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I shall, as I have promised, avoid repetition; and, when you have read Mr. Gurney's statement for the prosecution, which very perspicuously details the case, as afterwards supported by evidence, and Probert's wife's hard-wrung words; I shall call no other witnesses for none other will be necessary to satisfy the reader. After these I shall but speak of what I saw: I shall but turn my eye to that green table, which is now and will ever be before me, and say what therean I beheld! I shall but, in the good impressive words of the crier to the jury, "look upon the prisoners ;" and describe that one strong desperate man playing the hero of the tragic trial, as at a play; and show his wavering weak comrade, a baby's Turpin! visibly wasting by his side, in the short space of eight-and-forty hours! You want to see the trial you say, not to read of it: Oh! that I could draw from the life with the pea (your pen and ink drawings are the only things to make old masters of you)! Then would I trace such lines as should make the readers breathless while they read, and render a Newgate-Calendarian immortal! It was, in spite of what a great authority has said, an unimprovable horror!

You remember how we parted when I left your hospitable table, to take my place in the Hertford coach, on the cold evening of the 5th of December; and how you enjoined me to bear a wary eye on the morrow's trial. I promised you fair.-Well. I had strange companions in the coach with me, a good-looking middle-aged baronet, who was going to Hertford upon speculation; a young foolish talkative reporter who was travelling with all the importance of a Sunday newspaper encircling him, and who had a dirty shirt on his back, and a clean memorandum book tied up in his pocket handkerchief;-all his luggage And a gentleman of about thirty who was going to his house in Hoddesdon, never having heard of the trial! "not but what he had read something in the news about a baddish murder." We exchanged coach-conversation sparingly, and by fits, as usual. The Sunday press was on my side (the only time in my life), and the baronet sat pumping it slyly of all its watery gossip; while the Hoddesdon body, at the same time occasionally kept craftily hitting at the character of a person, whom he declared to have known abroad, and who bears the evil repute of lending his aid to our fellow traveller's paper. We dropped our fourth at Hoddesdon, and pretty well played dummy the rest of the journey.

The moment I arrived, I called upon the friend who was to give me a bed for the night; a gift which, on these occasions, innkeepers and housekeepers are by no means in the habit of indulging in; and I found him with a warm fire, and a kettle singing, aye, more humanely than Hunt. I soon despatched the timely refreshment of tea, for during it, I learnt the then strange news

of Probert having been admitted evidence for the crown, and of his being at that very moment before the grand jury undergoing his examination. I hastened to the Town Hall (a poor pinched-up building, scarcely big enough to try a well-grown petty-larceny in) and found there the usual assize scene; a huddled cold crowd on a dim stone staircase,—a few men of authority, with their staves and long coats, thence called javelin men; patient oglers of hardhearted doors, red cloaks, plush breeches, and velveteen jackets-and with all these the low hum of country curiosity! On approaching the door of the grand jury room, wherein stood that bad but not bold man, Probert, I met with a legal friend under whose wing I was to be conducted into the court. He was in some way concerned in the trial; and the first words he accosted me with were Well!-Probert is in that room!" The dimness of the place helped his sudden words, and I looked at the door that parted me from this wretch, as though it were a glass, through which I could see Probert himself darkly. I waited,-the door opened for the eighth of an inchthen arose the murmur and cry, "Probert is coming out!" No! It was only to tell some inveterate tapster that he could not be admitted. Another pause-and in the middle of an indifferent conversation, my friend exclaimed-"There-there goes Probert!" And I saw an unwieldy bulk of a man sauntering fearlessly along (he was now safe!) and sullenly proceeding to descend the stairs. I rushed to the balustrade-and saw this man, who had seen all go step by step quietly down,-having just sealed the fate of his vicious associates (but his associates still) and returning, with his miserable life inflicted upon him, to clanking irons and a prison bed. He was dressed in black, and had gloves on:-But through all these, I saw the creature of Gill's Hill Lane I saw the miscreant that had held the lantern to the rifled pocket, and the gashed throat, and I shuddered as I turned away from the staircase vision!

