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62 SUSSEX SMUGGLERS.
and Hammond to be principals therein, and the other four prisoners to be accessaries.
"4th, and last period, takes in the discovery of Chater's body in a well, where he was hung, with the proofs that it was the body of Chater.
" In the opening of this case, it will be impossible for me to avoid the frequent mention of one William Galley, also suspected to have been murdered: and for whose murder two of the prisoners, viz., Jackson and Carter, are indicted, and are to be tried upon another indictment.
" But the murder of Galley is not the object of your present consideration, nor do I mention his name either to aggravate this crime, by taking notice of his murder also, nor to inflame the jury against the prisoners at the bar; but I do it for the sake of method, and for the purpose only of laying the whole case before the jury; for the story of Chater's murder cannot be told without disclosing also what happened to Galley, his companion and fellow-sufferer.
" To begin with the first period of time. Some time in September, 1747, a large quantity of uncustomed tea had been duly seized by one Captain Johnson, out of a smuggling cutter, and by him lodged in the custom-house at Poole, in the county of Dorset.
" In the night of the 6th of October following, the custom-house of Poole was broken open by a numerous and armed gang of smugglers; and the tea which had been seized and there lodged, was by them taken and carried away.
" This body of smugglers, in their return, passed |
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