The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-18 00:00:00

MR. ASHTON'S MURDER.

SCHOFIELD'S COMMITMENT TO CHESTER CASTLE FOR THE
PAYMENT OF THE TEN POUNDS TO THE TWO MOSLEYS
AND GARSIDE.

Every hour adds to the stock of information calculated
to bring to justice the perpetrators of this horrible deed.
Saturday, at three o'clock, Schofield was committed to
Chester Castle, to take his trial for having paid the 101. to
the Mosleys and Garside, for the murder of the above gen-
tleman. The investigation lasted for three hours, and was
conducted before Richard Simpson, G. Wm. Newton, and
Clark, Esqrs. The prisoner had no witnesses,
--
although he had given certain persons to understand that
he should, on his examination on Saturday, be provided
with a great number. The moment his committal was
made out, he was despatched, heavily-ironed, in a coach, in
the custody of Shaw, the beadle, to Chester Gaol. During
his confinement at Stockport, he has been completely
taciturn—not a word of information, confession, or admis-
sion, has escaped him. The prisoner who was in the same
ward, asserted that for the space of forty-eight hours he
(Schofield) never tasted food ; and from his dejected and
pitiful appearance to-day (for although the examination was
strictly private, I was in a situation to see him well), it is
probably correct. The prisoner (Schofield), it is rumoured,
has, from the moment of his arrest, denied any acquaintance
or even knowledge of either Garside or the Mosleys.
Mosley, on his ingress and egress from the magistrate's
room in the jail, was evidently much abashed. He could
not look at some half-dozen persons who were standing in
the ante-room. Two of the late Mr. Ashton's brothers
called at the jail a short time previous to Schofield being
sent to Chester, but they were not present during any part
of the investigation. _

Yesterday (Friday) two other persons were taken into
custody, one named Platt, the other Lee, supposed to
have been concerned, or to have had some knowledge of
the •payment of the money. They were, however, both.
discharged. Platt was formerly a workman of Mr. Ash-
ton's, but discharged a short time previous to the murder,
on the ground of his being an active member of the trades'
union. Lee was apprehended from some conversation of

his about the murder, but against whom there was no
other proof. Platt is a very decently dressed man, and
now lives by hawking goods. He had on him, when taken
into custody, 545.

William Mosley could not, it is very generally believed,
identify either Lee or Platt. The latter was apprehended
from what Garside has said in his kind of second con-
fession. Platt was taken near Buxton, when out in the
way of his trade. This is his second or third apprehen-
sion connected with this affair. This last ordeal will
surely purify him. His money was returned to him on his
discharge.

William Mosley will not receive any part of the high
reward (500/.), inasmuch as it was Garside's declaration,
when in Derby jail, that led to his apprehension. The
information of William Mosley was not, therefore, strictly
original and voluntary._

It is pretty certain that the two culprits will not be exe-
cuted on Monday. The rumour is false, too, but which
had nevertheless gained almost universal credence, that
Mr. Ashton had applied to the Secretary of State, praying
their execution might take place on the spot of the murder,
and that he would pay all expenses connected with it.
Garside's wife, on her return from Chester, however incre-
dible it may appear, was so callous to the fate of her hus-
band, that she declared, in the presence of many, and in the
presence of one who told the writer, that " bad as Ash-
ton's job was, Garside had done far worse things than that,"
and, by way of climax, heard, and apparently unmoved too,
the trial and condemnation of her husband read from the
Stockport paper, at the place where the coach stopped.
This, too, I had from the individual who read it.
When William Mosley was first committed in Stockport
he was seen by an individual, who said, " Bill, thou art sure
to be hanged, thou cannot escape," and in reply Mosley
said, " Nay, nay, thou'll see I shannot (shall not) be hanged,
mind what I say ;" and on the same individual seeing him
at Chester on the morning of the trial of his brother and
Garside. He called out, " Mr. , I told you I should
not be hanged." . This fellow had evidently soon made up
his mind to turn evidence. He is a most brutal looking
fellow—a boatman to perfection ;is rather broad cast, and
stands about five feet six inches. He is now in jail at his own
request, fearing justly, if at liberty, the indignation of the
people.
Joseph Mosley was reckoned in his own neighbourhood
the best' scholar in the village, and is reported a fair
draughtsman, and is the man no doubt who wrote the
letter informing a gentleman at Marple respecting the
murder of Nadin at Mellor, in Derbyshire, some six or
seven years ago ; but of this more particularly anon.
It may be now proper to refer to that part of a second
confession of Garside's, in which lie states that Joseph Mos-
ley was concerned with two others in another murder still
more brutal and bloody, if possible, than even Mr. Ash-
ton's. Some six or seven years ago, a man named Nadin
was found drowned in the river Goit, at Mellar, in Derby-
shire. about seven miles from Stockport. The man was
found the following morning, and, on examination, was dis-
covered to have his right arm broken, skull fractured, with
other brutal marks on his person, and before being thrown
into the river, his murderers had, it appears, the cun-
ning to take off part of his clothes. These bruises, and
this stripping before drowning, were, it is now thought,
a scheme of the three desperadoes, in order to decoy
the Coroner and Jury into a wrong verdict. And if
that was the object, it succeeded. To prove, also, that
the drowning was only what had been expected, his
wife deposed that he had, to her own knowledge, often
attempted to drown herself—and as to the bruises the
Jury were satisfied that they had been produced by his
having apparently fallen upon a rock in the river, near
where he was found. Now the day after Mr. Ashton's
murder a Mr. Clayton received an anonymous letter,stating
that Nadin was brutally murdered before thrown into the
river—that this was done by three men named in the let-
ter, and which also described particularly the brutal treat-
ment which Nadin received. The writer of this anonymous
letter was publicly called upon to come forward and ex-
plain. He did not, however, do so, and the consequence
at the time was, the Coroner's verdict, after what Nadin's
wife had stated, completely lulled suspicion asleep. This
Mosley had, it seems, a short time before Nadin's death,
been seen in no very equivocal situation with Nadin's wife,
and with whom he has since cohabited. In corroboration,
too, Schofield's wife has said, and that publicly, that her
husband wrote the letter to Mr. Clayton. What a horri-
ble nest of villains ! If this was one of the " worst things"
that Garside's wife said her husband had been guilty of, she
was not far from correct, for of the two, it certainly appears
to exceed in atrocity. -