produced, showing the connexion of the prisoner with Hart, and leaving
no doubt as to the conspiracy which had been formed to rob the
prosecutor. The prisoner conducted his own defence, and cross-examined
both the prosecutor and the other witnesses; and from the answers of the
former it appeared that he had become acquainted with Mr. Smart, of
Bridges-street, Covent Garden, and other persons not strictly
creditable. The main facts of the charge were, however, not shaken, and
the prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to be transported for
fourteen years--a sentence which so shook his nerves, that he fell in a
fit, and was removed from the bar in a state of insensibility.
Hart, it will be perceived, was intimately connected with the case to
which we have referred, and he too was shortly afterwards apprehended
upon the charge of his participation in the offence, of which his agent
had been found guilty. Having undergone several examinations before the
magistrates, he was committed for trial; but upon application to the
Court of King's Bench, the indictment was removed by _certiorari_ from
the Middlesex Sessions to the Old Bailey. On Monday, the 2nd of
December, 1833, Hart was put upon his trial; but an objection being
taken to the indictment, upon the ground that there was no felony
proved, by reason of there having been nothing stolen which was the
property of Mr. Astley, a verdict of "Not guilty" was returned upon the
direction of the learned judge. Hart was then discharged; and Palmer,
whose conviction, it followed, had been illegal, was also subsequently
liberated.
Having detailed the circumstances of these two cases, it is unnecessary
that we should go into any further description of the habits and
practices of Hart and his associates, because their proceedings were
always so much of the same character, that their statement would be a
mere repetition of the facts which we have related. Hart was, in
pursuance of his sentence, carried to Van Diemen's Land; but a short
residence in that colony, aided, doubtless, by change of habit and
situation, brought him to the grave.
We regret that we are not able to present our readers with any minute
account of the early life of this notorious person. At the time of his
conviction he was thirty-two years of age, and he described himself as a
solicitor. There is, we believe, good ground for supposing, that this
description of his situation in life was a correct one, and that he had
been actually educated for the legal profession, and admitted a member
of the body of attornies. The nest of swindlers, with whom he was
associated, was almost entirely broken up by his conviction. Their
tricks and cheats had often been the subject of remark; and, considering
the notoriety which their schemes had obtained, it is surprising that
they should have been so long successful.
JOHN PEGSWORTH.
EXECUTED FOR MURDER.
The murder of which this unfortunate man was convicted, appears to be
entirely unjustified by any of those circumstances, which, in some
instances, form a palliative, small though it be, for offences of a
similar description.
The object of his crime was Mr. John Holiday Ready, who carried on the
business of a tailor and draper, at No. 125, Ratcliffe Highway. It
appears that Pegsworth was a man in a decent station of life, occupying
a situation as messenger in the tea-department of St. Katherine's Docks;
and he at one time also pursued the trade of a tobacconist, in a shop
opposite to that of Mr. Ready, No. 69, Ratcliffe Highway, which,
however, only a short time before the murder he had given up. In the
course of his residence here, he became indebted to Mr. Ready in the
amount of 20_s._, for a jacket which had been supplied to him for his
son; but although he had been frequently pressed to pay the sum which
was due, he always declined upon some frivolous ground. At length Ready,
determined no longer to wait for his money, summoned his debtor to the
Court of Requests, and Mrs. Ready having proved the debt on the 10th of
January, 1837, an order was made on the defendant to pay the amount with
costs. On Pegsworth returning home, he expressed himself much
exasperated at the conduct of Ready, and said that he would be "the
death of him." His wife endeavoured to pacify him, but in vain; and he
went out, vowing vengeance against the man who, he said, had injured
him. Proceeding through Ratcliffe Highway, he purchased a large knife,
such as would be used in killing a pig, at the shop of a cutler, and
armed with this formidable weapon he went direct to the house of Ready.
