The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-08-04 00:00:00

MURDER AT BRIGG.

then be furnished with means to 'resume his business, he would of
Oottrse require the services of his apprentice.
aetllilL,,haoewderthere,3flaisgiledstratotegsivveee a
elyadliragcolyloueedarringedto COMMITTAL AND CONFESSION OF J. WETRERILL.
ththeeiwneltarheonletmat.es to The Magistrates of this district (the Rev. John Hildyard. John
be cancelled forthwith. Uppleby, sq.. and the Rev. V. Grantham. D.D.) have been ex. ,
Mrs. Vie. Third, a neat little *omen, residing in Red Lion- eeedingly active In the investigation of this horrid murder. On
court, Saffron-hill, who would not be sworn, stated that while she Wednesday last they examined eleven witnesses in addition to those
was in bed last night, about twelve o'clock, expecting her husband examined on Monday. The same course was adopted in the in- ,
g vestigation on Wednesday its on the former period, no stranger
twohrCit
whommes,hsehewashearslanswsomereedoncie Ilniselewk at
v her door, ar
eiee,,.me.,..d on
wh aiehskt
being permitted to be present, nor were even the witnesses suffered
supposed to be her husband's, and therefore unhesitatingly got up to remain to the room after their depositions were taken ; neither
Ind admitted him. She fuel no light, and she asked why he had was the prisoner apprised of the evidence produced to substantiate
been out so late, but receiv,l no answer. This appeared rather his guilt. It ought, however, to be observed, that no professional
strange, and as she put her hand up t the person's neckcloth, man, on the prisoner's behalf, applied to the Magistrates for per.'
(who was sitting on her bedside) she felt it covered with %sod, an,d mission to hear and take notes of the evidence. The number of
not a silk one, such as her husband wore. " For heaven's sake witnesses for the prosecution is now 23, and rumour revs, that a
(she exclaimed) what have you done, Mike, I'll strike a light and more complete cs.se of circumstantial evidence is addend to be met
see and clean you." She got out of bed and was going to the table with ; and that every thing is so completely brought home to the
for the tinder-box, when, by the light of the gas through her prisoner, that even if his own voluntary confession were not made
windows, she saw a strange man, 141311 who should it be but Master use of, his guilt would be manifest.
Thomas Memins, who said—": Boon be frightened, it's wily a (;n Friday the witnesses all assembled and were conducted to a
friend, my Judy.' She collared him—be tried to get away, be
did ut room, in which the prisoner had been cosigned ever since his lip.
she succeeded in giving him in custody to the watchman. H
prehension, to hear the depositions read, and enter into their re.
not offer her any violence whatever and appearedin liquor. spective recognizance', to appear and give evidence at the Assizes.
In deft nce, he told a long; tale about going with a mead, with This was the first time the prisoner was aware of the strength of the
case made oat against him. When the surgeon (3lr. Bodkin) pro-
whom he had been drinking some of the crater, and that as he
was passing her door, out she popped in a tit, and laid hold of hints duced the shot which bad perforated the skull of the deceased, to_
and took him to the watchman, because he was the first sho met. nether with a portion of the skull itself, and a small piece of hat
lie denied going into the house at all. which had been driven into the cranium by the shot, the prisoner
As he had neither been rude nor violent. the Magistrate cis- shrugged up his shoulders, and betrayed considerable uneasiness of
charged hint. observing to the woman—" I would advise your i mind. However, he has not by any means manifested any thing
husband to come home in future at more seasonable hours—and I like real remorse. Motets heartily and sleeps soundly, frequently
do you not remain in his absence without a light." isleeping fourteen and sixteen hours out of twenty-four, and when
, he,cas tahen into custody.
31ARLTIOROCOH-STR EET. Ihe wakes he asks for food. The night after the murder he slept
' well, and ate a hearty breakfast the following morning, just before
fames Flattery, a valet in the service of the lion. Lieutenant- I
Co!. Ilutchin eon, was yesterday brought to this office, charged with
different. neprisoner has varied in the statements which he has made to
; roaivnivals with whom he has communicated about the
robbing his master el a gold snuff-bon and various articles of
valnable property ; and I.rlitie Wri4ett was charged with receiving
manner in which the murder was committed ; but to all he as know-
the same, knowing then) IJ be
to . Ithving done it. lie told where the watch and money a ere
Both prisoners were remanded, to have search made for some ',edged_
apkwhisehded 'filen making hay.
nenositen nn Sunday, and, from his direction. they were found
more of the mis.ine preperty. hidden in the covering of a hovel In the very field in which he was
lino h 1 NG FA.% l' DS. —A man of respectable appearance, about .
65 years of age, minted Ge2rge Bens, who carries no the business
he fallowing is the statement given by him to one of the wit-
of a hair-dresser in Iround.court, in the Strand, was yesterday
nesses, which we withheld, for obvious reasons, when we published
.to obtain our
eformer account of the murder, and which we should not now
brought to the office by the officers of the Alendicity Society, and
charged, tinder the Vagrant A., with endeavouring
mods. public were the prisoner likely to be injured in the
money under fraudulent reprenendtions, by writing begging letters . have
