The Sun.
London, England, 1806-04-07 00:00:00

'TRIAL OF Mn. PATCIL

Ox Saturday the adjourned Sessions fcrthe'Coun-
ty of Surrey were renewed befOre StrAscx, 111 A-
c Lord Chief Baron, of the Exchequer, for
the purpose of trying Richard Patch, for the alledged.
Murder of Mr. Blight. This trial excited a curiosity
unparalleled in any similar case : at nine o'clock the
Codit was crowded with. many of the first people of
the County of Surrey) the Magistrates, and some
of the principal Nobility.. Their Boyal Highnesses
the Dukes of Cumberland and Sitssex were present,
accompanied by some of the. i!'rench Princes; -and
sat upon the Bench with the Judge. • About-twenty
minates before ten Patch was brought into Court.
The Jury were: now impannelled and sworn the
C!erk of the Arraigns having first-read the Impeach-
ment to the Prisoner, to winch -he preaCled-=--/Vot
Gul/iy.. As the .lury were swearing in, Mr. Patch
chAlenged tivo Of the Jttrors;who were conseqiient-
Iy'passed by. The names of the Jurors were as fol-
lows :

(711 a. Smith, of Merton. .Inhn,Werlze, of Wandsworth.
Ti4oinas Daly, of Barnes. , Thomas Bartlett, of Merton.
lonn Layto!,,,of Putney; Georg: Moore, of Putney.
John',Cape,"of Putney. George Smith, of Putney.
!Union, Of Melton. Dan Langton, of Wandsworth.
of Putney, Thomas Chairman, of Putney.

Mr. PooL'EY opened the Prosecution on the part
of the Crown.

Mr.. GA It ROW then spoke nearly as fellows
" Gentlemen of the Jury,

". I now appear before you in the_discharge of a
duty which has been imposed upon me,—but there
are circumstances in my prOfession which subject •
in in to an unpleasant task, and scarcely, leave him
an option. am now', therefore, before you as.
Counsel for the Crown in prosecution of the Prisoner
at the Bar. The crime with which he is charged is
the highest in the catalogue of guilt, and if he shall
appear to you innocent, I must be ready to confess
him one of the most-Injured and suffering men in
the world ; but shoUld he prove to'you guilty of this
charge, and guilty I must think him beyond the
pOssibility of a doubt, you will have no hesitation in
agreeing with me, that he is one of the worst •of
manli ilicL His crime, Gentlemen, would then ex-
tend a degree beyond murder ; it would be construed
in the language of the law into Petty Tkason. •
" I know well enough, Gentlemen, that I may
be supposed to have imbibed some prejudice. against,
the Priioner. I have indeed confirmed My opinion
as to his, guilt; but I commenced my investigation
with a mincLas unbiassed and unpolluted as yours.
I inferred no guilt from public opinion and prejudie;
from newspaper reports, or partial testimony ; I
examined to the bottom a mass of evidence which
' shall submit to you; and I concluded the Prisoner
guilty from ..this laborious scrutiny, this unwilling
labour. My mind, therefore, is in a different state
tram-what yours are, or-should be—l have satisfied
myself. It remains for me. now to satisfy you; you,
I am convinced, will approach to this painful task
With nnbiassed minds, and feelings alive to huma-
nity, hilt which you will not suffer to divert you
from the stri& course-of justice. I entreat you to
tliink the Prisoner as.innocent.LA I once thought him,
as it you had never heard of him before, or the charge
preferred against him ; Hog your minds in an even
and steady equipoise,
,and. permit truth alone to de-
cide the balance. An awful duty -is ,imposed upon
you—The Prisoner expects life or death at your
'bands; and your Country expe&s justice.
" I shall begin; Gentlemen, -by a kind. of , retro-
• Motive narrative, which is necessary to elucidate
and sustain the harmony of the story I shall relate
to, you'; I think I shall produce you such a body of
circumstances, leading; by.such irrefragable and ne-
ceasary concatenatioa, ,to 7the result which I intend
.to bring home to the Prisoner, that you will plainly
see the-finger of Providence in the detthion of this
murder, and the . hand of Heaven itself, which has
led us, through many bye paths and secret ways, till
we hal,,e at length mastered the labyrinth, and burst
upon the Prisoner with a convi&ion of guilt which
stares as broadlyin our face as the light of day.
will first detail .to you the relative situations of Mr.
Blight and Mr:Patch.. Mr. Blight was a . ship
breaker, at Greenland Dock, in the Parish- of St.
Mary's, Rotherhithe. The sister of the Prisoner,
Sarah Patch, was a menial- servant inhis•house :
house-maid, a kind of maid of all work. In the
spring, 1.8032 Mr. Patch,_: then in circumstances of
much distress, with rags on his shoulders, and'penury
in his •face, first appeared at the house of Mr. Blight;
on a visit to, his sister. • .

