He peremptorily challenged three jurors; after which a jury was sworn, and the indictment read.
The first witness called was Mr. Richard Frost, a publican, who kept the Dog and Duck. The first part of his testimony related merely to the fact of the death of Mr. Blight. He stated, that on the morning of the 23rd of September last, he was sent for by the prisoner, in consequence of the deceased having been killed by a pistol-shot: he went, and found him leaning on his hands and wounded.
Mr. Astley Cooper said he was called in to the assistance of Mr. Blight. Upon examining him he found he had received a wound near the navel, and another in the groin. He observed that they were gun-shot wounds; and as the body of the deceased was considerably inflated, he pronounced them mortal: he observed the bowels coming through the wounds. The next morning, at seven o’clock, Patch came to him, said the deceased was in extreme pain, and wished to know whether anything could be done for him. The witness told him he feared there could not; but he rose and went to him, and found him in a very swollen state. He promised to return in the afternoon with a physician. He went to town, and came back with Dr. Barrington; but Mr. Blight had been dead about three quarters of an hour. He had not the smallest doubt that the wounds were the occasion of his death.
Richard Frost was again called up to speak to the firing of the gun. He stated that on Thursday, the 19th, “there was a report of the firing of a gun at Mr. Blight’s house;” he went out to ascertain the cause, but did not perceive any person coming from the premises; and he was in a situation in which, had the person who fired it attempted to make his escape, he must have observed him; it was about eight o’clock in the evening, and it was dark; but he was near enough to have seen any one run away, or climb the wall.
Miss Ann Davis and Miss Martha Davis, sisters, who happened to be walking by the premises in a different direction from the last witness, stated, that they also saw the flash, and heard the report of a gun, and must have seen any person attempting to escape; but all was quiet, and they concluded that the gun was fired by some one on the premises.
After this head of evidence, to establish that the gun fired on the Thursday preceding the death of Mr. Blight, was not by any stranger, but by the prisoner, witnesses were called to relate the circumstances which occurred on the 23rd.
Mr. Michael Wright stated that he was going past Mr. Blight’s house a little after eight, when he heard the report of a pistol in the house; and having become acquainted by the rumour of the former attempt, he was induced to go up to the house with a view to offer his assistance. He knocked for some time and was not admitted; but insisting on having the door opened, Patch made his appearance, and began informing him what a dreadful accident had happened. The witness was impatient at hearing this story; he thought that some means should be rather adopted to pursue the murderer, and recommended Patch to commission him to apply to Bow-street, as an inquiry taking place instantly after the assassination would most probably be attended with success. Patch seemed reluctant, and thought that no good effect could result from it. The witness therefore went away.
Hester Kitchener’s evidence applied to the two days. She stated that on the 19th she had been ordered by the prisoner to shut up the shutters of the house earlier than usual. Her master and mistress were then at Margate. At eight o’clock the prisoner sent her out for some oysters; and as she returned, she heard the report of a gun, but she did not see any one. When she saw Patch, he cried, “Oh, Hester, I have been shot at!” She rejoined, “Lord forbid!” They then looked for the ball, which she found. The witness continued to state that her master returned to town on the Monday morning; that in the evening he and the prisoner drank tea together in the back parlour, and afterwards had some grog. Her master was fatigued, heavy, and sleepy with his journey and the liquor; and Patch came down in a hurry to her in the kitchen, and complaining of a pain in his bowels, wanted a light to go into the yard. She gave it to him, as also a key of the counting-house, through which it was necessary he should pass. She heard him enter the back place and slam the door after him, and immediately after, she heard the report of a pistol. Her master ran down into the kitchen, exclaiming, “Oh, Hester, I am a dead man!” and supported himself upon the dresser. She ran up to shut the door; and as she was half-way down the passage, on her return, she heard Patch knocking violently for admittance. He asked what was the matter; she told him; on which he went down and offered his assistance. He asked the deceased if he knew of any one who could owe him a grudge? Mr. Blight answered, “No, as he was not at enmity with any man in the world.”
Mr. Christopher Morgan said that he was passing by when the fatal shot was fired; he went to the house, and saw Mr. Blight lying in a wounded situation, and recommended Mr. Patch, in the first instance, to search the premises all over. Patch told him to go and search an old ship that was off the wharf, as he had reason to think that the perpetrator might have escaped there; for he heard a noise in that direction on the night when the gun was previously fired; and he went, but found that the ship was lying at the distance of sixteen feet from the wharf; that it was low water: that from the top of the wharf to the mud was ten feet; that the soil was soft mud, and that any one who might attempt to escape that way must have been up to his middle. Besides, the mud did not bear the appearance of any one having passed through it; and he was, therefore, perfectly convinced that no one escaped over the wharf towards the water.
Six other persons, who happened to be in different directions leading from Mr. Blight’s house to the public roads, most distinctly proved, that when the shot was fired which killed Mr. Blight, everything was quiet on the outside of the premises; that there was no appearance of any person attempting to escape; and if there had been, that there was no possibility of his eluding observation.