State Trials, Political and Social Volume I Part 17

TURNER--None, my Lord.

BRIDGMAN, LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Had you a lanthorn with you?

TURNER--No, my Lord.

BRIDGMAN, LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--What time of the night was it?

TURNER--Twelve o'clock, my lord.

BRIDGMAN, LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--You staid till four, so they were four hours a-bringing of the money.

TURNER--Yes, my Lord.

HYDE, LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--You took a man in the dark by the throat, that man that was guilty of such a thing, as when that you did let him go to call his companions to bring the money, brings fellows to you single; I would be glad to know, whether in this case they would not have knocked you on the head, and killed you?

TURNER--My lord, Wild had engaged his soul, and I my soul to him, that if I would not discover him, I should go away free.

BRIDGMAN--Great security indeed!

TURNER--I desire my maid may be called; pray ask Sir T. Aleyn what he hath done with my maid; he took her up with Sir R.

Brown, and two marshal's men (pray gentlemen, make not a laughing business of this), Sir Thomas pray, where is my maid?

SIR T. ALEYN--I had this maid upon examination, I found cause of further examination, thereupon directed an officer to take her, and she is now in the garden.

_Mosely_ the constable, the Marquis of Dorchester's servant, and Turner's maid were called to prove that Turner and his family were in bed at the time that the burglary took place; but proved nothing material, the maid in particular becoming confused and contradicting herself several times.

Various witnesses were called to character, and _Sir T. Aleyn_, _Chamberlin_, _Millington_, and others were recalled, and all agreed that Turner, when he was in custody, asked to be allowed to go to fetch the jewels, but did not offer to arrest the thief.

BRIDGMAN, LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--This is a notable piece of cunning; when he was moved by Alderman Smith and others, all this while he names no man; but now he was under an action, he would have them go with himself out of the Liberties, and yet saith never a word to take the man; he knew very well it was out of the Liberties. Truly, I think if Sir T. Aleyn had done it, I should not have taken him to be Sir T. Aleyn.

_William Turner_ denied all knowledge of the charge.

_John Turner_, questioned by the judges, said that he had carried two bags of money from Fry's house to Wild on the Sat.u.r.day morning; he made two journeys with one bag each time; he delivered them to Wild in the street at Tower-Ditch.

_Hyde, Lord Chief-Justice_, then summed up. He began by pointing out that as to Mrs. Turner,

though it appears all along that she had a hand in this business, yet nothing appears at all, but doing only that which her husband had directed; then by law she cannot be accessory for committing of felony.

As to Ely, there was nothing against him.

Then the matter is to James, John, and William Turner; I hope, and I am sure you are nearer, and you take note of what hath been delivered; I have not your memories; you are young and no persons better; you are men of understanding, I need not repeat particulars to you.

He points out, very shortly, that John and William Turner had not proved that they were in bed at home all that night, and that even if they were in bed when the constable came to the house, that proved nothing, because the crime had then already been committed. As to Col. Turner,

you see when he comes the next day, he undertakes to find out the thieves, and that only upon a suspicion; that there being a purpose to rob Mr. Tryon a year before, he goes to the same place now, he found Wild out then. He had very good luck; that because he lodged there a year before, he must have the same lodging now: It is a likely matter that thieves, as Wild is, should keep their lodgings thus constantly. There he finds him, takes him by the throat, and there they were playing a while: There one comes, goes, and brings some part of the money. After all this, the next day he must take his word to come again and bring the jewels. Observe but this; after which time as the money was received yet by a token, though he never saw the woman before, describing her a short fat woman, with a long black scarf, he must meet her, asked her what she wanted, and must give her jewels of that value: 'Tis one of the finest framed stories that I have heard, that this man should come to be thus privy after himself stood charged and the jewels brought for all this; and yet he must know nothing of it. You observe the evidences, and their circ.u.mstances themselves: The witnesses he called in point of reputation, that I must leave to you. I have been here many a fair time: Few men that come to be questioned, but shall have some come and say, he is a very honest man; I never knew any hurt by him: But is this anything against the evidence of the fact? But you have here the whole; I shall leave it to you.

_Bridgman, Lord Chief-Justice_, summed up even more shortly, mentioning a few of the absurdities of Turner's story. The jury withdrew for an hour, and then returned with a verdict of Guilty against Col. Turner, and Not Guilty against all the others.

On the 19th of January Col. Turner and William Turner made a confession as to their share in the crime. From this it appears that the burglary was planned entirely by Col. Turner, and was committed by him, his son William, one White, a solicitor, and an unnamed friend of White's. Col.

Turner procured an impression of Tryon's door-key in wax, and had another key made to the pattern. By means of this all four men entered Tryon's house about nine o'clock, and having bound and gagged Tryon, stole his keys, opened the doors of the counting-house and the warehouse, found the keys of his iron chest, and took the money and jewels out of it. How much money or how many bags they took does not appear, but everything was taken to a house in Duke's Place, from which Col. Turner fetched away the money and the jewels to his own house the next morning. The money was still in his house when it was searched by the constable and the marshal on Friday night. William Turner was to have 100, and White and his friend 20 a-piece for their pains. Neither Mrs. Turner, John Turner, or Ely Turner knew of the robbery, but they helped to move the money on Sat.u.r.day morning. On being asked on Sat.u.r.day morning where the jewels were, Col. Turner said he had given them to White at six o'clock that morning.

