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Title: The Affecting Case of the Unfortunate Thomas Daniels

Subtitle: Who Was Tried at the Sessions Held at the Old Bailey, September, 1761, for the Supposed Murder of His Wife; by Casting Her out of a Chamber Window: and for Which He Was Sentenced to Die, but Received His Majesty's Most Gracious and Free Pardon.

Author: Thomas Daniels

Release Date: September 7, 2010 [EBook #33661]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

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THE AFFECTING CASE OF THE UNFORTUNATE THOMAS DANIELS.

LONDON

Thomas Daniels, the person named in the Pamphlet hereunto annexed, Intitled, "The Affecting Case of the unfortunate Thomas Daniels &c." maketh Oath and saith that the said Pamphlet (containing twenty-four pages) is a just and faithful Narrative of his Case; and that the same is published at his particular desire of having the Public truly informed of the whole and every circumstance of his case, with a view to the removing all unfavourable prejudices against him.

THOMAS DANIELLS.

Sworn this 23d of November,

1761, before me

W. ALEXANDER.

THE

AFFECTING CASE

OF THE UNFORTUNATE

THOMAS DANIELS,

WHO WAS

Tried at the SESSIONS held at the OLD BAILEY,

September, 1761,

FOR THE

Supposed MURDER of his WIFE;

By casting her out of a CHAMBER WINDOW:

And for which he was sentenced to die, but received his MAJESTY'S

most GRACIOUS and FREE PARDON.

IN WHICH IS CONTAINED,

A circumstantial Account of the Behaviour of that unhappy Woman,

from her Husband's first Acquaintance with her, to the Day of her Death.

Drawn up and authenticated by the said DANIELS himself;

And faithfully prepared for the PRESS, by

An IMPARTIAL HAND.

LONDON:

Printed for E. CABE, in Ave-Mary-Lane.

MDCCLXI.

THE AFFECTING CASE OF THE UNFORTUNATE THOMAS DANIELS.

The calamitous circumstance of having been condemned to death by the laws of his country, for the most hateful of all crimes; and his most extraordinary deliverance from an ignominious fate, and being restored to liberty unconditionally and free! will naturally render the case of Thomas Daniels a subject of eager curiosity and warm debate. That persons in the superior stations of life should sometimes find means to evade the punishments incurred by infringing the laws of their country, and by disturbing the order of society, does not greatly excite our wonder; an experience of the manners and customs of the world, occasions our hearing such instances as things of course; we make a natural reflection or two on the occasions, and think no more of them. But when a person in one of the lowest classes of mankind, by a fatal accident, appears before a court of justice with apparent evidences of guilt, sufficient to influence a jury of his impartial countrymen to sentence him to the most severe penalty the law can inflict; when this man, meerly from the advantage of a good character in the narrow circle of his acquaintance, and from a re-examination into the probability of the fact, for which he was condemned, shall have the inferences drawn from the depositions on his trial, totally invalidated, so that the sentence passed on him is freely remitted! it is such a sanction of his innocence, that it would be cruel and unjust, in particulars, afterward to retain any suspicions injurious to him.

It ought to be principally attended to in this affair, that his Majesty, whose regal virtues are so generally known and acknowledged, cannot appear in a more amiable view, than in the attention with which he is said to have endeavoured to discover the merits of the intercession made for this poor convict. An instance which, as it may be deemed too trivial to engage any particular share of princely consideration, yet is certainly one of the truly parental duties of a Monarch, and will endear him in the hearts of many of his useful subjects, who are beneath caring for the retention of Guadalupe or Canada. And it is doing justice to the poor fellow, to own, that he seems to retain a grateful, if not a politely expressed, sensibility of the great obligation he owes to the royal parent of this his second period of existence.

