44, a mob took
possession of the place for one George Leigh; several of the
ringleaders were tried for the offence, and not fewer than
twenty-eight were convicted. The account of this curious conspiracy,
as given in the "Annual Register," goes on to say that Richard Barnett
made the charge of murder: in 1814 he was employed under Lady Julia
Leigh and her son at the Abbey, where a number of workmen were engaged
in making alterations; four of these men were murdered by large stones
having been allowed to fall on them, and their bodies were placed
within an abutment of a bridge, and then inclosed with masonry.
Another man was shot by Hay, a keeper. In cross-examination, the
witness said he "had kept silence on these atrocities for thirty
years, because he feared Lord Leigh, and because he did not expect to
obtain anything by speaking. He first divulged the secret to those who
were trying to seize the estate; as this information he thought would
help them to get it, for the murders were committed to keep out the
proper owners."

In the course of the inquiry, John Wilcox was required to repeat
evidence which he had given before a Master of Chancery; but, instead
of doing so, the man confessed that he was not sober when he made the
declaration. He further declared how some servants of the Leigh family
had burned pictures, and had been paid to keep "the secrets of the
house." The whole story, however, was a deliberate and wilful
fabrication, the facts were contradicted and circumstantially refuted,
and of course so worthless a charge was dismissed by the Bench.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] See "Annual Register" (1832), 152-5.

[32] This incident suggested to Sir Walter Scott his description of the
concealment and discovery of the Countess of Derby in "Peveril of the
Peak." See "Dictionary of National Biography," xxxv., 74.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DEAD HAND.

Open, lock,
To the dead man's knock!
Fly, bolt, and bar, and band;
Nor move, nor swerve,
Joint, muscle, or nerve,
At the spell of the dead man's hand.
INGOLDSBY LEGENDS.

One of the most curious and widespread instances of deception and
credulity is the magic potency which has long been supposed to reside
in the so-called "Hand of Glory"--the withered hand of a dead man.
Numerous stories are told of its marvellous properties as a charm, and
on the Continent many a wonderful cure is said to have been wrought by
its agency