Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolitionGriffiths, Arthur
History
Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolition
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
Inquiry into the character of Good exposed him as a loose liver, who
"kept company" with several women. One called his sister, but supposed
to be his wife, had occupied a room in South Street, Manchester
Square, with a son of Good's by a former wife. Another wife, real or
fictitious, existed in Spitalfields, and evidence was given of close
relation between Good and a third woman, a girl named Butcher, residing
at Woolwich. The victim was the first of these three. Good had told
her, much to her perturbation, that she was to move from South Street
to Roehampton, and one day he fetched her. They were seen together on
Barnes Common, and again in Putney Park Lane, where they were talking
loud and angrily. The poor creature was never seen again alive. The
actual method of the murder was never exactly ascertained. Good himself
remained at large for some weeks. He had tramped as far as Tunbridge,
where he obtained work as a bricklayer's labourer; he there gave
satisfaction for industry, but he was taciturn, and would hold no
converse with his fellows. The woman where he lodged noticed that he
was very restless at night, moaning and sighing much. Detection came
unexpectedly. He was recognized by an ex-policeman who had known him
at Roehampton, and immediately arrested. In his effects were found the
clothes he had on at the time of his escape from the stables, and under
the jacket he was wearing was a piece of a woman's calico apron stained
with blood, which he had used to save the pressure on his shoulder
by the hod. Good was committed to Newgate, and tried at the Central
Criminal Court before a crowded court. He made a rambling defence,
ending by saying, "Good ladies and gentlemen all, I have a great deal
more to say, but I am so bad I cannot say it." The case was clearly
proved against him, and he was condemned, sentenced, and duly executed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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