of their relations had drawn them. During the sitting of the jury, two of the wounded men died, and upon their decease being communicated to the crowd outside, they gave vent to new expressions of grief. The body of Lieutenant Bennett lay in an upper chamber of the inn, and was a melancholy spectacle. The unfortunate gentleman was about twenty-five years of age, and had just obtained leave of absence, when the news of the riots reaching the barracks, he applied for and obtained permission to join the party.
At the conclusion of the proceedings before the coroner and the magistrates, the following prisoners were committed for trial, viz.:—Thomas Mears, alias Tyler, (the cousin of the murdered constable); Alexander Foad; William Nutting; William Price; James Goodwin; William Wills; William Spratt; John Spratt; John Silk; Edward Curling; Samuel Edwards; Sarah Culver; Thomas Myers, alias Edward Wraight; Charles Hills; Thomas Ovenden; William Couchworth; Thomas Griggs; William Foad; and Richard Foreman.
The names of those rioters who were killed, were, William Courtenay; William Burford; George Griggs; George Blanchard; William Foster; Phineas Harvey; Edward Wraight (the elder); William Rye; George Bonchett; and Stephen Baker.
The prisoners Mears, Alexander Foad, and Couchworth, were wounded. Foad was a respectable farmer, cultivating a farm of about sixty acres; and it was a matter of some surprise that he should have been implicated in so extraordinary a proceeding. The prisoner Sarah Culver was a woman about forty years of age, of respectable connexions, and possessing considerable property. She had been a devoted follower of Courtenay; but it was presumed that she, like him, was insane. The other prisoners were all persons of inferior station.
On Tuesday the 5th of June, the greater number of those who had been killed at the riot were interred in the churchyard of Herne Hill. Amongst these was Courtenay; and the funeral attracted a vast assemblage to the place. Considerable apprehensions were entertained lest the mob should use any violence to prevent the burial of their late fanatical leader, for many had been heard to declare their firm belief that he would “rise again;” but the whole affair passed off quietly, and no new outrage was committed. The bodies of the other deceased persons were buried by their friends.
At the Maidstone assizes, on Thursday the 9th of August, 1838, the trial of the prisoners commenced before Lord Denman.
The first persons who were tried were Mears and Price, and after a long investigation they were found guilty of being parties to the murder of Mears the constable, but recommended to mercy, on the ground of their having been led astray by their infatuation in favour of Courtenay.
Sentence of death was at once passed upon the prisoners, but they were informed that their lives would be spared.
On the next day, William Wills, Thomas Myers, alias Edward Wraight, Alex. Foad, Edward Curling, Thomas Griggs, Richard Foreman, Charles Hills, and William Foad, were indicted for the murder of Lieutenant Bennett; but upon their being arraigned they pleaded guilty, upon the same understanding as that which existed in the former case, namely, that their lives should be spared. The prosecutions in the cases of the other prisoners were not proceeded with, and they were discharged from custody.