Galley and Chater began to be very uneasy, and wanted to be going; upon which Jackson, Carter, and the rest of them persuaded them to stay and drink more rum, and make it up, for they were sorry for what had happened; when they all sat down together, Mr. Austin and Mr. Jenkes being present. After they had sat a little while, Jackson and Carter wanted to see the letter which Galley and Chater were carrying to Major Battin; but they refused to show it; upon which they both made a resolution they would see it. They then drank about pretty plentifully, and made Galley, Chater, and Thomas Austin fuddled; when they persuaded Galley and Chater to go into another room where there was a bed, and lie down; which they did, and fell asleep; and then the letter was taken out of one of their pockets, and brought into the kitchen, where Carter or Kelly read it; and the contents of it being plainly a design to promote an information against some of their gang, they immediately entered into consultation what course to take on this occasion. Some proposed one thing, some another; but all agreed in this, that the letter should be first destroyed, and then they would consider what to do with the men, in order to prevent their giving the intended information. Before this, one John Race (who was also one of the King’s witnesses) and Richard Kelly came in, when Jackson and Carter told them that they had got the old rogue the shoemaker of Fordingbridge, who was going to give an information against John Diamond, the shepherd, who was then in custody at Chichester. Then they all consulted what was best to be done with him and Galley, when William Steel proposed to take them both to a well, a little way from the house, and to murder them and throw them in. At this consultation were present only these seven smugglers; namely, William Jackson, William Carter, William Steel, John Race, Samuel Downer, Edmund Richards, and Henry Sheerman, and this proposal was disagreed to, as they had been seen in their company by the Austins, Mr. Jenkes, Mr. Garrat, Mr. Poate, and others who came into Payne’s house to drink. This being disagreed to, another proposal was made, which was, to take them away, and send them over to France; but that was objected against, as there was a possibility of their coming over again, and then they should be all known. At these consultations Jackson and Carter’s wives were both present, and who both cried out “Hang the dogs, for they came here to hang us.” Then another proposition was made, which was that they should take them and carry them to some place where they should be confined, till it was known what would be the fate of Diamond, and in the mean time each of them to allow threepence a week to subsist Galley and Chater; and that whatever Diamond’s fate was, they determined that theirs should be the same.