Cheltenham Murder Stories - 1840

Never have we had to record a more atrocious and cold-blooded attempt at murder than the one which has caused so much excitement in this town and its neighbourhood during the past week. The facts are as follow. A person named RICHARD YARWORTH, aged 24, a quarryman employed in the Forest of Dean, had been to Worcester for the purpose of collecting some money due to his father, who lives at Dean Pool near Coleford. On Saturday evening he left Worcester by the Wellington coach, in the company with two gentlemen named PRITCHARD and SHARP.

The following deposition of the sufferer was taken on Sunday by D. L. St. CLAIR, Esq., one of the Cheltenham magistrates:-

“After leaving Mr. THORNE’s (landlord of the ‘Angel’ inn) a man got inside the coach, as the guard told him there was no room outside, but at what distance from Worcester I can’t exactly say, though I think it was about three miles. We came to Tewkesbury, where we all got off at the ‘Bear’ inn. After the coach had changed horses, Mr. PRITCHARD was left at Tewkesbury, and the man who was before inside got outside, and took the place Mr. PRITCHARD had occupied. While proceeding along the road I said I should walk from Combe hill to Cheltenham and the man said he was going to Cheltenham and would walk with me. When the coach arrived at Combe hill, we both got down. I asked him if he would take a glass of ale; he said “I should rather like a drop of gin.” We went into the public house and I had a glass of ale and he had a glass of gin, which I pulled out my money to pay for, but was told that it was paid for by the other man. I said “I don’t want you to pay for me,” and he said, “It’s no matter between you and me.” We then set out to walk, and after proceeding about 400 yards, he pulled out a pistol and shot me. I caught a glance of something, and turned a little round, and the bullet took my ear, and so round to the back of my neck, where it is now. I then put out my right hand to seize him, but he instantly shot me through the thick part of my side, just under my arm. I fell. He then stood over me, and reloading the pistol, asked me for my money. I said I could not give it him, I was unable, I said I thought he had shot me enough, and implored him not to shoot me again. He than rifled my pockets, and took seven £5 notes, twelve, sovereigns, and nine shillings, a cheque for £5, a bill at two months for £13, drawn by me upon, and accepted by Mr. PERKES, stonemason, and my watch. After he had done this, he turned to go away. I asked him mot to leave me in the road, as the coaches would run over me. He turned back and said, he was very sorry for having shot me, and that I ought to have given my money. He then dragged me from the middle to the side of the road, put on my hat and left me, and went towards Combe hill. In about five minutes, I heard a person coming along the road, and called to him; he came to me, and I told him I had been robbed and shot. The person said he could not move me himself, but he would soon fetch assistance. He returned in short time with two other persons, and I was conveyed to this house (the Piff’s Elm public house)."

Two gentlemen were passing at the time he was being taken in, one of whom alighted and assisted, and the other rode to Tewkesbury for a surgeon, who attended promptly. Mr YARWORTH says, as far as he recollects, the man who committed the deed stands about 5ft. 11in. high, is of a sallow complexion, has dark hair, and had on a dark coat with gilt buttons, and dirty white trousers.

Mr. PRITCHARD has shown himself to Mr. YARWORTH, who declared that he is not the man.

On Tuesday afternoon the first bullet was extracted by Mr. GREGORY, parish surgeon of Cheltenham, whose exertions have been indefatigable.

Mr. LEFROY, the head of the constabulary force, is now using his best exertion to discover the horrid assassin.

Friday Evening.- The second ball, which is supposed to be lodged in the liver, has not been extracted. The sufferer is a little better and Mr. GREGORY now entertains some slight hopes of his recovery.

Cheltenham Free Press

BOWEN, who was apprehended by Sergt. GRIFFITHS, of the Bedminster police, on suspicion of having been the man who shot and robbed Mr. YARWORTH, on the 11th January, at Combe hill, near Cheltenham, having undergone several examinations before the Cheltenham magistrates, produced some witnesses to prove an alibi, in consequence of which he was, on Thursday week, discharged, but was immediately re-apprehended upon a warrant which, upon the application of Mr. HARMAR, solicitor for the prosecution, had been granted by H. W. NEWMAN, Esq., of this city. The prisoner was accordingly brought to Lawford’s Gate prison, where he, on Thursday, underwent a lengthened examination before that magistrate. The first witness called was –