But as an imputation of so base a nature, confirmed by a court of justice, would naturally prejudice female minds universally against him, too strongly for any after testimony in his favour easily to efface; and as Mr. Daniels is not yet old enough to relinquish all thoughts of matrimony, and seems to possess too happy a share of vivacity to be totally depressed by his past misfortunes, however severe they have been; it is probable he may be hardy enough yet to venture on a second trial of that state, can he find any good girl candid enough to venture on him: but however this may be, from many important considerations the poor man is willing to give the world all the satisfaction in his power, relating to the unhappy woman who was lately his wife, and on whose account he has gone through so much trouble and anxiety from his first connexion with her: and it is charitably hoped, that, as he has so solemnly authenticated the particulars of it, the same degree of credibility will be allowed him, which would be granted to any other person of fair character and good estimation.

The following particulars concerning this unfortunate couple, were penned by Thomas Daniels himself, since his enlargement; and are faithfully exhibited with no other alterations than what were absolutely necessary, with regard to spelling, style, and disposition, to render the narrative in some measure clear and fit for perusal. This dressing was not intended to give any undue colouring to facts, but simply to supply the deficiencies of the writer; whose laborious situation in life has denied him those literary advantages indispensable to the writing his story with tolerable propriety.

Thus much being premised, it is time to let the principal offer his plea, as candidate for the favourable opinion of his readers.

"It was in the year 1757 that I first became acquainted with Sarah Carridine, by living in the same neighbourhood. She was a very pretty girl; and I had a great affection for her, as I imagined her to be a good industrious person. I made my friends acquainted with my regard for her, but they were entirely against my having her, because of her living in a public-house: but I was obstinate, and told them I loved her and would marry her at all adventures, as I believed she would make a good wife: upon this they said I might have another far preferable to her, but that if I was resolved not to listen to their advice, they would have nothing more to say to me, and I should never come near them more. Finding therefore it was in vain to hope for my father's consent in this affair, I consulted with her what to do, and at her desire I agreed that she should take a lodging for us both, and her mother took one accordingly. I then left my former lodging and lived with her; but as I still worked with my father as before, he soon found that I had changed my lodging, and upon what account. This discovery made him very angry, and we had a quarrel about it, which made me resolve not to work with him any more. This laid me under a necessity of seeking for business elsewhere; and in my walks for this purpose, I met with some acquaintance, who told me they had entered on board the Britannia privateer, and that she was a fine ship. By their encouragement I entered myself also. I went home, and told Sarah Carridine what I had done; she cried sadly, but I begged her to make herself easy, for that the cruize was but for six months, that we were going to make our fortunes, and that I would marry her when I came back; and in the mean time would advise her to go to service. This pacified her, and she promised so to do.

"We sailed on the 30th of August, on our cruize, but had very bad luck, and I returned home in April, 1758. As soon as I came to London, I went to my master, Mr. Archer, who keeps the sign of the White Bear, the corner of Barbican in Aldersgate Street; there I sent for my father and mother, and we spent the evening together very agreeably, much rejoiced at our meeting again. I enquired of my mistress where I could find Sarah Carridine? She referred me to Mr. John Jones the founder, who she said could inform me. Jones took me over the water to an alehouse at the bridge foot, where I saw her. I used in the evenings to go and sup with her, at her mother's, after my day's work; and Mr. Jones, lodging in the same house with me, frequently went with me. Jones and I had been old acquaintance for some years; he pretended great friendship for me and Sarah Carridine, and offered to be father to her and give her away. This was very agreeable to me, and I fixed upon St. James's day for our marriage. I informed my friends of my intention, but I could not obtain their consent. I asked my master to lend me a guinea to defray the wedding charges; but being refused, Jones advised me not to be beholden to any of them, but to raise some money upon my watch: I therefore put it in his hands, and he pawned it for me. This will serve to shew how officious he was in this transaction.

