Damn His Blood (49 page)

3
‘… he seemed in a hurry and very much confused’, Richard Page,
CFP
. Additional information about Heming’s flight across Worcestershire that evening can be found in T. Eaton,
TTC
and the twenty minute claim comes from Anon.,
The Murdered Murderer or the Worcester Tragedy
.

4
Information about Heming’s movements in May and June 1806 are from E. Lees,
TWM
, John Perkins, Susan Surman and Joseph Colley,
CFP
.

5
The biographical sketch of Richard Heming has greatly benefitted from the work of Dr Gael Turnbull who researched Heming in detail during the 1970s and 1980s. Dr Turnbull’s notes and his typescript on the Oddingley Murders are kept at WRO ref. 899.1327, BA/12.133.

6
‘… 6d a strike under the regular price …’, Mary Parker,
CFP
.

7
Anecdote of Heming illegally selling the poles comes from E. Lees,
TTC
and rumours about his second life as a thief are reported in E. Lees,
TWM
.

8
‘Committed to our house of correction …’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 11 March 1801, and there are further signs of a deviant Richard Heming in other archives. On 8 March 1806 a Richard Heming appeared at the Lent Assize in Worcester charged with the theft of a copper pot, a cast iron saucepan, a pair of leggings, two towels, one duck and one drake. It’s difficult to resist the temptation that these may be the same men, but in reality it is unlikely that they are as no mention of this other incident was made in the wake of Heming’s disappearance.

9
‘Tramping, begging, thieving …’, Charles Dickens,
Great Expectations
.

10
‘Upon his tour’, Boswell’s description of Dr Johnson’s greatcoat, James Boswell,
The Life of Samuel Johnson
.

11
An account of the constables calling at Heming’s Droitwich home on Midsummer night comes from Elizabeth Newbury,
CFP
.

12
‘they made every enquiry…’, John Perkins,
CFP
.

CHAPTER 9

1
‘Salt manufacture at Droitwich …’, T.C. Tuberville,
WNC
.

2
‘and when in a large body’,
Philosophical Magazine
1812.

3
‘Brine boiling and salt making’,
Household Words
, 14 July 1855.

4
Information about Droitwich Canal comes from Joseph Priestley,
Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways of Great Britain
.

5
‘six thousand loads of young pole wood …’ and the later Hugh Miller quote from Hugh Miller,
First impressions of England and its People
.

6
‘If Worcester has a fashionable neighbour’,
Household Words
, 14 July 1855.

7
‘At a Chamber Meeting’ and other information about Captain Evans’ time in Droitwich is drawn from the Droitwich magistrates’ records kept at
WRO
ref. XXX, BA/1006/485. There is also much relating to the Captain’s period of service in Droitwich in T. Eaton,
TTC
.

8
‘He [the magistrate] had to be a man …’, Clive Emsley,
Crime and Society in England, 1750–1900
.

9
‘Captain Evans used to go up to Droitwich’, Elizabeth Jones in Anon.,
The Murdered Murderer or the Worcester Tragedy
.

10
‘Captain Evans was the leading man in the parish’, William Barnett,
CFP
.

11
‘[He] seemed much confused and cut up …’, testimony of John Collins, in Anon.,
The Murdered Murderer or the Worcester Tragedy
.

CHAPTER 10

1
‘Here the skull has been fractured’, Pennell Cole,
CFP
. Other biographical facts about Pennell Cole come from T.C. Tuberville,
WNC
and Ackroyd et al.
Advancing with the Army
– which includes an interesting glimpse into Pennell Cole’s early life. The modern-day interpretation of Parker’s injuries and his likely cause of death come from Dr Christopher Burke of St Thomas’ Hospital, London.

2
‘… to the best of his knowledge …’, James Tustin,
Inq
.

3
‘… ornamental structures …’, T. Eaton,
A Concise History of Worcester
.

4
‘The inquest was arranged for Tuesday …’, P.D. James and T.A. Critchley,
The Maul and the Pear Tree
.

5
‘It was very late when I got back’, William Barnett,
CFP
. Additional information about a parish constable’s responsibilities comes from W. Toone,
The Magistrate’s Manual
.

6
The question of Captain Evans being foreman of the jury during Parker’s inquest was raised and subsequently questioned in T. Eaton,
TTC
. A lengthy note on the publication’s final page dealt with the matter, and it concludes with uncertainty, ‘We cannot, however, fully affirm the fact’.

7
‘I will not go’, John Lench,
CFP
and the search of Heming’s house in Droitwich is from John Lloyd,
Inq
.

8
‘Public life on a grand scale …’, Roy Porter,
English Society in the Eighteenth Century
.

