![High Treason Popgun Plot cover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/High_Treason_Popgun_Plot_cover.png)
The Popgun Plot was an alleged 1794 conspiracy by three members of the
London Corresponding Society
The London Corresponding Society (LCS) was a federation of local reading and debating clubs that in the decade following the French Revolution agitated for the democratic reform of the British Parliament. In contrast to other reform associati ...
to assassinate
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
by means of a poison dart fired from an
airgun
An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized ''without'' involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm, which pressurizes gases ''chem ...
.
Three members, Paul Thomas LeMaitre, John Smith, and George Higgins, were arrested in late 1794, and Robert Thomas Crossfield in December 1795. All four were acquitted of
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
in May 1796, on the grounds that the chief witness against them was dead.
References
Further reading
*{{cite book, author=Paul Thomas LEMAITRE, title=High treason! Narrative of the arrest, examinations before the Privy Council, and imprisonment of P. T. L., accused of being a Party in the Pop-Gun Plot, or a pretended Plot to kill the King, etc, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NAhXAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP6, year=1795, publisher=P. T. Lemaitre
1794 in England
Failed regicides
George III of the United Kingdom