On this night the lovers of sleep were sadly crossed in their love,-for there was a hum of men throughout the streets all the dead-long night,-broken only by the harsher grating of arriving chaises and carriages, which ceased not grinding the gravelled road and vexing the jaded ear till morning. The inn-keepers and their servants were up all night, looking out for their prey ;-and very late into the night, servant-maids with their arms in their aprons, and sauntering lads, kept awake beyond nine by other men's guilt, were at doors and corners talking of Thurtell and his awful pair! Gapiog witnesses too were idling about Hertford town, dispersing with potent beers and evil spirits, as well as they were able, the scanty wits and frail memories which Providence had allotted to them. -The buzz of conversation, amidst all and in all places, was a low murmur, but of

"Thurtell "-" Miss Noyes"-" Probert" -"Mrs. Probert "-and "Hunt." You heard one of these names from a window or it came from under a gateway,-or over a wall, or from a post, or it met you at a corner! these vice-creatures were on all lips-and in no hour betwixt the evening and the morning was their infamy neglected to be tolled upon the night!-The gaol, to which I went for a few minutes, looked solemn in the silence and the gloom; -and I could not but pierce with my mind those massive walls, and see the ironed men restless within; Thurtell rehearsing his part for the morning's drama, with the love of infamous fame stimulating him to correctness ;-(for I was told that evening that he was to make a great display ;) and Hunt cowering in his cell, timorous of fate, while Probert, methought was steeping his hideous senses in the forgetfulness of sleep-for when such men are safe, they can sleep as though their hearts were as white as innocence or virtue !

We were up early in the morning, and breakfasted by candlelight ;-with a sandwich in my pocket I sallied forth to join my legal friend, who had long been dressed, was sitting at his papers and tea, in all the restlessness of a man whose mind defies and spurns at repose when any thing remains to be accomplished.-We were in court a little after eight o'clock-but as you know that on this day the trial was postponed, I shall not here describe the scene, but shall reserve my description of the prisoners for the actual day of trial, to which I shall immediately proceed.-I should tell you that I saw Mrs. Probert for a few minutes on this day, and was surprised at her mode of conducting herself, having heard, as I knew she had, of her husband's safety.

Immediately that the trial was adjourned I secured a place in the coach, and returned to London. The celebrated Mr. Noet was on the roof, and my companions inside were an intelligent artist and craniologist, who had been sketching and examining the heads of the prisoners, and a tradesman from Oxford-street, who had been frightened out of his wits and Hertford, by hearing that pictures of Gill's Hill Cottage were actionable, for he had brought "some very good likenesses of the Pond to sell," and been obliged to take them out of the window of the Seven Compasses, almost the very moment they were placed there!From this December day to the 5th of January-all the agitation of the public press ceased-and murder had no tongue until the day on which it was privileged to speak.

To the day of trial therefore I come; for I compelled my curiosity to slumber the ordered sleep of the newspapers-I arrived at Hertford about the same hour as on the former occasion. I drank tea over again, sat again by the fire. The former day seemed but a rehearsal of this-and I as anxiously looked for the morning.

Throughout the night Hertford was as sleepless as before. The window at the Plough was as luminous as usual;-the Half Moon swarmed with post-chaises and drab-coats ;—and the Seven Stars-the Six Compasses--the Three Tuns--and the Horse and Magpie, abounded with tippling witnesses, all dressed in their Sunday clothes, and contriving to cut a holiday out of the remnant of the murder. "Pipes," as Lord Byron says, were every-where,"in the liberal air."

With great and laborious difficulty I made my way into court about half past seven in the morning. The doors were sadly ordered, for instead of the wholesome guardianship of Ruthven, Upson, and Bishop, men who know how to temper a crowd with kind severity, we had great countryconstable-bumpkins with long staves, which they handsomely exercised upon those excrescences in which they themselves were deficient, the heads of the curious!-Such bumping of skulls I never before witnessed. Gall would have loved them. One or two sensible officers might have kept the entrances free and quiet:-but tumult had it all her own way.

