Sunday 13 January 2013

13th January 1813: Major Raitt tells General Acland revelations from an informer

Wednesday [Evng]

My dear General

I send you on the other half Sheet a List of all the Prisoners with their Fates attached to them, 14 of them are to be executed on Saturday, next, Lumb is reprieved.

I have just received your Dispatch & will lay the applications before the General tomorrow morning. Haigh of the 51st is gone this evening in Charge of two Men to Huddersfield to find out a deposit of Arms told him by Mellor he slept with him in the Castle for 6 or 8 Weeks, he acknowledges (that is Mellor) to having fired at Hinchliffe not Schofield, Thorpe was present likewise, Mellor did not acknowledge the Murder of Horsfall, but did not deny it.

I was not in the [Court] after you left this, but as you are to be so soon here you will then hear all particulars, are you likely to close your Proceedings soon?

I remain
Yours truly
Much Obliged
[illegible] Raitt

[To: Major General Acland]

[13th January 1813]

This letter can be found at HO 40/2/3. Raitt appears to have been Maitland's clerk (almost all of Maitland's letters are in his handwriting), and therefore was presumably with Maitland at York. The Haigh referred to is Joshua Haigh, an informer who gave nothing but false leads long before this episode: the information he gave in this letter is very dubious and the search for arms came to nothing.

No comments:

Post a Comment