He entered the shop, and calmly and coolly conversed with Mrs. Ready;
and her husband having invited him to sit down in the back parlour, he
at once advanced towards him. For a few minutes he continued in
conversation upon the subject of the debt, when presently he demanded to
know whether his creditor intended to proceed upon the judgment which he
had obtained? Mr. Ready answered decidedly in the affirmative, upon
which he suddenly drew forth his knife, and stabbed the unfortunate man
in the right breast. The murdered man exclaimed that he was stabbed, and
instantly expired; while his wife rushed frantically into the street, as
soon as she discovered what had occurred, calling loudly for
assistance. Several persons instantly ran into the house, and they found
Pegsworth in the act of withdrawing the knife from the wound, but making
no effort whatever to escape. He was immediately secured, and surgical
aid was called in, but it was found that the knife of the assassin had
passed through the principal arteries into the lungs, and that the
unfortunate Mr. Ready was quite dead.
At a coroner's inquest held on the body of the deceased on Thursday the
12th of January, a verdict of "Wilful Murder" was returned against
Pegsworth, and he was fully committed to Newgate for trial. Before his
trial Pegsworth confessed that he had been guilty of the act with which
he stood charged, but he declared that he was intoxicated, and in a high
degree of excitement at the time. He professed the most sincere
repentance for his act, and declared his intention to pass the remainder
of his short life in prayers for forgiveness.
On Friday the 3d of February, the prisoner was arraigned on the
indictment which had been preferred against him at the Central Criminal
Court. He immediately confessed himself guilty of the offence imputed to
him, and notwithstanding the humane interference of the learned judge
refused to withdraw that plea.
On Tuesday the 7th of February, the prisoner was brought up to receive
sentence, when the recorder addressed to him the following observations:
"Let me implore you (said he) to bethink yourself of the awful situation
in which you stand, on the brink of eternity and of the grave, beyond
which there is no room for repentance. The legislature, in cases of
murder, has, by a recent statute, interposed an increased interval
between conviction and condemnation, and between condemnation and the
final execution of the dreadful sentence of the law. It has done so in
its humanity, and consistently with sound policy; but it has extended to
the murderer a mercy which the murderer has not shown to his victim. The
rash hand of the guilty individual who, without warning, hurries a
fellow-creature to another world, cuts off from him the opportunity of
approaching his Maker in prayer, or of preparing for that judgment which
is painful for the best, and overwhelming for those who are not ready.
[Here the prisoner became visibly affected.] You will be afforded an
interval for seeking that mercy at the throne of God which you cannot
expect from the laws of man." The learned gentleman then passed the
sentence of death upon the prisoner.
On Wednesday, the 1st of March, the case of the prisoner was reported to
his Majesty, and he was ordered for execution on the following Tuesday
the 7th of March.
On that day the sentence was carried into effect; the wretched convict
meeting his fate with becoming resignation.
CHARLES W. PENRUDDOCK.
CONVICTED OF AN ASSAULT.
At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday the 1st of February 1837,
Charles Wadham Wyndham Penruddock, was indicted for assaulting and
wounding Mr. Thomas Hardy, with intent to maim and disable him.
The prisoner, it appeared, was a medical student, and a candidate for
admission to practise as an apothecary. On the 22d of December 1836, he
went to Apothecaries' Hall for the purpose of undergoing the customary
examination, when Mr. Hardy, Mr. Este, Mr. Randall, and Dr. Merriman,
were the examiners. The usual course of questions was taken, but the
prisoner, by his answers, showed himself to be ignorant of many
necessary branches of his profession. A question being put to him by Mr.
Este, the prisoner did not immediately answer it, upon which Mr. Randall
offered some explanatory observation. With considerable violence of tone
and manner, the prisoner asked, "How the devil he could answer, if they
all badgered him with questions?" And that question being passed over,
the inquiry proceeded. Mr. Este, who was the chief examiner, put several
points to him, upon which, however, he seemed unable to give any
explanation, and which Mr. Este partly answered himself; but Mr. Hardy
suggested, that this was not the proper course of examination, and that
the real fitness of the prisoner to receive the certificate which he
sought to obtain ought to be ascertained before it was granted to him.
