which were complained of. The first consisted of a report of a speech
made by the defendant himself, at a meeting which, in the "Northern
Star," was designated "The Rochdale Defence Fund Meeting." This speech
was highly inflammatory in its terms, and was directed against the
government. Mr. O'Connor congratulated the people upon the successes
which they had already achieved, but recommended them to maintain the
ground on which they stood, and not to listen to the propositions of the
government. He recommended the employment of physical force in
opposition to any attempt to put down their cause by force; and having
entered into a long tirade against the expenses of the government, and
the vast sums of money which were paid to the bishops and lawyers, and
the disparity between this expenditure and that which was incurred for
the paupers of the country, he said, that all he contended for was, that
these immense disparities should no longer exist--that the poor man
should have his store-house, and his cottage should be his
sentry-box--that he should have, as his friend Bussey recommended, a
flitch of bacon on one side of the chimney, and a musket on the other,
so that the musket might defend the bacon. He would never descend to
catch a fleeting popularity by going too far; but the moment they were
provided with arms, they would be in a condition to defend those rights
which were still left to them, while government would be induced to give
up those of which they had been deprived. In their progress towards
political emancipation, they had three stages to go through--to create,
to unite, and to direct. They had created opinion, and they were united
in it, and, when it was properly directed, their victory would be
complete. The learned Attorney-general having urged that these passages
contained strong incitements to insubordination and violence, proceeded
to refer to a notice of another meeting at Newcastle in the same paper,
where similar doctrines were promulgated, which were approved of and
supported by the editor. He then proceeded to the paper of the 20th of
July, which contained the report of a speech made by Mr. William Taylor
at Manchester, who strove, from various expressions in the Bible, to
show the justice of the cause which they supported. In the course of his
address he said:--"What it is for a people to be in captivity, I need
not tell you; that you are captives I need not tell you. Though they
(Parliament) have given twenty millions for the emancipation of black
slaves, they would not give twenty shillings for the emancipation of the
white slaves. I need not tell you that you are slaves, slaves bearing a
great burden, slaves bearing a great load, slaves enduring great toil,
slaves under the most oppressive system of government, and slaves that
alone must work out their own freedom. Now if you ask, 'What shall we
do?' I will tell you what God says you should do, and you will find that
in the second verse of the fifteenth chapter of the book of Jeremiah.
The prophet says, 'And if the people inquire, What shall we do? whither
shall we go? thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord: Those that are
for death, to death; such as are for the sword, to the sword; such as
are for the famine, to the famine; and such as for the captivity, to the
captivity.' What are we to do, then? (Loud cries of 'Fight! fight!
fight!') I'll tell you what we are to do. The people must become united
together in one mind. Let not religious sentiments divide your
interests. Whatsoever your religious sentiments are, look for peace here
and not so much up yonder; look for happiness here as well as in the
future. Look for comfort here as well as in days to come. Look for
happiness in your cottage, by your fire-sides, and happiness with your
families; look to the lessening of the hours of labour; look for the
overthrow of the present wretched system. Your will will be God's will,
and God's will is, that his people should be free. What are we to do? We
are to be free, and no mistake; we are to be free, whatever the cost; we
are to be free, however great the difficulty to accomplish it; we are to
be free, though we wade through streams of blood. Though we pass through
streams of trouble, we are to be free by the best means we can; we are
to be free, by the only means we have left. Now, the people may ask,
What are the means left? I am not going to blink the question; I'm not
going to teach you a doctrine I don't believe myself. We will go back
again to the old book, and I will ask you, or any minister, whether we
read, in either ancient or modern history, of any nation in bondage
becoming free without the use of physical force?" In the same report was
a speech of Mr. Bronterre O'Brien, which was spoken of as a long and
eloquent address, and in which doctrines of a similar kind were
broached. The latter part contained an incitement indirectly to
interfere with the administration of justice, and to put an end by force
to judicial proceedings. "He had some news to tell them, not that he
told them to do the same; only having heard it, there was surely no more
harm in telling news than selling it. Now the people of Newcastle had
decided upon adopting a certain plan during the assizes, not that he
advised the meeting to follow it--no, not by any means. When their
representatives were brought up for trial, unless contrary instructions
came down from the Convention, the brave men in the north were
determined on that day to have a universal strike; and, assembling round
the trial-house in their mighty strength, would send word to the judge
that they were standing outside waiting for an acquittal. The effect
would be wondrous. He did not advise them to do so, because it would be
against the law, and they knew how illegal it was. He had now an
important question to ask them; were they up to the mark? (We are!) By
that he meant, were they provided with all legal and constitutional
appliances, wherewith to bring these cursed profit-mongers to their
senses? (Yes!) He could tell them no plainer, but if they did not by
this understand what he meant, why they would soon. He bid them cast
aside their braggadocias, and by fierce looks and something shining over
their chimney-pieces, to be determined; for until something in earnest
like this were done, the government, who knew all about them through
their spies, would take advantage of their want of preparedness, they
having already cannons of enormous calibre, fire-arms, &c.,
manufacturing in large quantities. He was determined to stand by his
constituents to the death, reduced though he was by exertion in the
public cause, and, if needs be, die in the last ditch in their defence."
