Murder will out: Or, A Clear and Full DISCOVERY THAT THE EARL OF ESSEX Did not Feloniously Murder Himself; BUT WAS Barbarously Murdered By OTHERS: Both by Undeniable Circumstances, and Positive Proofs.  
Written by Henry Danvers Esq in the Year 1684. and now Published for the general Information of all Protestants.  Numb 35.30 31, 33. You shall take no Satisfaction for the Life of a Murderer which is Guilty of Death. Whoso Killeth any Person, the Murderer shall be put to Death. So shall you not pollute the Land, for Blood it defileth the Land, and the Land cannot be cleansed of the Blood that is shed therein, but by the Blood of h●m that shed it. Judg. 19.30. There was no such deed done nor seen unto this day, &c 
LONDON: Printed for E. R. and J. R. 1689.   

TO THE READER.  
READER,  
THOU hast here a discovery of one of the most Inhuman and Barbarous Murders, that any Age or Story can Parallel, especially if you consider the Person who, the Place where, the manner how he was Murdered, and the Consequences of them all.  
1. The Person, it was the Earl of Essex; one of the Greatest Men in the Three Nations; the Son of the great Capell, who laid down his Life for King Charles the First, and who himself had sustained so many Honourable and great Offices and Employments in these Nations, filling up no less than a Vice King-Ship for many years in the Neighbour Nation; and as he was Great in Eminent Loyalty, Excellent Qualifications, Large Patrimony, and Honourable Allies, so no less a sincere lover of his King and Country, and a Zealous Assertor of the Protestant Religion and Interest, against the Cursed Machinations of the Popish Party, which was therefore become his Crime, and rendered him so obnoxious.  
2. The Place where he was Butchered, which was no other than in His Majesty's Royal Prison and Palace, where (by design as it appears) he was brought, the better to fall a Sacrifice to his Enemies. Being first lodged in the Lieutenant's House, then removed to his Slaughter-House Capt. Hawlys, (and there killed the day after.) Where being now the King's Prisoner, and out of his own defence, and for whom the King and Kingdom were respondent, as Sir Fran. Bacon observes in Sir Tho. Overberyes Case, in the E. of Somersets Trial, was a thing that greatly aggravated the Fact, for certainly, saith he, Sir Tho. O. was the first Man that was Murdered in the Tower of London, save the Murder of the Two young Princes, by the appointment of Richard the Third; this being it seems the second, with this further aggravation, That it was done at the very instant the K. himself was there in Person.  
3. The manner how, viz. The Popish Conspirators (his Mortal Enemies) having thus gotten him within their reach, do by hired Cutthroat Villains and Traitors, most Barbarously and Treacherously Surprise, Assault, and Bloodily Assassinate this great Worthy in his own Chamber, cutting his Throat, almost to the cutting off his Neck, and afterwards by other Russians (and that against the K. express Command) inhumanely drag, shamefully stripped him, and basely expose his Naked Body to public view. And as though this was not sufficient to satiate their Malice, and Blood-thirstiness, thus to Murder his Person, they proceed (to the outdoing of Cain himself) to Murder his reputation, by charging their Horrid Gild upon himself; making him the Felonious Self Murderer: And pursuing to the utmost Revenge, Slaughter, and Cruelty, any that should dare to speak the Truth, or contradict the same.  
4. And as for the dismal Consequences, (some whereof have direfully appeared) which being impossible to express, is left to every one's Consideration.  
But he who makes Inquisition for Blood, who sees in Secret, and brings to light the hidden Works of Darkness, hath by his Providence greatly detected the same, both as to Persons and things; some Account whereof you have, for your Satisfaction, in the following compendious Collections.   

Murder will out: Or, A Clear and Full DISCOVERY That the EARL of ESSEX Did not Feloniously Murder Himself; But was Barbarously Murdered By OTHERS, etc.  
The Proofs both Circumstantial and Positive, that the Earl of Essex did not Feloniously Murder Himself, but was Barbarously Murdered by others.  
I. THat he did not Murder Himself you have Evinced.  

