whether it was loaded; the other told him that it was loaded with powder
and wadding only, upon which the manufacturer of gilt gingerbread said,
"I will have a lark with Buck, and bring people on the stage." Having
said this, he ran up the steps of the outside stage, presented the gun
at Buck, and discharged it within two feet and a half of his body. Buck
reeled, and fell into the arms of one of the orchestral performers; and
the spectators, thinking the whole thing an excellent piece of acting,
rapturously applauded. But alas! it was no acting at all. The wadding
had penetrated his side, and inflicted a rupture of the heart, of which
he almost instantly died. Buck's "poor play of life" was over, and the
curtain fell that evening on a deeper tragedy than the company had
performed for many a year.
An excellent character for kindness and humanity was given to the
prisoner by many persons, which the learned judge took into account in
sentencing him, upon being pronounced "Guilty of Manslaughter" by the
jury.
After some admonitory remarks upon the danger and criminality of
indulging in "larks" and practical jokes with fire-arms, his lordship
ordered him to be imprisoned for one month.
JAMES LIGHTFOOT, AND WILLIAM LIGHTFOOT.
EXECUTED FOR MURDER.
These unhappy men were labourers, and were born and brought up in the
neighbourhood of the spot, where they committed the inhuman and
premeditated murder, for which their lives were eventually taken away by
the executioner.
They were tried at Bodmin, in Cornwall, on the 30th of March, 1840,
before Mr. Justice Coltman, on an indictment, which charged them with
the wilful murder of Mr. Nevill Norway, a timber merchant, residing at
Wadebridge, in the same county, on the 8th of the preceding month of
February.
The case excited the greatest interest in the remote district in which
it occurred, as well from the high estimation in which the unfortunate
deceased gentleman was held, as from the circumstance of his murder
having been effected by two brothers; each of whom, since their
apprehension, had sought to fix the guilt of the transaction on the
other. At an early hour in the morning on which the trial was appointed
to take place, every corner of the Court-house was crowded with persons,
many of whom had travelled a considerable distance, in the hope of
obtaining a glimpse of the culprits.
At nine o'clock in the morning the learned judge entered the court, and
the prisoners were then immediately placed at the bar. They betrayed
little agitation at the awful position in which they were placed, and
surveyed the assembled multitude with great coolness and
self-possession. Up to the time of their trial, they had been kept apart
in the jail in which they had been confined; and they now observed each
other with evident mutual dislike and mistrust.
The circumstances of the case, as they were proved on the trial, were as
follows:--
Mr. Norway was a highly respectable timber and general merchant,
residing at Wadebridge, about nine miles from Bodmin. In the course of
his business he was in the habit of visiting the different markets in
the neighbourhood, and on the 8th of February, he attended the market at
Bodmin. About four o'clock that afternoon he had his purse in his hand,
and was in the act of paying some money, when the prisoner, William
Lightfoot, walked close by him, and must have seen what he was doing.
Shortly before ten in the evening, he left Bodmin on his grey horse,
accompanied by another person, who, however, left him, after they had
proceeded about three miles on the road, and Mr. Norway was observed to
pursue his course towards Wadebridge. A farmer of the neighbourhood was
shortly afterwards going to the same village, and when about two miles
from it he saw a grey horse on the road, saddled, but without a rider.
He tried at first to overtake it, but the horse struck into a gallop,
and he gave up the race; but his curiosity was excited, and upon meeting
some men on the road, and making inquiry, they told him they thought it
was Mr. Norway's horse. This induced him to call at Mr. Norway's house,
and he found the horse standing at the stable gate. The servants were
called out, and spots of blood were found upon the saddle. A doctor was
immediately summoned, and two of the servants sallied forth on the
Bodmin road, in quest of their master. It may be remarked that this road
was extremely lonely, and very hilly; and altogether presenting a most
favourable place for the commission of any atrocious act. The servants
pursued the course of the road, and having got about two miles, one of
them perceived something shining in a small stream of water, or rivulet,
on the right hand side. This led to a further examination, and it proved
to be the body of their unfortunate master, lying on his back in the
stream, with his feet towards the road, quite dead.
The body was directly placed on the horse, and conveyed home, and Mr.
Tickle, the surgeon, proceeded to examine it. He found that the deceased
had received injuries about the face and head, produced apparently by
heavy and repeated blows from some blunt instrument, which had
undoubtedly been the cause of death. A wound was discovered on the chin,
into which it appeared as if some gunpowder had been carried in its
infliction; and the bones of the nose, the forehead, the left side of
the head, and the back of the head, were fractured in a most frightful
manner; severe lacerations of the flesh having been caused by the blows
with which the injuries had been dealt. An immediate examination of the
spot where the body of Mr. Norway was found, took place, and on the left
hand side of the road a pool of blood was discovered, from which, to the
rivulet opposite, there was distinctly visible a track, as if produced
by some heavy body being dragged from one to the other. Around this spot
were marks of footsteps, as if, in the language of one of the witnesses
who was examined, there had been "a scramble" there; and at the rivulet
there were also indications of a man having been there recently before.
