me was with a hope that he would receive a pardon, or on the faith of the proclamation; but, if so, it was contrary to my express caution. Mr. John Simes, Governor of Derby gaol, was put into the box to be cross-examined for the prisoner Garside. The prisoner Garside sent to tell me that he wished to communicate something respecting a murder. He told me it was the murder of Mr. Ashton; but he declined to say any any more until he should see a magistrate. Dr. Forrester did see him in my presence, and when his clerk, Mr. Whiston, was not present. The prisoner asked Dr. Forrester if he could be pardoned. The Doctor and I both said we could say nothing about it until we saw the Hue and Cry, which was brought and read to the prisoner. He refused to say anything more at that time, until he should see the Stockport magistrates. Dr. Forrester ordered me to take Garside off the treadmill, to separate him from the other prisoners. The statement made to Dr. Forrester was made after hearing the Hue and Cry read. The statement of William Mosley, the accomplice, was then put in and read; it was in substance the same as his viva voce exantination. The learned judge cautioned the jury that this document was not any evidence against Garside, and would not be evidence at all against any one, except to explain the above observation of the prisoner Joseph Mosley, which was made with reference to it. Mr. Lockett, the magistrate, was recalled, and proved the confession made by Garside at Derby, which was put in aud read. In many of the minor circumstances it tallied with the statement of William Mosley, the accomplice, but differed from it in many material ones; among others, it stated, that it was Joseph Mosley who fired the shot; that the murder had been instigated, planned, and paid for by the Spinners' Union; and that Joseph Mosley said he would shoot all the Ashtons if the unions would give him 10. a-piece for doing so. Mr. James Ashton: I am brother of the deceased. On the 3rd of January, 1831, I had the superintendence of the Apthorne Mills, and my brother that of the Woodley Mills. I was in the habit of going along the private road from our house to the Apthorne Mills, about 7 o'clock every evening; but, on the day in question, having gone out on a visit, I requested my brother to take my place at the Apthorne Mill. There was great excitement then in the neighbourhood, in consequence of some dispute about wages between the master-manufacturers and the spinners. There was a turnout of the men, and I discharged one man for belonging to the Union. This was the case for the prosecution. The prisoner Garside, when called upon for his defence, said, that he had been told by Dr. Forrester that he would obtain not only a pardon for the offence for which he was then suffering imprisonment, but for the murder also, besides getting a part of the reward, and that Dr. Forrester told him the proclamation was quite sufficient for him. He also said that Dr. Forrester was kept away from the trial on purpose, or he would admit this fact if he were in court. The prisoner further stated that conversations to a similar effect had passed between him and Mr. Sims, the governor of Derby gaol. Mr. Sims, being recalled, entirely denied the truth of this statement. The prisoner, Joseph Mosley, put in a written defence, denying any participation in, or a knowledge of, the crime; and charging many crimes and felonies both upon his brother William and the prisoner Garside, the latter of whom he said would not hesitate to swear away any man's life for drink. He also made a long statement respecting the nature and objects of Mr. Barratt's visits to his brother, William Mosley, while in gaol, and requested that a prisoner, now in gaol, should be called to speak to the facts. Enoch Bradley was then brought into the dock, and he gave a long and circumstantial account of the conversations he had at various times had with William Mosley, since the latter has been in gaol. Among other things which he had been told by William Mosley was, that Mr. Barratt had got him put into the condemned cell upon his arrival at Chester Castle, and told him he should continue there till the assizes, if he did not make a statement; that about 8 o'clock in the evening he was removed from the condemned cell to the hospital, and told by Barratt that he should have every thing he wanted, if he would make a statement; that he was again put into the condemned cell on the Saturday, and told by Barratt to make a statement, to which he (Barratt) would help him by suggestions. Witness observed to William Mosley that he had not been well kept by Barratt, as he had been fourteen days in the hospital, and had had only hospital fare; upon which William Mosley replied, that he had alreaty received 17s. from Mr. Barratt, and might have as much more as he wanted by asking for it; adding, that as his money way nearly done (expended), he should write, if Mr. Barratt did not come again soon. Witness further stated that William Mosley had told him that Mr. Barratt promised him (Mosley) a share of the reward offered for the conviction of the murderers of Mr. Ashton, and 207. out of his (Barratt's) own pocket. In cross-examination, on