Highness the late King and His Highness was first for poysoning the said Earl but that manner of death was objected against it was then proposed to His Highness that the Earl should be stabbed but that was not liked at last His Highness concluded and ordered his Throat to be cut and His Highness had promised to be there when it was done About 6 Days before his death some of the same Consult at the same place declared that it was resolved the Earl's Throat should be cut but it would be given out he had done it himself and whosoever should deny that should be taken up and punished The very Day this Murther was committed and after it was done one of these Villains leaped about Holmes ' s Parlour for joy and Holmes coming into the Room he struck Holmes on the Back and cried The Feat was done and he could not but laugh to think how like a Fool the Earl of Essex look'd when they come to cut his Throat L p. 23 24. That this Relation was not invented upon this Revolution to asperse the late King many Witnesses have deposed That this servant gave them the Substance of this Account some years before the late King abdicated and that these Deponents cautioned her to secrecy L. p. 23 24. To avoid this Charge of D. S. Mr. Holmes procured 2 Witnesses Mrs. Hewet a violent Papist and the other of a loose Character to depose that in April before the Earl's Death this D. S. was turned away from Holmes's House upon Suspicion of Theft and from April 1683 to 9 Months after one Elizabeth Cadman was servant with the said Holmes and no other servant there 〈…〉 L. p. 24. But it 's deposed by 6 Witnesses That D. S. was servant with Holmes about the time of the Earl's Death L. p. 24 25. and it 's proved continued there a Servant sometime after his Lordship's death L. p. 25. Hewet further swore That on the 6th of July 1683 She went out of Town with Holmes and tarried out with him till the 23th of the same Month but in contradiction to this part it 's deposed by a Taylor That the very Week my Lord died he delivered a Dust-Gown to Mrs. Hewet then in London this appears by the Taylor 's Book to which he hath sworn L. p. 25. but Mrs. Hewet told this Taylor to this effect That if he did swear this he would prove her Brother Holmes in Town when she had swore him above 60 miles off and that her Brother was then a dead Man L. p. 26. Thus Holmes's Defence appears false in every part And where a Defence is detected to be false it 's not uncharitable to conclude that the Charge is true As a farther Evidence to confirm the Consult to murther my Lord and that His late Majesty the then Duke of York was to be there when it was to be done it 's proved by 8 Witnesses that it was reported at several remote places in England sometime before the Earl was dead That the Earl had cut his Throat in the Tower L. p. 26 27 and at one of these places viz. Andover about 60 Miles from London the very next Day after the Earl was committed to the Tower and two days before the King and Duke went to the Tower it was declared That the Earl being Prisoner in the Tower and understanding the King and Duke were come into the Tower his Lordship was afraid His then Majesty would have come into his Chamber which the Earl could not bear the thoughts of and therefore cut his Throat to avoid it L. p. 27. None but the most secret in that horrid Contrivance who knew the King and Duke were to be in the Tower when the Earl was to be murthered or had it from such as were acquainted with the whole Contrivance could report two days before the Earl's Death that his Lordship cut his Throat when the King and Duke were in the Tower for the King and the Duke had been together in the Tower but once in 25 Years before and their going the day my Lord died was a surprize to the very Yeomen of the Guard many of which about five in the Morning were called out of their Beds to attend His Majesty and Duke into the Tower All these reports of the Earl's Death before he was indeed dead agreed in the manner how cutting his Throat the Place where the Tower and one gave the pretended Reason wherefore to avoid seeing the King then in the Tower which Reason was industriously urged by the Papists after his death as an Argument for the Self-Murther All this strongly proves that the manner place and pretended reason were some time before my Lord's Death or indeed commitment to the Tower agreed upon for it could not otherwise be so particularly related about 60 Miles from London the next day after his Lordship's commitment to the Tower That His late Majesty sent the Ruffians into the Earl's Lodgings to murther him is reasonable to be believed it being deposed by several Witnesses That on the Day of my Lord's Death two Soldiers since taken off to prevent their discovery declar'd they saw the then Duke send two Ruffians into the Earl's Lodgings and these two Villains were observed to return to his then Highness before the Earlâ—s Death was known and as they came near him they smiled and said The Business was done upon which the then Duke seemed well pleased Floyd the Centinel confessed that by special Order he let in two or three Men of which Webster a Bailiff was one into my Lord's Lodgings just before his death that he heard them going into my Lord's Chamber upon which he soon observed a great noise and trampling a little