words I said were, "I have ruined myself." He inquired "What is the matter?" I said, "I am afraid I have killed my master." He then said it was a dreadful thing, and that I had better go back, and resign myself into the hands of justice. Upon this I observed to him, that, if I should be executed, I should be glad if he would write to Scot land, and inform my friends there that I had died suddenly. He said that he would, and I then came back towards Mr. Chivers's house, and my heart failed me. I turned again, but had not gone far before I met a man who said to me, "Are you Mr. Chivers's gardener ?" He then told me I must go with him; and I replied, "With all my heart." He said that this was a very dreadful thing; and added, that he was very sorry for me; to which I answered, "I am sorry also, but I am afraid that it is too late." After this I was taken to Wandsworth, where I underwent an examination. I was then committed to Horse monger Lane, and from thence I have been brought here to take my trial.' The witnesses for the prisoner were then called to his character. The chief baron, after stating the nature of the indictment, said that the prisoner was accused of having murdered his master. He had given a detailed account of the transactions referred to in the evidence; and the jury would recollect, that, in considering his narrative, it was fair to allow what he said in his own favour, as well as what he said against himself. The question was this:-If there was a previous design in the breast of the prisoner to perpetrate the crime of murder; or if, being threatened, provoked, or assaulted, he did this act from the passion of the moment? In the latter case, the crime in law was extremely different from that of wilful marder. It was not easy to suppose that there should be such a diabolical design formed in a short space of time. His lordship here entered into a general review of the facts in evidence, and then concluded:-' By the witnesses, who have appeared on the part of the defendant, he seems to be, in their judgment, a very moral young man. You are to judge if you think it was a deliberate intention; or if it were the ebullition of anger at the instant, under the circumstances of provocation stated. If the design sprung up on Wednesday, which was executed on Saturday, the offence will be murder; but, if it were not previously formed, then there was no execution of such a deliberate intention; and he will be acquitted of the capital part of the charge.' The jury, after having conferred for a considerable time, found the prisoner Guilty of murder; and he was accordingly sentenced to be executed on the Monday following, and to be anatomized. The prisoner, during the whole of the time, conducted himself with great composure. He was a man of respectable appearance. The Privy Council, however, did not, it appears, conceive that he was guilty of wilful and premeditated murder, but, on the contrary, admitted an immediate provocation on the part of the unfortunate gentleman. They therefore represented him as a subject for royal clemency, in consequence whereof he was twice respited, and then ordered to be transported for the term of his natural life. JOHN HOLLOWAY AND OWEN HAGGERTY, THE fatal accident which hap pened on the spot and at the moment of the execution of these men, by which more than forty people lost their lives, and many more were terribly bruised, will cause their memory, more than their crimes, to remain a dreadful warning unto many generations. Their whole case, indeed, was attended with singular and awful circumstances. Even of their guilt many entertained doubts, and which are not entirely removed, though no further discovery has been made respecting the horrid deed.* Their conviction rested, certainly, upon the evidence of a wretch as base as themselves, who stated himself to have been their accomplice; but the public indignation against them was excited to such a pitch, it is not to be wondered at that a jury pronounced them guilty. On the 6th of November, 1802, Mr. John Cole Steele, who kept the Lavender Warehouse in Catharine Street, Strand, was murdered, with much barbarity, on Hounslow Heath, and his pockets rifled of their contents. The murderers escaped; and, though rewards were offered for their apprehension, no discovery was made. Every search had been made by the officers of the police after them; several loose characters were apprehended on suspicion, but discharged on examination; and all hopes had been given up of tracing the murderers, when a circumstance occurred, about four years after wards, which led to the apprehension of John Holloway and Owen Haggerty.—A mau of the name of Benjamin Hanfield, who had been convicted, at the Old Bailey, of grand larceny, was sentenced to seven years' transportation,† and was conveyed on board a hulk at Portsmouth, to await his departure for New South Wales; but having been taken with a severe illness, and tortured in his mind by the recollection of the murder, about which he constantly raved, he said he wished to make a discovery before he died. A messenger was immediately dispatched to the police magistrates at Bow Street, to communicate the circumstance, and an officer was sent to bring him before them. When he was brought on shore, they were obliged to wait several days, his illness not permitting his immediate removal. On his arrival in town, the magistrates sent him, in custody of an officer, to Hounslow Heath. He there pointed out the fatal