“This will disclose a scene of cruelty and barbarity, previous to Chater’s murder, and show how active and instrumental the prisoners Jackson and Carter were therein. “3rd. What happened after Chater was brought to the house of Richard Mills the elder, to the time of his murder, upon Wednesday night, the 17th of that February. “This will take in the barbarous usage of Chater at Mills’ house; a consultation of sixteen[3] smugglers in what manner to dispose of Chater, and their unanimous resolution to murder him: and will shew Tapner, Cobby and Hammond to be principals therein, and the other four prisoners to be accessaries. “4th, and last period, takes in the discovery of Chater’s body in a well, where he was hung, with the proofs that it was the body of Chater. “In the opening of this case, it will be impossible for me to avoid the frequent mention of one William Galley, also suspected to have been murdered: and for whose murder two of the prisoners, viz., Jackson and Carter, are indicted, and are to be tried upon another indictment. “But the murder of Galley is not the object of your present consideration, nor do I mention his name either to aggravate this crime, by taking notice of his murder also, nor to inflame the jury against the prisoners at the bar; but I do it for the sake of method, and for the purpose only of laying the whole case before the jury; for the story of Chater’s murder cannot be told without disclosing also what happened to Galley, his companion and fellow-sufferer. “To begin with the first period of time. Some time in September, 1747, a large quantity of uncustomed tea had been duly seized by one Captain Johnson, out of a smuggling cutter, and by him lodged in the custom-house at Poole, in the county of Dorset. “In the night of the 6th of October following, the custom-house of Poole was broken open by a numerous and armed gang of smugglers; and the tea which had been seized and there lodged, was by them taken and carried away. “This body of smugglers, in their return, passed through Fordingbridge, where Dimer,[4] one of that company, was seen and known by Chater. Dimer was afterwards taken up upon suspicion of being one of those who had broken open the custom-house, and was in custody at Chichester for further examination, and for further proof that he was one of that gang. “And in order to prove the identity of Dimer, and that he was one of the gang, Daniel Chater, a shoemaker at Fordingbridge (the person murdered), was sent in company with, and under the care of, William Galley, a tide-waiter of Southampton, by Mr. Shearer, collector of the customs there, with a letter to Major Battine, a Justice of Peace for Sussex, and surveyor general of the customs for that county. Sunday morning, the 14th of February, 1747–8, Galley and Chater set out from Southampton, with Mr. Shearer’s letter, on their journey to Major Battine’s house, at East Marden, in the neighbourhood of Chichester.