Damn His Blood
Page 35
8 ‘He [the magistrate] had to be a man …’, Clive Emsley, Crime and Society in England, 1750–1900.
9 ‘Captain Evans used to go up to Droitwich’, Elizabeth Jones in Anon., The Murdered Murderer or the Worcester Tragedy.
10 ‘Captain Evans was the leading man in the parish’, William Barnett, CFP.
11 ‘[He] seemed much confused and cut up …’, testimony of John Collins, in Anon., The Murdered Murderer or the Worcester Tragedy.
CHAPTER 10
1 ‘Here the skull has been fractured’, Pennell Cole, CFP. Other biographical facts about Pennell Cole come from T.C. Tuberville, WNC and Ackroyd et al. Advancing with the Army – which includes an interesting glimpse into Pennell Cole’s early life. The modern-day interpretation of Parker’s injuries and his likely cause of death come from Dr Christopher Burke of St Thomas’ Hospital, London.
2 ‘… to the best of his knowledge …’, James Tustin, Inq.
3 ‘… ornamental structures …’, T. Eaton, A Concise History of Worcester.
4 ‘The inquest was arranged for Tuesday …’, P.D. James and T.A. Critchley, The Maul and the Pear Tree.
5 ‘It was very late when I got back’, William Barnett, CFP. Additional information about a parish constable’s responsibilities comes from W. Toone, The Magistrate’s Manual.
6 The question of Captain Evans being foreman of the jury during Parker’s inquest was raised and subsequently questioned in T. Eaton, TTC. A lengthy note on the publication’s final page dealt with the matter, and it concludes with uncertainty, ‘We cannot, however, fully affirm the fact’.
7 ‘I will not go’, John Lench, CFP and the search of Heming’s house in Droitwich is from John Lloyd, Inq.
8 ‘Public life on a grand scale …’, Roy Porter, English Society in the Eighteenth Century.
9 ‘… of the 350 death sentences passed in England and Wales …’, this information comes from The Report and Evidence of the Select Committee into the State of the Police of the Metropolis in 1828 and statistics about executions in Worcestershire is taken from T.C. Tuberville, WNC.
10 Account of Isaac Blight’s murder comes from The Gentleman’s Magazine for 1805, with several additional details from P.D. James and T.A. Critchley, The Maul and the Pear Tree. Remarks on Patch’s trial (‘the prisoner [Patch] had begun his career of guilt) are from Gurney and Gurney, Trial of Richard Patch for the Wilful Murder of Isaac Blight and the ‘awful moment when Patch’ is taken from Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 17 April 1806.
11 ‘thieves and murderers’, Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844.
12 ‘The unfortunate person …’, Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 26 June 1806.
13 ‘The Constables and the Bow Street men …’, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.
14 ‘Cap. Evans says …’, the beginning of Reverend Pyndar’s investigations and the conflicting accounts of what happened at Church Farm on 24 June 1806 are reconstructed from PP, WRO ref. 899.38, BA/866.
CHAPTER 11
The bulk of this chapter, documenting the early stages of the investigation and including the letters from magistrates and interviews of suspects in Oddingley, comes from Reverend PP, WRO ref. 899.38, BA/866.
1 ‘Whereas on Tuesday Evening’, Worcester Herald, 28 June 1806; subsequent reports as the story spreads are from Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 28 June 1806 & The Times, 30 June 1806.
2 ‘carrying cargoes of woollen cloth, tea, muslin …’, and other details about Bristol’s trade and port are from T. Mortimer, General Dictionary of Trade, Commerce and Manufacturers.
3 ‘I saw George Banks …’, account of George Banks after Parker’s funeral, testimony of Joseph Kendall, CFP.
4 ‘… taken up and hanged’, E. Lees, TWM.
5 Statistics for governmental rewards from J.M. Beattie, Crime and the Courts in England, 1660–1800.
6 ‘We went and watched at a new Barn …’, John Perkins, CFP.
7 ‘I knew that if I had gone down …’ and the remainder of Barnett’s questioning at the Crown Inn, Worcester, John Barnett, CFP.
8 ‘Richard Heming has twice been employed by me …’, Captain Evans, CFP.
9 ‘He left home early on that day’, Elizabeth Newbury, CFP.
10 ‘no accessory can be convicted …’ and full wording of the statute demanding that the principal first be convicted before accessories are put on trial, in Pickering, The Statutes at Large. The definition of an accessory to murder is taken from W. Toone, The Magistrate’s Manual.
