The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841Pelham, Camden
History
The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2: 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)
"I then left young Watson, and went to Tower Hill, where I saw old
Watson and Thistlewood; they went up close to the Tower rails, and
seemed to be addressing themselves to the soldiers across the walls of
the Tower, but I was not near enough to hear what was said. They turned
up the Minories to go to Spafields, to get a greater force, as the
soldiers did not seem to take any notice of them; but when near the top,
thirty or forty soldiers met them, and the mob threw down their arms and
ran away. I walked forward with the soldiers as if I had nothing to do
with it, till the soldiers had passed me, and then turned back again,
and went down towards Tower Hill. At the corner of Mark-lane, I went
into a little public-house, and stopped until nearly dark, when I went
to No. 1, Dean-street, where I arrived about six or half-past six
o'clock. I found there the two Watsons, Preston, and Thistlewood. The
elder Watson and Thistlewood began to pack up their linen, as if going
away. I inquired where they were going to, and Thistlewood said, they
were going a little way in the country, and we should hear from him in
the course of a day or two. I inquired what had become of Hooper, and he
said, Hooper was taken with the colours, and some of us must expect to
be taken. I inquired if young Watson had shot anybody, and he said he
did not know, but that he was perfectly well satisfied that the people
were not ripe enough to act. We parted a little after; he and the two
Watsons went away together about seven o'clock, but I stopped at the
public-house until near dark."
On his cross-examination it appeared that this witness was a government
spy, and that his morals admirably fitted him for such an employment.
There were few crimes, short of murder, with which he was not made to
charge himself.
On the close of the case for the prosecution Mr. Wetherell proceeded to
comment on the evidence which had been given, in a strain of
argumentative eloquence which evinced at once the deep lawyer and
brilliant advocate.
On the 6th day of the trial Mr. Hunt and several other witnesses were
called whose testimony went to impeach the credit of Castles and others
for the prosecution, after which counsel was heard for the prisoner, and
the attorney-general spoke in reply.
Watson having declined to make any defence after the ability displayed
by his counsel, Lord Ellenborough proceeded to charge the jury, who
returned a verdict of acquittal, founded apparently upon the
incredibility of the testimony of the witness Castles.
The subsequent proceedings against Thistlewood and his companions, which
terminated more unfavourably for the safety of the former, will be given
hereafter.
PATRICK DEVANN.
EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF THE LYNCH FAMILY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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