The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-07-29 00:00:00

THE BISHOP AND THE BLACKSMITH

CAREER OF RICHARD EDWARDS

We take the following account of the career and charactei
of this notorious person from the Merthyr Guardian. It
will be remembered that he was tried at the last Merthyr
Assizes. and found guilty of the murder of his mother, and
we gave in our last the particulars of his execution for the
bloody deed. He more frequently went by the name of
Dick Tamar.

Richard Tamar was born at Merthyr Tydvil, in the
year 1811, and is now, as described in the calendar twenty-
eight years of age. In the sketch which is presented
to our readers at the head of this article, the place of his
birth is represented. In that cottage, and in its single room,
where he drew his first breath, he destroyed the mother who
gave him birth. Little thought Tamar Edwards, when the
ss yet innocent boy reposed on her bosom, that the little
hands which were uplifted for succour would, ere many years
were past, destroy her life, and that the brand of Murderer
would be stamped on her child's brow. That her character
was one which could not afford a proper example to Dick
may be inferred from the fact that her cottage was the reci-
pient for juveniles of both sexes.
As soon as he was able to work, Dick was transferred from
the streets to the mines. In these dreary receptacles he
" dwelt apart." Moodily and sullenly he got through the
day's work, and when it was finished he would prowl about
the outskirts of the works. Not one kind feeling seemed to
exist in his breast. On one occasion he fell into a deep well
at night; at the risk of their lives, several men descended by
a rope, and extricated him from his perilous situation.
What did Dick do ? thank them ? No,—be got drunk,
soundly abused two of them, and half murdered the third.

Two years ago, he married his present wife, by whom he
has one child, and in connexion with whom a very strange
story is told—it is this : When his wife was enceinte, some
words arose between her and Dick, respecting an affair
which will afterwards be more particularly referred to.
Dick protested his innocence of the alleged crime, and, with
a horrid imprecation, wished that the unborn child might be
born blind if he was guilty. The child is blind. Whether
the sealing of its eyes was the work of the finger of Provi-
dence or not we do not undertake to surmise. We give the
story as it was told to us by many, and who firmly believe in
its authenticity. It will be remembered that in the evidence
of Dick's wife's father on the trial, it was stated that Dick
charged his father-in-law, when the latter apprehended him,
with having had a brother hanged in the " face of the couu-
try." This was fact. The brother alluded to was one of
the band of " Scotch. Cattle," who infested the bill some
years since. The apprehension of the individual in question
was owing to his gun having burst, and severely wounding
him in the thigh, thus preventing his escape with several of
his comrades. Strange to say, his wife knew nothing of her
husband's nocturnal expeditions, and he was by others the
less suspected in consequence of his making a profession of
religion, and being a constant attendant at the various con-
venticles in his neighbourhood; he was the last man hanged.
at Monmouth Gaol, and his body was buried within the pre-
cincts of that prison. Visitors are generally shown this
grave as being that of the last of the " Scotch Cattle."

We must now revert to the principal subject of this article.
We may, perhaps, be sometimes in error as to dates, to the
accuracy of the facts, however, we pledge ourselves.
Dick Tamar, as we have before intimated, was always con-
sidered to be a dangerous fellow, but his murderous propen-
sities were not discovered until some time after he had com-
mitted various minor atrocities. The first time his name was
mixed up with anything of a serious nature was on the occa-
sion of the

DEATH OF THE TIP GIRL AT DOWLAIS.
The particulars of this case, as far as we have been enabled
to collect them, we will briefly relate :

About five years since, a girl, who, according to the Dow-
lais vernacular, was honoured with the diminutive prefix of
"Tip," from her occupation of conveying cinders from the
works to the huge and accumulating heaps of that refuse,
became pregnant by a workman at the Dowlais works, where
Dick Tamar also was employed. It appears that in com-
pliance with her urgent entreaties, the seducer (whose name
we forbear to mention) furnished the girl with money to go
home with. She accordingly left Dowlais. A day or two
after the poor creature's body was found on one of the tips.
It had evidently been abused, and no money could he found.
Portions of her hair and clothes were found about the spot,
and as she was much burnt, it was at the time conjectured
that she had been robbed and murdered, and then placed on
the hot cinders in order that the body might be consumed.
An inquest was held on the body, and a verdict of " Found
burnt on the tips" returned ; thus leaving the inquiry open.
Dick had been seen in the girl's company just before she left,
and after the murder he spent more money than he could
have earned. Suspicion was directed towards him, but the
matter died away, and probably would not have again been
revived but for the recent tragical occurrence

SUPPOSED MURDER OF DICK TAMER'S SISTER.
We next find Dick Tamer's name mixed up with a trans-
action which, if based on fact, places him in the foremost
rank of the incestuous. A sister of his died suddenly.
There were appearances about the body which indicated any-
thing but a natural death ; and on a post mortem examina-
tion it was found that she was pregnant. The neighbours
had long suspected that Tamar and his sister were living im-
proper;; together ;:and the general belief now is, that to
prevent the exposure of his and her guilt he committed a
similar crime to that for which stern justice demands his
blood.