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The Court was crowded to excess. appeared to be more closely and inconve niently packed than on the first day, and even at this early hour the window panes, from the great heat, were streamed and streaming with wet. The reporters were closely hedged in, and as a person observed to me, had scarcely room to write even short hand.

Before the entrance of the judge, the clerk of the arraigns beckoned Mr.Wilson, the humane jailer of Hertford prison, to the table, and inquired of him whether the fetters were removed from the prisoners : Mr. Wilson replied that they were not, as he did not consider it advisable to free them without orders. The clerk recommended the removal, and Mr. Wilson, apparently against his own will, consented,

declaring that he thought it "dangerous.” Mr. Andrews, Thurtell's counsel, said impressively there was no danger-and the jailer retired to take the chains from his charge. I had heard that Thurtell meditated and even threatened violence against Hunt, and indeed Hunt himself apprehended some attack from his tremendous companion;-but the former had evidently been counselled as to the effect of such vengeance being wreaked, and doubtless he had himself come to the conviction that revenge was a profitless passion,-and particularly so at such a time!

At eight o'clock the trumpets of the javelin men brayed the arrival of Mr. Justice Park, who shortly afterwards entered the court and took his seat:-as usual the court was colloquial respecting the heat, and the crowd,-and the sitting down of tall men,-to the loss of much of that imposing dignity with which the ermine and trumpets invariably surround a judge. Sir Allan is a kind but a warm tempered man;

and few things distract him so much as the disorder occasioned by full-grown persons standing up, or by unwieldy men in any position. I really think he would not be able to endure even a standing order.

The pressure was great at this early time. Only one space seemed left, and who, to be ever so comfortably accommodated, would have filled it? The dock was empty! Some short time was lost in the removing of the irons from the prisoners, and although the order to "place the prisoners at the bar" had long been given, the anxious stretch of the crowd to behold them was not relieved by their presence.

The situation in which I stood commanded the entrance to the dock, which was from the back part of it: it was lost in gloom, and seemed like the dark portal to a condemned cell. At length, the approach of the prisoners could be discerned. Hunt entered first and took his place at the bar; and Thurtell immediately followed. They slightly bowed to the court. Every motion of Thurtell seemed watched and guarded at first; but when from his attention to his papers, it was clear that he had no idea of violence, his actions were less observed by his keepers.

Hunt was dressed in black, with a white cravat and a white handkerchief, carefully disposed, so as to give the appearance of a white under waistcoat. There was a foppery in the adjustment of this part of his dress, which was well seconded by the affected carriage of his head and shoulders, and by the carefully disposed disorder of his hair. It was combed forward over his ears from the back part of his head, and divided nicely on his forehead, so as to allow one lock to lie half-curled upon it. His forehead itself was white, feminine, and unmeaning; indeed his complexion was extremely delicate, and looked more so from the raven blackness of his hair. Nothing could be weaker than his features, which were small and regular, but destitute of the least manly expression. His eye was diminutive and unmeaning, indeed coldly black and poor. He gazed around at the crowded court, with the look and the attitude of a person on the stage just about to sing. Indeed the whole bearing of Hunt was such as to convince any person that even his baseness was not to be relied upon, that his self-regard was too deep to make him bear danger for his companions, or to contemplate death while safety could be purchased at any price!

Beside him stood the murderer-complete in frame, face, eye, and daring!-The contrast was singularly striking,-fatal indeed, to the opinion which it created of Thurtell. He was dressed in a plum-coloured frock coat, with a drab waistcoat and gilt buttons, and white corded breeches. His neck had a black stock on, which fitted as usual stiffly up to the bottom of the cheek and end of the chin, and which therefore pushed forward the flesh on this part of the face so as to give an additionally sullen

