S72 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



ful consequences. Some persons 

 were alarnitd by a smell of lire, and 

 soon observed whence it proceeded ; 

 on entering the room, two of the 

 children, oni- of five and the other 

 seven years of age, were found suf- 

 focated, and burnt almost to a cin- 

 der. A third, aged 15, although 

 dreadfully burnt, was still living, 

 and medical assistance being immedi- 

 ately procured, there are strong 

 hopes of its recovery. 



od. This day at a hunt near 

 Kinswood, Northumberland, the 

 fox being hard pressed, took shelter 

 in a cleft of a high rock. The hunt- 

 ers provided themselves with spades 

 and mattocks, wrought for a consi- 

 derable time, until <hey were upon 

 ^hc point of reachini; the fox, when 

 one of them, by putting in a lever, 

 gave a shock to the rock, which was 

 near 40 feet high, and it inuncdi- 

 ately gave way, and three men who 

 were on the top, with some hundred 

 tonsof th>! rock, Averc hurled toge- 

 ther down the precipice. The pon- 

 derous load shivered several trees in 

 its way, and two of the men were 

 almost buried beneath the fragments; 

 the third was cast down to the bot- 

 tom, and in the act of recovering 

 his feet, when a large shiver of the 

 rock struck him lifeless. The for- 

 mer two were taken out much 

 bruised, and there arc but slender 

 hopes of their recovery. 



5th. This day the grand jury at 

 Oxford found a. true bill against the 

 Rev. Lockliard Gordon, and Mr. 

 Laudoun Gordon :* it consisted of 

 several counts, and charged them 

 with having, " to the great displea- 

 sure of Almighty God, the dispa- 

 ragement of Rachael Fanny Anto 



his majesty's subjects, forcibly car- 

 ried away and deliled her, contrary 

 to the statute. 



6th. The prisoners were put to 

 the bar, and ISIr. Mill.'-, for the pro. 

 secution, opened the case, by de- 

 scribing it as the most violent and 

 extraordinary outrage that had ever 

 been submitted to a jury, and ad- 

 verting to the statute of Henry 

 Vlllth. shewed that the crime of 

 the pii-oners amounted to felony, 

 ■without benefit of clergy. In con- 

 clusion hesaid,thatMrs. Lee was the 

 natural daughter of the late Lord Le 

 Dcspcncer, who loft her property to 

 the amount of 70;000l. Slie ran 

 away with Matthew Allen Lee, Esq. 

 and was married to him at Hadding- 

 ton, in Scotland, but parting w ith 

 him, she resigned 1,2001. per an- 

 num, with power to will aWay the 

 moiety. She had become acquainted 

 with the Gordons from having been 

 at school with their mother at Ken- 

 sington, and her intimacy was re- 

 newed in December last. On Sun- 

 day, the 15th of January, they din- 

 ed together, and Mrs. l^ee w as car- 

 ried off. 



Mrs. Westgarth, the first witnfss, 

 with whom the prisoners lodged in 

 Alsop's buildings, prowd the ex- 

 treme embarrassment of their af- 

 fairs. She had hired the chaise by 

 their order. — Janet Davidsoi/ prov- 

 ed the forcibly carrying oft' of her 

 mistress, which testimony was 



strengthened by the corroboratory 

 evidence of William Martin, Sarah 

 Hunt, and others. — Two post-boys 

 were next called; one of whom 

 said, that Lockhart threatened to 

 shoot him if he did not make haste. 

 There was however not the slightest 

 nina Lee, and the evil example of appearance of force: the lady 



laug/ied 

 * Vide Chronicle, p. 35i>, 



ll 