The necessary evidence as to the publication of the libels, and the
proprietorship of the newspaper having then been given, Mr. O'Connor was
called upon for his defence. He addressed the court at great length, and
some demonstrations of applause from the auditors were heard at the
commencement of his speech, but immediately silenced. "He said he
thanked the Attorney-general for this prosecution. His character had
been aspersed for seven long years, and the Attorney-general had given
him an opportunity of defending it. He came under great disadvantages
before a Yorkshire jury. He had been represented as a spoliator of
property, as an advocate of physical force, as inciting the poor against
the rich. He would be able to disprove all these charges, and would show
from sources they could not dispute, what his real sentiments were.
There was nothing in his own speech, garbled as it was, that could be a
basis for these accusations. His true sentiments were to be found in the
leading articles of the paper, and to them and to his conduct throughout
life he would appeal, to show that he entertained no such doctrines. It
was not he, or those who acted with him, who had given rise to physical
force Chartism. It was the act of the Attorney-general (with whom he had
once sat in the House of Commons), and of his party, who had turned the
moral force Chartist into the Chartist advocating the use of physical
force, and drove them to armed meetings by putting down the meetings
where they 'morally' discussed their grievances. In the present case the
intent was everything; without the intent alleged there was no libel;
and it was to be remarked, that if the advice said to be given was so
pernicious, it had not been acted on at Newcastle. The course of justice
was unimpeded, and the persons who had used these speeches were
acquitted. It was absurd to say he adopted and approved of the doctrines
in these speeches, because in the report they were interspersed with
cheers. He never said that arms give rights, but he was of opinion that
rights gave arms, and arms protected them. He complained that great
offenders had been passed by, while he was prosecuted. He complained of
the hardships imposed upon him by the mode of proceeding _ex officio_,
the abuse of which had been one of the causes of the revolution of 1688.
It was going to the jury with the opinion of the Attorney-general
against him, that he had been guilty of an offence, and it gave the
Attorney-general the benefit of the last word. Mr. O'Connor quoted a
number of authorities as to the law of _ex officio_ informations, and
proceeded to read at length a great number of passages from the leading
articles of the "Northern Star," and from his speeches reported there,
to show that he had always opposed the doctrine of physical force,
making comments as he proceeded on the conduct of Mr. O'Connell, on the
Whigs, the Attorney-general, the language of the London morning papers,
Mr. Muntz of Birmingham, physical force, moral force, his own character,
and a great variety of other topics. His speech lasted nearly five
hours, and he concluded by declaring that he was, and always had been, a
Chartist, and determined to have all the five points, but peaceably. He
asked from the jury but justice; he asked not for mercy; and if their
verdict should consign him to a dungeon, he would at least go there with
his principles unsullied.
The Attorney-General having addressed the jury in reply, a verdict of
"Guilty" was returned, but judgment was respited until the following
term, in consequence of an application by the defendant on the ground
that he should be able to produce affidavits in mitigation.
