urn, George told Richard that Frank wished them
to undertake to kill Mr. White, and that J.J. Knapp, Jr. would pay one
thousand dollars for the job. They proposed various modes of executing
it, and asked Palmer to be concerned, which he declined. George said the
house-keeper would be away at the time; that the object of Joseph J.
Knapp, Jr. was to destroy the will, because it gave most of the property
to Stephen White; that Joseph J. Knapp, Jr. was first to destroy the
will; that he could get from the house-keeper the keys of the iron chest
in which it was kept; that Frank called again the same day, in a
chaise, and rode away with Richard; and that on the night of the murder
Palmer stayed at the Half-way House, in Lynn.

The messenger, on obtaining this disclosure from Palmer, without delay
communicated it by mail to the Committee, and on the 26th of May, a
warrant was issued against Joseph J. Knapp, Jr. and John Francis Knapp,
and they were taken into custody at Wenham, where they were residing in
the family of Mrs. Beckford, mother of the wife of Joseph J. Knapp, Jr.
They were then imprisoned to await the arrival of Palmer, for their
examination.

The two Knapps were young shipmasters, of a respectable family.

Joseph J. Knapp, Jr., on the third day of his imprisonment, made a full
confession that he projected the murder. He knew that Mr. White had made
his will, and given to Mrs. Beckford a legacy of fifteen thousand
dollars; but if he died without leaving a will, he expected she would
inherit nearly two hundred thousand dollars. In February he made known
to his brother his desire to make way with Mr. White, intending first to
abstract and destroy the will. Frank agreed to employ an assassin, and
negotiated with R. Crowninshield, Jr., who agreed to do the deed for a
reward of one thousand dollars; Joseph agreed to pay that sum, and, as
he had access to the house at his pleasure, he was to unbar and unfasten
the back window, so that Crowninshield might gain easy entrance. Four
days before the murder, while they were deliberating on the mode of
compassing it, he went into Mr. White's chamber, and, finding the key in
the iron chest, unlocked it, took the will, put it in his chaise-box,
covered it with hay, carried it to Wenham, kept it till after the
murder, and then burned it. After securing the will, he gave notice to
Crowninshield that all was ready. In the evening of that day he had a
meeting with Crowninshield at