In the course of the subsequent search in the vicinity of this spot, it
became obvious that two persons had been engaged in the murder, and that
they had remained, as if on watch for their intended victim, pacing
backwards and forwards, in an orchard attached to an uninhabited cottage
close by. The hat of the deceased was picked up immediately near the
spot where the murderers' footsteps were distinguishable, and at a
distance of about a foot and a half or two feet from the pool of blood,
was picked up the hammer of a pistol, which appeared to have been newly
broken off. Other appearances were observed, which gave clear
indications that a terrible struggle had taken place; but at this time
no circumstances transpired, which could in the slightest degree tend to
cast suspicion upon any one.
Upon the pockets of the clothes of the deceased being examined, it
became obvious that robbery had been the object of the attack upon him.
His purse and money, and a tablet and bunch of keys, were found to have
been carried off; and all efforts to find any of the missing articles in
the neighbourhood of the scene of the murder proved ineffectual.
Every exertion was now made to discover the perpetrators of this
diabolical crime, and large rewards were offered for evidence which
should tend to point them out. Jackson, a constable attached to the
London police, was sent for; and through his exertions, facts were
elicited which distinctly showed that the prisoners were the men who
were the real offenders. A man named Harris, a shoe-maker, was first
brought forward, who recollected having seen the prisoners on the night
of the murder, in the immediate vicinity of the brook where the body was
found; and a man named Ayres, who lived next door to James Lightfoot,
having suggested that every man, who was out late that night, should be
made to account for his time, stated that he recollected having heard
his neighbour, the prisoner, enter his house at a late hour; and having
communicated something to his wife, which, although the partition
between their houses was very thin, he could not hear, she and her child
began to cry. This led to an examination of the prisoner's house, on the
14th of February, and a pistol was found, without a lock, concealed in a
hole in a beam, running across the ceiling. The prisoner attempted to
account for the pistol being broken, by saying, that he had done it in
killing a cat; but his manner being suspicious, he was taken into
custody.
He was directly carried before a magistrate, by whom he was remanded
until the 19th of the same month; and on the 17th his brother William
was also secured, in consequence of a conversation which he had had on
the 14th, with a man named Vercoe, upon the subject of the murder; in
which he had suggested that Ayres was the cause of his brother's
apprehension, and that if his brother were punished, he must be so too,
for that "they were both in it." He was also examined before a
magistrate, and he directly made the following confession:--
"I went to Bodmin last Saturday week, the 8th instant, and in returning
I met my brother James, just up at the head of Dunmeer Hill. It was just
come dim like. My brother had been to Egloshayle Burlawn, to buy
potatoes. Something had been said about meeting; but I was not certain
about that. My brother was not in Bodmin on that day. Mr. Vercoe
overtook us between Mount Charles turnpike-gate, at the top of Dunmeer
Hill, and a place called Lane End. We came on the turnpike-road all the
way till we came to the house near the spot where the murder was
committed. We did not go into the house, but hid ourselves in a field.
We did not see Mr. Abbott's waggon. My brother knocked Mr. Norway down.
He snapped a pistol at him twice and it did not go off. Then he knocked
him down with the pistol. I was there along with him. He was struck
whilst on horseback. It was on the turnpike-road between Pencarrow Mill
and the directing-post towards Wadebridge; and it was last Saturday
week. I cannot say at what time of the night it was. We left the body in
the water, on the left side of the road coming to Wadebridge. We took
something. It was money, in a purse; but I do not know how much. It was
a brownish purse. There were some papers, which my brother took and
pitched away in a field, on the left hand side of the road behind the
house. They were pitched away at the head of the field into some browse
or furze. The purse was hid away by me in my garden; and afterwards I
threw it over Pendavey-bridge: the lower side of the bridge. My brother
drew the body across the road to the watering. I threw away the purse
last Friday. The contents of it were not examined before it was thrown
away. We did not know who it was before we stopped him. When my brother
snapped the pistol at Mr. Norway, Mr. Norway said 'I know what you are
about, I see you.' We went home across the fields. We were not disturbed
by any one. It was not above three or four minutes before we left him.
The pistol belonged to my brother; I don't know whether it was broken; I
never saw it afterwards; and I do not know what became of it. I never
advised my brother to burn it; and I don't know whether it was soiled
with blood. I did not see any blood on my brother's clothes; we returned
together from the spot, crossing the river at Pendavey-bridge, and
crossed Treraren fields over Treraren ground, across a field or two to
Burlawn village. My brother then went to his house, and I went to my own
house. I think it was handy about eleven o'clock; but I cannot tell more
than what I think about the time. I saw my brother again on the Sunday
morning. He came up to my house. There was nobody there, I believe, but
my own family. He said, 'Dear me, Mr. Norway's killed.' I did not make
any reply. I went to bed as soon as I came home on the Saturday night."