-.-
" His story was, that he had left the West of
England from circumstances which' it is needless to
detail ; that he was 'without employment, and was
willingtoengage in the service of Mr. Blight on any
ter.as. Mr. Blight, benevolently enough' engaged
him. He was to receive his v,ieinals and drink, and
a salary of 301. per' annum. At this time he was
greatly 'distressed, as I have,told you, and I wish you
to keep this circumstance_ in your minds. Shortly
after-wards, the terms of _ engorgement . were -
coeltunted into a fixed salary of tool. per annum,
which Mr. Patch was to receive and to board himself.
Such, Gentlenietr, was the first introduction Of
the Prisoner into th house of Mr. Blight. Some
time after Mr. Blight becaMe ethbarrasSed, 'and
called a meeting 'of his creditors.; a' composition was
entered in to,, and ,the Prisoner,ograS't 4 chief instru-
ment in this transa&ion. gne--e'reditor, hoWever,.
did not consent to accept the offered terms ; the
consequence was, as We daily see' in the bankrUpt
. cases, that the whole transaetion of 'Air. Blight
with his other creditors was invalid. His property,,
therefore, was in danger ; and in order to secure
'it, he does what cannot, indeed, be called honest,
but which, I am sorry to say, is frequently the only
refuge of embarrassed men against imprudent and_
obdurate creditors. Inorder,to proteet hiMself, and
&feta their' claims, -be makes over to Patch, for a
sunk of 20001. all his property without reserve.—
' This conveyantc was in the ordinary way, by a bill
of parcelS,,receipts,:,&e. to whiCh Was added a letter,
. in the. name 'of Blight, to the Solicitor of certain
lands, holden of the City of London, requesting to
have the lease renewed in Patch's name. The in-
tention of Blight by this conveyance was, as you may
suppose, to protect his property ; and certainly not
to convey it to Mr. Patch. Titus he argued,'" Re.--
lying on my bosom friend Mr. Patch, I know if toy.
cre.iittos step forward to seize my property, that he
y 11, ta. as my friend, and secure it to me;
6111; they not proceed harshly. against ate, those

