Hunts Confession.
The Times, 1824-02-09T00:00:00

(Continued from the M-7ekly Di)epatch.) According to this arrangement, I dressed myself~ in the clothes of Tliomas Thur-teRlls servant, Eannson-that itt, I 'wore his fustian jacket and white apron, and went aboat seven. o'cloc'k in the morning to Wood's lodgings, in Castle-street, and told himi (as had been Vre. viousl settled between mre $ad Thiurtell) that a lady named Brew wante to see hilm, and hacd ient me to fetcli him to her at a friend's houscin Westminster. This llrs. Brew is an old lady who lodges at Cousins's, at JKensington, and who has a great fuientizbip for ~Mr. Wood. 11ir. Wood asked me itI knew why she wished to see him ; I told h,m thatshe hiad had some wordst with Sir. Cousins, and she wished to see' him before site r eturned to Kensington. He accordingly acconmpanied m-e, and in the way he asked the namne of the street, which I told him I did niot recollect,but would lead him to the hiouse. Oni reachbing No. 10, Alaoudester.butlldinpa. I said, thlat wasi the place, andrapped at the door. The dcorli fond was a-jar and gave waydofn whichm I puished it open and entered, expecting that Wiood woul follow me; he, however-,stopped on tire threshiold, he was no doubt deterred from going in by observing that it was uninhiabited, and, as 1 thiRnk, from seeing Thesrtell, who wals standing at the foot of the stairs, close to thie back parlour door, with his coat and shoes off, a red handkerchief over his head to disgrui:,e him. and a damb bell ini each hand ready to strike Wood on Ithe head. As' I found Wood did not follow me,and was gone front the dloor, I went to see what had be- come of him,and I justsaw him running round the corner of the build. ings. I then went to John Thurteli, and told him Wlood hiad run off; Thuntell said, "'It wvas lucky for him he did run, or- else he wuuld never have run again.'.' fn order to prevent any alarmi in Wood's mind as to the real intention, and as we kniew he wvas in difficulties, we resolved to write to him to make him believe it was a stratagem~ of the sheriffs' officers to arrest hiim for debt ; we therefore ran across the Pack as fast as we couild to Thiomas Thurtell's, at the Haymarket, end there John Thurtell wrote a note to W"ood, as if coming from a friend, to advise him to keep out of the way, as there were several writs out apainst Ihim. Ennison, who is afrzfideini of the Thurtells, was sent to deliver it, and I dare say it was at Castle-street a very few miinuses after WVood got back. in order so keep up the deception, another-'letter was wrixten the same evening by John Thor-tell, in the nam e of "Clark," to say thiat he had to thank Curtis for the endeavour thiat had been made that moening toarrest himr. This letterlIdelivered; andl to convince Wood that these letters were genuline, and that the object in getting him to .1anchester.buildings, was an intenious decoy of sheriffs' officers, J. Thurteli prevailed onIIIIIII to swear a debt against him of 291., anti he was actually arrested the next day on this false oath. After the failure of this scheme,Thurtell said he wouild buy a pair of pitos and shoot him some night as he went homne fromr tire house etheused,wbich was kept by a, man named 'rhornton, in a street near the Haymarket. Thlis, ho7wever, was afterwards relinquished, and Thur-tell said he should leave himi for a month or two, a-nd pick- out- anothier of his enemies. * * v ~'t*was aware of the difflerent plans against WVood, and frequently, when we wvere discoursing on, the saubj--tt, hie used tosay " D-n and blast Wood ; wliatis theuse of'killing him ? Barber Beasement is the man we want ouitof Lte -way; why don't you do for him ?" John Thurtell replied. " Never fear; he 'i5 hoolked. We sha llitave him safe enougli, you may depend on it." The rea- son why they wished Barber Beaumont to be dtestroved wras. chat they thought hie was the only cause of the inonev not being paid by tire Fire-office, and they f'earertlhe would urgetciteprose:cution to he! carried ox for a conspirac; antI for several nighits