The Sun.
London, England, 1806-07-05 00:00:00

SINGULAR'CONSPIRACY.

THE KING V. IsIILNDR AND OTHERS.
This was-an IndiCtinent tOr a Conspiracy by the
Rev-Dr. Milner, • the Rev. Mr: Wheeler, Mr. Gadd,
and Miss Ann Gadd, his daughter, who were seve-
rally charged with conspiring together to prevent the
marriage of the Prosecutor, Mr. James Taylor, with
Miss 4rah Pike.
The parties in this case were all of the Roman
Catholic religion. The Prosecutor, Mr. Taylor, is
a Surveyor, residing at Islington ;• and the D •iend-,.
ant, Mr. Wheeler, a Clergyman. ot "the Ronlah
tholic Church, the friend and confessor of the
secutor. The Rev. Dr. Milner is the titular b.7:uty,
of what is generally termed the-Midland D,si_rid,
chiefly resided near WolVerilampton, in Satiorushive.
Mr.Gadd is an Apothecary in Bertrard-t:irLez; Rus;
sell-square, and • Miss Ann Gadd one. of his .daugh-
ters.„ . Miss Pike is a. young lady living,also:at. \A 01-
verhanipton, and- under -°the peculiar care of ":the
. •

Bishop.
IThe Prosecutor stated, that early in the nitmith of
August, being intimately acquainted with' the
Esishop, he accompanied him to Wolverhampton,
Where he'built)a house 3. and through hrs ini-ariacy
with the Bishop, . was introduced- to JNiss Pike,
,who, he -was given to understaud, was as very
amiable and worthy, young Lady ; and .tinding.her
every thing he -could
,wish in a wife, lie paid his
addresses to her, which on her part, were accepted
of ; settlements were consequeutly. Proposed, all
parties is-ere consulted,and - drafts of the necessary
-deeds Were ; prepared:: In the mean' time, the Wit-
ness proposed to Miss Pike,. that they should make
a present of a piece of plate to their mutual friend,
the.Bishoof the of 501. oft 01.• upon which
p, e , J
the-young Lady %if ent to consult the leverend
and on her return said, that the money would be more
acceptable than the plate.
The 'deeds were prepar-
ed according to agreement, .:and executed by three
of the 'necessary partios, Dr. Milner, Miss Pike,
and the ;Witness. Matters Went on very smoothly
for some time ;'a marriage licence was procured ;
and the ceremony was to be performed on the '29th
of the same month, by the Bishop,' at his parochial
chapel at Long-brick, a village near Wolverhampton.
Whee the Witness arrived at Long•brick, Oil the
evening.Of th 6 the Bishop cal:e-d for the deed,
and • having read it- over, made several-frivolous ob-
jections, and said, that it was not like the original.
draft. This.greatly surprised the Witness, who an-
swered, that it was according to the drafts;
.when
the Bishop,,-krawing out a paper, which lie had pre-
viously prepay d,' said, that notwithstanding the deed
was not as he liked; yet, if the Witness would" sign
that paper, he would let it pass. The Witness re,
quested him to read the; paper, expressing much
surprise that he should object to the deed, having
perused the draft of it; and at first refused to sign
the paper. The BishOp flew into a violent passion,
and said, be would 'not marry the parties.
Wit 'p
ness answered, that neither the paper, nor any other.
Objeaion, should break off the marriage ; and
taking the paper, signed-.it. The Bishop said, it
was then too late, and 'he would have nothing more
to do 'in' the blDiness ; and retiring, desired Miss
Pike's sisterto,bring- her away, as he was afraid she
would go off to London with the Witness. ' A great
many Violent words and expressions were made use
of by the Bishop ; but • nothing mere was done at
that tiMe. The next day, Miss Pike proposed to
have fresh deeds prepared, and instruEtions were ac-
cordingly given to the Attorney in London to pre-
pare such as would be accepted of ; but in the se-
quel the deeds were stopped by a letter from the
Bishop to the Attorney, and then the match was
completely broken off. Sometime previous to these
transaElions, the Witness's wife being living, and
iii
a bad state of health, he was introduced to the. De-
fendant, Gadd, by Mr.Wheeor, and having a great
confidence in him,. ;was induced to employ Mr.
Gadd to attend his wife,- in preference to the family
physician.- When. Mrs. Taylor was dangerously
ill, Mr. Gadd 'brought his daughter,' Maria, to as-
sist duripg her illness, to the great surprise of .the
Witness. This young Lady, remained in his house
-for about a ;fortnight after his wife's death, and
afterwards repeatedly visited his family on one pre-
tence_or another; and. suspeelieg something like
marriage was-in view; from the praises bestowed on
her,by his friend Wheeler, he purposely took more
notice of her. sister, Ann :Gadd, one of the present
Defendants, in -order to shew, he did not mean any
thins
,particularly to Maria. This brought on a
closer intimacy, and Wheeler was continually in-
stilling into his mind the superior qualifications and
virtues of Ann, and pressing him to go there, as he
would find much relief from his afffietions, in their
agreeable society-. He, them went bf.ekwards and
forwards, constantly, for seven oreight months; when
Wheeler (old him, that Mr. Gadd took notice of his
attention to his daughter Ann, and insisted he should •
ask her father's leave to marry her. Satisfied, from.
the representations of Wheeler, that . she was every
thing valuable•in woman,' he did ask her father's-
perthission to visit his daqghter on the footing of her
future husband. The father expressed his surprise
that he had not put the question long before; said
She was a most invaluable girl, and expeaed Witness.
would make a handsome settlemeet on her ; she had
declined maii-y capital proposals, and therefore he ex-
peded the settlement'would be liberal. Witness an-
swered, that it depended on the fortune he would
;give-his 'daughter ; and he replied, she was adortune
herself, Matters thus went on : Mr. Wheeler was
very aEtiye in prompting the union, and wheh Wit-
ness would lag, 'he was always a stimulus.--For
some reasons, however, he afterwards wished to-de-
.cline the business ; and, in the month of February,
Wheeler called on him, and pressed -him to go'
'to Gadd'S ; but he declined ; and this brought a
visit from Miss Ann. Gadd the next morning, and
be then perceiiied it would
.be a difficult matter to
get rid of her. Mr. Wheeler, however, prevailed
on 'him to renew his visits, and lie was once more
induced into a general intercourse :with the family ;
but at, the same time determined never to be con-
•neeted with them in -a matrimonial way. Mr.
Wheeler prevailed on him to continue his visits, and
he did not recolle& whether he -had told him his

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