SHOCKING MURDER. One of the most frightful murders that has ever been perpetrated in the neighbourhood of Thornbury - equalling, if not excelling, in its barbarity the case of Louis Gough, who in cold blood murdered a poor blind woman at Rudgeway with whom he was on intimate terms - was yesterday committed on the high road at Morton, a quiet village about one mile distant from Thornbury, on the Gloucester road. The spot where the crime was committed is called "Pit Pool", from a large sheet of water by the roadside. From inquiries made, it appears that a little before 12 o'clock yesterday, Mr. Charles Cox, of Charfield, was driving along in his cart towards Thornbury, and on coming near Pit Pool his horse became restless, and looking in front of him he saw blood on the road and by the side of a heap of stones close by lay the prostrate form of a woman, evidently a tramp. Her hat was taken from her head, and placed over her mouth and neck. Close to the murdered woman a respectably-dressed man was sitting, with folded arms, apparently unconcerned at the awful spectacle. Mr. Cox said, "What's the matter?" to which the man replied, "Oh; I've only murdered this woman." Telling him he had better remain where he was, Mr. Cox drove on, and seeing a roadman, told him to go back and watch the fellow while he went to Thornbury for the police. Hardly had Mr. Cox passed out of sight when Supt. Critchley, of the Sodbury division, came along in his trap. On nearing the spot his horse also became frightened, and on looking in front of him the Supt. also saw the pool of blood in the road and the murderer sitting on the heap of stones. His hands and face were stained with blood. By the side of the stones lay the body of the deceased woman, her throat cut in a frightful manner, and at a little distance the roadman apparently in a very terrified state. The Supt. Said, "What have you had happen here?" to which the fellow again replied. "I have killed the woman." Expecting a desperate resistance, Supt. Critchley called to the roadman to come and hold his horse, but the latter replied, "Oh, I can't do anything;" and the Supt. Was about to jump out of the trap, when the murderer exclaimed "All right, I will get up with you;" which he did, and was very soon safely locked up in the Thornbury police-station. On being searched, a hammer wrapped in a bloody handkerchief, two knives also stained with blood, and a razor with the blood still wet upon it were found upon him. By the side of the murdered woman were a number of articles usually carried by tramps and wrapped in brown paper, amongst them a love letter in the most affectionate terms to her "Dear Jacob". The accused man gave his name as Edward Saunders and says he is a pressman of London. He states that he only saw the woman two or three yards before he killed her. He also says he has been in penal servitude, and is now out on ticket of leave. The body of the deceased was conveyed to the Anchor, at Morton, where it awaits the coroner’s inquest. The prisoner was brought before the Thornbury Justices later in the day, and was remanded for a week. [Gloucester Citizen, Thursday 3 April 1879]
WORK OF A MADMAN? The murder committed at Thornbury, near Bristol, on Wednesday morning, turns out to have been of the most brutal and distressing character, and so purposeless that there is every reason to believe that it was the work of a madman. The woman has not been identified yet, but it has transpired that at 8 o'clock on Wednesday morning she called at the Boar's Head, at Thornbury, for a glass of beer. She said she had been living with her mother-in-law, in Somersetshire, and walking all night to join her husband, who had obtained work at Gloucester. She was dressed respectably, and talked in a manner decidedly superior to a labourer's or artisan's wife. Before she had finished her beer she fell asleep, and the landlord let her rest for a couple of hours. Then she woke and resumed her journey, and was found half an hour afterwards murdered by the roadside. She had expressed a hope that she would be in Gloucester that night. Edward Saunders, the man apprehended for the murder, is believed to be insane. He says he could not help it. That he left Bristol with the intention of murdering somebody, and stole a hammer with which to do it. He had a razor and knives in his pocket besides the hammer. He says he has been twice sentenced to penal servitude for arson, once for six and then for ten years, and that he only left the gaol on the last day of January. As the murder was committed at mid-day and within 30 yards of several cottages, it is conjectured that he first stunned the woman with a hammer, and then cut her throat. There is the mark of a heavy blow over her left eye.
