The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-22 00:00:00

SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1876.

THE BLACKBURN MURDER.

Great excitement prevailed in Blackburn en Sunday night-
when it became known that the police had taken into
custody William Fish, barber, of Moos street, on the charge
of murdering Emily Holland on March 28, and had found
portions of the skull and hair of a child. Suspicion had
always attached to the barber, who keeps a lock-up shop and
resides at 162, Moss-street, with his wife and two children.
Toe discovery of the skull was made in a most extraordinary
manner. Chief-constahle Potts had arranged with a man
named Preston, of 12, Nelson.s treat, Preston, to bring over two
of his dogs, one half bloodhound and spaniel, and the other a
Clamber spaniel. Police-detectives Holden and Liveaey were
sent out with the dogs to the place where the trunk of the
body was foul:Hist Bastweil, hut nothing; was scented. The
dogs were taken close to where. In Royslaw Wood, a man
had been seen to go backwards and forwards to Lower
Cunliff, Rishton, where the legs of the child were found,
but without any result. They returned to Blackburn, and
Mr. Potts then decided to have the dog:, tAken to fish's
shop and the shop of a harhi-r named Denis Whitehead, who
also had been inspected. Between nine and ten o'clock the
two detectives, along with Superintendent Eastwood, entered
the premises of the two barbers simultaneously. Holden
remaining at Fish's shop, while the other establishment was
examined. From the motementx of the dogs the police had
no reason to suppose that anything was concealed there,
and Superintendent Eastwood, Detective Livesey, Taylor,
and his . dogs proceeded to Fish's shop. The bloodhound
at once scented up the chimney of a front room upstairs, and
the owner of the dog on putting his hand up the chimney
Pulled down from the recess of the draught-hole the 'ken
and other portions of a child, wrapped in a paper covered
With blood. From a medical examination made by Dr.
Patchett it was evident that the head had recently been
burnt. It will be recollected that the trunk of the body and
the legs were found wrapped in copies of the Preston Herald,
three of them being of recent dabs—one of November 18,
1875. Fish's shop was twice previously searched, and copies
of the Herald were found in his posseesion, the dates of the
Papers in which the dismamber,,d body was found being
Missing. There is no heading to the newspaper in which
the skull was found, hot in one portion there is printed
in italics, "To tbe Editor of the Manchester Courier,"
and the r-itoner Fish takes in the Manchester Courier. Fish
Was present with his wife when the discovery was made, but
he said nothing. Mr Potts was atsonce sent for, and it was
With difficulty truit Fish could be taken to the lock-up. He
was in danger of being lynched, and, if the police had not
been prompt in getting
.him away, violence would have been
resorted to. After' the charge had been. entered . the pri
sone', was removed to .a cell, and two constables re-
Mained with him all night. His wife Went to see him
at the police-office, and said "she did not think her
husband capable of committing a' crime. There was a
strong feeling against the prisoner in the district, and it
was only the other day that he went to the police-office to
ask for protection. Re is 26 years of age, is about Mt. 21n.
In height, and wears neither beard nor moustache. His
Shop is only about 40 yards from the grocer's establishment
St Mr. Cox, where Emily Holland purchased half-ouece of
tobacco for a man. Every .day on her way home the little
girl would have to pass the bather's shop, and he must there-
lore have known her well.

