three went to Mrs. Clarke's parlour, where there were three large chests, which they opened. One of these contained only linen, another was full of "writings," but out of the third coffer they took away several bags, full of gold and silver. The robbers carried off six or seven bags containing money, the amount of which was variously estimated at from £200 to £500 or more, and they left one bag for Alice.
It does not appear from the existing evidence why Mrs. Clarke was killed, but the reason given by Twysden, that she was murdered because she began to cry out for help, offers a probable explanation. According to his account, the murder was committed by Alice Grimbold, but there is no evidence of this, and the testimony goes to show that Mrs. Clarke was killed by Bradshaw. Grimbold was tied up in the chimney before the ruffians rode away with their plunder. Harrison's plea that she was the instigator of the plot is hardly borne out by the facts, and she acted throughout the evening under compulsion.
Mrs. Clarke was buried at St. Martin's two days later.
As soon as the robbery and murder were discovered on the morning after the crime, Bonus was arrested and examined on the same day before the Deputy Mayor of Leicester, two Justices and two Coroners. He established his own innocence, and disclosed all that he knew of the plot. The depositions of Alice Grimbold were taken on the same day and on the following Wednesday. Harrison and Bradshaw were committed to the prison at Stafford without bail; but Harrison was brought back to Leicester prison soon afterwards, and there examined on February l0th, and again on March 1st, before Thomas Chettle, then Mayor of Leicester, and other magistrates. Once more he was examined specially, by order of the Judge, on March 22nd, not about the crime itself, but with regard to an attempt which had been made to frustrate the ends of justice. For the clever scoundrel, Edward Bradshaw, had conceived the brilliant idea of using part of the proceeds of the robbery in order to obtain his own release from Stafford gaol. So when his brother-in-law, one Littleton, came to visit him in the prison, Bradshaw told him that the stolen money had been hidden in the bank
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