Sergeant GRIFFITHS, of the Bedminster division of police, who deposed that he had known the prisoner for seven or eight years, but had no seen him lately until about the 21st of January last, when he met him on Redcliff hill. Having just before read the hand-bill offering a reward for the apprehension of the person who made the murderous attack on Mr. RICHARD YARWORTH, at Coombe hill, it occurred to him that the prisoner answered the description therein contained; he accordingly returned to the Bedminster station house, and having been read the advertisement more attentively, he prosecuted some inquiries, in consequence of which he, on Sunday, the 26th of Jan., went to a house in the Great Gardens, where he had ascertained the prisoner was; upon witness’s entering the house, the prisoner attempted to escape by the back door, but was immediately seized by witness, who told him that he must accompany him to the station house; whilst on their way thither, witness asked him how long he had been in Bristol, to which he replied, “Above a month;” witness then asked him where he had been lodging, and he said, “At Short’s, in Lewin’s Mead;” witness further asked him where he had last come from, when he replied that he had been travelling about Wales, selling razors and braces. After he had been in the station house a short time, Inspector BOSWORTH came in and directed witness to go to the prisoner’s lodgings and see if he could there find such a coat as was described in the advertisement of the robbery in the Hue and Cry Gazette: witness accordingly went to the house of a Mrs. FISHER, with whose daughter the prisoner cohabited, and there saw the landlady, Mrs. FISHER, whom he called his mother-in-law; witness asked her if the prisoner had been staying there, she said he had by day, but not by night; witness then told her that he wanted his clothes, whereupon she took him up stairs, and, pointing to a single-breasted green coat, and a roll collar green waistcoat, she said they were his, and had been taken off by him that morning; upon being asked if there was nota pair of trousers of his there, she said there was not, for he had left the house in the morning with a light pair on, and had returned with dark ones. Witness then took the clothes to the station house, and made the prisoner put them on. Mr. BOSWORTH then read the advertisement in the Hue and Cry to him, when he said, “It is not my coat, and I have never worn it,” but acknowledged the waistcoat to be his; the buttons on the coat were of bright metal; two of those in front were off, and one behind appeared to have been recently sewed on. Upon the advertisement being read over to him, he said, “I don’t care, it is not me; I have not been anywhere in the neighbourhood for nearly three years; I have been travelling in Wales with razors a long while.” On the following morning, the 27th, witness went to the prisoner’s cell and told him that he was going to Short’s, where he said he had lodged, to ascertain how long he had been in Bristol; upon this he said, “Then I may as well tell you the truth. I came into Bristol this day fortnight.” He then said, “Where are you going to take me? Before one of our magistrates or where?” witness replied, “Before our magistrates first, and then it is most probable you will be taken to Cheltenham and Coombe hill.” The prisoner then said, “If you take me to Coombe hill I shall be known, as the coat you found at Mrs. FISHER’s was the one I wore when I was there;” he afterwards said he was there on Monday morning, and on being asked what Monday morning, replied that day fortnight; he further added, I went from Birmingham to Worcester, and was in Worcester nine days, or a fortnight; I was there on Saturday the 11th, on which day I left for Tewkesbury, and went to Combe hill, and afterwards came to Bristol; I came into Bristol on Monday, the 13th; I travelled part of the way by coach.” On the 28th witness took the prisoner to Piff’s Elm, where Mr. YARWORTH lies ill in bed; the prisoner was taken into the room, and witness placed him in a strong light; he turned away his head, but was made to turn round again. Mr. YARWORTH was then raised in bed, and having looked at the prisoner for a minute or so, he said to him, “You are the man.” A Mr. GREGORY, who was present, said, “Are you quite satisfied that he is?” and he replied, “I am.” The next day the prisoner was again taken to Piff’s Elm; some magistrates first went up stairs, and after they had been there some time, the prisoner was again had up; Mr. YARWORTH was then asked if he was the man, and replied that he was, upon which a magistrate cautioned him to be very careful how he spoke to his identity, to which he replied, “If that is the young man who had a glass of gin with me at Coombe hill, and if the young woman knows him – that’s the man who shot me.”

During the time this witness’s depositions were being read over to him the prisoner listened attentively, and upon hearing the conversation alleged to have taken place between him and the sergeant, he made several exclamation of denial.

