PEERS WHO MURDERED

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 88, 15 April 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

PEERS WHO MURDERED

ByAlan Brock

LAURENCE, fourth Earl Ferrers, having been tried by his peers, was executed at Tyburn on May 5, 1 760, for the murder of John Johnson.

To-day the result of the trial might have been different, the plea of insanity put forward on his behalf might well have resulted in a verdict of "guilty, but insane." Certainly there were many aspects of his behaviour, both before and after the crime, that lent colour to the theory. A previous outbreak of violence on tl\o part of (lie Karl had been breaking 1110 head of a fnntmiiii with a silver candlestick and stabbing the unfortunate, man in the body, because a barrel of oyster* sent from London was found to be linen tabic when opened. On another occasion lie had dinned his wife round the house with a loaded pistol, threatening to shoot her. and had driven his brother and sister-in-law, who were Staying with liim, out of the house. Shortly after this incident Lady Ferrers obtained it separation and an order for separate maintenance on the grounds of cruelty. .John Johnson, who had (spent the whole of his working life in the employ of the family, was appointed by the court receiver of the rents out of which the Countess' income was to he paid. The Karl, thereupon, notwithstanding that the appointment had been made; at his own suggestion, conceived a violent hatred for Johnson, accusing him of being in league with his enemies and of dishonesty in various matters. On July 18—the day of the murder— Johnson arrived at the house to keep an appointment made eomo days previously. Premeditation is suggested by the Earl's having sent away the two men BCrvants, as well as his mistress, Mr*. Clifford, and their three children. Of the household, three maids alone remained. As Johnson entered the room, the Karl locked the door behind him, and producing a paper on which was set out a confession of a variety of villainies, demanded his signature. Johnson, not unnaturally, refused to comply, whereupon the Earl produced a pistol, and having ordered him down on his knees, shot him through the abdomen. He then seems for a time to have repented of his act. Johnson was put to lied by his orders and his relatives and a doctor was sent for. When the doctor at last arrived, the Earl, who had passed the intervening period drinking porter, took a hand in the work of extracting the bullet. He expressed surprise that it had remained in the body, as he had made a trial with

the pistol, and the ball had then penetrated a plank an inch and a half thick. When preparations were being made to remove Ihe injured man to his own home, the Karl's temper changed and ho forbade his being moved, saying: "I will keep him here. I will plague the villain." Later, however, when a further quantity of porter had done its work, he stumbled to bed and Johnson was taken home, where lie died at two o'clock in the morning. Next day the Earl was taken by a party of neighbours, who came upon him on his bowling green armed with a blunderbuss, two pistols and a dagger, and after spending the week-end under arrest at a public house at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, he was removed to Leicester Oaol in his landau and six. By special permission he Was driven in the same imposing conveyance to Tyburn, accompanied by the Chaplain of the Tower of London and the Sheriff of London, dressed in his wedding suit of white satin embroidered with silver. He was executed in '"the new drop," on which he made, perhaps, the most creditable performance of his life. ♦ ♦ f ♦ Five year.? later Lord By -on, the gventuncle of the poet, was tried by h's peers for the murder of Mr. Chaworth, lord of the Manor of Annesley. The affair, which occurred at the Star and Garter Tavern, l'all Mall, arose out of a dispute as to the quantity of the game on their respective estates. Following an argument, the two men separately left the party witli whom they had* been spending the evening, and later met again on the stairs, whereupon Lord Byron told Chaworth that he wished to speak to him, and led him into an empty room, lighted only by a tallow candle. As Chaworth was closing the door, he heard Lord Byron call out "Draw," and he did so. A moment later he received his death wound. At his trial Lord Byron pleaded selfdefence, and with the exception of four, each peer returned a verdict of "Not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter." Asked to say why judgment for manslaughter should not be passed upon him, he pleaded "benelit of clergy" and was released. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ In August, 1874, the Duchess de Praslin was found murdered, by her maid and her husband's valet, who, awakened by her cries of agony, had made their \\-v to her bedroom. At first they were unable to gain admittance, but, by means of a service staircase leading from the basement, they were able to

