The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-12-19 00:00:00

TOE MURDER. OF P.C. COX.

In another column will he found ac-know'll7.ll4. quents
.4 sums sidis,rbsal by khodhearted po.ple desirous of
alleviating. as far as they Vall, the unhappiness of a
Vistula,' that cannot fail to be a miserable one to the
widow of a 1111 l man. "The season of the
year " alone should appeal to every one in such a
rens..., mid we hop.: next week to have to iv:knowledge
twice the amount. If not we shall think poorly of the
" Christian charity " that sends thousands of I Is
thousands .4 mile. away, while the issw upon our
door.steisi remivo but tile crumbs that fall from the
table. br London contemporary, thc Figaro, is some-
what annoyed at a few remarks we made hat week
relative to some severe strictur, it chose to pass upon
the p dice of Somerest As perhaps the Figaro may
nos fall into the hands of all our rea lens we give the
article in its entirety. To us it appears to be an
attempt at self-defenee which lamentably fails. The
Piyeir" simply reiterates unfounded accusations against
the ellieiency of the Somerset police. Figaro says :
" We decline, lai the authority of the Trkirani, to
believe that Somerset is is vile county." Never for one
111 anent did we say it was. On the other hand we took
exception to the impertinent remarks of our contem-
porary by which Somerset IVIVI dubbed "A Says
CovNry r4ll INICEM."
In the intnrests of justice we again direct attention to
the following facts:—

On the night of the 10th November a cruel murder was
uonenitted at Netherton, near Yeovil. Police-ernstehlee
V.ot and Stacey Paw a cart drive pant them, and in it
Ocorgif Hutchings, Giles Hutchings, Peter Hutchings,—
father and two sons—and a f•oirth man not ree ani,e I by
the police. We iiiav hen: remark that the Hutchings are
notoriou.ly had characters. The 1, dice sunpected that the
men went going to fetch some poached genie, and they
were right, for presently the cart returned laden. Cox
laid hold of the borne's head and a.ked the men what they
be lin the cart The answer wan 3 I.low that stunned the
iinrationer. l'ox wan beaten to death. col was not
killed hr a chance blow. flaring stunned him the
murderers hacked at his head aith their sticks. Stacey
fought hard but was in the end stunned by a blow on the
hark of the head and fell into a small gully by the nide of
the road. The injuries to Stacey were so ncrare that three
week. :ifter the ttttt riler he was unable to give evidence
before the Coroner.
no the Sfifth 'November the Chief t!onstable of Seuerset
(Mr. Valentine tbeililf offered a reward of .ClO for the
apprehension of the Hutchings —that is to say, rm for
the apprehension, or fetch information as shall lead to
the apprehension rif the throe. "or a pr iportionate sum
for such information as shall lead to the arrest of either
of them."

Chsi-r.ontments on the foregoing facts have provoked
the Dordse,ter Tekgra.r, which charges iis a WI indidgint
in a "clap-trap style, of being "audaciously impudent,
of "Shoe-lane toadyism," of writing our articles in
" Fleet•street garrets," and of having an "amazingly
inefficient bysin."

Oor artirlo WWI not calculated to facilitate the final
escape of the men charged with the der, and, there-
fore, it would not have been surprising if the Hutchings
had reviled us. hit we .10 not understanding the foaming
srstlt of the Telegram, for our contemporary says that
" the gallows ought not to be cheated of its due," that
" the loloodthirsty Italians will lie taken sooner or Utter is
confidently thought," and suggests that "bloodhounds
ought 10 be used to run down the murderers ;" 811,1 there-
fore 'presumably does not wish the murderers to finally
. . .

We remarked in our article, "A Safe County for
ur:erers," that when it is determined ti watch awl arrest
ti of desperate character—in July last the Hutchings
attacked fellow-workmen is the hayfield with scythes
too. a force ..f I. dice should lie employed as to render re
sistance unavailing ; that, before arresting the men. their
.e.nents should have been watched to aseerttin who
purchased the stolen game; that the offer of CIO per bead
for inf. iiiii atom leading to the arrest of owl, tiiarged with
brutal nowdrr was an 114./11111y .11111 reward. Alsive all
11.111arkaN111. was deplorable that three nom, well known
to the police an.l charged with twirler, should even for a
fr„, alit., to kelp at large. When the perpetrators
of a crime are nokr own detect' is difficult, hut it is
111011Str0114 that when the me petrators are known they are
not properly token. The Telegram my' that "few think•
hid potpie doübt for one
if not by their neighbours, at all events by
11.1 1.1 as thetuselv " We decline, on the
authority of the Tr.l,yrata. to Wier.. that Somerset is a
aflo county, in which miscreants charge I slth en ex.
oeptionally brutal murder are screeuesl, mid that in
Somerset the only chaoce of tracking a murderer is to act
on 1.1.501100m.1... We :sithere t ...r ..0111111,118,11 that the
non arr. al. of the latchingn isdne to the i teetfliency of the
iodic... We know tint the rause of the Inefficiency. It
mar he hail arrangements. or the lick of a suflieient force.
hot whatever the came, the inefficiency is palpable and
utoh•nielde
.•. . .

.......
Via Irani (ram Hot 7'el• grave al Itereother that up to
that dato LI,, Ilatahilwa wen" rtill At large. Par
;st I.7vt at ter Oa louraer lout rapt of Um thrao men
rharval with the, ta11..., Isa.l Loa lakon. - . . . .

**** * i* clieckml l.y iho certainty of detection awl
pniiialiiiient. and it is fonerirl by a chime° of escape. It
6 git plot ahlle, ill the intermito of j awl it io menacing
to property aial life, dint in an Fingli*li Comity, three
men. clier.p*l natio ie.' :gig oho yogurt:o.lo
i;l,irlV I ill another c ointol.l.• 311..1111. for at Ic.eit three
h*, lei at urge. Prot. Miry the Targram is the
5.50 1.11.1 t will, ler these riiruinstancer, mined
IL. gx,itney of the S.,ssssrst police, and in m doing we
sire ,oiad.l,st it il rtipre,ist the views of the
comity. . . . .

man is iiiii rdeost information or the ,rime atm the
11810, *it( tiitei• I, rn4 11101 ill it are given to the
pollee within an hour or o, after the skturtier, and for three
w. eks she three porn .114 ar..941.11 the murder ate at
hrge ! yet the I*.legraia so A I hat 01Ir train 'oust Ike
...methods inefficnott- hee 'use ne charge the Somerset
pollee with inefficiency !
One of our c wr,spowlents Lys that the unirdered ea In
(tas) has left a whlssv -anti four yeeing children, and
e;okresse. a hope that . thing will he done for the
lie cared family. The help kir the bereaved family may
Ice confidently left to the justice and benevolence of the
S•anenket magistracy.