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weight to the countenance. The lower part of the face was unusually large,muscular, and heavy, and appeared to hang like a load to the head, and to make it drop like the mastiff's jowl. The upper lip was long and large, and the mouth had a severe and dogged appearance. His nose was rather small for such a face, but it was not badly shaped his eyes too were small and buried deep under his protruding forehead, so indeed as to defy you to detect their colour. The forehead, was extremely strong, bony, and knotted ;— and the eyebrows were forcibly marked though irregular ;-that over the right eye being nearly straight, and that on the left turning up to a point so as to give a very painful expression to the whole face. His hair was of a good lightish brown, and not worn after any fashion. I have been thus particular, because, although I have seen many pictures, I have seen none resembling him in any respect, and I should like to give you some idea of him. His frame was exceedingly well knit and athletic-and if you have ever seen Shelton the prize-fighter, you will have a perfect idea of John Thurtell,-even to the power and the stoop of the shoulders. I observed that Thurtell seldom looked at the person with whom he conversed,--for when. ever he addressed Wilson, or his solicitor, or a turnkey, he leant his head side-ways to the speaker, but looked straight forward. He had a large bundle of papers and books,

and very shortly after being placed at the bar he commenced making remarks and penning notes to his counsel and advisers.

The trial commenced I should conceive about ten o'clock; for some time was consumed in a fruitless application on the part of Hunt for a further postponement of his trial to allow of his petitioning the crown for mercy on the ground of his confession before the magistrates. The Jury were mustered by main strength-and several Hertfordshire yeomen seemed much perplexed at hearing that they were challenged:

indeed one or two had taken a comfortable seat in the box, and seemed determined not to be called out.

It now fell to Mr. Gurney's lot to detail the case, which he did in a slow, distinct, and concise manner, pretty well in the following words. The Jury listened with an almost breathless attention-and in several of the most appalling parts of his statement,

there was a cold drawing in of the breath and an involuntary murmur throughout the whole court. The Judge, who had read the depositions, leant back in his chair at the narrative!

"The deceased, whose murder was the subject of the present inquiry, was the late Mr. William Weare-a man, it was said, addicted to play, and, as had been suggested, connected with gaming-houses. Whether he was the best, or the least estimable individual in society, was no part of their present consideration. The prisoner at the bar, John Thurtell, had been his acquaintance, and in some practices of play

had, it was said, been wronged by him, and deprived of a large sum of money. The other prisoner, Hunt, was described as being a public singer, and also known to Mr. Weare, but not, as he believed, in habits of friendship. Probert, who was admitted as an accomplice, had been in trade a spiritdealer, and rented a cottage in Gill's-hilllane, near Elstree. It was situated in a bylane, going out of the London-road to St. Alban's, and two or three miles beyond Elstree. The cottage of Probert was, it would appear, selected from its seclusion, as the fit spot for the perpetration of the murder. Probert was himself much engag. ed in London, and his wife generally resided at the cottage, which was a small one, and pretty fully occupied in the accommodation of Mrs. Probert, her sister, (Miss Noyes,) some children of Thomas Thurtell's (the prisoner's brother,) and a maid and boy servant. It should seem, from what had taken place, that the deceased had been invited by John Thurtell, to this place to enjoy a day or two's shooting. It would be proved that the prisoner Thurtell met the deceased at a billiard room, kept by one Rexworthy, on the Thursday night previous to the murder. They were joined there by Hunt. On the forenoon of the Friday, he (deceased) was with Rexworthy at the same place, and said he was going for a day's shooting into the country. Weare went from the billiard-rooms between three and four o'clock to his chambers in Lyon's inn, where he partook of a chop dinner, and afterwards packed up, in a green carpet bag, some clothes, and a mere change of linen, such as a journey for the time he had specified might require. He also took with him when he left his chambers, in a hackney coach, which the laundress had called, a double-barrelled gun, and a backgammon box, dice, &c. He left his chambers in this manner before four o'clock, and drove first to Charingcross, and afterwards to Maddox-street, Hanover-square; from thence he proceeded to the New-road, where he went out of the coach, and returned after some time, accompanied by another person, and took his things away. Undoubtedly the deceased Jeft town on that evening with the expectation of reaching Gill's-hill cottage; but it had been previously determined by his companions, that he should never reach that spot alive. He would here beg to state a few of the circumstances which had occurred antecedent to the commission of the crime. Thomas and John Thurtell were desirous of some temporary concealment, owing to their inability to provide the bail requisite to meet some charge of misdemeanour, and Probert had procured for them a retreat at Tetsall's, the sign of the Coach and Horses, in Conduit-street, where they remained two or three wecks previous to the murder. On the morning of Friday, the 24th of October, two men, answering in every respect to the description of John