and days Joh~n Thur-tell laid in wait, t:for him with the air.gun charoed, in the neigh. bourhood of the Fire-office. He geerally took liisa station at the door of AIT. NVarri's, the corner of herrnrd-dstreer; and he set nire te wvatch at tite office-door in order to ascertain at wtilat houirs Mr. Beaumont went in andl outt; if I discovered him, I wvas to run and genoice to Thur-tell which xway he went, and he was to follow and shoot him. I, however, could niever make oat whichi was Mllr. Beau. mont, lot I didt not know his pe-son un til some one poin ted him ou t to me at the inquest. The air.guin resemibled a ktnottedl walking stick-, and held no less than 16 charges. It was let off by meiely pressingy one of cthe knots with the finger, and the onlyrnoiselwas aslight whiz. scarcely, perceptible so any one whio nighit happeni to be on the spot, Jolhn TI.hurtell menitionled! to tie that somne of his friends were obli,ed to leatve this country for France, and amiong others he namedI W-ililam ... and Gcorgr "'Il oni account of somie i'nformnatiorn or prosecutions against themi for gaming, and lie lbad every reasoni tc think Xl' eare was one of the info rmers. I was present at a public-house keirt by Mr. Casely, in Orange. court, when a man namned *4O.0 toldl j- Thurtell, that a yotune itentleman. namied Grawam, whio had lost mroney, anti was prosecurt. tig,9 or iniforming, and also a Captain Kelly', wvere obnoxious to his frienlds, and that ifhe,Thurtell,knewlhow to get rid of them,he could undertake to say that 5001. would be of no obj ect to those who were ar that rime obliged Lo live in Franice, on accouint of those prosecutions. Thurtell said, " If you can get George '*" to pass Ill, word for the mioney, it shall be done." "" *1 replied, I will speak tc George, and I have no doubt ha will undertake to pay the moirey, il they are com-pletely out of the way ; anadwhen 1 get his answer, your shall see inc agan fe was gone, John Thurtell said to me, "If George " will pass his wordi for 5001., it is sure to be paid ; the men he wants pot out of the way shiall he disposed of in a week and I wvill do it in such a way thiat the public shiall believe they all killedI tbenirsrlves." 'The reasoni why Kelly was to be got ridl of was, that he was ter- ribly v.iolet at the gamning-houses ; for when he lost mioney, he in. sitdo t being restored to him ; and if it was tinot, or if' tire pro. prietors did not lenid him what nmoney he askedI for.he assaulted then'., und broke theirgiasses and fuarniture. Tire way T hur-tell proposed to despatch him wvas, by in-viting himi- to meet som-e young gentlemen to play, troin whomi money was easily to he won ;'and he wais by this pretence to he drawn inito tire Park, as being in the tray to the pilace appointed. Thurtell was there to shoot hini wvith the air-gun, and I was immnediately to go up and place a discliarged pistol in Ihis bazird, and then make an alarm amid call out for assistance. Tlir momient any onie came, I was to declare that I had seen Iinns engaged in a duel; that lie hiad tired witliout effect at his adiversary; that the shot a-as retrne, ad h ha falen whreuonhis op-,onenc ran oil'. John Thurellfreuenly xpresedhisintnt.on o kill an attorney lnamed Sprngfeld wh lied t Nrwih, ecasehe had used hite ill in Abou thre weks bforeWear's mriler, John Thui-tell, Thos. fhurtell, and myself, twere walking towards Spring-gardens ; J.1 Thiurelsi he would go and see Rexwortliy, and we all we-nt into his biliad-oo, which had been newly fitted up. I there asw a gentlemanlylooking mian sitting down. John Tirurtell went up to himi anti said, " .1r. Weare, horv are y-ou ?" Tue gentlemnan pot up, they s4hook hands together, and appreared v-ery, friend(ly; aird alter convers- ing together for about a quarter of ani hour, thiey went out together and remnainedl absent an hour. Oni their return, TIhos. Thurtell said], he must be off, anid we wvent away. Whnlli we got out, John Trhur-tell told ore thiat rho man I had seen hti n in companly with. and Iiiil l had wvon 3001. fromi hsini ini one niglit, at