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wards apprehended; when all of them steadily denied their guilt; and the hear-say testimony of Bush being all that could be adduced against them, Nichols was admitted evidence for the crown; in consequence of which all the particulars of the horrid murder were developed. The prisoners being brought to trial at the next assizes for the county of Surry, Nichols deposed, that himself, with Welch and Jones, having been drinking at the house called the Sot's-hole, on the night that the woman was used in such an inhuman manner, they quitted the house, in order to return home, when meeting a woman, they asked her if she would drink; which she declined, unless they would go to the king's-head, where she would treat them with a pot of beer. Hereupon they went, and drank both beer and geneva with her; and then all the parties going forward to the parsonage - walk, the poor woman was treated in a manuer too shocking to be described. It appeared that, at the time of the perpetration of the fact, the murderers wore white aprons; and that Jones and Welch called Nichols by the name of Coleman; circumstances that evidently led to the prior conviction of that unfortunate man; as it caused the dying girl to mistake their persons. On the whole state of the evidence there seemed to be no doubt of the guilt of the prisoners, so that the jury did not hesitate to convict them, and sentence of death passed of course. After conviction they behaved with the utmost contrition, being attended by the Rev. Dr. Howard, rector of St. George's, Southwark, to whom they readily confessed their offences. They likewise signed a declaration, which they begged might be published, containing the fullest assertion of Coleman's innocence; and, exclusive of this acknowledgment,

knowledgment, Welch wrote to the brother of Coleman, confessing his guilt, and begging his prayers and forgiveness. Jones wrote to his sister, then living in the service of a genteel family at Richmond, requesting her to make interest in his favour: but the answer he received was, that his crime was of such a nature, that she could not ask a favour for him with any degree of propriety. She earnestly begged of him to prepare for death, and implore a pardon at that tribunal where alone it could be ex pected. They suffered at Kennington common, on the 6th of September, 1751.

COLLEDGE-See RAMSAY, J.

COLLEY, THOMAS, (MURDERER), was of low birth, without any education, and thus ignorant, became the dupe of prejudice and superstition in the following manner. On the 18th of April, 1751, a man named Nichols went to William Dell, the cryer of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, and delivered to him a piece of paper, with fourpence, to cry the words which were written on the paper, a copy of which was as follows: "This is to give notice, that on Monday next, a man and a woman are ro be ducked at Tring, in this county, for their wicked crimes." This notice was given at Winslow and Leighton Buzzard, as well as at Hemel Hempstead, on the respective market-days, and was heard by Mr. Barton, overseer of the parish of Tring, who being informed that the persons intended to be ducke i were John O-borne, and Ruth his wife, and having no doubt of the good character of both the parties, he sent them to the workhouse, as a protection from the rage of the mob. On the day appointed for the practice of the infernal ceremony, an immense number, supposed to be no fewer than five thousand, assembled near

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the workhouse at Tring, vowing revenge against Osborne and his wife, as a wizard and a witch, and demanding that they should be delivered up to their fury; they likewise pulled down a wall belonging to the workhouse, and broke the windows and their frames. On the preceding evening, the master of the workhouse, suspecting some violence from what he heard of the disposition of the people, sent Osborne and his wife to the vestry-room belonging to the church, as a place the most likely to secure them from insult. The mob would not give credit to the master of the workhouse that the parties were removed, but rushing into the house, searched it through, examining the closets, boxes, trunks, and even the salt-box, in search of them. There being a hole in the ceiling which appeared to have been left by the plaisterers, Colley, who was one of the most active of the gang, cried out, "Let us search the ceiling." This being done by Charles Young, with as little success as before, they swore they would pull down the house, and set fire to the whole town of Tring, except Osborne and his wife were produced. The master of the workhouse, apprehensive that they would carry their threats into execution, informed them where the poor people were concealed, on which the whole mob, with Colley at their head, went to the church, and brought them off in triumph. This being do e, the mob con ducted them to a pond called Marlston-Mere, where the man and woman were separately tied up in a cloth: then a rope was bound round the body of the woman, under her arm-pits, and two me dragged her into the pond, and through it several times; Colley going into the pond, and, with a stick, turning her from side to side. Having ducked her repeatedly in this manner, they placed he

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by the side of the pond, and dragged the old man in, and ducked him: then he was put by, and the woman ducked again as before, Colley making the same use of his stick. With this cruelty the husband was treated twice over, and the wife three times; during the last of which the cloth in which she was wrapped came off, and she appeared quite naked. Not satisfied with this barbarity, Colley pushed his stick against her breast. The poor woman attempted to lay hold of it, but her strength being now exhausted, she expired on the spot. Colley then went round the pond, and collected money of the populace for the sport he had shewn them, in ducking the old witch, as he called her. The mob having been dispersed, the body was taken out of the pond, and examined by Mr. Foster, a surgeon, when the coroner's inquest being summoned on the occasion, Mr. Foster deposed, that "on examining the body of the deceased, he found no wound, either internal or external, except a little place that had the skin off on one of her breasts; and it was his opinion, that she was suffocated with water and mud." Hereupon Colley was taken into custody, and when his trial came on he made the following defence: I happened to be so unfortunate as to be at Marlston-green, among other people, out of curiosity, to see what the mob would do with John Osborne and his wife; where, seeing that they used them very barbarously, I went into the pond as a friend, to save her if I could; for I knew both very well, and never had any occasion to fall out with them, but bore them good-will. As for the money I collected by the pond-side, it was for the great pains I had taken in the pond to save both the man and the woman." However, upon the evidence of Mr. Foster, and that of several who

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witnessed Colley's activity in the mob, he was found guilty, and received sentence of death.After conviction, he seemed to behold his guilt in its true light of enormity. On the day before his execution he received the sacrament, and then sign. ed the following solemn declaration, which he requested might be dispersed through the several towns and villages in the county:

"Good People,

"I beseech you all to take warning by an unhappy man's suffering: that you be not deluded into so absurd and wicked a conceit, as to believe that there are any such beings upon earth as witches. It was that foolish and vain imagination, heightened and inflamed by the strength of liquor, which prompted me to be instrumental (with others as mad as myself) in the horrid and barbarous murder of Ruth Osborne, the supposed witch, for which I am now so deservedly to suffer death. I am fully convinced of my former error, and, with the sincerity of a dying man, declare that I do not believe there is such a thing in being as a witch; and pray God that none of you, through a contrary persuasion, may hereafter be induced to think that you have a right in any shape to persecute, much less endanger the life of a fellow-creature. I beg of you all to pray to God to forgive me, and to wash clean my polluted soul in the blood of Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Redeemer.

"So exhorteth you all, the dying THOMAS COLLEY.",

The day before his execution, he was removed from the gaol of Hertford, under the escort of a hundred men of the Oxford Blues, commanded by

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