Alice Arden - Murder

Murder

Holinshed continues: "The wicked wife then laid a plot for murdering her husband in his own house. She procured the services of Mosbye’s sister, Cicely Pounder, and of two of Arden’s domestic servants, Michael Saunderson and Elizabeth Stafford. On a particular day selected Sunday, Black Will was hidden in a closet at the end of Arden’s parlour. After supper, Arden sat down to play some kind of game with Mosbye; Green stood at Arden’s back, holding a candle in his hand, to shaddowe Black Will when he should come out; and the other conspirators had their cue. At a given signal in the game, Black Will came with a napkyn in his hand, anal sodenlye came behind Arden’s back, threw the said napkyn over his hedd and face, and strangled him; and forthwith Mosbye stept to him, and strake him with a taylor’s great pressing iron upon the scull to the braine, and immediately drew out his dagger, which was groat and broad, and therewith cut the said Arden’s throat."

Alice herself stabbed the body seven or eight times. Will helped drag the body into the closet. He then received eight pounds for his services. Cicely Pounder later helped transferring the body to the Almery Croft, a meadow behind the house. Finishing the task, "the doubly wicked Alice and her companions danced, and played on the virginals, and were merrie." All this noise had a purpose. They wanted to have the neighbours think that Thomas Arden was still alive and entertaining friends. The corpse dressed in night-clothes would convince them of the hour of its death.

From here, the Newgate Calendar account diverges considerably. At last, Alice and her fellow conspirators decided to kill Thomas within the walls of their house. She arranged for most of their servants to be sent on various tasks outside the residence, "except those who were privy and consenting to the villainous design". She had Black Will hide in a closet located at the parlour of the residence, waiting for a pre-arranged signal to come out. At about 7 p.m, Thomas returned home to find Moseby already there. He was told their supper was not ready yet. The two men agreed to a game of backgammon while waiting for Alice to call them.

The two men were in the parlour, with Arden having his back turned to the closet. Moseby kept him distracted until voicing the signal "Now I may take you, Sir!". Will rushed from the closet and started strangling their victim with a towel. Moseby struck Arden with a fourteen-pound pressing iron. He was knocked out. The two men then transferred their victim to his counting house. There, Will finished him. Will stole the money from the corpse's pockets and stripped it of its rings. Alice paid him his ten pounds and Green provided him with a horse to make his escape.

Alice, to make certain that her husband was indeed dead, stabbed him seven or eight times. Then she and had the parlour cleaned and the blood wiped away with a cloth. The bloody knife and cloth were then discarded. When everything was prepared, guests started arriving for a delayed supper. They included Moseby's sister, Cicely. Alice feigned ignorance at the reasons her husband was taking so long to return home. "When supper was over, Mrs Arden made her daughter play on the virginals, and they danced, and she amongst them."

Alice made sure to keep her guests around as long as possible while constantly reminding them of the suspicious absence of her spouse. Then she sent most of the servants out to look for their master. Meanwhile, Alice, her daughter Margaret Arden, Cicely Pounder and the maid Elizabeth Stafford would transport the corpse outside the house. They "carried it out into a field adjoining to the churchyard, and to his own garden wall, through which he went to church." They laid it down "about ten paces from the door of that garden", making it seem that Thomas was murdered outside.