95, 96. Ralph Coster proceedingsdefend , and Thomas Coster proceedingsdefend , of the Parish of St Mary Islington , in the County of Middlesex, Labourers , were indicted, for that they not having God before their Eyes, but being moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil, on the 16th Day of August, in the Sixteenth Year of His Majesty's Reign , in and upon the Body of John Lack proceedingsvictim , feloniously did make an Assault with a cert ain Dagger made of Iron and Steel, value 6 d. which he, the said Ralph, held in his Right-hand, and him the said John one mortal Wound did give, of the Breadth of half an Inch, and the Depth of 3 Inches, of which Wound he instantly died: And that the said Thomas Coster < no role > was then and there aiding, abetting, assisting, comforting and maintaining the said Ralph the said Murder to commit: And that they the said John Lack < no role > did kill and murder against the Peace of our Sovereign Lord the King, &c .

Josias Lack. The Deceased was my Father: He was killed the 16th Day of last August, in the Road leading from Aldersgate-Street to Islington , near the Turnpike. - The next Day we got a Search-Warrant, and went with the High Constable to the Turk's-Head Alehouse, in the Road leading to Islington. I asked where the Landlord and Landady were; a Woman said, I am Landlady. The Constable and other Officers searched the House, to see if they could find any Weapon wherewith the Murder was committed.

Q. How came you to go to this House?

Josias Lack. Because it was a House of an indifferent Character, and People suspected it: The High-Constable was going there before I saw him. Says the High-Constable to the Woman, Where is your Husband? Says she, he is in the Country, he has been gone three Weeks. - I have no Lodgers; there is no body in the House but my Son, and he is making a Perriwig : She would have called him down, but the Constable chose to go up; and when he came up, the Son was mending a Coat, and the Father was shut up in a Closet. There was a Shirt lay soaking in Water, which was bloody: I believe it was in a Bason in the Room where the Father was. The Son was in another Room up two pair of Stairs. It was asked, How the Shirt came to be bloody; and the old Woman, and all of them said, the old Man was blooded the Sunday before. - They all three said so: And when they came before the Justice, the old Man and his Son both said it was the Sunday was se'ennight before. The Shirt was brought down and looked at, and it was bloody only on the right Arm.

Court. Did you look at the Arm that was bloody?

- Lack . There was a Barber there that did, and he said he had not been blooded so lately as the Sunday se'ennight before. - I did not see any Thing farther than an old Orisice: - It looked white, not red; he seemed very much frightened, but said, he would send for the Man that blooded him, but I did not see him there.

Q. Did you see the Body of your Father?

Josias Lack. Yes, there was a great deal of Violence done to him, he was very much abused; he had thirteen or fourteen Wounds, they appeared to be Stabs. There was one on his Left-side, under his Left-Pap; one in his Throat; one under his Right-Ear; one in his Left-Cheek; another by his Left-Eye; another in his Left-Arm, and one or two in his Back. - It was about 10 o'Clock at Night on Monday, Aug . 16. He worked at the Tower, and was going home to Islington. I was called out about 11 o'Clock, and the Body lay in the Road about six or seven hundred Yards from the Turnpike. - He had no Wound on the Right-Arm.

Court. You say, the old Man said he would send for the Person that blooded him. Did he send?

Josias Lack. He said he would; and that the Person lived on Little Saffron-Hill , by Hockley in the Hole: but he did not come.

Ralph Coster < no role > . Did not I send for the Barber? My own Daughter went for him, and brought him; and you staid so long in the Mulberry-Garden, that he went away again.

Lack. I did not see any body sent for.

John Noel < no role > . On Tuesday the 17th of August, the High-Constable sent for me to get a Search-Warrant from Justice Wroth, to search Houses who harbour People of bad Reputation. The first House we went into was the Turk's-Head; the Prisoner at the Bar kept the Turk's-Head at that Time; when we went in, the Woman was asked, Who kept the House: Then she was asked where her Husband was, she said, he had been out of Town three Weeks or a Month. The High-Constable asked her, if she had got any Lodgers, or any body else in the House. She said, there was no body in the House but her Son, and that he was above Stairs, making of a Perriwig. The High-Constable bid her call him down, and she said she would; but before she called him down, said one of the Constables, let us go and see what he is doing of; so I went up Stairs: he was at work, but I cannot tell whether it was upon a Perriwig or a Coat. Then Mr Body, the next Witness, said, here is a Man in the Closet. The Door was shut to, and I thought it was a Door that went into another Room, and there the old Man was bolt upright in the Closet - It had no Window, but was big enough to put a Close-stool, or a two-armed Chair in; and Mr Body pulled him out, and then somebody searched to see if there were any Weapons, but did not find any; there was a Shirt in a Pan or a Bason of Water, or Urine: I have got the Shirt here. It was the Left-Arm then that appeared to be bloody, for the Shirt was turned. I did not see it when it was taken out of the Pan; it was delivered me before the Justice.

N. B. The Shirt was produced, and appeared to be bloody about half way up the Sleeve for the Right-Arm.

Q. When the Shirt was produced, how did they behave?

John Noel < no role > . The old Man seemed to be very much frightened, and said, he had been blooded the Sunday before, and that the Shirt was put in Water to soak the Blood out. - I do not know whether the Arm was inspected at the House.