the voir dire, by the Attorney General, Bradley stated that he was in custody to be tried at these assizes on a charge of stealing silk; and that he had been twice before in Chester gaol, once under sentence of imprisonment for six months. Roger Flinn, a prisoner in the gaol under sentence for a misdemeanour, who was in the hospital at the same time with William Mosley, and to whom Bradley had referred as knowing something of the conversations between him and William Mosley, was ordered to be brought up by the learned judge, but upon being questioned, he entirely denied having any knowledge of the matter. William Mosley, the accomplice, was again recalled by the learned judge, and he declared that the story of his conversations with Bradley, as stated by that witness, was untrue in every particular. Mr. John Dunstan, the governor of Chester Castle, was then called by the Attorney General, to explain the statement respecting the condemned cell. Mr. Dunstan being sworn, stated that William Mosley was placed in the condemned cell on his arrival, merely for the purpose of keeping him separate from the others, and until another arrangement could be made respecting him, there not being at that moment more than two yards in the prison for prisoners before trial. Mr. Baron Parke summed up the evidence. The jury, after having retired from the box for a few minutes, found that Garside was the actual murderer, and returned a general verdict of guilty against both the prisoners, who instantly fainted in the dock. Mr. Baron Parke immediately passed sentence of death. In consequence of the abolition of the Welsh judicatures, a question arose, whether it was the duty of the sheriff of the city of Chester or of the sheriff of the county, to see the judgment of death carried into execution. Both having refused to act, the prisoners were respited; and it appearing that the decision of the question between the two sheriffs might lead to greater delay than was at first anticipated, the prisoners were, in Michaelmas term, brought up before the court of King's Bench; and in obedience to the order of that court, the sentence was carried into execution by the marshall. MIDLAND CIRCUIT, DERBY, George Maltby, George Sutton, Joseph Baker, James Goodwin, John Bunting, Thomas Bagshaw, William Stone, Charles Harrison, Daniel Harrison, Isaac Goodwin, Richard Sutton, Jonathan Rowland, Samuel Turner, Abraham Beresford, Abraham Doxey, Benjamin Marsden, and Thomas Skidmore, were arraigned on the coroner's inquisition for the mur. der of Francis Taylor, Isaac Bagshaw, and Thomas Wager, by suffocation in a mine at Ashford, in the month of September 1833. All the prisoners pleaded "not guilty." The grand jury having ignored the bill as against the last named seven of the above prisoners, a verdict of acquittal was taken for them by consent of the counsel for the prosecution, and they were ordered to be discharged. The remaining ten were then put upon their trial, having been first arraigned on an indictment for the murder of Bagshaw. The indictment in substance charged the prisoners with having, on the morning of the 2nd of September last, feloniously, wilfully, and of malice aforethought, made a fire of straw in a certain mine called "the Great Red Soil Mine," situated at Ashford, in the parish of Bakewell, and put into the fire a quantity of oil of coal, sulphur, and other combustibles, whereby they caused noxious fumes, smoke, and vapour to arise in the said mine, by which the said Isaac Bagshaw, upon descending into the said mine for the purpose of entering upon his lawful business therein, was suffocated and murdered. The prisoners pleaded "not guilty. William Wager said he was a farmer and mine-proprietor, living in the Peak of Derbyshire: he is not a proprietor either of the Red Soil or the Magpie mines. He was never down the Magpie mine; but is well acquainted with the other, having gone down into it as a grand juror on the 8th of July last. It is the custom, when there is a dispute about cross veins in these lead mines, to summon a jury of mine-proprietors or miners, and make a presentment to them in the nature of a bill of indictment, which they find or not upon their own inspection and examination of the mine. Their finding is sometimes attended with a fine upon the trespasser. The principal shafts of the Red Soil Mine were the founder shaft, which was the one by which the lead ore was first discovered; the climbing shaft, by which the miners descended and ascended; the engine shaft, by which the ore was wound up to the surface, and which went down perpendicularly to the waggon-gait, where the ore was collected in the mine, and whence it was conveyed to the surface by the engine shaft. The founder and climbing shafts also reached the surface, but the founder did not descend far, and the climbing shaft was not perpendicular. The latter consisted of a main shaft, and minor shafts, called sumps, leading from it. The climbing shaft of th Red Soil was about twenty-four fathoms deep; the sump leading down directly from it was about sixteen fathoms, and another sump leading down from that again was about twenty fathoms more. There were other sumps, sets-off or projections