•
:paper's are in the possession of my wife; and are zo
much waste raper.-
.f".L'hus- Mr: Blight may be supposed to have
argued. Mr. Patch, as you may.iinagme, Gentlemen,
never paid one 'shilling of this two thousand pound:;.
I question- whether at that tinie he had as many
pence. Thia, however, is foreign .from my present
inquiry. You now, Gentlemen; see lue.v Mr: Patch'
has grown in the'contidence of Mr. Bight.. Its two,
years (fel- the trait -,ifaion.of --Whiehl-wa4 speaking
was, in the year 1805) he has beets enabled to gain
the friendship-of his mater, and to be-advanced to
a degree of trust which is never repdsed in a man
of whom, we do not think most 'highly. In July
1805, Blightand leis familyanade .a summer, trip to
Margate. I am now" approaching the season in
spick the guilt of the Prisoner will be seen to dawn
most strongly upon us ; in which we shall trace his
first tnotivea,. and se evi4ently deted every step pf
his guilt, that if we fellow him with a- calm, ob-
'serving, and dispassionate judgment, we shall tread
in the very track he hit S taken.. Previoua to Mr.
B's journey to Margate he thought it necessary to
enter into new -engae-eMerits with Mr. Patch.- For
himself,- therefore, he stipulates that he should- re-
tire ; the PriSoiter to condiud the bUsiness, and to
. have oneAthird of its profits ;but for this share he,
was to pair the sum of 12,301. Now, Gentlemen,'
how was this money .to be obtained ? Could it be
supposed that a man who, two years since, presented
himself at the doer of -Blight in rags •• and penury,.
And who had scarcely received a salary since his a&
mission, there more than equal to his support, and
Certainly net permitting any extraordinary savings,-1
how could a man of :this .description, I say,, specu-
lateppon being able to get sogether a sum of 12501.?.
How could he undertake to do it ? What were his
resources ? could 'have none but the intention
of not paying at all ; and' that I think I shall most
satisfadorily proVe to you., However, he contrived '
to pay 2501. Where he got it I know 'not. One
thousand pounds, however, were still to be paid.
Whence was this to come ? Blight required security
• for it; Mr. Patch gaVe him a. draft for the Money
on, a man *of the name of Goom. This draft was to
be paid on the kith of September folloy,ing. Who
was this Mr. Goom ? 'Why a friend of Mr. Patch';
such indeed the Prisoner represented him. He told
Mr. Blight that he had lent a sum exceeding 10001.
to Mr. Gown, upon the sale of an estate ; and that
Mr. Goons had given him a draft for the money, ,
which would be due at the time stipulated by'
Patch to conclude his bargain' with Mr. Blight. The
due.tiMe elapsed, and Gown's note became a. What
shift has Mr. Patch at this jun ? He goes to his
Bankers, and tells them that the draft which lie paid
in upon Goom would not be honoured.; that Goom,.
though. a substantial man,'was 'somewhat irregular,
and could, not flee his, draft; he withdrew, there-
fore, the, check uporfGoom, and gave his Banker a
check of the 20th of the same month upon himself.
" On Thursday the 1 sth Sept. Mr. Blight prepar-
ed to visit his wife at Margate, where he proposed to
make a
.stay, and expeding that Goona's draft would
be honoured. The Prisoner accompanied Mr. Blight.
to Deptford,• and took an affedionate leave of him.
From Deptford he proceeds to the Banker, and tells
them, what I have related above, that Geom. could not
face the draft, and desiring 'them not to present it.
Now, Gentlemen, you have a new view of the case,
and we are apprOaching by degrees to the awful scene
of the catastrophe, -The apparatus is now preparing ;
the machinery is in motion ; and the first act of this
eventful drama will be quickly submitted to You.
I must here recapitulate : Mr. Blight and his family
are at Margate ; *Mr. Patch has 10001. to pay on the
day after the-departure of Mr. Blight ; for this sum
he had given a draft, which he had Withdrawn, and
substituted one on himself; on his faithful pay tent
of this 'money he well kneW that his tonnes tion with.
Blight stibaisted. If lie laid i it, one-third of, the bu-
' siness was his ; if he failed to pay it, the artifice of
delay and expedients would not avail him long7---and
he must surrender all chance of . a partnership with-
Mr. Blight. ti
" As to Mr. Goons—aye, Gentlemen, let us stop
here a moment and inquire who was Mr. Goons ?
Mr. Goons owed Mr. Patch no money—Mr. Patch
• was never in* condition to lend him any money.—
If this were Material to' prove 1,, could prove it; but
it is not ; for Mr. Patch retraced his. demand upon
Mr.. Goom upon his examination before the Magi-
strates. Mr. Goons knew the person of Mr. Patch,
but that was all that heinew of him ;' and as tO any
pecuoiary transadions, he never had any with him
in his:life., In a word, Gentle-men, Mr: Goons had
not.seen Mr. Patch for many yearn. Well, then; Mr.
Patch was' now 'laying his. train. The trick of Mr.,
Gootn's draft and the money could not be supposed
to. last long ; something of a more graduate and
bolder villainy was required, or the ends of Mr.
Patch, could not be answered. Now, Gentlemen,
letiine summon your earnest attention to the circum-
stances which I shall presently state. You will-per-
ceive cunning I grant you; and you will find like-
wise some mysteriousness. An a of this kind, as'
it required a:beld guilty,mind, demanded like Wise a .
subtle head : you will meet therefore with something
of contrivance which may at first perplex you ; but
I am positive you will soon unravel it.
On Monday, Sept. Ig, Mr. Blight having left
his house, Mr: Patch, with a single maid-servant, re-
..mained in it. :Mr. Blight's family usually spent their
evening in a front' parlour facing the Thames. Mr.
Patch was sitting in this parlour about eight in the
--evenieg, when he desired Esther Kitchener, the ser-
vant of Blight, a most material' witness in this case,
to get him siX-penny worth of oysters for his supper.
During the absense Of Kitchener a gun or pistol was
fired through the shutter of the front parlour, in
which Mr. Patch had been just sitting. On Kitche-,
. ner's return she finds Mr. Patch in conversation with
a man and his wife, at the gate of Mr. Blight's house
relating this circumstance..----iiamely, that he had been
shot at. The husband and wife are witnesses in this
case. The Prisoner, I have told you-, was conversing
with the man and hi's wife at Mr. Blight's gate. He
asked them whether they had. heard the pistol ?
They had.—Had they seen any body ? No.—Yet,
Gentlemen, had any one escaped by this way they ,
must have seen him, and they •will prove to 'you
they must: But no ; this invisible assassin had es-
caped perhaps by"water. • .
Gentlemen, I shall ,soon exhibit to you a cor-
rea model 'of Mr. Blight's house; I shall now only'
observe, that if an assassin had fired this pistol (sup-
posing it any body but NIT. Patch) he could not
possibly have escaped by water. It x as at this time

