The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.Pelham, Camden
History
The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.
Pelham, Camden
Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England)
soon unanimously resolved that he must be destroyed, and it was
determined that they should take him to Harris'-well and throw him in,
as it was considered that that death would be most likely to cause him
the greatest pain.
During this time the wretched man was in a state of the utmost horror
and misery, being visited occasionally by all his tormentors, who abused
him, and beat him violently. At last, when this determination had been
arrived at, they all went, and Tapner pulling out a clasp-knife, ordered
him on his knees, swearing that he would be his butcher; but being
dissuaded from this, as being opposed to their plan to prolong the
miseries of their prisoner, he contented himself with slashing the knife
across his eyes, almost cutting them out, and completely severing the
gristle of his nose. They then placed him upon a horse, and all set out
together for Harris'-well, except Mills and his sons, they having no
horses ready, and saying, in excuse, "that there were enough without
them to murder one man." All the way Tapner whipped him till the blood
came; and then swore that if he blooded the saddle, he would torture him
the more. When they were come within one hundred yards of the well,
Jackson and Carter stopped, saying to Tapner, Cobby, Stringer, Steele,
and Hammond, "Go on and do your duty on Chater, as we have ours upon
Galley." It was in the dead of the night that they brought their victim
to the well, which was nearly thirty feet deep, but dry, and paled close
round; and Tapner having fastened a noose round his neck, they bade him
get over the pales. He was going through a broken place; but though he
was covered with blood and fainting with the anguish of his wounds, they
forced him to climb up, having the rope about his neck. They then tied
one end of the cord to the pales and pushed him over the brink; but the
rope being short, he hung no farther within it than his thighs, and
leaning against the edge, he hung above a quarter of an hour and was not
strangled. They then untied him, and threw him head foremost into the
well. They tarried some time, and hearing him groan, they determined to
go to one William Comleah's, a gardener, to borrow a rope and ladder,
saying they wanted to relieve one of their companions who had fallen
into Harris'-well. He said they might take them; but they could not
manage the ladder in their confusion, it being a long one. They then
returned to the well; and still hearing him groan, and fearful that the
sound might lead to a discovery, the place being near the road, they
threw upon him some of the rails and gate-posts fixed about the well, as
well as some great stones; and then finding him silent, they left him.
Their next consultation was how to dispose of their horses; and they
killed Galley's, which was grey, and taking his hide off, cut it into
small pieces, and hid them so as to prevent any discovery; but a bay
horse that Chater had ridden on got from them.
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