The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-06-13 00:00:00

THE MURDER OF A TRAVELLING
SALESMAN.

On Saturday afternoon, at the police-office, Welling-
ton, near Shrewsbury, two 11101, named George
Harries and Richard Hart, were brought up in custody,
charged with the wilful murder of Barnatt Zusman,
on the 15th of November, 1867. The particulars of
this remarkable crime, with which the prisoneis are,
after so great a lapse of time, charged, are briefly as
follows :
On the 15th of November, In la t year, Barnatt Zusinsit. a
travelling sae- man in the service of Mr colten, watch
mantifavurer, the "Bose and Crown Inn,"
onbridge. where lie had been stating for son e days, with
the avowed intentio of siting to Da. ley and florschay. Ile
left at tea o'clock in the morning, and took with him a we
containing watches and Jewellery of the estimated value of
£l9 He had ordered dinner to be r..ady for him at three
o'c'oek, but lie did not return that night or oil any suit e-
quoit days, and, as no else to his whereabouts could be
obtained, his employer arrived at the conclusion that lie Mid
absconded with the valuable property intrusted to him for
sale, foal, the police beteg ennimunica•ed with, Zusinan was
advertised in the Pollee Garet., and similar publications
Exactly a fortnight after hie disappearance a gentleman wa:
out shooting at Strichley, when his attention wee drawn
by his dog to a ditch in the field through which lie was pass-
ing, and here, pertly buried in the mud. he foiand the
nitwit re I body of Znsman. At the time of the discovery of
the hotly an impression prevailed that the unfortunate man
had been killed by a blow on his head, but at the ost morte rt.
examination taken for the coroner's homes( it was proved
that he had been shot apparently by a person approaching
from The pock-It of the deceased were cut away,
and the box in which he had carried his samples was found •
hidden in the limive at a short distance row the body, where
it had been placed, after being broken open and its contents
abstracted. An inquest was opened arid several times ad-
journs-a, but no evidence was forthcoming sufficiently de-
finite to Justify an arrest, and on the eth of January
a verdict of Wilful Murder against some person
or persons unknown" was recorded, and on the result
of the inquiry befog communicated to the Home office a
reward of diet) was offere-I for the discovery of the murderer.
Rot though the inquiry was tuna closed, 1,10 for as the
coroner' inquest was concerned, the police have since been
quietly following up a clue of which they became possessed
in tlie course of their first investigation. The case was placed
in the hands of Superintendent Baxter, of Church Stietton,
an active and intelligent offieer, who took up his residence
near the scene if the murder, and kept a watchful eye upon
the several parties upon whom suspicion au i bled on the dis-
covery of the murder being first made. The circle narrowed
till Baxter's attention was fixed upon a y me; man named
!lorries, who lived at Dan-Icy, and fiillowed the occupation
of a chain manufacturer. Harries inn person 4.f respectable
connexions, and, till recently, occupied a good platten in
the district, his father, who died a little more than two
years ”go, having left him property worth £4,f:00 and a
Mahets which brought him about £4OO a year. The young
man, however, got into hid society, and contracted a
close intimacy with a gang of well-known p 0 others who
infe+t the neighbolirhOod, and at the than of the Murder,
though he still kept on the works, had ,tacceeded in driving
away nearly all the limine- a his father had c it 1111 l ended.
Am:id-dim: to his own evidence, given at this adjrwriled in-
quest held on tlie silt of December, Dailies had dealings
with the murdered man, and had seen and spoken to Mel on
the morning of his death. lie Mal, he stated, bought a
match from him for £27 120., paying in small SUMS on
account, and promising payment of the balance by instal:
melds. It was ascertained by the police that Harries had,
on the following day, gone iteen to Shrewsbury, and there
pawned the watch for s;S. A few days after the inquest, and
nearly a month after the murder, the police obtained a
warrant to search Berries' house, but they found nothing
that tended to connect him with the crime, soil their
suspicions were apparently witildrawu. lin ta eilnesday
flea Superintendent Baxter received certain information
which took him over to Dawley again, and in the course of
last week he obtained evidence which led him, at a kite hour
on Friday night, to arrest George Ilarries without waiting
for a formal warrant. Of the precise character of the
evidence in the pissession of the police information Is, for
obviousreasons, at present withheld, but it is unit, z stood to
11., very conclusive. Ni evidence seas taken by the =gis-
t ates on Satunlay afternoon, and upon the appbeation of
Superintendent Baxter the prisoners were remanded.