from these. The depth of the mine altogether was about sixty-seven fathoms. The people in the Magpie had worked up to the waggongait of the Red Soil mine, and made an opening into it. The bed of the Red Soil waggon-gait was at least sixty yards from the perpendicular line of the founder shaft of the Magpie mine. John Hempstock said, he was one of the Red Soil miners. He had been down on the Friday and Saturday preceding the 2nd of September. There was a great quantity of smoke in the shafts and sumps. The waggon-gait was pulled in, or had fallen in, on the Monday, the 2nd of September, when he next went down. The smoke and fumes were then so strong, that he called out to the other men to retreat or they would be killed. Isaac Bagshaw, the deceased, cried out "I am killed already." Witness never heard him speak another word. This was about nine o'clock on Monday. Witness on getting down to the waggon-gait felt faint, and threw himself on his face. Some person threw down water through the shaft, which brought great relief. When he somewhat recovered from his faint, he heard groans from some of the men above him, and as soon as he was able, he rolled into a bucket, and was drawn up the engine-shaft, in the same manner as the ore would be. Between eleven and twelve o'clock on the preceding day, witness observed four men let down two bags, some bottles, and a bundle of straw, into the Magpie mine. He knew none of them. On the same day, he met the prisoner, John Bunting, and Richard Sutton (one of those just discharged), in a field near the mine, shortly after he had observed the straw and bags let down. He entered into conversation with them, and said, " You see you have not killed us yet; our chaps were down on Saturday, and heard you blowing and blasting away." Bunting replied, "Ye are hard chaps to kill; ye, devils like, would stand fire and smoke, or anything. Our physic is not strong enough yet for ye." Samuel Houseley corroborated the testimony of the last witness. When he and some of his comrades went down the Red Soil mine, on Friday or Saturday, he saw a hole in the upper part of the waggon-gait large enough for a man's body to pass through. He heard Slack (a man not in custody), who was one of the Magpie miners, and other persons, at work on the other side of the hole. Witness called out to them, to know what they were at, observing, at the same time, that the hole would now decide the dispute. He saw Slack make a hole in the rock with an auger, put powder into it, sod it up, and apply a match to it. Slack and his companions then retreated. Witness feeling that himself and his comrades could not well get out of the way, and were in danger of being killed by the explosion, rushed up to the hole, thrust his arm and part of his body through it, seized the lighted match, and brought it away before it communicated with the powder. The match set the sleeve of witness's jacket on fire; and a spark also fell in the straw on the floor, on which the miners used to sit, and the straw took fire. Witness was for a moment greatly alarmed, but he immediately turned his face on the straw, and extinguished the blaze. The witness stated the expedient to which he had recourse for the purpose of extinguishing the fire, which provoked smothered laughter through out the court. Other witnesses were called, who gave an account of the state of the mine on Friday, Saturday, and and Sunday. One witness, named Wood, was amongst those who went down on Monday morning. The miners relieved each other-one set working for about six hours, and then the other for an equal period more. The smoke with which the shafts and sumps had been filled on the two preceding days, did not appear on the Sunday night. The shafts appeared to be clear on the Monday morning. As the men were going down there was a strong smell of sulphur. Some of the men had gone down before witness, and he found two or three groaning and fainting at the foot of the first sump. He felt faint himself, but he recovered a little, and was able to bring up three or four of the men, one by one, strapped on his shoulders. In the confusion, he could not recollect whether or not he was assisted by any one, but he believed he could not have done what he did unassisted. He then described, as already mentioned, the situation in which Bagshaw was found. Several of the men were near being suffocated. The stench appeared to have been caused by oil of coal and sulphur. These witnesses denied, on crossexamination, that fires had been kindled by them to smoke out the Magpie people; but they admitted that, for several days, each party had been guarding the possession of their own mine. Thomas Smith stated, that he saw the prisoners Sutton and Maltby, come out of the Magpie mine about one o'clock on the Monday. On his cross-examination, he said he was in the Red Soil mine on the Friday. He had been working in that mine for about fourteen days previously. Mr. Knowles, the overlooker, told the witness, and others of the men, on that Friday morning, that there was straw enough below, and they might fire it as long as they could stand it. The straw had been put down for the purpose of smoking out the Magpie men. Housely, and sere |