Setting: Chester Crown Court, Chester Castle, August 6, 1834

Characters:
Judge: Mr. Baron Parke, from St George, Hanover Square, London, aged 47
James Garside, aged 25, dressed as labourer, tall, light hair and blue eyes
Joseph Mosley, aged 34, dressed as labourer, dark hair and eyes
William Mosley, aged 30, dressed in suit, dark hair and eyes.
Mr. Hill, attorney-general for county of Chester
Mr. Dunn, lawyer representing Garside
Witnesses: Hannah Oldham, William Taylor, George Wagstaff

Act I

11 am, the court is packed with spectators for this murder trial. 

Mr. Hill: Gentlemen of the jury, the two prisoners at the bar are charged, as you have heard, with the willful murder of Mr. William  Ashton, and gentlemen, I need scarcely ask you to give this case your most serious and deliberate consideration; for the crime with which the prisoners are charged is of the highest penal nature. It is a case of the utmost importance to the public, and of still more importance to the prisoners at the bar; for if the case be brought home to them, their lives must necessarily and justly be forfeited to the offended laws of their country. I shall best discharge my duty in this case by simply calling your attention to the facts which I shall prove in evidence.

First of all, in the year of 1831 great excitement prevailed amongst the manufacturers in the district of Ashton-under-Lyne, and also in the district of Stalybridge and Werneth. That excitement prevailed in consequence of a dispute between the master manufacturers and their workmen, and at this period there were in consequence no fewer than fifty-two mills not working. In that year, Mr. Samuel Ashton was the property owner of two large mills in Werneth, one called the Apethorn mill and the other the Woodley mill.

He had two sons residing in his house at Pole Bank. Mr. James Ashton, who had usually the superintendence of the Apethorn mill and his other son, Mr. Thomas Ashton, the unfortunate deceased, who had the care of the Woodley mill. But on the night of the 3rd of January, 1831, Mr. James Ashton went to visit a friend and on that occasion he got his brother, the deceased to superintend the Apethorn mill.

The evidence points to the fact that three men, the two accused and the brother of the accused, Mr. William Mosley, who by his own account was an accessory before the fact,  will be giving evidence in this trial. You must narrowly watch the evidence which Mr. William Mosley gives, because the accomplice admits himself to be a guilty party, and equally guilty with those against whom he appears; and unless you are satisfied the is speaking the truth, of course his evidence must be dismissed from your consideration.

Now it is not necessary nor is it customary, in such a case to confirm the accomplice in every part of his statement; for if it were, it would be unnecessary to call him at all. If I could call other witnesses of truth to speak to the whole transaction, it would clearly be unnecessary to call him; but it is necessary to confirm him in such facts as will leave no doubt upon your minds that he is speaking the truth.

It is held by some judges, and I believe by his lordship on the bench, that there must be some confirmatory testimony as to the identity of the parties. I believe I shall be able to show by other witnesses that the prisoner, Joseph Mosley was one of the three parties concerted in this murder, and who was seen on the road to the spot where this horrible transition took place on the night in question.

I shall also be able to confirm the evidence of the accomplice in other material parts; and I believe that as to Garside there will be no particular difficulty as he made statement while in Derby gaol.

I wish to call my first witness.


Usher of court: I call Hannah Oldham (she comes to the bench and is sworn in).

Mr. Hill: In your own words Mrs. Oldham, would you please tell me where you were on the night in question.

Hannah Oldham: I was in the service of Mr. Samuel Ashton at Pole Bank. On the night of 3rd January, 1831, his son, Mr. Thomas went to the Apethorn mill about seven o’clock, the usual time of going. Mr. James being absent. I saw him brought back in half an hour afterwards, quite dead.

Mr. Hill: Thank you Mrs. Oldham. That will be all. (she leaves the bench). I now call Mr. William Taylor. (Mr. Taylor comes to the bench) Mr. Taylor, could you please tell us what you were doing on the night in question.

Mr. Taylor: I am now a joiner living in Werneth, but I was then, at the time of the murder, in the service of Mr. Samuel Ashton at Apethorn Mill.

