Part 1
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THE
CHRONICLES OF CRIME.
THE CHRONICLES OF CRIME;
OR,
The New Newgate Calendar.
BEING
A SERIES OF MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES
OF
NOTORIOUS CHARACTERS
WHO HAVE OUTRAGED THE LAWS OF GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO 1841.
COMPRISING
COINERS. EXTORTIONERS. FORGERS. FRAUDULENT BANKRUPTS. FOOTPADS. HIGHWAYMEN. HOUSEBREAKERS. INCENDIARIES. IMPOSTORS. MURDERERS. MUTINEERS. MONEY-DROPPERS. PIRATES. PICKPOCKETS. RIOTERS. SHARPERS. TRAITORS. &c., &c.
INCLUDING
A NUMBER OF CURIOUS CASES NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.
EMBELLISHED WITH FIFTY-TWO ENGRAVINGS, FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY "PHIZ."
BY CAMDEN PELHAM, ESQ.,
OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
VOL. II.
LONDON: T. MILES & CO., 95, UPPER STREET. 1891.
CONTENTS.
NOTE.--_The offence mentioned opposite to each name is that alleged against the person charged._
PAGE
ABRAHAMS, Alice. "The Gold Dust Robbery", 480
AGRICULTURAL RIOTS, 213
ANDERSON, John, _alias_ Beveridge. Piracy, 228
BALLS, Robert. Forgery, 404
BANKS, William. Burglary, 201
BARNETT, Edward. Murder, 185
BARTLETT, Charles Samuel. Murder, 453
BELL, James. Burglary, 201
BELL, John Amy Bird. Murder, 252
BERRYMAN, James and Thomas. Burglary, 367
BEVERIDGE, John, _alias_ Anderson. Piracy, 228
BIRMINGHAM RIOTS--1839, 499
BISHOP, John. Murder, 274
BOLAM, Archibald. Manslaughter, 474
BOWERS, Richard. Fraud, 126
BRANDRETH, Jeremiah. Treason, 17
BROCK, Thomas. Coining, 1
BROUGHTON, Edward Delves. Murder, 469
BROWN, George. Conspiracy, 3
BROWN, James. Coach Robbery, 242
BROWN, William. Murder, 358
BRUNT, John Thomas. Treason, 34
BURDOCK, Mary Anne. Murder, 398
BURKE, William. Murder, 166
BURT, William. Murder, 118
CALTHORPE STREET RIOTS, 378
CANT, George. Rape, 490
CANTERBURY RIOTS, 460
CARDIGAN, the Earl of. Assault with intent to Murder, 607
CARROLL, Patrick. Murder, 401
CASHMAN, John. Riot, 3
CASPAR, Lewin and Ellis. "The Gold Dust Robbery", 480
CHALKER, Edward. Murder, 397
CHARTIST RIOTS--1839-40, 515
CLARKE, Edward. Murder, 247
COLLINS, Dennis. Treason, 356
COOK, James. Murder of Mr. Paas, 345
CORDER, William. Murder, 146
COSTELLO, William. Abduction, 65
COSTER, Richard. Forgery, 370
COURVOISIER, François Benjamin. Murder, 563
COX, Job. Letter-stealing, 376
COX, John, John, and Robert. Murder, 157
CROFTS, John. Burglary, 382
CUSSEN, John, _alias_ Walsh. Abduction, 65
DARWELL, George. Embezzlement, 456
DAVIDSON, William. Treason, 34
DAVIS, George James, _alias_ Huntley. Piracy, 228
DAY, John, _alias_ Smith. Murder, 455
DEVANN, Patrick. Murder, 14
DICK, Samuel. Abduction, 26
DILLON, Luke. Rape, 230
DOBELL, George, _alias_ Thomas. Murder, 546
DOODY, Daniel and William. Abduction, 65
DORCHESTER LABOURERS, 384
EDWARDS, John, _alias_ Heath. Assault, 389
EHLERT, Jacob Frederick. Murder, 488
ELIOT, Francis Lionel. Murder, 469
ELLIS, William, _alias_ Lambert. Murder, 546
EMOND, Robert. Murder, 204
EVANS, James. Murder, 105
FAUNTLEROY, Henry. Forgery, 93
FISHER, William. Burglary, 415
FITZMAURICE, Walter, _alias_ Captain Rock. Abduction, 65
FLATHER, Harrison. Larceny, 619
FLETCHER, George. Murder, 458
FLYNN, John Turner. Forgery, 602
GARSIDE, William. Murder, 393
GILBERT, Samuel. Robbery, 107
GILCHRIST, William and George. Coach Robbery, 242