lo'w welter ; and had the man attempted to leap from
the whAkf, he.must either have broken his neat or
been smothered fin mud ; had be rushed out at the
gate the man and the woman must have seen him ;
had be ;endeavoured to escape over the palisadoes,
they must:from the very slight manner in which
they are constructed, have given , way ; in short,
Gentlemen, when I exhibit the model,- ybu' will be
convinced that it was impossible for any nun who
fired thiS pistol or gun to have escaped/without ob-.
servation, or at least without some index of his hay-.
ing been there.

In short, Providence seems so to'have ordained
it, that whatever might have been the contrivance of
Mr. Patch, there should yet. be a more artful and un-
expeeled complication ofcircumstenees which should
entirely ck,,feat it ;•lin' a' word, ,the band of Heaven
seems here to have ordained that chance should
over-rule -and'be Mope than a match for canning.—
But, • independent: of this, Gentlemen, •I am per-
suaded that teat convince you, from the'position iu
which- the ball entered; that it must have_been,fired
by a man close to the shutter ; for had it -been fired
froM below the wharf, the lxll must have sprung
upwards ; it. could not have entered in the way in
which it a6tually did enter. Again, had this pistol
been fired from that only _situation in the;yard in
which an assassin could have lurked, I will maintain
it would nothave struck the shutter at all. There
was a crane between the shutter and this corner of
the yard, which must have received, l'ind 'kept off
the7ball. Well then, Gentle Men, it in neither of
these positions it could •have been tired, whore, and
by whoM was it fired ? Unquestionably by no man
'but• by lyir. Patch ; it was fired by him a) preliminary
to his guilty purpose.
" But let us see how he condn&s hiMself upon it:
when he gives the alarm, the first man that comes
to him is' a publican, of the naine' of El-Jost, a wit-.
ness in this case. What was the meaning of this
shot ? This was the common and natural inquiry ;-
nobody knew ; though every body naturally enough
conje6tured that a 'design was entertained against the.
life either•of Mr. Patch or Mr. Blight; Frost, neigh.;
hourly enough, offers to continue With him all night.
" No,;" said Mr. Patch, " they'll not conic again
to-night." —" Shall I stay with you," said Frost.-=,-
" No."—" Have, you any fire-arms ?"—", Yes, but
I have:no ammunitionf; I shall KO home to bed."• .