There is a road leading from the mill, called Apethorn Lane...
 
Mr. Hill: Excuse me a moment, Mr. Taylor, but I have a map here of the places you will be mentioning which I will now hand to the jury so your evidence will be clearer to them.

Mr. Taylor: As I was saying, on Apethorn lane there is a clap-gate leading from the footpath at Pole Bank into that lane. On that night I was going from Apethorn mill about six or seven minutes after seven o’clock. George Wagstaff was with me. We saw a man lying one half on the road and other in the ditch about 31 yards from the clap-gate, nearer to the mill. It was light enough to see an object at four or five yards’ distance but darkish.

We went up to him and looked at him. We then went to the farm house next the place to get a light and went to him again, and there we found a man dead, but at first we though him only drunk. He laid on his back, on the left side of the lane going from the mill, with his right hand in his top coat pocket. He was covered over with blood, so that we could not distinguish his countenance.

We went for a surgeon who found he was dead, and I then knew him to be Mr. William Mosley Ashton. I did not touch him; he was taken home in an arm chair.
 
Mr. Hill: And did you notice anything else about the area where you found him, Mr. Taylor?

Mr. Taylor: We afterwards examined the place with a lantern and we observed two marks of persons having sat at the back of the fence opposite side of the fence to where the body lady. These marks were about seven yards from the foot path. I saw two marks of one strong nailed shoe near the seats in the hedge.

Mr. Dunn (cross examination): Are you quite sure of your facts, Mr. Taylor? It has been some time since all this happened. You seem to recall details very specifically.

Mr. Taylor: I was examined at the inquest at Gee Cross, at the Boy and Barrel Pub, a day or two after the murder at which I gave the same evidence as now. There were many there to hear me who will attest that I haven’t changed my story one bit.

Mr. Hill: Thank you Mr. Taylor. You may step down. I now call Mr. George Wagstaff to the bench. (Mr. Wagsaff  approaches and is sworn in) Now Mr. Wagstaff, will you tell us your version of the night in question.

Mr. Wagstaff: I was going away from the Apethorn Mill with Mr. William Taylor to Gee Cross, and we passed Swindle’s farm, between the factory and the clap-gate. We found Mr. Thomas shot dead, about a quarter after seven o’clock. The body was quite warm. We found no pistol or firearms near him. We looked but saw nothing.

Mr. Hill: Thank you Mr. Wagstaff. You may stand down for the time being. I would now like to call the self-declared accomplice in this sorry affair, Mr. William Moseley. (Mr. William Moseley comes to the bench and is sworn in.)

Mr. Hill: I wish you to recall the day in question. You say that you were somewhat apart from the others at the time. After they walked ahead of you, can you describe in your own words what happened next.

Mr. Thomas Mosley: I could see him, Mr. Ashton, coming along. I was on higher ground and could also see the two of them. Mr. Ashton (I didn’t know it was him at the time) was coming down the path, and they were like set on the ditch back, with their heads down, one a little below the other. They were a few yards from the foot-path. A very short space afterwards there Mr. Ashton came down the foot-path towards the clap-gate. He came through the clap-gate and James Garside met him before he got through it and pointed the piece of him, and he gave way, and Garside fired the piece. He might have gone twenty yards from the clap gate when the shot was fired. The man who was shot fell across the road opposite to where I was.

We all immediately ran away and I made the best of my way over the fields to the canal bridge, where we was to met. I did not stop after the shot was fired to see them start. They came up on the bridge. Garside had the piece in his hand and I asked him whether he had shot him. He said, “Yes, dead enough: he never stirred after.”

We stood on the bridge talking a little while and there was a man coming under, along the town path and we stooped below the battlement and we retreated off when the man went.

I went with them as far as Hatherlow, on the road to Romiley and it was agreed I was to meet them next day, a little after dinner time, at the Bull’s Head, Marple.

I asked them which of them they had shot. They said it didn’t matter which it was; it was one of them.

Mr. Hill: And did you see them again the next day?