Some new questions were then proposed which he answered incorrectly; and
the prisoner, apparently seeing that he should be turned back, declared
that he never could answer questions, even at school. Mr. Ridout
observed, that it was only by questions that the examiners could
determine the qualifications of the candidates for certificates; that in
the performance of their duties they were compelled to be strict, and
that they could have no wish to injure him or any other young man. The
prisoner remarked that Mr. Ridout and Mr. Este had conducted themselves
like gentlemen to him, and he asked that they would examine him in
anatomy, for he had studied that branch of his business with great care,
and he had almost lived in the dead-house. This, however, he was told,
was not within their course of examination, and that unless he was
acquainted also with Chemistry, Therapeutics, and Materia Medica, he was
not competent to practise. The prisoner remarked that in a pecuniary
point of view their licence was of no importance to him, because he was
going to leave the country; but he added, with much violence, that "he
would not be disgraced in the eyes of his family by such a set of
fellows as they were--he would rather die first, and would swing for
it." Mr. Hardy at this moment was standing behind him, but seeing his
excited state he moved three or four paces from him. The prisoner turned
round to him, and looking steadfastly in his face, said, "You are one of
those who have been hard upon me:" and then drawing a life-preserver
heavily loaded with lead from his pocket, he struck him on the forehead,
lending to the blow his utmost power. Mr. Hardy was stunned by the
attack and reeled away; and Dr. Merriman and Mr. Este rushing upon the
prisoner, they also received blows which were dealt with great force.
The prisoner was immediately given into the custody of a policeman,
when, on his being searched, a small bottle of gin, the exciting cause
of his violence, was found in his pocket.
Upon subsequent examination, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Este, and Dr. Merriman, were
discovered to have sustained severe contusions, the blood flowing
rapidly from the wounds of the two former gentlemen.
The defence set up was, that there was nothing to show distinctly that
the blows had been inflicted by the life-preserver, but that it was
quite within the bounds of possibility that the knuckles of the hand
only of the prisoner had come in contact with the gentlemen who had been
assaulted. The prisoner was described as a member of a highly-respectable
and honourable family in the West of England, and as being remarkable
for the kindness of his disposition, and the mild quietude of his
manners. Dr. Seymour, and other persons of high respectability, gave the
prisoner a most excellent character for humanity, and the jury returned
a verdict of "Not Guilty."
Mr. Penruddock, however, was immediately held to bail to appear to
answer the charge of common assault, of which it was admitted he had
been guilty.
For this offence he was tried at the London Sessions, on Wednesday the
5th of April following, and a verdict of "Guilty" having been returned,
he was sentenced to be imprisoned for twelve months in Giltspur-street
Compter, and on his discharge to enter into his own recognizance in
200_l._, and to find two sureties in 100_l._ each, that he should keep
the peace.
JAMES GREENACRE,
EXECUTED FOR MURDER; AND
SARAH GALE,
TRANSPORTED AS BEING ACCESSORY TO THE FACT.
In few instances has the public mind ever received so severe a shock, as
that produced by the discovery of the barbarous and revolting murder of
which Greenacre was guilty. The mere mention of the name of this
atrocious malefactor is a sufficient introduction to his case; and
without farther comment we shall proceed to describe the dreadful
circumstances by which his crime was surrounded.
The first cause of suspicion of the murder having been committed arose
from the discovery of the mutilated remains of a woman in the
Edgeware-road. It would appear that in the year 1836, some dwellings,
called the Canterbury Villas, were in progress of completion, situated
in the Edgeware-road, at a distance of about a quarter of mile from the
spot at which the Regent's Canal emerges from under the pathway. Five of
these had been finished, and the gardens in front of them were protected
from the public highway by a wall about ten feet high, which had not yet
been extended to those houses in which the workmen were still employed.
