This witness having gone thus far in his evidence, was set by for the present; the counsel for the crown declaring that they would call him again, to give an account of what passed on the 17th, when Chater was murdered, after they had examined the next witness.
This witness having gone thus far in his evidence, was set by for the present; the counsel for the crown declaring that they would call him again, to give an account of what passed on the 17th, when Chater was murdered, after they had examined the next witness.
Then William Steel, one of the accomplices in both the murders from beginning to end, was sworn, who deposed that he was sent for to the widow Payne’s on Sunday, the 14th of February; that Jackson, Little Sam, one Kelly, and two men more, and Jackson’s wife, were there when he came, which was about two o’clock in the afternoon, and soon afterwards Little Harry, Carter, Edmund Richards, John Race, the last witness, and Carter’s wife came thither; he said he did not know how Carter or Jackson came to be there, but the widow Payne’s son came and called him out, and said he must go to the Castle, his mother’s, for there were two men come to swear against the shepherd; that when he came in he found the two strangers, Galley and Chater, and Jackson, Carter, Richards, and some others; and that they were in general sober, but they sat drinking together about two hours; that Jackson took Chater out of the house to examine him about Dimer; and after they had been out some time, Galley went out to them, but soon returned, and said Jackson had knocked him down; the witness saw he was bloody all down the left cheek; that Jackson was not in the room when Galley came in, but came in with Carter a little time afterwards; that then Galley, addressing himself to Jackson, said he did not know any occasion Jackson had to use him in thatmanner, and that he should remember it, and took down his name in Jackson’s presence. Galley likewise said he was an officer, and shewed his deputation to the people that were in the room.
This witness, continuing his deposition, said Galley and Chater began to be very uneasy, and wanted to be going, but that the prisoners Jackson and Carter, and the rest of them that were smugglers, persuaded them to stay, and be pacified, and all things should be set right; and the company continued drinking till Galley and Chater were quite fuddled, and were carried into a little inner room to sleep; this was about four or five o’clock, and they continued in the little room two or three hours; the rest of the company sat drinking all the while, consulting what to do with Galley and Chater. The prisoners Jackson and Carter, and Little Sam, Little Harry, Richards, and the witness were at the consultation. It was proposed to put them (Galley and Chater) out of the way, because they should not appear against the shepherd, meaning Dimer; after which it was proposed to throw them into the well in the horse pasture, about a quarter of a mile from Rowland’s Castle, but that it was thought not convenient to put them into a well so near, for fear of discovery.
Here the question was particularly asked Steel, the witness, which of them it was that proposed the murdering them directly and flinging them afterwards down the well; to which he replied, he believed he might.
After this it was next proposed to join and each man to allow them threepence a week, and to keep them in some secret place till they saw what became of Dimer, and as Dimer was served, so these two people (Chater and Galley) were to be served. This was talked ofwhile Chater and Galley were asleep and there was no other proposal made as he heard at that time: but while they were talking of these things, the wives of Carter and Jackson said it was no matter what became of them (Galley and Chater), or what was to be done with them; they ought to be hanged, for they were come to ruin them, meaning the smugglers. He then said that about seven o’clock Carter and Jackson went into the inner room and waked Galley and Chater, and brought them out of the room very bloody and very drunk; he did not see what passed in the room, but was sure they did not go in so bloody, and he believed Jackson and Carter had kicked and spurred them, for they had put on their boots and spurs; that then Jackson and Carter brought them (Galley and Chater) out into the kitchen; and took them through to the street door all very bloody, when they set Galley the officer upon a brown or black horse and Chater up behind him; that Jackson, Carter and Richards put them on horseback, and tied their legs under the horse’s belly and also their legs together; then they tied a line to the bridle, and he (the witness) got upon a grey horse and led them along; that just after they had turned round the corner about 70 or 80 yards from the house, Jackson cried out “Whip them, lick the dogs, cut them.” It was then dark, and the company whipped and lashed them with their horse-whips, some on one side and some on the other with great violence, on the face and head and other parts of the body, and continued doing so while they rode about half a mile to a place called Woodash, or Wood’s Ashes; that there they alighted and Little Sam gave all the company a dram or two, but none to Galley and Chater; that as they were mounted again Jackson and Carter cried out,“D—n them, lick them, whip them,” and they were whipped as before for about a mile further, and then they fell down under the horse’s belly, with their heads upon the ground and their legs over the saddle; upon which Jackson and Carter and some of the others of the gang dismounted and untied Galley and Chater, and immediately set them up again, and their legs were tied together in the same posture, and the company went on whipping them as before till they came to a place called Dean,[7]which was about half a mile further. They were beat very much, and in the judgment of the witness, it was almost impossible they should sit their horses; that when they came to Dean somebody of the company pulled out a pistol and said he would shoot them (Galley and Chater) through the head, if they made any noise whilst they went through the village. He could not tell who it was that threatened to shoot them, but apprehends it was done for fear the people in the village should hear them. They went on at a foot pace, and after they got through Dean they were whipped again as before; and when they came near a place called Idsworth, they fell down again under the horse’s belly, and then some of the company loosed them, and set up the officer (Galley) behind him (the witness), and Chater behind Little Sam, and in this manner they proceeded towards Lady Holt Park, which is near three miles from Idsworth, whipping Galley and Chater as before. But the lashes of their whips falling upon the witness as he sat before Galley, he (the witness) could not bear the strokes, and therefore he cried out, and then they left off whipping Galley in that manner.