Inspector BOSWORTH was then called, and fully confirmed GRIFFITHS’s testimony as to the prisoner’s denial at the station house, that he had been in the neighbourhood of Coombe hill. Mr. ROBERT SHARP of Bedminster, railroad contractor, deposed that he had been staying at the Angel Inn, at Worcester, with Mr. YARWORTH, and left that town by the same coach with him; when they came a little this side of Kempsey, a man came and got inside of the coach, the prisoner was the man; it was quite light, and witness was enabled to see him distinctly; he was dressed in a dark coat, with light metal buttons, and wore white trousers, or overalls; the coat produced by the sergeant was a similar one to that worn by him, and witness believed it to be the same; when the coach arrived at the Bear at Tewkesbury, the prisoner got outside of the coach, and sat opposite to witness and Mr. YARWORTH; witness had an opportunity of seeing him very distinctly, as, whilst the coach was changing horses, his person was right under a gas lamp for full ten minutes; witness has not the least doubt in the world that the prisoner was the man; he spoke, and said it was a cold night, and he was thinly --- , and asked leave to sit between witness and Mr. YARWORTH; and from his voice, as well as his person and features, witness is quite sure he was the man.

This was the whole of the evidence offered before Mr. NEWMAN, but in order that our readers may fully understand the case, we subjoin and outline of that which, in addition to the above, was given before the magistrates at Cheltenham.

Mr. RICHARD YARWORTH (the wounded man) deposed that he was a quarry-man. On Saturday the 11 of January, he left Worcester by the Wellington coach; after they got on to Kempsey, the coach was joined by a man in a dark coat, with metal buttons, and who wore a plaid handkerchief. Prosecutor got off at Coombe hill, as did the man who said he was going to Cheltenham and would walk with him; they went into the Inn at Coombe hill, and prosecutor called for two glasses of beer, but the man said he would have a glass of gin which he called for and drank; they then left the house, and had proceeded about 200 yards up the lane, when the man raised a pistol and shot prosecutor through the neck, and, upon his attempting to defend himself, fired another, the bullet from which entered under his arm; prosecutor immediately fell, upon which the man put a pistol to his head, and, threatening to blow his brains out, demanded his money; prosecutor replied that he had no power to give it to him, upon which he ransacked his pockets and robbed him of seven £5 notes 13 or 14 sovereigns, a silver watch, and two bills of exchange for £13 and £10 5s. Prosecutor then asked him to lift him up on to one of the stumps by the roadside, which he did, and said, “I am sorry I shot you, but it was your own fault as you ought to have given up quietly;” he then went away and left prosecutor, who was afterwards found by a man; prosecutor could not swear that prisoner was the man.

MARY ANN DAVIS deposed that she was niece to Mr. W. GRAMSHAW, of the Swan public house, Coombe hill; she remembered the coach stopping on the 11th of January, and Mr. YARWORTH and a man getting off and coming into the house; Mr. YARWORTH called for two glasses of beer, but the man said he would have a glass of gin, which he had; witness had a full view of his person, although he appeared anxious to keep out of the light as much as possible, and seemed agitated; he was dressed in a dark coat buttoned up, and had a plaid handkerchief closely tied round his mouth; he paid for both glasses, and then he and Mr. YARWORTH went away; witness had looked carefully at the prisoner, and had no doubt he was the same man.

MARY ANN GRAMSHAW, daughter to the landlord, confirmed this statement; she said she had a full view of the man’s features as he pulled the handkerchief from his mouth to drink the gin; she had not the least doubt that the prisoner was the man.

The evidence offered in support of the alibi, was that of THOMAS FARR, landlord of the Britannia public house, at Worcester, MARY FARR, JOSEPH WINWOOD, a labourer, and JOSEPH HEMMING, all of whom swore that he was in Worcester at the time of the robbery. The witness FARR, said he recollected the date more particularly, on account of a burglary committed in Worcester on that night, with which he suspected the prisoner had something to do.

The deposition having been read over, Mr. NEWMAN, addressing the prisoner, said, he had been examined before, and had been discharged; but since his re-apprehension information had come to his knowledge, which left no doubt on his mind that he was the guilty party; it had been ascertained that he had spent considerable sums of money after the robbery, and this, coupled with the positive evidence as to his identity, and the different false statements made by him with respect to his not being in the neighbourhood.

The prisoner here interrupted the magistrate, and said he had always made one statement, viz., that he was in Worcester on the night of the robbery. With respect to the part of GRIFFITHS’s evidence, as to his having been identified by Mr. YARWORTH, he denied it, and said the Cheltenham magistrates would say that it was untrue; when he first went before Mr. YARWORTH at night, he said he could not say whether he was the man or not, and on the following day he made a similar statement. Mr. NEWMAN said he thought the evidence was clear, and he should remand him till next week, when he had every reason to believe further testimony would be produced against him.

The prisoner again strongly denied having stated to GRIFFITHS that he had been travelling in Wales, and asked if it would be of any use to bring his witnesses to prove the alibi. Mr. NEWMAN said they could not be heard on the preliminary examination, but might call on them at the time of his trial. The prisoner was then removed in custody.