Blind Honkey. I said that was a great deal of niioney. "1Ye,s," saiid Ire,"1 andI what is worse, whien I asked thiem, andI particularly Wleare, to lendi ie 51., he told ume to go aL thieving for it, as lie diii ; and that I lhad better say nothing about it, as the mnoney was miy creditors'." Thurtell also said, " I1 do riot forget this treatmient, and shall1 Soon settle ac- counts with soine of them, and shiall never die erusy until I hiave miy revenge of lV'eare." Shortly after the indictment for the conspiracy was found, and w'hen thie officers were expected to bo on the look-ouit for the TIhur. tells, Probert introdiuced thiem to Mlr. Tetsall c old Iiim that war. rants were outagainstthenm. and begged hie would let them stop at his house, and keep a good look-ouit to &nv themi, if any person shioulmi nmake.inquiries of wihom ihe had suspicioni; andlMr.Tetsall accordinigly letlchurn have apriv~ate room above stairs. Probert and John 'iThurtell were ailmost continuially in comipaniy together, either in Londoni or in going backward amid forsvard to thte cottage; anti I believe they ar- rangedl and settledl tire plan of M4r. WVeare's MUrder-before tire parti. cuilars were com-municated to me; for ailthouglt I hieard it mentioned several times that it was to be done, I was riot informed of the manner in sveiich it was to be perpetrated until just before the imurder took p lace ; but al thought I was ignorant, Probert, from thr observations he mnade, and the d'irections whiceh hie gave, appeared to know every particular. It was nzot unitil the Friday morniing that tite miurder wvas comnsitted atnItiglit, that I was let into the secret as to several of the arrangements. I understood from Probert that he was in g-rcat distress and difficulty, and that unless he got somne moniev he sjhould be comipeiled to leave the cottage clandestinely; aTid as lire was in daily expectationl of his landlord corinitg to seize arid take possession of ttire place hie rold Thur-tell not to delay any, longer tha hecoud hlp,ani sid," I itisdone there, it can never he fouid ot, bcaue itis o byandprivate a place; fotr I kept a priatejiger her, ad i tes nverdiscovered ;" and from- his repreentanna t wa, asI beieve detrmind by Thr-tell to com- mitthemurer t Gll'-hil o it neghburhod.Thurrtll told Probere and me that 'We4rc, the iiani itwsiend to serve, never carried less than from 1,0001. co 1,5001. secreted abocitliis persoir, anti tiat he knew where to find it. life besides said, that he shouild te-ll himi that he had become acquainited with a young gert.lenran wvho had just come into possession of a large properry, arid who hiad an iniclinain o aining, but could not be tempted to play unles,s it was for large sitakes. That thris gentlienran had given 'tsiru an invita- tion to comie down to Isis country house and bring a frienid withi hint to take two or- three days' shooting ; he shiould, thierefore, per. ~siade Weare to accept this pretended invitation, AsDi inipresh on his miind tire necessity of taking a large sum if lie intenided to (tin any good, because, as he (Thur-tell) had no mnoniey to entice thec geintleman to play, Wieare must prov-ide it, rind if he did so, theyi could introduce cards, hazard, of backgammon after diinner, and make a fameous thing of' it. Thor-tell said he had no doubt this wouild be a suiffcient bait to catchi We-ar-c ; that he woulct takec plenty- of cashi with hiim, and they shvuld be sure to get 4001. or 5001. a piece, whlich would be no bad thing. Probert answered, 1 iNo, thiat sumt will just relieve me from my presentldifficulties." About two nights before the muirder, a conversation took place at Tetsail', between Pf obert and John Thur-tpll, in whiceh Probrert said.-` You hand better mnake it Friday nighit if you can, bec-ause I ains usually down at the cottage on a Saturday, and by showing myself to ttire neiglirbours, no suispicion will fall oni me, if the man, is mis%sed. Thur-tell promised to a.