This witness further said that Galley sat upon the horse till they got to Lady Holt Park, and then being faint and tired with riding, he got down; and then Carter and Jackson took him, one by the arms and the other by the legs, carried him towards a well called Harris’s Well by the side of Lady Holt Park; and then Jackson said to Carter “We’ll throw him in the well,” to which Carter replied “With all my heart;” and Galley seemed very indifferent what they did with him; but some of the company saying ’twas a pity to throw him into the well, Jackson and Carter set him up behind the witness again and Chater was still behind Little Sam. They went on in this manner till they came to go down a hill, when Galley was faint and tired, and could not ride any further and got down there; upon which Carter and Jackson laid him on a horse before Edmund Richards, with his belly upon the pommel of the saddle. They laid him across the horse because he was so bad that they could not contrive to carry him in any other manner, and they carried him so for about a mile and a half from the well; that then Richards, being tired of holding him, let him down by the side of the horse; and Carter and Jackson put him upon the grey horse that he (the witness) was upon, and the witness got off. They set him up, his legs across the saddle and his body lay over the horse’s mane; that in this posture Jackson held him on and he did not remember that anybody else held him at that time; that they went on for about half a mile in this manner, Galley crying out all the time “Barbarous usage! barbarous usage! for God’s sake shoot me through the head or through the body.” He (the witness) thought Jackson was at this time pinching him by the private parts, for there were no blows given when he cried so;that Chater was still with the company behind Little Sam, and they went on for about two miles and a half further, the company holding Galley by turns on the horse until they came to a dirty lane, at which place Carter and Jackson rode forwards, and bid the rest of the company stop at the swing gate beyond the water till they should return. Jackson and Carter left them here and went to see for a place proper for taking care of Chater and Galley, but soon came to them again at the swing gate and told them that the man of the house whither they went was ill and that they could not go thither, by which he understood that they had been in the neighbourhood to get entertainment. It was then proposed to go forward to one Scardefield’s, and Little Harry tied Galley with a cord and got up on horseback behind him in order to hold him up on the horse, and they went on till they came to a gravelly knap in the road at which place Galley cried out “I shall fall! I shall fall!” whereupon Little Harry said, “D—n you, then fall,” and gave him a push, and Galley fell down and gave a spirt, and never spoke a word more. He (the witness) believed his neck was broke by the fall; that they laid him across the horse again and went away for Rake to the sign of the Red Lion, which was kept by William Scardefield; that Chater was behind Little Sam and was carried to Scardefield’s house and was very bloody when they came to Scardefield’s; that Jackson and Little Harry went from Scardefield’s with Chater about three o’clock in the morning and Jackson afterwards returned to Scardefield’s and said he had left Chater at Old Mills’s, and that Little Harry was left to look after him that he might not escape. This was Monday, the 15th of February, and they remained all that day at Scardefield’s; that the prisonerRichard Mills the younger was there on that day, and upon hearing from Jackson and Carter that they had passed by a precipice thirty feet deep when they had Chater with them, he said, “If I had been there I would have called a council of war on the spot, and he (Chater) should have gone no further,” or to that effect.
That two or three days afterwards the company met at Scardefield’s again, to consult what to do with Chater; that the prisoners John Race, Carter and Jackson, the prisoner Richard Mills the younger (a son of the prisoner Richard Mills the elder), Thomas Willis, John Mills (another son of old Mills), the prisoners Tapner, Cobby, Hammond, and Thomas Stringer, Edmund Richards, and Daniel Perryer, and he (the witness) were consulting what to do with Chater, and John Mills[8]proposed to take him out, and load a gun, and tie a string to the trigger, and place him (Chater) against the gun, and that they should all of them pull the string, to involve every one of them in the same degree of guilt; but this proposal was not agreed to. Then Jackson and Carter proposed to carry him back to the well near Lady Holt Park, and to murder him there, which was agreed to by all the company; but Richard Mills the younger and John Mills said they could not go with them to the well, because they had no horses; and as it was in their (the other persons’) way home, they might do it as well without them; and so it was concluded to murder Chater, and then throw him into the well.
As soon as it was agreed amongst them to murder Chater and fling him down the well, they went awayfor Rake to the house of the prisoner Richard Mills the elder, and found Chater in a back skilling or out-house, run up at the back of Mills’s house, a place they usually put turf in; where they found him chained with an iron chain to a beam in the skilling; that Chater was bloody about the head, and had a cut upon one of his eyes, so that he could not see with it; that the prisoner Richard Mills the elder was at home, and fetched out bread and cheese for them to eat, and gave them drink; that the house is a private house, no alehouse; that they all of them went to and again, between the house and the skilling, and that the prisoner Richard Mills the elder was at home all the while; that the prisoner Tapner bid Chater go to prayers, and pulled out a large clasp knife, and swore he would be his butcher; and while Chater was at prayers, he cut him across the eyes and nose, and down his forehead, so that he bled to a great degree. He was ordered by some others of the company to say his prayers, for they were come to kill him, and kill him they would; and some of the company were then in the skilling, and the rest of them were in the house, but no one interposed to save his life; that he (the witness) was in the skilling when Chater was advised to say his prayers and was cut, and that Chater was chained by the leg at the time.
When they had kept him there as long as they thought fit, someone unlocked the chain and set him on horseback, and Race, Richards, Little Harry, Little Sam, the prisoners Tapner, Stringer; the prisoners Cobby, Hammond and Perryer; the prisoners Jackson, Carter, and the witness, set out with him to Lady Holt Park, to carry him down to the well; that when they came to a place called Harting, Richards, Little Harry and Little Sam went back; and when the rest came tothe white gate by Lady Holt Park, Carter and Jackson left them, but first told them they must keep along a little further, and they could not miss the well, for there were white pales; that it was about 200 yards further, some pales on the right hand of it, and that there were pales round the well. They went on, found the well by the direction given them, and carried Chater with them; that then Tapner, Hammond, Stringer and Cobby got off their horses, and Tapner pulled a cord out of his pocket, and put it about Chater’s neck, and led him towards the well. Chater seeing two or three pales down said he could get through, but Tapner said, “No, you shall get over,” and he did so with the rope about his neck; they then put him into the well and hanged him, winding the rope round the rails, and his body hung down in the mouth of the well for about a quarter of an hour; and then Stringer took hold of his legs to pull him aside, and let his head fall first into the well, and Tapner let the rope go, and down fell the body into the well head foremost; that they stayed there for some time, and one of the company said he thought he heard him breathe or groan; on this they listened, and being of the same opinion, went to one Combleach, a gardener, who was in bed, and asked him to lend them a ladder and a rope, for one of their company had fallen down the well; which he readily did, not thinking, as the witness verily believed, any otherwise. They brought the ladder with them, but as it was a long one they could not get it down the well through the hole in the breach of the pales; when they all tried to raise it up and put it over the pales; but then, not having strength sufficient, they laid that part of their design aside; and looking about them found a gate post or two, which they threw into the well and then left him.
