The Sun.
London, England, 1824-02-10 00:00:00

HUNT'S CONFESSION.

(CONTINUED.)

' s According to this arrangement, I dressed myself in the
clathei of Thomas XhurtelPs servant, Ennisono-thaois, I wore
his fustian jacket and white apron, and went about seven o'clock
in the morning to Wood's • lodgings, in Castle-street, and told
• him (as had been, previously settled between me and'Thurtell)
that a lady named•Bretv wanted to see him,.and sent me to
fetch him to her at a friend's house in Westminster. This.
Mrs. Brew is an old lady who lodges- at Cousineioaf Kensingo
ton, and who has• a great, friendship for Mr. Witioff. .31r.
Wood asked me if l•knew why, she, Wished. to see
,him ; I told
him that she had had some words with Mr. Cousins, and she
wished tb 30.6 hitiobefore she ieturned•td Keiisingoi7it ;'He
cprdingly accompanied me, and in the wilt; he asked the name
of the streetowlfichl told him" I did not recollect,; btiO would
-lead Inns to.the hccute. , • • :. . .
-On reachino No 10 Manchester buildings I sail that was.
. o. • . • • . • .
theplace, and rapped at the door. Thedoor rfoun • was a-jai
and give'wayo'on which' I pushed it open and erffCrd;.-expect-
ing that Wood, would 'follow me; he, however, stopped on the
threshold: ,he was no,doobt deteired from going in byobserv-
ing that-it Was iniinhabited, and; as I think; froths seeing Thor-
who-wassstonding' at the foot of the.stitirss close to the
back parlour door; With• his coat and shoes: off, hiredhandker-
chief, overhissheod,io -disguise him, and • a dumb bell in each
hand ready to strike Wood- on.the head. Acs,l foosid Wood
did not' follow me, and Was gone from the door, I wept to see
what had• become Of him, and I just saw him sunning round
.the comer;of. the buildings. I then went tosJolini• Thurtell,
and told him Wood had run off; Thurtell said,." It was
lucky for • seem he did ruo, or else he would oevetshave run
,again." In order to preVent any alarm in Wood'a mind as to
the real intention, and as we knew he wait in. difficulties, we
resolved to write to him to, make him believeit ivAIA stratagem
of the sheriffs' officers to arrest him for debt; Vse therefore ran
Across the Parkas fast as we could Thos. Thurtell's at the Hay-
market, and there John Thurtell wrote a note tO'Wood, as if
coming from'a friend, 'to advise him to keep oat of the way, as
There- were several writs out against him.
. Ennison, who is .a facioturn of the Thurtells, was sent to de-
liver it, and I dare say it was at Castle-street a very few minutes
after Wood got back. In order to keep up the deception, ano.
ther letter was written the same evening by John Thurtell, in
:the name of" Clark," to say that he had to thank: Curtis for
the endeavour that had been made that morning to arrest him.
This letter I delivered ; and to convince Wood that these
letters were genuine, and that the object in getting him to
31anchester-buildings was an ingenious decoy of Sheriffs'
Officers, J. Thutell prevailed on * * * '1 to swear a debt
against him of 2•9/., and he was actually arrested the next day
on this- false teeth. - •
• After the failure of this scheme, Thurtell said he would buy
a pair of
.pistole, and shoot him some night as he went home
from the house he used, which was kept bys man nine Thorn-
ton, in a street near the Haymarket. This, however, was af-
terwards relinquiihed, end Thurtell said he, should leave him
for a month or two, and pick out another of his enemies. We is * was aware of the different plans
against Wood, and frequently, when we were discoursing
on. the subject, he used to say " D—n and blast Wood ;
'what ii the use of killing him ? Barber Beaumont is the
man we want out of the way ; why don't you do for him ?"
John Thurtell replied, " Never fear, he is booked. We shall !
have him safe enough, you may depend on it." The rea-
son why they wished Barber Beaumont to be destroyed was,
that they thought he was the only cause of the money not being
paid by the Fire-office, and 'they feared he would urge the
prosecution to be carried on for a conspiracy ; and for seve-
ral nights and days John Thurtell laid in wait for him with the
air-gun charged, in the neighbourhood of the Fire-office. lie
generally took his station at the door of Mr. Ward's, the cor-
ner of Sherrardsstreet ; and he set me to watch at the office-
door in order to ascertain at what hours Mr. Beaumont went in
and out ; if I discovered him, 1 was to run and give notice
to Thurtell which way he went, and he was to follow and shoot
him. I, however, could never make out which was Mr. Beau-
mont,' for I did not know his person until some one pointed
him out to use at the inquest. The air-gun resembled a
knotted walking stick, and held no less than 16 charges. It was
tiger, and
let off by merely pressing one of the knots with the.
the only noise was a slight whiz, scarcely perceptible to any
one who might happen to be on the spot. . .
• John Thurtell mentioned to me that same of Isis friends were
obliged to leave this country for France, and among others he
nomedlVilliant o„„ss and George *****',onotecount of some
'lrifermations or prosecutions against.them for gaming, and he
Jiad every reason to think Weare was One of the -informers.
I was present at a public-house kept by Mr. Casely, in
Orange-court, when a• man named ******.told J. Thurtell,
that a young gentleman named Graham, who had lost money,
and was prosecuting, or informing, and also a Captain Kelly,
were obnoxious to his friends, and that if he, Thurtell, knetv
