Daniel Cox went on to say that on the night of the murder he was up
with a sick horse, and he saw his double let himself out of the inn the
back way, and then turn round and close the door softly; so he slipped
out to meet him. But the double saw him, and made for the garden wall.
He ran up and caught him with one leg over the wall, and seized a black
bag he was carrying off; the figure dropped it, and he heard a lot Of
money chink: that thereupon he cried "Thieves!" and seized the man; but
immediately received a blow, and lost his senses for a time. When he
came to, the man and the bags were both gone, and he felt so sick that
he staggered to the stable and drank a pint of neat brandy, and he
remembered no more till they pumped on him, and told him he had robbed
and murdered a gentleman inside the "Swan" Inn. "What they can't tell
me," said Daniel, beginning to shout, "is how I could know who has got
money, and who hasn't, inside the 'Swan' Inn. I keeps the stables, not
the inn: and where be my keys to open and shut the 'Swan'? I never had
none. And where's the gentleman's money? 'Twas somebody in the inn as
done it, for to have the money, and when you find the money, you'll
find the man."
The prosecuting counsel ridiculed this defence, and inter alia asked
the jury whether they thought it was a double the witness Lamb had
caught robbing in the inn three years ago.
The judge summed up very closely, giving the evidence of every witness.
What follows is a mere synopsis of his charge.
He showed it was beyond doubt that Mr. Gardiner returned to the inn
with money, having collected his rents in Wiltshire; and this was known
in the inn, and proved by several, and might have transpired in the
yard or the taproom. The unfortunate gentleman took Captain Cowen, a
respectable person, his neighbor in the inn, into his confidence, and
revealed his uneasiness. Captain Cowen swore that he supped with him,
but could not stay all night, most unfortunately. But he encouraged
him, left him his pistols, and helped him load them.
Then his lordship read the dying man's deposition. The person thus
solemnly denounced was found in the stable, bleeding from a recent
wound, which seems to connect him at once with the deed as described by
the dying man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account