"We lived for some time after our marriage in ready-furnished lodgings, until my wife's mother persuaded us to come and lodge with her; she lived in Catharine-Wheel Alley, Whitechapel. This we did until I procured some goods of my own. While we lived there, she used to be frequently abroad when I came home from my work. I cannot but take notice in this place, that, however wrong it may be esteemed by others, and however disagreeable to me, to speak ill of the dead; yet the peculiarity of my situation will, I hope, excuse the obligation I am under of declaring the truth, this being now the discharge of a duty I owe to myself. Whenever I asked her mother where she was gone? she would tell me she was gone to see some young women in Spital Fields. When she came home she was often in liquor, and I would then say, 'Sally, what makes you drink so much?' her mother would reply, 'Lord, a little matter gets in her head, for she is a poor drinker.' I then resolved to take a little shop to employ her: I did so, and put her in a little shop in the Minories, to sell pork, greens, and other articles; and she might have done very well there if she had minded her business, and not have gone to see the young women so often as she pretended. At last however I went to see where these young women lived, but they had not seen her a long time. As I was returning back, I saw my wife with Mr. Jones, going before me, whom I followed until I saw they turned into a public-house. On this I went back to her mother, and enquired whether she was returned? she replied, 'Lord, I suppose they will not let her come yet.' With that I said, it is very odd, but I believe I know where she is; I will go and see. When I went back there they were both together. So, said I, this is your going to see Bett Reed! She replied, I am but just come back. Pray, said I, how came Mr. Jones here? She answered, she found him there, and believed he came to see me. I then said, I rather believe he came to see you; I saw you both come in, arm in arm. She was then drunk, which made me send her home. I told him he had no business to keep my wife from me; but if he was a man he would come out, and try who had the best right to her. He would not, but went away.

"When I came home, my wife and her mother and I, quarelled, and I had them both upon me at once: she then ran away, and staid all night. The next day by her mother's persuasions we made it up, and agreed that she should go and mind her shop, and never go into Jones's company more. After this he did not come near us until the next Lord Mayor's Day, when he knew, I suppose, that I was gone to my master's hall. My shopmate and I went to carry my master's great coat; my master gave us a bottle of wine, and we went into the kitchin and got some victuals to it; this we carried home to my wife, thinking to enjoy it quietly there. I asked her mother where Sally was? She said she was gone to the Three Kings, and bid me go and call her. Before I went I heard a noise upon the stairs, and, upon taking a candle to see what was the matter, there stood my wife; and hearing somebody going down to the cellar, there stood John Jones!

"My wife and I had a great quarrel on this occasion; she pretended that he came only to give her some ribbons, as he had been a whiffler in the procession. Perceiving what a loose disposition she was of, I resolved she should keep shop no more; I therefore shut it up. There are people enough in that neighbourhood sufficiently acquainted with these transactions; and with my wife's general behaviour.

"I then thought we should be rather more quiet if I moved her from her mother's, for we were always quarrelling. I got some goods of my own, and my wife and my mother took a room for me in the Little Minories, when for some time we lived more loving than before. However she quickly began her old irregularities again, which occasioned fresh quarrels, to the great uneasiness of our landlady, for the people of the house were very good sort of people. She would often talk to my wife, and give her wholesome advice, but all to no purpose; which determined me to leave her. I again entered on board the Britannia privateer as carpenter's mate, without acquainting any body with my intention, and went down to Greenhithe where the ship lay, to work on board her. Before I had been there many days, to my great surprize down came my wife with John Jones! They staid on board all night, my wife crying bitterly to persuade me to come home again, promising an entire reformation in her conduct. I said I could not come back now, because I had entered myself; but she lamenting and behaving like a mad woman, I was persuaded to return home with her. To do this, I obtained leave of our lieutenant to go to London, to bring my tools down, when my wife prevailed on me to stay at home. I then went to work again in town, and my wife said if I would try her once more, by putting her in a shop, she would be very good. Then it was I took a house, at the corner of Hare Court, Aldersgate Street, where, for some time, she managed very well, but soon returned to her old ways again. By our frequent quarrels the neighbours were at first inclined to think I used her ill, but had they then known how affairs were circumstanced, they would not have blamed me; for her temper grew so unaccountable, that she would frequently come after me, where ever I happened to be at work, or at the alehouse, and abuse me for nothing. When I came home at nights from my work, thinking to pass the evenings comfortably with her, she would constantly find some pretence to quarrel with me, and to render my life uneasy. One time, in particular, when I came home, she threw the pewter quart pot, she had been drinking out of, at my head; and then running out of the house, she, in the violence of her rage, dashed her elbow through the glass window of our shop, and then ran up to my master Archer with her bloody arm, crying out,——'See here what your rogue has done'—Thus she endeavoured to prejudice me in the minds of all my friends and acquaintance; when afterward she confessed to Mr. Moses Owen, a barber in Old Street, who compleated the cure of her arm, that she did it herself purposely.

