The Recorder cautioned the jury that this statement was evidence against
Mahony only, and was not to be taken as evidence against Goodere.
_Vernon_ said that this concluded his evidence as to the facts; but that
as Goodere had made a point as to the position of the ship, he would
call evidence to show that the King Road had always been taken to lie
within the city and county of Bristol; and that the sheriff's officers
of Bristol had always used to execute both city and county process in
the King Road.
_John Wint_ and _Lowden_ were called, and proved that they had served
process out of the Mayor's and the Piepowder Court, and process issued
out of the King's Bench, and the Common Pleas, and the Admiralty Court,
in the King Road.
_Goodere_ being called on for his defence, said that he would call
witnesses to prove that sir John was a lunatic, and that he was doing
his best to take care of him.
_Mrs. Gethins_ said that Goodere had asked her for a garret to keep his
brother in, for he was a madman; he made no secret of it. She had heard
nothing about Mahony having five pounds a month to take care of him. She
had heard Goodere talk with his own doctor about his brother.
_Mr. Marsh, sworn._
GOODERE--Did you go ashore in the morning about the king's
business, or what business did you go about?
MARSH--I had an order about eight o'clock the night sir John
was brought on board, to go up in the morning to Bristol for
the letters from the Admiralty, and about four of the clock in
the morning I was called up to go: but the lieutenant seemed
much disordered, and bid me come to him before I set out. I
waited on the lieutenant, and told him, that White and Mahony
said they had liberty to go on shore, that the captain had
given them liberty to go; the lieutenant said, he knew nothing
of it. But as it is always my way, before I carry anybody off,
I said, I would go to the captain and ask leave. I went to the
captain, and asked him, if White and Mahony had liberty from
him to go on shore? And he said, Yes, let them go.
GOODERE--Mr. Marsh, did you go upon the king's business, or on
purpose to take up these men?
MARSH--I went about the king's business.
VERNON--But it was after sir John was brought on board, that
Mr. Goodere ordered you to go up?
MARSH--Yes, Sir, it was.
VERNON--Did anybody else go up with you, besides Mahony and
White?
MARSH--No, there did not.
VERNON--Did Mr. Goodere give you orders to put them on shore in
any particular place?
MARSH--I will do justice between man and man: the captain did
not give me orders to put them on shore in any particular
place.
VERNON--Were they landed publicly or privately?
MARSH--I put them on shore at the Gibb, about six of the clock
in the morning.
GOODERE--Now, may it please you, sir, I shall show that Mahony
had business at Bristol that day by appointment, to receive
some wages that was due to him; for which purpose I shall call
Mr. Dagg.
_Abel Dagg_, the keeper of Newgate, had had one Mervin in his house as a
prisoner for debt. Mahony had a claim against him for wages due to him
before he was pressed, and Mervin wished to settle the matter with him.
Accordingly Dagg had seen Goodere on the Tuesday or Wednesday before
this matter, and he said that he would meet Dagg to accommodate the
difference on the Monday following. The captain made the appointment to
meet him on the Monday, but he told Taylor, an attorney, that Mahony
would come on shore on Monday. He did not know that White had any
business on shore on Monday.
_Bridget King_ was sworn.
GOODERE--Mrs. King, will you give the Court an account of what
you know of the lunacy of my brother sir John Dineley?
MRS. KING--Please you, my lord, I think he was mad; for he
would get up at two or three of the clock in the morning, and
call his servants up, and fall a-singing; and then he would go
to bed again, and swear it was but twelve o'clock at night, and
lie a-bed all day. He would send his boy out all over his
grounds to pick up stones, and have the wheel-barrow rattling
about the streets on a Sunday: he hath ringed the bell to call
his servants up to his bedside, and when they were come up, he
would ask them what they did there, and swear they were come to
shoot him? He himself hath gone over all his grounds on a
Sunday to pick sticks, and hath sent his servants to market
when there was none; and he would be busy in every thing, and
hang on the pot himself; and he hath been quite raving mad.
VERNON--Did you live as a servant to sir John?
