During the confinement of this remarkable person on the charge of murder, he wrote an account of his own life, from which we learn that one of his ancestors had been high sheriff of Yorkshire, in the reign of king Edward the third; but the family, having been gradually reduced, his father occupied a humble station in life. The son, however, was sent to a school near Ripon, where he perfected himself in writing and arithmetic, and then went to London to officiate as clerk to a merchant.
After a residence of two years in town, he was seized with the small-pox, which left him in so weak a condition, that he went back to Yorkshire for the recovery of his health. On his recovery, he found it necessary to do something for immediate subsistence; and, accordingly engaged himself as usher to a boarding-school; but, not having been taught the learned languages in his youth, he was obliged to supply by industry what he had failed to obtain from neglect. Thus, while teaching writing and arithmetic, by employing all his leisure hours in the most intense study, he at length became an excellent Greek and Latin scholar. In the year 1734, he engaged to officiate as steward of an estate belonging to Mr. Norton, of Knaresborough; and while in this station he acquired a competent knowledge of the Hebrew. At this period he married, but was far from being happy in his matrimonial connection.
We shall now relate the circumstances which led to the commission of the crime which cost Aram his life. Daniel Clarke, a shoemaker at Knaresborough, after being married a few days, circulated a report that his wife was entitled to a considerable fortune, which he should soon receive. Hereupon, Aram and Richard Houseman, conceiving hopes of making advantage of this circumstance, persuaded Clarke to make an ostentatious show of his own riches, to induce his wife’s relations to give him that fortune of which he had boasted.
Clarke was easily induced to comply with a hint so agreeable to his own desires; on which he borrowed and bought on credit, a large quantity of silver plate, with jewels, watches, rings, &c. He told the persons of whom he purchased, that a merchant in London had sent him an order to buy such plate for exportation; and no doubt was entertained of his credit till his sudden disappearance in February, 1745, when it was imagined that he had gone abroad or to London, to dispose of his ill-acquired property.
When Clarke was possessed of these goods, Aram and Houseman determined to murder him, in order to share the booty; and on the night of the 8th of February, 1745, they persuaded Clarke to walk with them in the fields, in order to consult with them on the proper method to dispose of the effects.
On this plan they walked into a field, at a small distance from the town, by the name of St. Robert’s Cave. When they came into this field, Aram and Clarke went over a hedge towards the cave, and when they had got within six or seven yards of it, Houseman (by the light of the moon) saw Aram strike Clarke several times, and at length beheld him fall, but never saw him afterwards. This was the state of the affair, if Houseman’s testimony on the trial is to be credited.
The murderers, going home, shared Clarke’s ill-gotten treasure, the half of which Houseman concealed in his garden for a twelvemonth, and then took it to Scotland, where he sold it. In the mean time Aram carried his share to London, where he sold it to a Jew, and then engaged himself as an usher at an academy in Piccadilly; where, in the intervals of his duty in attending to scholars, he made himself master of the French language, and acquired some knowledge of Arabic and other eastern tongues.
After this he was usher at other schools in different parts of the kingdom; but as he did not correspond with his friends in Yorkshire, it was presumed that he was dead. The sudden disappearance of Clarke had long been forgotten; but, in the year 1758, as a man was digging for limestone near St. Robert’s Cave, he found the bones of a human body, and a conjecture hereupon arose that they were the remains of Clarke, who, it was now presumed, might have been murdered.
Houseman, having been seen in company with Clarke a short time before his disappearance, was apprehended on suspicion; and, on his examination, giving but too evident signs of his guilt, he was committed to York castle. The bones of the deceased being shown to him, he denied that they were those of Clarke, but directed to the precise spot where he said they were deposited, and where they were accordingly found. The skull, being fractured, was preserved, to be produced in evidence on the trial.
Soon after Houseman was committed to the castle of York, it was discovered that Aram lived at Lynn, in Norfolk; on which, a warrant was granted for taking him into custody; and, being apprehended while instructing some young gentlemen at a school, he was conveyed to York, and likewise committed to the castle. At the Lent assizes following, the prosecutors were not ready with their evidence; on which he was remanded till the summer assizes, when he was brought to trial.