The Murder of Arthur Pendle: As market stall holders started to set up their pitches on a cold winters morning at the end of September 1798, they noticed one half assembled, when they went to investigate they found the body of a man wrapped in a bloodstained sheet. Everyone knew who it was, 52 year-old Arthur Pendle was always the earliest there and had more often than not set up his stall before anyone else had arrived. A well liked and kind man Arthur would often help others with their pitches and enchant them with stories of his colourful past, so it was a mystery who or why someone would have killed him. Investigations started slowly, all they knew was that Arthur had been brutally beaten with a metal bar, found at the scene and had his throat cut. He had been robbed of his watch and there was no moneybag, something he always had with him for change when selling. Two days later a local merchant was offered a watch while drinking in a tavern, as the murder of likable Arthur had spread all around the area, thinking that this could have been his watch, the merchant calmly went to the bar under the pretence of getting a drink and told the landlord who was sitting at his table. The landlord attracted the attention of two other regulars and all four men went back to the table and confronted the would-be watch seller. As soon as the men got to table and questioned him on where the watch came from he stood up, produced a large bloodstained knife and threatened to kill anyone who tried to stop him leaving. At that point the landlord picked up a chair and threw it at the thug, he dropped the knife and the men jumped on him. By the time the authorities got there the man, 19 year-old Henry Fellow, had been given a severe beating by the locals. Fellow was arrested but denied killing Arthur Pendle, however, after Arthur’s money bag was found on him, the watch was identified as belonging to the murdered man’s and the knife matched the one used in the murder, there was no doubt as to his guilt and the jury agreed, it took them less than a minute to return the verdict. Fellow was sentenced to death. Henry Fellow was publicly hanged on this day 3rd November 1798 in front of a large crowd said to have been over 20,000. They jeered as the trap doors fell and he dropped just a short way, jerking, convulsing and gargling for almost 14 minutes until death came to take him away.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 21:11:51 +0000
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