Col. Turner afterwards restored the carcanet, the only jewel which he had not restored before.

On the same day in the evening he was condemned to be hung.

On the occasion of his execution, two days afterwards, he made a dying speech of some length. After admitting the justice of his fate, and declaring that he died in peace with all the world, he said--

Truly it is my sins, and the greatness of my sins hath brought me hither, and the greatest sin that troubles me, and lies on me, is that sin which I was much addicted to, and that was the sin of profaneness, of blaspheming G.o.d, of taking his name in vain. I never heard any man or woman, or whatever they were, swear in my life but I did tremble for them, to hear them; for keeping company with men of honour (they were men of quality, though that was an ill quality in them) was the occasion of it I never kept company with any poor, base, inferior people, with any thief, or any suchlike base person in all my life, but fled from them and avoided them till this accident. As I was telling you, for that great sin of swearing; keeping company with persons that did swear, I did get a habit of swearing, though I hated it and loathed it, when I observed it in myself, and yet, may be, did it again, forgetting presently, and not observing, being of a hasty nature.

He then goes on to say that his sons were innocent of the present matter, and asks the sheriff to procure their liberation from prison, which he promises to do if he can. He laments the present state of the world.

I must deal really with you, this nation is very full of sins, of crying sins, of sins that the land will suddenly mourn by G.o.d's hand; I have every year expected the sweeping plague to come and take away two-thirds of the nation for the sins that lie upon us.

It is expected of him that he should clear himself from accusations that have been made against him. He knows nothing of having received 20 from Dr. Hewyt's wife to procure him a pardon, his wife will soon receive a certificate from her to show that this is true. He did not cheat the king out of money when he was beyond the seas with him; for he was never out of the country. He relates various sufferings that he endured on the royalist side during the civil war, but being reminded by the sheriff that this is not a proper subject for a dying man to discourse about, he points out that Tryon got back all his property, and then goes on rather inconsistently:--

But, Mr. Sheriffs, a.s.sure yourselves, so sure I am going to heaven, I shall be there in glory, so sure had Mr. Tryon (if I had not met with those two foolish timorous officers) have had his goods and money again; there had never had one word of this business been known. It was a sad fate, that these two fellows out of a little fear should be the occasion of my coming here; but G.o.d forgive them, Stubs and Lyon I mean, these two villains, I have n.o.body to thank for my blood but them; and yet I do free them, and freely forgive them. Mr. Sheriffs, are you satisfied in this? Would you have me say any more touching the fact?

MR. SHERIFF--It is satisfaction to us if you are satisfied yourself.

Turner then goes on to deny other charges that have been made against him; particularly he a.s.serts that a man of the same name who died in his house was not poisoned by him, and that he knows nothing of a 'gla.s.s jewel' which the ordinary suggests that he delivered to the Countess of Devonshire in place of another. He expresses his faith in the Protestant church, and his belief in the chief tenets of the Christian religion, and denies that he had been drunk and abused the ordinary, swearing, and boasting that he had 5000, and could have a pardon when he pleased. On the contrary, he had acted as clerk in the prison chapel.

About eight or nine o'clock Justice Stringer came to me in Chancery-Lane, and two or three knights and persons of quality, eight or nine in all; they had one bottle of sack among them, of which I drank one little cup ... and G.o.d forgive them that raised the scandal.

He then complains of the Hole where he was confined the night after the Sessions--

It is a most sad deplorable place; h.e.l.l itself, in comparison cannot be such a place; there is neither bench, stool nor stick for any person there; they lie like swine upon the ground, one upon another, howling and roaring ... I would humbly beg that the Hole may be provided with some kind of boards like a court of guard, that men may lie down upon them in ease.

JACKSON (the gaoler)--Seventeen out of nineteen made their escapes out of that Hole, they having only a form there.

SIR R. FORD--If I did think there were a reprieve to come for you I would be contented to spin out the time thus; but in good earnest I expect none; unless you had an apprehension you were not to die you would not spin out the time thus, not thus run to many impertinences.

Turner then finished his speech, and after he had prayed a little the executioner fitted the rope round his neck--

TURNER--What, dost thou mean to choke me? pray fellow, give me more rope; what a simple fellow is this! How long have you been executioner that you know not yet how to put the knot?

In the midst of his private e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, offering to pull down the cap, he espied a gentlewoman at a window nigh, kissed his hand, said 'Your servant, Mistress.'... His cap being pulled down he gave the sign and the executioner turned him off.

The confluence of people from the gaol to the place of execution was very great, beyond the memory of any upon the like occasion.

During his imprisonment, and to the last breath of life, his carriage was very undaunted.

FOOTNOTES:

[42] See _ante_, p. 126.

[43] See _ante_, p. 125.

[44] 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, regulating bail so as to prevent justices admitting prisoners to bail collusively. This statute 'was, in fact, the origin of the preliminary inquiry, which has come to be in practice one of the most important and characteristic parts of our whole system of procedure, but it was originally intended to guard against collusion between the justices and the prisoners brought before them.'--Stephen's _History_, vol. i. p. 237.