This brought them together again, so that Mosbie lay often in Arden's
house, and in a short time the intercourse between them was so open
that Mr Arden could not but perceive it; although common report says
that he winked at it, for fear of disobliging her relations, from whom
he had some great expectations. Having continued their lewd practices
for a considerable time, the woman doted more and more upon Mosbie,
and began to loathe her husband extremely; insomuch that she would
have been glad to have found out a way to get rid of him.
There was a painter at Feversham who was reported to be versed in the
art of poisoning; to him she applied herself, and asked him whether he
had any skill in that or not. The man seeming to own it, she told him
she would have such a dose prepared as would make a quick dispatch.
"That I can do," said he. So he presently went to work, and gave it
her, with directions to put it into the bottom of a porringer and so
to pour milk upon it; but the woman, forgetting the direction, put in
the milk first, and then the poison.
Now
her husband designing that day to take his horse and ride to
Canterbury, his wife brought him his breakfast, which was usually milk
and butter. Having taken a spoonful or two of the milk, and liking
neither the taste nor colour of it, he said: "Mrs Alice, what sort of
milk is it you gave me?" Upon which she threw down the dish and said:
"I find nothing can please you." Upon which he went away for
Canterbury, and by the way vomited extremely, so that he escaped for
that time.
Arden's wife became afterwards acquainted with one Green, of
Feversham, a servant of Sir Anthony Agers; from which Green, Arden had
wrested a piece of ground lying on the back side of the abbey of
Feversham; about which some blows and many menacing expressions had
passed between them; and therefore the woman knowing that Green hated
her husband, she began to concert with him how to make away with
Arden.
The
agreement at last was thus: that if they could procure anyone to
murder her husband, he should have ten pounds for his wicked pains.
Now Green having some business to be transacted at London for his
master Sir Anthony, set out for that city, where his master then was,
and having a charge of money about him, he desired one Bradshaw, a
goldsmith of Feversham and his neighbour, to go with him as far as
Gravesend, and he would satisfy him for his trouble.
When they had got as far as Rainhan Down they saw some gentlemen
coming; Bradshaw discerned a man coming up the hill from Rochester,
armed with a sword and buckler, and another with a huge staff upon his
shoulder, and thereupon said to Green: "It is well that there is some
company coming after us, for there is coming up against us as
murdering a villain as any in England; and were it not for the other
people we should scarce be able to come off without the loss of our
lives and money."
Green, as he afterwards confessed, imagining that such a one was fit
for his purpose, asked the other "Which is he?" "That's he," quoth
Bradshaw, "who has the sword and buckler; his name is Black Will."
"How do you know that?" said Green. Bradshaw answered: "I knew him at
Boulogne, where he was a soldier and I was Sir Richard Cavendish's
man, and there he committed several robberies and horrid murders
between the passes of that town and France."
By
this time the company having overtaken them, they advanced all
together and met Black Will and his companion. Some of the strangers,
knowing Black Will, asked him how he did, and whither he was going. He
answered by his blood, for he accented almost every word with an oath,
"I know not, neither do I care; I'll set up my stick and go as it
falls." Then said they to him, "If you will go back with us to
Gravesend we will give you a supper." "By my blood," said he, "I care
not, I'll go along with you." As they travelled on, Black Will claimed
an acquaintance with Bradshaw, saying, "Friend Bradshaw, how dost thou
do?" Bradshaw having no mind to renew his acquaintance, or to have
anything to do with such a horrid fellow, replied: "Why, do you know
me?" "Yes, that I do," said he; "did we not serve together at
Boulogne?" "I beg your pardon," said Bradshaw, "I had forgot you."
Then Green entered into discourse with Black Will and said: "When you
have supped, come to my quarters at such a sign, and I will give you
some sack and sugar." "By my blood," said he, "I thank you." Thither
he went, according to his promise, and was well treated.
Then Green and he went and talked together, aside from Bradshaw, and
the former proposing to give the other ten pounds to kill Mr Arden, he
answered, with a great oath, he would if he could but know him. "I'll
show him to you to-morrow in St Paul's," said Green. When they had
done talking, Green bade him go home to his quarters; and then,
sitting down, he wrote a letter to Mrs Arden, wherein, among others,
he made use of these expressions: "We have got a man for our purpose;
we may thank my brother Bradshaw for it." Bradshaw, knowing nothing of
the matter, took the letter, and went the next morning and delivered
it to Mrs Arden, while Green and Black Will bent their course to
London.
