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
remarkable Instance in this particular viz. When the Coroners Inquisition and the Depositions of Bomeny and Russel were carri'd in all haste to White-Hall in order to their immediate Publication upon reading and comparing these new Informations it was found that they did in point of time materially contradict each other wherefore to make their Relations in this respect appear to the World more consonant to each other into Bomeny's Deposition these words were foisted viz. on Friday the Thirteenth Instant wherefore the then Authority might properly be said to have forg'd an Information For upon the least Alteration of or Addition to what was sworn by Bomeny it ceased to be his Deposition Whomsoever the then Authority pitch'd upon to peruse and reconcile Russels and Bomenys Depositions so that they might not appear to the World inconsistent with each other 't is plain he was not qualified for that Service for the words before observ'd to be added by this Reconciler are foisted into Bomeny's Deposition without the least congruity to Sense and Grammar As at large appears in L. p. 48. It matter'd not how contradictory Bomeny and Russell were in their Oaths before the Coroner provided they appear to publick view in a credible Dress For those Originals being kept by the Coroner it could not appear to the World that either of these printed Depositions was different from what was indeed sworn 't was taken for granted that the Coroner durst not contradict what Authority had ordered to be printed Robert Meake a Soldier in the Tower when my Lord was Murder'd and that very day discovered to several Friends what he knew of the matter the next Morning after the Earl's Death desired those to whom he had made that discovery not to reveal the least of what he had told them with relation to my Lord's Death For said Meake this very Morning several Soldiers were called together and by our Officer enjoyned under severe Threats not to make known any thing of what we saw or heard with reference to my Lord's Death And therefore he was undone if they should declare what he had the day before told them But it seems it was soon known or suspected by my Lord's murtherers that Meake had revealed his knowledge in this Matter and therefore they were resolved to take him off to prevent his farther Relation of which this poor Soldier being very sensible the very Day he was murthered he came to several of his acquaintance and told them That he found he went in danger of his life and he was afraid he should be murthered for discovering what he knew as to my Lord's Murther wherefore he desired those his Friends to keep him company that very Day for he much fear'd he should that very day be taken off but his friends dreading the danger themselves might be in whilst in his Company refused to go with him and that very Night this honest Soldier who was commonly known in the Tower and amongst his acquaintance by the Name of honest Robin was thrown into the Tower-ditch and the then next Morning there found dead L. p. 49. There was one Mr. Hawley a Warder in the Tower that Morning the Earl died who the day Mr. Speak and I were Tried declared That he knew Mr. Braddon could know nothing of the matter which a Gentleman observing said to Hawley If you know Mr. Braddon knows nothing what must you know then To which Mr. Hawley made no reply But this Warder's knowledge in the Matter cost him dear for about March next after the Earl's Death this Man was missing upon which a Popish Warder said That Hawley had been prating about the Earl of Essex ' s Death and for what he said was forc'd to ran away tho' it afterwards appeared he was murthered for about 6 Weeks after he was first miss'd he was found almost naked in Medway River having been villanously destroyed and such barbarous cruelty acted towards him that none of his own Relations not his own Wife could know him by his Face nor by any thing but what he had on his Legs for his Cloaths were stript off without doubt that the Body might not be known but his Stockins left on by which he was discovered for he wore three Stockins upon one Leg and two Stockins and a Sere-Cloath which he wore for some hurt upon the other by which remarkable circumstance the Body was known to be Mr. Hawley's Had his Murtherers took off his Stockins as they did his Cloaths none could have known it to be Mr. Hawley's Body But the Avenger of Blood in his Providence ordered this otherwise and hereafter may detect those barbarous Destroyers of Mankind with all their 〈…〉 been perpretrated with Relation to their first perfidious Cruelty Many have been the Practises used to prevent a publick Discovery of what was known by particular Persons in this matter For About 6 Weeks after my Lord's Death there was a Letter unsealed left with one Mr. Cadman then living in Durham Exchange The Letter was directed to the Right Honourable the Countess Dowager of Essex The substance of this Letter was That if her Honour could prevail with the King for the Author's Pardon he would ingenuously make a full Discovery how by whom and whose Order my Lord was murthered and this Letter did assure her Honour that the Duke of York and were authorizing this Murther This Letter was subscribed P. B. By the Hand that writ it and the Letters Subscribed it was Paul Bomeny beforementioned who did once blasphemously say that he could as well tell how my Lord came by his Death as God Almighty himself For the Letter was fairly writ in a Hand between a Roman and Italian and such an Hand Bomeny when he writ fair did write Besides the two Letters subscribed are the Letters of his Name I do suppose it may be objected That this Letter cannot be thought to be writ and subscribed by Bomeny for the Letter had it been brought in Accusation against him and proved to be his would have cost him his Life seeing herein he confessed himself guilty of the Fact But with submission I think Bomeny by this Letter could it have been proved to be his own Hand-writing was in no danger at all of being punished for had they seized Bomeny they would have catched a Tartar should they have proceeded against him for the Murther Upon this Confession the World would have believed the whole Contents of this Letter to be true and consequently that the Duke of York and authorized or rather commanded this most Treacherous Murther and then pray consider what that Government could have got by such Prosecution Conviction and Punishment This Letter was carried by Cadman to a Justice of Peace and by him to the Secretary of State But this Bookseller was never sent for nor any enquiry made after the Author This Murther was a Noli me tangere of those times which was not therefore to be inquired into but such as could make