GOULD, Richard, _alias_ Nicholson. Burglary and Murder, 556
GREENACRE, James, and Sarah Gale. Murder, 428
HAGGART, David. Murder, 59
HARLEY, William, and Hills, James. Burglary, 415
HARRIS, Ann. Murder, 157
HARRIS, Thomas. Forgery, 404
HART, John Minter. Forgery, 421
HEATH, John, _alias_ Edwards. Assault, 389
HIBNER, Esther and Esther. Murder, 188
HIGGINS, Mary Anne. Murder, 247
HOGSDEN, Edward. Rape, 251
HOLLOWAY, John. Murder, 262
HOOPER, John. Treason, 7
HOWARD, William. Assault with intent to Rob, 141
HUNT, Henry. Misdemeanour, 29
HUNT, Joseph. Murder, 69
HUNTLEY, George, _alias_ Davis. Piracy, 228
HUNTON, Joseph. Forgery, 161
HUSSEY, Charles. Murder, 22
INGLETT, James. Manslaughter, 634
INGS, James. Treason, 34
JOBLING, William. Murder, 354
JOHNSON, William. Murder, 362
JOHNSTON, Robert. Robbery, 27
JONES, William. Murder, 138
JOURDAN, William, _alias_ Leary. Custom-house Robbery, 407
KENNEDY, William. Murder, 358
KEPPEL, Charles. Murder, 68
KEYS, Jeremy. Murder, 397
KING, William. Robbery, 246
KINNAISTER, Charles. Murder, 472
LAMBERT, William, _alias_ Ellis. Murder, 546
LEAKY, David, James, and Maurice. Abduction, 65
LEARY, William, _alias_ Jourdan. Custom-house Robbery, 407
LECASSER, Peter. Assault, 389
LEES, William. Murder, 494
LEITH, Alexander Wellesley. Manslaughter, 98
LIGHTFOOT, James and William. Murder, 551
LONG, John St. John. Manslaughter, 217
LOVELACE, James. Administering unlawful Oaths, 384
LUDLAM, Isaac. Treason, 17
LYNN, Charles. Murder, 103
MACKCOULL, James, _alias_ Moffat. Burglary, 55
MACKEY, Robert. Conspiracy, 3
MACNAMARA, Henry. Larceny, 309
MARCHANT, William John. Murder, 478
MARTIN, Jonathan. Arson, 192
MARTIN, Thomas. Body-stealing, 233
MEDHURST, Francis Hastings. Manslaughter, 477
MERTHYR TYDVIL RIOTS, 256
MILLER, William. Murder, 136
M'KEAND, Alexander and Michael. Murder, 109
MOIR, Capt. William. Murder, 207
MONTGOMERY, John Burgh, _alias_ Wallace, _alias_ Morgan. Forgery, 144
MOORE, Richard. Forgery, 621
MOSELEY, Joseph. Murder, 393
MOSES, Emanuel. "The Gold-dust Robbery", 480
MOSES, Mordecai. Forgery, 404
MOTT, Henry. Custom-house Robbery, 407
NESBETT, James. Murder, 53
NICHOLSON, Arthur, _alias_ Gould. Murder and Burglary, 556
O'CONNOR, Feargus. Sedition, 542
OWEN, James. Murder, 546
OXFORD, Edward. Treason, 583
PAGE, James. Houghing Cattle, 389
PATTESON, Thomas. Manslaughter, 599
PEACOCK, George Edward. Forgery, 419
PEELE, John, _alias_ Watson. Forgery, 119
PEGSWORTH, Jonathan. Murder, 425
PELHAM, John. Coining, 1
PENRUDDOCK, C. W. W. Assault, 426
PIERCE, Alexander. Murder, 91
POWER, Michael. Coining, 1
PRESTON, Thomas. Treason, 7
PROBERT, William. Horse-stealing, 100
PUGH, James. Murder, 157
RAE, Alfred. Assault with intent to commit a Rape, 386
RACE, William. Manslaughter, 550
REFORM RIOTS, 314
RIEDY, Daniel. Abduction, 65
RIOTS, AGRICULTURAL, 213
RIOTS AT BIRMINGHAM, 1839, 499
RIOTS AT BRISTOL, 322
RIOTS, CALTHORPE-STREET, 378
RIOTS AT CANTERBURY, 460
RIOTS, CHARTIST, 1839-40, 515
RIOTS AT MERTHYR TYDVIL, 236
ROACH, William. Murder, 458
ROBINSON, Ann. Murder, 188
ROCK, Captain, _alias_ Walter Fitzmaurice. Abduction, 65
ROSS, Elizabeth. Murder, 305
SALMON, Robert. Manslaughter, 417
SAMS, David. Burglary, 632
SCANLAN, John. Murder, 50
SEALE, Wm. Custom-house Robbery, 407
SHEEN, William. Murder, 123
SLADE, Joshua. Murder, 134