Thomas Coster < no role > . The Arm was inspected at the House.

John Noel < no role > . I saw the Arm stripped before the Justice. There did not appear to me to be any thing of a new Orisice; when he was examined before the Justice, he said it was the Sunday was se'en-night before that he was blooded; he said the Person that blooded him was a Barber, who lived on Saffron-Hill .

Court. Explain yourself as to the Father's being frightened.

Noel. He seemed to be in a Flurry, as if he did not know what he said.

Q. How did the young Man behave?

Noel. He said he knew nothing at all of the Matter, and said he would go very quietly with us.

Q. Did you observe in the young Man any Signs of Guilt?

Noel. I did not perceive any Timidity in him, there was in the old Man.

Ralph Coster < no role > . Ask him what I said, when they took me out of the Closet.

Noel. I did not take you out of the Closet.

R. Coster. Did not I show my Arm then?

Noel. I did not see it.

Court. Lack, Was your Father stripped?

Josias Lack. My Father was not stripped, he was robbed - of a Tobacco-Box, an old Knife, and a Key; and I believe he had about him, between twenty and thirty Shillings, which was lost.

Noel. The Justice desired us to try who the Shirt would fit, and it was tried on the old Man's Wrist, and it would not meet by half an Inch at least, I believe it would hardly meet with a Pair of Buttons.

Coster. These are the Buttons I had in the Sleeves when I wore it.

Noel. There were no Buttons produced before the Justice: He said there, the Shirt was given him by a Nephew, and he had only wore it that Day; and that it was to be altered and made fit for him. - There is no Mark at all upon it - The Son said he was a Perriwig Maker by Trade. - There were two or three Razors in the Room, and two or three Staves that they weave their Hair upon. - It looked as if it had been a Room that a Barber had made use of, but not lately, for the Things did not stand in Order for working.

William Body < no role > This name instance is in set 3514. . I went with a Search-Warrant, by the High Constable's Order, to the Turks-Head. Said the High-Constable, Body, come in along with me. Said he to a Woman that was there, Who keeps this House? Said she, I do. He asked who was in the House, she said I have no Body in the House but my son, and he is at Work. - I did not hear her ask'd where her Husband was. I went first into the one Pair of Stairs Room on the Left-Hand and found nothing; and then into the one Pair of Stairs Room on the Right-Hand. I went into the other Room again, and saw a Button to a Closet-Door, which was not buttoned. I went to open the Door, but I believe he held it within, because it did not open immediately.

Q. Was there any thing on the inside, by which he might hold it?

William Body < no role > . It was a common Wainscote framed Door, and a Body might lay hold of the Frame with one's Finger. - I believe it was plain on the Inside. - I did not see any thing of the Inside, that it might be hold by, - it might stick a little. My Lord, when I opened it, there was a Man stood upright in the Closet; said I, What do you do here? Come out. - I was led a little, for I had no Stick nor any Weapon. The old Man said, I am afraid of Bailiffs, that is the Reason of my hiding myself, I am afraid of nothing else. His Shoes were slipped, - they took the old Man down Stairs. - The young Man was mending a Coat, and he said, My Mother keeps the House, I am not afraid of any thing, What is the Meaning of this? Said they, there is a Murder committed, and this is a Search-Warrant, and you must go along with us; said he, I will follow you down. I thought it best that he should go first, and he readily did so. - The Sleeve of the Shirt lay in a Bason of Water, and the Body lay out of it. The High-Constable said it was requisite to take the Shirt along with us, so I went up Stairs and fetched it down.

Q. How did the old Man behave then?

William Body < no role > . I did not see him any more surprized when he saw the Shirt than he was before. At first he said he was blooded the Sunday before, so did his Wife, and so did his Daughter. - His Arm was stripped up before the Justice, and there was a Man that came from Islington that bleeds People, and he said he was sure he had not been blooded for a great while.

Jury. Did you hear that the Person that blooded him had been at the Justice's?

Body. I did hear it said, that the Surgeon that blooded him, had been at the Justice's, and that he was gone, but I did not see him.

R. Coster. I know no more of it than the Child unborn. This is the Barber that blooded me.

Joseph Chandler < no role > . I am a Barber, and Perriwig-Maker, and Bleeder. On the 8th of August, that old Gentleman at the Bar came to me to Saffron Hill, to be blooded, between eight and nine in the Morning, and I blooded him in the Right-Arm.

Q. Did you go before the Justice?

Chandler. I was informed, that I was sent for twice, but I was abroad.

Q. I would ask you if a Man has been let Blood eight or ten Days, whether the Orifice will look red or white?

Chandler. Sometimes it will look red for a Fortnight; sometimes it may hardly be seen at all, but will close immediately; sometimes it will be three or four Days, and in eight or nine Days it will look as if it was an old Bleeding. I knew the old Man before he lived there, he kept a House at the Spaw.

Ralph Coster < no role > . I have Witnesses to prove that my Son and I were in Bed that Night by nine o'Clock.

But the Court and Jury being satisfied, they were not examined. Acquitted .