after which it was pretended the Earl of Essex had cut his Throat Whilst this Centinel was in Newgate as suspected privy to my Lord's Murther he desired liberty to send for a Neighbour which being granted by the Lords of the Committee This Soldier after he had often enjoyned his Neighbour to be true to him declared That he was much troubled that he had confessed the letting in these men to my Lord for tho' it was indeed true it was what he should not have owned L. p. 28. Whilst these Ruffians were thus struggling with my Lord one E. B. saw three or four men bustling together in my Lord's Chamber and she heard one of them crying out very loud and dolefully Murther murther murther and this she soon discovered to one Mr. P. who did immediately caution her to secrecy because the discovery thereof would be her ruin L. p. 29. Mr. P. hath in this respect confirmed the Testimony of E. B. So that this Evidence appears to be no new-made Story L. p. 29. That his Lordship by his struggling endeavoured to prevent their cutting his Throat appears by five Cuts that were observed on his right Hand L. p. 45. The many and gross irregular Practices with respect to the Coroner's Inquisition are further
Proofs of my Lords being Murther'd and these Irregularities committed Contrary to the then King's Order for as soon as King Ch. heard of the Earls Death he did immediately send a Gentleman to order that all things should remain in those Circumstances the Body was first found dead till the Coroners Jury had sat upon the Body but notwithstanding this positive Order from the then King the Body was soon taken out of the Closet and that very day the Body was stript the Cloathes carried away and the Room and Closet wash'd and the next day when the Jury sat one of the Jury insisted upon seeing my Lord's Cloathes in which he dyed whereupon the Coroner was sent for into the next room to the Jury and upon his return told the Jury it was the Body and not the Cloaths they were to sit upon the Body was there and that was sufficient L. p. 44. Now had the Cloaths been produced the print of the bloody Foot before observed would have appeared and that my Lord 's Cravat in the Neck was cut in three parts besides other Circumstances in the Cloaths which might have prov'd the Resistance made by the Earl to prevent his being Murder'd had they been produced Whilst the Jury was sitting one of them said to this Effect That he had heard the Earl of Essex was a very Good Sober and Religious Gentleman and therefore this Action was very unlike that Character Whereupon Major Hawley at whose House my Lord was Murder'd in substance tells the Jury and this Man who thus spake in particular That whosoever thought that Self-murder was not like the Earl of Essex's Character did not well know 〈…〉 intimately acquainted with the Earl knew that it was his Lordships fix'd Principle That any Man might and ought rather to cut his own Throat than be brought to an Infamous Death wherefore this Action was according to the Earl's avowed Principle L. p. 46. But when Major Hawley was ask'd before the Lords of the Close Committee how he knew this to be my Lords avowed Principle Hawley protested he did never hear it said to be my Lords Principle till their Lordships charged him with having suggested it to the Jury and that he could not possibly do for this further reason because he was not near the Jury all that time they sat upon this Inquisition Hawley's now denying the suggesting to the Jury this pretended Principle of my Lord argues That this pretended Principle was a Forgery and contriv'd to corrupt the Jury with a belief of the Self-Murder The Jury were for adjourning their Inquisition and giving notice to my Lord's Relations so that if any thing could be proved on my Lord's behalf it might be heard But to prevent this Hawley tells the Jury That the then King had sent for their Inquisition and declared he would not rise from the Council-Board till rheir Inquisition was brought him wherefore they must dispatch out of hand L. p. 46. This being creditted they made all imaginable hast and did not take that time they would otherwise have done Hawley being asked who came from the King thus to hasten the Jury protested he never heard that any Person was so sent neither did he declare this to the Jury nor could he do it for he was not near them all the time they were upon the Inquisition But the Coroner and all the Jury very well knew Hawley and it is sworn he was with them and made use of those Suggestions beforementioned Hawley's denial That he was near the Jury argues his being conscious that he was with them to a very ill purpose It being a general Observation That whensoever a Person is charged with a Crime at a certain place and he positively denies his having been at that place when the Crime is said to be committed if such his denial prove false and it appears by undoubted Evidence that he was at the place when the Fact was done it is taken for granted that he was there to do what he is charged to have done A false Defence still argues a true Charge Lloyd the Centinel the day he was first seiz'd as suspected privy to this Murder declared That when the Men came to my Lord's Lodgings just before his Death Monday or Major Hawley ordered him to suffer the three Men to come in L. p. 27. To