"Another time, when I worked at St. Mary Axe, she, and one of her acquaintance, having been to Billingsgate to buy oysters for her shop, came to me to the Crown alehouse in Camomile Street, where I was then at dinner with my shopmates: there she wanted me to treat her with drink, which, as I observed her to be already in liquor, I refused, and would have gone back quietly to my work; she then snatched off my hat and wig to detain me, but finding that not to answer her intention, she abused me in a most vile manner, and with a small cod which she had with the oysters, beat me in a most ridiculous manner about my head and face; and, as all my brother journeymen may well remember, obliged me to go back to my labour bareheaded!

"One day, when my business carried me to the other end of the town for the whole day, my wife gave Jones notice of it, and quickly after I was gone dressed herself, shut up her shop, and went out with him to spend the day. He was that day dressed in a new suit of cloaths. At night when I came home, not being able to get into my house, I went to her mother's in Whitechapel, expecting to meet with her there. By the way as I was coming back, who should I see before me but my wife and John Jones! I followed them into an alehouse, where I quarrelled with them both, and in my passion threw some beer in her face, on which she ran out to her mother's. I challenged Jones to fight me, but he would not. But meeting with him afterward, he then challenged me, for reporting the familiarity between him and my wife. On this we stripped, and had two or three blows; he fell against a table, and, as he says, broke two of his ribs, for which he took me up, but I was bailed out by my mistress. As my wife thought proper not to come nigh me, I lett the shop which she kept and lodged at my master's. She continued away about seven weeks, only calling upon me now and then to abuse me; and going home to my house to scold and threaten my lodgers, whom I had admitted upon her deserting me.

"At length she and her mother came together to me; her mother threatened, if I would not take my wife home again, to arrest me for her board; upon this I urged her bad treatment of me while she was at home, her neglect of her family affairs, and her scandalous attachment to this John Jones; and lastly, her voluntary elopement. However we entered into a treaty of pacification, in the course of which, she confessed her intimacy with Jones, and the terms on which it had subsisted. It seems their connexion began while I was on my cruize in the Britannia privateer; he promised to marry her if I should not return, and if I did, that he would still continue his kindness to her, and that in case he was to die, to leave her all his goods, and all his interest in the capital of a box-club, of which he was a member. This confession, though it was an odd one for me to hear, yet, as it was accompanied with what appeared to me sincere promises of amendment, I, in an evil hour, agreed to live with her once more. Accordingly I moved my bed into the two pair of stairs room, which one of my lodgers then quitted; this was about nine months before her unhappy death.

"When she came home again, though I believe she did not continue her acquaintance with Jones, yet her behaviour was otherwise so disorderly as rendered me very unhappy. For at times, when I came from work, expecting my breakfast, dinner, or supper, I frequently found the door locked, and so was drove to the necessity of eating my meals at an alehouse; a very disagreeable resource to a man, who, having a wife and a home, naturally expected the comforts resulting from such seeming advantages. But this was not all; she sometimes coming home in the interim, would seek me through all the public-houses in the neighbourhood, and when she found me, would strike me with whatever lay next her, raving at me for not coming home, and denying her having been out. Once, in particular, having bought a piece of veal for my Sunday's dinner, when the morning came, truly she would not dine at home, she would go to her mother's, though I convinced her that the weather, being hot, would spoil the meat by the next day. I then went to my shoemaker to fetch me a pair of shoes, and they in friendship asked me to eat, as I found them at dinner; I was soon followed by my wife, who, finding me eating, was hardly withheld from stabbing me, first with a knife, and afterward with a fork.