The illness of Mr. O'Connor prevented his appearing in the Court of
Queen's Bench, to receive judgment until the 11th of May. Affidavits
were then put in disclosing grounds for the mitigation of the sentence
of the defendant, and tending to absolve him from the imputation of
having excited the people to acts of violence. Mr. O'Connor subsequently
also addressed the court, and was followed by the Attorney-General in
reply.
The judges having then consulted together for a short time, Mr. Justice
Littledale, as senior puisne judge, pronounced sentence. After stating
the nature of the prosecution and the evidence in favour of it, he said
that though the defendant might argue that his speeches and writings had
never excited people to physical force, still no one could doubt that
these speeches and writings had that tendency. The law could not suffer
publications of this sort, so dangerous to the peace of society, to be
made with impunity. The sentence of the court on the defendant was, that
he should be imprisoned in the Castle of York for eighteen calendar
months, and that he should then find security for his good behaviour for
the space of two years, himself in 300_l._ and two sureties in 150_l._
each.
Mr. O'Connor was in consequence removed to York Castle, and upon his
arrival there was placed upon the felons' side of the prison. Strong
arguments were employed by his friends against this course being
adopted; and it was urged, that having been convicted of a misdemeanour
only, he should be removed to the debtors' side, where he would not be
subjected to such hardships as those which he would experience in the
place in which he was confined. Petitions to parliament were drawn up
and presented, that Mr. O'Connor's quarters should be changed; but the
members of the government declined in any way to interfere with what was
in reality a mere internal arrangement of the jail, for which the
visiting justices alone were answerable.
In quitting the subject of Chartism, we may present our readers with
what we believe to be a correct statement of the number of persons, who,
since the month of January 1839, have been imprisoned by reason of their
connexion with the illegal proceedings taken with a view to the adoption
of their principles. Of the persons thus convicted there were about
half-a-dozen licensed victuallers, one barrister (Mr. Feargus O'Connor),
one magistrate (Mr. Frost), and one surgeon (Mr. Peter Murray
M'Douall). The remainder were, with a few exceptions, all poor and
uneducated men.
ENGLAND, 496.
No. confined.
_Chester_, County Jail 29
_Durham_, County Jail 3
_Kent_, House of Corrections 1
_Lancaster_, Lancaster Castle 5
County Jail and House of Correction, Kirkdale 156
House of Correction, Preston 3
_Lincoln_, Lincoln Castle 1
_Middlesex_, House of Correction, Giltspur-street 1
Ditto, Coldbath-fields 13
Jail of Newgate 3
Westminster Bridewell 13
_Monmouth_, County Jail 63
House of Correction, Usk 4
_Northumberland_, House of Correction, Newcastle 19
_Nottingham_, County Jail 23
House of Correction, Southwell 12
_Somerset_, County Jail, Ilchester 3
_Surrey_, Queen's Bench Prison 2
_Warwick_, County Jail 28
_Wilts_, County Jail 8
House of Correction, Devizes 1
_Worcester_, Jail and House of Correction 3
_York_, York Castle 69
_E. Riding_, House of Correction, Beverley 2
_N. Riding_, House of Correction, Northallerton 12
_W. Riding_, House of Correction, Wakefield 19
WALES, 63.
_Brecon_, County Jail and House of Correction 12
_Glamorgan_, House of Correction, Swansea 1
_Montgomery_, Jail and House of Correction 50
---
Total 559
JAMES OWEN, GEORGE THOMAS, _alias_ DOBELL, AND WILLIAM ELLIS, _alias_
LAMBERT.
CONVICTED OF MURDER.
The case of these prisoners is scarcely excelled in brutal atrocity by
any of those by which it is preceded.
The prisoners were tried at the Lent Assizes at Stafford on the 16th of
March 1840, on an indictment which charged them with the wilful murder
of Christina Collins, on the 17th of June 1839, at the parish of
Rugeley, in the same county.
