Thomas Dicks (Grimwade 2731,2738) as at c.1798-9
William Harman
James Hadfield*
*James Hadfield or Hatfield (b.1771-2 d.23 January 1841) attempted to assassinate George III in 1800 but was acquitted of attempted murder by reason of insanity.
646. Proceedings on the Trial of James Hadfield, at the Bar of the Court of King's Bench, for High Treason, June 26 : 40 George III. A. D. 1800.
Court Of King's Bench June 16th 1800
Extact from the transcript of the trial.
William Harman sworn. Examined by Mr. Law.
What art you ? A silver-spoon maker.
Are you journeyman to Mr. Dicks? Yes.
How long have you known the prisoner at the bar? I have known him seven years.
Did the prisoner at the bar call upon you at any lime on Thursday the 15th of May ? Yes, about two o'clock.
At what place did he call upon you? At Mr. Dicks's shop, in Greenhill's Rents, near Smithfield.
Did he at that time show you any thing ? He showed me a pistol ; he said be had been buying a pair.
Did you ask him any question, upon his telling you he had bought those pistols ? I asked him what he bought them for ? He said he bought them for his young master, and gave eight shillings for them ; that he meant to charge his young master twelve shillings, after he had cleaned them up, and then be should get four shillings by them.
Did he leave either of his pistols with you or at the place where he was ? Yes, he left one.
Did he give any reason for leaving that one pistol with you ? He said, if he took it home, his wife would be frightened.
At the time when he called upon you, produced this pistol, and had this conversation with you about leaving the pistol for fear his wife should be frightened, did he appear to you to be collected, and to understand what he was about? Yes.
Was his appearance the appearance he usually bore, or was there any thing different from his usual manner on that occasion ? No, he seemed as well as ever he did in his life.
Thomas Dicks sworn. Examined by Mr.Garrow.
I believe you carry on the business of a silver spoon-maker? Yes.
Was the young man who has just left the Court, William Harman, a journeyman of your's? Yes.
Do you know the Prisoner at the bar, James Hadfield? Yes.
Did he, at any time, work for you as a journeyman in your business? About a year and a half ago.
How long did he work for you? About three weeks.
At one time ? Yes.
Did he execute his business like other journeymen in the same trade? Yes.
Have you, since he ceased to work for you, occasionally seen him upon visits to his shop-mates, and upon other occasions? I have met him in the streets several times.
Do you remember seeing him at your house On Thursday the 15th of May last? Yes.
About what time of the day? Somewhere about two, or after two o'clock, in the afternoon.
Whom did you see him in company with, and what was his business there? He called to see Harman.
Did you see anything in the possession of the prisoner at that time? Yes; when I shoved the shop door open, I saw him sitting on a stool in the shop; he said to me, " How do you do, master?" and he said he had bought a bargain; that he had given eight shillings for a pair of pistols. He asked me what I thought they were worth? I said, I did not think they were worth four. I went out of the shop then, and went down stairs, and he went out to get some beer, to treat the young men with some beer ; he laid the pistol down, and then went away.
Lord Kenyan. One of the pistols? He had only one.
Mr. Garrow. He had been some time with Harman before you went in ? Yes ; the pistol lay there ; I told him to take the pistol with him ; he said, " No, I shall not go to work this afternoon ; I shall go home and clean myself." I told him to take the pistol with him; he said he should frighten his wife with the pistol if he took it, and he would leave it till he came back again ; he called again for it, put it into his pocket, and took it away, and I saw no more of him.
How long was he absent? About twenty minutes; time enough to clean himself.
Had he cleaned himself before he returned last? Yes; he was clean when he came and fetched his pistol away.
He was in his working dress when you saw him first ? Yes.
He went away, and returned in twenty minutes clean, and then took away the pistol? Yes.
During the whole of the time that you saw him upon that Thursday the 15th of May, from his manner, from anything that he said, from anything you gathered in his conversation, did you observe anything extraordinary in his manner, or was it the manner of a sane man, knowing perfectly what he was doing ? He seemed more solider than ever I saw him before; I thought he seemed duller, not so cheerful in spirits ; that was all the notice I took of him.
Was there anything disjointed in his conversation, anything out of its place? No.
Any thing that gave you an idea that there was any thing the matter with his head ? No, not that gave me any idea of that, he seemed lower in spirits I thought than I had usually seen him before.
Cast your eye upon that pistol ; was it a pistol of that sort? I think this was the pistol.
A Juryman. Did you see only one pistol, or a pair ? Only one.
Mr. Garrow. He produced only one to Harman, but mentioned two.
Source:
A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors from the Earliest Period to the Year 1783, with Notes and Other Illustrations
By Thomas Bayly Howell
Compiled by Thomas Bayly Howell
Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1820
Item notes: v. 27 (1798-1800)
London Goldsmiths-1697-1837-Their Marks & Lives.--Arthur G. Grimwade
For the full transcript of the trial go to:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=P0MC ... s+hadfield" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
For further information go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hadfield" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Trev.
.
