The prisoner was indicted at the ensuing assizes, when the offence having been brought home to him by the witnesses for the prosecution, he was called on for his defence. He then addressed the Court as follows:—
“I beg leave to assure your lordship that I never bore Mr. Chivers any malice whatever. On Saturday morning I had been employed in digging some ground, and with my spade in my hand I went to the green-house to give it some air, and there I left my spade. I then went for some refreshment, at eleven o’clock in the morning, as was usual, and, on going into the kitchen, I saw the footman, of whom I asked how long it was since Mr. Chivers went out. I went into the garden, and to the green-house, into which I let a little more air, and, with my spade in my hand, I looked at a vine. I saw Mr. Chivers, told him that I had finished my digging, and said I was very sorry to have left so good a place, and now to be turned off. A few words passed between Mr. Chivers and me; and the last expression he used was, ‘You scoundrel, I will break your skull.’ He shook his cane over me; he made an attempt to strike at me, when I, turning aside, escaped; he again endeavoured to strike, and I avoided the blow. After this he followed me up with his cane, and I then had, as I before said, a spade in my hand. I raised the spade, and to my surprise struck him.
“Immediately afterwards I went into the green-house, with the full intention of taking away my own life, but I had not sufficient courage to do it. I then went into the kitchen, and called Henry, who said ‘What is the matter?’ and I replied, ‘Good Lord, I have struck my master, and he fell!’ I went out towards Clapham, and the first persons I saw were a butler and a gardener. I went to the garden of Mr. Robert Thornton, and asked for Mr. Dixon, who is one of the gardeners. They said he was cutting a vine; but they went to him, and Mr. Dixon sent me word that I might come to him. I then informed Mr. Dixon of what had happened, and upon his advice surrendered myself into custody.”
Witnesses having been called, who gave the prisoner an excellent character, the jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to be executed on the following Monday in the usual form. He was, however, twice respited, and eventually ordered to be transported for life.
JOHN HOLLOWAY AND OWEN HAGGERTY,
EXECUTED FOR MURDER.
THE fatal accident which happened on the spot and at the moment of the execution of these men, by which more than forty people lost their lives, and many more were terribly bruised, will cause their memory, as well as their crimes, to remain a dreadful warning to many generations. Their whole case was attended with singular and awful circumstances. Of their guilt many entertained doubts, which are not yet entirely removed, although no further discovery has been made respecting the horrid deed; and as lately as the year 1813, a man named Ward was indicted for the same murder, but acquitted. Their conviction rested, certainly, upon the evidence of a wretch as base as themselves, who stated himself to have been their accomplice; but the public indignation against them was excited to such a pitch, that it is scarcely to be wondered at that a jury pronounced them guilty.
On the 6th of November, 1802, Mr. John Cole Steele, who kept the Lavender Warehouse in Catharine-street, Strand, was murdered, with much barbarity, on Hounslow Heath, and his pockets rifled of their contents. The murderers escaped; and, though rewards were offered for their apprehension, no discovery was made.
Every search had been made by the officers of the police after them; several loose characters had been apprehended on suspicion, but discharged on examination; and all hopes had been given up of tracing the murderers, when a circumstance occurred, about four years afterwards, which led to the apprehension of John Holloway and Owen Haggerty.—A man of the name of Benjamin Hanfield, who had been convicted, at the Old Bailey, of grand larceny, in stealing a pair of shoes, was sentenced to seven years’ transportation, and was conveyed on board a hulk at Portsmouth, to await his departure for New South Wales; but having been taken with a severe illness, and being tortured in his mind by the apparent recollection of a murder, about which he constantly raved, he said he wished to make a discovery before he died. A messenger was immediately despatched to the police magistrates at Bow-street, to communicate the circumstance, and an officer was sent to bring him before them. When he was brought on shore, they were obliged to wait several days, during which his illness would not permit his removal. On his arrival in town, he made a full disclosure of the circumstances attending the murder of Mr. Steele, and the magistrates having sent him, in custody of an officer, to Hounslow Heath, he there pointed out the fatal spot where the murder was perpetrated. As his evidence implicated Haggerty and Holloway, measures were taken to apprehend them, and, after a long search, they were taken into custody. Several private examinations of all the parties took place. Hanfield was admitted king’s evidence, and the public once more cherished a hope that the murderers would meet the punishment they deserved.
Monday, February 9, 1807, being the day appointed for the final examination of the prisoners, they were brought before Mr. Moser, at Worship-street Police-office.