The Chronicles of Crime. Camden Pelham

pails of water after it. When the head was cut off, the woman recommended the boiling it till the flesh should part from the bones; but the other parties thought this operation would take up too much time, and therefore advised the throwing it into the Thames, in expectation that it would be carried off by the tide, and would sink. This agreed to, the head was put into the pail, and Billings took it under his great-coat, being accompanied by Wood; but, making a noise in going down stairs, Mrs. Springate called, and asked what was the matter? To this Mrs. Hayes answered that her husband was going a journey; and, with incredible dissimulation, affected to take leave of him, pretending great concern that he was under a necessity of going at so late an hour, and Wood and Billings passed out of the house unnoticed. They first went to Whitehall, where they intended to have thrown in the head; but the gates being shut, they went to a wharf near the Horse Ferry, Westminster. Billings putting down the pail, Wood threw the head into the dock, expecting it would have been carried away by the stream; but at this time the tide was ebbing, and a lighterman, who was then in his vessel, heard something fall into the dock, but it was too dark for him to distinguish any object. The head being thus disposed of, the murderers returned home, and were admitted by Mrs. Hayes, without the knowledge of the other lodgers. The body next became the object of their attention, and Mrs. Hayes proposed that it should be packed up in a box and buried. The plan was determined upon immediately, and a box was purchased, but being found too small, the body was dismembered so as to admit of its being inclosed in it, and was left until night should favour its being carried off. The inconvenience of carrying a box was, however, immediately discovered, and the pieces of the mangled body were therefore taken out, and, being wrapped up in a blanket, were carried by Billings and Wood to a field in Marylebone, and there thrown into a pond.

