Smuggling & Smugglers in Sussex: The Genuine History of the Inhuman and Unparalleled Murders of Mr. William Galley a Custom-house Officer, and Mr. Daniel Chater, a Shoemaker, by Fourteen Notorious Smugglers, with the Trials and Execution of Seven of the Criminals at Chichester, 1748-9Anonymous
History
Smuggling & Smugglers in Sussex: The Genuine History of the Inhuman and Unparalleled Murders of Mr. William Galley a Custom-house Officer, and Mr. Daniel Chater, a Shoemaker, by Fourteen Notorious Smugglers, with the Trials and Execution of Seven of the Criminals at Chichester, 1748-9
Anonymous
Crime -- England -- History; Smuggling -- England -- Sussex -- History
Tapner, however, not satisfied with this wanton act of cruelty, in
another fit of frenzy, aimed another stroke at his face, designing
to cut him again in the same wound; but happening to strike a little
higher, made a terrible gash across his forehead, from which the blood
flowed in abundance. What a lamentable figure must the poor creature
make! His face deeply furrowed with the most ghastly wounds, his eyes
cut almost out of his head, and the blood running down in torrents
upon the rest of his body. What a spectacle was here! yet not
miserable enough to move the compassion of these bloodthirsty tigers!
Old Mills, however, not from any pity, or that his heart relented at
the terrible condition of this deplorable object, but apprehending bad
consequences to himself, in case he should die under their hands, and
under his roof, said to them, “Take him away, and do not murder him
here, but murder him somewhere else.”
[Illustration: _Chater, Chained in y^e Turff House at Old Mills’s.
Cobby, kicking him & Tapner, cutting him Cross y^e Eyes & Nose, while
he is saying the Lords Prayer. Several of y^e other Smugglers standing
by._]
It is surprising that this poor miserable man, who was far advanced
in years, had strength and vigour enough to sustain such a variety of
torments, which were inflicted upon him, almost without intermission,
for several days successively; yet even after this last act of
barbarity, he had more severe trials to come before he was suffered
to part with his wearisome life. And as the last scene of this woful
tragedy appears more astonishing and more monstrous than anything
they had hitherto transacted, we shall give a very particular and
circumstantial account of everything that was done on this sad
occasion. Being all agreed in the measures they were about to take,
they mounted Chater on a horse, and set out together for Harris’s
Well. Mills, however, and his two sons, stayed behind, desiring to
be excused, because their horses were not in the way; or they would
readily have borne them company on the occasion if they could, for they
were as hearty in the same cause as the best of them. Besides, there
was no great necessity for their assistance, since there were enough
of them, as the Mills’s said, to kill one man; and as Harris’s Well
lay just in their way homewards, the execution would be little or no
hindrance to them in their journey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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