Part 66

He said that he was a landing-waiter at the Custom-house, and had held that situation since the year 1827. Soon after his appointment he became acquainted with the prisoner Seale, whose office was similar to his own. After about six months, however, they quarrelled, and it was not until June 1834 that their difference was made up. They were then stationed at the London Docks; and after business they were in the habit of frequenting various public-houses. The Duke of Sussex at Peckham, The Royal Mortar, and the Castle in the Old Kent-road, were often visited, but they occasionally went to the Three Kingdoms near the Custom-house. Shortly after their reconciliation, Seale mentioned to him a design which existed to "crack" the Custom-house; and on the same afternoon they met the prisoner Mott at the Three Kingdoms; he was a clerk in the king's warehouse. Mott spoke of the subject as if it were a familiar one to him, and he advised that they should delay the intended robbery until an opportunity should present itself, when they might obtain a larger booty than they could then procure. This was agreed to by all parties, and although they subsequently frequently spoke upon the subject, the execution of their plan was deferred. In the following August, the witness went to see his father at Drogheda. He had previously been introduced to Jourdan and Sullivan, and he knew that the object of their introduction was, that they might assist in the project which they had in view. He met them in Dublin, and they inquired whether he had any means of assisting them in robbing the Custom-houses at Drogheda and at Dublin. He answered in the negative, and returned to London the same day; and on the 4th of September he resumed his occupation. He soon after met Mott and Scale at the London Docks, and the discussion of the subject of the robbery was resumed. After a short time they proceeded to Jourdan's lodgings, at No. 3, East-street, Walworth, and acquainted him with their plans. He made various inquiries with regard to the contents of the strong box in the office of the Receiver of Fines, upon which it had been determined their attack should be made, and on the next day went with Sullivan to inspect the place. At a subsequent meeting they declared that it would be easy to commit the robbery; and Sullivan suggested that the best means of effecting their purpose would be to fit the locks with false keys. Mott said that he could procure impressions of one of the keys,--that of the outer door; and at a meeting which they afterwards held, he produced the key of which he had spoken, saying that he had taken it from the desk of Mr. Billing, in the king's warehouse, who was out on leave. An impression of it was taken in wax by Sullivan, from which subsequently a skeleton key was made. The assistance of a fifth person was now spoken of, and Seale introduced a man named William May, or Morgan, (a thief, and the former companion of Jourdan and Sullivan). At the next meeting Sullivan produced the skeleton key, and said, that he and Jourdan had tried it and found that it would fit, but it was not strong enough, and a new and firmer key was ordered to be prepared. Seale then also showed them some padlock keys, one of which he suggested would open the padlock with which the door was fastened; but after impressions of them had been taken, and trials made with skeleton keys made from the model, it was found that none of them belonged to the lock which they desired to open. A suggestion was then made, that the best way to commit the robbery would be by "stowing away," by which was meant, hiding one of the party in the house, who could, undisturbed, secure the booty and then make his escape. May volunteered to conceal himself, and a proposal was made that they should again inspect the place in order to ascertain whether this could be done. The king's sale was now approaching, and Jourdan said that he should like to know what would be the probable amount of the contents of the box. This, it was observed, might be easily ascertained. One of the party could buy a lot at the sale, and going to pay for it, he could see what money was in the chest, by presenting a note of such an amount as that Mr. Walsh would not be likely to be able to give change without going to the safe. This was agreed to; and a lot of rum having been purchased for 11_l._, Jourdan took a 50_l._ note to pay for it. On the 26th of November he informed his associates of his success in the project which he had undertaken. He said, that on his presenting the 50_l._ note, Mr. Walsh felt his pockets, and looked into his drawers, but finding that he had not got sufficient change, he went to the iron-chest. Having only one key, he