Chi Monday William Fish was taken before Mr. Johnston
and o her magistrates at the Town-hall, Blackburn. The
fellowing account of the proceedings is from Tuesday's Daily
Netts
"Lone before the usual time for commencing the business
the entrances to the borough police-court were completely
blocked by excited crowds, and it was with great diffi-
culty that in the court a seat could be obtained. When
~thee Prisoner, William Fish, 26, barber, of Nos. 3 and
t.°2, Moakstreet, was placed In the dock before Mr. J.
tohnston and other magistrates on the charge of murdering
'4°ll3' Rallied there was a suppressed murmur of expecta-
tion in court. The prisoner looked excited.
Mr. Potts, chief constable said : William Fish, the pri-
soner, is charged with the murder of Emily Holland. Another
Man is In custody, and has been remanded on this charge,
and we find, from further investigation, that it is quite pos-
sible there may be two persons concertied in this murder, for
we find that on the Thursday night after the murder was
committed, and the boy was found, a man who has been
described by a witness as similar to the one already in
custody went to the barber, and said something to him,
Which the witness could not hear, but he heard the reply
given, which was, "Others are secure."
Mr. Shackleton : Is that since the evidence was given
Mr. Potts: Yes.
Mr. Shackleton: This man said this before.
Potts: We knew of that statement, but he had not
roati seen the prisoner. It has already been proved before
icie coroner that a man did take the child from the corner
cf a certain street, which is only fifty yards from the pri-
loner Fish's sleep, 3, Moss-street. The house consists of
t°lll rooms, two on the ground floor, and two on the
YlePer floor. Formerly the prisoner and his family lived
the upper rooms. Lately he has removed his residence
"e'ef ,162, Moss-street. On the day of the murder—on the
7'" of the last month—the prisoner had occasion to go to
eeTask Top, and as far as we can ascertain, he left Bank
;VP about ten minutes to five o'clock. That is according to
e best evidence we have. He went towards his shop and
eeen standing at his shop door a little after five o'clock.
b ow' the Man that took the child was seen last in Union-
dings, and the point where he was last teen was near the
!treet called Swarbrick street, by which he could go round
ttf Birley-street and return to the place from which he
cried within a few yards of the oarber's shop. lie also
in contact with a carter who has given evidence, and.
;_ea evidence is that he saw Taylor coming from a stable-yard
11. Yates's-building, and when he came from the stable-yard
eiL,lwas going in the direction of the barber's shop. At
time he had not the child with him, Now there
le: been suspicion attached to the prisoner Fish . front
rale colutneacement. We searched his house several..
bl a over without being able to find any traces
.of
hi Over
we heel no further evidence to justify us in.
him. Yesterday morning a man, named Peter
a
sAIYIO.r, 'n painter' of Nelson-street, Preston,- volunteered'
ue a services with a dog,' in fact with, two dogs. .one is a
npringer spaniel, and the other is a bloodhound and
prZinnter dog, Part bred.. 'j arranged 'with some of My officers,
oce-detectives Holden and Livesey, to go with the owner
of the dogs where the body was -found, near Bastwell, and.
endeavoured to trace the scent, for according to one witness
l man 'visited the place on Thursday morning about ten
O'clock They went in the direction of Roysham Plantation,
but the dogs were unable to make any scent. It was arranged
further that they
should go to Lower Uplift, where the legs
had been discovered In a conduit They hunted the fields
as best they could, but without success. They hunted the fields
and woods in all directions, but without finding anything,
and they returned to Blackburn. I had arranged pre
-
'Ptousle, that the man with the dogs should remain till
'light to make a further experiment We arranged to
Visit two barbers' shops, one kept by Denis Whitehead who
reenicy slded in Birley-street, and the other kept by the prisoner.
mention that we arranged it privately, so that there
7ould not be a crowd. ab -Alt to obstruct us, and we managed
?iget into both houses un:bserved by the inhabitants. in
a first house, that of Denis Whitehead, the bloodhound die
het Ts',
any particular attention, nor did it appear to rcent
tp)thing. We had possession of the prisoner house at that
I'talk andthe prisoner was in, and also his wife, and of course
I° began in the prisoner's shop The dog on etiterti g the
°the' began to scent all round the rooms in which the
Drisoner carries on his business. It entered the closets, and
Went to all the corners and crevices of the house. It further
We," Into the back room, scenting eli round soundly,
The t ently scented something. It also jute pd
~Poo the slopstone. and appeared te scent some-
nt there. At this time the door which leads
• the upper room was shut, and when Detective-officer
olden opened the door, and went upstairs, the dog irc.-
media
b tell rushed after him. The nog scented round the
ack room, which is a room where there is no fire-place,
!bd really scented something. It then passed into the
ycent room, and finally scented in the fire•piace. Now, this
e°r.:Place had nothing In the fire-grate nor appearance of
r°re in any shape or form. Mr. Taylor, observing the
lent, knew what it meant, and he immediately rushed to
1° chimney, and found, what shall be produced, a human
!atill,'evidently that of a child, with part of the hair on
.4,- The hair has been saturated with blood. There are
Parts of the broken skull, and parts of smaller bones.
There._, are bones which appear to belong to the forearm,
"eb,,ci bones that belong to the hands. There were, in ad-
'ldon. 'mall pieces cf garments—small pieces of grey
calico and chemise. The deceased child's clothing was
Cat_ 461 description. There is one extraordinary feature in
case. Amongst the articles brought &mu from the
'oininey was a piece of paper, which appears to be a news-
