Hunt. That pistol bore upon it the marks of blood and of human brains. The spot was afterwards still further examined, and more blood was discovered, which had been concealed by branches and leaves, so that no doubt could be entertained that the murder had been committed in this particular place. On the following morning, Saturday, the 25th of October, Thurtell and Hunt left Probert's cottage in the gig which Hunt had come down in, carrying away with them the gun, the carpet-bag, and the backgammonboard, belonging to Mr. Weare. These articles were taken to Hunt's lodgings, where they were afterwards found. When Hunt arrived in town on Saturday, he appeared to be unusually gay. He said, "We Turpin lads can do the trick. I am able to drink wine now, and I will drink nothing but wine." He seemed to be very much elevated at the recollection of some successful exploit. It was observed, that Thurtell's hands were very much scratched, and some remark having been made on the subject, he stated, "that they had been out netting partridges, and that his hands got scratched in that occupation." On some other points, he gave similarly evasive answers. On Sunday, John Thurtell, Thomas Thurtell, Noyes, and Hunt, spent the day at Probert's cottage. Hunt went down dressed in a manner so very shabby, as to excite observation. But in the course of the day he went up stairs, and attired himself in very handsome clothes. There was very little doubt that those were the clothes of the deceased Mr. Weare. He had now to call the attention of the jury to a very remarkable circumstance. On the Saturday, Hunt had a new spade sent to his lodgings, which he took down to the cottage on Sunday. When he got near Probert's garden, he told that individual, "that he had brought it down to dig a hole to bury the body in." On that evening, Probert did' really visit Mr. Nicholls; and the latter said to him, “that some persons had heard the report of a gun or pistol in the lane, on Friday evening; but he supposed it was some foolish joke." Probert, on his return, stated this to Thurtell and Hunt, and the information appeared to alarm the former, who said, "he feared he should be hanged." The intelligence, however, inspired them all with a strong desire to conceal the body effectually. Probert wished it to be removed from his pond; for, had it been found there, he knew it would be important evidence against himself. He declared that he would not suffer it to remain there; and Thurtell and Hunt promised to come down on the Monday, and remove it. On Monday, Thurtell and Hunt went out in the gig, and in furtherance of that scene of villany which they meditated, they took with them Probert's boy. They carried him to various places, and finally lodged the boy at Mr. Tetsall's, in Conduit-street. On the evening of that same Monday, Hunt and Thurtell came down to the cottage. Hunt engaged Mrs. Probert in conversation, while Thurtell and Probert took the body out of the pond, put it into Thurtell's gig, and then gave notice to Hunt that the gig was ready. In this manner they carried away the body that night; but where they took it to, Probert did not know. It appeared, however, that the body was carried to a pond near Elstree, at a considerable distance from Probert's cottage, and there sunk, as it had before been in Probert's pond, in a sack containing a considerable quantity of stones. Hunt and Thurtell then went to London; and the appearance of the gig the next morning clearly told the way in which it had been used over night; a quantity of blood and mud being quite perceptible at the bottom. The parties heard that the report of the pis tol in the lane on Friday evening, and the discovery of the blood in the field, had fed to great alarm amongst the magistracy. Inquiry was set on foot, and Thurtell, Hunt, and Probert were at length apprehended. It was found that Hunt had adopted a peculiar mode for the purpose of concealing his identity; for when he was hiring the gig, and doing various other acts connected with this atrocious proceeding, he wore very long whiskers; but on the Monday after the murder, he had them taken off; and they all knew that nothing could possibly alter the appearance of a man more than the taking away of large bushy whiskers. Strict inquiries were made by the magistrates, but nothing was ascertained to prove to a certainty who was murdered. The body was, however found on the Thursday, Hunt having given evidence as to the place where the body was deposited. The evidence which Hunt gave, and which led to the finding of the body, he would use but no other fact coming out of his mouth, save that, would he advert to. He was entitled, in point of law, to make use of that. The fact only of the disclosure by Hunt, in consequence of which the body was discovered, was he permitted