Steel, the witness, being cross-examined as to this, said, he never heard the prisoner say he would not have them murder the man, and added, that he was sure he must hear them talk of murdering while they were at his house.
John Race being called again, said: That after he had left the company at the widow Payne’s on the 14th of February, he met some of the same company and others, on the Wednesday evening following, being the 17th of February, at Scardefield’s, at Rake; that the prisoners, Richard Mills the younger, Carter, Jackson, Tapner, Cobby, and Hammond, with Steel, Richards, Little Sam, Daniel Perryer, John Mills and Thomas Willis, were there; and it was proposed at that meeting to murder Chater. He could not say who first made the proposal, but to the best of his knowledge, it was either Carter or Jackson, and it was agreed to by all the company; it was not then resolved how it was to be done, but only in general, that he was to be murdered and thrown into a well; that they went to the house of Richard Mills the elder, to join Little Harry, who was left there to take care of Chater, and found Chater chained by the leg upon some turf in a skilling, at the back side of the house; that the prisoner, Richard Mills the elder, was at home, and ordered his housekeeper to fetch bread and cheese, and some household beer, for any of them to eat and drink that would, and was sure that old Mills knew that they came for Chater; that Tapner and Cobby were very earnest to go and see Chater; and Tapner having his knife in his hand, said, “This knife shall be his butcher”; and thereupon the prisoner, Richard Mills the elder said, “Pray do not murder him here, but carry him somewhere else before you do it”; that Old Mills said this on seeing that Tapner had his knife in hishand, and hearing him declare it should be his (Chater’s) butcher; that they then went out into the skilling, and found Chater sitting upon some turf, and Tapner ordered him to say his prayers; whilst he was repeating the Lord’s Prayer, Tapner cut him over the face with his knife, and Cobby stood by kicking and damning him. This, too, was whilst the poor man was saying the Lord’s Prayer. That Chater asked them what was become of Galley, and they told him he was murdered, and that they were come to murder him. Upon which, Chater earnestly begged to live another day; that Cobby asked him his name, and whether he had not formerly done harvest-work at Selsey? To which he answered that his name was Daniel Chater, and that he had harvested at Selsey, and there he became acquainted with Dimer. That Little Harry unlocked the horse-lock that was on his (Chater’s) legs, and Tapner, Cobby and Stringer brought him out of the skilling, and set him upon Tapner’s mare, in order to carry him to the well, to be there murdered, and thrown in; and that all the company knew at that time what was to be done with him; that they rode about three miles towards the well, and sometimes whipped Chater with their horse-whips; and Tapner observing that he bled, said, “D—n his blood, if he bloods my saddle, I will whip him again.” When they came to Harting, Carter, Jackson, Richards, Little Sam, Little Harry, and Steel said, “We have done our parts, and you (meaning the rest of the company) shall do yours.” By which they meant, as he took it, that they had murdered Galley, and that the rest should murder Chater; and Richards, Little Sam and Little Harry, stopped there, and did not accompany them any further; the rest went on towards the well, but Carter and Jackson stopped before they came to it,and told them the well was a little further off, describing it to them, and told them they could not miss finding it, for it had some white pales by it, and that it was not above 200 yards further, and then Jackson and Carter left them; that he (the witness) and Tapner, Cobby, Stringer, Hammond, Perryer and Steel, came to the well, got off their horses, and took Chater off his horse, the witness was not certain which; and either Tapner or Cobby put a cord round his neck; that there was a “shord” in the pales about the well, and he heard Chater say he could get through there, but Cobby or Tapner said, “D—n you, no; you shall not, you shall get over”; that Tapner wound the cord round the pales, and Chater being put into the mouth of the well, hung by the neck for about a quarter of an hour, and then they loosened the rope, and turned the body, so that it fell into the well head foremost. They stayed there till some of the company thought they heard him breathe or groan, and then went to get a rope and a ladder at one Combleach’s, a gardener; that they met Jackson and Carter and told them what they had done, and that they were going to get a rope and a ladder, for Chater was not quite dead; that they all could not raise the ladder; so they got some old gate-posts and stones and threw them down upon him into the well, and then left him.
The prisoner Hammond desired the witness might be asked whether when they were at Old Mills’s, he did not offer to ride away, and make a discovery, but was prevented by the company.
Race said he never heard him say anything about it; but one of the company, which he believed was Richards, did threaten any of the rest who should refuse to go to the murder of Chater.
Ann Pescod deposed, that two men came to her father’s on the 15th of February, about one o’clock in the morning, and called for her father; that she asked one of them his name, and he said it was William Jackson. Her father who was then very ill, said they might come if they would; that Jackson did come in, and asked if they could not bring a couple of men there for a little while, to which she answered “No,” because her father was ill; and thereupon Jackson turned to the other man, and said, “We cannot think of abiding here, as the man is so ill,” and so they went away. She saw that Jackson’s hand was bloody.