On the part of the prosecution a great number of witnesses were called,
from whose evidence the circumstances appeared as follows:--
The deceased, Christina Collins, wife of Robert Collins, was by business
a dress-maker, and had resided for some time at Liverpool, supporting
her husband, who found it difficult to obtain employment there, by her
needlework. Her husband being very anxious himself to obtain work for
their mutual support, resolved upon a journey to London. He accordingly
left Liverpool, and arriving in London was so fortunate as presently to
meet with a situation according to his wishes. Upon this he wrote a
letter to his wife at Liverpool, inclosing her a sovereign to assist her
upon her journey, that being all the money he could command, and
requesting that she would immediately come to him in London. She left
Liverpool, and having little money beyond the sovereign received from
her husband, took her passage by one of Messrs. Pickford and Co.'s
fly-boats, as being the cheapest conveyance to London. The three
prisoners, with a boy named Musson, had the care of the boat, Owen
being the captain. Deceased entered the boat at Preston Brook. It was
proved that the boat arrived at Stoke-upon-Trent, in Staffordshire, at
noon on Sunday the 16th of June, and left that place again about four
o'clock the same afternoon, the deceased being then on board. The boat
proceeded thence to Stone, where it arrived about eight the same
evening. At Stone the deceased complained to a check clerk of the canal
company that the prisoners were becoming inflamed with liquor, and said,
that she was afraid of going on in the boat with them. The deceased,
however, went on with the boat from Stone, having got out there and
walked by the towing-path side some distance. About dusk they were met
by another boat, when some gross language in reference to the deceased
was used by one of the prisoners, and a short time afterwards they were
again met, and the prisoners used expressions in reference to their
intentions as to the deceased of too disgusting a nature for
publication. About twelve o'clock on Sunday night the boat arrived at a
place called Hoo-mill-lock. By the side of the lock was a house occupied
by the lock-keeper and his wife. They were both awoke at midnight by
loud cries of distress, and immediately opened their bed-room window,
when they perceived the boat in question in the lock. The deceased was
in the boat, and upon the prisoners being asked who she was, they
replied that she was a passenger, and that her husband was in the boat
with her. Proceeding a little farther, they came to a place called
Colwich-lock, and after they quitted that place the deceased was not
seen alive. The body of the deceased was found in the canal at a part of
the canal known as Brindley's-bank, between Colwich-lock and Rugeley,
and about three miles from the former place. The prisoner Owen appeared
in great alarm when seen by a woman early on Monday morning. He stated
that a passenger was lost and must have drowned herself, and he believed
that she must be deranged, for that she had constantly been calling out,
"Collins, Collins, oh, my Collins!" The arrival of the boat at Fazeley
at six o'clock on Monday morning was proved, when, in consequence of
suspicions against the prisoners, they were taken into custody and
examined. Before any questions were asked them about the deceased, they
had abused her with oaths and foul language, saying, that if she had
chosen to drown herself they could not help it. The cabin of the boat
was searched, and in it were found the bonnet and shoes of the deceased,
the bonnet being very much crushed.
The remaining evidence against the prisoners consisted of a declaration
made by Owen, on his apprehension by Harrison, the headborough of
Fazeley, to whom, in answer to an observation that the deceased had been
found in a very shallow part of the canal, he intimated that she was
dead before she reached the canal; and a similar confession, attended
with a detail of other circumstances, which he made to a fellow prisoner
named Orgill, while in custody in Stafford jail.
The prisoners, it appeared, had been tried at the summer assizes at
Stafford in the year 1839 for the rape upon Mrs. Collins, a bill of
indictment for the murder having then been also preferred and found. The
prosecution for the rape rested upon evidence similar to that which we
have just detailed, added to the testimony of two surgeons, who swore
that the capital offence of violation had been committed, apparently
with great barbarity; but the jury deemed the proofs adduced
insufficient to warrant them in pronouncing a verdict of conviction.
