Tlic Green Bag. seems, necessarily passed this point to reach his own house. Mrs. Mountford was in formed that men were lying in wait for her husband and made an ineffectual effort to find him and put him on his guard. Meanwhile the watch appeared and de manded of Moluin why he had his sword drawn. My lord was pleased to answer that he was a peer of the realm, and bade them touch him if they durst. About midnight Mountford appeared, on his way home. When Mohun saluted him, he said, "My Lord Mohun, what does your lordship do here at this time of night?" Mohun re marked, without answering the question, that he supposed Mountford had been sent for, and added. "I suppose you have heard about the lady." Mountford answered, "I hope my wife has given your lordship no offense." "No," said Mohun, "it is Mrs. Bracegirdle I mean." To this Mountford replied, "Mrs. Bracegirdle is no concern of mine: but I hope your lordship does not countenance any ill action of Mr. Hill." Upon this Hill came up to them and re marked to Mohun that it was not a time to discourse of such matters; and forthwith he attacked Mountford and ran him clear through the body before Mountford could draw his sword. Immediately there was a cry of murder, and the watch appeared in time to arrest Mohun: but Hill escaped. When Mohun was taken his sword was not drawn. Upon being taken the first question Mohun asked was whether Hill had been apprehended; when answered in the nega tive he said he was glad of it, and that he did not care if he were hanged for his friend. Lord Mohun was indicted for murder, and, in accordance with his privilege, was tried by his peers in the Court of the Lord High Steward. The prosecution was con ducted by the attorney-general, John Somers. The trial of this youthful peer was evidently a great event. The King was present throughout the trial. Mrs. Bracegirdle was a witness. From the repeated proclamations for silence during the trial it
is plain that there was a large attendance of spectators. One interruption of a'quarter of an hour was occasioned by a lady in the gallery falling into fits. The lords appeared to be much in doubt as to the law applicable to the case. They propounded numerous questions to the judges, which were answered, by Lord Chief Justice Holt. In the end Lord Mohun was acquitted by a vote of 69 to 14. This experience does not appear to have sobered the young lord. He was engaged in several duels within the next few years. For a time he served as a soldier in Flanders. In 1699 he was again tried for murder—this time with less apparent cause than before. The facts of this second case, so far as they can be gathered from the conflicting testi mony, were as follows: On Sunday night. October 25. 1698, Lord Mohun, Earl of Warwick, Captains Coote and French and Messrs. Docwra and Johnson were drinking together at the Greyhound Tavern in the Strand. Some dispute having arisen, they came down stairs to the bar, where the drawer of the tavern saw them with swords drawn and apparently divided into opposing groups of three each. There was some evi dence going to show that Lord Mohun had grasped one of the swords with his hand and been wounded in an effort to separate the men. The gentlemen soon called for chairs, with the evident purpose of going out to settle their differences. The evidence clearly shows that Lord Mohun remonstrated with Captain Coote, who seems to have been the most belligerent of the party; he said there should be no further trouble, and in sisted that Captain Coote should go home with him. Rut the others were insistent, and the chairman (who, with the drawer, were the two principal witnesses) set the men down in Leicester Square and departed. They had gone but a short distance when they heard the Earl of Warwick calling for a chair. When they returned they found two of the men supporting Captain Coote. The captain was mortally wounded and died almost immediately.
