He often declared that he never was concerned in any other murder than that of Galley, for which he suffered; but being asked if he was not guilty of the other indictment that was against him, as being an accessary to the murder of Chater before the fact was committed, he evaded answering the question in full, and said he left the company and Chater, and did not go to the well where he was hanged and flung down; but on being interrogated, and informed it was the same thing, his knowing their intention of murdering Chater, though he did not go quite to the place, he said he did not know that the company, when he parted from them, were going to hang him in the well at Lady Holt Park, and then fling his body down it to prevent a discovery. He was asked if old Major Mills knew that Chater was confined in his turf-house, and that they were going to murder him, because Old Mills partly denied it when he was executed on the Broyle near Chichester; he said that Old Mills was guilty of the whole affair laid to his charge, as being concerned in the murder of Chater; that Old Mills gave him the chain and horse-lock, to chain Chater to the beam, and went frequently to see he was safe during his confinement there, and often told Chater that he was a villain to turn informer, and he would see he should be hanged to prevent his informing any more; and he declared, that when they took Chater from Old Mills’s house, that Old Mills knew that they were going to hang him at the well by Lady Holt Park, and that the resolution and agreement of him, Old Mills, as well as the rest, was to fling his body down there, it being a dry well, to prevent a discovery, and that Old Mills himself said it was a very proper place, for as it was a dry well, it might lie there an age before anything could be discovered, and before that time it would be rotted quite away to nothing.
Before we proceed any further, we shall inform the reader what encouragement is given to seduce the young people from their honest employments to turn smugglers, which Little Harry declared.
The master smugglers contract for the goods either abroad, or with the master of a cutter that fetches them, for a quantity of teas (which they call dry goods) and brandies, and the master of the cutter fixes a time and place where he designs to land, and seldom or ever fails being pretty punctual as to the time, if the weather permits; as the master smugglers cannot fetch all the goods themselves, so they hire men whom they call their riders; and they allow each man half-a-guinea a journey, and bear all expenses of eating and drinking and horse, and allowance of a dollop of tea, which is forty pound weight, being the half of a bag, the profit of which dollop, even of the most ordinary sort, is worth more than a guinea, and some sorts 25s. and some more; and they always make one journey, sometimes two, and sometimes three in a week, which is indeed such a temptation that very few people in the country can withstand; and which has been the cause of so many turning smugglers.
He said it was very hard work in going down to the seaside to fetch the goods, and considering the hazard they run if taken, and of their own persons, as they are obliged to ride in the night only, and through the byeways, avoiding all the public roads as much as possible, people would not take on with them if it were not for the great profits that arise.
He said that all the smugglers, both masters and riders, drink drams to great excess, and generally keep themselves half drunk, which was the only thing that occasioned them to commit such outrages as they did sometimes; and he gave the following account of the murders of Galley and Chater:—
That on Sunday the 14th of last February was twelvemonth, he was sent for to the widow Payne’s, and informed that there were two men there who were going to make an information against John Dimer, that was in custody at Chichester, on suspicion of being concerned in breaking open the King’s warehouse at Poole, that, as he was one concerned in the said fact, he readily went to hear what he could, and when he came there, he found Jackson, Richards, Steel (the evidence), and some more of the gang concerned in breaking open the said warehouse; when Jackson said to him, “Harry, I have sent for you: here are two men have got a letter to Justice Battine, for him to take an information against Dimer;” and that they (the smugglers) resolved to have the letter from them; which he agreed to; and after they had made the men drunk, Carter and Jackson went into the room where the men were put to sleep, and took the letter, which they read, and found the contents amounted to all they suspected; that it was never proposed by any of them to hurt either Galley or Chater, but to keep them privately to prevent their giving the designed information, till the women, Carter’s and Jackson’s wives, proposed hanging them; and then it was talked of carrying them to the well just by, and to hang them and fling them down it, but it was not agreed to; neither did any of the men in his presence or hearing shew or intimate any inclination towards their so doing.
He said further, that they all drank pretty freely to make Galley and Chater drunk, and when they came to the resolution of carrying them both away, and concealing them till they knew what would be the fate of the shepherd Dimer, they were all more than half drunk; that he verily believed none of them had any design of murdering them while they were at Rowland’s Castle; but Jackson, who was the drunkest of the company, called out to whip them, which was soon after they set out from Mrs. Payne’s house, when Edmund Richards, who is not yet taken, began to lash them with his long whip; and then they all did the same except Steel, who was leading the horse the two men rode on.
He said that the design of tying their legs under the horse’s belly was for no other reason than to prevent their jumping off and running away, and making their escape, as it was night time; which, if either of them should do, they would be all inevitably ruined.
The liquor they had drank, and giving way to their passion, urged them on to the cruelties they exercised on Chater; but when they found Galley was dead, it sobered them all very much, and they were all in a great consternation and surprise, and could not tell what to do, when they concluded to bury the body of Galley, and to take care of Chater.
He lamented the unhappy case of Chater during the time of his being chained in Old Mills’s turf-house, but said, self-preservation obliged him to take care he did not get away, though he was all the time very uneasy, and said he declared his abhorrence to Tapner’s cutting Chater across the face and eyes, and of Cobby’s kicking him while he was saying the Lord’s Prayer, and that he came out of the turf-house into the dwelling-house upon that account, not being able to bear hearing the poor man’s expressions in begging for a few hours or minutes to make his peace with his Creator, at the same time the blood running all down his face. He said it was not Cobby alone that kicked Chater while he was at prayers, but also Richards and Stringer, who are both not yet taken.