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Jonathan Bradford's Confession.

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Jonathan Bradford's Confession. About dusk on an evening late in the October of 1736, a gentleman on horseback, attended by a mounted servant, rode up to the Packhorse, a large and comfortable old Oxfordshire inn on the road between London and Oxford. The Boniface of the hostelry was one Jonathan Bradford, a man of unex- ceptional character, who had kept the house for several years. After the fashion of land- lords in those good old days, mine host of the Packhorse came out, beaming and smiling, to welcome his guest, who was evidently, from his appearance, a person of consequence. The traveller was, in fact, a gentleman of large fortune named Hayes, who was jom-neying to Oxford to visit a relative in residence at one of the colleges. of the colleges. After dismounting and banding his horse over to the care of his servant, Mr. Hayes was shown into a comfortable room, the only occupants of which were two gentlemen who were travelling like himself. In those days Englishmen on their travels fraternised much more quickly than they generally do now, and Mr. Haves, finding his fellow-travellers agreeable companions, readily assented to the proposal that they should sup together. Warmed by mine host's generous liquor, Mr. Hayes became communicative, and when the landlord came in to ask if there was any- thing more he could do for his guests before they retired to rest, he was telling his com- panions confidentially that he was taking a large sum of money with him to Oxford. In due course, after the usual night-cap," the three travellers withdrew to their bed- chambers. The two gentlemen whose acquaintance Mr. Hayes had made were old friends, and occu- pied a double-bedded room. It was customarv among travellers at that time, when staying in a strange inn, to keep a candle burning all night in the chimney corner. The occupants of the double-bedded room in the Packhorse followed this practice. In the dead of the night one of these gentlemen awoke suddenly, and as he lay awake he distinctly beard deep groans, apparently proceeding from the next room. He sat up and listened. The groans were repeated, and there was something so suggestive of mortal agony in the sound that the listener slipped out of bed, softly awoke his companion, and bade him listen. Again the groans were repeated, but they were fainter than before. Startled and horrified, they looked at one another in silence for a moment, then the first who had awoke said, ""Tis a man dying, surely. Let us go and see what it means." So saying, he took the candle which was burning in the chimney corner, and the two of them stealthily opened the door and stole into the passage. The door of the adjoining room was ajar, and they could distinctly see a gleam of light streaming through the open- ing. They pushed the door open and entered. The sight which met their eyes was enough to appal the stoutest heart. On the bed lay the body of a man weltering in blood, and standing over this ghastly object was a figure with a dark lantern in'one hand and a knife in the other. As they approached, the figure turned its face towards them; on the ashen-grey features was stamped an expression of mingled horror and terror, which seemed the very reflection of their own feelings. As the trembling guests advanced they noticed that the band which held the kife was red with blood, and their consternation reached its climax when they discovered that the bleeding corpse upon the bed was that of the fellow-traveller with whom they had supped but an hour or two before, whilst the figure with the lantern and the knife was that of their landlord, Jonathan Bradford. To do them justice, they were brave men and did not lose their presence of mind. They instantly seized Bradford and disarmed him of the knife, the wretch all the while trembling and shaking as though he had been struck with palsy. It was only natural to conclude that this was the terror of a guilty man surprised in the very act of a cruel mur- der. They charged him with the crime and rang the bell vigorously to alarm the house- hold. Then Bradford recovered his composure sufficiently to speak. Gentlemen," said he, with faltering voice, but intense earnestness, "I am no more a murderer than you are. I heard the groans of this poor gentleman-as you did—and, snatching up a knife to defend myself, and this lantern, I hurried here to render what assistance I could. I had not been a moment in the room when you entered, and I found the poor gentleman dead." It was a plausible story, but, nevertheless, the surrounding circumstances were so sus- picious that the two gentlemen insisted upon the landlord's remaining in the room until a constable was sent for. Some time elapsed before the nearest officer of the law could be found and roused from his bed. At last that functionary arrived, and Bradford was handed over to his custody till the morning, when he was taken before a neighbouring justice of the peace. The two gentlemen told their story, and then the magistrate asked Jonathan Bradford what he had to say. The landlord told the same tale which he had given when caught red-handed beside the corpse of the murdered man. But his manner was certainly more indicative of guilt than of innocence and even when denying all knowledge of the murder, there wa? a curious air of reservation and constraint about him, as if he were afraid of saying something to commit himself, which so impressed the magistrate that, as he prepared to sign the warrant for the landlord's committal to gaol, be nsed these remarkable words— Mr. Bradford, if you did not commit this murder, I must have done it myself The circumstances attending the crime and it3 discovery were so singular and sensational that it became the topio of general conversa- tion all over the country; and wherever it was discussed the guilt of Bradford was taken as a foregone conclusion—no one had any doubt about that fact. Yet there was one curious point which was so difficult to explain that it surrounded with something of mystery a murder which in other respects Wss as simply and easily to be accounted for as any deed of the kind well could be. That Bradford had murdered Mr. Hayes was a fact that admitted of no question. It was equally certain that his motive was robbery, for the two principal witnesses— the dead man's fellow travellers-remembered that Mr. Hayes was mentioning that he had a large sum of money with him when Brad- ford entered the room to ask if there were