how to get rid of them, he could undertake to soy that 5001.
would be of no object to those who were at that time obliged to
live in France, on account of those prosecutions. •
Thartell said, " 'lf You can get George wee to pass his
word for the money, it shall 'be done." ****ooott replied,
Iwillspteoaratoy George,
r the money,and I have no doubt he will un-
dertakeif they are completely out
ge
of the way ; and when r get his answer, ' you shall see me
again. After *****_%** was gone, lohn • Yhurtell said
to me, " If George *" * will pass his word fort SOL, it is
sure to be paid ; the men he wants put out of the: way shall be
disposed of in a week, and I will do it in such a Way that the
public shall believe they all killed themselves."
The reason why Kelly was to be got rid of was,: that he was
terribly violent at th
e,g-houses ; fOr when he lost money
he insisted on its beirestnored to him ; and if it was not, or
if the proprietors did not tend him what money he asked for,
he assaulted then,, and broke thelr glasses and furniture. The
way Thurthell proposed to dispatch him was, by inciting hini
to meet some young gentlemen' to plaY, from- whom money was
easily to be .woriOOOnti he Was by this •pretence to be drawn
into the Park, es Being in the way to the place appointed.
Thurtell was thereto shoot hit, with the air-gun, and I was im-
mediately to fp ep- and place a discharged pistol in his hand,
and then make ate alarm and call out for assistance. The mo-
ment any one came, I was to declare that 1 had seen him en-
gaged in a duel, that he had fired without effect at his adver-
sary ; that the shot was returned, and he had fallen, whereupon
his opponent ran off. John Thurtell frequently expressed his
intention to kill an attorney named Springfield, who lived at
Norwich, because he had used him ill idhis bankruptcy.
About three weeks before Weares murder, Jahn Thurtell,
Thomas Thurtell, and myself, were walking towards Spring-
gardens ; J. Thurtell said he would go and see Itexworthy,
and we all went into his billiard-rciom, which had been newly
fitted up. I there saw a-gentlemanly looking man sitting down.
John 'rhurtell went up to him and said, " Weare,- how
are you ?" The gentleman got up,. they shook hands together,
and appeared very friendly;' and after conversing together for
about a quarter of•an hour, they -went out together and re-
mained absent an houro On their 'return, Thos. Thurtell said,
he must be off; and we went away. When we got off, John
Thurtell told me the man- I. had seen him in company with,
and Bill ***** had. 'won 3001. from him in one night, at
Blind Hookey. I said that was a great deal of money. " Yes,"
said he, " and what is worse, when I•asked them, and parti-
cularly Weare, to lend me 51., he told me, to go a thieving for
it, as lie did ; and that I had better say nothing about it, as
the nfoney was my creditors'." Thurtell alio said,
." I do not
forget •thia treatment, and shall soon settle accounts With some
of them, and shall never die easy until , I have my revenge of
Weare." •
Shortly after the indictment for theconspiracy was found, and
when the officers were expected to he on the look-out for the
Thurtelle, Probert introduced them to Mr.Tetsall; told him that
warrants were out against•them, and begged he would let them
stop at his house, and keep a good lookout to deny them,
if, any person should make inquiries of whom lie had suspi-
cion ; and •Mis Tetsall accordlo let them have a private
room.above stairs. Probert and. John Thurtell were almost
continually in cernpany together, either idEiandon or in going
backward and. forward to the cottage ; and I believe they ar-
ranged and settled the plan 0011... Ware's murder before the par-
ticulars were cOminuaicated tome; for although I heard it men.
tioned several times that it was to be done, I was not informed
of the manner in which it was to be perpetrated until just be.
fore the murder took place ; but although I witsignorant, Pro-
bert, from the observation •he made, and the directions- which
he gave, appeared to know every particular. It was•not until
the Friday morning that the murder was committed' at night,
that I was let into the secret as to several of the arrangements.
understood from Probert that he' was in great distress and
difficulty, and that unless -he got some Money he should be
compelledocoleave the cottage clandestinely ; and as lie was in
daily expectation of his landlord coming to seize and take pos-
session of the place, he told Thurtell not to delay any longer
than he could help, and said, " If it is done there, it can never
be found out;, hecattse it is so by and private a place; for I
kept a private jigger there, and it was oever discovered ;" and
from his representations it was, as I believe, determined by
Thurtell to commit the murder at or its neighbour-
hood. Thurtell told Probert and itie that Weare, the man it
was intended to ssreenever carried less than from 1,000/. to 1,5001.
secreted about his person, and that he knew where to find it;
Ile besides said, that he should tell him that he had become
acquainted with a young gentleman who had just come into
possession of a large property, and who had an inclination for
gaming, but could not be tempted to play unless it was for
large stakes. 'That this gentle Man had given him an invite=
lion to comedown to his country house and bring a friend with
him to take two or three days' shooting • he should, therefore,
persuade Weare to 'accept this pretended invitation, and ins