She was ordered to look at the prisoners Jackson and Carter, and see if they were the two men that came, and she said Jackson was one, for that she took particular notice of him, his hand being bloody, and that she verily believed Carter was the other.
Then the King’s Counsel called William Scardefield, who deposed that he kept the Red Lion, at Rake, in the parish of Rogate, and that in the night, between the 14th and 15th of February, Jackson and Carter, with Steel and Richards, came to his house and called out to him, “For God’s sake get up and let us in”; then he let them in, and saw they were bloody. He asked them how they came to be so; and they said they had an engagement and lost their goods, and some of their men they feared were dead and some wounded. That they said they would go and call them that were at the other public-house; and while he was gone into the cellar, he heard horses come to the door; and some of the men went into the kitchen, some into the brewhouse, and some into the parlours. That he saw two or three men in the brewhouse, and there lay something like a man before them in the brewhouse, by the brewhousedoor, and he heard them say he was dead. That some of them calling for liquor, he carried a glass of gin into the parlour, and saw a man standing upright in the parlour, with his face bloody and one eye swelled very much. That Richards was in the parlour with the man, and objected to his coming in, and Carter and Jackson and three others were then in the brewhouse, and Steel was with them. After they had drunk three mugs of hot, they got their horses out and sent him down for some brandy and rum, but when he came up with it they were gone 20 yards below the house, though several of them came back to drink, one or two at a time. That he did not know what became of the man that he saw in the parlour; but he observed they separated into two companies; that one of the company, a little man, asked him if he did not know the place where they formerly laid up some goods; and the prisoner Carter came back, and said they must have a lantern and spade. That Richards fell in a passion because he refused to go along with them, and upon seeing him coming towards them with a light, the company parted: that he saw a horse stand at a little distance, and there seemed to him to be a man lying across the horse, and two men holding him on, and he believed the person he saw lying across the horse was dead, but he was not nigh enough to see whether he was or not. That when they came to the place, one of the little men began to dig a hole; and it being a very cold morning, he, the witness, took hold of the spade and helped to dig; and in that hole the company buried the body that lay across the horse. That on the Wednesday or Thursday following, about twelve or one at noon, the prisoners Jackson and Carter, and all the rest of the company came again tohis house; and the prisoners Richard Mills the younger, and his brother John, were sent for, and came to them.
Edward Sones proved that on the 16th or 17th of September last he found the body of a dead man in a well in Harris’s Wood, within 200 yards of Lady Holt House, and that there were two pieces of timber over the body. That he went immediately to get the coroner’s inquest, and when he came back he saw the man had boots on, and there was a rope about his neck; that the well is by Lady Holt Park, in the county of Sussex.
Mr. Brackstone produced the boots and a belt that were taken off the body, and given him by the Coroner.
Mrs. Chater, the widow of Daniel Chater, deposed that she remembered her late husband set out from Southampton on the 14th February last, and that she had never seen him since that time; she looked upon the belt produced by Mr. Brackstone, and said she knew it was the same belt her husband had on when he set out from home, by a particular mark in it; and she believed the boots produced were likewise her husband’s.
Mr. Sones proved also, that the horse which Chater set out upon was found about a month afterwards and delivered to the owner.
The King’s Counsel submitted it here.
Mr. Justice Foster acquainted the prisoners that the King’s Counsel, having gone through their evidence, it was now time to offer what they could in their own defence.
He repeated to each of the prisoners the particular facts the evidence had charged him with, and asked them severally what they had to say to clear themselves of that charge.
To which the prisoner Tapner said he did not know that they were going to murder the man, but Jackson and Richards threatened to kill him if he would not go with them, and he received three or four cuts from Hammond or Daniel Perryer, but he did not know which; that Richards and another man tied the rope; and he denied that he drew a knife and cut Chater across the face.
Mr. Justice Foster told him, that supposing he was threatened in the manner he insisted on, yet that could be no legal defence in the present case; and that in every possible view of the case, it was infinitely more eligible for a man to die by the hands of wicked men, than to go to his grave with the guilt of innocent blood on his own head.
Cobby said he did not know what they were going to do with the man, that he never touched him, and he knew nothing of the murder.
Hammond said when he understood what they were going to do, he wanted to go off and make a discovery; but the company prevented him; and that by the company he meant all the prisoners.
Richard Mills the elder, said he did not know what they were at, and did not think they would hurt the man; and did not know he was chained till after they were gone away.
Richard Mills the younger, said he knew nothing of the matter, and never saw either of the men (Galley and Chater) in his life; he acknowledged that he was at Scardefield’s house, but said he knew nothing of the murder, and denied the charge; that Scardefield was the only witness he had, for he (Scardefield) knew when he came, and how long he stayed there.
Jackson said, the man who said he would be Chater’sbutcher, was his butcher, and nobody else, that he (Jackson) was not by when he was murdered, and was not guilty of it.
Mr. Justice Foster cautioned him not to deceive himself, and told him that with regard to the present charge, it was not necessary that he should have been present at the murder; he was not charged with being present, but as an accessary before the fact in advising and procuring the murder to be done: and that was the fact he was called upon to answer.
Carter said that when he went to the widow Payne’s, he only thought they were going to carry the men out of the way, till they saw what should become of Dimer, and that he never laid hands upon them; and went along with the company to prevent mischief.
Scardefield, the witness, was then called again, and Richard Mills the younger, being asked whether he would ask him any questions, only desired he might be asked what time he came to his house, and how long he stayed there; to which Scardefield answered, that Mills came to his house about half an hour after one; stayed there about an hour and a half, and went away on foot.
The rest of the prisoners said they had not any witnesses.
Upon which, Mr. Justice Foster opened to the jury the substance of the indictment as before set forth; and told them that whether the prisoners or any of them were guilty in manner as therein they are severally charged, must be left to their consideration, upon the evidence that had been laid before them.