avoid this Suspicion Major Hawley declared before the Lords of the Close Committee that he went out of his own house about four or five of the Clock that morning and came not near his own House till after my Lord's Death when Monday the Warder came and gave him notice of that Accident but it was positively sworn by one that passed by Major Hawley's House about eight of the Clock that Morning which was a little before my Lords death that he saw the Major then go into his own House L. p. 32. Webster beforementioned one day very much abusing his Wife or Whore she told him to this effect That he was a Fool as well as a Rogue to treat her so considering he knew it was within her Power to hang him and one in the Tower L. p. 44. This Webster the very day my Lord was Murder'd produced a very fine Cambrick Pocket-Hankerchief mark'd with an E. and a Coronet The Hankerchief was very Bloody and this Barbarous Wretch shak'd it and with a great rejoycing cried out Here is the Blood of a Traytor The next day after the Earls Murder this Fellow before that time miserably poor produced a little Purse which he shook before a Neigbour of his and out of the Purse told Forty nine Guineas and a Pistol But it seems he had a far greater Sum than this for sometime after his Lordships Murder his Wife being upbraided with her Husbands Poverty reply'd My Husband not long since had five hundred Guinea's L. 44. This is probable enough considering the great Sums of Money this vile Fellow was observ'd to play away shortly after the Earl's death for it 's believed by those that observ'd his then losing that he lost above 400 l. within twelve Months next after his Lordships Murder Male parta male distribuntur Ill got ill spent Sometime after the Earls Death Holmes as before accused of being privy thereunto abusing his Wife she was over-heard to tell him He was a Murderous Rogue and he well-knew she could hang him when she pleas'd To which Holmes answer'd That he little thought she would have spoken of it who of all the World had the least Reason For said this Scurrilous Fellow You Bitch you Whore don't you remember I bought you a good Sattin-Gown and Petticoat and therefore you above all the World ought not to prate But she repli'd You are a Murderous Rogue for all that The many ill Practices violent Prosecutions and indeed barbarous Murders that have been committed to avoid a discovery of my Lord's Murder are further strong presumptions of that Barbarous Cruelty Of the first sort we have a
Discoveries were to be threatned or wheedled into silence Of which amongst many others we have these Instances following viz. William Edwards who saw the bloody Razor thrown out of my Lord's Chamber-window before his Death was discovered and hath deposed the same before the Lords further made Oath That as he was going into Westminster Hall that Morning Mr. Speak and I were Tried he met Major Hawley who knowing Edwards was to be an Evidence at that Trial in a very threatning manner told him That if he might have the management of him the said Edwards should be whipt once a Fortnight for 7 Years together Which menace of the said Hawley did so terrify this Boy then about 13 Years of Age that he was afraid to own what he knew lest he should have suffered for so doing But gentler Methods were sometimes thought more proper to be used towards such as could reveal any thing material herein for it 's proved that one said Major Hawley was one of the best Friends she had in the world upon account of somewhat which she knew with relation to the Earl of Essex ' s Death L. p. 33. The bare disbelief of the Earl's Self-Murther was heretofore a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against our then Mis-Government and Severely prosecuted tho not with fire yet with barbarous Usage as appears by the treatment of an Ancient Soldier who sometime after the Earl's Death was ordered to shew a certain Dr. the Tower which whilst he was doing the Divine asked the Soldier which was the Chamber the Earl of Essex cut his Throat in Whereupon the Soldier pointed to the Earl's Lodgings and said that is the Chamber in which they say he cut his Throat The Dr. then asked the Soldier what he did believe The poor Man to evade a direct answer said he believed in God but the Dr. pressed him to declare whether he did not believe his Lordship cut his own Throat The Soldier with some unwillingness replied that he would not say he did believe it The Dr. looking on this Expression as a great Offence immediately complained hereof to the Lord Allington then Constable of the Tower upon this Complaint the Soldiers were ordered to be drawn out that this Man might be discovered which this Soldier understanding to avoid discovery some way disguised himself but notwithstanding the Parson knew him and charged him with what you have before heard for which this unhappy disbeliever was put into the Hole and there fed some considerable time upon Bread and Water and whilst the Lord Allington was out of the Tower an Officer then there Commander in Chief ordered the poor old Man then past 60 Years of Age to be tied to the wooden Horse and stript to his Waste and the Marshal to give him Fifty three stripes tho' the usual number was but Twelve after which this Officer told the Soldier he ought to have been hang'd