was obliged to wait until the person who kept the other came down stairs; (it is the custom to have a double lock to the iron safes of public institutions, so that they cannot be opened except with the concurrence of two persons, each of whom has a key). He then took out a large cash-box, which he could only move with both his hands, and on its being opened there appeared to be about 5000_l._ in it at least. Jourdan gave his own name and address to be indorsed on the note which he paid; and having received the change, he went away satisfied with the observation he had made. Mott censured him for giving his own name, and observing that all the particulars were written in a book, it was agreed that when the robbery was effected, the book should be destroyed, by the leaves being cut out and burned. The final plans were then arranged, and it was decided that May should go to the Custom-house at a little before four o'clock accompanied by Jourdan and Sullivan, and that in the confusion which usually prevailed at the time of shutting the offices, the former should enter the Receiver's Office and conceal himself behind the door. On the next morning at nine o'clock, Jourdan and Sullivan were to be again in waiting, and having seen all safe, they were to give a signal to May, so that he might quit the place when the watchmen had opened the doors. Mott was also to assist in this design by keeping the clerks in his office, where they went to sign the appearance-sheet. If May got clear off, they were all to meet at Scale's house at Peckham on the same morning, to divide the booty. These arrangements being completed, they separated, and the witness remained away from business next day, on the pretended ground of ill-health. In the afternoon, Seale, and subsequently Jourdan and Sullivan, called on him and told him, that May had been safely "lodged;" that they had all walked into the passage together, and in the confusion had "flashed" an umbrella, under cover of which May entered the office. They afterwards waited on the esplanade for ten minutes to see that all was right, when seeing the doors locked, they went away. On the next morning, the 28th, witness went to Peckham, and meeting Seale, they went together to the Waterman's Arms, which commanded a view of the road by which Jourdan and the others must go to them. They remained there until they saw them coming, and then they went and met them, and they all proceeded to Seale's house together: Mott was not present. May then produced the money from his pocket, and it was divided into six equal parcels: it consisted of 4700_l._ in notes, 122_l._ in gold, and about 50_s._ in silver. May detailed to them the manner in which he had committed the robbery. He said, that as soon as he was locked in, he set to work: he found the key which opened the Receiver's lock to the chest, and employed it; but he was compelled to break open the other lock. Having done so, he took out the money and put it into his pockets. He next tore out the leaves from the book, and he now produced them. One of them bore the name "Leary, East-lane, Walworth," and that with the rest was burned. The whole party then tossed for choice of the lots of money, because some contained more gold than others; and the selection having been made, Jourdan and Sullivan claimed something for expenses. A 20_l._ note and some silver were paid them, as well as the 50_l._ note marked "Leary," and they with May went away. Seale then took the three remaining shares up stairs, saying, that he should send them out of town; and on the same evening he said that they were sixty or seventy miles off. In about a month afterwards, however, he told the witness that they were at Leicester, and he went and fetched them. The lots were then counted over, and the share of each was 745_l._ in notes. The witness further stated, that he disposed of all the notes under 20_l._ in amount to Jourdan at 20_l._ per cent. discount, and subsequently all under 100_l._ in value upon the same terms; and that having done so, he concealed the remainder in Camberwell churchyard, where they remained for several months. Seale then introduced a person who undertook to dispose of some of those which were left, on the Continent; and a portion of the notes was given to him, and he brought back cash. Seale took away what was left of his money, and the witness retained 900_l._ in three notes of the value of 300_l._ each. These he concealed in the panelling of one of the doors of his house, by boring a hole with a centre-bit, and then having introduced the notes, filled up the remaining space with a cork; and on his apprehension he disclosed the place of their concealment, and they were seized by the officers.