spot where the murder was perpetrated, and related all the circumstances which he alleged to have attended it; and, as his evidence implicated Haggerty and Holloway, measures were taken to apprehend them. Several private examinations of all the parties took place. Hanfield was admitted king's evidence, and the public once more cherished a hope that the murderers would meet the punishment they deserved. Monday, February 9, being the In September sessions, 1813, a man named John Ward, alias Simon Winter, aged sixty, was indicted for the murder for which Holloway and Haggerty suffered; but. though suspicion was strong against him, the case was not sufficiently made out, and be was consequently acquitted. + He was found guilty of stealing, on the 5th of July, 1806, a pair of children's shoes, value two shillings, the property of John Smith, shoemaker, Whitecross Street. day appointed for the final and public examination of the reputed perpetrators of this atrocious inurder, Holloway and Haggerty were brought up before Joseph Moser, Esq. the sitting magistrate at the police office, Worship Street, charged with wilfully murdering Mr. J. C. Steele, on Saturday night, the 6th of November, 1802, on Hounslow Heath. There was a great body of evidence adduced, none of which tended materially to criminate the prisoners, except that of Hanfield, the accomplice, who, under the promise of pardon, had turned king's evidence. The prisoners denied having any knowledge whatever of the crime laid to their charge, but heartily hoped that punishment would come to the guilty. The magistrates, however, after maturely considering the whole of the evidence adduced, thought proper to commit them fully for trial at the next quarter sessions at the Old Bailey, and bound over no less than twenty-four persons to appear and give evidence thereon. Such was the eager curiosity of the public to know the issue of this trial, which came on February 20, 1807, before Sir Simon Le Blanc, Knight, that the whole court and area of the Old Bailey was greatly crowded. When put to the bar, Holloway appeared to be about forty years of age, of great muscular strength, tall, and of savage, brutal, and ferocious countenance, with large thick lips, depressed nose, and high cheek bones. Haggerty was a small man, twenty-four years of age. The first witness called was Mr. Meyer, the brother-in-law to the murdered Mr. Steele, who deposed that the deceased left his house in London on the 5th of November, 1802, giving his family to understand that he should return on the next day. He proceeded to Feltham that night, where he had a house and garden, to grow and distil lavender, which he left on Saturday evening, for the purpose of returning to London, which he never reached. His long absence caused alarm in his family, and a number of persons were dispatched in different directions in search of him. At length his body was found in a ditch, shockingly disfigured by wounds, and a leathern strap tied very tight round the neck; by the side of the body was found a large bludgeon, a pair of old shoes, an old hat, trimmed with worsted binding. On the other side of the road were discovered several marks of blood; and the body seemed to have been dragged some distance from the spot where the murder had been committed. Mr. H. Manny was next called. He said he was inspector to the works of the late Mr. Steele, at Feltham, at the time this transaction took place. He well recollected that Mr. Steele, the deceased, was there on Saturday, the 6th of November, and that he left Feltham about seven o'clock in the evening, with the intention of returning to town. This witness now entered into a description of his dress, which corresponded with the account given before the coroner. William Pugh, who was next called, said that in the month of November, 1802, he was, in consequence of a report that the deceased was missing, employed to search for the body; that accordingly himself, with several others, entered upon a strict search, in which they were ultimately successful. That the body was found lying at the bottom of a ditch near a clump of trees, a short distance from the barracks. The witness described very minutely the position of the body, and the wounds that were at first perceptible. Mr. H. Frogley, a surgeon of Hounslow, was employed to examine the body at the time it lay at the Ship public house for the coroner's jury; and he gave it as his decided opinion that Mr. Steele certainly died in consequence of the violent bruises he received. The witness examined the body of the deceased, and found not only an extensive fracture on the forehead, sufficient to occasion death, with laceration of the ligaments, but also a great laceration on the back part of the head, and some severe bruises on the upper part of the right arm. Indeed the horrid and inhuman perpetrators of this atrocious deed seemed to have exercised their utmost cruelty on the unfortunate victim, who must, for some considerable time after they left him, have remained in a state of miserable suffering. For the better illustration of the testimony adduced, a sketch of Hounslow Heath was produced in court. The king's pardon, under the great seal, to Hanfield, alias Enfield, remitting his sentence of transportation for seven years, for a larceny which he had been convicted of, and restoring him to his competency as a witness, was read. Benjamin Hanfield then deposed nearly as follows:- I have known Haggerty eight or nine years, and