"One Sunday, with a view to entertain her, I took her down to Ilford, that we might spend the day agreeably. We dined at the White-Horse there, and after dinner she drank very freely. When the reckoning came to be paid, she threw herself in a great passion with the landlord, on account of his charge; and I unluckily attempting to moderate matters between them, drew all her rage upon myself. She was so violent in her resentment, that she declared she would not go home with me, but would go with the first person who should ask her, or even with the next man who went by. Just at this time, a man dressed like an officer stopped in a chaise to drink; my wife soon entered into discourse with him, and asked him to let her ride home in his chaise: the man agreed, and away they drove together! This now was a measure she was not under any necessity of taking, because, not believing she would be able to walk home, I had offered her a place in the stage, which was quickly to pass the door.

"Thus abandoned by her, I walked home, and after waiting due time went to bed. About two o'clock in the morning I was roused by a knocking at the door: there was my wife so drunk as hardly to be able to stand, attended by her mother! The mother made what excuses she could for her daughter, to induce me to let her in, pleading, for the lateness of the hour, that, after the man had carried her a long way out of her road on the forest, he, at last, left her to walk home alone. I let her in, but her mother was obliged to stay and put her to bed, as she was entirely incapable of undressing herself.

"Though her intimacy with Jones was discontinued, yet she was not destitute of a gallant: one William Charlton, a man of my own business, was now her paramour; but as he was a married man, I had the additional mortification of having his wife come to scold me for suffering my wife to decoy away her husband! After having been with this Charlton, about a fortnight before her death, she came home very drunk, and abused me sadly. She beat me over the shoulder with a pair of tongs; I wrested them from her, and, as I purpose to speak the truth, I will confess, that, in my passion, as she ran down stairs, I followed her and gave her a blow with them on the head. Upon this she ran directly to Mr. Clark the constable, the same who since apprehended me on the occasion of her death, to get me taken into custody. Mrs. Clark kindly wiped her forehead where the skin was broke, and advised her to go home peaceably, and make up the difference between us. This enraged her so that she gave Mrs. Clark many foul words, so that Mr. Clark came to expostulate with me, not on the blow I had given my wife, but on the ill language she had bestowed on his wife! Mr. Clark and I talked the matter over a tankard of beer, but I saw no more of my wife that night.

"There was also one Stroud, a Smith, in the number of her intimates, but I knew little of their concerns, more than what I understood from his wife, who came frequently to me, enquiring after him, and complaining greatly of my wife, for enticing him away from his family and his work.

"These few instances I have been able to recollect, may, in some measure, serve to give the reader of my unhappy tale, an idea of my wife's character and conduct, which I solemnly declare, I am not solicitous to expose, as the poor creature is dead, more than is absolutely needful, to shew what sort of person she was, and as it may tend to clear me in the opinion of the world. So quarrelsome was she by nature, that we never went out together, but she would find some occasion to abuse either me, some of the company, or even passengers in the street; if any one casually happened to brush her in passing, she would give them a blow in the face, and then call upon me to stand kick and cuff for her, while she having stirred up the mischief, ran away, unconcerned at my fate in the mob: and in our private disputes, I have been beat by her, her mother, and a servant girl of her mother's, all at one time. Nay, she has frequently threatened both to destroy herself, and to murder me. A threat, she has since very nearly accomplished.

"The night before this melancholy accident, I came home, to be sure not entirely sober: where not finding my wife, I went directly to her mother's, where I found her very drunk. It being night, her mother said it would not be proper to attempt taking her home in that condition; and therefore advised me to lie there that night, while she and her girl would go and sleep at my lodging. We did so.

"Being now come to the unlucky day of my wife's death, I propose to be as particular in all my actions that day as recollection will enable me.