for what he declared And yet nothing more in substance than what is before-mentioned One of the Coroner's Jury sometime after my Lord's Death at a Coffee-house said he thought that they of the Jury were all infatuated to find the Earl Felo de se and he verily believed that had they been allowed convenient time they should have brought it in otherwise This Jury-man for these words was taken up imprisoned prosecuted and fin'd Such were the violent Methods used in those days to avoid any Suspicion of my Lord 's being murthered The timing the Earl's Death and the sudden use thereof made is another Argument not only of the Murder but of one main end thereby design'd My Lord was taken off when that great Patriot the Lord Russel was upon his Tryal As soon as King Ch. heard of the Earl's death he sent Sir C to go and view the Body and take the Examinations of such as were attending on my Lord at the time of his death Sir C had no sooner began to examine those Attendants but a Messenger came as he pretended from the King to tell Sir C He must go to the Old Bayly and give notice to the then Court that the Earl of Essex had cut his Throat Whereupon Sir C by the same Gentleman desir'd His Majesty that he might finish the Examinations he was then taking and he would then go to the Old Bayly But the same Gentleman soon return'd and declar'd to Sir C that His Majesty did expresly command him to go forthwith to the Old Bayly and to give notice of my Lord's Death In obedience to which repeated Command Sir C instantly went and gave notice to the Court of that deplorable Accident But Sir C hath unhappily forgot who thus twice brought His Majesties express Orders L. p. 47 48. As soon as the Court received this Account from Sir C with what malicious Application was it urg'd against the then unfortunate Gentleman at that time there upon his Tryal It was said to be an argument from Heaven of the truth of the then pretended Plot. The Kings Council said That Digitus Dei but indeed 't was Digitus Diaboli appear'd in that Evidence and that it was more than a thousand Witnesses Vide L. Russel's Tryal This Murder thus vehemently urg'd not a little bias'd the Jury against the then Prisoner some of them having ingenuously confess'd that it much influenced their Verdict against that unfortunate Gentleman Thus by that fatal Cut wherewith those bloody Wretches murder'd the Earl they did virtually destroy two of our greatest Patriots true State-Martyrs for the Religion Laws and Liberties of their Native Country SIR I Shall now give you a short Account upon what Grounds I did first ingage in this Prosecution and what hardships I have met with from the Severity of the two last Reigns for having endeavoured to detect this complicated Murther My Lord of Essex was taken off the 13th of July the Coroner sat on the Body the 14th and on the 16th of the same Month the Depositions taken before the Coroner were printed in which amongst other things it was sworn That the Razor was lock'd in with the Body into the Closet and there found Upon reading this particular a Friend of mine declared the Razor could not be lock'd into the Closet for there was a bloody Razor thrown out of my Lord's Chamber Window before it was known that the Earl was dead and that this Razor so seen thrown out one Edwards beforementioned endeavoured to take up but a Maid came out of my Lord's Lodgings and took it up running with it into my Lord's Lodgings and then first discover'd his Lordships death Finding this Relation very inconsistent with what was sworn before the Coroner I concluded those forsworn Attendants did not swear false for any other end but to avoid the discovery of that Truth which might detect this Villanous Murder Hereupon I did advise with some Friends to whom I did communicate my Resolution of making inquiry into this matter but with an unanimous Consent they all dissuaded me telling me that
inconsistent malice that I was ordered forthwith to be discharged Once more being at Liberty I did renew my Inquiries in which till the Hillary-Term then following I was in almost a constant Hurry In Hillary-Term 83 Mr. Speak and my Self were Tried upon an Information for a pretended Misdemeanour In this Charge was set forth in substance That the Earl of Essex being Prisoner in the Tower for High-Treason did feloniously destroy himself and was so found by the Coroner's Inquest Notwithstanding this Mr. Speake and my Self did conspire to procure false Witnesses to prove that the said Earl was murthered by Persons unknown in whose custody he was L. p. 16. The then Attorney General tells the Court That they had a Cloud of Witnesses to prove that the said Earl did indeed destroy himself L. p. 16 When this Cloud appeared it consisted in Major Hawley at whose House my Lord was murthered Russel the Warder who then kept the Chamber-door Bomeny my Lord's Servant then attending on his Lordship and Floyd the Gentinel who kept the outward Door whilst my Lord was murthered Here are three Monday being the fourth of the men in whose Custody my Lord was and consequently according to the Information the very men Mr. Speake and my Self had conspir'd to Charge with my Lord's Murther and these very men in whose Custody my Lord was were like a Cloud of Witnesses brought to prove that those men in whose