Thurtell, and Hunt, went to a pawnbroker's in Mary-le-bone, and purchased a pair of pocket-pistols. In the middle of the same day, Hunt hired a gig, and afterwards a horse, under the pretence of going to Dartford in Kent: he also inquired where he could purchase a sack and a rope, and was directed to a place over Westminster-bridge, which, he was told, was on his road into Kent. Somewhere, however, it would be found that he did procure a sack and cord, and he met the same afternoon, at Tetsall's, Thomas Thurtell and Noyes. They were all assembled together at the Coach and Horses in Conduit-street. When he made use of the names of the two last individuals, he begged distinctly to be understood as saying, that he had no reason to believe that either Thomas Thurtell or Noyes were privy to the guilty purpose of the prisoners. Some conversation took place at the time between the parties, and Hunt was heard to ask Probert if he "would be in it,”— meaning what they (Hunt and John Thurtell) were about. Thurtell drove off from Tetsall's between four and five o'clock to take up a friend, as he said to Probert, "to be killed as he travelled with him;" an expression which Probert said at the time he believed to have been a piece of idle bravado. He requested Probert to bring down Hunt in his own gig.

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"In the course of that evening,the prisoner Thurtel is seen in a gig, with a horse of very remarkable colour. He was a sort of iron grey, with a white face and white legs--very particular marks for identity. He was first seen by a patrole near Edgeware; beyoud that part of the road he was seen by the until his arrival at Probert's cottage on the landlord; but from that time of the evening same night, they had no direct evidence to trace him. Probert, according to Thurtell's request, drove Hunt down in his gig, and, having a better horse, on the road they overtook Thurtell and Weare in the gig, and passed them without notice. They stopped afterwards at some public-house on the road to drink grog, where they believe Thurtell must have passed them unperceived. bert drove Hunt until they reached Phillimore-lodge, where he (Hunt) got out, as he said by Thurtell's desire, to wait for him. Probert from thence drove alone to Gill'shill cottage, in the lane near which he met Thurtell, on foot alone. Thurtell inquired, Where was Hunt, had he been left behind? he then added, that he had done the business without bis assistance, and had killed his man. At his desire, Probert returned to bring Hunt to the spot, when he (Probert) went to Hunt for that purpose. When they met, he told Hunt what had happened. "Why it was to be done here," said Hunt mitting his privity, and that he had got out (pointing to nearer Phillimore-lodge), adto assist in the commission of the deed. When Thurtell rebuked Hunt for his absence: "why (said the latter), you had the tools." They were not good," replied Thurtell; "the pistols were no better than pop-guns. I fired at his cheek, and it glanced off"--that Weare ran out of the gig, cried for mercy, and offered to return the mon

