Part 27

then I saw a fellow play bo-peep in a back-room, and presently was a noise, he was gone and fled; his son they said it was. Sir T. Aleyn pressed very hard to Mr. Turner, and desired to know whose money that was. Says Turner, By the eternal God, it is my own money, with many other protestations of his innocence. A constable was sent for, and we carried the money and Turner in a hackney coach to Mr. Tryon, and there left the money on a table with Mr. Tryon. They had some discourse; Turner came forth and said, The old gentleman and I are agreed, I will trust the money no longer with you, but with the old gentleman himself. Said I, let me be discharged of it, do what you will with it.

BRIDGMAN--Did you see the bags out of the wallet?

SIR T. ALEYN--We saw one which was sealed, I think, with the bishop of Chichester's seal.

Ann Ball proved that Mr. and Mrs. Turner had left some money at her house with the maid. The maid went to her sister and acquainted her with it. In this way the knowledge of the money came to Sir T. Aleyn.

Frederick Ixam was present when the bags were taken out of the wallets at Mr. Tryon's house: three of them had no seals; one had a seal very much defaced; one had a seal which was the same as that on a letter from the bishop of Chichester produced by Mr. Tryon. The bags were in court.

Hanson and Mr. Tryon proved the agreement of the seals, and the bishop of Chichester's letter, which was produced.

Cole, a serjeant, and his brother, a yeoman, proved that they arrested Turner in a civil suit about three o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Soon after the constable came and charged them to assist in taking him before Sir T. Aleyn.

By and by I was saying, Col. Turner, how could this house be robbed, and none of the doors broke? O, said he, I took a man in the Minories, who has discovered it to me; he told me that one going into the cellar in the daytime lay there till night, then went upstairs, found a candle and lit it, took the key from his bedside, and went down and let all of the rest of the thieves in. The young man being there, said, It was well the maid and I was not at home, we should have been killed. No, says he, you would not have been killed, only bound.

TURNER--As the fellow told me.

HYDE, LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Did he say nothing touching Mr. Tryon's tooth?

COLE--He said, that the fellow putting his finger in his mouth to gag him, the old gentleman bit him; and in struggling to get out his finger, pulled out his tooth.

LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE HYDE--You are very perfect at it, Mr. Turner, every way.

TURNER--Ay, my lord, I examined him every way.

Peter Vanden-Anchor and Chaplain were the first people who entered the house after the robbery, and described the state in which they found it, and how they unbound Mr. Tryon. The latter examined the servants as to their movements; Hill, the manservant, said that he and the maid had been at supper with Turner; but the maid said she had been at the house of one Chamberlin, a goldsmith.

Christmas described how he had been arrested at two in the morning, but had been discharged the next day.

Millington was at Mr. Tryon's house on Saturday evening, and finding Turner in custody, there was asked by him to intercede, in order that he might have his liberty to go about the jewels. Afterwards Turner, at his own house, sent his wife to Whitechapel or Tower-hill, where she would meet a man who would give her something. The wife brought the jewels to the Hoop Tavern, and from there they were taken to Mr. Tryon's, where they were examined, and none were found missing except a carcanet jewel.

Mannock had been told by Turner in Newgate that he was to have £500 for recovering the jewels and the money; he had recovered £500 and most of the jewels; if Sir Thomas had not secured him, he would now have them all; 'but Newgate was not the place to find them out.'

Sir T. Chamberlain was sworn and said, that hearing on Friday morning that Mr. Tryon had been robbed, he went to his house about three in the afternoon.

I found a great many people about him; sir T. Aleyn, lady Garret, and the countess of Carlisle was there. I told him, Mr. Tryon, I understand you have been robbed. Yes, says he, I have a great loss. I found him very staggering what he should do. I said, you must do like a man, or you will lose all: said I to sir T. Aleyn, if you do not help the poor man, being ancient, he will quite lose all. With that I went up above in the house, sir T. Aleyn was pleased to call me along with him, I was by at all the examinations; I did mistrust, and told Mr. Tryon in French, that no doubt but that gentleman was in the robbery: the reason was, that he being a frequent man in the house, knew everything: he was there continually, coming for jewels and things, and no man could do it but himself: that was my judgment, I told sir T. Aleyn assuredly he had a hand in it. My lord, the while we were examining the servants, word was brought in, that he was hearkening at the door, and in the yards, which made me more and more mistrust him. We heard that the maid had been gadding abroad several times: I desired sir T. Aleyn to examine the maid how often she had supped at Turner's, she denied any time. The young man was examined, who said, they had been thirty or forty times feasted at col. Turner's. My lord, sir T. Aleyn has given you a just account, but he omitted one thing; he had a note sent him, which he had in his pocket, touching Mr. Turner's going about removal of the money into the Minories; and before Turner came in, he examined Mrs. Turner upon that note: says he, you were there too, and carried the money. Says she, she [i.e. Mrs. Fry] is a liar and a whore for saying so. Col. Turner came in and said, why do you torment and vex my wife; and falling a cursing, and swearing and banning, said she was with child, you will make her miscarry, let her alone. Sir T. Aleyn examined him where he had been that day, and that night; he told me of many taverns, and going to see his horse, and I know not what, but we found him faltering. When the jewels were brought, there being two notes, sir T. Aleyn had one, and I another. The old gentleman was so joyful to see them again, that lying by him, and handling them, he pulled two or three down with his sleeve. Says Mr. Turner, come, I know what belongs to them better than any of you, and read them over, and I will shew them you. There wanting one jewel, says he, that rogue that has the other money hath this jewel, but I do not doubt but I shall find that out too. We put them all together, and sir T. Aleyn sealed them with his seal. For the bags of money, I saw them taken out, and one being sealed with a small seal, I put on both my spectacles, I found a lion rampant at top in one of the quarters; said I, this is a seal of some great person; and then a letter was brought down, and being compared, I was satisfied in my conscience they were alike. Sir T. Aleyn told me he must make a mittimus for him and his wife: said she, Do you send me of your errands? you shall send somebody else another time: I thought it would come to this. After much ranting and swearing (I thought the devil would have fetched him out of the room) he said, that he had better have kept the jewels, than to bring them forth, and to suffer for it himself, for he had pawned his soul, and would not reveal it; and said, that Mr. Tryon had likewise engaged the like to him. For the £600 he offered his bond.

Hill recalled, said that Turner had been employed by Tryon about some mortgages; but he knew of no particulars.

SIR T. ALEYN--My lord, John Turner his son there, fled away from me when I came to the house in the Minories.

BRIDGMAN, LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Why did you fly away?

JOHN TURNER--I did not, sir.

SIR T. ALEYN--You did not fly! You ran away as fast as you could.

JOHN TURNER--My lord, a woman cried out 'Get away, and save your life!' and not knowing what the matter was, I went away.

COL. TURNER--Poor boy! he thought thieves had been coming, and affrighted him.

SIR T. ALEYN--As to Ely Turner, I examined him upon the Sunday, the day after his father was committed; he would not confess the carrying of any money, and the maid swearing it, I committed him also.

COL. TURNER--What's that of Ely? upon my soul, the boy carried none.