Richard Hawkins, of Yapton, in the county of Sussex, labourer, being at work in a barn, two of their gang, in January 1747–8, came to the barn in the said Parish of Yapton, where the poor man was threshing corn.
The names of the two men who came to him were Jeremiah Curtis, of Hawkhurst, in Kent, butcher, and John Mills, of Trotton, in Sussex, labourer (this last one of those who were concerned in the murder of Chater, and who is not yet taken), and having found Hawkins at work, as before mentioned, they told him that he must go along with them; and on his showing some reluctance to comply with their commands, they swore they would shoot him through the head that instant if he did not come away without any more words. Poor Hawkins being terrified at their threats, put on his clothes, and went along with them to the sign of the Dog and Partridge, an alehouse, on Slindon Common, and going into a back room, he saw Thomas Winter, of Poling, near Arundel, and one called Rob, or Little Fat Back, servant to Jeremiah Curtis, who lived in or near East Grinstead. In the back room these two were waiting for them. This was in the afternoon, and having kept Hawkins there till about twelve o’clock at night, took him away; but whither they carried, or what they did with him, was not known for a long time; for the man was not seen, nor heard of, till the body was found in a pond in Parham Park, belonging to Sir Cecil Bishop, in Sussex, upwards of nine months afterwards; and the coroner’s inquest, having sat on the body, they brought in their verdict of wilful murder by persons unknown.
The only reason these villains had to commit this murder on the poor wretch, who left behind a wife and many children, was, on a supposition only, that he had concealed a small bag of tea from them; for they had lodged a quantity of run tea near the barn where the man worked, and when they came to look for it, missed one bag, and imagined he had taken it away; though the villains, on a second search, after they had murdered the man, found the bag of tea where they had hid it, and had overlooked it before.
This murder in itself was as barbarous as that of Mr. Galley; for they made him go with them upwards of ten miles, all the way whipping him, and beating him with the handles of their whips till they had killed him, and then tied stones to his legs and arms and flung him into the pond, which kept the body under water.
These terrible executions, committed by the smugglers on these poor men, and the dreadful menaces which they uttered against any person that should presume to interrupt them, so terrified the people everywhere, that scarce anybody durst look at them as they passed in large bodies in open day-light. And the custom officers were so intimidated, that hardly any of them had courage enough to go on their duty. Some of them they knew they had already sent to France, others had been killed or wounded in opposing them, and Galley, in particular, had been inhumanly murdered by them: so that not only the honest trader suffered by the running of prodigious quantities of goods, which were sold again at a rate that he could not buy them at, unless he traded with them; but the King’s revenue was considerably lessened by this smuggling traffic.
It is no wonder, indeed, that when once a set of men commenced as smugglers, that they should go on to commit the vilest excesses; for when a man has wrought himself into a firm persuasion that it is no crime to rob his King or his country, the transition is easy to the belief, that it is no sin to plunder or destroy his neighbour; and therefore we need not be much surprised that so many of the smugglers have turned highwaymen, housebreakers, and incendiaries, of which we have had but too many instances of late.
The body of the smugglers was now increased to a prodigious number, and the mischiefs they did where-ever they came, at least wherever they met with opposition, were so enormous, that the whole country was afraid of them; and even the government itself began to be alarmed, and to apprehend consequences that might be fatal to the public peace, in case a speedy check was not put to their audacious proceedings. His Majesty, therefore, being perfectly informed of their notorious villainies, and informations being given of many of the names of the most desperate of their gangs, particularly those who broke open the custom-house at Poole, issued a proclamation, with lists of their several names, declaring, that unless they surrendered themselves to justice at a day appointed, they should be outlawed, and out of the protection of the laws of their country; promising a reward of £500, to be paid by the commissioners of the customs, for the apprehension of every one who should be taken, and convicted in pursuance thereof. This, in great measure, has had the desired effect, and several of them have been apprehended, tried, convicted and executed, which was the only satisfaction they could make to public justice. But to return from this digression.
Seven of the notorious villains, who had confederated in the murder of Galley and Chater, being apprehended by the diligence of Government, the noblemen and gentlemen of Sussex, being desirous of making public examples of such horrible offenders, and to terrify others from committing the same crimes, requested his Majesty to grant a special commission to hold an assize on purpose to try them; and represented that as Chichester was a city sufficiently large to entertain the judges and all their train, and as it was contiguous to the place where the murders were committed, they thought it the most proper place for the assizes to be held. Accordingly a commission passed the seals to hold a special assize there the 16th day of January, 1748–9.
On Monday, January 9th, 1748–9, Jackson and Carter were removed from Newgate, as also Richard Mills, jun., from the New Gaol in Surrey, under a strong guard, to Horsham, in their way to Chichester. When they came to Horsham, the other five prisoners, viz., Richard Mills, sen., Benjamin Tapner, John Hammond, John Cobby and William Combleach (the latter committed only on suspicion), who were already in that gaol, were all put in a waggon, and conveyed from thence under the same guard as brought the others from London to Chichester, where they arrived on Friday, the 13th.
On their arrival there they were all confined, being well secured with heavy irons, in one room, except Jackson, who being extremely ill, was put into a room by himself, and all imaginable care was taken of him, in order to keep him alive (for he was in a very dangerous condition) till he had taken his trial.