to make use of; and to that alone, so far as Hunt's confession went, he would confine himself. But by reference to his conversations with others, and to various circumstances not adverted to by him, he was convinced that he should be enabled to establish a perfect and complete chain of evidence. He had now stated the principal part of the facts which it would be his duty to lay before the jury. Some of them, they must observe, would depend on the evidence of an accomplice; for Probert, though not an accomplice before the murder, was confessedly privy to a certain part of the transaction--to the concealment of the body---to the concealment, consequently, of the murder. He must be looked upon as a bad, a very bad man. He was presented to the jury in that character. What good man could ever lend himself, in the remotest degree, to so revolting a transaction? An accomplice must always be, in a greater or less extent, a base man. The jury would therefore receive the evidence of Probert with extreme caution; and they would mark, with peculiar attention, how far his evidence was confirmed by testimony that could not be impeached. But he would adduce such witnesses in confirmation of Probert's statement---he would so confirm him in every point, as to build up his testimony with a degree of strength and consistency which could not be shaken, much less overturned. He would prove by other witnesses besides Probert, that Thurtell set out with a companion from London, who did not arrive at the ostensible end of his journey; he would prove that he had brought the property of that companion to Probert's house, the double-barrelled gun, the backgammon-board, and the green carpet-bag; he would prove that some time before he arrived at the cottage, the report of a gun or pistol was heard in Gill's-hill-lane, not far from the cottage; he would prove that his clothes were in a bloody state; and that, when he was apprehended, even on the Wednesday after the murder, he had not been able to efface all the marks from his apparel. Besides all this, they would find, that in his pocket, when apprehended, there was a penknife which was positively sworn to as having belonged to Mr. Weare, and also the fellow-pistol of that which was found adjoining the place where the murder was committed,--the pair having been purchased in Mary-le-bone-street by Hant. These circumstances brought the case clearly home to Thurtell. Next as to Hunt. He was charged as an accomplice before the fact. It was evident that he advised this proceeding. For what purpose, but to advise, did he proceed to the cottage? He was a stranger to Mrs. Probert and her family; he was not expected at the cottage. There was not for him, as there was for Thurtell, an apology for his visit. He hired a gig, and he procured a sack---the jury knew to what end and purpose. They would also bear in mind, that the gun, travellingbag, and backgammon-board, were found in his lodging. These constituted a part of the plunder of Mr. Weare, and could only be possessed by a person participating in this crime. Besides, there was placed about the neek of Probert's wife, a chain, which had belonged to Mr. Weare, and round the neck of the murdered man there was found a shawl, which belonged to Thurtell, but which had been seen in the hands of Hunt. In giving this summary of the case, he had not stated every circumstance connected with it. His great anxiety was, not to state that which he did not firmly believe would be borne out by evidence. One circumstance be had omitted, which he felt it nec essary to lay before the jury. It was, that a watch was seen in the possession of Thurtell, which he would show belonged to Mr. Weare. After Thurtell was apprehended, and Hunt had said something on the subject of this transaction, an officer asked Thurtell what he had done with the watch? He answered that "when he was taken into custody, be put his hand behind him, and chucked it away." Thurtell also made another disclosure. He said, when questioned, "that other persons, near the spot, were concerned in it, whom he forbore to mention. As to Thuriell, the evidence would, he believed, clearly prove him to have been the perpetrator of the murder; and with respect to Hoot, it was equally clear that he was an accessory before the fact." I have to the best of my ability given you the circumstances as detailed by Mr. Gurney, and have omitted his preliminary remarks and observations as to evidence. The officers and constables gave their accounts plainly, firmly,and ungrammatically, as gentlemen in their line generally do; and Mr. Ward, the surgeon of Watford, described the injuries of the deceased in a very intelligent manner, in spite of Mr. Platt, whose questions might have pozed the clearest beads. When Ruthven was called, there 3 ATHENEUM VOL. 1. 