Palier of sonic kind, and that appears to have some blood on
4, together with clean wheat straw. There are no such
Neese, of straw in any other part of the house. While this
Process was going on Supetintendeut Eastwood had ac-
"roPauled the man with the dogs to inform the prisoner
°I the. purport of their visit, and that they had a blood--
11nd. and were going to search the house. I believe
‘oen that Idit condition was very palpable, and that he
Ijaa extraordinarily affected by the announcement. When
oe Ault was found his'wife and he were both present,
and I at once ordered him to he taken into custody on the
Charge of murder. He afterwerds said that he was inno-
;!Tit,, and knew nothing about it. We managed to have
eeica rernOved from the place before there was any excite-
and before the inhabitants were aware of what was
f'eng on. If we had been three or four minutes more,
41:0°11';, believe we could have brought him to this 'court.weer., circumstances, however, we managed to bring him
te°,l_oillehnleirneteeteetlitrelf'i inlthillie.ltLwaerhjawanansdiglelrpilnatinnlf lenibftee.- 'Thiele the ikull of a child, and we know of eo
I'l°er:child Missing, or havingloe'en' neurdered, than- Emily
cils.ndeapd from all the circuthstanees we do believe this
a_
and Nee parts of the body form the head; hands, and
nos of
.the deceased Emily Holland. I will simply give
, "eletice that these were found in the prisoner's presence,-,..
L'lto that he was charged and made 110 reply. I shall
.7a for a remand; and the question is to what day he
Loan be remanded. The other prisoner, Robert Taylor.
he 4'll:tended until Thursday, and as the inquiry will
00/e to go on as against both, it will be right and
irenieet that they should be remanded to one time.
tt ba utterly impossible to complete the investiga-
tiee-e-eY • Thursday, and of oourse a further remand will
ta-"' nave to be made, because a thoirligh investigation
741.84 or increasing importance. The outrage seems to
thar, worae than was at first anticipated, for this possible
teeD :410 Persons have been engaged in it. A man was
teaeirfoilig to Cuniiife with a parcel similar to that con-
Da4 the legs, but that person is not described as the
torr in the dock. There is another ciicunistsiice
'g to comPllcity in the murder. Strangely eld.ugh,
blooduound eomea upon the scene in this eve, ter
weednesdisy, March Mk, a fureiture brcker at Enfleli on.ing t. Blackhurn with a cart somewhere between
e and LH o'cloik, steel hate; g airived at the toll-bar
hassed 5 man, am! Stier he had g.it p‘st, a dog witch
es 7 naq With him, which was a blo•idhounu and mastiff,
and it to the mien, jumping upon his breast
Ite feet, and Wishing its head under his coat, where
,!°
nwas a l' ant
of some kind. The dog was a dangeroas
4eti.'!l,ts owner immediately called it away, but it repeated
mot
oelletle condUct The owner of that dog has seen the
eaylor, and he declares solemnly that he is the same
wo-Z, tie. Met with his dog on the road to Ceueliffe, so that it
%caPpear there is one person carrying the body about,
.irr,_'er_aactathweiiricc,ioncerned in the murder. At all events, these
Itbd It will t require to be very carefully inquired into,
eke us a long time to complete our investigation,
no, Chairman: Does 'any one appear for the prisoner I—
lk
e •totts : There is one circumstance which confirms in an
aitraed
tat • bean' manner the suspicion that the prisoner may be
(1i r'" who committed the first of the crimes in the charge,
rrisr•J'..._otta here made a communication with respect to the
thv''';',er, Showing that the prisoner had been eearnined, and
veetie result of the examination bore out a certain sus-
. vat Which had been entertained.)
're'lltl'ee_r_llitendent Eastwood was then exiimined. He said:
etiebT'oay Peter Taylor, painter, Preston, came to eilacklearn Were "to dogs, a spaniel and a bloodhound. Arrangements
eve, Made fur endeavouring to scent the ptnlions who had
tiZed the various parts of the body. We arranged to have
to blitles of the barbers searched. I sent Detective liotilen
lewelae 'hop, and Detective Livesey to another, Lind I fel-
etsee. 71, th Mr. Taylor. I first a eet to the house' in Birley-
Wee"' eLleriis Whitehead's, but the dogs did net scent any-
tt Jilt and went to tie prisoner's shop. Oe enter-
*Or D .-',011.1e the dogs beg an to soeut vet)' keenly all round
De' dogs also scented the stem( and battle -which
tat teeeee'to Altieuted for washing purposes. There is a tap
We t.i,;uebt.toni the stand, and the water can be .let off.
rriseeeen'went foto the frOut room, where the .do‘s corn-
U,"410 scent, par n particularly under the slop-ttoe, In.
•
tillllatti?,,ll,,Vace both dogs set to work. We found a
iteecentor: which had. been nut in .the trade of a'.
ktx)4 un,Wineath the alop-stone The dogs got mein the
lii th
'wee le back kit Chen. ...Detective Holden:
calleelebedfloor leahlnk Up` eiu'ef,' ut hetet,
liiback dogs at once went. Up. -•'Filtt 04-Went into a.
Lig Wfaere there- was: a quaettly of old' clothes
.atal then into 'the front room,- 'After-.
11'1°11111,,ltiptintl- the whole of the. irsoorn, . the. dOg made
6 a,tlits•-09nef- scented up the'clainme,y, and Mr. Taylor
tk..64.4 and shoulders' up About two feet from. the
frslal iche liga le 'a kind of .drat4ht7holeZ, which. Is jqst the
h Ole brick. 'first bronght out two ei three
elate, :mete and eventually the upper part' of the skull.
t 41144 it r4ll.:browu. hair upon it A piece has • heel, waiihed,
e_e erele_ teems rather a dark brawn. During this time
iiteter and his *wile were standsi g looking on, and
Zply diecoveriii Made. The priso..er ai peered to be
Slid could setircely stand upon his feet. I have Vac. irtl9,,g, along with Chit f-coustabie
.Potts,. had the fire-
and further bgaminition mede. I find that
"erreee''• .eeee roi fire in tne place for some time, and the
-
of Übe* D opinion has not taken place thee e, and I found
,
r burnt material in the grate at all, nor at the back
-b hI heard Chief-constable Potts charge prisoner, to
0414 ...Mid. "I know nothing about lt." His'wile was
I'm the station the sine night.

