Traveling in a bye-road, for safety Mr. Kidderminster took a guide with him; but, on reaching Chelmsford at night, he discharged him. Mr. Kiddderminster himself put up at the White Horse Inn, at Chelmsford, where it appears he had lain at other times, and was very well known; but there he was murdered on the same night, in April, 1654. The last place his wife heard of him was Cambridge. A report was spread that he was gone to Amsterdam, where she sent to inquire for him, but was assured he was not there. After some time, she heard he was at Cork, in Ireland; thither she also sent, and made a most diligent and exact search for him, both in Cork and Munster. Again there was a rumor that he was in Barbadoes, and again did she have inquiries set on foot at Barbadoes. She continued constantly carrying on investigations after her husband, till her sister, one day, in 1662 or 1663, reading the newspaper of the day, suddenly cried out, "Sister, here's news of your husband!" The intelligence was in these terms :-"The bones of an unknown person, supposed to be robbed and murdered, are found buried in a back yard in Chelmsford. Whosoever can give information of any person missing, let them give notice to Mr. Talcott, coroner, in Feering, or to the constable of Chelmsford, or to Mr. Roper, bookseller, over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street." Upon Mrs. Kidderminster comparing the time of her husband's being missing, with the time in the newspaper of the supposed murdered body's lying concealed, it appeared to be extremely probable that it referred to him. She immediately went to Mr. Roper's, and by his advice set off for Chelmsford, and for want of conveyance went on foot with a friend.

They proceeded on their journey as far as Stratford, where,

a little beyond the town, they lost their way, turning to the left hand of the road. At last they came to Romford, and, by that time being very weary, went into a house at the further end of the town, the sign of the Black Bull, where they accidentally found one Mary Mattocks, who lived at Horn Church.

Mrs. Kidderminster being now quite worn out, and not able to go on foot any further, inquired whether any horse could be hired in that town. Mrs. Mattocks being present, interposed, and answered that there was no horse to be hired, nor any convenience of coach or wagon to be had upon that day. They asked Mrs. Mattocks how far it was to Chelmsford; she answered fifteen miles. Mrs. Kidderminster asked her again, whether she knew Chelmsford. She replied that she did, very well; for she was born and bred there. "If she knew the White Horse?" "Very well, and one Turner, a very honest man, kept it; but he that kept it formerly was one Sewell, who, if he had had his deserts, had been hanged long ago, for there was certainly a gentleman murdered in the house."

Mrs. Kidderminster was induced to make further inquiry, and told Mattocks that her husband was missed much about that time. Mattocks informed her that the ostler who lived in Sewell's time at the White Horse, now lived at Romford. With an intention to gather from him what circumstances she could, she sent for him, but he refused to come; for the messenger having heard part of the discourse, communicated it to him, which made him unwilling to appear. Mrs. Mattocks then advised Mrs. Kidderminster to go to one Mrs. Shute, her aunt, at the sign of the Cock, at Chelmsford, and she could give her such intelligence as would answer her expectation. Upon this Mrs. Kidderminster and her friend resumed

their journey towards Chelmsford. Mrs. Mattocks, after their departure, told the people of the house that a guilty conscience needs no accuser, and that she had heard the ostler had a hand in the business, and had received £60 and a suit of clothes.

Mrs. Kidderminster went directly to the White Horse Inn, where, after some conversation with Mr. Turner, then master of the house, he advised them to go to Mrs. Sewell's, at the Shears, in Colchester Lane. When her friend went out to Mrs. Sewell, and inquired for the White Horse Inn, Mrs. Sewell asked what business he had there e; to which he answered that he was come to inquire about a gentleman that had been murdered there some years ago. To this Mrs. Sewell replied: "Ay, this is Turner's doings; he has put us to great trouble about it already, but I will be avenged on him." They now returned to the White Horse, where Mr. Turner gave his account concerning the discovery and disenterment of the corpse, and the subsequent proceedings, which was this :—

Mr. Turner had pales between his neighbor's meadow and his orchard. A great wind having blown them down, he resolved to make a mud wall; in digging which they found a skull with all the teeth in it but one, and a hole on the left side of the skull, about the size of a crown. Several country people came to see it, who had observed new turf laid upon the place. Upon digging on, they perceived that the corpse had been crammed in double. The coroner sat upon the bones, and the jury found a verdict of murder committed; a blow upon the side of the head being evidently the cause of the person's death. At this time Sewell, who formerly kept the inn, and his wife and two daughters, were alive, as

also the ostler and maid-servant who lived in their family. Mr. Turner, to vindicate the reputation of the house, applied to the justices of the peace of the county, who issued out warrants against Sewell and his wife, who were taken up ; but, upon their examination, they denied all knowledge of the matter. The magistrates, however, bound them to appear at the next assizes, and Mr. Turner to prosecute. Sewell died about a fortnight before the assizes, but it was suspected he was poisoned by his wife. He showed visible signs of a troubled mind. He often desired his wife to allow him to speak to some of the chief men of the town, for otherwise he could not die; which his wife would not permit. At the assizes, Mrs. Sewell appeared, and nothing being positively proved against her, she was continued under bail till the next assizes, at which time the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Sir Orlando Bridgman, went the circuit. His lordship, finding that no clear account of the person murdered could be ascertained, nor who were the murderers, ordered that notice should be inserted in the newspapers, by which means Mrs. Kidderminster had the first intimation of it.

Such was Mr. Turner's account; but to return to Mrs. Kidderminster's own proceedings. She quitted Chelmsford, and made inquiry at Romford for the ostler, Moses Drayne.

She asked him to describe a man who left his horse behind him when he was ostler at the White Horse, in Chelmsford, and what clothes he wore. He answered that the gentleman was a tall, big, portly man, with his own hair, dark brown, not very long, curled up at the ends; that he wore a black satin cap, and that his clothes were of a dark gray; which she found agreed with her husband's figure. She then asked him what hat he wore; he replied, "A black one." "Nay," said

she, "my husband's was a gray one." At which words he changed color several times, and never looked up in her face afterwards, but told her that one Mary Kendall, who had beer a servant at Chelmsford at the time of the gentleman's stay there, could inform her much better. She now left him; but before she quitted the town she went again to the Black Bull, and spoke to the master of the house, who advised her to speak again with Mrs. Mattocks, for she would be her best evidence. Accordingly the Lord Chief Justice Bridgman was made acquainted with what Mrs. Mattocks could prove; and he advised her to return again to Romford, and get Mrs. Mattócks to make oath before a justice. Justice Mildmay, of Mildin, issued a warrant for the apprehension of Moses Drayne, the ostler, who was immediately committed. which Mrs. Kidderminster found Mary Kendall, who could not be prevailed on to make any discovery. She was, however traced to London, and was committed to Newgate. Here she was told by her fellow-prisoners that her running away was an argument of guilt, and that therefore she would be hanged; upon which she confessed all to Mrs. Kidderminster, and told her that she would not have continued so long in an obstinate denial, but that Sewell's daughters had threatened her that if she confessed, they would swear against her, and have her hanged first.

Sewell's wife in the meantime died of the plague; but Mrs Kidderminster, with the special cousent of the Lord Chi Justice Bridgman, caused Mary Kendall to be removed from Newgate to Brentwood, the day before the assize.

The trial of Moses Drayne came on: he pleaded not guilty Mary Kendall gave in evidence.

That she was a servant maid u the inn wher the gublk