That in order to enable them to apply the evidence to the several parts of the charge, it would be proper for him first to acquaint them how the law determines in cases of this nature; that with regard to the personscharged as principals, wherever several persons agree together to commit a murder, or any other felony, and the murder or felony is actually committed, every person present aiding and abetting is, in the eye of the law, guilty in the same degree, and liable to the same punishment as he who actually committed the fact. And the reason the law goes upon is this, that the presence of the accomplices gives encouragement, support and protection to the person who actually commits the fact; and at the same time contributes to his security.
That it is not necessary that the proof of the fact, in cases of this nature, should come up to the precise form of the indictment; for if the indictment charges that A did the fact, and that B and C were present, aiding and abetting, if it be proved that B did the fact, and that A and C were present aiding and abetting, they will be all guilty within the indictment.
That accessaries before the fact are those who, not being present in any sense of the law at the time the fact is committed, have advised or otherwise approved the fact to be done. These persons, in the case of wilful murder, will be liable to the same punishment as those who committed the murder by their instigation, advice or procurement.
He then summed up the evidence very largely, and applied it to the case of the several prisoners, and concluded, that if upon the whole, the jury should be of opinion that either of the principals (Tapner, Cobby, Hammond, or the others charged as principals in the indictment) did strangle the deceased, and that the prisoners Tapner, Cobby, and Hammond were present aiding and abetting, they will be within this indictment.
And if they should be of opinion that the prisoners charged as accessaries before the fact, did advise, consent to, or procure the murder, they likewise will be guilty within this indictment, though they were not present when the fact was committed.
The jury, after some little consideration, gave their verdict, that Tapner, Cobby, and Hammond were guilty of the murder, as laid in the indictment: And
Richard Mills the elder, Richard Mills the younger, William Jackson, and William Carter, were guilty, as accessaries before the fact.
Chichester, January 18th, 1748–9.
The Judges being in court, the prisoners who were convicted yesterday were all put to the bar; but Cobby, Hammond, Tapner, and the Mills’s were set aside, and Jackson and Carter set forward in order to be tried for the murder of William Galley.
Then the Clerk of the Arraigns bid William Jackson and William Carter to hold up their hands, which they did, and he then read over to them the indictment on which they had been arraigned the day before, as principals in the murder of William Galley, and to which they had pleaded Not Guilty.
Mr. Steele opened the indictment to the jury, and Mr. Bankes, the King’s Counsel, spoke to much the same purport as he had done the day before.
Mr. Smythe, another of the King’s Counsel, spoke as follows, viz.: “I shall only add a word or two, to explain why these two men, who were convicted yesterday as accessaries before the fact to the murder of Chater, and thereby liable to suffer death, should be tried a second time as principals for the murder of Galley:
“The reasons for it are, in the first place it will be necessary to convict them as principals for the murder of Galley, otherwise the accessaries to that murder, either before or after the fact, cannot be convicted.
“Another reason is, as the intention of all prosecutions, as well as punishments, is not so much to revenge and punish what is past, as to deter others from committing the like crimes, it may be of service to the public to have every circumstance of this cruel transaction disclosed, to shew how dangerous to their neighbours, and to the country in general, those persons are who are concerned in smuggling, and how much it concerns every man to use his utmost endeavours to suppress, and bring them to justice. And it may have another good effect in preventing persons from engaging in that lawless practice when they see it consequently engages them in crimes, which at first they might never intend; for I believe, if these unhappy men had been told when they first began smuggling, that the time would come when they would coolly bathe their hands in the blood of two innocent men, bad as they now are, they would then have been shocked and startled at the imagination of it; yet the men are so naturally led from one vice to another, that having once transgressed the laws of their country, they have insensibly arrived at such a height of wickedness, as to commit this heinous crime without the least hesitation or remorse.”
After which the following witnesses were called for the Crown, viz.:—
Mr. Milner, Mr. Shearer, William Galley, son of the deceased, were severally produced and sworn, and Mr. Milner, Mr. Shearer, William Galley gave the same evidence as on the former trial; as did Mr. Edward Holton of the deceased and Chater’s calling on him athis house at Havant, on Sunday, the 14th of February, 1747–8.
Robert Jenks also proved upon the trial the same as he did upon the former, with this addition:
That when they were at the widow Payne’s, Jackson and Carter both said they would see the letter for Justice Battine, because they thought the men were going to swear against the smugglers; that both Jackson and Carter hindered him from going through the room where the two men were; and that one of the men had on a blue great coat.
Being cross-examined at the request of Carter, whether he hindered him from going through the room,
Answered that both the prisoners did.
Joseph Southern, William Lamb, William Garrett and George Poate, proved the same as upon the former trial.
John Race, to the first part of his evidence relating to his transactions at the widow Payne’s, added, that the blood ran down from Galley’s head and face, on Jackson knocking him down; and that Jackson and Carter were not fuddled when he went away.
Being asked if he was certain the two prisoners were present at Rowland’s Castle at the consultation that was had to take the men Galley and Chater away and confine them, said, Yes, he was sure they were both present.