Mr. Potts: That is all I wish to bring before your worships
to-day. I ask for a remand until Thursday, and then to be
renewed.
The Ohairman (to the prisoner) : Have you anything to say
why you should not be remanded until Thursday next?
The Prisoner: I know nothing about it. Jam as innocent
as a chid.
The Ohairman : You here nothing to say against being re-
mandeo f
The Prisoner: No.
The chairman: You are remanded until Thursday.
The prisoner was then removed to the cells."
„ • ,

After being removed the prisoner confessed that he
committed tbe murder, and without being aided by
any cue, mutilated the body and dispersed the remains.
Details of Fish's confession are reserved by the
authorities pending the inquest on Thursday, to which
date the prisoner was remanded.
At no period in the recent history of Blackburn has
any event created so much excitement. The police.
station, as aloe the ' newspaper offices, have been
besieged by crowds of people.

The Times of Wednesday says ;—" Fish, when yesterday
morning his wife entered the waiting-room, with her eldest
chill, one year and eleven months old, in her arms, burst
Into tears. Mrs. Fish told him to prepare for another world,
as he could hope for no mercy. She added, 'Don't think any-
thing about us ; we shall be provided for.' -She repeated this
several times, but he said nothing in reply. He was still
crying when his wife left him. While Fish was in the ser-
viee of Mr. C. Bramwell he was very reserved, and some-
times would not speak a word for a week. At this time he
attended St. Paul's Sunday echeol, and afterwards St.
John's. When he married, five years ago, he Joined
the religious sect of his wife, who is a Primitive Methodist.
She is described as a decent, industrious woman, and if
' able to do to, works at the mill as a weaver. When Fish's
shop was first searched, by the police, she declared to a
neighbour that she did not suspect her husband, and that
If she knew he had committed the terrible outrage
she would inform against him. The barber said little
to those he shaved and never visited a puhlichouse
He often went, however, into a slaughter-house kept
by Mr. Bradley in Moss•street, and saw the cattle
slaughtered and the -carcasses cut. up. Before the
murder he professed to be a teetotaller, but after he'
was suspected his wife would frequently have to go
to the shop for him at nigtit and fetch him a
glass of port wine. It was matter of surprise to the
neighbours that Fish should carry on his business in a lock-
up shop, the house being sufficient to accommodate his
wife and family. At the time of the funeral of Emily
Holland he was seen in the front kitchen with the door wide
open smoking a pipe. The houses on the opposite side of
Birley-street command a good view of his shop. The back
premises of Birley.streat and Fisher-street hs.ve a good view
of Fish's back premises, and there is a large yard common to
half a dezen houses. The neighbours, therefore, express sur-
prise that they heard no screams on the day of the murder.
The prisoner's confession is substantially to the following
effect :—On the day of the murder he merit Emily Holland for
half an ounce of tobacco. He asked her when she returned
.to come into the house, carried her upstairs, committed the
outrage upon her. ana then cut her throat To prevent the
blood from falling on to the floor he wrapped her clothes
around ker. Next he battered her brains out and cut up the
body, putting the head and arms on the fire which he had re-
cently kindled in that room, and, wrapped the trunk and leg
in newspapers, concealing the parcels till it would be con-
venient for him to remove them. It is related that after
this he went downstairs and shaved some of his customers
with the razor which had been used to cut the girl's throat.
He afterwards locked the door of his shop and went to the
Amphitheatre of Varieties."

The Manehoster Courier says :—" The dog to which the 41s-
covery of Sunday night is due is the property of Mr. Parkin-
son, oil, and lamp merchant; Church-street, Preston, and
answers to the name of 'Morgan.' Some time ago Mr.
Parkinson put him under the care of the man Taylor on
account of the growing eccentricity of his conduct. In many
ways he displayed unwohted sagacity. Be is of mixed breed
retriever and bloodhound being the prominent strains. A
short time since he became quite savage, and without the
slightest provocation would bite any ill-dressed or poor-
looking persons It was on this account that Mr Parkinson
handed him- over temporarily to the man Taylor, who has
taken certain means to reduce him to a quieter course of
behaviour."