Smuggling & Smugglers in Sussex / The Genuine History of the Inhuman and Unparalleled Murders of Mr. William Galley a Custom-house Officer, and Mr. Daniel Chater, a Shoemaker, by Fourteen Notorious Smugglers, with the Trials and Execution of Seven of the Criminals at Chichester, 1748-9

by Anonymous

Being asked why he did not give poor Galley and Chater a dram, as well as the smugglers, when they all got off their horses; he said he was going to do it, but Richards, Carter and Jackson, all swore they would blow his brains out if he did. He acknowledged going away with them from Old Mills’s in order to hang Chater according to agreement; but seeing Tapner whip the poor man so cruelly, Chater at the same time being all over blood and wounds, his heart relented, and that was the only reason why he did not go with them, and be present at his murder.

At his trial he behaved with reservedness, but no way audacious, as some of the others were; and after he had received his sentence, he began to bemoan his unhappy circumstances, and prayed very devoutly; and confessed that he had been a very wicked liver ever since he turned smuggler.

He said he never was concerned in many robberies, as numbers of the smugglers had been; and what gave him the most uneasiness was, the great scandal and vexation he had brought on his wife and family.

He was conveyed under a strong guard of soldiers from Horsham to Rake, near the place where Galley was buried, on the 20th day of March, 1749, and there executed, and afterwards hung in chains, as an example.

At the place of execution he behaved very penitent, and as became one in his unhappy circumstances, frequently saying that Jackson was the original person who was the cause of his ruin, and that he should not have gone to the widow Payne’s that unfortunate day that Mr. Galley and Mr. Chater were there, had he not been sent for. He declared that at the time he gave Galley the push off the horse, when Galley fell down and died, he had no thought that that fall would kill him just then; that he begged pardon of God and man, not only for that wicked action of his life, but for all others; and then was turned off, crying to the Lord Jesus Christ to receive his soul.

We shall now proceed to the trials of John Mills, alias Smoker, John Reynolds, the master of the Dog and Partridge on Slindon Common, where Richard Hawkins was inhumanly murdered; and then give an account of John Mills’s wicked life, and behaviour at his trial, and under sentence of death; and also of his confession, and last dying words at the place of execution.

John Mills, alias Smoker, together with Jeremiah Curtis, alias Butler, alias Pollard, and Richard Rowland, alias Robb (both not yet taken), was indicted for the murder of Richard Hawkins, in the parish of Slindon, in the county of Sussex, on the 28th day of January, 1748–9, in the 21st year of his Majesty’s reign, by violently assaulting, sticking, beating, whipping and kicking, him, the said Richard Hawkins, over the face, head, arms, belly, and private parts: of which wounds, bruises, kicks and stripes he instantly died. And John Reynolds was indicted for aiding, assisting, comforting and abetting the said John Mills, alias Smoker, and Jeremiah Curtis, alias Butler, alias Pollard, and Richard Rowland, alias Robb (both not yet taken), in the murder of the said Richard Hawkins.

The counsel for the King were Mr. Staples, Mr. Steele, recorder of Chichester, Mr. Burrel, Mr. Smythe (one of the king’s counsel, learned in the law, and member of Parliament for East Grinstead, in the county of Sussex), and Mr. Serjeant Wynn.

One of the counsel for the King having opened the indictment, Mr. Smythe observed to the court and jury that the practice of smuggling having prevailed all over the kingdom, particularly in that and the neighbouring counties, to so great a degree, and the persons concerned therein became so very audacious, that a great many murders were committed, and very barbarous ones too, upon such persons who should show the least inclination to prevent their pernicious practices. That the murder for which the present prisoners were indicted, was one of the most bloody and most cruel that ever was perpetrated in this, or any other civilized nation, except in two others that had happened in this county; that the prisoner Mills seemed to have the honour of committing the first, and setting the example of this species of most terrible murders, though some persons who committed the other murder had been first brought to justice. That many people were induced to think smuggling was no crime at all, or if it was one, but a very small one, it was but cheating the King, and that was no harm; not at all considering that it is a crime not only against the laws of the land, but against the law of God also, which commands all men to render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s. That smuggling was robbing the nation of that revenue which is appointed for payment of the national debt; and that every act of smuggling was defrauding every one of his Majesty’s subjects that pay taxes, as they are obliged to make good all deficiencies. That when they shall hear the witnesses they will find that this evil practice was the original cause of this murder, and then he did not doubt but they would find the prisoners guilty.

Mr. Sergeant Wynn, after speaking of the nature of the crime, and that it was one of the consequential evils that attended smuggling, observed that most of the daring robberies that had been lately committed, were by these sort of men, who thought, or at least acted, as if they thought themselves above all law. That when they had called their witnesses, he did not doubt but they would give the jury such evidence as would induce them to believe the prisoners guilty, and consequently find them so.