"In the morning, after my wife's mother came back, we all breakfasted together at her lodgings. After breakfast, I went to Mr. Clark, Timber Merchant, in St. Mary Axe, to solicit for some India Company's work: from whence I went to the Mansion House alehouse, and drank a pint of beer. I then intended to go to work at Mr. Perry's in Noble-street, but it being near dinner time, I stopped at the Bell, opposite his house, for another pint of beer, where meeting some acquaintance eating beef-stakes, I dined with them. As I was eating, in came my wife and her mother; she at first abused me for being at the alehouse, but they afterward, in great seeming good humour, drank with me, and as they wanted money, I gave my wife two shillings, and lent her mother a six and ninepenny piece, which I had just received in change for half a guinea, from the master of the public house. As the day was now far spent, and as I was pleased with the prospect of working for the East-India Company, I thought it not worth while to begin a day's work so late. I therefore went to Smithfield, to see how the horse-market went. From thence I went to Warwick-lane, to see for a young man, whom I had promised to get to work for the company also. I took him to Mr. Clark, in St. Mary Axe; and afterward went with him to two or three places more, the last place was the Nagg's Head in Hounsditch; and about half an hour after nine o'clock went home.

"When I came there, I went in at the back door, which is under the gateway; and which used to be only on a single latch, for the conveniency of my lodgers: I went up to my room door, but finding it fast, came down stairs again. There was then some disturbance over the way in Aldersgate-street, which I walked over to see the meaning of, imagining my wife might chance to be engaged in it. Not finding her in the croud, I returned, and went up stairs again; while I was on the stairs, I heard my wife cough, by which I knew she was at home. Finding my door still fast, I knocked and called again; still she would not answer. I then said "Sally, I know you are at home, and I desire you would open the door, if you will not I will burst it open." Nobody yet answering, I set my back against the door, and forced it open. Upon this she jumped out of bed; I immediately began to undress me, by slipping off my coat and waistcoat, saying at the same time "Sally, what makes you use me so? you follow me wherever I go to abuse me, and then lock me out of my lodging; I never serve you so." On this she flew upon me, called me a scoundrel dog, said she supposed I had been with some of my whores; and so saying, tore my shirt down from the bosom: on this, I pushed her down. She then ran to the chimney corner, and snatched up several things, which I successively wrested from her: in the skuffle a table and a screen tumbled down. At length she struck me several blows with a hand-brush; and while I was struggling to get it from her, she cried out several times——"Indeed, indeed, I will do so no more."——When I got the brush from her, which I did with some difficulty, I gave her a blow with it, and then concluded she would be easy. She sat down on the floor by the cupboard door, tearing her shift from her back, which had been rent in the skirmish; I sat down on the opposite side of the bed, with my back towards her, preparing to go into it; and seeing her fling the remnants of her shift about in so mad a manner, I said, 'Sally, you are a silly girl, why don't you be easy?' On that she suddenly rose up, and with something gave me a blow on the head, which struck me down. I fell on the bedstead with my head against the folding doors of it. I imagine she was then afraid she had killed me, for I heard her cry two or three times——O save me, save me, save me! How she went out of the window it is impossible for me to say, in the condition she left me in; but from her cries I supposed her gone that way; and in my consternation when I rose, I ran down one pair of stairs, where, not knowing how to behave, I went up again, and sat me down on the bed from whence I rose. In this position Mr. Clark, the constable, and the numbers who followed him, found me. He said, Daniels you have stabbed your wife, and flung her out of the window. I replied, No, Mr. Clark, I have not, she threw herself out. Mr. Clark took a candle, and examined all the room in search of blood, but found none; and lucky it was for me that neither of our noses happened to bleed in the fray, though mine was subject to bleed on any trifling occasion. He then went to the window, where he found a broken piece of a saucer, and asked what it was? I said, I did not know; but recollected afterward, that it was what I fed my squirrel in; though I know not how it came broke; it was whole that day.

"From thence I was taken to the Compter, and the public are already acquainted with the proceedings on my trial: when I was condemned for the supposed fact.