Custody my Lord was did not murther his Lordship but that the Earl himself feloniously and as a Felon of himself did kill and murther How very Ridiculous would it have looked should the then Court or Kings Council have thus spoke to those three Witnesses viz. Gentlemen you being three of the Men in whose Custody my Lord was at the time of his Death are designed to be charged by the Defendants Speak and Braddon with the Murder of my Lord but we have thought it convenient and just by you to prove that your selves did not Murder this Unfortunate Lord but that this Lord himself Feloniously and as a Felon of himself did Kill and Murther as upon only some of your Depositions he hath been already found by the Coroners Inquisition do you therefore upon Oath but purge your selves and lay the Murder to my Lords own Door and we will inflict Exemplary Punishment upon these Defendants whose Conspiracy tended to the charging you as Actors in it or privy thereunto I do humbly conceive that all this was virtually included in the Examination of those Witnesses whose Oaths were not only admitted to purge themselves but to render such as Criminals as should endeavour to charge them Should the like be practiced in Protection of all accused I am well satisfied no Man would turn Accuser If any shall say These being the Men attending on my Lord at the time of his Death and his Lordship then a close Prisoner are the Persons to be presumed privy to what was done by his Lordship just before his Death and therefore the Parties which as to that could be sworn I answer As they were the Men which were to be presumed privy to what was done by his Lordship just before his Death because they were the Persons 〈…〉 Lordship For this very Reason they were the Parties which were likewise to be supposed privy to what was done To his Lordship just before his Death and therefore admitting that his Lordship fell by Treachery and Violence these were the Men must be presumed knowing thereof whereof these Mens Testimony being in effect a Self-discharge ought not be to have been admitted This Tryal was carry'd on with all the Fury imaginable and our Offence represented as the worst of Crimes tho I do hereby Challenge such of the then Bench as are now living the then Attorny General and Kings Council Jury and all the Witnesses against me to produce out of all the Evidence against me which I 〈◊〉 suppose but not grant to be true any Action that deserv'd the Name of a Crime altho it ought to have been no small Offence to justify the Judgment against us In this I refer my self to the printed Tryal Mr. Speak was find a 1000 l. and ordered to give Sureties for his Good Behaviour during his Life And I was Fin'd 2000 l. and to give likewise Sureties for my Good Behaviour during Life Under this Fine Mr. Speak lay some years and at last upon payment of about 5000 l. his Father Mother Brother and himself got a General Pardon but I continued about five years in Custody even till the now King landed I have great reason to believe the late King would never have forgiven me for about August 1687. I saw a List of the King's Prisoners in Mr. Burton or Mr. Graham's hand and my Name was the only Name mark'd and that was twice crost which they told me was done by the King himself As soon as he had read the List many of the Prisoners were soon after discharg'd but I was design'd for Judgment not Mercy and therefore kept Prisoner till November 1688. when upon this King 's Landing I gave ten Guineas for my Security-bonds and so made my escape About the 21st of January 1688. Hawley Monday Russel Webster and Lloyd were seiz'd as suspected concern'd in or privy to my Lord's Murder and the 23d of the same Month being the second day the Convention sat the House of Lords constituted a large Committee to inquire into this matter but afterwards the Lords appointed a Close Committee consisting of these four Lords viz. The Right Honourable the Lord Steward the Earl of Devon the Right Honourable the Earl of Bedford the Right Honourable the now Earl of Monmouth and the Right Honourable the now Earl of Warrington This Close Committee met for the most part twice a Week from the beginning of February 1688. till about the Middle of May then following The 23d of which Month many Depositions and Examinations taken by the said Committee were read in the House of Lords but the Lord Steward Earl of Monmouth and Warrington being then gone into the Country in His Majesties Service it was ordered that these Depositions and Papers should be seal'd up and kept by the Clerk of the Parliament in the mean time In the Clerks hands these Papers lay seal'd up till the 26th of October then following when a new Order of their Lordships reviv'd the said Committee and soon after these Depositions were taken out of the Clerks hand by this Committee which for a considerable time did 〈…〉 Week But before their Lordship had reduced all those numerous Informations and Examinations which they and some Justices of Peace had taken in this Matter into such method as 't was thought proper to Report them to the House a Prorogation came which of Course Dissolved this Committe But when that Honourable House shall think fit to Order that those Depositions and Examinations so as before taken shall be reported to the House I hope by them