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SUSSEX SMUGGLERS. |
71 |
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said—' If I had been there, I should have called a council of war, and he should have come no farther/
" About eight o'clock on that Wednesday evening, all who were present at the consultation at Scardefield's (except Richard Mills the younger, John Mills and Thomas Willis) went from Scardefield's to the house of Old Mills, where they found Chater chained, and guarded by Howard and Sheerman.
"They told him he must die, and ordered him to say his prayers. And whilst he was upon his knees at prayers, Cobby kicked him; and Tapner, impatient of Chater's blood, pulled out a large clasp knife, and swore he would be his butcher, and cut him twice or thrice down the face, and across the eyes and nose. But Old Mills in hopes of avoiding the punishment due to his guilt, by shifting Chater's execution to another place, said—' Don't murder him here: carry him somewhere else first.'
" He was then loosened from his chains, and was by all the prisoners (except Mills the father and his son), and by all the gang that came from Scardefield's, carried back to that well, wherein Galley had before been threatened to be thrown alive. Jackson and Carter left the company some small distance before the others came to the well; but described the well to be fenced round with pales and directed them where to find it ; and said—' We have done our parts,' meaning we have murdered Galley; k and you shall do yours/ meaning you shall murder Chater.
" Tapner, in order to make good what he had before said, after Chater had been forced over the pales which fenced the well, pulled a rope out of his pocket, put it about Chater's neck, fastened the other end to the pales, |
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