11 ‘… a Knife and Fork and Plate took upstairs’, testimony of Mary Chance, CFP.
12 ‘… it was no matter if Heming …’, testimony of William Chance, CFP.
13 ‘… she must have known it …’, testimony of Elizabeth Jones, CFP.
14 ‘For the detection of this flagitious offender …’, Worcester Herald, 5 July 1806.
15 ‘That on Wednesday the day after …’, Mary Chance, CFP.
16 Potential sightings of Heming are reported in Worcester Herald, 12 July 1806 & Worcester Herald, 19 July 1806 and the summer storm is reported in Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 17 July 1806.
17 ‘What do you think of those toasts …’, John Perkins, CFP.
18 ‘I gave them to the Captain and never saw them after’, E. Lees, TWM, the adze is mentioned in Anon., The Murdered Murderer or the Worcester Tragedy.
CHAPTER 12
1 ‘The valuable FARMING STOCK …’, Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 13 June 1809.
2 Biographical details of Reverend Butt can be found in Mary Sherwood, The Oddingley Murders and also in the Butt Family Papers, housed in BRO D/ EZ/106. Butt was likeable, intelligent but also unstable and susceptible to bouts of severe depression. The first of these periods of madness descended in 1818 following the death of his first wife, Mary Ann, but he recovered sufficiently to take a new parish away from Oddingley at East Garston in Berkshire with his second wife, Jemima Hubbard, in 1821. Here he was once again welcomed into the community where he became known for his ‘eccentricity of character’. In the 1830s Butt’s depression returned and he was ultimately declared insane and was placed in an asylum in Staffordshire, where he died in 1846.
3 John Rowe’s account of the farmer’s conspiracy is revealed in PP with additional details from Lees, TWM and John Rowe, CFP. ‘a little dark short man’ and biographical sketch of James Taylor is from TWM and William Barnett, CFP.
4 ‘She was assured by the Oddingley farmers …’, Rev. Erskine Neale, The Bishop’s Daughter.
5 ‘… he could hang all the head men in Oddingley …’. E. Lees, TOM.
6 ‘And is it not astonishing …’, Mary Sherwood, The Oddingley Murders.
7 ‘I don’t usually encourage superstitious …’, John Noake, The Rambler in Worcestershire.
8 Descriptions of the Worcestershire storms come from T.C. Tuberville, Worcestershire in the Nineteenth Century.
9 ‘As for Clewes …’, Rev. Erskine Neale, The Bishop’s Daughter.
10 ‘the shops sparkling with vivid lustre’, Ambrose Florence, The Stranger’s Guide to the City and Cathedral of Worcester.
11 A good overview of Robert Peel’s overhaul of the criminal justice system can be found in Douglas Hurd, Robert Peel. The statute relating to the requirement for a principal is 7 Geo IV c 64 s 9.
12 Information about the inhabitants of Oddingley during the 1810s and 1820s is taken from the parish tax records, WRO ref. 206.2091, BA/4609, and S. Lewis, Worcestershire general and commercial directory.
13 ‘We have no longer any genuine quizzes’, Horace Smith, New Monthly Magazine.
14 ‘… these two Devils out of the room’ and other details of Captain Evans’ final illness and last weeks is from taken from the evidence of Catherine Bowkett, CFP.
15 ‘… delay and difficulty in gaining admission’, Morning Chronicle, 10 February 1830.
16 ‘He became moody, restless …’, Rev. Erskine Neale, The Bishop’s Daughter.<
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17 ‘Died, lately, at Droitwich’, Worcester Herald, 20 June 1829.
18 ‘The walls and ceiling were alive’, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers.
19 ‘neat set of china’, The Last Will and Testament of Samuel Evans.
CHAPTER 13
1 ‘Yesterday morning Fahrenheit’s thermometer …’, Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 21 January 1830, 18F converted gives a reading of –27.8C.
2 Accounts of the severe winter are taken from a report in Morning Chronicle, 25 January 1830, which in itself listed reports from around the country.
3 ‘… a day which the guilty might well regard as unlucky’, The Gentleman’s Magazine.
