The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1884-07-22 00:00:00

BLANDROAD.
HORRIBLE MURDER NEAR BLANDFORO.

IN4/17 EST.

The inque4 on iew of the body ..f Tom Meat.
yard, the inuniered boy, wa+ held at the +ehool.room
in the amulet on Monday evening,before Ur. W. EL
Athinoo., coroner, and jury. of when IL E.
Huntley, Loll., wa• 1111V111411. The b.aly, that of
a till, boy of iS 1110Uthi. wa, viewed by the jury in
the cottage of Mary Cull, from whence they proceeded
to the +choolrumn, who' the following cehhinixi wake
adduced:—

Mr. Chad,. Ingrain, M. RAI S., th ii,mixt —On itinday
&& ill g I wi, sent for and went to the m.sidence of
Jane, Meatyard, father of Ow decca.sed child, I r•AW
di-C....e1l in a Cottage adjoining. 11e breathed a few
time. after 1 ,AW lulu, and died in thy presence. I
:LAW the child had received violent blow. ..n the
head, pbslticaug di.location of the scalp and
showing fraction of the skull in two places. This
afternoon I nude a pug., ric.a esaiinuation of the
On removing the .calp 1 found extensive
bstravitgation f blood, aid it fraction
of both parietal holle• quite .tallicient to cause
'rime stick produced by the p.l.e...constable
in any oi his. cauooi tlv• binaries I detect.. .
Mary Sibley, a girl of ii year., depowd that for
the la 4 four month. -he lia.ll I,•Ii lis Inh With MI".
Meaty:aid, the mother. She La t ..tw the deceased
alive ..11 Smut:ly in. ruing. 1 gas.. imisia his breakfast
alioat eight o'clock, aim'. put 111.1 ill hi- little ba..ket
chair. if m, father came down stair. hefore I did that
. . .