2d series. was a great stir in the court, as it was known that he had in his possession several articles of great interest. He took his place in the witness box, and in the course of his examination deposited on the table a pistol, and a pistol-key, a knife, a muslin handkerchief spotted with blood,---a shirt, similarly stained; and a waistcoat, into the pockets of which bloody hands had been thrust. A coat and a hat marked with blood were also produced. These all belonged to Thurtell, and he looked at them with an eye of perfect indifference. Ruthven then produced several articles belonging to the deceased,---the gun, the carpet bag, and the clothes;---there was the shooting jacket, with the dog-whistle hanging at the button hole, the half dirty leggings, the shooting shoes, the linen: and yet the sight of these things had no effect on either of the prisoners. Symmonds the constable, when sworn, took from his pocket a white folded paper, which he carefully undid, and produced to the court the fatal pistol with which the murder had been committed. It was a blue steel-barrelled pistol, with brass about the handle; the pan was opened, as the firing had left it, and was smeared with the black of gunpowder and the dingy stain of blood. The barrel was bloody, and in the muzzle a piece of tow was thrust, to keep in the horrid contents, the murdered man's brains. Against the back of the pan were the short curled hairs, of a silver sabled hue, which had literally been dug from the man's head: they were glued to the pan firmly with crusted blood!---This deadly and appalling instrument made all shudder, save the murderers, who on the contrary looked unconcernedly at it, and I should say their very unconcern, when all others were thrilled, was guilt! Thomas Thurtell, when called, seemed affected---and his brother seemed calm. Miss Noyes was very plain and very flippant. Rexworthy, the billiard-table keeper, spoke of his dead friend with great decision; but the brother of Weare was truly shocked, and his sincere grief exposed the art and trickery of many serious and hysterical witnesses. The landlords were all thorough-bred landlords, sleek, sly, and rosy. Mr. Field of the Artichoke, with a head which Rexworthy could have cannoned off, was a very meek kindly tapster. His little round head, with a little round nose to suit, a domestic nose, that would not quit the face, with a voice thin as small ale, was right pleasant to bekold. The ostlers were rather overtaken,--all except he of the stable in Cross-street, Jim Shepherd, a thin, sober, pert fellow, who said all be knew clean out. Old John Butler, of the Bald Faced Stag, had steadied himself with very heavy liquor, and he contrived to eject his evidence out of his smock frock with tolerable correctness. Dick Bingham, another hero of the pitchfork, was quite undisguised, and he seemed to be confident and clear in proportion to the cordials and compounds. Little Addis, Probert's boy, was a boy of uncommon quickness and pretty manner. He was a nice ingenuous lad. When you saw his youth, his innocence, his pretty face and frankness, you shuddered to think of the characters he had associated with, and the scenes he had witnessed. His little artless foot had kicked up the bloody leaves; he had seen the stains fresh on the murderer's clothes. His escape from death was miraculous! The cook, Susan Woodroofe, had no prepossessing appearance. She had no great skill too in language, like Dan in John Bull, who when asked if he ever deviated, said--No!--he always whistled :---she in speaking of the supper, when Mr. Bolland asked her if it was postponed! she replied---No! It was pork! When Probert was called, he was ushered through the dock into the body of the court. The most intense interest at his entering the witness box was evidently felt by all persons, in which indeed even the prison ers joined. Hunt stood up, and looked much agitated:---Thurtell eyed the witness sternly and composedly. Probert was very well dressed; and had a pair of new gloves on. He did not seem the least ashamed of his situation, but stood firmly up to answer Mr. Gurney, who very solemnly prefaced his examination, with charging him to tell the whole truth. The face of Probert is marked with deceit in every lineament. The eyes are like those of a vicious horse, and the lips are thick and sensual. lis forehead recedes villanously in amongst a bush of grizzly black hair---and his ears project out of the like cover. His head and legs are too small for his body, and altogether he is an awkward, dastardly, and a wretched looking animal. He gave his account with no hesitation, or shame, and stood up against Mr. Andrewes's exposure with a face of brass. Indeed he seems to fear nothing but death or bodily pain. His grammar was very nearly as bad as is heart! Mrs. Probert is by no means possessed of "a well-favoured face."