The Smugglers: Picturesque Chapters in the Story of an Ancient Craft

-Trial and Execution of the Murderer

whole country was ringing with the news of this mysterious disappearance. The condition of the country can at once be guessed when it is stated that no one doubted the hands of the smugglers in this

distinction," and probably inspired by the hope of ultimately earning the large reward offered by the Government for information, hinted that "the body of one of the unfortunate men mentioned in his Maje

iately arrested. To save himself, the prisoner turned King's evidence, and revealed the whole dreadful s

Horsham and Newgate, afterwards being sent to Chichester, where a special Assize was held for the purpose of overawing the smugglers of the distr

ation by the author of the "Genuine History," together with the sermon preached in Chichester Cathedral by Dea

were found guilty, and all sentence

health. He was a Roman Catholic and the greatest villain of the gang, and, like all such, steeped in superstition. Caref

ee Hol

elchior,

w, and in the

ed the three heads of t

the road, headaches, falling sickness, fevers, w

rter was hanged in chains upon the Portsmouth road, near Rake; that of Benjamin Tapner on Rook's Hill, near Chichester, and those of John Cobby a

and tried at East Grinstead, and, being sentenced to death, was conveyed to Horsh

enticed away from his work at Walberton, on some specious pretext, by Curtis and John Mills, known as "Smoker," and went on horseback behind Mills to the "Dog and Partridge," where they joined a man named Robb: all these men being well-known smugglers in that district

n Curtis replied, "Damn you; you do know, and if you do not confess I will whip you ti

ess; it will be better for you." But his

k their horses and said they would go and fetch them. Going to the younger Cockrel, Mills entered the house first and called for some ale. Then Curtis came in and demanded his two bags of tea, which he said Hawkins had accused him of having.

nd Winter placed the terribly injured man, Ha

with a man behind him. The men, who were the Cockrels, were told to get off, which they did, and the four others h

nter again urged them to be content with what had already b

nd Partridge," where Reynolds was in despa

at hand, and to give out that the smugglers had deported Hawkins to France. But Reynolds objected. The spot, he said, was too near, and would soon be fou

one, not himself concerned in the murder, nor in the breaking open of the custom-house at Poo

rmined to make a bid for his pardon for past offences, and, we are told, "applied to a great man in power," informing him that he knew Mills, and that if he could be as

hers, Lawrence and Thomas Kemp, themselves smugglers and highway robbers, and wanted for va

erate, offered the advice that they should all accompany him towards London, to his house at Beckenham, where they would d

identially, on the journey up to Beckenham

e he fetched his mare, in exchange for the very indifferent horse he had ridden. It would n

rned with eight or nine mounted officers of excise. They arrive

e arms; but Mills would not so readily submit, an

ught to trial at East Grinstead, he said he had indeed been a very wicked liver, but he bitterly complained of such of the witnesses against him as had been smugglers and had turned King's evidence. They had, he

nged and afterwards hung in chains on a gibbet erected for

ed in the Irish Brigade of the French Army. Robb was not taken, and Reynolds was acquitted

the garden may be seen a very capacious cellar, excavated out of the soil and sandstone, and very much larger than

g, and of stealing goods from a wagon. They were all members of the notorious Hawkhurst Gang, and had been smugglers for many years. All were found guilty and sentenced to death, except Savage, who was awarded transportation for life. Th

es, with other malefactors, in March 1750. They were four notorious smugglers, Stephen Diprose, Jame

rly in that of Mr. Castle, an excise officer who had been shot on Selhurst Common by a gang of s

country districts at night, disguised, with blackened faces, and appear at lonely houses, wher

er of crime; but he declared that murder had never been committed by him. He had, it was true, proposed to murder the turnkey at Newgate at

st in getting them out. Accordingly the time was fixed (Kemp having no irons, and Grey having his so managed as to be able to let them fall off when he pleased), and Potter and the other three went again to the press-yard and rang the bell for the turnkey to come and let them in. When he came and unlo

g "wanted" by the law, found themselves obliged to keep in hiding from their homes. In default of being able to take part in ot

ling of goods therefrom. They had been betrayed to the Government by the same two ex-smugglers who had turned King's evidence at the Chichester trial, and their evidence again secured a conviction. Glover, recommended by the jury to the royal mercy, was eventually pardoned; but

ck on Goudhurst in April 1747, and was an extre

he had been apprehended, as a smuggler, in Sussex, and, being brought before

s to make a dash from the custody of his guards, and, leaping upon a horse that was

all the deer in his park, and all his trees, which was readily agreed to by the gang; and then, since those measures were not extreme enough for them, the idea was discussed of setting fire to his house and burning him alive in it. Some of the conspirators, however, thought this too extreme

one another, "Damn him, he will not come home to-night! Let us be gone about our business." They then dispersed, swearing they woul

misfortunes of his two companions, who were not only, like himself, to be hanged, but whose bodies were afterward

s friends, until ordered by the warder to go to his cell; when he exclaimed, "Why in such a hurry? Cannot

apparently careless words and in that indiffer

Tyburn on April 26th, 1749. Fairall's body was hanged in chains on Horsenden Green, and that of Kingsmill on Goudhurst Gor

d hearty eld, ready to tell wonderful stories of bygone years. James therefore heard at first hand all the ins and outs of this shy business; and although his story deals with the exploits of the Ransley Gang (whom he styles "Ramley") of a

was not far off; and if brandy was not the object, nor silk, nor wine, yet tea and cinnamon, and hollands, and various East India

landed them on the coast-and a bold, daring, reckless body of men they were; the former, in gangs, consisting frequently of many hundreds, generally well-mounted and armed, conveyed the commodities s

interesting traffic; almost every magistrate shared in the proceeds, or partook of the commodities. Scarcely a house but had its place of concealment, which would accommodate either kegs or bales, or human beings, as the case might be; and many streets in seaport towns had private passages from one house to anoth

the Sussex men fail to improve them; but they were so much farther off from the opposite coast that the chief commerce-the regular trade-was not in any degree at Hastings, Rye, or Winchelsea to be compared with that carried on from the North Foreland to Romney Hoy. At one time the fine level of the Marsh, a dark night, and a fair wind, afforded a delightful opportunity for landing a cargo and carrying it rapidly into the interior; at another

hway existed, and where such a thing as coach or carriage was never seen, offered the land-smugglers opportunities of carrying on their transactions with a degree of secrecy and safety no other county afforded. Their numbers, too, were so great, their boldness and violence so notorious, their powers of injuring or annoying so various, that even those who took no part in their operations were glad to connive at their proceedings, and at times to aid in conce

he saw tubs or jars in his way; and it is remarkable what good brandy-punch was generally to be found at the house of the village pastor. The magistrates of the county, when called upon to aid in pursuit of the smugglers, looked grave and swore in constables very slowly, dispatched servants on horseback to see what was going on, and ordered the steward or the butler to "send the sheep to the wood":