Green, at the time appointed, showed Black Will Mr Arden walking in St
Paul's; upon which Black Will asked him: "Who is he that follows him?"
"Marry," said Green, "one of his men." "By my blood," quoth Will,
"I'll kill them both." "Nay," said Green, "do not do that, for he is
in the secret." "By my blood, I care not for that, I will kill them
both," replied he. "By no means," said Green. Then Black Will proposed
to murder Mr Arden in Paul's Churchyard, but there were so many
gentlemen with him that he could not affect it. Green imparted the
whole discourse to Arden's man, whose name was Michael, and who ever
after was afraid lest Black Will should kill him. The reason why
Michael conspired with the rest against his master was because he
should marry a kinswoman of Mosbie's.
Mr
Arden taking up his lodgings in a certain parsonage-house which he had
in London, Michael and Green agreed that Black Will should go thither
in the night-time, where he should find the doors left open for him to
go in and murder Mr Arden. Michael having put his master to bed, left
the doors open according to agreement, though Mr Arden, after he was
in bed, asked him if he had made them all fast, to which he answered
Yes.
But
afterwards growing afraid when he had got to bed, lest Black Will
should kill him as well as his master, he rose, shut the doors, and
bolted them very fast; insomuch that when Black Will came thither, and
could find no entrance, he returned in great fury that he should be so
disappointed, and in that mood he went next day to Green, swearing and
staring like a madman, and with many horrible oaths and execrations
threatened to kill Arden's man first, wherever he met him. "Nay," said
Green, "pray forbear that; let me first know the reason why the doors
were shut."
Green having found out Arden's man, and expostulated the matter with
him about his not leaving the doors open, according to his promise,
Michael, who had framed his answer before, said: "Marry, I will tell
you the reason: my master last night did that which I never found him
to do before; for, after I was in bed, he got up himself and shut the
doors, and chid me severely in the morning for my carelessness in
leaving them open." This pacified Green and Black Will.
Now
Arden having done his business in London, and being ready to return
home, his man went to Green and informed him his master would go down
that night. Upon this they agreed that Black Will should kill him on
Rainham Down. When Mr Arden had got to Rochester, his man growing
apprehensive that Black Will would murder him as well as his master,
he pricked his horse on purpose, and made him go lame, that so he
might protract the time and stay behind.
His
master observing the lameness of his horse, and asking him the reason
of it, Michael said he did not know. "Well," quoth his master, "when
we come to the smith's forge, which is between Rochester and the foot
of the hill over against Chatham, let him take off his shoe and
search, and then come after me." So that his master rode on; but
before he came to the place where Black Will lay in wait for him he
was overtaken by several gentlemen of his acquaintance, so that the
assassin failed here also to accomplish his bloody design.
After Mr Arden had got home he sent his man to the Isle of Sheppey, to
Sir Thomas Cheney, then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, about some
business; by whom Sir Thomas sent a letter back to his master. But
when he came home, his good mistress took and concealed the letter,
and ordered the fellow to tell his master that he had a letter for him
from Sir Thomas Cheney, but that he had unfortunately lost it; and
added withal, that he thought it would be his best way to go in the
morning himself to Sir Thomas's, because he knew nothing of the
contents of it. Having resolved to do so, he ordered his man to be up
betimes in the morning.
In
the meanwhile Black Will and one George Shakebag, his companion, were,
by Green's appointment, concealed in a storehouse of Sir Anthony
Agers, at Preston, to which place Mrs Arden went to see him, who
brought and sent him victuals and drink several times. He was charged
very strictly to be up early in the morning to waylay Mr Arden in a
broom-close between Feversham and the Ferry, and there to murder him.
Now Black Will was up in the morning betimes, but, missing his way, he
tarried in a wrong place.
Arden and his man, early in the morning, riding towards Shoreham,
where Sir Thomas Cheney lay, when they were come near the broom-close,
Michael, who was ever afraid that Black Will would murder him with his
master, pretended he had lost his money purse. "Why," said his
master," thou foolish fellow, couldst thou take no more care of thy
purse? How much was there in it?" "Three Pounds,'' said he. "Go back,
you fool," quoth his master, "and look for it! it is so early that
there is nobody yet stirring; thou mayst be sure to find it, and so
make haste and over take me at the ferry."
But
Arden nevertheless escaped this time by reason of the mistake of Black
Will, who thought he was sure of him in his return home. But whether
some of the lord warden's servants attended him back to Feversham, or
that he considered it was too late for him to go through the
broom-close and so took another way, Black Will once more failed to
execute his murdering designs.