---It has a good and a constant colour, which in moments of great grief and hysteric passion, is a great comfort, but her forehead is ill-shaped and large--and her sly grey eyes have a wildness which I should be loth to confide in. She gave her evidence drop by drop, and not then without great squeezing. Every dangerous question overcame her agitated nerves,---and she very properly took time to recover before she answered. Her sudden vehement and tearful joy at the safety of her husband was late but timely, for, to my certain knowledge, Mr. Nicholson had informed her of it on the 5th of December, just one month before her hysterics. In truth, my dear friend, so abominable a farce never was played off in a Court of Justice; but it had its effect, for it touched his Lordship and made Mr. Gurney weep!---This was the sum of her evidence: "I remember the night of the 24th of October, when Mr.John Thartell and Mr. Hunt came to Gill's bill Cottage, to have heard the sound of a gig passing my cottage. It was about eight o'clock, I think. The bell of our cottage was rung nearly an hour after. After that ringing nobody came into our house. My husband came home that night nearly at ten. I came down stairs, found Mr. Probert, John Thurtell, and a stranger, in the parlour. My husband introduced that stranger as Mr. Hunt, to me. I saw John Thurtell take out a gold chain, which he showed to me. It was a gold watch chain with a great deal of work about it; it was such a chain as this, I think (the chain was shown her). He offered to make it a present to me; I refused it for some time, and at last he gave it to me (she was shown the box and chain produced by the constable at Watford). I recollect giving that box and the chain to the constable, in the presence of the magis trates. When I and Miss Noyes went up stairs, we left John Thurtell, Hunt, and Mr. Probert in the room. I did not go to bed immediately; I went from my room to the stairs to listen; I leaned over the banisters. What I heard in leaning over the banisters, was, I thought, about trying on clothes. The first I heard was, "This, I think, will fit you very well." I heard a noise like a rustling of papers on the table; I heard also something like the noise of papers thrown into the fire. I afterwards went up to my own chamber. Out of doors I saw something; I looked from my window, and saw two gentlemen go from the parlour to the stable; they led a horse out of the stable, and opened the yard gate and let the horse out. Some time after that I heard something in the garden; I heard something dragged, as it seemed, very heavily; it appeared to me to come from the stable to the garden; the garden is near the back gate; it was dragged along the dark walk; I had a view of it, when they dragged it out of the dark walk; it seemed very large and heavy; it was in a sack. It was after this I heard the rustling of papers, and the conversation I bave described. After the sack was dragged out of the dark walk, I had a view of it until it was half way down the walk to the pond. I had a good view of it so far. After this I heard a noise like a heap of stones thrown into a pit, I can't describe it in any other way; it was a hollow sound. I heard, besides what I have before mentioned, some further conversation. The first I heard was, I think, Hunt's voice; he said, "let us take a 51. note each." I did not hear Thurtell say any thing; then---I am trying to recollect---I heard another voice say, "we must say there was a hare thrown up in the gig on the cushion---we must tell the boy so in the morning." I next heard a voice, I can't exactly say whose, "we had better be off to town by four or five o'clock in the morning;" and then, I think, John Thurtell it was, who said, "we had better not go before eight or nine o'clock;' and the parlour door then shut, I heard John Thurtell say also (I think it was his voice), "Holding shall be next." I rather think it was Hunt who next spoke; he asked, "has he (Holding) got money?" John Thurtell replied, "it is not money I want, it is revenge; it is," said John Thurtell," Holding who has ruined my friend here." I did not at first understand who this friend was; I believe it meant Mr. Probert, my husband, I cannot say whether Holding had any thing to do in the transactions of my husband's bankruptcy. "It was Holding," said John Thurtell, who ruined my friend here, and destroyed my peace of mind." My husband came to bed about half-past one or two o'clock; I believe it was; I did not know exactly the hour." At the close of the evidence for the crown, although in answer to his Lordship's inquiry, the jury decided on going through the case; they revoked that decision at the desire of John Thurtell; who strongly but