, slightest degree by it; bat as this csanscrwoseibly ensue, inasmuch
to various Noblemen and Ladieo of rank.
that ;as the trial will certainly come on this day, and the place (Lin.
.
Mr. liodkin. the Secretary to the Mendicity Society, stated,
coin) being too distant for the account to reach till after the mi.
in the month of June lost alady, of the name of Nceth, referred to
wlttten to her as a stater shill have known his fate. The confession is as follows:
the Society a letter, which be held in his hand,l A witness swears that he heard the prisoner soy, " that on the
begging letter, purporting tis come from the Rev. John Ramsay,
I evening of tl:e murder, between nine and ten o'clock, he (the pri-
describing himself and his family of seven children in the deepest
' tone) was in a field belonging to 31r. Richard Smith, in the cam.
distress, and himself in a miserable and declining state of health,
'pony of a man named Hare, propping up a hay-stack ; and that
and attached to this lettc. which was dated from Bridgewater-ter-
when they had done, they both proceeded together towards Brigg,
race, was a certificate of the app tout's state of health, purporting
however, the whole ; moil they came to the Middle of another geld, when lie made an
to be signed by Dr. Pincard. - Upon enquiry, idle excuse to Hare, in order to stop behind. As soon as Hare
was found to be a fabrication, aril the signature of Di. Pinata a
forgery. was out of sight, he (the prisoner) took a pistol Intro under his
' clothes, and loaded it ; and he went on the road towards Rigby,
A number of otlter letters were produced of a similar deteriation,
addressed to the Duchess of Butch:ugh, the (bunters Dowager of bet when he got opposite a close in the occupation of Mr. Potter,
Creeve, Colones" Dowager Morton, Lord Spencer, the Lad of .he witted the turnpike road, and crossed some fields in Wrawby
Lonsdcle, the Dowager Countess of Anson, Lady Guildford, Lady I parish. lie then passed be a fox cover, and afterwards went
Antrim, &c. &c. and with most of the letters were sent petitions, . throngh a bean-tield, and got over a gate into the turnpike-road
purporting to be subscribed to by the Bishop of Oxford, the pain, leading from Deign to 'Wetwby. Almost as soon as he got into
of Wstminoter, fee. all of which were forged. ' this road he sat dos n by the road side, and whilst he was sitting,
Mr. Bodkin said, that all the efforts of the Society to discover lie perceived some one coming along the footpath from Beige to-
tbe writer of these letters turned out fruitless. until within the last wards Wrawby. He then got up and walked in the direction of,
few days, when the yrisoner uddressed one in his own name to lirlgg, where lie met a young woman Cfonilinson). Soon after.
Lady Grantham, Great Jermain-square, giving his own edam,. `wants he heard a chaise coming along the road, and he got into a
No. 9, Hound-ccurt, Strand, describing his own family es ht the Iditch to hide himself, by the foot-path, not far from the toll-bar.
deepest distrcos, and enclosing a warrant of distress, and a list of ii'hen the chaise had passed he got up, and went back towards
goods seined by his landlord for rent. Wrawby, end met the deceased, to whom he bide good night.'
The landlord of the house, Mr. George. in which the protases. lie (the prisoner) walked on from sixty to a hundred yards, and
resides, appeased, and stated that the distress warrant prodced then he turned back towards Brigg, and ran until he got near the
was altogether a fabrication, nods such had been put in by hi
m;i deceased, when he slackened his pace, and Xralkei after him, and
and that the shop and parlintr ocespied by the prisoner were near a wheat-field he fired the pistol, and killed him. Ile then
taken by him in company with a man nettled Robertson, whose rifled his pockets, taking from them a watch and some silver
name was signed to several of the letters applying for relief. (B‘. hid.) He (the prisoner) then took off his shoes, and ran to
The Society believing this man (Robertson) to be the principal Briig
. to his father's house, and went to bed."
in these frauds, they have, without success. made every effort On Friday. about three o'clock, the prisoner was committed to
to apprehend him. The prisoner acknowledged that the letter Lincoln Cathie. It would seem that some fears had been enter-
signed with his name was written by his wife by his direction, tained that a disturbance might take place on the retrieval of the
but denied that he ever Bent nay other. The prisoner's wife, prisoner, for he was conveyed in a chaise. having a constable en
who described her floods, as in great distress, was produced, each side of him, and two men on horseback attended the chaise.
and she confessed that bili wrote two letters that were sbewn to A considerable crowd had assembled opposite the public-house in
her. which the prisoner was confined upwards of two hours before be
Mr. CONANT, the Magistrate. said, that the simi:arity of the was committed. and numbers were collected in the street, to see
writing in all the letters wet so striking, and the fabricated distress him depart. The fears (if any existed) were entirely groundless,
warrant so suspicious, that he would, under all the circumstances, for no impediment was offered to Ms removal, and he was safely
remand the prisoner tor a week, and the publication of the ease may lodged in the Castle that evening.
bring forward stronger evidence. The nisi Is expected to come on early this morning. At pre-
sent the prisoner has no Solicitor, and the general opinion is, that
when called on to plead, he will lead guOy.

