Williams by saying that he was not the person who had threatened her. She had thereby gained a front seat from which to view the proceedings. She then explained that she had in fact never been threatened by anyone and that her offer to give evidence for the defence was one of her little jokes. She nevertheless continued to occupy her front seat throughout the trial.
Despite this setback Williams’s defence was strong. His employer at the artificial-flower factory, the Frenchman, Aimable Michelle, testified that, at the time of the attack upon Anne Porter, Rhynwick Williams had been working at his factory. Six fellow employees confirmed this with some convincing and precise evidence concerning timings. Seventeen character witnesses then spoke up for Williams. After a summing up by Judge Buller, which compared Michelle’s evidence and that of his employees unfavourably with that of the Porter sisters, the jury immediately declared Williams guilty.
THE TWELVE JUDGES OF ENGLAND
The trial was immediately followed by the appearance of the traditional pamphlets giving an account of the crimes and the trial. Angerstein was first off the press with An Authentic Account of the Barbarities Lately Practised by the Monsters (note the plural form ‘Monsters’), which he had written before the trial started. His pamphlet was closely followed by The Remarkable Trial of Rhynwick Williams , which was from the pen of a law student from the Temple and was on sale the day after the trial. Others followed, together with likenesses of Williams. Angerstein was congratulated from all sides for his enterprise in promoting the Monster hunt, but he had his own doubts about the conviction and was impressed by Williams’s alibi. So was Theophilus Swift, a relation of Jonathan Swift. Theophilus wrote a pamphlet titled The Monster at Large which argued that Williams was innocent. He drew attention to the discrepancies between the early descriptions given by the Porter sisters (30 years old, 6ft tall, fair hair) with their later testimony and with the appearance of Williams himself (aged 23, 5ft 6in tall, black hair). He suggested that their evidence was motivated by a desire to gain Angerstein’s reward money. In the meantime, however, there was a more decisive intervention by the Twelve Judges of England.
The origins of this curious body are obscure, but certainly Medieval. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, was not established until 1907 and in the meantime the Twelve Judges of England acted as a primitive appeal tribunal. The body consisted of a number of judges (despite the name the number varied according to the whims of the monarch) drawn equally from the three Common Law courts of King’s Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer. It was called upon to adjudicate in cases where there were doubts in the minds of a judge or a jury about whether the correct law had been applied in a case. Upon hearing the jury’s verdict in Williams’s case Judge Buller had declined to pass sentence until the case had been reviewed by the Twelve Judges. Perhaps he had his own doubts about the verdict or perhaps he was simply not sure that the statute under which Williams had been tried as a felon should really have applied to the case. The judges found for Williams. The offences were misdemeanours, not felonies, so there had to be a second trial.
THE SECOND TRIAL
Since Rhynwick Williams was now being tried only for a misdemeanour his second trial was held at the Sessions House, Clerkenwell Green. This building, which remains in use in the twenty-first century as a Masonic centre, was then used for the Middlesex Quarter Sessions and the presiding magistrate at Williams’s trial was William Mainwaring, a successor to the Fieldings who had not continued their reputation for probity. 45 On this occasion Williams was defended by Theophilus Swift whose enthusiasm sometimes got the better of his judgement. He reduced the principal witness Anne Porter to a
Despite this setback Williams’s defence was strong. His employer at the artificial-flower factory, the Frenchman, Aimable Michelle, testified that, at the time of the attack upon Anne Porter, Rhynwick Williams had been working at his factory. Six fellow employees confirmed this with some convincing and precise evidence concerning timings. Seventeen character witnesses then spoke up for Williams. After a summing up by Judge Buller, which compared Michelle’s evidence and that of his employees unfavourably with that of the Porter sisters, the jury immediately declared Williams guilty.
THE TWELVE JUDGES OF ENGLAND
The trial was immediately followed by the appearance of the traditional pamphlets giving an account of the crimes and the trial. Angerstein was first off the press with An Authentic Account of the Barbarities Lately Practised by the Monsters (note the plural form ‘Monsters’), which he had written before the trial started. His pamphlet was closely followed by The Remarkable Trial of Rhynwick Williams , which was from the pen of a law student from the Temple and was on sale the day after the trial. Others followed, together with likenesses of Williams. Angerstein was congratulated from all sides for his enterprise in promoting the Monster hunt, but he had his own doubts about the conviction and was impressed by Williams’s alibi. So was Theophilus Swift, a relation of Jonathan Swift. Theophilus wrote a pamphlet titled The Monster at Large which argued that Williams was innocent. He drew attention to the discrepancies between the early descriptions given by the Porter sisters (30 years old, 6ft tall, fair hair) with their later testimony and with the appearance of Williams himself (aged 23, 5ft 6in tall, black hair). He suggested that their evidence was motivated by a desire to gain Angerstein’s reward money. In the meantime, however, there was a more decisive intervention by the Twelve Judges of England.
The origins of this curious body are obscure, but certainly Medieval. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, was not established until 1907 and in the meantime the Twelve Judges of England acted as a primitive appeal tribunal. The body consisted of a number of judges (despite the name the number varied according to the whims of the monarch) drawn equally from the three Common Law courts of King’s Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer. It was called upon to adjudicate in cases where there were doubts in the minds of a judge or a jury about whether the correct law had been applied in a case. Upon hearing the jury’s verdict in Williams’s case Judge Buller had declined to pass sentence until the case had been reviewed by the Twelve Judges. Perhaps he had his own doubts about the verdict or perhaps he was simply not sure that the statute under which Williams had been tried as a felon should really have applied to the case. The judges found for Williams. The offences were misdemeanours, not felonies, so there had to be a second trial.
THE SECOND TRIAL
Since Rhynwick Williams was now being tried only for a misdemeanour his second trial was held at the Sessions House, Clerkenwell Green. This building, which remains in use in the twenty-first century as a Masonic centre, was then used for the Middlesex Quarter Sessions and the presiding magistrate at Williams’s trial was William Mainwaring, a successor to the Fieldings who had not continued their reputation for probity. 45 On this occasion Williams was defended by Theophilus Swift whose enthusiasm sometimes got the better of his judgement. He reduced the principal witness Anne Porter to a
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