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ey he had robbed him of--that he (Thurtell) pursued him up the lane when he jumped out of the gig. Finding the pistol unavailing, he attempted to reach him by cutting the penkaife across his throat, and ultimately finished him by driving the barrel of the pistol into his head, and turning it in his brains, after he had penetrated the forehead. Such was the manner in which Thurtell described himself to have disposed of the deceased, and they would hear from Probert what he said on the occasion. A gig was about that time heard to drive very quickly past Probert's cottage. The servant-lad expected his master, and thought he had arrived; but he did not make his appearance. Five minutes after that period, certain persons, who would be called in evidence, and who happened to be in the road, distinctly heard the report of a gun or pistol, which was followeď by voices, as if in contention. Violent groans were next heard, which, however, became fainter and fainter, and then died away altogether. The spot where the report of the pistol and the sound of groans were heard, was Gill's-hill-lane, and near it was situated the cottage of Probert. They had now, therefore, to keep in mind, that Thurtell arrived at about nine o'clock in the evening at Probert's cottage, having set off from Conduit-street at five o'clock; and though he had been seen on the road in company with another person in the gig, yet it appeared that he arrived at the cottage alone, having in his possession the doublebarrelled gun, the green carpet-bag, and the backgammon-board, which Mr. Weare took away with him. He gave his horse to the boy, and the borse appeared to have sweated, and to be in a cool state, which corroborated the fact that he had stopped a good while on his way. He left Conduit-street, it should be observed, at five, and arrived at the cottage at nine---a distance which under ordinary circumstances, would not have occupied more than two bours. The boy inquired after Probert and Hunt, and was told that they would soon be at the cottage. At length, a second gig arrived, and those two persons were in it. They rode, while Thurtell, who went to meet them, walked with them. The boy having cleaned his master's horse, then performed the same office for the horse of Thurtell, which occupied a good deal of time. Probert went into the house. Neither Thurtell nor Hunt was expected by Mrs. Probert. With Thurtell she was acquainted; but Hunt was a stranger, and was formally introduced to her. They then supped on some pork chops, which Hunt had brought down with him from London. They then went out, as Probert said, to visit Mr. Nicholls, a neighbour of his; but their real object was to go down to the place where the body of Weare was deposited. Thurtell took them to the spot down the lane, and the body was dragged thro' the hedge into the adjoining field. The body was,as he had previously described it to be,enclosed in a sack. They then effectually rifled the deceased man, Thurtell having informed his companions, that he had, in the first instance, taken part of his property. They then went back to the cottage. It ought to be stated, that Thurtell, before he went out, placed a large sponge in the gig; and when he returned from this expedition, he went to the stable

and sponged himself with great care. He endeavoured to remove the spots of blood, many of which were distinctly seen by Probert's boy; and certainly such marks would be observable on the person of any one who had been engaged in such a transaction. In the course of the evening Thurtell produced a gold watch, without a chain, which occasioned several remarks. He also displayed a gold curb chain, which might be used for a watch, when doubled: or, when singled, might be worn round a lady's neck. On producing the chain, it was remarked that it was more fit for a lady than a gentleman; on which Thurtell pressed it on Mirs. Probert, and made her accept it. An offer was afterwards made that a bed should be given to Thurtell and Hunt, which was to be accomplished by Miss Noyes giving up her bed, and sleeping with the children. This was refused, Thurtell and Hunt observing, that they would rather sit up. Miss Noyes, therefore, retired to her own bed. Something, however, occurred, which raised suspicion in the mind of Mrs. Probert; and, indeed, it was scarcely possible, if it was at all possible, for persons who had been engaged in a transaction of this kind to avoid some disorder of mind---some absence of thought that was calculated to excite suspicion. In consequence of observing those feelings, Mrs. Probert did not go to bed, or undress herself. She went to the window and looked out, and saw that Probert, Hunt, and Thurtell, were in the garden. It would be proved that they went down to the body, and, finding it too heavy to be removed, one of the horses was taken from the stable. The body was then thrown across the horse; and stones having been put into the sack, the body, with the sack thus rendered weighty by the stones, was thrown into the pond. Mrs. Probert distinctly saw something heavy drawn across the garden where Thurtell was. The parties then returned to the house; and Mrs. Probert, whose fears and suspicions were now most powerfully excited, went down stairs and listened behind the parlour door. The parties now proceeded to share the booty; and Thurtell divided with them to the amount of 61. each. The purse, the pocket-book, and certain papers which might lead to detection, were carefully burned. They remained up late; and Probert, when he went to bed, was surprised to find that his wife was not asleep. Hunt and Thurtell still continued to sit up in the parlour. The next morning, as early as six o'clock, Hunt and Thurtell were both seen out, and in the lane together. Some men who were at work there, observed them, as they called it, "grabbling" for something in the hedge. They were spoken to by these men, and as persons thus accosted must say something, Thurtell observed," that it was a very bad road, and that he bad nearly been capsized there last night." The men said, "I hope you were not hurt." Thurtell answered, "Oh no, the gig was not upset,” and they then went away. thinking something might have been lost on the spot, searched after Hunt and Thurtell were gone. In one place they found a quantity of blood, further on they discovered a bloody knife, and next they found a bloody pistol---one of the identical pair which he would show were purchased by

These men,

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