Q. How was he armed? A. With a fork. Q. Did you speak to either of them? A. Yes. Q. Were they all three together or apart? A. They were together-they were in the front rank. Q. Which of them did you accost? A. Isaac Ludlam the elder. Q. What did you say to him? A. I said "Good God, Isaac, what are you doing upon such a business as this?-What are you doing upon such an errand?-you have got a halter about your neck-go home." Q. Did you do anything to enforce that admonition? Q. What? A. I took him by the shoulder and pushed him towards the office; I told him if he had any regard to his family or country, to go home. I took him and pushed him towards the office; I was then in the ranks close to him. Q. Could he have taken refuge in your office at that time? A. He might. Q. What answer did he make? A. He said "I am as bad as I can be; I cannot go back, I must go on." He was exceedingly agitated when I talked to him. Q. Did either of those three take refuge in your office? A. Neither of them. Q. Did any others who were there avail themselves of that opportunity? A. They did. Q. Who were they? A. There was Mr. Hugh Booth, the son of Mr. Samuel Booth, Mr. William Booth's servant, I think his name was Wain, and there was a Turner of Pentridge Lane-end. Q. They got into your office, and you sheltered them? A. Yes. Q. What then became of the body of the men? A. I then left them and went to the office door, and after a short pause, Brandreth gave them the word March," and they went away. Q. Towards what place? A. They went on the road towards Nottingham, a short distance towards Ripley; they went first over the coke hearth, and then came back again, and finally went towards Ripley. Q. Shortly after they were gone, did other body of men following them? A. Yes. Q. Amounting to about what number? you observe any A. Forty or fifty. Perhaps they did not come so far as the office. Q. Sometime after they were gone, did you observe William Weightman? A. I did. Q. On foot or on horseback? A. On horseback. Q. What relation is he to George? A. Brother. Q. Was any person with him? A. Yes, a young man of about seventeen or eighteen. Q. Do you know his name? A. I believe his name was Taylor, brother to Weightman's wife. Q. Which way was Weightman going? A. He was going towards Nottingham. Q. Did he follow in the same line those men had gone? A. Yes, in the same direction, but he went a short cut, a more direct way to Nottingham. Q. What did you do with respect to him? A, I rushed out and seized his horse's bridle, supposing he was going to join the rebels, and stopped him; he admitted that he was; and he said if I would let him go back he would go back and would not go near them. Lord Chief Baron Richards What were the words that passed? Mr. Gurney. You said to him, what? A. "Weightman you are going to join those fellows." Q. Was that the word you used? A. I think it was, in the first instance he resisted, first saying that I had no right to stop him on the high-way; I said you are going to join those fellows, and he admitted he was, and said he would go home. Q. You used the word fellows in both instances? A. In the first instance I did. Q. He said he was; but if you would let him go he would turn back? A. Yes. Q. Did he turn his horse's head? A. He turned his horse's head, and went a short distance from me, and I then observed that he had a bag under him. Q. How was he dressed? A. In a blue smock frock. Q. Did that smock frock conceal the bag? A. Yes, I could not see it when he was speaking to me, for I was on the off side of the horse,-it struck me when he turned, and I saw it-that that bag must be bullets. Q. Under that impression, did you again seize his horse? A. I made a dash at his horse, and seized him by the bridle. Q. What did you say to him? 4. I told him I must have that bag;-he said I should not, I had nothing to do with it; I said, "You rascal, I will have it, they are bullets, and you are taking them to join the rebels." Q. Did you get the bag from him? A. I then took him by the collar, and was pulling him down from his horse, and he said he would give them up quietly, and they were bullets; he was obliged to do it he said, for they had threatened his life if he did not. Mr. Cross. I am not aware my Lord of the materiality of this evidence to the present prosecution; but I do submit to your Lordship that the altercation between this witness and William Weightman, in the absence of the Prisoner at the bar, cannot be admissible evidence against him. Mr. Denman. William Weightman is deliberating whe ther or not he shall join a particular body of men ;—there is nothing to connect him with that body of men, by order, by message, or by presence;- this gentleman, very kindly interposes, and endeavours to prevent his going, upon which William Weightman says something as to his motives, stating facts as to what they had said to him. I submit to your Lordship that is no evidence whatever against the prisoner at the bar; there is nothing to connect this man with him, and it is nothing but his reason for proceeding to Nottingham, when Mr. Goodwin attempts to prevent it. If these had been shewn to be bags of bullets carried to the party, which is what I expected, that might have made it evidence; but not being traced to the party, it does appear to me, and I submit it with great confidence, that what he says with respect to his motives for joining this or any other outrageous party, cannot be evidence. Mr. Gurney. My Lord, I certainly feel extremely indifferent to the having any declarations of William Weightman given in evidence, considering them as immaterial in this case; for the fact of his following them with this ammunition for the furtherance of their common object, would be sufficient. I thought the last declaration given by the witness would be rather gladly received by my learned friend, as William Weightman is a person indicted, than rejected by him; but when there appears to be a conspiracy of this extent, when parties appear thus arrayed in a hostile manner, when they cannot all be in one spot at the same time, and cannot be all making declarations in the hearing of the Prisoner. At the same time, William Weightman being one of the persons indicted, charged with being a co-conspirator with the prisoner; it appears to me utterly impossible to exclude the act of William Weightman, who was thus shortly following in the same track the parties who had gone armed with guns, he following with that ammunition which would make those guns effective and destructive. It appears, I think, perfectly clear that the evidence of his acts is ad missible with respect to his declarations ;-it is certainly a matter of perfect unimportance. Mr. Cross. My Lord, my objection is not so much to what the witness has already stated of the conversation and altercation between himself and Weightman, as because I conceive there is some view to affect the Prisoner at the bar, and therefore I think it is time, when they introduce evidence of the declarations of William Weightman, that I should take your Lordships opinion whether any part of the conversation between them ought to be received; there is no pretence for saying that the Prisoner at the bar and William Weightman can be proved to have been personally together prior to that moment, and I conceive there is no ground at all for saying that because William Weightman happened to ride along the same high road, provided with something in a bag, and appeared some time after the Prisoner at the bar was gone, that any evidence which can connect the Prisoner at the bar with him. is Mr. Gurney. I have not the least objection to the declaration being struck out, my Lord. Mr. Justice Abbott. You wave the evidence of what was said? Mr. Gurney. Certainly, my Lord. Did you afterwards obtain possession of the bag of bullets? A. I did. Q. Have you them here? A. Yes. Q. What quantity? A. About three quarters of an hundred; about eightyfour pounds weight. Q. Were there, besides the bullets, any moulds for forming cartridges? A. Yes. Q. Are those moulds for forming cartridges? A. Yes; I believe they are. Q. Were they with the bullets? A. Yes. (The witness produced the bullets and the moulds, and some cartridge paper.) |