-range for that night if he could. -On the imorning of Friday, J. Thur-tell saaid he had settled every thing wtit Wearec; that lise was to meet him thlat evening at Cum'. her-land-gate tvith a chaise, to take himi down to the gentlenian's Imansion ; and tbat no tim~e was therefore to be loot in making 'Are necessary preparations. In the foreno-on of Friday I went with Thurtcllto purchase the pistoLs. Tihey were bought at a jeweler's in Highstreet, lhlarylebone, for 117. las. At about two o'clock the pistol-bahll were made. The two 'Ihurtells, Probert, and myself were pre&.lt sm the front roomt otn the firs, floor at Sitr. Tetitall's. The7 lead for snakin them was melted in a fire.slsovel, which * ^ $ i held over the fire. Four bullets weer etss while we were aU nresent. Probert handled them, and sa4id they did not appear to him to be large enouFh to kill :mamu on the spot; on whichi John Thurtell replied, "X onu would be d-d sorry to have one of therm through your bead, satn as they are; and if you had, you would not get to Gill's-lizll cottage in a hurry." Probert said he was sure the air-gun would not kill any one on the spot, and John Thurtell replied, "I know that as well as you, Bill, or vhat time hell should I buy thcse props for, if it was not because I would not ttust to the air-gusn," and added, " I was a bl-y fool to go all tire way to my friend Harper, at Nor-wich, to borrow that air-gutn; but I will take care not to miss that bl-y thief Weare, as I did your short (using a vulgar expression) friend Alaster W1rood." Probert laughed and said, " Yfou made a bad business of that,Jack, for I expected Wood would have been dead, and yoa would have had the girl Iong ere this." John Thtirtell then made allan-er, " Well,jou shafltee what sort of a miss I will mtake of Weare be- fore this night is out-and, after himn comes Wood ar two or three more that you know, Bill." Probert said,.." I hope you will do youtr business well, and that your friend may have plenty of money with him." Thurtell replied, 'I There is nofear of that, as he thinktt lam goinigto take him into the country a ia-tcatehidig," Probert and ;0-600*0" lapghed heartily at this observation, and John Thirtell went ou saying, "lt wi11 ba aretty flae.eatehing, Bill, for I willlay the-. flateenouah before I bve done with him." We were ahooall four present wleen the pistols were preparea and Xodd ?Bel Qk wE tv-d tn4 beg fQqndrtift'i eoQsehu?cll Qf thep9tols beipg lew, l asnt;t oteI1t te b ners and the triggers to make the pMtls go ofl" eadiI, In thecounse of conversation,Thu ls tid "low lrshdires*nage about yourold woman, to prevent hdlookizgout ?" ;Probertt"plied, " Oh, never fear, I have a plan to get her to bod." Tburseltiaskeo. what it was, and said he should like to know it, so that we tiight ill know how to act when we got there. Probert said, " Why, Hunt must sing us two or three song, ansd, after'a little while, the old woman will get sleepy, and I can then say that, having myfriends down, I must situp with them to keep them company, and as we mean to enjoy otrselves, that she and Nancr hzd better to to bed; and when thby find we are determined to sit up, they will be glad to go to bed." Jt was arranged that Probert and inyself were to watch Thurtell and Weare past Field's, antl then to follow at a little dis- tance, so as to prevent any one following up the lane, to interrupt J. Thurtell; and if any onie approached, we were to give him notice. Thurtell was to pass the cottage out of hearing of pistol-shor, and then to shsot lleare while sitting beside him in the gig Probert himself told Thurtell how to do it: he said, " Jack, if the man has any suspicion about the lane, you can tell him you think you have misscd your way, and when you have got to a convenient spot, as you are the driver you Can make some remark, and point his atten- tion to make him look at the lef, and directly he turns his head, that is your time to shoot him." After the act was done, the body was to be put into a sack and brought to Probert's. and thrown into the pond by him and Thurtell, while I was to be engaged amusing the people in the house, as had been hbfins sPtlit. 'HU7'rS CYRlFeSSI.M.