The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-11-25 00:00:00

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CLOVELLY. Mrstnntotts DIRAPPRARANCII OF
TWO C MILDRKII.—The gresteat anxiety and excitement
have been ocemithed in this usually quiet and always
romantic village by the disappearance of two children
on Saturday, November 9th. Both are girls, ono
being eleven years of ago, and the other. about 2.
They are the children of James Lee, a nano( rather
loose habits and low circumstances. Every effort has
been made to obtain is trace of the lost childreo, but
without success. The woods that encircle the village,
the deep Mens between the lofty cliffs, have all been
marched to discover the bodies if they should have
fallen over, but to no purpose. Every day ekploring
parties have been out from morning to night searching
the woods and cliffs for their bodies. The parents,
however' who should feel the deepest interest and
manifest the greatest anxiety in the matter, show
almost a brutal indifference with regard to their fate—
ful indifference that can only be accounted for by the
demoralising effect of their dissolute habits. The
mother's habits are in keeping with those of her
husband, James Lee. One would scarcely think that
halite of intemperance would so far blunt the sensi-
bilities of smother's heart as to oinks her show a callous
indifference with regard to the fate of her off Spring ;
yet such appears to be the case in the present instance.
When asked a question concerning the fate of her
children, she ',plied with almost incredible indifference
that she " should like to know very well what was
become of 'em". The two children were last seen by a
young man named Jennings, about 5 o'clock on the
evenineof Saturday, the Bth instant. They were then
asleep in the Round House of the Park, forming a
portion of the farm of Colonel Fans, of Clovelly Court,
about a mile from Clovelly village. Since that time no
trace of them has been found, although every effort
has been made both by the villagers and the county
constabulary. On Tuesday the 11th inst., nearly the
whole of the village turned out to make a grand search,
one portion searching the woods that hem in the
romantie village in dark and clustering masses over the
beettling cliffs to the water's edge I another portion
taking the thiok and tangled woods that stretch away
through the beautiful grounds of
_Colonel Vane to
Mouth Mill; another portion moving along the brow
of the cliffs to Gallantry Bower, and on to Black
Church Rock; and nother adventurous band, when
the tide was out, passing under those cliffs, over the
giant boulders to Mouth Mill, meeting two of the
selirthins_parties. Neither party met with any success.
On the l'insaday or rednesdaf • rumour was afloat
that children answering their description had been men
at • village called Satcombe, lying between Bideford
and Holsworthy, about 14 miles from the former and 8
from the latter place, and about 10 from Clovelly. A
man was instantly despatched with • horse to the place,
but the rumour proved untrue. Every inquiry has been
made with • view to discover whether the children
have been kidnapped or not, but no strollers or other
parties have, been teen in the neighbourhood that would
be likely to take them away. The consequence of
these failures to discover any trace of the children,
coupled with the manner of the parents, is that the
opinion is rife, and generally expressed in the Vinaie,
that the children have been foully dealt with by throw-
ing them over the cliffs, and that, too, by the unfor-
tunate mother. There is no other foundation for this
conclusion beyond the fact of the mother's dissolate
habits. It is possible that when the children awoke
from their sleep at the Round House it might have
been dark, and they may have mistaken their road and
walked over the cliffs, and their bodies have been ,
washed away by the sea, the cliffs being about half a
Inas from the Round House ; or they might have
wandered on and on in the dark tangled woods, and,
falling asleep through exhaustion, have died by ex- '
posure to cold. It is possible, both from the character '
of the woods and clifts, that parties may go many times
without discovering their bodies. It dross not appear I
probable that they can have wandered to any neigh.
bowing village, the nearest villages being Hartland
and Woolfardisworthy, the former being six miles from I
where they were last seen, and the latter four, and
the time that has elapsed since they were missed would ,
have made them forthcoming. At present • profound
mystery hangs over their unhappy fate, and the ini-
prewion is gaming ground that they have been foully ,
dealt with. It was rumoured that one of the shoes of '
the missing children had been found, but it turned out
not to be the case. On the Saturday night when the
r children disappeared, the father, James Lee, was seen
1 at half-past ten p.m. ins state of intoxication, and
appeared to be in • merry humour, although at this
, time he must have been aware of the cirouinstanoe that
' his children bad not returned home. On the Sunday
following, when • search was made for the children, no
' attempt was made by the parents to prepare fire and
food for the children should they be brought house in a
state of exhaustion. This, however, loaf have arisen
from an utter indifference.