Steel. They had them from their own houses, as far as I know. I do not remember one man without: some had pistols, some blunderbusses; all the Hawkhurst men had long arms slung round their shoulders, and Fairall, alias Shepherd, had a hanger. We went from Rowland’s Castle, and when we came to the Forest of Bere we were joined by the Hawkhurst gang; this was on a Monday night. The prisoners Kingsmill and Fairall were part of the Hawkhurst gang that joined us, and had with them a little horse which brought their arms and would follow a grey horse one of them rode on; there were about seven of them. We went from Dean to Lindhurst, and when we set out from thence to Poole we were all armed; we all looked at our firearms to see if they were primed. Court. When you looked at your arms to see if they were primed at Dean, are you sure all the prisoners were there, or which of them? Steel. They were all five there at that time, and we went together till we came near Poole, when Stringer and Willis went forward to see how the way stood; and when we came within about a mile of the town, Willis and Stringer[16] came and met us, and one of them said it was impossible to be done. We turned our horses again, and came to a little lane, and every man got off, and tied our horses up to a rail, which was put along a sort of a common. There were thirty-one horses; we left them under the care of Thomas Lilliwhite and Perrin; we every man went to the custom-house, and broke it open. I and another went to the quay, to see that nobody came to molest us. When I came back again the custom-house was broken open; they said it was done with iron bars. They were carrying the tea when the other man and I came to them. Court. Who do you mean were carrying the tea? Steel. All that went on purpose to break the custom-house open; I do not mean any in particular. Court. Were any of the prisoners there? Steel. Yes; Glover, Kingsmill and Fairall, Lilliwhite and Perrin being still with the horses. When we came we found the strings and tied it together, and carried it away to a gravelly place. There we fetched our horses to the place, and loaded them and carried it away. Then we went to a place called Fordingbridge, where we baited and refreshed ourselves. We loaded, and went for a place called Sandy Hill; but at a place called Brooke, before we came to this place, we got two pair of steelyards and weighed the tea, and it came to five bags a piece. Q. Did you carry the tea to your horses, or did you bring the horses to the tea? Steel. We carried the tea to a plain place convenient for loading. Then we brought the horses forward to be loaded. Here Race was called again--he had said they carried the tea to the horses. Q. to Race. Did you carry the tea to the horses? Race. I had been employed at the custom-house to tie up the tea; and when I came, the horses were with the tea. Cross-examined by Lilliwhite’s counsel. Q. Did you ever know Lilliwhite before?