William Steel, to his former evidence, added, that whilst they were at the widow Payne’s, Jackson said, that if any of the gang went away from them, he would shoot them through the head, or through the body, or serve them as bad as the two men should be served. That he supposed Jackson meant by this, that he would murder any of their own company, or use anyof them as ill as they did the officer and Chater, if they left them; that when the company left off whipping Galley with their thongs and lashes of their whips, as mentioned in the former trial, because the lashes of the whips reached this witness, they beat him with the butt-end of their whips, which were very heavy, and loaded with lead, till one of their whips was beat all to pieces. That the gravelly knap, where Galley was pushed off the horse, when he died, was in Conduit-lane, in Rogate parish; and Little Harry pushed him in the back, and shoved him down; and that Jackson and Carter, Little Sam, and Richards, were in company when he died; and that they laid his body upon a horse, and one man held him on one side, and another on the other side, and so they led the horse along. That Carter and Jackson went before to call Scardefield up, and when they came there, they laid Galley’s body down in the brewhouse, at Scardefield’s, and carried Chater into another room; that they drank every one a dram, and Jackson and Carter asked Scardefield if he knew any place to bury that man in, and he said “No.” But they said he must go with them; and they got a spade, and a candle and lantern, and they laid Galley on horseback again, and he (the witness), Carter, Little Sam and Scardefield, went back for about a mile, and he held the horse whilst Scardefield, Carter and Little Sam went to find the place to bury him in; and when they had found it, Carter and Sam came back to him, and left Scardefield to dig the grave. They went and buried him there, and returned back to Scardefield’s again; that Jackson told them that whilst they were burying Galley, he and Little Harry went to carry Chater to Old Mills’s; that they buried Galley two or three feet deep in the heart of a sand pit. The time atwhich they buried him was about three or four o’clock in the morning.
Being cross-examined, and asked by Carter, whether he (Carter) struck Galley; answered that they all struck him.
Being asked at the request of the prisoners’ Counsel, what was the consequence of that thrust which Little Harry gave Galley, when he fell the last time; answered that he thought by the fall Galley’s neck was broke, because as soon as he was down he gave himself a turn, and stretched out his hands and legs, and never stirred or spoke afterwards; that Galley was not falling till Little Harry gave him the push. Said that he did not know the parish of Rogate, or that the place where Galley died was within that parish, any otherwise than that he had been there since, and several people said it was the parish of Rogate.
Mr. Staniford, who was Counsel for the prisoners, moved, that the place where Galley died was not in the county of Sussex, and therefore the prisoners must be acquitted of this indictment; for that the present special commission, by which their lordships were trying the prisoners, was only to enquire into murders and felonies committed in the county of Sussex.
Whereupon the Counsel for the King replied that they would undertake to prove the place in the county of Sussex; and for that purpose William Steel was then asked whether the gravelly knap where Galley died was in the county of Southampton or in the county of Sussex; answered that he could not tell. That he had never heard, as he remembered, what county that place was in, but he was carried thither last Friday to see the place, and he shewed to some people then present the spot of ground where Galley fell off the horse and died,and he believed he should know one of the men that were with him.
John Aslett being called up, Steel said he was one of the men that was there.
Aslett was then sworn, and proved that he was with Steel and some dragoons on Friday last; that Steel pointed down to the ground with a stick, and said, “There the man died”; that he (the witness) took particular notice of that place, and is sure it was in the parish of Harting in Sussex; that he now lives at Harting, and was born and bred just by, and had lived there ever since he was a lad, and served the offices of surveyor and constable.
Steel, being cross-examined, was asked how he could remember the place so as to be sure of it; said he knew the place very well again by the little gravelly rising of the ground.
William Scardefield proved the same as in the former trial, with the following facts relating to the burial of Galley: that one of the gang asked him if he knew the place where they laid up some goods about a year-and-a-half ago, and he told them he did; upon which the man said, “You must go along with us,” but the witness told him his wife was ill, and he could not leave the house; and then Carter came in and asked for a lantern, and Edmund Richards told him he must go with them, to which he replied, if he must go, he must; that when he came down the hill a little way from his own house, he saw two companies, one on the right and the other on the left; that Carter, Steel, and a short man he did not know, went on to the place, and one of them came up after him, and he told him where it was; upon which they brought the horse up to a rough kind of a dell, and the short man fell a-digging,and it being a very cold night, he (the witness) took the spitter and dug to keep himself warm; there seemed to him to be a man upon the horse, and it fell into the pit like a dead man, and they covered it up; and he verily believed it to be the body of a man, but he did not help to put it in, and was about three or four yards from it; he never went nigh the ground afterwards, and did not see the body of a man upon the horse afterwards, or anywhere else; that the earth was thrown over the pit, and the short man did most of the work; and he did not enquire, or choose to ask any questions about it.
Edward Sones proved the finding the body of a dead man, in a fox earth, within three-quarters of a mile of Rake; there were boots upon the legs, and a glove upon one hand; that the body was much perished, and had a waistcoat and breeches on.
John Greentree produced a coat which he took up beyond Harting Pond in the public road, on the 15th of February last, and swore that there were some writings and a letter-case in the pocket, which he said he should know if he was to see them again.
Upon this a parchment was delivered into court by Justice Battine, and shewn to the witness, who said it was the same that he found in the coat pocket.
It was then read, and appeared to be a deputation under the commissioners of the customs, dated April, 1731, appointing Galley to be a tidesman in the port of Southampton.
William Galley, son of the deceased, looked at the coat which the witness produced, and proved it to be a coat his father had on the 14th of February, 1747–8, when he set out with Chater for Major Battine’s to carry a letter to the Major.
John Greentree was called again, and said that the coat was very bloody when he found it.
The King’s counsel submitted it here, upon which the prisoners being called upon to make their defence,
The prisoner Carter said he never intended to hurt the man, and never struck him, and only intended to carry him away to take care of him till they knew what became of Dimer; and that he had not any witnesses.
The prisoner Jackson said little or nothing, only that he did not kill the man, nor did he know who did.
The prisoners having neither of them any witnesses to produce, Mr. Justice Foster opened to the jury the substance of the indictment, as before set forth, and told them that where several people joined to do an act in itself unlawful, and death ensues from anything done in prosecution of that unlawful design, they will be all considered as principals in murder, if they were all present aiding or abetting therein; that it was not necessary that each of the prisoners at the bar should be guilty of every single abuse that was offered to the deceased in the long series of barbarities the witnesses of the crown had laid before them; if all or any of these abuses contributed to his death, and the prisoners at the bar were engaged in the several designs against him, and present aiding and abetting the others, they will be guilty within this indictment.