MRS. KING--I lived as a servant with him in London, and he came
down for the air to Tockington; he brought me down to go to
Bath.
VERNON--How long did you continue with him?
MRS. KING--A twelve-month, sir.
VERNON--And how durst you venture to live so long with a
madman? He did not go mad for love of you, I hope? Have you
lived any time in Bristol?
MRS. KING--No.
VERNON--Then I suppose you came but now from London?
MRS. KING--Yes, I did.
GOODERE--Do you believe he was a madman?
MRS. KING--In the actions that I have seen by him, I have
reason to think he was a madman.
_Mrs. Mary Stafford, sworn._
GOODERE--Mrs. Stafford, will you tell his lordship and the jury
what you know of sir John's being a lunatic?
MRS. STAFFORD--Sir John hired me for a housekeeper in London,
and told me he had a great many servants, and he wanted a
housekeeper. When he brought me down, he ordered me to his
seat at Tockington; where, he said, he had a great deal of
company frequently. When I came there, I found there was
nothing in what he had told me; for, instead of a great many
servants, he had but one: a poor old shattered house, ready to
tumble down about one's ears, and the household goods all to
pieces: he was a madman, for if I had followed his directions
in any thing I should have done mischief. He hath sent me and
the rest of his servants to Thornbury market, when there was
none; he hath ringed the bell to call his servants to come to
his bedside to him, and when we have come up to him, he hath
asked us, what we did there? Sir, said I, you called me up; he
hath said he did not: and after we had been there a quarter of
an hour, he would take a knife, fork, glass-bottle, or anything
that came in his way, to throw at us, asking of us, What did we
come to rob him? And I was afraid of my life, to live with him.
I do believe he was a madman, or else he would never have acted
as he did; he would go into the kitchen, and take the pot, and
hang it on the fire. I style him a madman by his actions.
VERNON--And must he therefore be hanged himself like a mad dog,
think you?
MRS. STAFFORD--I know nothing of that, Sir.
VERNON--How long did you live with sir John?
MRS. STAFFORD--Three months, Sir.
GOODERE--Call Mr. Robert Cock.
THE RECORDER--What do you call him to prove?
GOODERE--My lord, in order to prove sir John Dineley a lunatic.
Mr. Cock, will you give an account to my lord and the jury what
you know of the lunacy of sir John Dineley?
_Robert Cock, sworn._
COCK--My lord, I have known Mr. Dineley at Charlton for some
years; I have been several times in his company; I have seen
him do several acts of lunacy, as a madman.
VERNON--Where do you live?
COCK--I live in Cumberland, when I am at home.
VERNON--Are you of any business?
COCK--I am an officer belonging to his majesty.
VERNON--What kind of officer?
COCK--A salt officer.
GOODERE--I will not give your lordship and the jury much more
trouble. I am entirely innocent; they have not proved that I
was present at the death of sir John Dineley.
THE RECORDER--Don't deceive yourself; though they have not
proved you was actually in the cabin, when sir John was
murdered, yet they have given evidence of that, which (if the
jury give credit to) will amount to presence in the eye of the
law.
GOODERE--I shall now call some witnesses to my character, and
likewise to shew how improbable it is that I should be guilty
of the murder of my brother.
Call Mr. Pritchard.
_Mr. Pritchard_ had known Goodere many years; he always bore the
character of a good husband, a good neighbour, and a kind friend.
_The Rev. Mr. Watkins_, three months or half a year before Sir John's
death, had told Goodere that Sir John had told him that he had made his
will and cut his brother off from everything, and had given his estate
to the Footes. The witness had found Sir John a good neighbour, and a
kind friend; he was a man of strong passions, and if any one affronted
him, he would let the party know that he did resent it. His tenants, and
those the witness had conversed with, said that he was one of the best
of landlords.
VERNON--I don't ask you, Sir, concerning his moral character;
but whether he was in his senses or not?
WATKINS--In his senses! I saw him last Christmas, he was making
up his accounts with several of his tenants; he was then in
very good understanding. I take him to have been a man that
always had his senses in a regular exercise.