respectfully pressed on their attention the long and barassing time he had stood at that bar; and begged for a night's cessation to recruit his strength previous to his making his defence. Hunt said nothing :---but Thurtell's manner was too earnest to admit of denial, and the Court adjourned---an officer having been sworn to keep the jury apart from all per sons. I should not have omitted to mention an admirable piece of presence of mind and bye-play which Thurtell showed towards Clarke the publican, who had been an old acquaintance: on Clarke's turning to bow to him when he entered the witness box, in which he was about to speak to the prisoner's identity;---Thurtell received the bow with a look of ignorant wonder,---and elevated his eyebrows as though to say, "How! ---bow to me!--I know you not." This could but have been instantaneous, but the tention of the prisoner was evident, and the trick was inimitably well performed. At half-past ten at night we were allowed to return to our houses and our food:---at half-past seven in the morning we were again wedged together, in the same Court. Thurtell, with the exception of a white kerchief round the neck, was dressed as on the previous day ---he looked as though he had passed a good night; and yet he must have been busy in the brain through all the dark hours!---There was a more sallow paleDess on Hunt's face,---and less care seemed to have been taken in the arrangement of his Court-dress. The jury were re-assembled---and the trial proceeded. Ruthven and Thomas Thurtell were recalled on some trifling points---and in a short time, Mr. Justice Park informed John Thurtell, that he was ready to hear any observations he had to make. Thurtell intimated, in a murmer to Wilson, which Wilson interpreted to the Court, that he wished his witnesses to be examined first, as though he thought their evidence would interfere with his eloquence: but this was refused, as being contrary to the practice. Thurtell now seemed to retire within himself for half a minute,---and then slowly, the crowd being breathlessly silent and anx100s---drawing in his breath, gathering up bis frame, and looking very steadfastly at the jury, he commenced his defence.---He spoke in a deep, measured, and unshaken tone:---accompanying it with a rather studied and theatrical action. "My Lord, and Gentlemen of the Jury, Under greater difficulties than ever man encountered, I now rise to vindicate my character and defend my life. I have been supported in this hour of trial, by the knowledge that my cause is heard before an enlightened tribunal, and that the free institutions of my country have placed my destiny in the hands of twelve men, who are uninfluenced by prejudice, and unawed by power. I have been represented by the press, which carries its benefits or curses on rapid wings from one extremity of the kingdom to the other, as a man more depraved, more gratuitously and habitually profligate and cruel, than has ever appeared in modern times. I have beca held up to the world as the perpetrator of a murder, under circumstances of greater aggravation, of more cruel and premeditated atrocity, than it ever before fell to the lot of man to have seen or heard of. I have been held forth to the world as a depraved, heartless, prayerless villain, who had seduced my friend into a sequestered path, merely in order to despatch him with the greater security---as a snake who had crept into his bosom only to strike a sure blow--as a monster, who, after the perpetration of a deed from which the hardest heart recoils with horror, and at which humanity stands aghast, washed away the remembrance of my guilt in the midst of riot and debauchery. You, gentlemen, must have read the details which have been daily, I may say hourly, published regarding me. It would be requiring more than the usual virtue of our nature to expect that you should entirely divest your minds of those feelings, I may say those creditable feelings, which such relations must have excited; but I am satisfied, that as far as it is possible for men to enter into a grave investigation with minds unbiassed, and judgments unimpaired, after the calumnies with which the public mind has been deluged---I say, I am satisfied, that with such minds and such judgments, you have this day assumed your sacred office. The horrible guilt which has been attributed to me, is such as could not have resulted from custom, but must have been the innate principle of my infant mind, and have grown with my growth, and strengthened with my strength.' But I will call before you gentlemen whose characters are unimpeachable, and whose testimony must be above suspicion, who will tell you, that the time was when my bosom overflowed with all the kindly feelings; and even my failings were those of an improvident generosity and