Part 73

At the Norwich Assizes, on Thursday the 6th of April, 1837, John Smith, _alias_ Day, John Varnham, and George Timms (all of whom were about the age of twenty-six), were indicted for the wilful murder of Hannah Mansfield, at Denver, in the County of Norfolk, on the night of Monday, the 1st of January, in the same year. The unfortunate object of this violence was a woman of about forty years of age, who resided alone in a house at Denver, adjoining a common, across which a path led from the high road to the residence of the deceased, and of a Mrs. Dungay, which was under the same roof. Being possessed of a small property, (of what nature it did not appear), this woman had eked out her subsistence by professing the mysterious trade and occupation of a conjuror and fortune-teller, in which she had gained much reputation among her neighbours and such was her success that she had become (unfortunately for herself), the possessor of a considerable quantity of silver plate, consisting of cream jugs, tankards, table and tea-spoons, sugar-tongs, and four salt-cellars. These articles she was wont to keep in a corner cupboard; and she had been known, on many occasions, boastfully to have displayed what, for persons in her class of life, was esteemed wondrous wealth; in addition to which her more intimate friends had frequently seen her take out her curious old leathern purse, and empty its precious contents in her lap, and count out her treasures. These latter consisted of various coins current in England, at the beginning of this century, which the poor fortune-teller used to take an especial pride in burnishing, and keeping as bright as they had ever been on the day they first issued from the Mint.

Such being the habits and situation of the deceased, Hannah Mansfield, it was shown that the prisoner Smith had, about fifteen months before, had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with them, for he was known to have called late one evening at Mrs. Dungay's house, when he asked, "for advice on some losses;" but being advised of his mistake, he was conducted by Mrs. Dungay to the conjuror. There he held a conversation at the door of the house, while two men, by whom he was accompanied, stood aloof. Satisfied with the result of his visit he went away, and nothing more was seen of him till about eight o'clock of the evening preceding the night on which the murder took place, when it was proved that he was seen, with two other men described in a manner corresponding to the other two prisoners, by a boy, on the high road leading to Denver, at a spot about three miles from that place. Thence they proceeded to a public-house at Hilgay, where they remained till nearly eleven o'clock, drinking and spending the evening in the public room. This was the last time they were seen that day. During the night a noise was heard to proceed from the fortune-teller's door, by Mrs. Dungay, and she got up, and opening her window, listened. Nothing more being heard, no further notice was taken of the circumstance till next morning, when it was discovered, about ten o'clock, that the poor creature had been most foully murdered, and her property carried off. Suspicion rested on the prisoners; they were traced through the snow, and, upon the clearest testimony, the atrocious deed was fixed upon them. They were found guilty, and received sentence of death.

During their subsequent imprisonment they confessed their guilt. They were all men of low station, and procured a livelihood as labourers; but occasionally employed themselves in the less creditable occupation of tramps. Lately before the murder they had been engaged as workmen on the railroad at Berkhampstead. Smith, it appeared, was the leader of the party, and he had persuaded his companions to assist him in the execution of his plot. He had obtained information of the riches of the deceased during a short residence at Downham, in the beginning of the year 1836. He then determined on robbing her, but was unable to put his design into execution until January 1837, when he procured the co-operation of his fellow-convicts. Both of them had expressed unwillingness to join in the enterprise, but Smith led them on, and he and Timms murdered the old woman, while Varnham kept watch. Varnham was respited, and his sentence commuted to transportation; but Smith and Timms were executed on Saturday the 29th of April, 1837.

GEORGE DARWELL.

CONVICTED OF EMBEZZLEMENT.

The scene of the very extraordinary case of this person was Liverpool, where he had for a considerable time occupied the situation of confidential clerk to Mr. Wolstenholme, a cotton-broker of that city. On Saturday the 14th of October, 1837, he was taken in the custody of Whittle, a police-officer, before Mr. Hall, the chief magistrate of Liverpool, charged with having embezzled a sum of money amounting to 8,264_l._ the property of his employer: and at the same time a fat and somewhat vulgar woman, named Frances M'Lean, _alias_ Flood, _alias_ Butler, and Richard M'Lean, were charged with having participated in the proceeds of the robbery.

