Page 39 of Echo in the Wind

“They were large sticks.”

Pondering for a minute, Mr. Garrow then asked, “Were they common walking sticks or were they bludgeons?”

“They were what you’d call bludgeons or clubs.”

“Do you mean to swear that?”

“I will swear they were sticks.”

The judge intervened, scolding the prisoner’s counsel. “Mr. Garrow, it does not matter whether they were sticks or bludgeons!”

The witness, Mr. Buckland, spoke up eagerly. “I will swear they were large uncommon sticks.” If the matter had not been so serious, Joanna would have laughed at their banter about sticks. She agreed with the judge. What did it matter what the weapons were called when they were used to beat a man senseless? She was repulsed by the violence. Only foolish men would fight revenue officers when they could have fled and been free.

The trial went on with more witnesses testifying as to what transpired that day. One witness for the prosecution remained in Joanna’s mind because he was a soldier.

John Chatterton testified, “I am a soldier. I was with the other witnesses. I saw the prisoner that day about half a mile from the place where the seizure took place. There was a large noisy mob there and I asked the officer, Simpson, what was the matter. He said he did not know. Then three or four of the mob came up and struck him as hard as they could.”

The jury groaned as one.

The judge asked, “With what?”

“Large bludgeons, very large sticks. They knocked Mr. Simpson off the cart; he tumbled on top of me.”

“Did you see the prisoner do anything?”

“He struck me with a stick and knocked me down, and said to the mob, ‘Damn him, kill him, knock him on the head.’ I had nothing to defend myself with. I had lost my weapon. In the scuffle, I had lost the blunderbuss I had under my coat. I do not know what became of the horse and cart. I was so knocked about, I lost sight of them.”

The judge narrowed his eyes on Chatterton. “You are sure that Shelley, the prisoner at the bar, was the man who knocked you down with the stick?”

The witness straightened. “I am quite sure of it.”

Mr. Garrow cross-examined. “Were you in your soldier’s dress?”

“No, sir, I was not. I had on a brown great coat.” That fact stuck with Joanna. How were the smugglers to know Mr. Chatterton was with the revenue service if he wore a common man’s clothing? Perhaps that had been Mr. Garrow’s point.

“So you took this blunderbuss in order to fire it?”

“Yes, for my own defense.”

“Was there any other blunderbuss there?” Mr. Garrow asked.

“I did not see any,” said Mr. Chatterton. “There might have been, but I could not have seen them. I was knocked down and had no idea where I was.”

The men of the jury sent up a great hue and cry at the soldier’s dilemma and the prisoner’s having beaten him. The woman sitting closest to Joanna chewed on her knuckles.

More witnesses testified, including those for the defense, until Joanna was nauseated from the descriptions. At the end of it, Mr. Garrow made a long speech, part of which focused on an issue he felt had not been addressed.

Arguing to the judge, he said, “My Lord, I humbly submit that the goods must be unaccustomed; they must be liable for the payment of duties. Can the gentlemen upon their oaths say that the duties on this tea were never paid? Not at all! Why then, I say, the Crown has not proven they are unaccustomed goods.”

The judge gave him a skeptical look.

Undaunted, Garrow continued, “There is no evidence the package was peculiar to smugglers. It may have been carried to Apperton under permit. Shall the prisoner not defend his property? Even a constable may be lawfully resisted unless he is a known constable or produces his warrant.”

Joanna thought it a clever argument, but with witnesses describing the manner in which the tea had been hidden before being seized by the excise officers, she had no doubt the goods were smuggled. Besides, all of England was drinking smuggled tea. One did not need to hide tea on which a duty had been paid.

After some argument by the Crown’s counsel, the judge addressed Mr. Garrow’s objection. “Whether the goods were unaccustomed is a matter for the jury. But people are not called upon to make positive proof of negative propositions. They can prove that the tea was concealed and in what sort of packages. Upon all the facts, the jury must form a judgment, whether or not it amounts to proof that they were unaccustomed goods. I am of the opinion that the prisoner ought to go on with his defense.”

More witnesses were called for the defense, testifying to different aspects of the attack on the revenue officers.