1. From the Improbabilities that he should do it.  
2. From the Impossibilities that he could SO do it.   
II. That he was Murdered by others, you have made good,  

1. By undeniable Circumstances.  
2. By Positive Proofs Offered.   
1. That the E. of E. did not Murder himself as the Inquest declares: Appears, 

1, From the Improbabilities that he should so do. 

1. Because of that excellent Sedate and well-composed Natural temper he was well known to be of, and free from such Melancholy and Frensical Fits, which might incline and expose him to such a Mischief, whatever maliciously and falsely had been said to the contrary.  
2. Because of that grace and fear of God, he was so eminently endowed with, which would secure him from such Impiety.  
3. Because of that abhorrency by Principle which he was well known to have of such unnatural practices (whereof he could not speak without great emotion of Spirit) whatever the better to colour the Murder, and six it upon him, had been most villainously reported, and spread abroad to the contrary.  
4. Because of the careful Provision he made for his own preservation, after he came into the Tower fearing the worst. 

1. By sending for his own Silver V●ssel to dress his Meat in by his own People,  
2. By that store of all sorts of Wine, he had ordered to be 〈◊〉 in for his own drinking,  
3. By the direction he had given to his Servant, to take Notes of my Lord Russel's Trial, that very day for his own use; all ample indications he designed self-preservation, not self-destruction.    
5. Because as his Conscience was clear from any Treasonable Gild, (whatever to the contrary has been most wickedly suggested) so was he free from either legal Witnesses or Conviction, there being no Bill of Indictment found against him, as against others the day before, which might sufficiently secure him from needless fears, or any such desperate course, though had his zeal and affection to his King, Country and Religion, (whom he might apprehend to have been in danger) transported him to any irregularity, his Fathers, as well as his own extraordinary merits from the Crown, might well be supposed (from so grateful and compassionote a Prince) would plead his Pardon, and free him from such Desperation.  
6. Because of that entire Love and Friendship he bore to his most dear friend; the Lord R. which both in Honour and Conscience, would forbid and deter from such an Action, which must so necessarily tend to the certain ruin and destruction of his best Friend, and which fell out accordingly from the sinister construction they made thereof.  
7. Because of the previous notice given thereof in divers places, which to be sure he would never have done, had he designed any such thing.    
2. From the Impossibilities that he could so do as the Inquest declares. 

1. Because it was impossible that he at one cut (as the Verdict saith) could cut 4 Inches in depth, and 8 in length, because none can manage his hand to guide a Razor so to do at once, viz. From the left-side of the Neck-bove, to the right.  
2. Because it is impossible that with that French Razor, which was but 4 Inches and a half long, and without a Tongue (necessitating to take 2 Inches and a half at least in his Hand) that he could with 2 Inches of such an Instrument cut 4 or 5 Inches in depth and 8 or 9 in length.  
3 Because it is impossible in Nature, that when he had cut the left Jugular and Windpipe to the Neck-bone (which let out so much of the Blood and Vitals, that he could have either life or strength, to proceed to cut the other also, as all skilful Surgeons and Anatomists can demonstrate.  
4. Because it was utterly impossible, that after he had locked himself into the Closet, he could so cut his Throat as it was, and then opon the Closet door, and fling the Bloody Razor out of the Chamber Window, at such a distance from the Closet, and then get the Razor up again, and keep it in his hand (as some) or fling it by him (as others) and all this after he was Dead, for he instantly died saith the Inquest, and none but himself in the Room say their Witnesses, therefore it was impossible he could with that Razor so Murder himself. And that the Bloody Razor was fling out of the Chamber Window, is made good by no less than ten Witnesses.      
Thus have you some Grounds and Reasons (from the improbability and impossibility of the thing) to clear his Innocency from the Horrid Fact, so impudenty charged upon him, and consequently the guilt of others and which may be sufficient to all wise Men, to detect the Murder, and enforce a review, if no other evidence could be produced: tenfold less, has done it, in other Cases, it being so difficult many times to get light, and trace such Secret hidden works of darkness, as Sir, Fran. Bacon eleganly in Sir Tho. O. case tells us, That wise men must take upon them in these Secret Cases, Solomon's Spirit, that when there could be no Witnesses, collected the Act by the affection, viz. When he used the Stratagem about dividing the Child, but this you'll find is not our case, providence having given us a larger provision as you will further hear.  
Secondly, That he was Barbarously Murdered by others appears. 1. By the undeniabl Circumstances, arising 

