320 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 181^. 



hand a little up and down ; Jones 

 stood opposite llillas, they each 

 moved away. 



On his cross-examination he 

 said, that he is connected by blood 

 and maiTiage wUh the deceased ; 

 Captain Ferrall was friend to Hil- 

 las J there was no better jucige of 

 the laws of honour ; believes Fer- 

 rall tossed up for the choice of 

 the g;round, and won it ; Ilillas 

 was dressed in black ; when he 

 threw off his frock, lie had on a 

 black waistcoat with black slee\ es 

 to it ; he saw Hillas at Captain 

 Soden's house sliortly before the 

 duel, and asked was it possible 

 for any friend to brint;; about a 

 reconciliation ? Hillas said not, 

 and that he would not make any 

 apoloii^y while his Jieart beat in 

 his bosom ; he heard that before 

 the dud he said he would insult 

 either 'J'homas Fenton or one of 

 his family ; there was such a re- 

 port in the country, but he did 

 not hear him say £o. 



Ivoftus Jones, esfj. — He was 

 present when a message was de- 

 live -ed to Hillas by John Fenton 

 in the name of Thomas. The 

 message was to fight a duel ; he 

 was present at the duel ; he 

 was not on the ground exactly 

 when Fenton arrived ; he wafe 

 walking with Hillas j not sure 

 who was first there, but he ac- 

 companied Hillas ; he was 15 or 

 IG yards from the Fentons ; he 

 saw the ground measured, and 

 stepped out the nine paces him- 

 self, at Captain Fcrrall's request, 

 w ho was Lane ; he saw them both 

 take their groun.l ; Fenton was 

 on hift ground about a minute 

 before Hillas took his ; he had 

 his eyc^ on Fenton ; saw him 

 stpiaring himself to tight ; John 

 iVtitoji was with his friendj and 



put his pistol in his hand, and 

 shoved him round ; Fenton got 

 his pistol before Hillas, because 

 Captain Fei'rall was a lame man, 

 infirm, and between 70 and 80 

 years old ; Hillas declared he had 

 no animosity } Fenton might have 

 heard him, as he was within seven 

 or eight yards of him ; John Fen- 

 ton was behind him liist, and 

 then he shifted before him ; he 

 heard no word given ; but sup- 

 poses Ferrall gave it, as he won 

 the toss, " as we call it." John 

 Fenton remained in front of 

 Thomas about a minute. Wit- 

 ness was much agitated ; he does 

 not think there was half a second 

 between the shots ; could not say 

 how soon Thomas fired after John 

 went from before him. 



On being cross-examined, he 

 said he was an advising friend to 

 Hillas, so was Mr. Taaffe ; Cap- 

 tain Ferrall was liis acting fiiendj 

 they were all practitioners. When 

 Fenton squared himself, he made 

 Hillas square himself also ; after 

 the message, Hillas was in wit- 

 ness's house : he made arrange- 

 ments for the duel there : he pre- 

 ))ared his pistols there : tried 

 them : there was a vast number 

 of shots fired : Hillas fired two 

 shots out of witness's pistols at a 

 tree, as a mark : he was dressed 

 in black on the ground, and had 

 black sleeves j)ut on his waistcoat 

 after the message was delivered, 

 no doubt with a view to the duel. 



John Armstrong was on the 

 ground, and described the trans- 

 action in a manner similar to the 

 preceding witness. He believed 

 it to be the duty of a friend to 

 square his friend on the giouud, 

 so as to place him as advantage- 

 ously as possible — John Fcntoi) 

 did nothing more to his friend. 



Ilwbert 