The circumstances of the case were remarkable, and afforded a striking instance of the extent of delinquency which may be produced by the commission of one error. Darwell was about fifty years of age, and it appeared that some years before his apprehension he had formed an intimacy with Mrs. M'Lean, the result of which was the birth of an infant. Alarmed for the effects which a general knowledge of this circumstance might produce upon his character, he was induced to hand over to her various sums of money, to secure her silence as to the paternity of her child; and his own means being exhausted, he at length gave her money which was the property of his employer. Having thus taken one false step, every month served to increase his difficulties; and the new demands which were made upon him, accompanied by threats of exposure if they were not complied with, in the course of a considerable length of time, drew from him various amounts, until at length he had appropriated money to the extent of upwards of 8,000_l._, of his master's property. The abstraction of so large an amount, it may be presumed, could not long remain undiscovered, and at length Whitty having received certain information upon the subject, he took the prisoner into custody. Darwell at once candidly confessed to him his criminality, and explained to him the manner in which he had disposed of the money; informing him at the same time that he would find Mrs. M'Lean residing in Junction-street, Manchester. Whitty, in consequence, proceeded thither, and finding the male prisoner M'Lean, he demanded to know whether he was acquainted with a person named Darwell? He answered in the negative; but the officer having searched the house, found a great number of documents in the handwriting of Darwell, which appeared to be letters in which money had been transmitted to the female prisoner. M'Lean, it was ascertained, had been recently married to the woman, and it was also found that he had engaged largely in the business of brick-making, and had a stock valued at between 2,000_l._ and 3,000_l._ Mrs. M'Lean was not then in the house, and upon his return to Liverpool Whitty found that she had just before arrived there, having started upon another expedition to procure money from Darwell. Upon his finding her, he acquainted her with the fact of the apprehension of Darwell, when she declared her regret for what had occurred, and admitted that she had received about 8,000_l._ from him; but assured the officer, that she had always believed that the money belonged to Darwell himself, whom she took to be a person of property. She expressed her willingness to give up all that she retained, but asserted her innocence of any felonious intention. The officer added, (in his evidence), that he had found books in the possession of the female prisoner, in which the amounts, which she had received from Darwell, were regularly entered and posted up; and he ascertained from them, that since the preceding Christmas, he had paid her no less than 2,273_l._

These were the main facts of the case, and a legal gentleman, who attended for the two M'Leans, contended that there was nothing in the proofs to implicate them in the felonious charge. The prisoners were all remanded; but after another examination the M'Leans were set at liberty, and Darwell was committed for trial.

Between the period of the inquiry before the magistrates, and the final investigation of the case before the jury, upwards of 5,000_l._ were given up by the M'Leans to Mr. Wolstenholme; and a singular circumstance in the transaction was elicited, in the fact that Mrs. M'Lean, at the very time at which she was so unscrupulously receiving such large sums from Darwell, was in the possession of a handsome annuity, granted to her by a merchant resident in America, in respect of the same child, which had been the cause of the unfortunate Darwell's crime.

At the Liverpool sessions, on Friday the 27th of October, Darwell was put upon his trial. The facts of the case were clear and uncontradicted, and a verdict of "Guilty" was returned. Mr. Wolstenholme recommended the convict to the mercy of the court; and in consideration of the atonement which he had made, by his confession and interference to procure the return of the money, he was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment only.

GEORGE FLETCHER, WILLIAM ROACH, AND THOMAS TAYLOR.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

These unhappy men underwent the infliction of the penalty of death for the murder of an aged pensioner of the 49th regiment of foot, named William Bennett, on Wednesday evening, the 28th of October 1837.

It appears that Bennett, the murdered man, had lived at Temen-green, a place about four miles distant from Hertford, for a great number of years, and he had a pension of one shilling and tenpence halfpenny per day, which he was in the habit of going to Hertford to receive quarterly. He went to Hertford for that purpose on the day of the murder, and called upon Mr. Duncan, the superintendant of the Hertford police, who accompanied him to receive his pension, which amounted to nearly ten pounds; and Mr. Duncan observed that at this time he had more money about him. He left Hertford about four o'clock in the afternoon, perfectly sober and collected. Nothing more was seen of him until about half-past four o'clock, when a boy named Bolton met him about a quarter of a mile from his own house, and he also observed four men in the wood by the road side, who were evidently watching the unfortunate man. The boy said to the deceased, "Who are those men?" The deceased replied, that he knew who they were very well, and he did not mind them. The boy went on his way, and the deceased was never more seen alive. A labouring man going to his work about half-past five o'clock on the next morning, saw the body of a man lying by the roadside at Temen, and on going close to it he discovered it was that of the deceased. He immediately gave an alarm, and assistance being procured the body was taken to the Feathers public-house, Temen-green, where Mr. Davies, a surgeon, was sent for. It was then discovered that the head of the deceased had been literally crushed by repeated blows of a bludgeon and kicks. It was found that the bulk of the deceased's money had been taken, as well as his watch and pocket-book, but in his waistcoat pockets were still a half-sovereign and a small quantity of silver, and some half-pence. The moment the knowledge of these facts came to the magistrates of Hertford, they took the most prompt measures to apprehend the parties who had perpetrated the horrible crime, and Mr. Duncan, the superintendant of police, received directions to institute the minutest inquiries upon the subject with that view. Accordingly Mr. Duncan, accompanied by Knight and Baker, two of his men, proceeded to the neighbourhood of Temen-green, and they there obtained information which led to the apprehension of two men, Fletcher and Sams, the former at Burling-green, near the place where the murder was committed, and the latter at a beer-shop in Hertford.