some conversation passed here, likewise, about
the steps to be taken either' to discover the author of.
.the misehief,
.or to prevent it in future. Frost pro-
' posed that Mr.. Patch -should offer ,a reward of 501.
'He said he would.' Frost proposed that the Police
-should be' alarmed, and inquiry made. • Patch as-
srute:.-1.--But did he make inquiry? did he alarm the
Police, or put..curiosity in motion .?--No; Gentle-
men'; this was not his objet.
4.`• Oh the next day, the•2oth September, the day'
of the fatal draft becoming due, he, writes to,Blight,
then at Margate, recounts the adventure of the pis-
; asks ißlight'S advice, and concludes his letter
with saying, I should be glad to haVe aline from
you ; glad to see ydu, as you are My only friend.7,-,-
Why not go to
.the Police in .the first instance ?s:
Why Call Blight to town ? and, what is Most mate-
rial of all, why not mention Goon), and the money
ei that.' ery day ? Mt% Patch keeps back all this,
and. Mr. Blight comes to town on M(.)uday, SePtem-.-
14-sr 23. He enquires- first respetTng the -adventure
of the pistol. He ttears the 'story which Patch origi- ,
pally circulated. 'He next inquires "about. the pay.;
went of the 100011 Patch tells him nothing of the,
snbstitutioh of the draft. Mr. BHA( may :be sup-
' posed, naturally enough, to' have betrayed some un-
eaSines.s for on Patch's going to town, he telishim.
peremptorily not to return Without the money. Patch
returned from. London in the evening : whether 4-)e
sitisfied Mr. Blight or not about the money we have -
up opportunity of knowing, as the unfortunate
Gentleman was murdered that very night. They-
drank tea together, apparently ,on friendly terms ;
they drank grog likewise till eight o'clock. For-the.
,fidt Gentleinen,. and I beg you to observe
this, as it is a most important point, indeed one of
the -strongest corroboratory circumstances of the
guilt of .tire Pritoner—for the first time, I say,
thiS Monday. evening, they took. their refreshment
iu the back parlour in which Mr. Blight was shot.'
NOw, Gentlemen, let us- suppose that an assassin,
be he' who he will, had fired off the pistol on Thurs-
day,.when Mr. Patch represents himself as shot at
-Where would this assassin have gone on the Mon-
day night ? Why, if any where, that. is, if he Meant
to shoot Mr. Blight in his own house, to the front
parlour.--To that parlour into which he had bred.
the shot on the previous' Thursday, and which he
must have supposed Mr. Blight to have iinhabited.
Surely he would not have "gone to the back parlour;
a roam in which the :deceased .seldom or never -sat,.
and in which, Upon this night, he sat only by acct- -
dent. This, Gentlemen, is a very strong &sump-,
tion, that.the assassin, whoever he was, knew that
which no one but Who was intimately acquainted
with Mr. Blight's family could know, and which
perhaps, three hours before, Mr. Blight did .not
knuw himself—namely, that_ he should, pass the
, •
evening in the back parlour, • a room that he seldom-
or never inhabited !

" Well then, Gentlemen,.it is now eight o'clock..
Blight, after the fatigiies of the-day, falls into,
a dose---Mr. Patch now quits' the parlour and goes
into the kitchen.— f'
He:askS the maid for.the key o
the privy and the counting-house, as he had a pain"
in his bowels. He goes out of the kitchen, passes
the door of the back parlour, vhich was left open;
and. in which Mr. "Blight was still dosing; oPens the.
street door, and the gate, then opens the Countiii
house door, and' the privy door; When instantly,i.
'and at the same time in_whieh the maid., Kitchener,:
hears the priVy door slap, she hears the report of the
pistol. Upon the moment, Blight -gtaggers. into
_t be
kitchens and befOreAhe Maid could reach the
dresser, her master approaChes her ; she y.as near:
enough to clap too the street door ; she does So,* but.
in the very act of shutting it, Patch is heard knock-
ing violently at the door, demanding admittance."'
_ _

Mr. G„Annol.v here entered into a lengthened,de--
tail as to the impossibility of -any body's escaping;
who had perpetrated the, deed. He then deScribed.
the house, and prodUced a corre& model in wood.
—" My position (he continued) is, that this murder
could have been perpetrated by no man but Patch,
and to confirm this, Gentlemen, I submit this model
to you, by which you will see the impossibility of
any one escaping from the house. It.was high wa-
ter:at the Thames, which fronts the house, so that
tio one could escape by the water ;' the gate door

.;,,~„r..r--~