The National Register.
London, England, 1813-06-06 00:00:00

NATIONAL- PE

HORRIBLE MURDER
OF MR. AND MRS. THOMPSOIq BONAR, 'OF CHISAE-
,
HURST, KENT.

.

. .

The murder which it is now our painful task to relate for the inform
•mation of the publicsequals both in mptety and in horror any of.the
;mist atrocious which of late years disgraced the criminal annars.of
this country. it appears that, on Sunday evening, Mr. Thomson
Boner went to bed at hiS usual honr ; MrS. Bonar (lid not follow him
till two o'clock, when she ordered her female servant to call her at
7- &Chick in the morning. The servant, as she had been directed, at
the appointed time went into the bed-room of her master and mis-
tress, and found Mr. Bonar mangled and dead upon the floor, and his
lady wounded, dying, and insensible in her bed. A bent poker which
was lying on She ground, as well as the fractured condition of the -
beads of the unfortunate victims, plainly denoted with what instru-
ment the act had been committed. As there Were some remains of
life in Mrs. Bonar, servants were sent express to town for surgical
assistance. Mr. Astley Cooper arsived with all possible dispatch,
but it was too late: the wound was mortal, and she expired at eleven
minntes past one o'clock, having been during the whole previous time
insensible and only once uttering the exclamation of" Oh ! dear
We never witnessed such a scene of horror as the bed room presented.
'Almost the first object which met the eye on entering, was the dead
body of Mr. Rollos, with the head and hands steeped in blood ; the
scull was literally broken into fragments, in two or three places ; and
there was a dreadful laceration across the nose, as if effected by the
edge of a poker. His hands were mangled in several nieces, ap-
parently by the same instrument; there was also a severdi wound on •
the right knee. From the numerous wounds in the lAtly of Mr. Ho-
star, from the swoln state of his month, and the convulsive adhesion
of his bands and knees, it is clear that he had struggled with all his
force against his horrid murderer. The Most shocking circumstances
connected with this spectacle was the appearance of the night cap,
which lay a few paces from the head, drenched in blood, with a lock
of grey hair Sticking to it, which seemed to have been struck from
the smell by the violence of the blow of the poker. The pillow of
his bed lay at his feet completely dyed in blood. The manly athletic
person of Mr. Bonar,—for though advanced in life he seems to have
been a powerful man,--give an increase of horror to this afflicting
sight. The view of Mrs. Bonar, though equally distressing, excited
snore pity than terror : though her head had been fractured iu a
dreadful manner, yet there was a calm softness in her countenance '
more tesembling a healthy sleep than a violent death : it might base
been supposed that her life had parted from her without one painfol
effort. The linen and pillow of the bed in which she lay were co-
vered with blood, as was also the bed of Mr. Bonar. They slept in
small seqarate beds, but .placed so close together that theme was
Scarce room for a person to pass between them. The interval of
floor between the beds was almost a stream of blood. No slight ad-.!
elitional horror arose from the contrast of the spacious handsome apart-
ment in which this:scene of death was exhibited. The most heart-
moving spectacle yet remained. About 7 o'clock in the evening, ,
311 r. Honor, jun. arrived from Faversham, Obese he was on duty as
Colonel of the Kent Local militia. In spite of the efforts of Mr. An- •
gerstien, jnn. amid some other Gentlemen, he rushed up stairs, ex,
!claiming, " Let me see my father : indeed I must see hint," It was
impwsible to detainatim ; he burst into the bed-chamber, and imme-
diately locked the door after him. Apprehensions were entertained
his safety, end time door was broken open, when he was seen
kneeling with clasped hands over the body of his father. His friends
Sore him away, and hurried him, tottering and fainting, to an ad-
joinins, chamber.
W :learn on very accurate information, that about seven 'clock in
the morning, when the alarm' was raised among time servants, the ,
foetruan, Phillip Nicholson, rode express to London on one of the
, best horses in the stable ; he went first to Mr. kstley Cooper,- then
To the Red Lion, near Bedlam, where he saw Dale, a man who has
lately heen discharged from the service of Mr. Bona, and to whom
lie used, (as is reported.) these remarkable expressions :—" The deed
i 3 done, you are suspected : but you are not in it." He then pro-
ceeded to the office at Bow-street, to give information of the mur-
der ; and stated that he had seen Dale at the Red Lion, together
With what had passed, which induced the officers afterwards to go to
Dale. Nicholson appeared intoxicated at the office c indeed he had
• been seen to take three glasses of rum at the halfway horse. The
officers then directed him to follow them but lost sight of him in
Brydges-street. A warrant was issued to apprehend him, his room
and box were searched, and from some papers there fotmd, it was see!)
had been discharged from the dragoons as an invalid last
and had since that period lived with Mr. Tyrrell, the Re-

4:lsiTrrt

JUNE 6.

membrancer ; I.e hail been only tbreir weeks iu the family of Mr.
Bonar.

