Damn His Blood (50 page)

4
‘She was assured by the Oddingley farmers …’, Rev. Erskine Neale,
The Bishop’s Daughter
.

5
‘… he could hang all the head men in Oddingley …’. E. Lees,
TOM
.

6
‘And is it not astonishing …’, Mary Sherwood,
The Oddingley Murders
.

7
‘I don’t usually encourage superstitious …’, John Noake,
The Rambler in Worcestershire
.

8
Descriptions of the Worcestershire storms come from T.C. Tuberville,
Worcestershire in the Nineteenth Century
.

9
‘As for Clewes …’, Rev. Erskine Neale,
The Bishop’s Daughter
.

10
‘the shops sparkling with vivid lustre’, Ambrose Florence,
The Stranger’s Guide to the City and Cathedral of Worcester
.

11
A good overview of Robert Peel’s overhaul of the criminal justice system can be found in Douglas Hurd,
Robert Peel
. The statute relating to the requirement for a principal is
7 Geo IV c 64 s 9
.

12
Information about the inhabitants of Oddingley during the 1810s and 1820s is taken from the parish tax records, WRO ref. 206.2091, BA/4609, and S. Lewis,
Worcestershire general and commercial directory
.

13
‘We have no longer any genuine quizzes’, Horace Smith,
New Monthly Magazine
.

14
‘… these two Devils out of the room’ and other details of Captain Evans’ final illness and last weeks is from taken from the evidence of Catherine Bowkett,
CFP
.

15
‘… delay and difficulty in gaining admission’,
Morning Chronicle
, 10 February 1830.

16
‘He became moody, restless …’, Rev. Erskine Neale,
The Bishop’s Daughter
.

17
‘Died, lately, at Droitwich’,
Worcester Herald
, 20 June 1829.

18
‘The walls and ceiling were alive’, Charles Dickens,
The Pickwick Papers
.

19
‘neat set of china’,
The Last Will and Testament of Samuel Evans
.

CHAPTER 13

1
‘Yesterday morning Fahrenheit’s thermometer …’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 21 January 1830, 18F converted gives a reading of –27.8C.

2
Accounts of the severe winter are taken from a report in
Morning Chronicle
, 25 January 1830, which in itself listed reports from around the country.

3
‘… a day which the guilty might well regard as unlucky’,
The Gentleman’s Magazine
.

4
An account of Charles Burton at Netherwood farm and his actions over the next days comes principally from Charles Burton,
CFP
, but supplementary facts are in
TWM
,
Worcester Herald
, 30 January 1830 and
Birmingham Post
, 6 February 1830. The woodcuts of Charles Burton finding the skeleton and William Smith at the site are from
Broadsheet on the Oddingley Murders
, WRO ref. X705.627, BA/5312/1.

5
‘… give what directions you thought necessary’, from letter to William Smith from Richard Allen,
PP
.

6
‘They were cold and frightened …’, Rev. Erskine Neale,
The Bishop’s Daughter
.

7
‘as near as possible 5ft 3in in length’, and account of Pierpoint’s exhumation of the skeleton comes from the
Worcester Herald
, 30 January 1830.

8
‘like the silver plate on a coffin’, and a sketch of Peel’s personality from Douglas Hurd,
Robert Peel
.

9
There is a good section on the introduction of Peel’s police in Judith Flanders,
The Invention of Murder
and also Sarah Wise,
The Italian Boy
.

10
Copy of Peel’s letter to Smith, HO/43/38/157–158.

11
‘quite sufficient to produce instantaneous death’, Matthew Pierpoint,
CFP
.

12
‘the spot chosen for the grave’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 28 January 1830.

CHAPTER 14

The bulk of this account of the first day of William Smith’s inquest at the Talbot is taken from two detailed articles:
Worcester Herald
, 30 January 1830 and
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 28 January 1830. Between them, the two rival papers preserved a vivid record of proceedings at the inn. The inquest’s second day continues to draw on these article, as well as second from the
Worcester Herald
on 6 February 1830. Other sources used in this chapter are noted below.

1
‘No part of testimony …’,
London Medical Journal
Vol. VI.

2
‘A ‘tale’ of great mystery …’ and also Dr Cumin’s later complaint about the effectiveness of coroners,
The London Medical Gazette
Vol. XIII.