St
Valentine's Day being near, the villainous crew thought it a proper
time to perpetrate their wicked devices. Mosbie intended to pick some
quarrel or other with Arden at the fair, and so fight with him, saying
he could not find in his heart to murder a gentleman in such a manner
as his wife would have it; though they had made mutual promises to
each other to be altogether as man and wife, and had there upon
received the sacrament at London openly together. But this project of
quarrelling with Mr Arden would not do, for though he had been often
before and was then also highly provoked by Mosbie, he would not
fight.
Mosbie had a sister who lived in a tenement of Arden's near his house
in Feversham, so that Black Will, on the eve of the fair, was sent for
to come thither. Green was the man who brought him, and met Mrs Arden,
accompanied with Michael her man and one of her maids; there were also
present Mosbie and George Shakebag, and here the plot was laid to
murder Arden in the manner they afterwards perpetrated the horrid
fact.
Mosbie indeed at first would not consent to so base and cowardly an
act, but flung away in a fury, and went up Abbey Street towards the
Flower-de-Luce, the house of Adam Fowle, whither he often resorted;
but before he got thither he was overtaken by a messenger sent after
him by Mrs Arden, importuning him by all means to return, which he did
accordingly; and then she fell down upon her knees before him, and
pressed him to go through with the business if he had any manner of
love for her, and as she had several times told him, he might be
assured there was nobody that would be concerned at his death, or make
any search after them that dispatched him.
The
importunity of the wicked woman at length prevailing, he was brought
to a compliance with the accursed project, and thereupon Black Will
was conveyed into Mr Arden's house, and hid in a closet at the end of
the parlour, before which they had sent all the servants out upon some
pretence or other, except those who were privy and consenting to the
villainous design.
Mosbie went and stood at the door in a silk night-gown tied about him,
between the hours of six and seven at night; soon after which Arden,
who had been at a neighbour's house called Dunding, and had cleared
some accounts that were between them, went home, and finding Mosbie at
the door, asked him if it was not supper-time. "I think not," said he;
"I believe it is not yet ready." "Then," quoth Mr Arden, "let us in
the meantime go and play a game at tables"; and so going directly into
the parlour through the hall where his wife was walking, Mr Arden said
to her: "How now, Mrs Alice?" but she made him little or no answer.
In
the meantime the wicket door of the entry was chained by somebody, and
when they had got into the parlour Mosbie sat down on the bench,
facing the closet wherein Black Will was hid; Michael, Arden's man,
stood behind his master, with a candle in his hand to shadow Black
Will, that his master might by no means perceive him come out of the
closet. In their play Mosbie said (and that was the signal for Black
Will to come out): "Now, sir, I can take you if I please." "Take me!"
said Arden. "Which way?" With that Black Will rushed out of the closet
and threw a towel about his neck to stop his breath and strangle him;
then Mosbie having a pressing iron, weighing fourteen pounds, at his
girdle, struck him so on the head with it that he knocked him down,
upon which he gave a loud groan, which made them believe he was
killed.
From the parlour they carried him into the counting-house, where, as
they were about to lay him down, the pangs of death came upon him, and
groaning in a most grievous manner, he extended himself, and Black
Will, giving him a terrible gash in the face, slew him outright; then
he laid him along, took his money out of his pocket and the rings off
his fingers, and coming out of the counting-house said: "The business
is over, give me my money."
Upon which Mrs Arden gave him ten pounds, and then he went to Green's,
borrowed a horse of him, and rode away. After Black Will was gone, Mrs
Arden went into the counting-house and with a knife stuck the corpse
seven or eight times in the breast; then they cleaned the parlour,
wiped away the blood with a cloth, and strewed the rushes which had
been disordered during the struggle.
The
cloth and the bloody knife wherewith she had wounded her husband they
threw into a tub by the well's side, where they were afterwards both
found. This done, she sent for two Londoners then at Feversham to come
to supper, to which they had been invited before the horrid murder was
committed.
They were grocers by trade, and their names were Prune and Cole. When
they came she said: "I wonder where Mr Arden is? He will not stay
long. Come, let us sit down, he will be quickly with us." Then
Mosbie's sister was sent for, and sat down with them, and they were
all very merry. When supper was over, Mrs Arden made her daughter play
on the virginals, and they danced, and she amongst them, frequently
saying, "I wonder Mr Arden stays so long; come, let us sit down, he
will surely soon be with us; let us play a game at tables."