Upon the indictment for the murder being then proposed to be proceeded
with by the learned judge, an application was made on the part of the
prosecution for the postponement of that trial until the next assizes,
on an affidavit, which stated that there were grounds for believing,
that further evidence of a very important character might then be
produced. This evidence was the testimony of a man named Joseph Orgill,
who had been just before convicted of bigamy, and sentenced to eighteen
months' imprisonment, and who had received from Owen a narrative of the
circumstances attending the commission of the crime upon the deceased
woman. The application was immediately acceded to; and upon
representations at the Home Office, a free pardon had been granted to
Orgill to enable him to become a competent witness upon this
investigation.
Orgill was now called, and he stated that he was a prisoner in Stafford
jail at the same time with the prisoners. On Sunday, the 21st of July,
he attended the Jail Chapel in company with them, and slept with the
prisoner Owen at night. After witness and prisoner Owen were in bed they
talked of the crimes with which they stood charged, when Owen told
witness he knew he should be hung, from the lesson taken from the Old
Testament read in the chapel in the morning, which was concerning the
hanging of Saul's sons. Owen then made a statement to witness, speaking
of the charge for which he and the others were in custody, informing him
that they (the prisoners) had some whiskey on board the boat, which they
stole and drank; that they then used the woman roughly, and she got out
and walked on the towing-path. The greater part of the rest of the
statement is unfit for publication; but it amounted to an admission,
that the capital offence charged in the former indictment had been
committed upon the unfortunate woman by all three of the prisoners, and
that her struggles to escape were so great that, in their belief, she
died, and they then threw her overboard.
The supposition of the prisoner as to the cause of death, however, was
now clearly contradicted by a surgeon, who stated that there could be no
doubt that the deceased had come to her death by drowning.
On behalf of the prisoners every effort was made by the counsel who were
employed by them to negative the circumstances of suspicion proved
against them, but in vain, and a verdict of "Guilty" was returned by the
jury after mature deliberation.
Mr. Baron Gurney, before whom the prisoners were tried, immediately
passed upon them the sentence of death, pointing out to them the awful
situation in which they were placed by the dreadful crimes of which
there could be no doubt they had been guilty, and warning them that no
prospect of mercy in this world could be held out to them.
For a considerable time after their conviction, neither of the wretched
convicts exhibited the slightest degree of compunction or regret for
their past offences. They persisted in making repeated declarations of
their innocence; and so far did they carry their asseverations that a
respite was granted from the day first named for their execution, to the
18th of April, in order that full inquiries might be made at the
Home-office into the circumstances attending their guilt.
This investigation tended but to confirm the impression of the justice
of the conviction and sentence on the two prisoners, Owen and Thomas,
(_alias_ Dobell); but some facts which were elicited induced the grant
of a further respite in the case of Ellis.
On the day before execution, Thomas became in some degree softened, and
he and Ellis, who was not aware of the distinction drawn in his favour,
made some disclosures as to the mode of life of persons of their class,
of the most frightful description. The scenes which they described as of
daily occurrence amongst the boatmen were dreadful. Thieving was said to
be an accomplishment reckoned highly valuable; and men who possessed the
greatest powers of pilfering the cargoes, by reason of their adroitness,
were described to be invariably selected by the captains of the barges
as best fitted to undertake the employment tendered to them. Ale,
spirit, or other liquids, were abstracted from the casks by means of
syphon pumps, which were in common use in the boats; and drunkenness
being the common and necessary consequence, the boatmen were stated to
be prepared for the perpetration of offences of the very worst
description.
On the morning of the execution the three prisoners were again visited
by the chaplain, when they appeared much more firm than they had before
been, and perfectly ready to meet their execution. They all asserted
that they knew nothing of the manner in which their murdered victim met
her death, as they were all intoxicated at the time.