SMITH, Alexander M'Laughlin. Murder, 604
SMITH, John, _alias_ Day. Murder, 455
SMITH, John, _alias_ Sapwell. Murder, 209
SMITHERS, Jonathan. Arson and Murder, 342
SOLOMON, Isaac, _alias_ Ikey. Receiving stolen goods, 235
STACEY, John and John. Murder, 195
STANYNOUGHT, Henry. Murder, 403
STEPHENSON, Alexander, _alias_ Telford. Piracy, 228
STEVENS, Joseph Plant. Robbery, 244
STEVENS, Rev. Joseph Rayner. Sedition, 495
STEVENSON, William. Larceny, 633
STOFFEL, Philip. Murder, 68
SULLIVAN, Stephen. Murder, 50
SULLIVAN, Thomas. Custom-house Robbery, 407
SUMMERS, William. Larceny, 405
SWALLOW, William, _alias_ Waldon. Piracy, 228
TAYLOR, John. Body-stealing, 233
TAYLOR, Robert. Polygamy, 594
TAYLOR, Thomas. Murder, 458
TELFORD, Alexander, _alias_ Stephenson. Piracy, 228
THISTLEWOOD, Arthur. Treason, 7
THISTLEWOOD, Arthur. Treason, 34
THOMAS, George, _alias_ Dobell. Murder, 546
THORNTON, Abraham. Murder, 19
THURTELL, John. Murder, 69
TIDD, Richard. Treason, 34
TIMMS, George. Murder, 455
TURNER, William. Treason, 17
VARNHAM, John. Murder, 455
VAUGHAN, George. Conspiracy, 3
WAKEFIELD, Edward Gibbon, William, and Frances. Abduction, 327
WALDON, William, _alias_ Swallow. Piracy, 228
WALLACE, John, _alias_ Montgomery. Forgery, 144
WALLACE, Patrick Maxwell Stewart, and Michael Shaw, Stewart. Inciting a person to cast away a Ship, 624
WOOD, George Alexander. Manslaughter, 98
YOUNG, John. Murder, 469
THE
CHRONICLES OF CRIME;
OR,
NEW NEWGATE CALENDAR.
THOMAS BROCK, JOHN PELHAM, AND MICHAEL POWER,
CONVICTED OF COINING.
In the year 1816, when Sir Matthew Wood was lord mayor of London, several conspiracies of a most diabolical nature were detected, and some of the conspirators punished. The conduct of the chief magistrate was such as to do honour not only to his understanding and ability, but to his disinterestedness and humanity.
The legislature, with the intention of stimulating the exertions of police-officers, and inducing others to give information, had awarded certain rewards to the parties who should contribute to the conviction of offenders against the laws. The object was laudable, but it was capable of great perversion, and was liable to many objections; it gave the prosecutor an interest in the conviction of the accused, and on that account tended to impress the public with the belief that the condemnation, and not the acquittal of the prisoner, was the object of our criminal laws. It was too true that "blood money," as this species of remuneration was emphatically denominated, did contribute in reality to the evil we allude to. But had not a development of unparalleled villany put scepticism to flight, we could not have brought ourselves to believe that those who were paid to detect crime should be found the most active in seducing innocence and youth to its commission. Yet it is an indubitable fact that, for ten years preceding 1816, victims were brought up, session after session, to be convicted of crimes to which they were seduced by the very men who gave evidence against them, that they might revel on the "blood money," or make use of it to provide other victims for the law. Several of those connected with the police-offices, particularly the patroles, were detected in this traffic of blood;[A] but only one officer of any note, named Vaughan, was convicted of this most atrocious crime.