The materials for building lay along the side of the footpath, and in
one of the finished houses, the only one which remained unoccupied by
tenants, a man was lodged by the builder as a superintendant of the
works, and as general watchman over the property which lay there. The
severity of the weather towards the close of the month of December
compelled the labourers to desist from work, and from Saturday the 24th
of the month until the following Wednesday few persons visited the spot.
On the latter day, the 28th of December, a man named Bond, a bricklayer
engaged upon the buildings, visited his place of work; and about two
o'clock in the afternoon was proceeding in the direction towards
Kilburn, when his attention was attracted by his perceiving a package
enveloped in a coarse cloth or sack, which appeared to have been
carefully placed behind a paving-stone which was resting there, for the
purpose of concealment. He removed the stone in order to obtain a more
distinct view of the package, and was terrified to observe a pool of
frozen blood, in such a position as exhibited that it had escaped
through the wrapper of the parcel. In a state of great alarm he called
the superintendent of the works, and another person, to the place, and
they determined at once to open the package to ascertain the nature of
its contents. Their astonishment and horror may easily be imagined, when
they found that it consisted of a portion of the remains of a human
body. The trunk only was there, the head and legs having been removed.
Fearfully excited by this shocking discovery, they at once called in the
aid of the police; and Pegler, a constable on duty, took charge of the
dreadful package, and procured its immediate conveyance to the workhouse
of the parish of Paddington. It was there at once submitted to the
inspection of Mr. Girdwood, the surgeon of the district, who made a most
minute examination of all its parts. It proved to be the body of a
female, apparently about fifty years of age, and who from the
appearances presented by the arms and hands, had evidently been employed
in a laborious occupation. The head had been severed from the trunk in
an awkward manner, the bone of the neck having been partly sawed
through, and partly broken off; and the legs had been removed in a
similar irregular way, the one at a distance of about four inches, and
the other at a distance of about five or six inches from the hip-joint.
The body itself presented a healthy aspect, but exhibited a malformation
of a peculiar nature, which eventually proved of material importance in
proving its identification, but to which it would be indelicate more
specifically to allude. The result of the investigation of Mr. Girdwood,
however, clearly showed that the deceased person had not met her death
from any illness, and that therefore the presumption was that she had
been murdered, and that the mutilation of her body had not taken place
until subsequently to her decease, when, in all probability, means had
been adopted by the murderer to conceal the identity of the person, as
well as to dispose of her remains.
An occurrence of so extraordinary a nature, it may well be supposed,
excited a degree of consternation and horror throughout the metropolis
of the most fearful description; and the dreadful mystery in which the
transaction remained wrapped for a considerable time, the remains of the
deceased and her situation in life being alike unknown, tended in no
small degree to extend the universal anxiety which prevailed. Inquiries
of the most minute and searching description were made with a view to
ascertain the means by which the mangled remains had been placed in the
position in which they were found; and suspicion seemed to attach to a
chaise-cart which had been seen to draw up near the spot on the previous
Saturday night; but all the vigilance of the police failed, as well to
discover the owners of this vehicle, as the murderer. The body had been
wrapped up in a piece of blue printed cotton, which appeared to have
formed a child's frock, but which was worn to rags, an old towel, and
part of a small white shawl, over which was placed a piece of sacking;
but no marks were visible on either of the articles which could at all
tend to afford any clue to their former possessor.
An inquest was held on the body on Saturday the 31st of December, at the
White Lion Inn, Edgeware-road; but although every witness was examined,
whose evidence tended to throw the smallest light on the occurrence, the
jury were at length compelled to return a verdict of "Wilful Murder
against some person or persons unknown." A minute description of the
appearances and aspect of the body was then taken by Mr. Girdwood; and
in the course of the ensuing week, it was committed to the grave in
Paddington churchyard, no prospect being yet afforded of the discovery
of the remaining portions of the murdered woman's frame.
The public excitement, however, was soon afterwards wound to the very
highest pitch, by a notification being given of the finding of a human
head in a place called the "Ben Jonson Lock," of the Regent's canal,
which runs through Stepney fields. Universal credit at once attached it
to the body which had been already discovered, and no time was lost in
exhuming those remains, in order to ascertain the truth of the
suspicions which were entertained. This new discovery had been made on
the 7th of January 1837, under circumstances of a remarkable character.