Subsequent inquiries led to the belief that two young men, named Taylor and Roach, were also engaged in the perpetration of the murder; and, in the course of a few days, the latter was apprehended. For some time after they were taken into custody, the prisoners persisted in denying their knowledge of the deceased or of his murder; but after about a fortnight's imprisonment, they sent for Mr. Carter, a magistrate, to whom each of them in succession made a statement. The story which they all related implicated them in an intention to rob the deceased, but they denied that they had attacked him with the object of committing murder. Sams, however, they stated, was no party to the actual attack, although he had consented to accompany them, for that he became alarmed before they came up with the deceased, lest he should recognise him, and turned back. The others then advanced, and, getting close behind the old man, tripped him up and fell upon him. He struggled violently on the ground, and exclaimed that he knew them, but they robbed him of his money and then beat him violently. After this they went away and divided the booty; and on the next day heard that the old man was dead. Roach now absconded to London, but was taken into custody in the crowd assembled to witness the procession of her majesty into the City on Lord-mayor's day, by a police-constable, who recognised him from the description of his person which had been circulated. They all stated that Taylor, who was now nowhere to be found, had been the most active in the murder and robbery; but that he, as well as they, had had no original intention to commit any violence upon the deceased.

On Friday, the 2nd of March 1838, the three prisoners were put upon their trial before Mr. Justice Vaughan, at the Hertford Assizes, and the jury, after a patient inquiry, found Roach and Fletcher "Guilty," but acquitted Sams.

Sentence of death was immediately passed on the convicts, and on Wednesday, the 14th of March, their execution took place. Both the culprits were mere lads, and the most strenuous exertions had been made to save them, but without effect. They conducted themselves with much propriety while they were in prison, but maintained a firm consistency in their assertion that murder had formed no part of their object when they first attacked the old man. They met death with much fortitude and resignation.

In the following month of September, Taylor was recognised at Plymouth, whither he had gone with the 15th regiment of foot, into which he had enlisted almost immediately after the murder, in the name of Evans. He was sent back to Hertford, and, at the ensuing Spring Assizes was tried, convicted, and executed.

RIOTS AT CANTERBURY.

These singular but mischievous riots occurred on Thursday, the 31st of May 1838, at a place called Bossenden Wood, situated about five miles from the ancient city of Canterbury, and were the result of the pranks of a madman who had assumed the title of Sir William Percy Honeywood Courtenay, Knight of Malta, and whose insane spirit communicated itself to the rustics, and produced severely calamitous consequences. The infatuation with which this insane impostor was followed, and even worshipped, by the peasantry of the district into which he intruded himself, affords a striking and melancholy proof of the magic powers of fanaticism. But while one is not surprised that among the lower orders he should find persons incapable of resisting his wily and specious arguments, and the impudent falsehood of his assertions, it cannot but be the subject of the greatest astonishment that he should have procured the countenance, during a very considerable period, of individuals of superior rank and education in the county.

The best mode of introducing this extraordinary event will be by detailing succinctly the circumstances of the early life of the supposed Sir William Courtenay. The real name of this pretender was John Nichols Thom, and he was the son of a small farmer and maltster at St. Columb, in Cornwall. While yet a lad, he procured employment in the establishment of Messrs. Plumer and Turner, wine-merchants of Truro, as cellarman; but after five years' service, the firm was broken up, and the business ceased. Thom now commenced trading on his own account, as a wine-merchant, maltster, and hop-dealer, and for three or four years he carried on his trade with great apparent respectability. At the end of that time his premises and stock were consumed by an accidental fire, and he recovered from an Insurance-office, for the losses which he alleged he had sustained by this event, the sum of 3000_l._, being a much larger amount than those judged him to be entitled to, who were well able to form an opinion as to his probable station in the world. Subsequently he re-built his house and continued his trade; but, after about two years more, he made a considerable sum of money by a successful venture in malt, which he disposed of in Liverpool. For two years after this event he was lost sight of by his friends, and it was presumed that he was out of England, and the first intimation which was received of his return was his declaring himself a candidate to represent the city of Canterbury in Parliament, under the name of Sir William Courtenay, in the month of December 1832. He was found to have taken up his residence at the Rose Hotel, Canterbury; and the splendour of his dress, and the eccentricity of his manners, soon gained for him many admirers, even among the respectable inhabitants of the town. During his canvass he increased the number of his friends, and his success in procuring supporters was most extraordinary. His effort, however, was not fortunate. His opponent candidates were the Hon. R. Watson and Lord Fordwich, the former of whom obtained 832 votes, the latter 802, while Courtenay polled 375. This attempt gained him many friends, and great popularity among the lower orders. His persuasive language was exceedingly useful to him; but the peculiarity of his dress, combined with the absurdity of many of his protestations, induced a belief among some of those to whom he procured introduction that he was insane.

