Fatal Occurrence.
The Times, 1824-01-03T00:00:00

GrangeIstbislt~. - a msaneOf the-caso, as. far &s,,w6 have een b to61eeethirbi rethes'~ r..4or' somie time.- bacle, a gentleman, whoae-n~ueisg Patricl cnoly,resi4ed-at a. miannson rcounty of ~ertfo;d Bibley-honseibjs- the property of Cartiip Nisor risth whon MIr. Connollywas'intimately acquainted, 4nd frotiiwhat -wc have cclletted, it appedra tbht; Mr: Connollye was reztinining?hjer to avoid .an execution whichw son to be out a l st him. In tbe same house was-residioga lady efthe name of Mrs. Elizabeth BD.rovn , the wiaovw.ofa aval officer' of*that. namc, who, weibelieve,-had charge of Captaia-Nestor's domestic conceins. Besidesthese inadiduals, therewere a femnale servant and .two male servaits on Tth0 premises.- On3 Wednesday -afterndon; about two o'clock-, three persons aTtivedxlat the mansion.z,g -Mr. Stephens~, an attorney-from sLotidon.; T. Watson, a Shneriff's officer, residing' in G3seat-Sufoblkostreeti Souihwark. and his assistant. They fou4nd easy ingress at the qnter gates.and on reaching the hall.door knock-ed for admissIon. They were arswvered from within- by Mrs. Brown, who, perhaps, suspecting their errand, didnot open the door-she de: manded their business, and they co-Immenced by a~ldng if Captain 'Nestor wasathomne? Sheanrswered in the negative. They- then asked some other indirect questions; and finaUy begged to l'o* if AMr. Patrick Connolly was there? Yo this' queston Mfrs. Brown also answered in the negative. They then stated that thie mad an execution aganst h IMr. Connolly, and peremptorily desired to bead- mitted. This Mfrs.zBrown aspc-remptcrily refused,and.they imme- diately attemptadio force the. door, the upperm part of which was partlycomposed6fglass. T-effdt this puipose,they placed their feet against the bottom of the dtnr, and in the exerIton wbich they madethey roke one6ftha panes. The noise' which wasthus occa- soted, andsthe violence wLich was committed at this moment, seefli to have .roused the choler of Mfr. Connolly, who was close at -hand, and he suddenly, made is appearance with a pitchfork in his hand, with which- hethreatened to resist any further attempt that night be made- to enter the preroises. In defiance of his threat, the officerse on bedingagaii refsu ed admission, renewed their ettaclkwhen which Coonnolly haused the fork through the broken pane at oneuof rile men; whonri-he'straek, hut luckily did not in- flict any wound.' The assnila,ntg findinr. their manthus sletern-ined to roppose them, retired for a time, and,iwbile two kept watch, the thie proceedfod to a magistrate in the,neighboutuooa, the Rer. -Thomas- Newcome,- we believe, before whomn he laid an it1formntion of the assault which liad beau cmumitted'upon him in tho discharge of his duity, and Drured a peace warrait for the apprehension of mr. Connolly. his warrant was directed to the consTables of the districut, and those individuals were sutymoned to put it in execution. From the specimen which Alr. Connally had given of his disposition to resist all ordinary means of arrest, it was considered necessry to take a competest force to effect this object, and certain personcs were aworn5s apecqial,constables for the occasion. Amn=g therisincluded in this body wvas the brothtr of the paris constable, James G3rainge, an industrious shoemaker at Sher.ley.hiill. The whole possee being assembled, they prodeeded in considerable force to the-aceic of aetion, which they reached about six o'clock. 'A second load knocking at the door gave notice of their approach, when AfMs. Brown again made her appearance, and, as has beep stated by the witnesses, admission was demanded in the King's name. MTA. Brown still declined complying with thigdemand. A gencral assault then commenced, and several panes of glass were broken in the win- dows, as well as m the door. This continued for some time, till at length Mr. ConnoDy came forward with a gun in his hand, and threatened to. shoot the first person who presumed to break the door. This only tended to increase the violence, and as the party outside considered that they were armed with sufficient authonty to use every exertion in their power to -make their caption good, they treat- ed Ar. ConnoDy's threats with indifference, and actually began to break the panels ot.shedoor with such missiles as came to hand. At thi4 unlucky moment, and in the heat of irritation, Mir. Connoly dihcharged the gun,' and Jaidnes Grainge being nearest the door, be lodged the contents in the upper part ot his arm, near the shonlder, which was dreadfuvy mangled. The' unhappy man fell, and a cry of Murder;" buras from alL quatters. A considerable pause now took place; the attack was discontinued, and the