"I am informed that the next morning they found a pair of small watchmaker's plyers bloody in the window, which were then considered as a great proof of my guilt. These plyers were what I have mended my squirrel's chain with whenever he broke loose, which was sometimes the case. How they should be bloody, as God is my Saviour, I cannot answer; but as no wound was perceived on the body, they were not produced as evidence against me. However, when my wife was brought up from the street, it is said she was blooded, and that the bason was put in the window where these plyers were found. It is therefore possible that, in such confusion, a drop or two might accidentally be spilt upon them; more especially when we consider the tumult of a morning's exhibition of the dead body, for penny gratuities, by the unprincipled mother of it.

"In the course of my trial, the coroner laid some stress on the absence of Charles Hilliard, the lodger under my room; but Mr. Hilliard appeared however before the sessions were concluded, to save his recognizances: he then deposed before the judges, all he knew relative to the accident; which being materially the same with the evidence he gave at the coroner's inquest, and as I have no reason to wish it suppressed, I made it my business to request Mr. Hilliard to recollect the whole of it, which he was kind enough to give me in writing; and here it is.

"Charles Hilliard gave evidence before the coroner as follows.

"That Mrs. Daniels came into his apartment about eight o'clock in the evening to light her candle, and then went up to bed: that about ten Mr. Daniels came home, and knocked at the door, calling Sally, two or three times: that not being admitted, he broke the door open: that then he thought he heard a knocking to make good the breach, after which some words ensued between the parties, and blows followed: that he heard Mrs. Daniels ask forgiveness, saying, she would never do the like again: that Daniels should say—Damn my breeches, what do you shut me out for? don't I pay my rent? after which he heard a rumbling in the room, but did not distinguish any thing more, to the best of his knowledge, till Mrs. Daniels fell from the window.

"I lived in Mr. Daniel's apartment but little time, in which I heard many quarrels and debates between them, which frequently happened by her aggravation and ill-treatment of him."

"I was sentenced to be executed on Monday, September 21; the coronation-day was to be the day following, which led some persons into a conjecture, that this august solemnity was the cause of the first respite, which made way for my pardon. This however was a mistaken opinion, for I owed the redemption from my hard fate entirely to the kind Christian offices of my friends who, from a persuasion of my innocence, applied to the worthy magistrates of London; from whom, the circumstances of my situation were represented to his Majesty. The gracious condescension of this best of Kings, in attending to the representations made to him on my account, will never be forgotten, while I enjoy that remnant of life I now owe to his goodness!

"I was condemned on the Friday; on the Saturday I was comforted with the news of a respite until the Friday following: I then heard of a farther respite, and was appointed to die with Campbel and Gurnet; before the execution of whom, I was again granted a longer time: and then my execution was to be forborn until farther orders. I received my pardon on Thursday, October 28, and was discharged from confinement Sunday, November 1.

"From the time of receiving sentence, to the time of my receiving a full pardon was six weeks close confinement in the cells of Newgate; where, by the terms of sentence, I was to be subsisted on bread and water only. I can however affirm with truth, that, conscious of my own integrity, not all the terrors of so ignominious a death, and the stamp of infamy attending it, ever could depress my spirits from the first to the last. I relied on the justice of God, who could penetrate beyond the ken of short-sighted man; and with the utmost reverence would I acknowledge the extension of his providence toward me, in protecting me in this life, from the consequences of premature judgment. I have been frail in common with the rest of mankind; and I have severely suffered. However, as my misfortunes in marriage drove me into carelessness and excesses, which, together with them, have been the ruin of me; I hope that so remarkable a deliverance from the brink of the precipice of eternity, has called home my scattered thoughts, and will make me more sober and industrious than I have heretofore been. I now conclude this narrative with the most thankful acknowledgments to all whose kindness has been instrumental in my deliverance, from the awful fate from which I so hardly escaped."

The reader has now seen what the poor fellow had to offer for his own justification. It may not be improper just to add a few remarks, first, on the probabilities and improbabilities of the alledged fact, and then to compare the fair result of such examination with the tenor of the depositions on his trial; these will tend greatly to clear our conceptions with regard to the man.

