“The next thing proposed was secretly to convey Chater and Galley into France, at that time at war with England.
“The second scheme was, for all present to contribute threepence a week for the maintenance of Chater and Galley, who were to be confined in some private place, and there subsisted until Dimer should be tried; and as Dimer was done unto, so Chater and Galley were to be dealt with.
“The third and last proposal was to murder both.
“With a view and intention to execute this last, and the most cruel proposal, Jackson went into the room about seven that evening, where Chater and Galley lay asleep, and awaked them. They both came out very bloody, and cut in their faces; but by what means, or what Jackson had done to them, does not appear. They were immediately afterwards forced out of the house by Jackson and Carter; the others present consenting and assisting; Richards, one of the company, with a cocked pistol in his hand, swore he would shoot any person through the head who should make the least discovery of what had passed there.
“Chater and Galley were put upon one horse; and to prevent their escape, their legs were tied under the horse’s belly; and both their legs tied together; and the horse was led by William Steel. After they had been thus carried about one hundred yards from Rowland’s Castle, Jackson cried out to Carter and the company, “Lick them, d—n them, cut them, slash them, whip them.” Upon which, they whipped and beat them over their heads, faces, shoulders, and other parts of their bodies, for the space of near a mile. With this cruel treatment they both fell down under the horse’s belly, with their heads dragging upon the ground. They were again put on the horse, and tied as before; and whipped and beat with the like severity, along the road for upwards of half a mile. And when they cried out through the agony of their pain, pistols were held to their heads, and they were threatened to be shot, if they made the least noise or cry. Being unable to endure this continued and exquisite pain, and to sit on horseback any longer, they fell a second time to the ground. By this inhuman usage, they were rendered incapable of supporting themselves any longer on horseback. Galley was afterwards carried behind Steel, and Chater behind Howard, the prisoners Jackson and Carter, with the rest of the company, still continuing their merciless treatment of Chater and Galley, but instead of whipping, they now began to beat them on the heads and faces with the butt-ends of their whips, loaded with lead. When they came to Lady Holt Park, in Sussex, Galley almost expiring with the torture he had undergone, got down from behind Steel; and it was proposed to throw him alive into a well adjoining to that park; in which well Chater was three days after hanged by the same gang. Galley was then thrown across the pommel of the saddle and carried before Richards. He was afterwards laid along alone upon a horse, and supported by Jackson, who walked by him, and was at last carried before Sheerman, who supported him by a cord tied round his breast. When they came to a lane called Conduit-lane, in Rogate parish, in this county, Galley in the extremity of anguish, cried out, “I shall fall! I shall fall!” upon which Sheerman swore, “D—n you, if you will fall, do then;” and as Galley was falling he gave him a thrust to the ground; after which Galley was never seen to move, or heard to speak more.
“Jackson, Carter, and the others, in order to prevent a discovery of the murder of Galley, went about one o’clock on the Monday morning, to the Red Lion at Rake, in Sussex, a public-house, kept by William Scardefield, whither they carried Chater all over blood, and with his eyes almost beat out; and also brought the body of Galley. They obliged Scardefield to shew them a proper place for the burial of Galley; and accordingly he went with Carter, Howard, and Steel, to an old fox earth, on the side of a hill near Rake, at a place called Harting Coombe, where they dug a hole and buried Galley.
“The same morning, and long before it was light, whilst some were employed in the burial of Galley, Jackson and Sheerman carried Chater to the house of Richard Mills the elder, at Trotton.
“I am now come to the third period of time: from Chater’s arrival at the house of Richard Mills the elder, to his murder upon Wednesday night, the 17th of February.
“And here it is that Richard Mills the elder appears to be privy and consenting to the intended murder of Chater. A private house was thought much more proper and safe for the confinement of Chater, than a public-house, at all times open to every man; and therefore Chater was to be removed from Scardefield’s. The prisoners and their companions being no strangers to Old Mills, but his intimate acquaintance, and confederates in smuggling; where could Chater be so secretly imprisoned, as at the private house of the elder Mills? and where could he be more securely guarded than under the roof of one of their gang? With these hopes and reliance, and in full confidence of the secrecy and assistance of Old Mills, Chater was brought to his house by Jackson and Sheerman. When they came there, they told Old Mills they had got a prisoner; he must get up and let them in; upon which Old Mills got up, and received Chater as his prisoner, whose face was then a gore of blood, many of his teeth beat out, his eyes swelled and one almost destroyed. I shall here omit one or two particular circumstances, which the witnesses will give an account of; which shew that Old Mills was also void of all tenderness and compassion.
“Chater was received by him as a prisoner, and a criminal; and therefore was to be treated as such. Old Mills’s house itself was thought too good a prison for him; and therefore he was soon dragged into a skilling or out-house, adjoining to the house, wherein lumber and fuel was kept. And although Chater was in so weak and deplorable a condition as to be scarce able to stand, yet to prevent all chance and possibility of his escape, he was chained by the leg with an iron chain, fastened to a beam of the out-house; he was guarded night and day, sometimes by Sheerman, and sometimes by Howard, who came there that Monday evening. Thus he continued in chains until he was loosened for his execution. But lest he should die for want of sustenance, and disappoint their wicked designs, he was to be fed and just kept alive, until the time and manner of his death was determined. During the whole time of this imprisonment, Old Mills was at home and in his business as usual. He betrayed not the trust reposed in him. He acquainted nobody with what had happened, nor with whom he was entrusted; but like a gaoler, took care to produce his prisoner for execution.