the gunpowder barrels.
Captured, Fawkes was tortured on the rack until he revealed the names of his co-conspirators. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to a traitor’s terrible death by drawing, hanging, and quartering. However, as he was being taken up the gallows, he escaped the gruesome execution at the last moment by leaping off the ladder to his death below of a broken neck. His corpse was still quartered, and its parts were displayed across the realm. He is commemorated in Britain every November 5th, Guy Fawkes Day, with fireworks and the burning of his effigy, while masked children go about begging “a penny for the Guy”.