The window of Daniels's room has two casements folding against each other, with garden pots before them. One of these casements only, used to be opened; the other being in general kept shut. These casements were each about sixteen or seventeen inches wide, and the window was about a yard and a quarter high. When this accident happened, one casement was open, the other shut, as usual; consequently the opening then through the window, was about sixteen or seventeen inches wide, and a yard and quarter high. Through this space a man was to thrust a woman nearly as strong as himself! If such a thing had been attempted, the following consequences must be incontestably allowed to ensue.

I. The woman would resist the attempt.

II. When persons struggle to avoid imminent danger, and are driven to despair, they are capable of a surprising degree of exertion, beyond their ordinary abilities.

III. This woman would therefore have continued in so narrow a gap a very considerable while before she could have been forced through, and would all that time have uttered cries, intreaties, and exclamations, too expressive of her situation to have been mistaken by the neighbours and spectators.

IV. Her resistance would have overturned the before-mentioned garden-pots, and would have shattered the glass of the casement that was shut, and even forced open, or broke the casement itself, which obstructed her passage.

V. In breaking the glass of the window, her skin must have been greatly scratched and torn, and her limbs, naked as she was, have been otherwise greatly maimed and bruised.

VI. The man who undertook to force her out, as he must have been greatly agitated himself by his passions; as he was very closely employed, on no very easy job; and as the actions of the suffering party cannot be supposed to be meerly defensive through the whole course of the fray; he must probably have been observed by some of the spectators at the instant of his effecting his purpose; and must positively have borne some very conspicuous marks of his helpmate's reciprocal assaults.

The two first of these propositions will be universally granted.

The third is contradicted by all the evidence on the trial, who unanimously agree, that the moment the woman was seen, she came through the window? and was only then heard to use expressions which Daniels accounts for better than any one else.

In reply to the fourth, the pots were not discomposed, nor the window broke, except one pane; and it does not appear that even that pane might not have been broke before.

In answer to the fifth; the body, by the evidence of the surgeon, did not appear to have received any other damage than the natural consequences of so great a fall.

As to the last; the man was not seen at the window at all: and as to any wounds or bruises sustained by him, the constable, when asked, whether he saw the blow on his head, which he affirmed to be given him by his wife? declared he did not. But he was not asked whether he looked for it; a question, it may be presumed, he would have answered in the negative. In such a situation, it is to be concluded, the poor fellow was little heard and less regarded, concerning whatever he might alledge in his own behalf. A man may be stunned by a blow that might not perhaps exhibit any remarkable appearance; and had it been seen, his account of it would have weighed but little.

It is not even probable, had he knocked this woman on the head first, that he could have sent the body through the window so compleatly, as either by fright, or design, she accomplished, herself. But that she came there living, is past doubt.

To conclude: The evidence against this unfortunate man, was only presumptive at most; and upon clear scrutiny is really presumptive of nothing: so that as he is discharged by royal authority, so has he also a just claim to an acquittal in the minds of all judicious and candid people.

FINIS.

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Table of Contents

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Affecting Case of the Unfortunate Thomas Daniels, by Thomas Daniels

THE AFFECTING CASE OF THE UNFORTUNATE THOMAS DANIELS.

LONDON

THE AFFECTING CASE OF THE UNFORTUNATE THOMAS DANIELS, WHO WAS Tried at the SESSIONS held at the OLD BAILEY, September, 1761, FOR THE Supposed MURDER of his WIFE; By casting her out of a CHAMBER WINDOW: And for which he was sentenced to die, but received his MAJESTY'S most Gracious and Free Pardon. IN WHICH IS CONTAINED, A circumstantial Account of the Behaviour of that unhappy Woman, from her Husband's first Acquaintance with her, to the Day of her Death. Drawn up and authenticated by the said Daniels himself; And faithfully prepared for the Press, by An IMPARTIAL HAND. LONDON: Printed for E. Cabe, in Ave-Mary-Lane. MDCCLXI.

THE AFFECTING CASE OF THE UNFORTUNATE THOMAS DANIELS.

FINIS.

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE