The newspapers carried details of his crime and trial, and they also announced the exact place and time of his pillorying. He was put in the stocks on 26 April (or 2 May) 1727. A barricade of coaches and carts was placed around the stocks by constables and others referred to as "friends and brethren" by the newspapers. Despite the obstacle, the crowd, composed mostly of prostitutes from Drury Lane, broke the line and beat the marshal viciously. The torrent of filth and stones tore the clothes of the pilloried and the Under-Sheriff removed Hitchen from the stocks long before the hour was out in order to save his life. After several weeks Hitchen recovered enough to charge three men with assault. He then served his six months in prison. Attempts to remove him from his post were in vain. In November he managed to sell it for £700 and used the sum to pay the sureties for his good behaviour before being discharged. He died about a month later, probably as a result of complications from injuries received in the pillory. His widow petitioned the courts for relief and received a 20-pound annuity.