reach a lobby that separated the Duchess' bedroom from that of her husband, and so enter. By this time the Duchess was dead. Other members of the staff were aroused and gathered in the drawing room; as they were discussing how best to act, the Duke appeared and asked what was the matter. He received the terrible news with every sign of grief, and ordered the police and a doctor to be pent for. Xlie police arrived and questioned first the members of the household, then the Duke, who, to everyone's astonishment, at once admitted that he had known of his wife's murder before being told of it by the servants. Roused by her cries, he had entered her room to find her dead, and. overcome by horror ;it the discovery, had pone back to his own room, Further, he acknowledged as his own a pistol that bad been found lieside the body, it* butt covered with blood, hair and skin. His story was that he had taken the weapon with him when he first went to his wife's room and had left it there in his horror and confusion. In the Duke's room the prate was choked with papers which lie had evidently attempted to burn, together with the remains of a silk smokinp jacket. A blood soaked dressing gown was found in the wardrobe, also a short sword

stained with blood. A medical examination disclosed scratches on his hands and the mark of human teeth on one of his arms.

The partly burned letters were found to have been written by his wife. upbraiding him for his waning affection. At their country house was found the dead woman's diary, in which she referred to "Mademoiselle." of whom she appeared, seemingly without any justification, to be profoundly jealous. The lady in question' was Mademoiselle Deluzy, the children's governess, who, on account of the " Duchess' attitude, had recently left their employment. After some delay the Duke was arrested, and on the way to prison he attempted to end matters by taking poison. Lying in great agony, surrounded by six peers of his own rank, he was questioned by the Lord Chancellor, Pasquiner. He denied that lie was guilty of his wife's death, or that Mademoiselle Deluzy gave him-any advice that made him commit the crime which, his questioner said plainly, they felt sure he had committed. Half an hour later the Duke died in great pain. It lias been persistently rumoured in Paris that the death was nothing more than a "frame-up," and that the Duke was smuggled across Hie Channel to England, where he lived to a ripe old

age in receipt of a pension from Mb eldest son, and later from his grandson. Mademoiselle Deluzy was arrested »nd after being kept in prison for three months, during which time she was subjected to the pitiless inquisition usual in France on such occasions, was released. Later she went to America, where, after a period passed as a school teacher, she married, dying in 1874. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ The title borne by Count Henri de Tourville who. in 187". was extradited tn Austria, convicted of the murder of liis wife and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, was not inherited; he invented it for himself. In IS7I. while earning his living as a waiter in Paris, he was engaged by a wealthy Englishman named Cotton to accompany him to Constantinopole as a valet. There Mr. Cotton mysteriously disappeared, and de Tourville, now furnished with ample funds, continued his travels alone as Count Henri de Tourville. In due course he arrived at Scarborough, where within two months he married the only daughter of a Mrs. Ramsdcn, the wealthy widow of a Sunderland solicitor. He at once began to borrow money from his mother-in-law on the strength of delayed remittances from Paris. When the old lady began to press for repayment, she died suddenly as the result of the accidental discharge of a pistol she was examining, one of a pair the Count happened to have with him when he looked in on his way to practice at a shooting gallery. At the inquest, the Count's explanation was accepted, although later, when the body was exhumed, the bullet was found to have entered the back of the neck. The shock of her mother's death, following on the birth of a child, brought about a complete breakdown in the health of Madame de Tourville, and after lingering for some time, she died in her sleep, only her husband being present at the time. By her will the greater part of her property passed to her sdn, whom the Count took to live with him at what had been his wife's home. The building and its contents, which were heavily insured, were soon afterwards destroyed by lire, the child and its nurse being rescued at the last moment. One can hardly wonder that the insurance company refused to pay. A year later we find him married to a Mrs. Miller, a childless widow with property valued at £70,000 and starting with his bride on an extensive Continental tour. Eight months later the Count returned from an expedition into the mountains witli the news that his wife had fallen down a precipice, and later her body, terribly injured, was recovered.

Ail inquiry followed, during which the bereaved husband, who benefited to the extent of £40,000, under his wife's will managed to persuade the magistrate that the affair was an accident. But not the police. He died in prison after serving eight years of hie sentence.