The prisoner upon this was remanded to Bodmin Jail, where his brother
was already confined; and, on his way to that place, he pointed out a
furze-bush in which the tablets and keys of the deceased gentleman were
found concealed.
On the 19th the prisoner James Lightfoot was carried back from Bodmin to
Wadebridge for re-examination, and upon this point the evidence of
Jackson, the policeman, was taken at the trial, to prove a confession
made by the prisoner, corresponding in effect with that which had been
made by his brother, though he strove to fix on him the guilt of the
commencement of the murderous attack.
The evidence of this witness was corroborated by that of another
constable, who was in the same chaise with them; and the turnkey of
Bodmin Jail also swore, that very shortly after William Lightfoot had
been in prison, he said to him that his mind had been so much troubled
that he had told Mr. Molesworth the whole truth. That he and his brother
had met by appointment, and were determined to have some money; that
when Mr. Norway came up, James snapped his pistol at him twice; that he
(William) then gave him a blow with a stick; that he fell off his horse,
and that James struck him with his pistol.
Other evidence was produced, the effect of which was to corroborate the
statements of the two prisoners; but, when called upon for their
defence, the wretched men declared themselves innocent of the offence
imputed to them.
The learned judge having then summed up the evidence, the jury returned
a verdict of "Guilty."
Mr. Justice Coltman passed the awful sentence of death in the most
feeling terms.
The prisoners exhibited no agitation or want of firmness during the
address of the learned judge, and, at its conclusion, were directly
conducted from the bar to the interior of the jail.
Up to this time, as we have already stated, the miserable brothers had
been allowed no opportunity for communication, and the discrepancy
between their stories exhibits distinctly enough the object of each to
screen himself, and to secure the conviction of the other. The double
confession, however, prevented the attainment of their desires, and they
both fell just victims to their crimes. After the passing of the
sentence on them, they were carried to the same cell, and were now, for
the first time, allowed to approach each other. They had scarcely met
before, in the most hardened manner, they commenced mutually
vituperative attacks, and even proceeded to blows. The immediate
interference of the jailors prevented a continuance of this disgraceful
scene, and the wretched convicts were once again removed to separate
apartments.
For several days the unhappy culprits exhibited the most callous
indifference to their situation.
On the 7th of April they had a farewell interview with their families.
It was of the most distressing description. After the departure of their
wives and children, they appeared to be conscious of the awful situation
in which they were placed; they became communicative, and listened more
attentively to the exhortations of the Rev. F. Kendall and the Rev. W.
Molesworth, whose parishioners they were. Great hopes are indulged that
the unhappy men were actuated by sincere feelings of repentance.
On Sunday morning, the 12th of April, they attended the chapel belonging
to the jail, when an appropriate sermon was preached by the chaplain,
from Acts xvi. v. 25--"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang
praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them;" and, in the afternoon,
the Rev. F. Cole, of St. Feock, delivered an impressive sermon, from
Romans vi. v. 23--"The wages of sin is death;" to which the prisoners
paid the deepest attention. After the service they returned to their
cells, ate and drank heartily what was given them, retired to bed at the
usual hour, and slept soundly all night.
Monday, the 13th of April, had been fixed upon as the day of execution,
and on that morning, shortly before eleven, Mr. Smith, the
under-sheriff, proceeded to the cells, when portions of Scripture were
read by the Rev. Mr. Kendall, and the sacrament was administered to the
prisoners by the Rev. W. Molesworth. During the whole of this trying
scene the brothers evinced the greatest fortitude. They were then
conducted across the yard to the place of execution, preceded by the
clergyman, reading the burial service--"I am the resurrection and the
life," &c. The unhappy men were ghastly pale, but were perfectly
collected, walked with a firm step, and ascended the ladder without the
slightest assistance. Before being placed on the drop, they shook hands
with the persons around them, and thanked the clergymen and others for
their kindness and attention. They each then requested the conveyance of
some last communication to their families, and, in a few moments, the
drop fell.
Upwards of ten thousand persons had assembled to witness the dreadful
end of the unhappy wretches, and but little commiseration was exhibited
for their fate.
It is highly creditable to the inhabitants of Cornwall to state, that no
less a sum than 3500_l._ was collected between the time at which the
murder was committed and that of the execution, for the use of the
destitute widow and family of the murdered man.
The execution took place at Bodmin, on Monday, the 13th April, 1840; the
prisoner, William Lightfoot, being thirty-six years of age, while his
brother, James, had only attained his twenty-third year.