4 An account of Charles Burton at Netherwood farm and his actions over the next days comes principally from Charles Burton, CFP, but supplementary facts are in TWM, Worcester Herald, 30 January 1830 and Birmingham Post, 6 February 1830. The woodcuts of Charles Burton finding the skeleton and William Smith at the site are from Broadsheet on the Oddingley Murders, WRO ref. X705.627, BA/5312/1.
5 ‘… give what directions you thought necessary’, from letter to William Smith from Richard Allen, PP.
6 ‘They were cold and frightened …’, Rev. Erskine Neale, The Bishop’s Daughter.
7 ‘as near as possible 5ft 3in in length’, and account of Pierpoint’s exhumation of the skeleton comes from the Worcester Herald, 30 January 1830.
8 ‘like the silver plate on a coffin’, and a sketch of Peel’s personality from Douglas Hurd, Robert Peel.
9 There is a good section on the introduction of Peel’s police in Judith Flanders, The Invention of Murder and also Sarah Wise, The Italian Boy.
10 Copy of Peel’s letter to Smith, HO/43/38/157–158.
11 ‘quite sufficient to produce instantaneous death’, Matthew Pierpoint, CFP.
12 ‘the spot chosen for the grave’, Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 28 January 1830.
CHAPTER 14
The bulk of this account of the first day of William Smith’s inquest at the Talbot is taken from two detailed articles: Worcester Herald, 30 January 1830 and Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 28 January 1830. Between them, the two rival papers preserved a vivid record of proceedings at the inn. The inquest’s second day continues to draw on these article, as well as second from the Worcester Herald on 6 February 1830. Other sources used in this chapter are noted below.
1 ‘No part of testimony …’, London Medical Journal Vol. VI.
2 ‘A ‘tale’ of great mystery …’ and also Dr Cumin’s later complaint about the effectiveness of coroners, The London Medical Gazette Vol. XIII.
3 ‘The inhabitants of this city’, Ipswich Journal, 30 January 1830.
4 The account of Clewes’ fall into the canal and his rescue is from Morning Chronicle, 8 February 1830 and E. Lees, TWM.
5 ‘… he had stopped for a while …’ and Clewes’ claim Heming ‘is safe enough’, The Gentleman’s Magazine.
6 ‘They had better not be too hard with me …’, Thomas Bunn, CFP.
7 ‘… the identity of the skeleton …’, Smith to Peel 27 January 1830 and Peel’s reply the following day, HO 43/38.
8 ‘The Case of the Murdered Murderer’, Morning Chronicle, 2 February 1830.
CHAPTER 15
1 A description of Worcester County Gaol comes from Sessional Papers Printed by Order of the House of Lords, Vol. XLIV; The Fifth Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prisons and T. Eaton, CHW.
2 ‘… an iron bedstead, straw bed, pillow, two blankets …’, Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 21 January 1830.
3 Clewes’ brief stint as the bailiff of a local farm is chronicled by Marta Davis, CFP.
4 ‘the sprinkling of salt’, Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 21 January 1830.
5 ‘Nothing is as painful to the human mind …’, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
6 Reverend Robert Clifton’s correspondence with Robert Peel and his interviews with Clewes at the gaol are described in HO 52/11/529–30. Peel’s subsequent response is from HO 43/38.
7 ‘… as characteristic and complete a winter scene …’, Morning Herald, 3 February 1830.
8 ‘If you do that, then I don’t care afterwards …’, Worcester Herald, 5 February 1830.
9 ‘… cognizant of its many particulars …’, Reverend Clifton in E. Lees, TTC.
10 ‘Clewes had expressed himself desirous …’, E. Lees, TMW.
11 Confession of Thomas Clewes. Such a long and compelling document as this was bound to spawn various versions, which duly appeared with their slight differences in the wide range of media that reported the story. To get as close as possible to Clewes’ words I have used the text recorded in the unpublished prosecution brief (CFP) as this would have been made directly from the copy taken down at the gaol by James Hooper, William Smith’s clerk.
12 ‘… horrible detail with perfect firmness …’, Worcester Herald, 5 February 1830.
CHAPTER 16
1 ‘… the avidity with which the paper is bought …’, The Times, 5 February 1830.
2 ‘In the early part of this inquiry …’, Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 6 February 1830.
3 ‘They all seemed in liquor …’, E. Lees, TOM.
4 An account of the final days of the inquest comes from Worcester Herald, 6 February 1830; E. Lees, TOM and Morning Chronicle, 8 February 1830.
