murdered children were away from home when the awful
crime was committed by their farm servant, a young man aged about
nineteen, inoffensive, but of somewhat deficient intellect. It is quite
clear from the facts which have come down to us that he was insane, for
in his confession he stated the devil suggested the deed to his mind,
saying, "Kill all, kill all, kill all." The eldest of the family, a
daughter, struggled with him for some time, and he was not able to
murder her until after her arm was broken. She had placed it as a bolt
to a door to secure the safety of the younger members of the family who
were sleeping in an inner room. The full particulars of the horrible
crime may be found in the pages of Dodd's "History of Spennymoor,"
published in 1897, and are too painful to give in detail. Some troopers
marching from Darlington to Durham seized the culprit, and conveyed him
with them. He was tried at Durham, and condemned to be gibbeted near the
scene of the murders. Many stories which are related in the district
are, we doubt not without foundation in fact. It is asserted that the
wretch was gibbeted alive, that he lived for several days, and that his
sweetheart kept him alive with milk. Another tale is to the effect that
a loaf of bread was placed just within his reach, but fixed on an iron
spike that would enter his throat if he attempted to relieve the pangs
of hunger with it.

His cries of pain were terrible, and might be heard for miles. The
country folk left their homes until after his death. "It is to be
hoped," says Mr. Dodd, the local historian, "that the statement about
the man being gibbeted alive is a fiction." Some years ago, a local
playwright dramatised the story for the Spennymoor theatre, where it
drew large audiences.

Long after the body had been removed, a portion of the gibbet remained,
and was known as "Andrew Mills's Stob," but it was taken away bit by bit
as it was regarded a charm for curing toothache.

Robert and William Bolas were gibbeted on Uckington Heath, near
Shrewsbury, in 1723. They had murdered Walter Matthews and William
Whitcomb, who had resisted their entering a barn to steal wheat. A
popular saying in Shropshire is "Cold and chilly like old Bolas." Its
origin is referred back to the time the body of Robert Bolas was hanging
in chains. At a public-house not far distant from the place one dark
night a bet was made that one of the party assembled dare not proceed
alone to the