The National Register.
London, England, 1813-08-22 00:00:00

VIE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Pctiehin. 'Folds, thy lauticlo -maid, detailed the circumstances above
stated, of finding, Mr and Mrs. 13unar murdertd, and the conduct of
the prisoner respecting the bloody sheets.
'The sr( mu and COHCIIIII4II p eyed his going to London, &c.
The prisoner's conlessicii was here read—
DECLARATION OF NICHOLSON.

I. Philip Nicholson, to clear the innocence of others, and tell the
'truth of myself, I committed the minder.
Question by Mr. B.—Had you accomplices? No, Sir, I wonid
tell you if I had —I do not mean accomplices in he room, but
others? No, Sir, I did not know it myself five minutes betot.e.—
Xxplain how it happened.—l was sleeping upon the foim,
waked about three o'clock ; I put the sheet around me, and. took
the poker from the Lull-grate, ;full a lighted candle in my hand filan
tl.e hall. I enured the room, I looked about when I entered, anti
rave Noy mistress two blows; she never moved. I left her, and
went round to ma,ter, and gave Lim two or three blows ; and he
said, " Come to bed my love,' and then he sprung from the bed and
seized hold of mc. I hit bins in the struggle about the arms and
legs • we struggled 15 minutes or better, he was very nett'. getting
the legs;
of me; i got him clown by force, and left him groaning.
1 went down to wash my hands in the sink of the butler's pantry,
and then opened the house door, and drawing-room windows.—
'What motive had you ? I had no bad intention : I not know what
provoked me to do it, more than you do.—Yon were heard to com-
plain of going so much behind the carriage? Yes; but I never
thought of doing it from that.—Did you ever feel resentment for
going so much behind the carriage? No, Sir ; I Dever thought much
about it.—Had you thought or talked of this murder when you were
drinking with the Groom the ni before in the hall ?No : I never
thought of it myself, or had any idea of it myself.—How long was it
after yon waked that you went up stairs? I jumped up : I was halt'
undressed when sleeping upon the form : I undressed, and put the
sheet about me.—Why did you put the sheet about you? That they
might not know tire.— When did you drop the sheet? In the struggle :
1 had it on when 1 gave the first blow.
By Mr. A. C.—Did Dale the butler know any thing about it?
No, Sir.—Did any of the maid servants know any thitig about it ?
Not a word—Why did you go to Dale in London? Nothing parti-
enlar.—Was it your intention to take any thing away? No, Sir.
What wait your intention? Nothing particular : but when l went into
the room I saw my matter and mistress asleep, and 1 gave her two
blows.--Were you drunk when you sent to bed? No, Sir:
I had drank nothing 1.”. t beer. I had not had a drop of spirits aii tiny.
—Had yuu at any former tll4e thought of the murder ? No, Sir, I never
thought of such a thing in ray life.--Witat did you do with your
bloody things ? 'Aly Shirt, neckcloth, and stockings 1 put opposite the
hall door in the shrubbery, under snore leaves, near the little gate.
'flee breeches 1 kept on all day. When I waked from the torm, I
only took off my waistcoat.—What did you wipe your hands with ?
With. the sponge in the sick, which I left there.—What did you de
with your shoes ? Did you, put them into the wood closet ? I might ;
but I do not remember.— -What did you do with the rush light ?
threw it into the coal closet.--Why did you take the rush light ? It
Mats dark in tile house.--Why did you think it was three o'clock ?
- By the break of day.--Why did yon open the shutters of your ror,nr ?
To 'hew it 01 sce your clothes ? No, I had seen them
by the rush light its coming down stairs.--Di'l yotego to sleep of er cow-
Inittittg thi, act? I went to bed, but could not sieep. I was awake
when King er.terred the room.--In the pretence of Almighty God,
thinkirg I ant on my death bed, I hereby declare this to be toy
voluntary c nlession, to prevent innocent petple being acensed of this
eitcumstance. (Signed) PHILIP NICHOLSON.
Lavender, after the confession, searched and found the clothes
'leafy in the I:l3ee described (the shits was mach torn and bloody,
and also the stockings) ; they were produced.

The prisoner being asked for his defence, called Mr. Frederick
Tyrrell it. a witness to his character, wl o slid he was the son of the
Reme,nbrancer : the prisoner had lived three potrs ‘‘i:h his father,
and his conduct du, in.• that tinge was most humane and gentle : he
appeared to be a mau of kind disposition.
Mr. Justice Ilv:Ant then bti ;fled up the evidence : he said be
'laver kuew a ca.e more clearly proved: even of circumstances
there was so well connected a series as most carry convictien, in-
tie
pently of the confession : the bloody frot.teps: the conduct and
Ildmeationr of the prisoner; his taking off the sheets ; his oigilteap
stainvd with blood, which could not have happened in the way lie
said, bccAuse %shell he brom4hl down the sheets in the morning he
vi as dress.ed, and had no nightcap ; and the bloody shoes, which ex-
actly corresponded with the footmark. All these things seen ed to
rtguu%e all doubt :tad then; the confession eonfiruied all these sir.