-
o -Mug. I ays. h;•ii &Mk a Cup if tea when
I came down, aud b• took a cup of tea
and mine Past up •t Jr. to his wife.
After tI., I awl the c.• loi a•u had our breakfast
Meatyard came down again, awl went into the back.
hom-e, aal it down for a few • •.. Ife then got
up awl went upstairs for a Alma time, and then Qum,
down again, au,' took a jug oof hot ,111.11 cold water
up,tairs bi hi. wife. Alseit tou iinnutes after-
wadi. Mrs. Moanard cried odd Mary, nary." I
went to the front door. Mid eAd Mr.. Dennis, who
lise. next door. Mr.. Nleatyarot then ran dow a stairs
in her niiert-droy.s, which wa. costa...l with blood
down the front. Meatyanl ran down after her, and I
rail up the front of the hootio• oind 4.wer the rails
, into Mrs. Den us' garden. I -toyed there about five
ininato-, awl Mr, Meatyard Ca iii ana Frederick
Tattle' ',nought in the little girl Eolith, who had
,_rcs''lit of ttm hoe, with me, MA Lien
went Neck agaii:. I saw Mary Cuff carrying the
4. ceamd in her arm. ; out 1 diol rot see when, thy
took t.iii, to. I then went off to Charlton to tetch Mrs.
Legg. I went back with her. Mrs. Meatyard was
then gone lack Po bed in her own house. The deceased
was in Mary Cuff. house. I saw I there. Ile wa.
Caen dead. I did not my any lolow •••tnick whilst I
wa. in the house. The stick produced Wit. Mr. Meat•
yard', It used to hang -Peer the looking•gb.. in the
kitchen. I sasv it there the day before. The knife
produced I know. It used to gay in the knife-
drawer in the kitchen. It Iva, ipsal for scraping
gotatoe.. I .aw it in the drawer myself in Saturday
lag. I heard no quarreling till my migrem called
"Mary, Mary.- I beard no unploapantne-o the night
before 111,Weell Meatyard and his wife, and I did not
notice anything grange or unusual in his appearance
3,,,h.rday morning before he Cline down-dours after
lii. wife. The decea ost Tont Meatyard, wan in the
,sine room when, the father jpot the water. The boy
wa. iitting in hi. little chair. where I had put him.
and ho wa, then aright A. I was going to fetch
Mrs. Legg, I saw Moan:wit come emirs' from the
back od In. houm to the road in front. lie had the
'tick produced in hi. bands and I mw him throw it
down on the road in front .of hint, and then he neobed
hi. hands together. I went on, and did not see him
again.
Emmanuel Sibley dep eied he heard uiuno people
crying out, and went into Meatyard's bine, When
I got inlide. I o•aw hi. daughter Eolith on the Moor,
and I saw bin in thin; act of striking her with the
stick (produced). 11,, struck hirtwici, in lily prw.ence.
wont toward, him, and he bolted out of the back
dour, leaving his daughter on the floor. I picked her
up and handed her to Frederick Tullin, who took her
aw y. I stood at the &mt., keep Meatyard out, and
clint Wrellail C3lllO and took away the other children.
Jug before I got into the home I cow Mr.. Meatyard
gap:ling at the door of Mrs. Denni. (the next door
nedthbour.) She wa. in her night drew., and
covered with blood. After thoo children were taken
out 1 'ow Meatyard in the road. I took hold .of
PHI Walked with him toward. Itlandford till I met a
policeman from there. and I gave Moxitya.d into his
cu.Psly. I then went back :owl -ass the deceased in
Cuff's house. The child wa dead and laid out. A.
we w .11(.4 m together, Metyard spoke to me several
time., but I cannot reecollect exactly what he said
but he appeared to know what hoo had done. I
picked up the ,tick (produced) in front of Meatyard's
house, and gave it to P.C. Powell. I carried the
stick with me till Meatyard went off with the other
police-constable.
Mary Cuff, a single W•i111311, liviug at Timmy.
combe, dep.oed Alw saw Mr-. M.• dyer,' standing under
Mr. Dennis porch ii, her night olre wa, holding
up both hand. and she mid "Mary. do go after my
baby Tommy." I went and im.hollopen the door and
saw the last wtness in,ide. He opt Meatyard out,
and I went upstairs and brought down the baby, and
ruynet htit'nmin niece.
.IYacTkh2telhoealt msihttlg.rier"ll:.illYchaalird.
His little head wa, going backward, and forward.,
and was black in the face. I took him out of the
chair and into the road, and a young woman took him
from nie up to my beim. She held him till he died
about halfainhour alto:mar& in my pnwence.
Eliyabeth Crann deposed to receiving the child from
bit witness, and it, dying in her arms aa itatud. It
had a bruise on it, face and head. .

Dan Roberts, a shepherd, deposed ...ring the *tick
(produced) in Mtntyard's hand, and picking it up and
giving it to Sibley.
P.C. Powell denosid to being sent for, and on
arrival about 11 o'clock Sunday morning, found the
hou.e in great confusion. Mrs. Meatyard and the
little girl aU lying in bed, and the boy dead in Cuff's
house. Ho picked up the knife (produced) at the
bottom of the stairs; it Ma. covered with blood on
each side of the blade, in the same state as then. Ile
afterwards received the *tick fmui Sibley. Afterwards
at the police.station he had a conversation with Meat •
yard. He told him his wife irws very ill, and TOlll
dead, and the girl dangerously ill. This swam in answer
to hi. question. He said "I hope my p.er wife will
live for the sake ..1 her inior soul ; but the children if
they die will pt., brain.
The Coroner briefly pointed out the law n the
case, and the jury returned a verdict sd " Wilful
Murder" against James Meatyard.
The wife ii progressing fa, ourably, but the child is
in great danger.

100 L 3.

ST. JAMILei' YuLm, BIBLE CLABB.--11'ha
animal outing lo wonection clam took
place coo Thursday. Exeter was ails place chosen.