Hunt, to save his own neck from the halter, confessed that he knew where the body was, and went with four men in a hackney coach to a bridge on the Elstree Road, near which was a deep pond by the side of the road. In this pond the body of Weare was found tied in a sack, with stones to keep it down.
| POND IN WHICH THE BODY OF MR. WEARE WAS FOUND. FROM THE ‘OBSERVER,’ NOV. 10, 1823. |
Thurtell, Probert, and Hunt were tried at Hertford on January 6, 1824. Probert was admitted King’s evidence, and so escaped for that time, but he was afterwards hung at the Old Bailey for horse-stealing. Thurtell and Hunt were condemned to death, but only Thurtell was hung, Hunt being reprieved on the morning of execution, and transported for life. In those days prize-fighting was in much favour, and a great fight was coming off between Spring and Langham, two noted pugilists. To show the ruffianly and impenitent character of Thurtell, it is related that he said, a few hours before his execution, ‘It is perhaps wrong in my situation; but I own I should like to read Pierce Egan’s account of the great fight yesterday.’
Some of the incidents of the trial were appalling, others ludicrous. The production of the weapon with which the murder was committed, stained and rusted with blood, made every one shudder except the prisoners. The oft-quoted reason for a man being respectable ‘because he kept a horse and shay’ occurred during this trial; and when Probert’s cook was asked whether the supper at Gill’s Hill Cottage was postponed, she answered, ‘No; it was pork.’[4]
The murder of Mr. Weare was committed on October 24, and discovered a few days afterwards. On November 10 the Observer published five illustrations of the murder:—1. Probert’s cottage and garden. 2. The scene of the murder in Gill’s Hill Lane. 3. The pond in which the body of Weare was found. 4. Front view (from the road) of Probert’s cottage. 5. The parlour and the couch on which Hunt slept. On December 7 the Observer published a view of the interior of the Crown Court at Hertford at the moment the prisoners were brought up to plead; and, having found that the public had eagerly purchased the illustrations already issued, the editor announced the publication of two sheets with additional engravings on the occasion of the trial:—‘The Trials of the prisoners at Hertford having been put off till Tuesday, Jan. 6, the publication of the intended Supplement of this Journal, containing the plates illustrative of the facts to be disclosed in the evidence, has been deferred till Sunday, January 11, on which day Two Sheets instead of one will be published. Booksellers, Postmasters, &c., are requested to give their orders through their respective Agents in London, as no papers whatever are on any occasion forwarded through the Publisher.’ Accordingly, at the appointed time two sheets came out, containing the cuts already enumerated together with three fresh ones, the latter being the stable-yard of Probert’s cottage with the murderers conveying the body by the light of a lantern to the stable; a front view of the cottage, showing the murderers dragging the body to the pond; and a ground-plan of the country round the scene of the murder. The conductors of the Journal appear to have had some misgivings as to the good taste of their proceedings, but were unable to resist the temptation of a large and profitable sale. The engravings are thus introduced to the reader:—‘The unparalleled interest which has been created in the public mind by the mysterious circumstances attending the death of Mr. Weare has induced us, with a view to the gratification of our readers, to use every exertion in our power, not only to give a faithful and copious Report of the Trial of the persons charged with this most foul and atrocious deed, but, with the assistance of competent Artists, to obtain such Plates as appear to us best calculated to illustrate the detail of circumstances disclosed in the evidence before the jury. We are aware that by some these illustrations will be condemned as inconsistent with good taste; and we are ready to acknowledge that on all occasions their adoption would be extremely injudicious. In a case, however, where the feelings and the curiosity of the public have been so much excited, and where so singular and ardent an avidity has been displayed to obtain every possible light upon a subject so interesting, we trust that those who may entertain, perhaps, a well-founded objection to our plan, will, for a moment, grant us their indulgence, and permit us to meet the wishes of persons who may not be so fastidious as themselves. The strongest argument which we can adduce in favour of the continued pursuit of this plan—is the fact, that of three of the plates which we now feel it necessary to republish, many thousand impressions have been already sold, and yet the number, though high, has been insufficient to supply the continued demand. The necessity imposed on us, however, for breaking up our formes, forced us to refer the recent applicants to the present publication, which will be found to contain the most minute and correct particulars of everything connected with this extraordinary affair.’
Then follows a long and minute description of all the plates, when it is stated, ‘For the sake of effect the artist has given all the views as they would appear in daylight; but, with the exception of Plate II. (finding the body of Weare in the pond), the scenes ought to have been represented as at night.’ Some of the engravings illustrating the murder of Mr. Weare appeared in the Morning Chronicle the day before their publication in the Observer, and they were also published simultaneously in the Englishman, which appears to have been in substance another edition of the Observer without the advertisements. The name of W. Hughes is attached to them as the engraver.
The Observer was loudly condemned for publishing the Weare and Thurtell illustrations, and it did not for some time bring out any more engravings; but this was probably owing more to the commercial depression prevailing at the time than to the strictures that had been passed upon newspaper morality.
About this time Bell’s Life came into Mr. Clement’s hands, and henceforth it shared, with the Morning Chronicle and the Englishman, in the illustrations prepared for the Observer. It had, however, a distinct series of illustrations of its own, which was continued for several years. But before describing them I must refer to one or two characteristic engravings which appeared in Bell’s Life in its early days. On November 28, 1824, the first large woodcut was published, representing a prize-fight on a raised stage, and entitled the ‘Tip Top Milling at Warwick.’ According to the account accompanying the engraving, this prize-fight was a most brutal exhibition, without any display of what boxers call ‘science’—a mere exchange of hard blows, ending in one of the combatants being carried insensible from the stage. The coming fight was made known far and wide, so that when the day arrived vehicles from all parts of the country brought hundreds of spectators to the scene. The fight took place, openly and without fear of interruption, on the race-course at Warwick, the grand stand being crammed with spectators, and a ring of waggons, on which clustered crowds of eager gazers, surrounded the stage. This is all shown in the engraving in Bell’s Life; and the different objects in the background, such as the church, the keep of Warwick Castle, the cemetery, &c., are pointed out by figures of reference with the most conscientious care. There is a very long account of the battle, couched in language only understood by members of the ‘fancy.’