unsuspecting friendship. Beware, then, gentlemen, of an anticipated verdict. Do not suffer the reports which you have heard to influence your determination. Do not believe that a few short years can have reversed the course of nature, and converted the good feelings which I possessed into the spirit of malignant cruelty to which only demons can attain. A kind, affectionate, and religious mother directed the tender steps of my infancy, in the paths of piety and virtue. My rising youth was guided in the way that it should go by a father whose piety was universally known and believed---whose kindness and charity extended to all who came within the sphere of its influence. After leaving my paternal roof, I entered into the service of our late revered monarch, who was justly entitled the "father of his people." You will learn from some of my honourable companions, that while I served under his colours, I never tarnished their lustre. The country which is dear to me I have served. I have fought for her. I have shed my blood for her. I feared not in the open field to shed the blood of her declared foes. But oh! to suppose that on that account I was ready to raise the assassin's arm against my friend, and with that view to draw him into secret places for his destruction---it is monstrous, horrible, incredible. I have been represented to you as a man who was given to gambling, and the constant companion of gamblers. To this accusation, in some part my heart with feeling penitence plead, 1 guilty. I have gambled. I have been a unless he was paid a bonus of 3001, upon his debt beyond all the other creditors. This demand was backed by the man who was at the time his and my solicitor. I spurned the offer---I awakened his resentment. I was cast upon the world---my all disposed of--in the deepest distress. My brother afterwards availed himself of my misfortune, and entered into business. His warehouses were destroyed by the accident of a fire, as has been proved by the verdict of a jury on a trial at which the venerable Judge now present presided. But that accident, unfortunate as it was, has been taken advantage of in order to insinuate that he was guilty of crime, because his property was destroyed by it, as will be proved by the verdict of an honest and upright jury in an action for conspiracy, which will be tried ere long before the Chief Justice of the King's Bench. A conspiracy there was---but where? Why, in the acts of the prosecutor himself, Mr. Barber Beaumont, who was guilty of subornios witnesses, and who will be proved to have paid for false testimony. Yes; this professed friend of the aggrieved---this pretended prosecutor of public abuses---this self-appointed supporter of the laws, who panders to rebellion, and has had the audacity to raise its standard in the front of the royal palace--this man, who has just head enough to contrive crime, but not heart enough to feel its consequences---this is the real author of the conspiracy which will shortly undergo legal investigation. To these particulars 1 have thought it necessary to call your attention, in language which you may think perhaps too warm--in terms not so measured, but that they may incur your reproof. But-"The flesh will quiver where the pincers tear, "The blood will follow where the knife is driven." You have been told that I intend to decoy Woods to his destruction; and he has said that he saw me in the passage of the house. I can prove, by honest witnesses, fellow-citizens of my native city of Norwich, that I was there at that time; but, for the sake of an amiable and innocent female, who might be injured, I grant to Mr. Woods the mercy of my silence. When, before this, did it ever fall to the lot of any subject to be borne down by the weight of calumny and obloquy which now oppresses me? The press, which ought to be the shieid of public liberty, the avenger of public wrongs---which, above all, should have exerted itself to preserve the pu rity of its favourite institution, the trial by jury---has directed its whole force to my injury and prejudice; it has heaped slander upon slander, and whetted the public appetite for slanders more atrocious; nay more, what in other men would serve to refute and repel the shaft of calumny, is made to stain with a deeper dye the villanies ascribed to me. One would have thought, that some time spent in the service of my country would have entitled me to some favour from the public under a charge of this nature. changed---nature is reversed. The acts of But no; in my case the order of things is times long since past have been made to cast a deeper shadow over the acts attributed to me within the last few days; and the pursuit of a profession, hitherto held honourable among honourable men, has been turned to the advantage of the accusation against me. |