On his cross-examination, the witness declared that he had no object in making this disclosure, but that of saving his friends from disgrace. He did not desire to screen himself from punishment; but having committed so heinous a crime, he felt called upon to repair the mischief he had done so far as he was able.

In the course of this and the following days, a vast body of testimony was produced, which proved the transmission of a great part of the stolen notes to the Continent, and their negotiation there: the intimate connexion and acquaintance between the prisoners and Huey about the time of the robbery was also shown, and a great variety of other corroborative evidence was adduced.

The prisoners declared that Huey's story was untrue, and had been invented by him to screen himself; and attempts were made to show that at various periods of the transaction Jourdan and Sullivan had been at places which forbade their implication in the robbery. Other witnesses gave Mott and Seale a good character; but the jury, on Thursday night, found all the prisoners "Guilty," but recommended Mott and Seale to mercy.

On Tuesday the 8th of March, the prisoners received sentence of transportation for life; Jourdan and Sullivan being informed that they would be sent to a penal settlement, where they would be compelled to undergo the most severe and painful labour; while Mott and Seale were told that upon their arrival in the colony to which they were about to be sent, they also would be severely punished, by their being worked in road-gangs.

The distressing nature of Seale's position was rendered doubly painful by the sudden death of his wife on the Saturday after his conviction. The wives of all four prisoners were allowed a last interview with them on that day in Newgate. One of those who availed herself of the privilege was Seale's wife, who went there soon after ten o'clock on the above morning. She had a long interview with her husband, and appeared very much affected on being apprised by him that it was probable he would be transported for life. She afterwards proceeded home; but had scarcely entered the house where she had been lodging since her husband's incarceration, when she dropped down and almost instantly expired.

The convicts were subsequently conveyed to the penal settlements, where they were immediately placed in the positions of painful punishment which had been described to them by the learned judge at the time sentence was passed upon them. Reports afterwards reached England that Sullivan had escaped from custody immediately upon his arrival in Sydney. It appears that he secreted himself on board a Dutch vessel bound for England. But the period during which he retained his freedom was short; for the captain discovering him, put back to Hobart Town, and he was conducted to a place called Goat Island, from which no subsequent effort enabled him to retreat.

JAMES HILLS, WILLIAM HARLEY, AND WILLIAM FISHER, _alias_ CURLY BILL.

TRIED FOR BURGLARY.

This burglary was marked by circumstances of very considerable peculiarity.

The men whose names appear at the head of this article were indicted at the Kingston Assizes, on Thursday the 31st of March 1836, for a burglary in the house of Mrs. Mary Anne Long, at Chipstead, in Surrey, on the night of the 2nd of September 1835, and for stealing therefrom various articles of property.

The circumstances attending the robbery were well described by Mrs. Long at the trial. She said, "I am sixty-six years of age, a widow, and reside with my sister, Mrs. Scholefield, at Mint House, Chipstead, which is a lone house, situate between Gatton and Reigate: on the night of the 2nd of September last, I, Mrs. Scholefield, her son (Mr. Rankin), and a female servant, were the only inmates; we retired to bed after having seen that all the premises were properly fastened; I slept with my sister, and about ten minutes past one in the morning I was awoke by hearing the dog, which was kept in the yard, barking violently; I got up and opened the bed-room window, and thinking that some persons were about the premises, I hallooed out that they had better keep out of the way, or I would put a bullet into their stomach, which was not a pleasant thing; I did so to intimidate them, and then retired to bed; shortly after I heard a noise, and again got up; on going to the window I saw a man trying to get in; he had smashed the pane, and was armed with a stake; I seized hold of the stake, and tried to wrest it from him, but he was too strong for me, and struck me a violent blow on the head, inflicting a wound of an inch and a half in length; he also struck me on the shoulder and hand, of which I lost the use for some time; I then called to my nephew, Mr. Rankin, and he came armed with a cutlass; he made a cut at the man, but the night being very dark, and there being railings at the window, he missed him, and he got down the ladder and went away; I then lit three or four candles, and went down stairs for my nephew's gun; I brought it up, but recollecting that I had left the powder and ammunition, I again went down for it, and locked the pantry-door after me; I returned up stairs, and my nephew loaded the gun; about a half or three-quarters of an hour afterwards we heard a great noise outside the house, and the panel of the south door looking out upon a meadow was smashed in; we heard the voices of six or seven men, who entered the house; they remained down stairs three-quarters of an hour; I slept in a room at the end of a passage, and my nephew's bed-room was opposite; there is a door at the top of the passage leading down the stairs; we placed ourselves in the passage; we then heard one of the men say, 'Now we will go up stairs,' and I heard what I supposed to be a man crawling on his hands and knees--I judged so from the scraping his toes made along the floor-cloth; Mrs. Scholefield was very much alarmed, and cried out for mercy; the men said, 'Give us 50_l._ or 30_l._ or 20_l._;' I told them that all my money was in the bank, and my plate at my banker's: one of the men said, 'I will murder you;' and another man said, 'We will murder you all;' they then forced in the panel of the door, and a man at the bottom of the stairs said, 'Go it, my boys:' Mr. Rankin dropped on his knee, and presented the gun through the panel; I could only see the rim of the hat of a man who appeared to be stooping down; Mr. Rankin fired, and the men fell back, and the candle went out; they all then went away; we waited for some time, and the dog having ceased barking, I and my nephew proceeded down stairs, he armed with a gun, and I carrying the cutlass; we fastened up the door as well as we could, and then went into the parlour, and found that the men had drunk two bottles of wine; we also found the cores of fourteen apples; they had taken away a watch, some cruet-frames, and other articles."