A barge had entered the lock for the purpose of passing through it, and
the lockman was engaged in closing the flood-gates at the tail of the
lock, when he found that there was some obstacle which prevented their
completely meeting. He remarked that he had no doubt that it was the
carcase of a dead dog, and called to his assistant to bring him a long
instrument called a hitcher, shaped like a boat-hook, usually employed
for similar purposes, to remove it. Having made several ineffectual
attempts to bring it to the surface of the water, he at length fixed his
hitcher in the substance; and upon raising it from the water, it was
seen to be the head of a human being. It was instantly brought on shore,
and the circumstance communicated to the police, by whom the head was
conveyed to Mr. Birtwhistle, a surgeon, for examination. His report
stated that the face was disfigured with bruises and lacerations, and
that the lower jaw was broken--injuries which were without doubt the
result of the exertions of the lockman, first to close the gates, and
secondly, to bring the head out of the water, but that there was
appearance of a bruise on the eye inflicted during life; and further,
that the head appeared to have been severed from the body in an awkward
manner; the cervical vertebræ being sawed through in a rough way,
evidently denoting that it had not been done by any surgeon. The
exhumation of the body having now taken place, the necessary comparison
was made, and Mr. Girdwood at once declared that the head and the trunk
were portions of the same frame.
Although some public satisfaction was afforded by this most singular
event, still no clue whatever appeared yet to have been found to conduct
the police to the murderer; for that murder had been committed there was
no doubt. The expression of the face was so much altered and disfigured
since the death of the woman, that little hopes were entertained of the
possibility of its identification. Thousands of persons inspected it,
prompted by curiosity or a desire to secure the ends of justice, by
pointing out the individual who had been murdered; and although frequent
reports were circulated, that the features had been recognised, no real
evidence was obtained as to the person whose remains had been
discovered. Decomposition in the head shortly commenced; and it was
deemed advisable to adopt measures to prevent all remaining traces of
the features being destroyed, and Mr. Girdwood was instructed to take
the necessary steps to secure this object. The head was accordingly
placed in spirits, and was preserved at Mr. Girdwood's, where it
remained open to the inspection of all persons who it was supposed would
be able to afford any information upon the subject.
The mystery which surrounded the case, however, seemed to become greater
every day. The inquiries of the police for the remainder of the body
were quite unsuccessful; and the difficulties which existed, arising
from their total ignorance of the quarter to which their investigation
should be directed, appeared to leave small hopes of its eventual
dissolution. Until the 2nd of February this obscurity still prevailed;
but then accident again interfered to bring to light the remaining
members of the body of the murdered woman.
On that day James Page, a labourer, was employed in cutting osiers in a
bed belonging to Mr. Tenpenny, in the neighbourhood of Cold Harbor-lane,
Camberwell, when in stepping over a drain or ditch, he perceived a large
bundle lying in it, covered with a piece of sacking, and partly immersed
in the water. His curiosity prompted him to raise it, and he saw what
appeared to be the toes of a human foot protruding from it. He became
alarmed and called for his fellow-workman, who was only a short distance
off; and upon their opening the package, they found it to contain two
human legs. These, like the head, were transmitted to Mr. Girdwood for
examination, and proved to be portions of the frame which had been
discovered in the Edgeware-road. Thus had three discoveries, each more
remarkable than the last, produced the component parts of the body of
the deceased; but the further interposition of the all-powerful hand of
the Almighty was yet wanting to disclose the name and character of the
murdered woman, as well as to point out her inhuman murderer. Intense
anxiety was universally manifested by the public to unravel the mystery
in which the dreadful transaction was enveloped; and every minute
circumstance connected with the affair was sought after with the most
astonishing avidity. Investigations of the most searching description
were carried on by the authorities, but every inquiry proved fruitless.