Yesterday afternoon he was seen by Mr. Collings, the master of the Thornbury Workhouse, who, thinking he came from Somersetshire, asked him if he knew Weston-super-Mare. He replied that he did, and he went on to state that his real name was Smart, but he had adopted the cognomen of Saunders. He had an uncle living at Tickenham, and another residing at Staple-hill. He was born at Pucklechurch, and was in the service of Mr. Bennett, a general shopkeeper, carrying on business in that village, until he was 14 years of age, when he went to London. Mr. Collings, being acquainted with Pucklechurch, questioned him respecting the inhabitants of that place, and he mentioned the names of many persons who formerly lived there, but who have either removed or are dead. There is no doubt that he is well acquainted with Pucklechurch and the locality. [Gloucester Citizen, Friday 4 April 1879]
VICTIM IDENTIFIED. The woman murdered on Wednesday, near Thornbury, in Gloucestershire has been identified. Her name was Lucy Derrick, and she was a native of Yatton, in Somersetshire, where she had held several situations as a domestic servant. Latterly, however, she had been out of place, and her sweetheart, Jacob Needs, a farm labourer, having to attend the annual drill of the South Gloucestershire Militia, at Gloucester, she promised to meet him there, and try to get a place so as to be near him. With the object she started from Yatton, 12 miles from Bristol, on Tuesday, and walked all night, reaching Thornbury on Wednesday morning, having thus walked 25 miles at a stretch. The prisoner Saunders or Smart, has also been identified. He was convicted of arson at Aylesbury Assizes in 1864, getting six years' penal servitude, and immediately after his release was convicted of arson at Leeds Assizes in 1870, receiving ten years penal servitude; but he was released on a ticket-of-leave in January last. For the last month he has lived with an uncle, an engine driver at Bristol. He left there on Wednesday morning, taking his uncle's razor, hammer, and two knives, and walked to Thornbury, where he met Lucy Derrick, whom he killed, as he told the police, for devilment. He still maintains the most callous demeanour. He has been seen by Dr. Grace, who believes him to be sane on all points except his love of prison life. The inquest is fixed for Monday. [Gloucester Citizen, Saturday 5 April 1879]
CONDEMNED TO DEATH. The convict Smart, who was condemned to death at the late Worcester Assize for the murder of Lucy Derrick near Thornbury, has maintained the same quiet demeanour since he was brought back to Gloucester prison which he displayed at the trial. He is in charge of two officers of the prison night and day. He manifests considerable intelligence, and spends a good deal of his time in reading , principally the Bible, with which he has shown himself extremely familiar. None of his relatives have, we believe, yet applied for permission to see him. He is, we hear, respectably connected, though he was illegitimate. His mother, who lives at Brighton and occupies a respectable position, married after her son left her. His friends have been kind to him, and his mother gave him some money when he went to see her a few months since. By trade Smart is a papier mache maker, but he appears to have associated with evil companions, and has spent as much, we believe, as 16 years in prison. He has stated that he could not get work at his trade when released from prison, and was therefore driven again into crime in order to be taken care of. He appears to have long become tired of life, and this feeling seems to have gone on increasing, though he was not in want, for when he last came out of prison he had some money, and he did not draw the full sum to which he was entitled on his ticket-of-leave, after he had had 18 months taken off his sentence on account of good conduct. The jury at his trial evidently had some difficulty in arriving at their verdict, for they were nearly an hour and a half in consultation, and were evidently divided in opinion, some thinking him insane, and the matter seems to have been compromised by their agreeing to recommend him to mercy. Whether the extreme sentence of the law will be carried out or not seems a little uncertain. A petition has been forwarded from Bristol against the execution of the convict, but we have not heard of any similar movement in Gloucester, either on the part of the general public or of the members of the Society of Friends who were wont to be active in attempting to save convicts from the hangman's hands. Indeed a singular want of interest in the fate of the culprit has been generally manifested. Probably the Home Office authorities will have a competent medical opinion on the state of mind of the convict, as well as take the opinion of the judge who tried him (Justice Hawkins) before granting a remission of the sentence, and the removal of the convict to the Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Broadmoor. If the extreme penalty of the law is carried out, the prescribed time of execution will be next week, and we believe that Monday has been fixed. The convict receives the daily ministrations of the chaplain, the Rev. G.H. Fletcher, to whom he pays the greatest attention. He has not manifested any desire for a reprieve, and is so far consistent in not wishing for a prolongation of his life, appearing to think, as he has before frequently said, that he does not see any good in his living. [Gloucester Citizen, Monday 5 May 1879]
EXECUTION. For the third time in seven years Gloucester Gaol has been the scene of an execution. On Jan. 8th 1872, Frederick Jones suffered the last penalty of the law for cutting the throat of a young woman at Cheltenham; on January 12th, 1874, Charles Edward Butt, for shooting a young woman at Arlingham, and Edwin Bailey and Ann Barry, for the murder of an infant near Bristol, paid the same penalty for their crimes; and this morning Edward Smart, otherwise Saunders, was done to death for the wilful murder of Lucy Derrick, at Thornbury. The crime which Smart (for by that name we may call him) has expiated on the gallows was of a remarkable character, as much by the cold-blooded indifference he displayed throughout as by the entire absence of any assignable motive for the act. [Gloucester Citizen, Monday 12 May 1879]
|
|
|