1. From the previous Reports.  
2. From the corrupt and partial proceed of the Coroner and his Inquest.  
3. From the Conspirators Villainous ends. And  
4. From the Wicked Methods used to stifle it.    
1. By the undeniable Circumstances, arising  

1. From the many previous Reports which they had spread of his Self-Murder (a method the Papists have heretofore taken (but the Policy thereof never yet understood) viz. When they stabbed H. the iv of France, Burnt London, Assassinated Sir E. B. G. and Murdered Holy the Warder) of which divers undeniable proofs have been and are ready to be produced of such reports, not only in London, but 50, 60, 80, 90, 100 Miles off; in some places a day, in some two days, in others (at a great distance) the very day he was Murdered; and as most Remarkable (as God would have it) all agreeing in the very manner thereof, viz. Cutting his Throat in the Tower. At Andover 60 Miles off, they had the report of his Cutting his Throat in the Tower the 11th of July, which was the first day of his Imprisonment there (for by reason of his late Commitment the Night before, he lay at the French Lord Fevershams in White-Hall) which sufficiently discovers what they designed beforehand, for if this Report came from London, it must be before he was a Prisoner, at least in the Tower, and two days before the thing was done.  
2. From the irregular corrupt partial and unjust Proceed of the Coronor and his Inquest. 

1. That one Farnham, said to be a Deputy Coroner, which the Law knows nothing of; and to be be sure a Legal Coroner he was not, Sir Tho. Stringer the Steward of the Tower being the proper Officer, and accountable for that great trust, but this is the Tool who must be brought forth to do the   
2. That none of the Relations were summoned to attend the Inquest, which by known usage ought to have been.  
3. That contrary to the known Custom and Usage, not only of our own, but other Nations, as well as the King's special and express Command, the Body was removed from the place and posture it was said first to be found in, stripped, and  taken away, and Body and Rooms washed from the Blood, to prevent the notoriety of the Fact upon view; and as said, by the new Coroners contrivance or consent, (which m●kes it the more heinous and suspicious) for had it remained in the place, and posture it was said first to be found in, the print of the Bloody Foot upon the Stockings, the Cravat or Neck-cloath being cut into four pieces in the middle; and the contrary witnesses, who speak both as to place and posture, would have clearly discovered the Murder. The Notched Razor and Cut Hand, being most pregnant Circumstances, yet little regarded.  
4. That the Jury excepted against the removing of the Body from the posture and place, and demanded a view of the  which William Fisher did by name, yet was denied the same by the Coroner, after he had been in the next Room, with some of the Conspirators, who had called him out upon that Demand, and who upon his return to the Jury again did declare to them (as ignorantly as wickedly) that they were to sit upon the Body, not the Clothes.  
5. The partial Examination of Witnesses, that though there were several in and about the House when the Fact was done, yet only Bomeny and Russel who they might justly suspect to be privy to it, must be the principal Witnesses they'll examine in the Case, taking little notice of Peck, Munden, Lloyd, Captain Hawley himself, or the two Women.  
6. The little regard had to the notorious contradictions in the Witnesses, they did, or might examine; Bomeny telling them, the Razor was given him (wherewith he cut his Throat) the 12 of July, and Russel the 13; Bomeny that Russel broke open the Door, but Russel that he easily opened it with the Key on the outside; Bomeny that he could only through the chink of the Door, see some Blood and some part of the Razor, but Russel that he could through the same chink see the whole Body; Bomeny and Russel that the whole Body lay in the Closet, and none of it to be seen in the Chamber, but Peck and others, that part of it lay in the Chamber; Bomeny and Russel that they were absent but a quarter of an hour from my Lord, but to others Bomeny owns he was absent from him two or three hours, in so much as he was cold and stiff before he saw him; some that he was found lying, others kneeling.  
7. That they unduly suffered themselves to be hurried into a Verdict, by the Message brought them by Capt. Hawley in the K. Name, to hasten the same; as though the death of so great a man, and in that place too, deserved not a serious and due search, especially when they saw such foul play offered them, by removing Body and , and denying a view of the , and when none of the Relations present, and so few of the Witnesses Examined, and those in so much contradiction too.  
8. By the unheard of drawing their Verdict, which was done not by the Coroner, nor by the Jury amongst themselves, as it ought to have been, but by one of the Conspirators themselves in the next Room, who sent it to them by Bomeny, and which they signed accordingly.  
9 By giving so wicked and false a Verdict upon their Oaths, which was this, viz. That the E. of Essex being the 13 of July alone in his Chamber, did with a Razor Voluntarily and Feloniously cut his Throat, giving unto himself one mortal Wound, cut from one Jugular to the other, and by the Aspera Arteria, and the Windpipe, to the Vertebraes of the Neck, both the Jugulars being thoroughly divided, of which said Wound the Earl instantly died.     
This was the Conspirators Diabolical writing, which they imposed upon the Jury, and they made their Verdict both Coroner and Inquest by Subscribing it.  
It falsely saith he was alone in the Chamber, whereas by the flinging out the Bloody Razor, as well as by sufficient Testimony, it will appear that several went up and came out at that time.  
It also falsely saith he did give himself with that Razor one mortal wound of such a length, and such a depth, which are utter impossibilities, as before.  
3. From the Villainous ends the Conspirators had to effect and carry on hereby, viz.  

