The Proceedings of the Old Bailey

 

178.   John Walker was indicted for stealing a Coffin, value 3 s. and a shroud, value 2 s. the property of   Joseph Wright , March 18 .

  Joseph Wright . I had the misfortune to have an unhappy relation that suffered the last hanging day, and I got a coffin and shroud for him.   John Walker , the Prisoner, was very officious in bringing him home, and he was as ready to take him away, and carried off the body, coffin and shroud, all together.

Mary Hill. I spoke to an old woman, who had an empty house, to let me put the body there, and she gave me leave, and I sent it there. I was sitting upon my husband's coffin *, and I heard somebody open the door, and I was frightened; there were five men came in, who said they came from my brother, and wanted to take him away; and as they were taking him away the coffin burst open, and the candle went out, and one of them said, d - n the woman, is she mad, that she cannot light the candle!

* Francis Hill, who was convicted last Session for a Burglary.

Q. What woman was that?

Hill. One that I got to sit along with me.

Q. Did the Prisoner do any thing?

Hill. Yes. When the coffin burst open the Prisoner knocked his hand down upon the lid of the coffin, and then took it away and put it into a coach.

Q. Are you sure the Prisoner is the person?

Hill. I do not know very well, he has changed his dress, [Mrs. Hill looked earnestly at him] but now I know that is the man.

Q. What time was that?

Hill. Between ten and eleven at night.

N. B. Those Trials with this mark + shew that the Prisoners were indicted for Capital Offences, and must have received Sentence of Death if the Jury had found them guilty of the whole Indictment.

Q. Did you see him by the candlelight?

Hill. Yes, and I saw him before that, because

he helped to bring him from the unfortunate place. I jumped out of the door, and hung by the coach as long as I could, to the bottom of Long-Acre, at last I dropped down dead.

Q. Did you see the Prisoner assist in putting the coffin into the coach?

Hill. Yes.

Q. What is his name?

Hill.   John Walker .

Prisoner. Did you ever see me before?

Hill. Yes, I saw you in Thomas's-street.

Prisoner. Did you ever see me have any hand in bringing him?

Hill. Yes, I saw you bringing him, when you had him in possession.

Eliz. Wright. I had an unfortunate relation who was executed.

Q. Do you know the Prisoner?

Wright. I know the Prisoner very well. All that this unfortunate man desired was, as he was a dying man, that I would see his body buried, for he hoped he had made his peace with the Almighty: I promised him I would, and the Prisoner came, in order to take his body away and Stevens's * together, (there were two bodies in the cart, and there was a great mob, and one of them said it was Frank Hill the silversmith) and the Prisoner and some others desired to have the body of Hill, and somebody said, Have you got any thing to bury him with? and they said yes; so they got the body from the surgeons, and would have brought him home to my door, but I did not think that proper; and the Prisoner, Walker, stood at the door where they brought the body, and they threw the body down off the mens shoulders; and I said to the Prisoner, I will take away the body, but I cannot take it away just now, and I went to get a room to put him in; and I said I could not stay to see him stripped, but when they had stripped him, I would give them any thing for their trouble; and I went and bought a coffin, and sent it, and the Prisoner at the bar came to me, and said, G - d d - n his eyes, he had stripped him, and nailed him up in his coffin. I sent to the house where the body was carried, and the woman sent me word, that some men had taken my brother away; I said she was a base woman to let any body take the coffin away. Mr. Thrift had nothing for executing him.) Mrs. Thrift came to my house, and said she heard my brother was sold to a surgeon, that his head was off, and that a woman, that sells cats and dogs meat, told her so; I went to the surgeon's, and enquired after the body, and desired to know where it was.

* Stevens was convicted with him for the same fact.

Q. Who was the surgeon?

Wright. Mr. Champante. I went with Mrs. Thrift to his house; he did not care at first to own that he had it, but at last we went into a room, and there I saw the body lying upon the lid of the coffin with his head off. I asked for the clothes, and he said there were no clothes upon it, and that there was only the shroud; Mrs. Thrift said, if there was nothing but that he might keep it. I took up Walker, and he said he sold him for a guinea, three shillings for a coach, and half a crown to drink.

Q. What, do you mean for the coffin, shroud and body together?

Wright. Yes.

Prisoner. I never was at Tyburn, or at the place of execution, any otherwise than running down from my work.

  Mary Thrist . The Prisoner died on the eighteenth of March, and on the nineteenth I went to a neighbour's house for a pennyworth of beer, and this Mr. Walker sat there, and he had got a hat out of pawn, and had something more than usual; I told Mr. Burt, the man that keeps the house, that I had a pair of shoes to sell, which were too big for my husband, and belonged to a man that hangs in chains, so the Prisoner bid me fetch them: Mr. Burt said they will not sit me; and a little Girl, that cannot speak plain, said they had stole Hill's body, and the Prisoner making remonstrances against carcass butchers, I said that was worse than being a carcass butcher; he said, blast his eyes and limbs, if he was not the man that put him into his coffin; I said, if you did, you are very good; but afterwards I found, that the coffin, shroud and body, were sold to a surgeon. I acquainted Francis Hill's sister with it, and she was like a madwoman.