oflicers and their as- sistants drew :back, fearful that further mischief might be done. .The wounded man being unable to walk, was placed in a cart and carried to the White Rart, at Sherdev-hill, from whence expre.ses were immediately sent to St. Alban's and Barnet for surgical as- sistance. Intbrmatiou of what occurred was then conveyed to the Rev. Mr. Newcome and John EI. NVinter, Esq., another magis. trate in the neighbourhood -who consulted upon what it was expe- dient to do. AlI the constables of the surrounding vfllages were forthwithl summoned, and fresh additions were made to the list of special constables. With this force the Malgistfates proceeded in earson to Rabley-house, within which aU remained in perfect silence. It was now between nine and ten o'cloclk, ahd an attempt was made to force an entrance at the back of the premises where some more windows were broken. Under the direction of the magistrates, ad- moission was once more fomially demanaed, and their warrant was read in a loud voice. MIrs. Brown for the third' time came to the door, and announced, that if the party would .show their warranit she would admit them. This was refused1 but it was read in her heating, and the door was tinaUy opened. The Mlagistrates and the officers then entered, and MUrs. Brown said she would send to call Mr. Connolly down stairs. A servant did aecordingly go up stairs, and Alr. Connolly came dowri and surrendered himself. All the other parsons in the house were then serured as being participators in tbe outage-namely, Airs. Brown, her servant woman, Hugh lo- ran, a servant man, and another man called Edward, whose sur- name we were- unable to learn. The whole were conducted to the 'White Hart, at Shenley-hill, where they remained under a strict guard.fer theremainder of the night. In the interim, the unfortunate wounded man bad been corveyed to lais own house, where he was put to bed until the surgeons should arrive, which did not take place tilU-a late hour. Alr. Lloyd, of Barnet, Mr: Webster, of St. Alban's- and a third medical man, at length.reached4he spot,ind4n.examining-the wound, pronouniced it to be extremely dangerous. They remained in attendance the whole of the- night; and on- Thuttsdby niornhiK, on gapin opening the woind, th4y unanimouly 'declared that amputation was necessary, and that ihr opratioon afioi4ed the only hope of preserving life. At ten ovlock the Rev. Air. Newcome, MIr. Vinter, and Mr. Haddow, asserbJed at the Wirhite Hart, to take the depositions of the.diffirent witnesses against the prisoners; and on hearing .he opi alon of the surgeonu -,they deemed it necessary to take Grainge's rvidence before the operation took place. They accordi ly pro- ceeded to thet7ed-dside of the wretched man, and received from his hps the detail 'of all the circumstances which he had witnessed prr- viously to the fatal shot having b-en fired., To this lie was sworn, and attached his signature. The surgeons then- lost no time in performting their painfil duty, but still expressed their fears of the result. TheMagistrates then returned to the -'White Hart, and examined, aprivate, a vast number of witnesses, wvhose difiFrent statements theycommitted-toring. ln therresult, we understand, that a yvery strong case Si'is made out against .r. ConnoUy, who, it was proved, was perfectly aware of the ciaracter of the persons- who de- manded admissioa, as wel as the object which they had in view. -lt was alsoproved, we learn,, that between the use of the pitchfork in the first instane, and the return of the offic2rs withLthe assault war- rant, Eig IUoran went to the house of a fa7rmer in the neighbour. hood,of therun;e of Bartholomew,and obtainedfrsm hais servant the loan of. a guts, with a quantity of powder and shot. Other cestimoa was gtven an to the dt.clarattons of Connolly, and to the s^tate of irri- ration ins which he appeared to b7e at thati e the attacl on the door wfas mnad7e. Ilrs. Brqwn, Mlr. Connolly, and the three servantS, were ,al call- ed in separately, and thbir statements were received with the utmost attention. lAirn. Brown was greatly affected,and fatinted three times during the day. Ir. Connolly, who was present when the surgeons -were examined, particularly questioned themuasto the maode in which the operation 0n Grahange was performed; namely, as to whether the bone nad been extracted from the socket, had beeh splintered, or had been sawed- of r'with a butt. We understand that the amputation took place just below the shoulder, and that there was no splintering. During the- investigation Air. Connolly betrayeda good-deal of io-. patience. Soon after three the melancholy intelligence reached the magis. trates that Gralnge had expired-a fact which