1. To confirm a Protestant Plot, a thing which they had long and often laboured, and as often been disappointed in, and which was so improved by the Attorney General, as 1000 Witnesses to make it good, as also by the L. Ch. Justice, as the Finger of God, to convince all the World thereof, the sad consequence whereof hath since been so severely felt.  
2. Utterly to stifle the Popish Plot, witness the bailing, the Popish Lords Impeached and committed by Parliament, out of the Tower, and the public prints to ridicule the same ever since.  
3. To destroy the L. Russel, and therefore done at the very instant he was to come to his Trial, and so improved by the Lawyers to the Jury, which some of them have owned did more prevail with them to bring him in Guilty, than any other proof produced against him.  
4. That they might remove out of the way so great a Champion of the Protestant Cause and Interest, who by his great Employments and Trusts in this and the other Nation, had gained so perfect knowledge of their Popish horrid Intrigues, the way they have taken of old, both in this and other Nations; and whereof divers Instances might be given, besides that of Sir E. B. Godfrey, whose wounds bleed afresh at the mentioning hereof.  
5. That hereby they might carry on a Hellish design against the King himself, as though he had been privy hereto, by not only Butchering him in that his Royal Prison and Palace (whereby the Law he becomes pledge for the safety and forthcoming of the Prisoner) and at a time when he was there in Person; where he had not been for divers years before; and as though he came purposely to order the doing thereof, and to Entitle the Government to it. Which the Lord Chief-Justice doth so often Inculcate: If he was indeed then Murdered by others from the K. presence there [in Bradons Trial] As also by that their horrid Presumption, in sending in the K. Name to hasten and hurry the Jury into that corrupt Verdict, and so daringly and contemptuously to remove the Body, contrary to the K. express Command by a Person of Quality.   
4. From the Methods which have been used to stifle the discovery hereof, and to deter men from enquiring into the matter.  