Holloway six or seven. We were accustomed to meet at the Black Horse, and Turk's Head, public houses, in Dyot Street.' I was in their company in the month of November, 1802. Holloway, just before the murder, called me out from the Turk's Head, and asked me if I had any objection to be in a good thing? I replied I had not. He aid it was a Low Toby,' meanit was a footpad robbery. I 婴 asked when and where. He said he would let me know. We parted, and two days after we met again, and Saturday, the 6th of November, was appointed. I asked who was to go with us? He replied that Haggerty had agreed to make one. We all three met on the Saturday, at the Black Horse, when Holloway said, Our business is to sarve a gentleman on Hounslow Heath, who, I understand, travels that road with property. We then drank for about three or four hours, and about the middle of the day we set off for Hounslow. We stopped at the Bell public house, and took some porter. We proceeded from thence upon the road towards Belfont, and expressed our hope that we should get a good booty. We stopped near the eleventh mile-stone, and secreted ourselves in a clump of trees. While there, the moon got up, and Holloway said we had come too soon. After loitering about a considerable time, Holloway said he heard a footstep, and we proceeded towards Belfout. We presently saw a man coming towards us, and, on approaching him, we ordered him to stop, which he immediately did. Holloway went round him, and told him to deliver. He said we should have his money, and hoped we would not ill use him. The deceased put his hand in his pocket, and gave Haggerty his money. I demanded his pocket-book. He replied that he had none.-Holloway insisted that he had a book, and if he did not deliver it he would knock him down. I then laid hold of his legs. Holloway stood at his head, and said if he cried out he would knock out his brains. The deceased again said he hoped we would not ill use him. Haggerty proceeded to search him, when the deceased made some resistance, and struggled so much, that we got across the road. He cried out severely; and, as a carriage was coming up, Holloway said, with a terrible oath, Take care, I will silence him;' and immediately struck him several violent blows on the head and body. The deceased heayed a heavy groan, and stretched himself out lifeless. I felt alarmed, and said, John, you have killed the man.' Holloway replied that it was a lie, for he was only stunned. I said I would stay no longer, and immediately set off towards London, leaving Holloway and Haggerty with the body. I came to Hounslow, and stopped at the end of the town for near an hour. Holloway and Haggerty then came up, and said they had done the trick, and, as a token, put the deceased's hat into my hand. The hat Holloway went down in was like a soldier's hat. I told Holloway it was a crucl piece of business, and that I was sorry I had any hand in it. We all turned down a lane, and returned to Loudon. As we came along I asked Holloway if he had got the pocketbook. He replied it was no matter, for, as I had refused to share the danger, I should not share the booty. We came to the Black Horse in Dyot Street, had half a pint of gin, and parted. Haggerty went down in shoes, but I don't know if he came back in them. The next day I observed Holloway had a hat upon his head which was too small for him. I asked him if it was the same he got the preceding night. He said it was. We met again on the Monday, when I told Holloway that he acted imprudently in wearing the hat, as it might lead to a discovery, He put the hat into my hand, and I observed the name of Steele in it. I repeated my fears.-At night Holloway brought the hat in a handkerchief, and we went to Westminster Bridge, filled the hat with stones, and, having tied the lining over it, threw it into the Thames, The witness, being cross-examined by the counsel for the prisoners, said he had made no other minutes of the transactions he had been detailing than what his conscience took cognizance of. It was accident that led to this disclosure. He was talking with other prisoners in Newgate of particular robberies that had taken place; and, the Hounslow robbery and murder being stated amongst others, he inadvertently said that there were only three persons who knew of that transaction, The remark was circulated and observed upon, and a rumour ran through the prison that he was about to turn nose,' and he was obliged to hold his tongue, lest he should be ill used.-When at Portsmouth, on board the hulks, the compunctions of conscience came upon him, and he was obliged to dissi pate his thoughts by drinking, to prevent him from divulging all he knew. He admitted that he had led a vicious life, that he had been concerned in several robberies, and had entered and deserted from several regiments. He had served in the East and West London militias, had enlisted into the 9th and 14th light dragoons, and had been in the army of reserve. He added that he was ashamed and sorry at what he had been, and would endeavour to mend his life in future. John Vickery stated that he had been sent to Portsmouth to bring up Hanfield, who was then confined on board the hulks, waiting to be transported with others, pursuant to his sentence. He was immediately delivered into his custody, and they returned to London. As they passed across the heath of Hounslow, on the top of the coach, Hanfield pointed to a spot near a clump of trees, just at the eleven-mile stone, |