at once decided the course they had- to parsue , -and, after a short consultation, they de- -termined to commit ni the parties upon the charge of the wilful mr,rder ofJamea Grainge, and mittimusses were made out accord- ingly. - Mr. Connolly2 andhis servaitt3Moran, were sent oT in a post-chaise to Barnet, tlandcuSed together, in the custody of Fredo. rick Propstring-, the constable ofthst town, with directions that he shtould convey them to Hertford this morning. Mlrs. Brown and her female servant ware ordered to he.bAeiained at the White Yart, and to be removed to St. Alban's this day; whithst also the other man servant willbe sent for the present. Att thbe-aoAe of the basiness of the day, Mlr. Noel, the solicitor, woeit willlbe recollected took sq aetive a part in the prosecution of the erson6 charged wFith -the murder of Mr. WVeare, arrived at the White Harr in a post-chalse. lie limediately desited an irterview wth themagistrats, and was shown in to the -Rev. .Sr. Newcome and Mtr. Winter, wSho were just departing. r. Noel annoanced that he had com7e down in consequence of an express which had'been - sent off to him by Mrs. P Rrown- c,tIw..tr m atule wouali act as lIer solicotor, and as he wassolicitor to Captain Nestor, he had no hesitation in oomplying with her summons * and he had now to beg that he might be peruiitttd to have an interview with his client. The Rev. M1r. Newcome said he was aware that lrs. Brown had chosen hini for her attorney, and saw no objection to the interview: but if he accepted of the oMee,it must be undewstood that ho was not to delegatehis duty tonv oth-er person. Mr. Noei objectedto this doctrine as altogcther incopisistent vwith the practice on such occasions, - Fo submitted. that he had a tight, if he thought proper, to employ,his towm agent, and certainly woluld not agree toany other understanding. He had no objection to seeing Mis. Brown in 'the MagiStrates' presence, in order that no doubt might exist as'to the unbiassed choice of her own mind; but after that, he claimed the right of seeing her in private. The Magistrates consented to tbis, and Mrs. Brown was brought down from an -upper room, in the'custody of Mir. Har?, the hIndloid of the.h %use,. w -ohad been appointed a speciikl gaoler for the occa- sion. On entering the room she was -in tears, and welcomed lr. hLoel as a friend. She recapitulated Vfie circumstances of her having stnrt an expres.. to Wigan.d Captain Nestor, ant betged thaWthe would act as htr solicitdr. . 4r. NeVtcome having now formally eskedUrs. Bro rwisjf she wished Mr. Noel to be nominated as her attornev, and 8he having answered in the affirmative, both magistrates saieg. (led their wish that'he sEould seeher iii privateas oftee as he thought proper, but they rorbad the introduction of any other person; they said this, because they understood that Captain Nestor was in to naigbbrurhood, and it was their. desire tl.iat that gentleamtn should have no coimmunication vith her. :'he Dlagistra'tes then reered, and Mr.- Noel weat witb Mrs. Brown to her owaroom, wherelieremaint.d w ith her till a late lhour last aight. Captain Nestbr, we understulid, had, arrived in the course of the ayv and finding that Air. Noel had not reachedt Shenley-hi'l, he rodeoft toexpeditehisapproachi. Mrs. Brown is a lady aboat six and twenty years of age, and possessing considerable personal'chatnis-leir connexions are of the moxt respectable description, her father be.ng s Colonel' in the - Mlr. Connally is an Irishman, as his nai neimports, and' is also respectably connected. - MHe forinerly pra:ctised as a surgeon at Brightou';' but in conseqtienice of somen dispute with an officer, nf the name of Andrews, whbi brought in action against Iiin2 ror def&nIation, and who eerovered cousiderible. damages, he was )bliged to quitthe sceneof his professional ptrsuits. The executioi snder whtdc it wasattenipted to arrest him on this unhappy occa. ,iOII, we-be1iee, liad boeen sued out by Mer. Andrews, for the d ia nages whic,ti he h3d recovered. ' Er. Cionnolly was forierly a sur- 'eor to tbe City'of Dub}in M2ilitia. He is married to a l.esttln. .ian ldy of largefoitun~e, who now resides at Portsea. 1r, Ja.nes Connolly, his brothe, isnltoa3 medical iiian ca*y$ing on bitsiness as a chymuist an3d driiggist in R'egent4treet. This gentIema reached - t lfr.mieoll He&~ 5cvn oaiwrev &InI J tbe,-ge At Burnet, *heri-.thLy.s_ree -lft w tQl. A adll-4 11ithtx, rd to th6 femRles, .tfej xnai sitmte fretI tt e~I1 H erfn4Piigencf~whjch-thefr it1i4t!6n-iould ~i nc,ad t Hr,the landjoidof theinn, under wo~.byeano h were ~~treakd ith great hiutnnity. a Tneunforunateevet lies x darnoat xii 9nb not infant children to deph,lore i h WSe s ld-four 'i?l ,O, 1WIrT!g