Mr. William Mosley: No, I didn’t go the next day to the Bull’s Head. I saw them again the day following that, the Wednesday about dinner time, on the road leading to Marple Bridge. The foot-path that comes off the canal side at the seventh lock. I was to meet them there as I didn’t go to the Bull’s Head according to orders. I went to receive part of the money they had from those men.

When I saw them on the Wednesday the man, Schofield or Stansfield, was with them, He pulled out three sovereigns and said he had settled with them two, and he would settle with me. I received two of them. He wanted me to take the other, and I would not: I said I would be content with what I had.

He pulled out a book for us all to sign that we had the money. The other two said they had signed and I made a cross. We all of us went down upon our knees them, and made a confession to God, declaring to God that we would never tell, and prayed to God to strike us dead if we told. We did it one after another. We everyone held a knife in turn over the others while we said so. Schofield stood the same as the others. The man that paid the money proposed it.

Mr. Dunn: You are giving evidence here against your own younger brother. When did you decide to tell on him in order to save your own skin?

Mr. William Mosley: My brother, the prisoner, is older than me. I first told this when I was in custody here in Chester, May of this year - not when I was first in custody at Stockport. I kept this secret from January 1831 until May 1834. I did not know what to do. I told it to save myself from being hanged.

This is not the first gaol I have been in. I was in Knutsford goal a month for stealing a spade of my master’s. I was never in gaol anywhere else. I was never in Knutsford except upon that charge. I never heard of the grand jury cutting a bill against me.

Mr. Dunn: And why did you agree to take part in this murder in the first place - for you knew it was to be a murder, did you not?

Mr. William Mosley: I was out of work in January, 1831. A few days before the murder, I saw my brother and James Garside at the Stag’s Head. I went there, to the Stags Head to see if Mr. Taylor who kept it would give me a job.

Mr. Dunn: And can we find out from Mr. Taylor whether this is true? Is he in court?

Mr. William Mosley: He is dead. His wife is living. I don’t know who the waiter is there. There was a person called when we went before the magistrates to prove that I was at the Stag’s Head with them, but I don’t know whether he proved it or not.
 
Mr. Dunn: So what did your brother and his friend propose to do?

Mr. William Mosley: They said they could get me a better job. They did not mention then what the better job was. I asked and they said it was a bit of a job they had in hand. So I did not look for any work between the Wednesday and the Sunday. They said they would tell what the job was on Sunday.

Both the others told me, then, that they had agreed to shoot one of the Ashtons. That was the first I ever heard of it. I didn’t know Mr. Ashton, had never seen him before and owed him no ill will. They told me they were to have £10. I agreed to help them.

Mr. Dunn: What? For a third part of £10? For £3 6s and 8d you agreed to shoot a man you never saw before?

Mr. William Mosley: I agreed to go with them. I would not shoot any man for £10. I did assist for less than £3. I think I would not take naught to shoot a man now. I would not take £1000 to shoot a man now.

Mr. Dunn: What would you take to swear falsely against a man to hang him - your brother for instance?

Mr. William Mosley: Nothing

Mr. Dunn: Then would you do it for good will then, would you?

Mr. William Mosley: No

Mr. Dunn: Then you would not take a false oath to save yourself from being hanged?

Mr. William Mosley: No, I would not. I think it a great sin to take a false oath, and I would not do it for a third part of £10.

Mr. Dunn: Which would you sooner do - shoot a man or take a false oath?

Mr. William Mosley: I don’t know. I’d sooner be hanged than take a false oath.

Mr. Dunn: If you were going to be hanged, and you might be pardoned if you would shoot any man in the street, would you shoot any one?

Mr. William Mosley: I don’t know. I refused to have anything to do with this about two o’clock on that day but they persuaded me to go with them. They both said I must go with them, and I must have a share. I would not have done it for nothing. I didn’t consent all at once. I took time to consider it. I thought it was an easy way of getting money

Judge Parke: I think we might now take a lunch recess. Court will reconvene at 2 o’clock this afternoon.