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The Delaware County Memorial Hospital in it's early days
The murder of William Bonsall
On Saturday evening, the 22nd of May, 1824,
four men called at the house of Mrs. Mary Warner in Upper Darby, Delaware
County, Pa. and requested to see the man living in her family. (Mrs. Warner kept a store in part of the
house and the young man referred to Wm. Bonsall, his wife and child, the latter
about 16 months old, constituted the whole of her family). Mr. Bonsall, who was in bed at the time, came
down and was greeted in a very cordial manner by his visitors; though he had
never in his life seen them before; yet, unwilling to be inhospitable, he
requested them to sit down. In a few
minutes, one of the four men demanded of Bonsall his money. He replied that he had a dollar and a half,
which they might take. At this moment
one of the ruffians cut down a clothes line hanging in the kitchen, and drew it
so tight about Bonsall’s neck as to choke him. Bonsall lifted his hand to his
throat to loosen the rope, when the tallest of the robbers made a pass at his
arm with a razor, which laid open his arm to the bone from the shoulder to the
elbow. Bonsall was then thrown into a
chair and held by one of the ruffians, while the other directed Mrs. Warner,
after tying her arms to light him into the store.
While
this man was in the store taking such property as he could most easily carry
off, the other continued with Mr. Bonsall.
Just as Mrs. Warner was leaving the store, the man in the kitchen used
some words to M. Bonsall, and then stabbed him several times in the abdomen
with a shoe knife, much worn. This was
done while sitting in a chair directly in front of him, in attempting to
withdraw it, the blade stuck so strongly that the handle came off, and the
knife was left in the body.
Two of
the men had previously retired to the front door. The two men in the house, discovering Mrs.
Bonsall and perceiving her delicate situation, threatened the most shocking
barbarity, if she did not immediately conduct them to the place where her husband’s
money was kept; they were desired to take any and every article of property but
to spare their lives; they accordingly took the whole of Mr. Bonsall’s clothes,
his military uniforms, excepted, and filled two large handkerchiefs with goods
from the shop, and after insulting the dying Bonsall, they retired. Bonsall was in a few minutes a corpse.
It was
noticed by Mrs. Warner that one of the robbers was a very large ill-looking
man, dressed in a Wilmington-stripe roundabout – and from the appearance of his
hands, he was supposed to be a shoemaker; a supposition confirmed by his having
the knife already mentioned. The other
active man was small had sandy hair and whiskers, and wore a brown goatee.
The very
night before this occurrence, a market man was robbed on the West Chester Road,
and beaten in a most shocking manner; and as soon as the robbers had departed
from Mrs. Warner’s and the alarm was given, not a doubt was entertained that
the men in this deed were the same who had committed the former. The next day (Sunday) at about 12 o’clock
four men crossed the bride at Gray’s Ferry, on their way to Philadelphia, and
were supposed to be the murders. If
anything could go beyond the murder of the husband, it was the brutality of
their threats to the wife. A reward was
at once offered for the apprehension of the murderers.
On the
Saturday following the murder (May 29th) three men were apprehended
near Woodbury, N.J. on suspicion of being concerned in Mr. Bonsall’s dreadful
murder and committed to the jail of that place.
Their names, as given by themselves, were James Wellington, Abraham Buys
and Charles Washington Labbe. They were
recognized as being old convicts.
Wellington had been sentenced to imprisonment for life in New York, but
afterwards pardoned on condition of his leaving the State. Buys was a large man, believed to be the same
that wore the Wilmington-stripe roundabout on the night that the murder was
committed. A silver chain, answering to
the description of that stolen from Mrs. Bonsall, was found on his person. Wellington had clad himself in the clothes of
Mr. Bonsall; but when high constable Hains arrived at Woodbury, he appeared in
a different apparel. He denied having
other garment in his possession, but search being made, the clothes of Mr.
Bonsall were found stuffed in a stove pipe.
Suspicion was at first excited against them by their attempt to pass a
Mexican or Peruvian dollar. Other
circumstances confirmed this suspicion and after they had left the village,
they were pursued by some citizens and taken into custody.
The
prisoners were subsequently tried in Delaware County and Judge Darlington
pronounced sentence upon Michael Monroe, otherwise called James
Wellington. (Buys was not convicted,
thought there was much excitement and much disapprobation expressed against the
jurors at the time, in consequence of the verdict which they rendered in regard
to both him and Labbe.)
After
receiving his sentence, Monroe, alias Wellington, was remanded to prison. His death warrant was eventually received by
the sheriff of Delaware, appointing Friday, the 17th day of December
1824, between the hours of ten o’clock A.M. and two P.M. as the time of
execution.
The
prisoner protested his innocence to the last, and previous to execution said,
“I have heard it said that no innocent man was executed in this country, but it
will lose that honor today.
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