The drop had been erected at an early hour in the morning in front of
the county prison. About twelve o'clock the three culprits were summoned
from their cells to the chapel of the prison, in order to partake of the
sacrament. Owen and Thomas were supplied with prayer-books, which they
held with an unwavering hand, and repeated the responses in an audible
voice. Ellis, not being able to read, had no book. The chaplain went
through the service in a manner the most impressive and affecting,
though his utterance occasionally was almost overpowered by the strength
of his emotions. At its conclusion Owen and Thomas were conducted to the
press-room. Ellis remained, and was then informed by the governor, for
the first time, that Her Majesty had been pleased to respite his
execution. The governor communicated this information in a most feeling
manner, and Ellis received it in a very proper spirit: he wept much, and
appeared thankful for the mercy extended to him. At his own request he
was conducted to the press-room to take leave of Owen and Thomas. The
governor accompanied him, and made known to the other two that a further
respite had been received for Ellis, and that he would not be executed
with them. On this communication being made, it was difficult to
ascertain which of the men felt the most acutely. Ellis burst into
tears, and taking each of his former associates by the hands, kissed
them most affectionately, and exclaimed repeatedly, "God bless you, dear
boys!" This conduct of Ellis appeared to overcome the feelings of both
the men, particularly Owen, who wept bitterly.
The period of execution was now announced by the solemn sound of the
prison bell. Soon afterwards the mournful procession moved from the
press-room to the lodge of the county prison. The men walked with a firm
step, and ascended the steps of the drop without assistance. The
executioner immediately placed the ropes round their necks, shook hands
with them, and as the chaplain pronounced the words, "In the midst of
life we are in death," the fatal bolt was drawn, and the wretched men
ceased to live.
The concourse of persons who witnessed the execution was almost
unprecedentedly great. It was supposed that there were nearly ten
thousand persons present. Every spot, remote and near, from which a view
of the drop could be obtained, was occupied--walls, trees, roofs of
houses, &c., being fixed upon by many as convenient places from which to
view the scene. The three thoroughfares approaching the jail were
densely crowded as far as the sight could reach, and the neighbouring
gardens were filled with people. No peculiar feeling was displayed when
the men made their appearance on the drop; though when it fell the
females, who were very numerous, gave partial vent to their emotions.
The punishment of the prisoner Ellis was subsequently commuted to
transportation for life.
WILLIAM RACE.
CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER.
The case of this prisoner affords a remarkable proof of the folly of
practical jokes, and the mischievous results which may proceed from
them.
Race was indicted at Bury St. Edmunds, on Monday the 30th of March 1840,
for the manslaughter of Thomas Buck. It appeared that the prisoner was a
vendor of hot-spice gingerbread at fairs; and the deceased was a
well-known itinerant son of Thespis in that part of the country, who
presented the primitive drama in all its original simplicity to the
wondering rustics. Sometimes, when "deep tragedy" failed in its natural
effect upon the popular mind, Buck, always fertile in the resources of
his art, though, perhaps, not overflowing with other resources, would
have recourse to the ready expedient of producing a "sensation" which is
called by the learned "practical joking," and by the vulgar "larking."
One of the rural actors, not in Buck's "legitimate drama," but in his
"larks," was the hot-spice gingerbread artist, whose cakes and "nuts"
were not more spicy than his jokes. On the evening laid in the
indictment, the theatrical booth, with its uncovered stage in front, had
been erected on the classic ground of Felsham, celebrated for its
fair--the _corps dramatique_ appeared on the stage in front of the
booth, and, in the flaming robes and sweeping drapery of the tragic
muse, endeavoured to attract the attention of the motley crowd, who were
just then busily intent upon the performances of a neighbouring juggler,
whose comic grimaces and fantastic gambols they greatly admired. Under
these circumstances, the solemn pomp and tragic splendour of Buck's
stage, paraded as it was by heroes of herculean proportions and
stentorian voices, and by heroines of matchless grace and disdainful
beauty, lost its powers of attraction--it did not "draw" an
audience,--and it was necessary, for many reasons, that an audience
should be assembled. The gingerbread baker, who, perhaps, had cause to
take an interest in the finances of the company, and who had frequently
before, as was stated, enacted the part of one of the _dramatis personæ_
of a "lark," saw that this was the moment when a decisive blow ought to
be struck to detach the admiring crowd from the too successful juggler,
and bring them to Buck's theatre by the attractive influence of some
novelty. He, therefore, with the best intentions towards Buck and his
company, went up to a "property-man"
[Illustration: _A Tragical Joke._
_P. 551._]