VERNON--What have you heard the prisoner Mr. Goodere say in
relation to Sir John's making his will?
WATKINS--I believe he told me that sir John had not the power
to make a will; I told him it was my opinion, if they would be
reconciled together, sir John's will would not stand.
_Mr. Thomas_ and _Mr. Ashfield_ and the _Rev. Mr. Rogers_ spoke in
general terms to Goodere's good character.
_George Forcevil_ had known him for fourteen or fifteen years; he had a
very good character in the neighbourhood; he constantly attended his
church twice a day Sundays, and would be there at prayers almost every
day. He thought him to be a good man.
_Goodere_ said he would not trouble the Court with any more evidence as
to his character; he was deprived of some evidence by reason of his
sickness in gaol, which prevented his friends from coming to advise him
about his defence; also there were witnesses on board the ship who might
have been of great service to him, but the ship had sailed before he got
an order from the Admiralty ordering them to stay on shore.
_Frederick_ drew the Recorder's attention to the fact that there had
been several aspersions in the newspapers to the prejudice of Goodere,
and that a pamphlet had been published in Bristol called _The Bristol
Fratricide_; but he hoped that the jury would not be influenced by such
matters against the prisoner.
The jury declared that they had never seen any such pamphlet or
newspapers.
VERNON--Mr. Recorder, we must beg leave to ask Mr. Jarrit
Smith's opinion, as to Sir John's being a lunatic or not?
SMITH--I am surprised to hear it said by some of Mr. Goodere's
witnesses that sir John Dineley Goodere was mad. I knew him
fourteen or fifteen years, and conversed with him both in
person and by letter; but never discovered that he was in the
least disordered in his senses, I always took him to be a man
of sound understanding. On the Sunday before his death, he
expressed himself with a great deal of good nature and
affection at the sight of his brother.
_Shepard_ proposed to call evidence to show that the place where the
ship lay was not in the city and county of Bristol.
_The Recorder_ said that the evidence that had been given as to the
service of writs, proved that the King's Road was within the
jurisdiction, and it was admitted that the ship lay within the Road. If,
however, the prisoner could show that any part of the Road was, or ever
had been esteemed to be, within any other county than the county of the
city of Bristol, he would hear him. He then asked Mahony if he had
anything to say.
MAHONY--I hope your Lordship will consider that I was a poor,
pressed servant, and that I was drunk when I made the
confession, and I was frightened out of my wits.
MR. RECORDER--You say you were drunk when you made the
confession; it is possible, that night when you were taken and
brought before the magistrates you were in liquor, but it seems
your confession was not taken until the next day.
_Vernon_ then replied on the whole case; confining himself to pointing
out that if Goodere was abetting Mahony in killing Sir John, it made no
difference that he was not in the cabin at the time that he was killed.
_Shepard_ replied, trying to distinguish Goodere's case from those which
had been cited by Vernon, and suggesting that Goodere only brought his
brother on board the ship in order that he might take proper care of
him; but the Recorder stopped him, pointing out that he was going off
from the point of law to matter of fact. He said that he should tell the
jury that if they believed that Goodere stood at the cabin door to
prevent any persons coming who might prevent the murder, or to encourage
those within in the business they were about, they must find him guilty
on the indictment. He then recapitulated the facts in some detail, but
did not add any comment. He concluded by laying down the law as to
whether Goodere was an accessory to what was done, in the sense already
indicated, and told the jury that, in such a case as the present, they
would be well-advised not to attach much weight to the evidence given as
to Goodere's character.
The jury thereupon retired, and after a short space returned, and found
both the prisoners Guilty.
The next day Charles White was tried on a separate indictment for the
same murder. He pleaded Not Guilty, but was convicted, chiefly on the
evidence of Jones the cooper and his wife, and his own confession.
On the next day all three prisoners were brought up, and having nothing
to say for themselves were all sentenced to death.
They were all hung at Bristol on the 15th of April, having confessed the
fact. 'The body of Mahony is hung in chains near the place where the
horrid fact was committed.'