He summed up the evidence very largely, and applied it to the case of the prisoners; and then left it to the consideration of the gentlemen of the jury.
The jury, after some little consideration together, gave their verdict, that William Jackson and William Carter were both Guilty.
The counsel for the crown then moved for judgment; and all the seven prisoners being set to the bar, andseverally asked what they had to say why judgment of death should not pass on them, Old Mills said he had nothing to say, only that he knew nothing of the murder of Chater.
Young Mills said he was not at Scardefield’s a quarter of an hour; and that it was by accident he called there, and that he knew nothing of the murder.
Hammond and Cobby said they were compelled to stay by Richards and Jackson, and that they would have made their escape, but could get no opportunity to do so.
Tapner said he did not cut Chater across the face, neither could he tell who did.
Jackson and Carter said that they had nothing more to say than what they had already said,
And none of the prisoners or their counsel having anything to offer in arrest of judgment, Mr. Justice Foster spoke to them as follows:—
“Benjamin Tapner, John Cobby, John Hammond, William Jackson, William Carter, Richard Mills the elder, and Richard Mills the younger, you have been convicted upon very full and satisfactory evidence of the murder of Daniel Chater; three of you as principals, and the rest as accessaries before the fact.
“And you, William Jackson and William Carter stand further convicted as principals in the murder of William Galley.
“Deliberate murder is most justly ranked amongst the highest crimes human nature is capable of; but those you have respectively been convicted of, have been attended with circumstances of very high and uncommon aggravation.
“The persons who have been the objects of your fury, were travelling on a very laudable design, the advancementof public justice. For this they were beset in their inn, tempted to drink to excess, and then laid asleep in an inner room, while a consultation was held in what manner to dispose of them: and in the end a resolution was taken to carry them to some distant place and to dispatch them by some means or other.
“In consequence of this resolution they were set on horseback, and exercised with various kinds of cruelty for many hours together, till one of them sunk under the hardships he suffered and died upon the road.
“The other was carried to a place of safe custody, there kept chained on a heap of turf, expecting his doom for three days. During this dreadful interval, a second consultation was held, and a resolution taken to dispatch him too; not a single man of thirteen who were present offering a word in his behalf.
“He was accordingly hurried to his death; and though he begged earnestly to live but one day longer, that small respite was denied him. I will not repeat every circumstance: but I cannot forbear putting you in mind of one. When the poor man was told he must die that very night, some of you advised him to say his prayers, and accordingly he did address himself to prayer.
“One would have hoped that this circumstance should have softened your hearts, and turned you from the evil purpose you were bent upon. Happy had it been for you, if you had then reflected, that God Almighty was witness to every thing that passed among you, and to all the intentions of your hearts!
“But while the man, under great distraction of thought, was recommending his soul to mercy, he was interrupted in his devotion by two of you in a manner I scarce know how to repeat.
“I hope your hearts have been long since softened to a proper degree of contrition for these things; and that you have already made a due preparation for the sentence I am now to pass upon you.
“If you have not, pray lose not one moment more. Let not company, or the habit of drinking, or the hopes of life divert you from it; for Christian charity obliges me to tell you that your time in this world will be very short.
“Nothing now remains but that I pass that sentence upon you which the Law of your Country, in conformity to the Law of God, and to the practice of all ages and nations, has already pronounced upon the crime you have been guilty of. This court doth therefore award that you, Benjamin Tapner, William Carter, John Hammond, John Cobby, Richard Mills the elder, Richard Mills the younger, and William Jackson, and each of you shall be conveyed from hence to the prison from whence you came, and from thence you shall be led to the place of execution, where you shall be severally hanged by the neck, until you shall be dead, and the Lord have mercy upon your souls.”
Having now completed the trials of these seven bloody criminals, I shall next give you the short Appendix which has been published by three of the clergymen who attended them after their conviction, and who have signed their names to the same, after which I shall give a much fuller account of their wicked lives and behaviour.
After sentence, the prisoners were carried back to Chichester gaol. The court were pleased to order them all for execution the very next day, and that the bodies of Jackson, Carter, Tapner, Cobby, and Hammond, thefive principals, should be hung in chains. Accordingly, they were carried from the gaol, to a place called the Broyle, near Chichester; where, in the presence of a great number of spectators, on Thursday, the 19th day of January last, about two o’clock in the afternoon, all of them were executed, except Jackson, who died in jail, about four hours after sentence of death was pronounced upon him.
The heinousness of the crimes of such notorious offenders may possibly excite in the reader a desire to be informed of their respective behaviour whilst under sentence of death, and at the place of execution; to satisfy which is subjoined the following authentic account, under the hands of the several clergymen who attended them alternately in gaol, and together at the place of execution:—
“The first time I went to the malefactors under condemnation, being the evening after sentence was passed upon them, I prayed with them all; viz., Carter, Tapner, Cobby, Hammond, and the Mills’s (Jackson being dead just before I went to the gaol) but many persons being present, I had no opportunity of saying any thing material, and therefore told them I would visit them early the next morning, which I did accordingly.
“After prayers, I talked with them about their unhappy condition, and the heinous crimes that brought them into it. I asked them if they desired to receive the Sacrament; they all and each of them desired that I would administer it to them; accordingly I attended them again, about ten o’clock, for that purpose; and during the whole time of my performing that office, they all behaved with great decency and devotion, especially Carter and Tapner.
“Afterwards I put the following questions to them,and desired they would be sincere in their answers as dying men; first, whether they did not acknowledge the sentence that was passed upon them to be just, and what they highly deserved? Carter, the most sensible and penitent amongst them, first answered, Yes; as did afterwards Tapner, Cobby, and Hammond; but the two Mills’s did not.