5 ‘Throughout the enquiry …’, Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 11 February 1830.
6 ‘Being a Cumberland man …’, Morning Chronicle, 2 February 1830.
7 Details of the Red Barn Murder are drawn from Judith Flanders, The Invention of Murder.
8 ‘In concluding our account …’, E. Lees, TWM.
9 Details of the Elstree Murder and Thertell’s execution come from David Bentley, English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century and Judith Flanders, The Invention of Murder.
10 ‘scorpion stings of conscience’, Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 11 February 1830.
11 ‘Captain Evans, who in May last …’, Ipswich Journal. 20 February 1830.
12 ‘Memory brought madness with it …’, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
13 Thomas Hood’s Dream of Eugene Aram is taken from The Poetry and Varieties of Berrow’s Worcester Journal for the Year 1828; ‘The Greatest of Miracles’, on the Oddingley Murders is from Broadsheet on the Oddingley Murders, WRO ref. X705.627, BA/5312/1, and the second, more literary ballad, is printed in J. Waldron, Metrical Tales and Other Pieces.
14 ‘James Taylor was a farrier at Droitwich’, Liverpool Mercury, 12 February 1830 & Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 11 February 1830.
15 ‘Publications, taking all shapes’, Morning Chronicle, 11 March 1830.
16 ‘the alteration which had taken place’, Worcester Herald, 6 February 1830.
17 Newspaper reports charting the build-up to the Assize trial are Worcester Journal, 4 March 1830 and Morning Chronicle, 10 March 1830.
CHAPTER 17
1 Description of Worcester Guildhall comes from J. Tymbs, A Brief History of Worcester and V. Green, The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester.
2 The presence of the Grand Jury was required by a tradition that stretched back into the medieval age when a jury of important local people would be summoned in the days before a trial to see if there was a prima facie case to answer. A trial could not proceed until this presentment – either from an inquest or, more commonly, through the grand jury – had taken place. In either case twelve men had to agree that a crime ‘probably’ had been committed. The Oddingley case is confusing and somewhat unusual as the prisoners were indicted by both the coroner’s inquest and the Grand Jury, rather than one or the other. The practice of using a Grand Jury was abandoned in the UK in 1933 and now committal proceedings are conducted before a magistrate. There is a good chapter on this part of the legal process by James Baker in J.S. Cockburn, (ed.) Crime in England 1500–1800.
3 ‘Gentlemen, there is a very important case in the kalen
der’, T. Eaton, TTC.
4 Three quarters of the judiciary dying in harness and other useful facts about the nineteenth century criminal justice system are to be had from David Bentley, English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century.
5 Biographical sketch of Judge Joseph Littledale is from The Gentleman’s Magazine Vol. XVIII; The Annual Biography and Obituary 1831 Vol. X and House of Commons Papers Vol. 35. There are two surviving portraits of Littledale, one by Sir William Beechey and another by Thomas Phillips. Both are now owned by Gray’s Inn.
6 A list of the indictments is taken from NA ASSI 5/150/19.
7 Description of the scenes outside the Guildhall on the morning of the trial are from Morning Chronicle, 12 March 1830; Birmingham Journal, 13 March 1830 and J. Pigot, Pigot and Co’s National Commercial Directory. Thereafter an account of the trial is taken from the detailed accounts that appeared in the Worcester papers in the following days: Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 18 March 1830 and Worcester Herald, 13 March 1830. A few interesting supplementary details are to be had from Birmingham Journal, 13 March 1830; E. Lees, TOM and T. Eaton, TTC. Probably the most accurate record of the trial is W. Wills, Report of the Trial of Thomas Clewes. Wills attended the trial and hoped to record proceedings as a legal peculiarity for the future. He was the only person to produce a verbatim transcript and most of the direct quotations come from his work.
8 ‘otherwise the matter would lie on her …’, David Bentley, English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century.
9 ‘Nothing is so likely to strike the person’, Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz.
10 ‘As an instance of the strange way’, Examiner, 14 March 1830.
CHAPTER 18
1 Account of the prisoners leaving the County Gaol comes from Worcester Herald, 20 March 1830 and Birmingham Journal, 13 March 1830. Initial reaction to the verdicts, the Observer, 14 March 1830 and Carlisle Patriot, 20 March 1830. Mary Sherwood’s individualistic take on events from Mary Sherwood, Sequel to the Oddingley Murders.