He charged these near relatives with having constantly "lain at him" ever since he was in Mr. Harrison's service, urging him to help them with money, reminding him how poor they were, and how easy it was for him to relieve them; he need do no more than give them notice when his master went to receive his rents, and they could then waylay him and rob him. Perry went on to say that he met his brother Richard on the very morning that Mr. Harrison went to Charringworth, and that the brother, hearing of the rent collection, was resolved to have the money; that when he (John Perry) started by his mistress's order to bring Mr. Harrison safely home, he again met his brother Richard, who was lying in wait at a gateway leading from Campden Churchyard into the "Conygree," certain private grounds and gardens of Lady Campden's place. By-and-bye, having entered this "Conygree," which was possible only to those who had the key, he found that his master was being attacked; he was "on the ground, his brother upon him, and his mother standing by." He begged hard that they would not hurt his master, who was crying, "Ah, rogues, you will kill me!" but his brother Richard replied: "Peace, peace! you are a fool," and so strangled him, "which having done, he took a bag of money out of his (Mr. Harrison's) pocket, and threw it into his mother's lap," and then he and his mother consulted what to do with the body.
[Illustration: VIEWS OF CAMPDEN AS IT IS NOW.
1. Buildings just inside the "Conygree," where Harrison was said to have been strangled.
2. The "Great Sink" or Mill Pond into which Harrison's body was said to have been thrown.
3. Entrance to the "Conygree" (right of the steps).]
It was decided that they should drop it into the Great Sink, behind certain mills near the garden, and this they did. John Perry told all this most circumstantially, making it agree with his own movements and the various facts that had come to light, describing how he had gone into the hen-roost but could not sleep; how he had taken with him the hat, band, and comb (and cut the latter with his knife), how he had cast them down upon the highway where they were found, giving as his reason that he hoped it might be believed that his master had been robbed and murdered.