Q. How did you come to know this?

  Mary Thrift . I met a woman, and I said I was going into St. Thomas's-street for the body and the coffin; she said you need not give yourself the trouble, for she saw him at a surgeon's in Hart-street, Covent Garden, and the husband of the woman, who saw the body in the morning, gave the account of it; I went with Mrs. Hill to Mr. Champante's, and I said I was the executioner's wife, and came for Hill's clothes, for I thought I should find it out by making an enquiry

after them, and upon the lid of the coffin there stood the man's head like a barber's block, but not defaced; said I to Mrs. Hill, do you know that man's face? yes, she said, she had reason to know it, and they shewed me the shroud, which was bloody, and offered it to me, and I said, if that was all the clothes they might keep that: Then I went to Justice Broadhead, and got a warrant for the Prisoner Walker; my husband and I went to his lodging, went up stairs, and my husband said he had got a warrant for him; the Prisoner said, what is it about the buttons? no, said my husband, it is about the coffin and shroud; and he at last owned, that he sold the coffin, shroud, and the body, to Mr. Champante, and he said Jemmy Taylor and   Robert Hawkins were concerned with them; and Mr. Champante said, that a man in a blue waistcoat sold them to him.

  John Thrift . I desire to be heard a few words, for I am likely to be murdered by these people, [meaning the prisoner and his confederates.]

Q. What do you know about the matter?

Thrift. This man's wife [pointing to Mr. Wright] and another person with her, came to me, and enquired whether I knew any thing of the body; I said I knew nothing of the matter; and I said, I am going with a man that is to be hanged in chains; they asked me if I knew   John Walker , and we trapanned him about the buttons. I got a warrant and went to his lodging, and he said, what do you come about the buttons? for they sold pewter buttons for silver; I said no, I came to him upon another account, I came about the coffin and shroud, and I said there must be more concerned; he confessed to me the taking the body, coffin and shroud together, and that he sold it to Mr. Champante, a surgeon in Hart-street, and he would have been an evidence. I did not care to go to the surgeon's myself, they know me so well, so my wife went there with Mrs. Hill.

Prisoner. I desire Mr. Champante the surgeon may be called.

Mr. Champante sworn.

Q. Do you know the Prisoner?

Champante. There were four strange men came into my surgery, and asked me if I would buy a body which was executed that day; I told them, if they would bring it privately about eleven o'clock at night, I would gratify them for it, and I never saw any of the persons since.

Q. Was the Prisoner one of them?

Champante. I cannot swear it, my Lord. I gave a guinea to one of the four men, but I do not know that I saw the Prisoner.

Mrs. Wright. My Lord, I desire he may be asked, whether he did not own that the Prisoner was one of the men, and that he had them of the Prisoner.

Q. Did you say so to any Person?

Champante. No, my Lord, I did not.

Mrs. Wright. It is ill manners to break in upon the court; but I went to see Mr. Champante; I spoke to the maid, and said I wanted to speak to Mr. Champante, and she said at seven o'clock my master will be at home. I went and saw Mr. Champante, I told him my business, and that I had taken up the Prisoner, and would prosecute him; I said, must I give you a Subpoena, or will you come freely? he said I will come; and Mr. Champante said that he knew Walker the Prisoner, and that he paid the guinea to him.

Q. Did you ever declare to Mr. Wright or Mrs. Wright, or any body, that you knew the Prisoner?

Champante. No; and I do not know the Prisoner at the bar. When the four men came and offered me the body, I said if they would come privately at eleven o'clock at night, I would give them so much money for it.

Prisoner to the Prosecutor. What house was this body taken out of?

Mrs. Wright. I do not know the house; I was told it was an empty house, and that I might put the body into it; that the landlady lived in May Fair, and that I need not be afraid of any thing; for I was willing to have leave, that I might not come into any trouble about it.

Jury. I should be glad to know who provided this room that the body was put into.

Mary Hill. I did; it was an old empty house ready to fall down; Mr. Wright said he would pay for it, because I was not able.

Prisoner. I desire   Mary Parker may be called.

  Mary Parker . My Lord, it was an empty house, there was no body in it but myself; there is neither lock nor bolt to it.

   John Thrift . I know it is an empty house, my Lord.

Q. Did you see the body carried away?

Parker. Yes.

Q. Do you know who did it?

Parker. No.

  William Wolfe . The Prisoner has been a watchman in our parish four years, and always behaved in a handsome manner, and I do not believe he is guilty of this thing.

Mrs. Wright. He says so, because he keeps a gin shop. Walker and they go there.

  William Bulman . I have known the Prisoner eight or nine years, he is a leather clogmaker , he worked journeywork with me, and behaved well during the time he was with me, and I never heard any ill of him; his general character in the world is very good.

  Mary Upton . I know he is a very honest man.

  William Gallard . I have known him three years, and know him to be a worthy honest fellow.

Guilty 10 d.

[Transportation. See summary.]