The Hindhead Murder - 1786.

This is a tragic tale of a good samaritan, it is said that no good deed goes unpunished, well here is the proof. It is the 24th September 1786 and a series of events will prove the undoing of three murderous sailors.

The General Advertiser, 3rd October 1786;

"On Sunday last, a shocking and barbarous murder was committed by three abandoned villains; The unfortunate person, who fell a sacrifice to these ruffians, accidently met them at a public house at Monhill, near Godalming, Surrey, and as they were seafaring men, he treated them plentifully; when he paid the reckoning, he changed a guinea, and told them (as they said their money was short) he would assist them on the journey to Portsmouth, as long as it lasted.

They went along together, and travelled as far as the Red Lion at Road Lane, where he treated them a second time: they then proceeded on their journey, but had not got above two miles farther to a place called Hind Head, where they committed the above cruel and inhuman murder.

All of them were taken a short time after, and carried before Justice Fielding, of Haslemere, Surrey, when, after separate examinations, they were committed to Guildford gaol."

The murder was truly awful, the callousness exhibited was breathtaking, as this man was treating them to drinks at each pub the other three planned what they were going to do to him. The Times of the 4th October gave more detail to the crime, stating;

".......these monsters knocked their benefactor down, and they all immediately assisted in stripping him quite naked, the poor man all the time imploring them to spare his life: but they were deaf to his entreaties, and with their knives mangled his body much too shocking to relate, and then nearly severed his head from the body.

One of them still not satisfied, said to his companion, 'Lend me your knife, I'll have another cut at him,' which being given, they dragged him about two hundred yards out of the road, and then proceeded towards Portsmouth."

Fortunately the villains were seen in their attempt to hide the body by two men, they hurried back to Road Lane where they drummed up eight men to help them follow the murderers. They came upon the three sailors at Rake, near Petersfield and captured them, it appeared the sailors had already decided to commit murder that day, dangerous men indeed.

The Times correspondent further stated;

"They were conducted under strong guard; and on coming to the house, where the mangled corpse of the poor man lay, the guard insisted on their getting out the coach, to see and touch the body; one of them was much affected, and shed tears; but the other two seemed totally unconcerned, and with an unpardonable audacity declared, 'they would do it again, had they an opportunity.'"

The three sailors, Edward Lonegon, Michael Casey and James Marshall were tried at Kingston Assizes and found guilty, it was an open and shut case. They were sentenced to death by hanging, after which their bodies were to be hung in chains at Hindhead, on what was to become known as Gibbet Hill.

The body of the poor unknown victim was interred in Thursley churchyard where he lies to this day, his gravestone was paid for by local residents. On the stone is engraved;

In memory of

A generous but unfortunate sailor

Who was barbarously murder'd on Hindhead

On September 24th 1786

By three villains

After he had liberally treated them

And promised them his farther assistance

On the road to Portsmouth.

A stone was also placed near the murder site by a Mr James Sitwell, known as the Sailor's Stone this monument was moved a couple of times over the years, the first was in 1826 because of a road realignment, and the second was in 1932 when it was shifted back to its original position due to road widening. The original inscription read:

ERECTED

In detestation of a barbarous murder

Committed here on an unknown Sailor

On Sep, 24th 1786

By Edwd. Lonegon, Mich. Casey & Jas. Marshall

Who were all taken the same day

And hung in chains near this place

Whoso sheddeth Man's blood by Man shall his

Blood be shed. Gen Chap 9 Ver 6

In 1807 - 1809 the painter William Turner created a series of monochrome prints (mezzotint) that were published in 1811 under the title Liber Studiorum, number 25 of these prints was created in 1808 and is of Hindhead Hill and clearly shows the gibbet still in situ. Although, by the time Turner visited one of the malefactors had gone, he came down during a big storm on the 23rd December 1790, hence why his gibbet is a T shape instead of a triangle.

Hind Head Hill - William Turner

The area was said to have an evil air, and when finally the gibbet was gone, a Celtic Cross was erected in its place. Financed by Sir William Erle in 1851, the cross has four latin inscriptions on its base, which read; 

POST TENEBRAS LUX

IN OBITU PAX

IN LUCE SPES

POST OBITUM SALUS

Which translates thus; 

Light After Darkness

Peace In Passing Away

Hope In Light

Salvation After Death

This tragic event has been mentioned by several famous authors, for instance in Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839) by Charles Dickens, Nickleby tells the tale to Smike as they pass the Devil's Punchbowl, a wide depression in the earth at the base of Gibbet Hill, much to Smike's "greedy interest."

In the Christmas supplement of the Dublin Daily Express of 1890, Bram Stoker had published Gibbet Hill, in this uncanny short story a man falls asleep on the hill and encounters three very odd children with evil and supernatural intent.

The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould published his The Broom-Squire in 1896, here he tells the tragic tale of the unknown sailor's daughter who suffers at the hands of the Broom-Squires family.

The Man From Morocco or Souls In Shadows (1926) by Edgar Wallace has the story set in modern times with an unknown sailor bludgeoned to death on the Portsmouth road.

In Punchbowl Midnight (1951) by Monica Edwards has a character that becomes cursed because she defaces the Sailor's Stone with a knife.