UNION HALL.

. ....... _____
Il.r.synaEcrtoN Wenx—Two men, who gave their names
Jerk Hail and /WI Nmit.'l, were brought up In custody from the I
Lainb?th watch-house, thargel with disturbing the graves in
La?nbe:h ettirch-yard.
The prisoners were. seen 111 the chinch-yard at their 'rusk.
The !Vag:A:rate asked the prisoners what they had to state
in their detence • they ware apprehended unda circumstances
which subjected them to imprisonment
flail—•• Lord bless you, Sir, I knows nothing about it; I don't
even know what I am here for. Is it likely that if I was in the
church-yard, anti escaped out of It, that I should afterwards go up
into the very teeth of danger? No, no; the little articles that the
constable found in my pocket were playthings for my children.,
The rope was to teach them to skip with ; sad the other thing, I
don't know the name of, was for boring holes with."
Hall, the chief constable, said that his namesake was an old
zed experienetd band at the business.
Mr. CHAMBERS said, that if llall could give him any credible
grounds for In lieving that he ass not in the church-yard for the
purpose of committing depredations, be would now set him at
liberty.
Hall—" Your honour, I never gets a living in that there way.
What made me get up so early that morning was, to try and get
an honest day's work."
1 Stager, the sexton, said that when the prisoners were taken into
custody, they endeavoured to bribe the grave-digger and his assist-
ant to let them go, o:, the promise of giving them a guinea each
for every corpse they should have from the ground.
Mr. (..ita morns immediately convicted them to three months'
imprisonnient, as roues and vagabonds.
The prisoner Hall said he would give bail, and appeal at the
Sessions against the conviction.

FIELD SPORTS FOR AUGUST.
Angling and the Courseovalford abundance of amutenient,
shooting, coursing, and hunting being necesarily at a steed; bat
there are many sportsmen who are at thin moment on the tiptoe of
exportation—Peeling more delight gt the very idea of an excursion
to the moors than in the oontemplation of a race, and who are better
pleased with 'h..: more active extrdoeis of the held &Cilia watching
the silent Aoat or throwing due I. The writer speaks from his ewli
feelings:—the grouse-shooting mason is impatiently expected as soon
as young rooks hare afforded a temporary relief to the ennui which
must, in some degree, follow the close of the fox-hunting season.
When August arrives the shooter becomes impatient for the 12th;
the favourite fowling-piece is repeatedly examined, handled, and
again returned to its place, and perhaps tared at a mark, in order to
ascertain. beyond all possibility of doubt, that it still retains undi-
minished possession of those admirable qualities fur which it has
already been famed. At length the journey commences to York-
shire, Scotland, or elsewhere'—but for an account of subsequent
operations we must refer to our next.
The season for Red Groove commences on the 12tbof this month ;
that for Black (fame on the 20th. Black (lame is principally con-
fined to Scotland ; though a few may be met with in Sta. ordshire,
Derbyshire, and some other parts.
For those who are rinsed with the sport, Gull and Sea-fowl
shooting may be eajoyrd in perfection, as the young birds are now
pretty strong on the wing.
Young 11 lid Ducks will be soon getting on the wing.
This is the time for Cub-huntieg.
In Ireland the season hos been hne. While on the north-western
toast of Ecgiar.d the cutting of grass was postponed for several
weeks owing to the state of the weather, the hay in Ireland—at
least between Dublin and Belfast—was all housed, and housed well
too, before the end of June.
ANGLING.—AII the different species of fresh-water fish will
take a bait this month; and barbel, roach, dace, and perch are now I
coming into good condition for the table, having neatly recovered
their strength from the late spawning: but the angler must not ex-
pea much sport during the hot bright days of August; his only'
chance of success is to fish a few hours after the earliest dawn of
day, and again in the evening titan quite dark, or durir,g the night.
Salmon and trout continue still to be worth taking and dressing,
but they are generally rather shy and capricious as it respects the
bait and fettling during the month of August.
The gods(-Ntlier in the river Thames may expect good sport
this month, but he will have better in September : live minnows
and shrimps now begin to be valuable in perch-angling. In ponds
pools, meets, broads, docks, and reservoirs, perch, carp, tench, eels,
roach, dace, brean-, flounders, and smelts, will now take a bait
morning, ?WON end night.—Anuals y* Sporting.