This statement of facts was corroborated by the testimony of Mrs. Scholefield and Mr. Rankin, who added their positive declaration as to the identity of the prisoners Hills and Harley. The former was the man who had been shot; and on his being taken into custody, shot of the same description as that which had been fired from his gun by Mr. Rankin were found in his breast. Fisher had been apprehended at the same time, and in company with the other prisoners; but there appeared to be considerable doubt whether he had been personally concerned in the burglary.

The jury found Hills and Harley "Guilty," but acquitted Fisher.

Mr. Justice Vaughan, in passing sentence of death upon the prisoners, remarked upon the great courage which had been displayed by Mrs. Long and Mr. Rankin, and directed that they should receive a reward as a mark of the high estimation in which he held their conduct.

After their conviction the prisoners were removed to Horsemonger-lane jail, where they paid the most assiduous attention to the spiritual consolation offered to them by the Rev. Mr. Mann, the chaplain.

On Monday, the 11th of April, the last sentence of the law was carried into execution upon the person of the convict Harley, a respite during pleasure having been granted on the previous day in the case of his fellow-convict Hills. The convict maintained a deportment of great firmness, unmixed, however, with any symptoms of bravado, or unnatural courage. He appeared sincerely penitent and met his fate with becoming resignation.

The sentence of Hills was eventually commuted to transportation for life, in consequence of some favourable circumstances which transpired.

Both convicts were men of an inferior station, but there was good reason to believe that in the course of the proceedings of their lives they had been guilty of more than one offence of considerable enormity.

ROBERT SALMON.

CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER, IN ADMINISTERING MORISON's PILLS.

This case arose out of the extremely dangerous practice of administering quack medicines. Morison's vegetable pills have been for many years an article from the sale of which immense profits have been derived; but it is to be regretted that in more than one instance the life of the patient has been sacrificed, from their undue and improper use.

At the Central Criminal Court Sessions, which commenced on Monday the 4th of April 1836, Mr, Robert Salmon, a medicine-vendor in Farringdon-street, was indicted for the manslaughter of Mr, John M'Kenzie, by administering to him certain large and excessive quantities of pills, composed of gamboge, cream of tartar, and other noxious and deleterious ingredients.

The deceased, it appeared, was the master of a vessel, and lived in the neighbourhood of the Commercial-road. He was induced to take some of Morison's pills as a purgative, upon the representations of a Mrs. Lane, a woman who was employed by his wife as a sempstress, who sold the Hygeian medicines; and subsequently Mr. Salmon's aid having been claimed, on account of his suffering from rheumatism in the knee, he recommended increased and still-increasing doses, until at length the deceased became so ill as that his life was placed in jeopardy. Medical aid was now called in, but it was too late, and death soon put an end to his sufferings. A _post-mortem_ examination left no doubt that the medicine prescribed by the prisoner had been the cause of this termination of the case, and the present indictment was in consequence preferred.

On the part of the defendant a great many persons were called from all parts of the kingdom, who stated that they had taken large quantities of these pills, with the very best results, as a means of cure for almost every species of malady to which the human frame is subject. One person stated that he had taken no fewer than twenty thousand of them in two years, and that he had found infinite relief from swallowing them in very large doses.

Mr. Justice Patteson left the case to the jury, who had to decide upon the facts which had been proved; and after about half an hour's consideration they found a verdict of "Guilty," with a recommendation to mercy, upon the ground that the defendant was not the compounder, but the vendor only of the medicines.

On the following Saturday, the 9th of April, the defendant was brought up to receive judgment. The learned judge having sentenced him to pay a fine of 200_l._, added, "I think it right to caution you, that in the event of your being again found guilty of conduct of a similar description, the character of your offence will be materially altered. I hope that the punishment which is now inflicted on you will deter others from rashly administering medicines, with the nature of which they are unacquainted, in large quantities, as the result may be fatal."

The trade in Morison's pills is, however, still carried on to a very great extent, and Mr. Salmon continues one of the largest agents for the sale of the medicine in the metropolis.

HENRY WILLIAMS.

TRANSPORTED FOR BURGLARY.

The case of this prisoner is remarkable only for his singular and daring escape from Newgate after his conviction. He had been tried at the Central Criminal Court Sessions, in the month of July 1836, for a burglary at Islington, and the offence being clearly brought home to him, he was convicted and sentenced to death, in obedience to the requisitions of of the then existing law. On Friday the 22nd of July, he succeeded in effecting his escape from the condemned yard, in which he was confined.