But
the Londoners said they must go to their lodgings, or else they should
be locked out and so took their leave of the company and departed. As
soon as they were gone, the servants who were not privy to the murder
were sent into the towns some to look for their master, and others
upon other errands; then Michael, a maid, Mosbie's sister, and one of
Mrs Arden's own daughters took the dead body, and carried it out into
a field adjoining to the churchyard, and to his own garden wall,
through which he went to church.
In
the meantime it began to snow, and when they came to the garden door
they had forgot the key, so that one of them was sent to fetch it. It
was brought at last, and the door being unlocked, they conveyed the
corpse into the field, about ten paces from the door of that garden,
and laid it down on its back, in its night-gown and slippers, between
one of which and the foot stuck a long rush or two.
Having by this management effectually secured themselves, as they
imagined, from all manner of discovery, they returned the same way
into the house; the doors were opened, and the servants, who had been
sent into the town, being come back, it was by this time grown very
late.
However, the wicked woman sent her people out again in search for
their master, directing them to go to such places where he mostly
frequented, but they could hear no manner of tidings of him; then she
began to exclaim, and wept like a crocodile. This brought some of her
neighbours in, who found her very sorrowful, and lamenting her case,
that she could not find out what was become of her husband.
At
last the mayor of the town and others went upon the search for him.
Here we are to observe that the fair was wont to be kept partly in the
town and partly in the abbey, but Arden procured it to be wholly kept
in the abbey ground, of which he had made a purchase; and by this
means, being like to have all the benefit of it, to the prejudice of
the town and inhabitants, he was bitterly cursed for it.
After they had searched other places up and down, they came at length
to the ground where the dead body was laid; where Prune, the London
grocer above mentioned, happening to spy it first, called to the rest
of the company, who, narrowly viewing the same, found it to be the
corpse of Arden, and how it was wounded. They found the rushes
sticking in his slippers, and found some footsteps of people in the
snow between the place where he lay and the garden door.
This causing suspicion, the mayor ordered everybody to stand still,
and then appointed some of the company to go about to the other side
of the house and get in that way, and so through into the garden,
towards the place; where, finding the prints of people's feet all
along before them in the snow, it appeared very plain that he was
conveyed that way, through the garden into the place where they had
laid him.
The
mayor and the company hereupon went into the house, and being no
strangers to the ill conduct of Mrs Arden, they very strictly examined
her about her husband's murder. She defied them and said: "I would
have you to know I am no such woman"; but they having found some of
his hair and blood near the house, in the way he was carried out, as
also the bloody knife she had thrust into his body, and the cloth
wherewith the murderers had wiped off the blood spilt in the parlour
—- these things were so urged home, that she confessed the murder, and
upon beholding her husband's blood, cried out: ''Oh! the blood of God
help me, for this blood have I shed." She then discovered her guilty
associates.
Mrs
Arden, her daughter, Michael, and the maid were seized and sent to
prison; then the mayor and the rest that attended him went to the
Flower-de-Luce, where they found Mosbie in bed. They soon discovered
some of the murdered person's blood upon his stockings and purse, and
when he asked them what they meant by coming in that manner, they
said, "You may easily see the reason"; and showing him the blood on
his purse and hose, "these are our evidences." He thereupon confessed
the horrid fact, and was committed to prison, as well as all the rest
of the bloody crew, except Green, Black Will, and the painter, which
last was never heard of after.
Some time after, the assizes were held at Feversham, where all the
prisoners were arraigned and condemned. There are no parts extant that
we can possibly meet with of the formality of their trials; the
confession they had made of the cruel fact could not admit much of it;
only there was one unhappy circumstance which attended it —- that an
innocent man should suffer with the guilty; for Mrs Arden accused
Bradshaw, upon the account of the letter sent by Green from Gravesend
about Black Will, as before related. All the business was, that by the
description Bradshaw gave of Black Will's qualities, he judged him to
be a proper instrument for the perpetration of the intended murder; to
which, as Green some years after at his death declared, he was no way
privy.
Nevertheless the man, upon Mrs Arden's accusation, was presently taken
up and indicted as a procurer of Black Will to murder Mr Arden. The
man made all the defence he could for his life, and desiring to see
the condemned persons, he asked if they knew him, or ever had any
conversation with him, and they all said No. Then the letter was
produced and read. Here the prisoner told the Court the very truth of
the matter, and upon what occasion he had told Green what he said of
Black Will, but it availed him nothing; condemned he was, and suffered
death for a murder he had no manner of knowledge of, and which he
denied to the last.