1. By the Lawyers and Judges, who have declared that whoever went about to prove the E. of E. murdered, did no other than libel the Government, and bring the Gild of his Blood upon it.  
2. By the strict Command given by the Officers of the Guards in the Tower, the day after the Murder, to all the Soldiers, not to speak one word thereof at their Perils.  
3. By the severe Prosecutions, and Persecutions of those who have appeared herein, both as to their Estates, Persons, Lives and Liberties. 
Witness, the turning out of old Edward's from his place in the Custom-house, wherein he had been 29 years, for only bidding his Son upon his Blessing speak the truth in the Case; & the many severities to Mr. Bradon for declaring what others had said about it; & the severe dealing with Mr. Hugh Speak for the same: as also that late cruel usage of that poor Soldier in the Tower, because he would not affirm the E of E. murdered himself; who was first whipped with Cords till the skin was flayed off. 2. After that scourged with Rods. And 3. put upon the Wooden-horse with 6 Muskets at his Heels, Sword broken and cashiered. But especially, the Destruction of Rob. Meak the Centinel, for telling what he heard and saw that day of the bloody Tragedy: whose Neck was therefore broke, and fling into the Tower-Ditch; who declared beforehand to his Friends, how his life was threatened for the same. As also Holy the Warder, who was served in like manner for blabbing; whose murdered Body was about a Month after it was missing, taken up near Rochester, where a great Popish Lord declared several days before he was found, that he had there drowned himself.   
4. By the endeavours which have been used to prevent, the Review, which by 2 Letters to 2 Noble Men, and the Letters to the Lady E. sent openly by a Messenger to Godman the Bookseller, which he brought to Justice Henton, and he to the Secretary; all of them purporting a discovery upon Indemnity and a Review, but all in vain.   
4. By positive Proofs, attesting the Murder, that of Indemnity may be granted as was offered in Sir E. B. G's case; and a fresh Legal Enquiry, as, in Sir. Tho. O. Case, and others, there will then be produced positive Evidence, which will declare who were the Contrivers and Authors, who the Actors and Abetters of this Barbarous, detestable Murder, describe the Instrument with which it was done, and which was made on purpose for the same: The rewards and preferments to the respective Actors therein, with all the material Circumstances about it. Which Enquiry was successfully made in Sir Tho. O's case, after the Coroners Inquest had found it (as said) a natural Death. And by which after more than two years stisted by a high hand, the then Principal Minister of State and his Associates, with the Lieutenant of the Tower, and others, were searched into, found Guilty, and many of them Executed for that horrid Murder, committed upon that Innocent Gentleman in the Tower.  

The Conclusion.  
NOw may not this Dismal Tragical Account (which carries so much Demonstration in it) be well left without a Comment, or any Rhetorical strain of Wit, or flourish of Eloquence, either to convince or satisfy the Reader of the Truth hereof, or provoke him to the discharge of that duty incombent upon him in his Place or Station (which so Barbarous and unheard of Murder calls for at his hand) the better to deliver himself and the Nation from the Crying Sin of Blood Guiltiness: And which is therefore left to the Consideration and Conscience of all that hear thereof in general; and to all the Ministers of Justice and his Fellow Peers in special, whose Oaths, Honours, and Interests, may Oblige them to their duties herein; And who in reason ought to feel the Bleeding smart of this Bloody Stab, not knowing which of their own turns may be next. And to his Relations and Kindred in particular, who are more than others called forth in a peculiar manner, to make a further and better Inquisition after his Blood, then hath yet been made, especially after this full Discovery is offered to them, as they would vindicate his Innocency, wipe off the stain of Felony, Murder and Treason, from the Noble Family; deliver themselves from the reproach of being bribed by the forfeited Estate to hold their Tongues, and suffer others to be so severely handled as officious for appearing therein, under their silence: And as they would free themselves from the Gild of his Blood, and answer the neglect to God and Man. Lastly to all those (of which there are many) who either as Accessaries or Actors, have embrued their hands in this Innocent Blood; whether since they are secretly known, it will not be their wisest and best course (as some did in Sir Tho. O's case) to come forth and confess, and give Glory to God, as they may hope for Mercy here, or hereafter, and not to think to shelter themselves under Gold and Greatness; which will be a covering (in this case) too short for the greatest themselves, because God who is the Avenger of Blood, and to whom vengeance belongs; will bring all to the House top, and recompense them according to their Deeds; There being no Darkness nor shadow of Death, where the Workers of Iniquity may hid themselves.   
FINIS.