“Secondly, I asked them whether they forgave everybody; they all and each answered they forgave all the world. Tapner then owned that Edmund Richards and another were the cause of his ruin, but yet forgave them.
“Carter laid his ruin to Jackson for drawing him from his honest employment.
“John Smyth,
“Curate of St. Pancras, in Chichester.”
“Both Carter and Tapner, a few hours before their execution, confessed to me that they with several others assembled together with a design to rescue Dimer out of Chichester gaol; that the only person amongst them who had arms was Edmund Richards; but that being disappointed by a number of persons who had promised to join them from the East, their scheme was frustrated and their purpose carried no further into execution; that one Stringer[9]was at the head of this confederacy, but not present with them at the time of their assembling together.
“Simon Hughes,
“Vicar of Donnington in Sussex.”
“Benjamin Tapner, of West Stoke, in Sussex, labourer, son of Henry Tapner, of Aldingbourne, Sussex, bricklayer, aged 27, before he was turned off, owned the justice of his sentence, and desired all young persons to take warning by his untimely end, and avoid bad company, which was his ruin. When in gaol, before he was brought out for execution, he said he did not remember he put the rope about Chater’s neck.
“William Carter, of Rowland’s Castle, thatcher, son of Wm. Carter, of East Meon in Hants, aged 39, at the place of execution and in gaol, confessed the justice of the sentence passed upon him, and acted more suitably to a person in such unhappy circumstances than any of them; he likewise at the gallows, cautioned every one against those courses that had brought him to so shameful an end.
“Tapner and Carter, when all the ropes were fixed, shook hands, but what or whether any words then passed between them, was not heard.
“Richard Mills the elder, of Trotton, in Sussex, colt-breaker, son of —— Mills of List, in Hants, labourer, aged 68, was unwilling to own himself guilty of the fact for which he died, and said he never saw Chater; but being asked whether he never heard him, as he was confined so long in the next room to that in which he generally sat, made no answer.
“Richard Mills the younger, of Stedham, colt-breaker, son of the aforesaid Richard Mills, aged 37, would willingly have been thought innocent; and it being put to him whether he made that speech about the council of war, &c., and whether he was not at the consultation, denied both; but in the latter Tapner confronted him, and said, ‘Yes, young Major, you was there;’ to which Mills replied, ‘Ay, for a quarter of an hour orso,’ or to that purpose. It so happened that his rope was first fixed to the gallows, and a considerable time was taken up in fixing the rest, which interim he might have much better employed than he did in gazing at the spectators, and then at the hangman (while tying the ropes of the other malefactors) till the cart was almost ready to drive away.
“John Cobby of Sidlesham, in Sussex, labourer, son of James Cobby of Birdham, in Sussex, carpenter, aged 30, appeared to be very dejected, and said but little in gaol, and little at the gallows.
“John Hammond of Bersted, in Sussex, labourer, son of John Hammond of the same place, labourer, aged 40, seemed likewise very much dejected, and had little to say for himself, excepting his pretending that the threats of Jackson, Carter and the rest, were the occasion of his being concerned in the murder.
“Cobby’s excuse was much the same.
“They all, except the two Mills’s, seemed sensible of the heinous nature of the crime for which they died, and behaved as became men in their unhappy condition, more particularly Carter; but the Mills’s, father and son, appeared hardened and unaffected, both in the gaol and at the gallows, especially the son, who seemed by his behaviour, even when his rope was fixed to the gallows, to be as little moved at what he was about to suffer, as the most unconcerned spectator. However, just before the cart drove away, he and his father seemed to offer up some prayers to God.
“R. Sandham,
“Vicar of Subdeanry in Chichester.
“John Smyth,
“Curate of St. Pancras.”
As Jackson died so soon after condemnation, no other account can be given of him, than he was of Aldsworth, near Rowland’s Castle, in Hampshire, labourer, aged about 50 years; and that being very ill all the time of his trial, as he had been for a considerable time before, was shocked at the sentence of death, and the apprehensions of being hung in chains, to such a degree as hastened and brought on his death before he could pay the forfeit of his life in that ignominy to which he was most deservedly doomed, and more particularly due to him as a ringleader in the most cruel and horrid barbarities and murders.
He professed the Romish religion some years before his death, and that he died a Roman Catholic may very reasonably be presumed from a printed paper that was found carefully sewed upon a linen purse in his waistcoat pocket immediately after his death, supposed to be a popish relique, and containing the following words, viz.:—
“Sancti tres RegesGaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,Orate pro Nobis nunc et in Hora Mortis Nostræ.Ces Billets ont touche aux trois Testes de S. S. Roysa Cologne.
Ils sont pour Des Voyageurs, contre Les Malheurs de Chemins, Maux de Teste, Mal-cadaque, Fievres, Sorcellerie, toute sorte de Malefice, Morte subite.”
In English thus:
“Ye three Holy Kings,Gaspar, Melchior, Balthasar,Pray for us now, and in the hour of death.These papers have touched the three heads of the HolyKings at Cologne.
They are to preserve travellers from accidents onthe road, headaches, falling sickness, fevers, witchcraft, all kinds of mischief and sudden death.”
The body of William Carter was hung in chains in the Portsmouth road, near Rake, in Sussex; the body of Benjamin Tapner on Rook’s Hill, near Chichester; and the bodies of John Cobby and John Hammond upon the sea coast, near a place called Selsea Bill, in Sussex, where they were seen at a great distance, both east and west.
The bodies of the Mills’s, father and son, having neither friend or relation to take them away, were thrown into a hole, dug for that purpose, very near the gallows, into which was likewise thrown the body of Jackson. Just by is erected a stone having the following inscription, viz.:—