Dale, to whom the officers went, in consequence of what fell from
Nicholson, had been a butler in the family of Mr. Bonar, and was
discharged about a fortnight ago on suspicion of ill conduct. Mrs.
Bonar, it is said wished to have him prosecuted, but Mr. Bonar was
content to send him away. He came down Kith two of the Bow-
street officer.ead tfuderwentOn examination before the Magistrates;
but was dismissed, as we understood, because he had clearly esta-
blishedan alibi, Mewing that he was at the Red Lion from It o'clock
on Sunday evening ti;l 6 o'clock on Monday morning. He was,
therefore, suffered to go aVeaf to his wife, who resides in the village
of Chislehurst.•
The unfortunate subjects of this narration, bad iesided at Chisles
hurst about eight'or nine years : their mansion is.called Camden-
'place, and is remarkable at beitg the spot from which the late Lord
Camden, who resided there, took - his title: Mr. Bonar, we learn,
was upwards of 70 years old. Perhaps scarce a man exists inssliose
praise a more generally favourable testimony could not be houses
Both he and his lady have died regretted by all their equals, and
(what is, 'berhaps better still) by all ranks in the vicinity of their
residence. . .
In consequence of the disappearance Of Philip Nicholson and of
the warrant granted by the Lord Mayor for his apprehension,
Forrester, one of the city officers, went in quest of him. After a
• diligent enquiry, on Monday, the officer traced him to Whitechapel,
where he found him on horseback. drinking at the inn door of the
Three Nuns, with an old acquaintance. The Officer laid hold of
the bridle of the horse, and after a smart scuffle, in which Nicholson
received some slight bruises, he was secured, and conveyed him to
Giltspur-street Comp ter. The prisoner was in a state of intoxication,
approaching to insanity, Sir Charles Flower, and Mr. Astley
Cooper, saw him there, and asked him various questions ; but
nothing like.a confession, or admission of guilt, could be drawn
from him. On the same day he was examined before the Loid
Mayor ; but such was the drunken state of the prisoner, that a
rational answer could not- be extracted from him, and he was re-
manded for a further hearing next clay. •
Wednesday, he was again brought to the ?lansims House. From
the question put to the prisoner, it appeared that he had conducted
himself, since thedeath of his master and mistress, in the most ins-
prudent and unfeeling manner, which tended mote to induce suspi-
cion than any other evidence brought against him. He said, 'that
the night preceding the murder he wilt to bed about twelve
o'clock, and knew nothing of what had happened untilcalled up by
the housemaid, about eight o'clock next morning. He was the
only male servant that slept in the home. Some of the windows he
hail fastened inside at the usual hour, and the rest were attended to
by the housemaid.
On the murder being discovered, and the servants assembled, he
with others went to the rood where lay his master and mistress.
The former was found quite dead in a mangled state, and the latter
just discovered signs of life; he was able to ascertain the fact by
Owing his ear near to the mouth of his mistress. The floor was
covered with blood and other matter which had come from his mas-
ter. He conceived he was doing right in taking the sheets off his
master's bed, and With them to clear away the nuisance ; having
done so, he took the soiled linen to the room where he slept. 'The
groom was present, and assisted him to pull the upper sheet from
his own bed to wrap those of his master's in. The sheets altogt the r
l• he put under his own bed. Upon this point lie was close pressed,
and was desired to explain his particular motive fur using the sheets
to absorb the blood, and then afterwards to fold them In the linen
from his own bed, when-he ought to have known that in such cases
' nothing should be disturbed about the persons of the deceased. He
answered he was ignorant of that : what he had done was with
the best intent, conceiving as lie did
,that so horrid and unpleasant
a sight would have been oflensive to any person having occasion
to enter the room. The other servants, he admitted, would toncit
I nothing, and did not think theniselves justified in doing so. • His
night-shirt, he said, lie lett in his bed when he got up, and might
I be found: He •was then asked as to the foot-mark in blood which
i appeared on the stairs leading trom his apartment to that in which
the murders were committed. He said, if there were any, it
might have been done when lie went backward and forward with
the soiled sheets : but he was told, that the mark had hem seen be-
fore he left his room in the first instance. He was stripped and ex.
amined in a private room, in order to see if he had any bruises
about him, which lie might have received in the conflict with Mr.
Sonar. Triflinss bruises were•found on his person, particularly one
. m
, on his forehead : but those were explained to have been received in
ft the scuffle. with Forretter. The City officer being - called to this

.~

•
r

that he h
4ansary,