270
NOTES AND QUERIES. [u s. m. APRIL s, 1911.
15. Hallywell, 16. Norbury, 17. Boteler,
18. Pantulf, 19. Sudely, 20. Montfort, 21.
Planch, 22. Haversham, 23. Crosier, 24.
Dabernon. W. G. D. FLETCHER.
Oxon Vicarage, Shrewsbury.
MURDER ON GAD'S HILL IN 1661.
(US. iii. 208.)
FULL particulars of this murder are given in two rare contemporary tracts, the titles of which are as follows :
" A true and exact relation of the horrid and cruel murther lately committed upon Prince Cossuma Albertus by his own attendants near Rotchester in Kent, 'October 19, 1661, and also how the barbarous murtherers were apprehended and brought before the Right Honourable Richard Brown(e), Knight and Barronet, Lord Mayor of the City of London, with the manner of their examination and confession. London, Printed and are to be sold by R. Vaughan in St. Martins. 1661," 4to.
The second tract bears date a year later (1662), and is entitled :
" The arraignment, sentence, and execution of Isaac Jacob alia* Jaques and Casimerus Karsagi for the bloody murther committed on Cossuma Albertus, a Prince of Transylvania, between Gravesend and Rotchester, where now he hangs in chains. London, Printed by Roger Vaughan living in St. Martins le Grand. 1662."
The following extracts from the two tracts will give particulars of the nature of the murder.
On p. 3 of * A True and Exact Relation,' we read :
" Cossuma Albertus, a Prince in the Dominions of the King of Poland, being by the Germane Forces worsted and forced to seek for relief, came to our Gracious King for succour, of whom he found a kind Reception, and a sufficient main- tenance.
" This good Prince having occasion to go to Rotchester in Kent, on Saturday October 19, 1661, carried a considerable sum of money with him. and took onely his Coach-man and Foot-boy ; This Coach-man knowing what money he took with him, agreed with the Foot-boy to tell him when his Master was a sleep (it being usual with him to sleep when he went such long journeys.)
" When they came within two miles of Roches- ter, this Prince being a sleep, his Coach-man (whose name is Isaac Jacomb alias Jaekques a jew) having a long knife ready for that use, stabs his Prince to the heart ; Then the Prince cryed out Lord have mercy upon me. will you be Prince of my Country ? Aftrr this the Coach-man and Foot-mu,n pul'd him out of the Coach, and then drew out the Princes Hanger, and cut off his head, and pulled out both his Eyes, cut off his Chin,
and mangled his Face, that so no one might dis-
cover who he was, then they cut off one of his
Arms, and when they had done all this to hide
their Villany, they threw his Body into a Ditch,
and his Head about two Furlongs off in another
place.
" After this they had the Coach and Horses to Graves, and left them at an Inn there, and gave the Oastler a great charge to look well to the Horses till they came again.
" About two or three days after a Doctor of Physick that lived at Rotchester, riding through the Parish of Strode, his Spaniel Dog brought up the arm of a man, upon which the Doctor made search, and found out that there was a man slain, of which he gave notice to the Countrey.
" Presently after this Coach-man went into Burchen Lane in London, to sell the Hanger which was his Princes, and a Picture, at which time a Grocer which knew the Prince (the Princes Lodg- ings being hard by, at the George in Lumbar Street) he questioned this Coach-man why he should sell those things ; But finding no sufficient but a suspitious answer, caused him to be appre- hended and carried before the Lord Mayor."
' The Arraignment ' gives on p. 6 the following account of the trial :
" There came in witness against them, the Inne-Keeper of Greenhith, which witnessed, That after the Murther, these two, viz. the Chariot- driver and the Page, brought their Princes Chariot & Horses to his house, and desired him to take care of them ; for they said their Master was gone for London [" had taken a pair of oars at Gravesend, and was gone for London," is the account in an earlier page] and they must by water haste after him. The Page told the' Honorable Bench that the Chariot-driver, when his Master was asleep, did kill him (he for his life, as he said, dared not to oppose him) and after he had kil'd him, he made him help him to draw him out of the Chariot. And the Page being asked how his Masters head came to be cut off, made answer, that the said Chariot-driver went several times to the place where he had laid him ; so that it appeared he had opportunity enough to fulfill his Bloody Design : For which this last Assizes the Page, Casirnirus Karsagi, received the just sentence of Death, To be hanged till he was dead, which accordingly was executed, and his body buried : but the Chariot-man according to sentence given, was hanged in chains at the place where he committed this bloody and unparrallel'd Murder on his Prince and Master."
There is a slight discrepancy in the two narratives, not only as to the date when the murder took place, but also in minor par- ticulars. In the earlier tract the date given is 19 October, 1661, and in the later tract 15 October.
J. R. Smith in his ' Bibliotheca Cantiana ' mentions the first tract only, and appends a note saying that the victim was " buried in Rochester Cathedral with great solemnity 23 Oct., 1661." He cites 110 authority for this statement.
Thorpe's ' Registrum Roffense ' gives a list of monuments in Rochester Cathedral.
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