if the Earl was Murder'd that Interest and Power concern'd therein was too powerful for me to cope with To which I made answer to this effect That of this I was well satisfied but I dreaded what might be the consequence of no Mans engaging in this Detection for if that bloody Party which destroy'd his Lordship perceived such their Cruelty was unsuspected and that it was generally believed to be done by the Earl himself in probability many more might fall such Sacrifices to their Malice For if those cruel Men found any to oppose their Designs it was but to pretend a Crime and thereupon Imprison them placing over them perfidious Villains that would either Murder them or suffer others to do it and then add Perjury to Murder And they might destroy many Noblemen and Gentlemen that were truest Friends to the English Interest but if those vile Men once perceived that this their first Murder was suspected and in danger of being expos'd they would not so readily ingage in a Second Part of that horrid Tragedy the prevention whereof I did prefer to my own private Interest and Safety and tho to the certain Ruin of both I was resolved by the grace of God to ingage therein With this Resolution I made inquiry after this Edwards whom before I never saw and finding this Boy to give the Relation before-mentioned and that as soon as he came from the Tower that Morning my Lord died he declared the same to his Mother and Sisters as they were ready to attest I took in substance what the Boy and his Relations could depose and therewith went to some Magistrate but I found all shy to meddle in the Matter Being thus disappointed the very Thursday after the Earl's Death I went to White-Hall and carried with me what the Boy and his Mother could declare and were ready to make Oath of This I gave to my Lord Sunderland the then Secretary of State The Secretary commanded me to attend the then next day about Ten in the Morning and so bring with me the Boy and his Mother and his Lordship said If it were proper he would take their Depositions Friday the 21th of July 1683 I went down to White-Hall with the Boy and his Sister who could testify the same with the Mother who was then ill and sent word to the Secretary then in Council That I did attend according to his Lordship's Order Upon which a Messenger was sent forth and before the Boy or his Sister or any person was examined against me I was taken into Custody and after some short time carried before the King and Council When I first came before His Majesty the King asked me what mov'd Me to engage in that Matter I told His Majesty that I was altogether a stranger to that Honourable Family so that I lay under no greater personal Obligation than any man might who had met with the same Informations It was my love to Truth and Justice that moved me to engage therein and through the grace of God would do my duty though Death star'd me in the Face every step I made After many foreign Questions from the matter in hand I pull'd out of my Pocket the Coroner's Inquest and observed to His Majesty some of the Incoherences and Contradictions sworn before the Coroner The Duke then demanded to see those Depositions which being delivered his Highness look'd over them but made no answer to what was objected His then Majesty received them from his Highness and said as little in answer The then Lord Keeper North endeavoured to reconcile those inconsistences But I did object against such his Lordship's Reconciliation 〈…〉 This made the Lord Keeper very angry I do conceive that the Printing the Depositions was an appeal to mankind Whether what was sworn before the Coroner was not sufficient to prove the Earl Felo de se I do not so much wonder at the folly of those two inconsistent Deponents as at the indiscretion of the then Mis-Government to print such incongruous Informations as by their material notorious Difference naturally rendred both suspected as false and contrived The Boy and his Sister being examined I was called again before the Board where the Lord Keeper told me That I must give Security to answer to an Information which in that Matter should be preferred against me and that Afternoon I gave 2000 l. Bail accordingly and was discharged out of Custody Although thus treated I was resolved to proceed in my Inquiry and for some Weeks was daily in search after many particulars of which I had been Informed amongst the rest I was told that it was reported above an Hundred miles from London before the Earl's Death that he had cut his Throat in the Tower as is before observed In Search after this Report I rid into Wiltshire where I and my Servant were taken up and sent to the County Gaol upon a very illegal Warrant in the conclusion whereof The Keeper was commanded to keep us both without Conversation with any Person whatsoever and without Pen Ink or Paper till the Gaoler should hear from the King and Council A strict obedience to this Warrant might have confined me and my man to that Prison all the time of our lives From this Gaol I and my Servant were remov'd by Habeas Corpus upon the Habeas Corpus Act to be bail'd my man was discharged without bail but the Lord Keeper demanded 24000 l. Bail for my Appearance and Security for the Good Behaviour These were Terms I could not comply with and was therefore some considerable time continued in the Custody of a Messenger at above Four pounds a Week directly Expences besides other collateral Disbursements To avoid this vast Charge I Petitioned to be removed over to the Kings-Bench which after many Petitions I did at last obtain But before my removal I did agree with the Marshal upon giving 2000 l. Security and Five Shillings per Week to have the Liberty of the Rules When I was removed the Marshal insisted upon 10000 l. Security and Ten Shillings per Week which when I had given I was notwithstanding lock'd up at no less Expence than 2 l. 5 s. 3 d. per Week for Prison-Charges Thus having lain some Weeks in this Place I moved the Kings-Bench to be bail'd and at last obtained it Having once more got my Liberty I renewed my Prosecution but as a designed prevention hereof I was about November 1683 again taken up upon as illegal a Warrant as the former For herein no Crime was specified but it was granted against me for being suspected to be disaffected to the then Mis-Government By virtue of this Warrant I was first carried before Sir James Edwards then before the Lord Mayor and after that to White-Hall before the King and Council The Design of this was to charge me with bespeaking 〈…〉 the Destruction of the then mis-call'd Loyal Party But upon full Examination in this Accusation there appeared such falshood and
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