      In the meantime the head had been discovered, and the circumstance of a murder having been committed being undoubted, every means was taken to secure the discovery of its perpetrators. The magistrates, with this view, directed that the head should be washed clean, and the hair combed; after which it was put on a pole in the churchyard of St. Margaret, Westminster, that an opportunity might be afforded for its being viewed by the public[4]. Thousands went to witness this extraordinary spectacle; and there were not wanting those among the crowd, who expressed their belief among themselves, that the head belonged to Hayes. Their suspicions were mentioned by some of them to Billings, but he ridiculed the notion, and declared that Hayes was well, and was gone out of town only for a few days. When the head had been exhibited during four days, it was deemed expedient that measures should be taken to preserve it; and Mr. Westbrook, a chemist, in consequence, received directions to put it into spirits. Mrs. Hayes soon afterwards changed her lodgings, and took the woman Springate with her, paying the rent which she owed, Wood and Billings also accompanying her; and her chief occupation now was that of collecting the debts due to her husband; by means of which she continued to supply her diabolical assistants with money and clothes. Amongst the incredible numbers of people who resorted to see the head was a poor woman from Kingsland, whose husband had been absent from the very time that the murder was perpetrated. After a minute survey of the head, she believed it to be that of her husband, though she could not be absolutely positive, but her suspicions were so strong, that strict search was made after the body, on a presumption that the clothes might help her to ascertain it. Meanwhile, Mr. Hayes not being visible for a considerable time, his friends could not help making inquiry after him; and a Mr. Ashby, in particular, who had been on the most friendly terms with him, called on Mrs. Hayes, and demanded what had become of her husband? Catherine pretended to account for his absence by communicating the following intelligence, as a matter that must be kept profoundly secret:—“Some time ago,” said she, “he happened to have a dispute with a man, and from words they came to blows, so that Mr. Hayes killed him. The wife of the deceased made up the affair, on Mr. Hayes’s promising to pay her a certain annual allowance; but he not being able to make it good, she threatened to inform against him, on which he has absconded.” This story was, however, by no means satisfactory to Mr. Ashby, who asked her if the head that had been exposed on the pole was that of the man who had been killed by her husband? She readily answered in the negative, adding that the party had been buried entire; and that the widow had her husband’s bond for the payment of fifteen pounds a year. Ashby inquired to what part of the world Mr. Hayes was gone; and she said to Portugal, in company with some gentlemen; but she had yet received no letter from him. The whole of this detail seeming highly improbable to Mr. Ashby, he went to Mr. Longmore, a gentleman nearly related to Hayes; and it was agreed between them that Mr. Longmore should call on Catherine, and have some conversation with her upon the same subject. Her story to this gentleman differed in its details from that which she had related to Mr. Ashby; and Mr. Eaton, also a friend of Mr. Hayes, being consulted, they determined first to examine the head, and then, if their suspicions were confirmed, to communicate their belief to the magistrates. Having accordingly minutely examined the head, and come to the conclusion that it must be that of their friend Hayes, they proceeded to Mr. Lambert, a magistrate, who immediately issued warrants for the apprehension of Mrs. Hayes and Mrs. Springate, as well as of Wood and Billings, and proceeded to execute them personally. Going accordingly to the house in which they all lived, they informed the landlord of their business, and went immediately to the door of Mrs. Hayes’ room. On the magistrate’s rapping, the woman asked, “Who is there?” and he commanded her to open the door directly, or it should be broken open. To this she replied, that she would open it as soon as she had put on her clothes; and she did so in little more than a minute, when the justice ordered the parties present to take her into custody. At this time Billings was sitting on the side of the bed, bare-legged. Some of the parties remaining below, to secure the prisoners, Mr. Longmore went up stairs with the justice, and took Mrs. Springate into custody; and they were all conducted together to the house of Mr. Lambert. This magistrate having examined the prisoners separately for a considerable time, and all of them positively persisting in their ignorance of anything respecting the murder, they were severally committed for re-examination on the following day, before Mr. Lambert and other magistrates. Mrs. Springate was sent to the Gate-house, Billings to New Prison, and Mrs. Hayes to Tothill-fields Bridewell. When the peace-officers, attended by Longmore, went the next day to fetch up Catherine to her examination, she earnestly desired to see the head; and it being thought prudent to grant her request, she was carried to the surgeon’s; and no sooner was the head shown to her than she exclaimed, “Oh, it is my dear husband’s head! It is my dear husband’s head!” She now took the glass in her arms, and shed many tears while she embraced it. Mr. Westbrook told her that he would take the head out of the glass, that she might have a more perfect view of it, and be certain that it was the same; and the surgeon doing as he had said, she seemed to be greatly affected, and having kissed it several times, she begged to be indulged with a lock of the hair; and on Mr. Westbrook expressing his apprehension that she had had too much of his blood already, she fell into a fit. On her recovery she was conducted to Mr. Lambert’s, to take her examination with the other parties.

      It is somewhat remarkable that it was on the morning of this day that the body was discovered. As a gentleman and his servant were crossing the fields at Marylebone, they observed something lying in a ditch, and, on going nearer to it, they perceived that it was some parts of a human body. Assistance being procured, the whole of the body was found except the head; and information of the circumstance was conveyed to Mr. Lambert at the very moment at which he was examining the prisoners. The suspicions which already existed were strengthened by this circumstance, and Mrs. Hayes was committed to Newgate for trial; the committal of Billings and Mrs. Springate, however, being deferred until the apprehension of Wood.

      The latter soon after coming into town and riding up to Mrs. Hayes’ lodgings, was directed to go to the house of Mr. Longmore, where he was told he would find Mrs. Hayes; but the brother of Longmore standing at the door, he immediately seized him, and caused him to be carried before Mr. Lambert. He underwent an examination; but, refusing to make any confession, he was sent to Tothill-fields’ Bridewell. On his arrival at the prison he was informed that the body had been found: and, not doubting but that the whole affair would come to light, he begged that he might be carried back to the justice’s house. This being made known to Mr. Lambert, the prisoner was brought up, and he then acknowledged the particulars of the murder, and signed his confession. This wretched man owned that since the perpetration of the crime he had been terrified at the sight of every one he met, that he had not experienced a moment’s peace,