[A] The following were the parliamentary rewards for the conviction of felons:--
1. By 4 W. & Mary, cap. 8, forty pounds on the conviction of every highwayman.
2. By 6 & 7 Wm. III. cap. 17, forty pounds upon the conviction of every person who had counterfeited the coin, or clipped &c. the same, or had brought into the kingdom clipped coin, &c.
3. By 5 Anne, cap. 31, forty pounds on conviction of every burglar or housebreaker.
4. By 14 Geo. II. cap. 6, ten pounds on the conviction of every sheep-stealer, &c.
5. By 15 Geo. II. cap 28, forty pounds for conviction of any person of treason or felony relating to the coin, upon this Act; and ten pounds on conviction of counterfeiting copper money.
6. By 16 Geo. II. cap. 15, twenty pounds upon conviction of a person returning from transportation before the expiration of his term.
The discovery of this diabolical system took place in the course of the trial of three men named Quin, Riorton, and Connolly; it appears that these unfortunate beings were detected in fabricating base shillings and bank tokens, and being brought to trial, they were convicted. During the examination of the witnesses for the prosecution, however, whose names appear at the head of this article, some circumstances came out, which induced a suspicion in the mind of the lord mayor that the prosecutors were in some way mixed up with the guilt of the prisoners. An investigation in consequence took place; but the convicts, on being confronted with their accusers, refused to say anything against them, saying that they were "under an oath." They were Irishmen and Catholics, and the rigid observance which they pay to an oath is well known; but a priest having at length persuaded them that they were not bound by such an oath administered unlawfully, they disclosed the whole particulars of the plot, and their accusers were in consequence secured.
The three new prisoners were then indicted for their participation in the crime of their dupes, which amounted to high treason; and at the session held on the 25th of September 1816, were brought to trial at the Old Bailey.
A man named Barry then swore that Pelham had applied to him to get some men to make bad shillings, which Power, it was said, could colour. Barry said they must go to the market for them, which was in Cheapside, at the corner of King-street, where poor Irishmen were waiting for employment. Some days after he went with Brock and Power to the market, when Quin and Riorton were engaged by them. Being told they could not be employed unless they would be sworn to secrecy, they took an oath on a piece of paper. A room was hired, and tools procured by the prisoners, and the poor Irishmen were set to work to cut brass into the form of shillings, &c. under the superintendence of Power. Connolly was sent for to assist. He said to Barry, in Irish, "We are doing a job that will hang us all," to which he replied that if he thought so he would not work another day at it. The Irishmen were then employed in colouring the metal, and everything being in readiness, notice was given, the officers entered, and the Irishmen were seized, tried, and found guilty.
Pelham's landlady proved that the scissars used by the Irishmen in cutting through brass had been procured by her at Pelham's request; another woman also swore that the hammer and files taken in the coining room had been sold by her to Brock and Pelham.
Brock, in his defence, declared his innocence. Power denied either going to the market or the room; and Pelham said the Barrys were noted perjurers, and the women were false witnesses.
The jury, without hesitation, however, brought in a verdict of Guilty, and the prisoners were transported.
The three Irishmen were then pardoned; and the lord mayor having interested himself in their behalf, a subscription was opened, and they were enabled to return to their own country, and there to purchase small farms.
GEORGE VAUGHAN, ROBERT MACKEY, AND GEORGE BROWN.
CONVICTED OF A CONSPIRACY.
While the lord mayor was detecting the "men of blood" in the city, the magistrates at Bow-street were not less meritoriously employed in tracing similar crimes to a police-officer, named Vaughan, and several others not immediately employed by the magistrates, but who were well known as loungers about the different offices. Several of these atrocious wretches were apprehended, and many revolting circumstances disclosed.
George Vaughan, Robert Mackey, and George Brown, were tried at the Middlesex sessions, on the 21st of September 1816, on a charge of conspiring to induce William Hurley, Michael Hurley, William Sanderson, William Wood, aged thirteen, and Dennis Hurley, to commit a burglary in the house of Mrs. M'Donald, at Hoxton; and, by having them convicted of the fact, thereby procure for themselves the rewards given by parliament for the conviction of housebreakers.