9
‘… of the 350 death sentences passed in England and Wales …’, this information comes from
The Report and Evidence of the Select Committee into the State of the Police of the Metropolis in 1828
and statistics about executions in Worcestershire is taken from T.C. Tuberville,
WNC
.

10
Account of Isaac Blight’s murder comes from
The Gentleman’s Magazine for 1805
, with several additional details from P.D. James and T.A. Critchley,
The Maul and the Pear Tree
. Remarks on Patch’s trial (‘the prisoner [Patch] had begun his career of guilt) are from Gurney and Gurney,
Trial of Richard Patch for the Wilful Murder of Isaac Blight
and the ‘awful moment when Patch’ is taken from
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 17 April 1806.

11
‘thieves and murderers’, Friedrich Engels,
The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
.

12
‘The unfortunate person …’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 26 June 1806.

13
‘The Constables and the Bow Street men …’, Charles Dickens,
Great Expectations
.

14
‘Cap. Evans says …’, the beginning of Reverend Pyndar’s investigations and the conflicting accounts of what happened at Church Farm on 24 June 1806 are reconstructed from
PP
, WRO ref. 899.38, BA/866.

CHAPTER 11

The bulk of this chapter, documenting the early stages of the investigation and including the letters from magistrates and interviews of suspects in Oddingley, comes from Reverend
PP
, WRO ref. 899.38, BA/866.

1
‘Whereas on Tuesday Evening’,
Worcester Herald
, 28 June 1806; subsequent reports as the story spreads are from
Jackson’s Oxford Journal
, 28 June 1806 &
The Times
, 30 June 1806.

2
‘carrying cargoes of woollen cloth, tea, muslin …’, and other details about Bristol’s trade and port are from T. Mortimer,
General Dictionary of Trade, Commerce and Manufacturers
.

3
‘I saw George Banks …’, account of George Banks after Parker’s funeral, testimony of Joseph Kendall,
CFP
.

4
‘… taken up and hanged’, E. Lees,
TWM
.

5
Statistics for governmental rewards from J.M. Beattie,
Crime and the Courts in England, 1660–1800
.

6
‘We went and watched at a new Barn …’, John Perkins,
CFP
.

7
‘I knew that if I had gone down …’ and the remainder of Barnett’s questioning at the Crown Inn, Worcester, John Barnett,
CFP
.

8
‘Richard Heming has twice been employed by me …’, Captain Evans,
CFP
.

9
‘He left home early on that day’, Elizabeth Newbury,
CFP
.

10
‘no accessory can be convicted …’ and full wording of the statute demanding that the principal first be convicted before accessories are put on trial, in Pickering,
The Statutes at Large
. The definition of an accessory to murder is taken from W. Toone,
The Magistrate’s Manual
.

11
‘… a Knife and Fork and Plate took upstairs’, testimony of Mary Chance,
CFP
.

12
‘… it was no matter if Heming …’, testimony of William Chance,
CFP
.

13
‘… she must have known it …’, testimony of Elizabeth Jones,
CFP
.

14
‘For the detection of this flagitious offender …’,
Worcester Herald
, 5 July 1806.

15
‘That on Wednesday the day after …’, Mary Chance,
CFP
.

16
Potential sightings of Heming are reported in
Worcester Herald
, 12 July 1806 &
Worcester Herald
, 19 July 1806 and the summer storm is reported in
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 17 July 1806.

17
‘What do you think of those toasts …’, John Perkins,
CFP
.

18
‘I gave them to the Captain and never saw them after’, E. Lees,
TWM
, the adze is mentioned in Anon.,
The Murdered Murderer or the Worcester Tragedy
.

CHAPTER 12

1
‘The valuable FARMING STOCK …’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 13 June 1809.

2
Biographical details of Reverend Butt can be found in Mary Sherwood,
The Oddingley Murders
and also in the Butt Family Papers, housed in BRO D/ EZ/106. Butt was likeable, intelligent but also unstable and susceptible to bouts of severe depression. The first of these periods of madness descended in 1818 following the death of his first wife, Mary Ann, but he recovered sufficiently to take a new parish away from Oddingley at East Garston in Berkshire with his second wife, Jemima Hubbard, in 1821. Here he was once again welcomed into the community where he became known for his ‘eccentricity of character’. In the 1830s Butt’s depression returned and he was ultimately declared insane and was placed in an asylum in Staffordshire, where he died in 1846.

3
John Rowe’s account of the farmer’s conspiracy is revealed in
PP
with additional details from Lees,
TWM
and John Rowe,
CFP
. ‘a little dark short man’ and biographical sketch of James Taylor is from
TWM
and William Barnett,
CFP
.