cunistances. If, however, the Jury bad any

.2 they

ould

acquit the prisoner. • •
The Jur.) immediately returned a verdict of—Guilty.
The prison( r was then addressed hi *the usual form, and asked
what he bad to say why sentence of death should not he passed upon
him. He said "he had nothing to offer."
Mr. Justice HEAT!! then VI °Mk& to pass sentence nearly in the•
followim: terms : " Prisoner, after a minute trial, you have hens
convicted by a Jury of your country of traitorously mordwring
.our master ; whom, instead of attacking, it was your duty to pro•
test at the peril of your life. What was your motive for so atro.
riot's a crime does not appear : it does not seem to have been re.
vrnge; you were not intoxicated, nor otikded at your master,
ngainst minim it was impossible to fuel rt sentment, fur his whole
life was a series of kindness and bet efieences, for which he is now
gone to receive his reward. You, Nicholson, must soon appear
-tictore a tribunal more auditl than this : and I solemnly recommend
you to employ the short interval which remains to you, in making
your peace with Heaven. Nothing that 1 can say can agaliVate
the sense of your guilt in the minds of this assem•iy. 1 shall,
therefore, proceed to the discharge my duty in passing twill rat the
scuteuce of the law, which is, that you be taken henre to the
place Irm which you came, and on Mouday next be drawn on a
sledge to the place of execution, and there 11..nged till you are dead,
and then your body shall be given to be dissected and ana-
tomized?"

After the Judge bad concluded, the prisoner delivered in a pa-
per, of which the following is a copy :--
" I acknowledge wills the deepest contrition the justice of the
sentence unto death that has just now been passed upon me. My
crimes are indeed most heavy—l feel their weight, but Ido not
despair--nay, I humbly hope for mercy through the infinite mercy
of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, wins bled and died for nie.
" In order to have a well-grounded hope in him, my all mereififf
Redeemer, I know that it is my bounden duty not only to grieve
from my heart for my due offences, but also to do my utmost to
make satisfaction for them. Yet, ails! what satisfaction can I
make to the afflicted family of my master and mistress, whom with-
out any provocation Iso barbarously murdered ? I can make none
beyond the declaration of my guilt and horror of soul, that I could
perpetrate deeds so shocking to human natnre, and so agonizing to the
feelings of that worthy family—l implore their forgiveness for
God's sake, and fully sensible of their great goodness, I do hope
that they will forgive me. I freely give up my lite as a just forfeit
to my country, whose laws I have most scandalously outraged.
Departing from this tribunal, soon shall I appear betine Another
tribunal where an eternal sentence will be passed upon me. With
this dread sentence full in my view, I do most solemnly declare,
and I desire this declaration to he.taken as my dying wmd., that I
atone was the base-and cruel murderer of my master and mistress—
that I had no accomplice—that no one knew, or could possibly ens-
pect, that I intended to perpetrate those barbarities--that I my-
self* had no intention of comaottiw,r those horrid deeds, save for a-
short time, so short as scarcely to be computed, before I actually
committed them--that booty was not the motive of my fatal cruel-
ties. I am sure the idea of plunder never, presented itself to my mind.
I can attribute those unnatural murders to no other cause thrn, at
the time of their commission, to a temporary frenzy from excessive
drinking and before that tiny: to the habitual forg, tt'ulness for sooty
years of the great God and his judgments ; and the too natural
consequence of such forgetfulness, the habitual yielding to the
worst passions of corrupted stature. So that the evil that I was
tempted to do, that I itl. The Lord in his mercy has neverthe-
less spared my life until stow--that life which 1, in an agony of hor-
ror and despair. once most wickedly attempted to destroy. He
had most graciously allowed me tin:e for repentance. An humble
and contrite heart most be Isis gift. That gift I hope he has grant-
ed to ley usost ardent supplicationS. In that hope, and bearing in
mind his promise, that an humble and contrite heart he will not
despise, I, freely offering up to him my sufferings and my life it
self. look forwerd, thronzh his nsost precious blood, to the pardon
of all my crimes, and most humbly trust, that the same mercy which
he slowed to the peniicA tint I whit was crucified with nitro, he
will slim to Ilse. Thus meekly confiding in thee, 0 Jesus! into
thy hands I commit toy spirit. Anon.

This '2oth August,- " PHILIP NICHOLSON."
The prisoner o:lnv.:hunt the tt ial manifested a settled melancholy.
This melancholy has, we untler,tand, habituatly marked his conduct
since his recovery from the wonud in his throat, combined witlr
the most pious resiginition to his fate. In Court he very seldom
raised his eyes, but seemed quite bowed down by depression ant
conscious guilt. On the delivery of the evidence of Mary Clark
and Penelope Fold* he wit.* partiodanly affected; inn on the pre'

A MUST fe,
uuy dollbt, they would