The Manchester Examiner. — 1848-04-25 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

THE LATE ATTACK ON THE REV.  MR. GERMON.  MOST IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES OF THE MURDERER BATES, AT CHESTER CASTLE.  Before the execution of the convict Bates, alias Burke, which took place at Chester, on Saturday morning last, for the murder of William Wyatt, the prisoner made sonic very extraordinary disclosures in connection with the late highway robbery of the Rev. Mr. Germon, near Manchester, which are of the greatest importance to Lire two persons now under sentence of transportation for fifteen years, as being the parties who had attacked Mr. Germon. The circumstances of the case are as follow :—During the time that Bates was in gaol, after his conviction, being a Roman catholic, he was frequently visited by a Roman catholic priest for the purposes of spiritual relief. On several occasions the convict stated to the priest that two persons who were convicted at the last Liverpool assizes, anti sentenced to transportation, were innocent of the charge, and that he (the prisoner) wished that fact to be made publicly known. We understand that the priest told him that he could not divulge what was stated to him at the confessional, but that if the prisoner was desirous that such a statement should be publicly made known, he had better apply to the authorities of the gaol for an interview for that purpose. This interview accordingly took place, when the prisoner made a full confession of the whole affair, which was taken down in writing. The confession, we learn, states that the men who at the last assizes at Liverpool were found guilty of the attack upon and robbery of the Rev. Mr. Germon, near Manchester, and sentenced to fifteen vears'transportatiOn, are entirely innocent of the charge, and that the prisoner and other persons are the guilty parties. This confession, of so much consequence to the unfortunate men at present under conviction for the offence, has been dispatched to the secretary of state, and there can be no doubt that a rigid inquiry will be instituted into the entire circumstances of the case. It will be recollected that at the trial at Liverpool, the identity of the prisoners, now said to be innocent, was distinctly sworn to. _ _ _ _ _  We learn that the confession also implicates Bates and his accomplice Walmsley (who has been reprieved as one of the murderers of Wyatt) in the several highway robberies which took place in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, a few months ago. They appear to have been most desperate characters, and connected with most of those fearful robberies and outrages above alluded to.  The most strenuous exertions were made to obtain a reprieve in favour of the convict Bates, and on Friday last, the Rev. Mr. Holliday, the chaplain to the Chester Gaol, who has been indefatigable in his attendance upon the prisoners, notwithstanding that they are Roman catholics, went to London for that purpose, but failed in his interview with the secretary of state. We miderstand it is quite probable that the prisoner Walmsley will ultimately undergo the extreme sentence of the law, his reprieve having been granted only to enable some formal matters in connection whh his case to be completed.