RICHARD GOULD, _alias_ ARTHUR NICHOLSON.
TRIED FOR MURDER, BUT CONVICTED OF BURGLARY.
The early life of this most atrocious malefactor is involved in some
degree of uncertainty, as, from his sullen and dogged indifference
during the period of his confinement in jail, but few particulars
concerning his parentage and education could be obtained from him. From
his own statement, at the period of his trial he was only twenty-three
years of age; and there is good reason to believe, that although upon
all occasions he stated his name to be Richard Gould, he was born of
respectable parents, whose name was Nicholson. His father carried on the
business of a publican; but, having failed, he determined to emigrate to
Van Diemen's Land with his family, and the necessary preparations for
the voyage were made. Our hero, however, whose disposition had always
exhibited him to be a person of unsteady determination, at the last
moment rejected the offer of his father to accompany him, and, having
secreted himself until the period of the departure of the vessel in
which he was to have sailed, had passed, at the age of eighteen years
found himself his own master, and without employment, in London.
In a condition of absolute destitution, he was driven to seek for the
means of livelihood; and, devoid of the knowledge or the introduction
requisite to procure for him a situation in exact consonance with the
rank of life in which the condition of his parents had entitled him to
move, he accepted an engagement as pot-boy at the Duke of Cumberland
public-house, Red Lion-street, Spitalfields. In this condition, by no
means calculated to lead him to form connexions or habits likely to
improve his position in society, he appears to have made acquaintances
by whose instrumentality he was gradually conducted to the vices of
dissipation and intemperance, and, after about twelve months'
employment, he was discharged by his master. From this time he seems to
have supported himself in a loose and discreditable manner for about a
year and a half, at the expiration of which time he called at the house
of his late master, and informed him, that he had enlisted in the
hussars. Subsequently, he again made his appearance there, saying that
he was about to proceed to Ireland, where he hoped to obtain employment
as an engineer; and, about three weeks before his apprehension on the
dreadful charge of murder, upon which he was subsequently tried, he a
third time called, saying that he had just returned from the trip, the
nature of which he had described upon his former visit. This statement,
however, appears to be untrue; for during a considerable portion of the
period of his absence, he was known in the neighbourhood of Islington,
where he was employed as a pot-boy at the Barnsbury Castle public-house.
It was upon the morning of Tuesday, the 17th of March 1840, that the
murder was discovered for which Gould was eventually indicted. Mr. John
Templeman, the unfortunate victim of this most dreadful crime, was about
seventy years of age at the period of his death. He resided in one of
numerous small cottages erected in an open space called Pocock's-fields,
near Barnsbury Park, Islington, principally occupied by persons of the
poorer grades of life. He lived by himself, and was possessed of a small
income, arising from the rents of one or two houses which belonged to
him in Somers Town. The supposed miserly habits of the old man, and the
great desire which he appeared to entertain to be considered rich, and
which he exhibited by constantly boasting of his property, were the
undoubted causes which led to the dreadful catastrophe by which he was
deprived of life.
It appears that on Monday the 16th of March, he went as usual to Somers
Town to collect the money due to him for the rent of his houses; and
having called upon his tenants, he received of them 6_l._, the whole of
which was paid him in silver, except one half-sovereign. Upon his return
home, he sent for a Mrs. Thornton, who acted as his char-woman, and who
lived in an adjacent cottage, to whom he communicated the fact of the
receipt of the money; and having instructed her to procure various
trifling articles of which he stood in need, at about six o'clock he
retired to rest. On the following morning Mrs. Thornton sent her
daughter to the house of the deceased with some of the commodities which
she had been directed to purchase, and she knocked at the door, and
called Mr. Templeman by name. No answer was returned, and she went back
and informed her mother of her inability to obtain admittance to the
house; and then upon Mrs. Thornton proceeding to the cottage and looking
in at the bed-room window, she was horror-stricken at finding the
unfortunate old man stretched upon the floor brutally murdered. For a
time she was at a loss to know what proceedings to take in reference to
this most dreadful transaction; but being aware that the deceased had a
grandson, a solicitor, in Mortimer-street, Cavendish-square, she
determined to await the arrival of her son-in-law, a Frenchman, named
Capriani, who was employed as a night-watchman at Sadler's Wells
theatre, in order that he might take the necessary steps in the affair.
At eleven o'clock in the day he returned home; and then upon his being
made acquainted with what had occurred, he at once proceeded to the
residence of Mr. Templeman, jun., to inform him of the murder, omitting
altogether to give any information to the police of the discovery which
had taken place. During the absence of Capriani, the baker who was in
the habit of delivering bread at the cottage of the deceased arrived,
but was met by Mrs. Thornton, who sent him away, saying he would get no
answer there; but Mr. Templeman, jun., soon after making his appearance,
the police were called in, and informed of the horrid transaction.