After his defeat he did not confine his proceedings to Canterbury alone, but he passed through most of the towns in Kent, declaiming against the poor laws, the revenue laws, and other portions of the statutes of the realm which are usually considered by the poor to be obnoxious to their interests. By his speeches he obtained much éclat; but his exertions in favour of some smugglers led him into a scrape, from which he was likely to have suffered serious consequences. An action took place in the month of July 1833 between the revenue cruiser Lively and the Admiral Hood smuggler, near the Goodwin Sands, and, in the course of the flight of the latter vessel, and her exertions to escape from the Lively, her crew were observed to throw a great number of tubs overboard, which, on their being picked up, proved to contain spirit. The Admiral Hood was captured, but no contraband goods were found on board; and, on the men being taken into custody, Courtenay presented himself as a witness before the magistrates. He swore positively that he had seen the whole of the action, and that no tubs had been thrown from the Admiral Hood; and he further stated, that he had observed those which had been picked up by the revenue men floating in the sea all day. This was so diametrically opposed to the truth, that a prosecution for perjury was determined on, and he was indicted at the Maidstone Assizes on the 25th of July 1833. A verdict of conviction followed; and Mr. Justice Park, the presiding judge, passed a sentence of imprisonment, to be followed by seven years' transportation. The difficulty in which he was placed, however, having reached the knowledge of his friends in Cornwall, they made representations to the Home-secretary that he was insane; and, after having suffered four years' confinement in a lunatic asylum at Barming Heath, he was at length liberated, on bail being given for his future good-behaviour.

He now took up his abode at the residence of Mr. Francis, a gentleman of fortune, of Fairbrook, near Boughton in the neighbourhood of Canterbury, and he speedily resumed his wild efforts to gain popularity for himself. His dress now was similar to that which he had worn before his incarceration; and the following sketch of his personal appearance, extracted from the romance of Rookwood, by Mr. Ainsworth, well describes him. "A magnificent coal-black beard decorated the chin of this worthy; but this was not all--his costume was in perfect keeping with his beard, and consisted of a very theatrical-looking tunic, upon the breast of which was embroidered in golden wire the Maltese cross; while on his shoulders were thrown the ample folds of a cloak of Tyrian hue. To his side was girt a long and doughty sword, which he termed, in his knightly phrase, Excalibur; and upon his profuse hair rested a hat as broad in the brim as a Spanish sombrero. Exaggerated as this description may appear, we can assure our readers that it is not overdrawn; and that a counterpart of the sketch we have given of the ruffler certainly 'strutted his hour' upon the stage of life, and that the very ancient and discriminating city of Canterbury (to which be all honour) was his theatre of action. His history is so far curious that it exemplifies, more strongly than a thousand discourses could do, how prone we are to be governed by appearances, and how easily we may be made the dupes of a plausible impostor."

His impositions, unfortunately, proved as mischievous as they were plausible. He succeeded in persuading many of the ignorant peasantry that his origin was as high as that of the Saviour. His visits to the cottages of the labouring classes were numerous; and his striking appearance seems to have had considerable influence upon the minds both of men and women. An observation made by one of them, that he was like a picture which was suspended in a room where he stood, representing the Son of God, induced him to assume this holy character; and the infatuation of the lower orders forbade their disbelieving the stories which he related. He is stated even to have asserted that he was the Redeemer himself, and that the marks of wounds were still visible upon his hands and feet, and on his sides, but it can hardly be supposed that he could long have maintained this character, as his hands upon subsequent examination proved to be unscarred. Many of the poor people believed that he was in the habit of receiving barrels of sovereigns every week to meet his current expenses, and that he was the rightful owner of some of the largest estates in Kent, from the possession of which he was only driven by the violence and fraud of their present holders.