3
‘The inhabitants of this city’,
Ipswich Journal
, 30 January 1830.

4
The account of Clewes’ fall into the canal and his rescue is from
Morning Chronicle
, 8 February 1830 and E. Lees,
TWM
.

5
‘… he had stopped for a while …’ and Clewes’ claim Heming ‘is safe enough’,
The Gentleman’s Magazine
.

6
‘They had better not be too hard with me …’, Thomas Bunn,
CFP
.

7
‘… the identity of the skeleton …’, Smith to Peel 27 January 1830 and Peel’s reply the following day, HO 43/38.

8
‘The Case of the Murdered Murderer’,
Morning Chronicle
, 2 February 1830.

CHAPTER 15

1
A description of Worcester County Gaol comes from
Sessional Papers Printed by Order of the House of Lords
, Vol. XLIV;
The Fifth Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prisons
and T. Eaton,
CHW
.

2
‘… an iron bedstead, straw bed, pillow, two blankets …’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 21 January 1830.

3
Clewes’ brief stint as the bailiff of a local farm is chronicled by Marta Davis,
CFP
.

4
‘the sprinkling of salt’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 21 January 1830.

5
‘Nothing is as painful to the human mind …’, Mary Shelley,
Frankenstein
.

6
Reverend Robert Clifton’s correspondence with Robert Peel and his interviews with Clewes at the gaol are described in HO 52/11/529–30. Peel’s subsequent response is from HO 43/38.

7
‘… as characteristic and complete a winter scene …’,
Morning Herald
, 3 February 1830.

8
‘If you do that, then I don’t care afterwards …’,
Worcester Herald
, 5 February 1830.

9
‘… cognizant of its many particulars …’, Reverend Clifton in E. Lees,
TTC
.

10
‘Clewes had expressed himself desirous …’, E. Lees,
TMW
.

11
Confession of Thomas Clewes. Such a long and compelling document as this was bound to spawn various versions, which duly appeared with their slight differences in the wide range of media that reported the story. To get as close as possible to Clewes’ words I have used the text recorded in the unpublished prosecution brief (
CFP
) as this would have been made directly from the copy taken down at the gaol by James Hooper, William Smith’s clerk.

12
‘… horrible detail with perfect firmness …’,
Worcester Herald
, 5 February 1830.

CHAPTER 16

1
‘… the avidity with which the paper is bought …’,
The Times
, 5 February 1830.

2
‘In the early part of this inquiry …’,
Jackson’s Oxford Journal
, 6 February 1830.

3
‘They all seemed in liquor …’, E. Lees,
TOM
.

4
An account of the final days of the inquest comes from
Worcester Herald
, 6 February 1830; E. Lees,
TOM
and
Morning Chronicle
, 8 February 1830.

5
‘Throughout the enquiry …’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 11 February 1830.

6
‘Being a Cumberland man …’,
Morning Chronicle
, 2 February 1830.

7
Details of the Red Barn Murder are drawn from Judith Flanders,
The Invention of Murder
.

8
‘In concluding our account …’, E. Lees,
TWM
.

9
Details of the Elstree Murder and Thertell’s execution come from David Bentley,
English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century
and Judith Flanders,
The Invention of Murder
.

10
‘scorpion stings of conscience’,
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 11 February 1830.

11
‘Captain Evans, who in May last …’,
Ipswich Journal
. 20 February 1830.

12
‘Memory brought madness with it …’, Mary Shelley,
Frankenstein
.

13
Thomas Hood’s
Dream of Eugene Aram
is taken from
The Poetry and Varieties of Berrow’s Worcester Journal for the Year 1828
; ‘The Greatest of Miracles’, on the Oddingley Murders is from
Broadsheet on the Oddingley Murders
, WRO ref. X705.627, BA/5312/1, and the second, more literary ballad, is printed in J. Waldron,
Metrical Tales and Other Pieces
.

14
‘James Taylor was a farrier at Droitwich’,
Liverpool Mercury
, 12 February 1830 &
Berrow’s Worcester Journal
, 11 February 1830.

15
‘Publications, taking all shapes’,
Morning Chronicle
, 11 March 1830.

16
‘the alteration which had taken place’,
Worcester Herald
, 6 February 1830.

17
Newspaper reports charting the build-up to the Assize trial are
Worcester Journal
, 4 March 1830 and
Morning Chronicle
, 10 March 1830.