anything more that he could do for his guests before thy retired to rest. It was also indis- putable that the murdered man bad been robbed, for his pockets had been rifled, his gold watch and every valuable he bad about him bad been taken, and not so much a3 a shilling was found either on his clothes or in his travelling valise. But the mysterious circumstance was this: how could Bradford possibly have disposed of his booty in the very short time which elapsed between the hearing of the groans and the discovery of the murder ? It was not likely that, after having secured all the property, to obtain which he had committed the murder, he would have returned to see whether his victim were alive or not Yet nothing what- ever belonging to the murdered man was found upon him, and though the house was searched from top to bottom, not the slightest trace of the money or the watch and other valuables could be discovered. How and where could Bradford have possibly disposed of his plunder ? This question could only be answered by Bradford himself, and the mystery would no doubt be solved when the wretched man made his last dying confession before be expiated his crime on the gallows. But meanwhile the problem remained a puzzle, and whetted the public appetite for the revelation which might be expected after- the trial and sentence; for that the prisoner would be found guilty no one ever doubted for a moment. In due course Jonathan Bradford was tried at the Oxford Assizes for the murder of Mr. Hayes. The evidence of the two gentlemen who had seen him standing red-handed, with the blood-stained knife still in his grasp,"over the body of the murdered man, was taken as overwhelming and conclusive proof of the prisoner's guilt. Nor did the man's demea- nour at any time from his arrest to his trial tend in the slightest degree to lessen the sus- picion of his criminality. His manner throughout was inconsistent with the theory of his innocence. Then, when the explana- tion of his presence in the dead man's chamber came to- be analysed, it was found to be unworthy of belief, for, in the first place, Bradford's bedroom was in another part of the house, so far away from that of his guest that he could not possibly have heard the groans of the dying man and in the second place, the knife, which he said he had snatched up haphazard as a weapon of defence, was a carefully-sharpened carving- knife, which was not at all likely to have been within his reaoh unless it had been purposely placed there, for it was shown that he did not pass through the room in which the knives of the establishment were kept. As to the failure to discover the property stolen from the murdered man, that was a point which had no actual bearing upon the crime for which Bradford was being tried, and, therefore, the judge laid no stress upon it in his oharge to the jury. So long as it was proved that Mr. flayes had been murdered and robbed, that was sufficient; there you had the crime and its motive. What had become of the stolen property was a point which the jury need not take into consideration. Needless to say, that with such overwhelming evidence against him, Jonathan Bradford was found guilty and sen- tenced to death. It was taken for granted that the con- demned man would make a full confession before his execution, and in that respect public expectation was not disappointed. Jonathan Bradford did make a confession to the clergyman who attended him in his last moment; but the confession, strange and startling as it was, threw no light whatever upon the mysterious disappearance of the property stolen from Mr. Ilayes. Yet in all the annals of crime we do not know of anything more extraordinary than Jonathan Bradford's dying statement. lie confessed to the clergyman that on hearing Mr. Hayes state that he had a large sum of money with him, he at once conceived the villainous design of murdering and then robbing him. With this intent he stole in the dead of night to Mr. Hayes's room, but, on entering, to his amazement and horror, he found that he bad been forestalled. The deed had been done, and the man whom he intended to murder lay in the last agonies of death before him. Stooping down to make sure that he was not dreaming, the knife dropped from his hand upon the body; when he picked it up it was covered with blood, and it was just at that moment that the two gentlemen entered the room and discovered him in this equivocal position. This confession, if true, left the murder a greater mystery than ever. The general impression, however, was that Brad- ford was pattering with the truth, and that he had not the honesty and candour to make a clean breast of his guilt even with the certainty of death before him. But he went to the gallows without making any further sign, and still the curious, who love to dwell upon such ghastly puzzles, asked what had become of the money and valuables stolen from the murdered man. That question, however, was destined to be answered in a strange manner, and from an unexpected quarter. [Eighteen months after the execution of Jonathan Bradford, far away from Oxford, in the extreme south of England, a man lay sick 'unto death. He asked that the nearest clergyman might be sent for, as he had something on his mind of which he wished to disburden himself before he died. The minister came, and learned from the lips of the dying man his secret. It was this :—He had been body-servant to Mr. Hayes, and had accompanied him in that journey to Oxford which had ended so tragioally. Knowing that his master had a large sum of money with him, he resolved to murder and rob him at the Packhorse. Having stabbed his master, as he thought, to the heart, he rifled his valise of the money, took the gold watch and snuff-box and other valuables from the pockets of the breeches and waistcoat, then quitted the chamber not two seconds before Bradford entered, and fled to his own room. No one ever suspected him or asked him any questions; it does not even appear that he was called as a witness at the trial, or, if he were, his evidence was not considered of sufficient importance to be reported. For Bradford's guilt seemed so palpable that the possibility of another person being concerned in the murder never occurred to any one. The real culprit, therefore, thus safe from detection, was enabled to cheat the gallows; and his secret would have remained undiscovered had not the tortures of remorse wrung it from him at the last moment before he passed into the eternal silence." — Licensed Victuallers' Gazette.

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