The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-01-24 00:00:00

A STRANGE MURDER.

A shocking murder has been commi t d in Nor:h
Wi!tr. An old man usrned Joseph Gurnee, aged 77,
living in a vottsge by himself, situated in an isolated
part of a lonely I :ne in the parish of l'urton, .ut
four miles from SiVitAol3, was not noticed about since
'Charley last. But being a man of eccentric habbe
Cis das DOS appear to hove attracted attention. On
Sunday norning a little girl residing some alma
distance from the c .ttage west to the place to
ascertain the time. She knocked and rot being
answered opened the d.,or, which was unfastened,
and on entering the cottage found the body of the
old man lying in a pool of blood h,fL,re the
&elk ce, She immediately gave an slam, the
polbe were sent for, and, on examination it was
found that the old man bad been murdered by
blows from a billhook, which wc found in the
room oovered with blood and hair. It le conjectured
that, when attseked, the murdered man was seated by
the ireplace, and, on rising to answer the intruder,
received a terrible Wow above the left ear, causing •
wound 815• in length. It is thought that he than fell
to the ground, his head resting iv his chair, a pool of
blood being found in it. While in this position the
murderer appears to have inflicted a similar blow two
inches below the first, taking off a piece of the ear and
cutting the chair. Of course death must have been
almost instantaneous, the head being nearly cloven in
two. The murderer then appears to hive thrown aside
his weapm and made cif, the furniture of the cottage
being undisturb.d and £3 in money and other valuables
untouched in a bureau. As plunder wan not the object
of the murder, the police have a diffienity in arriving
at the motive for taxing the life of • man nearly 80
years of age.

The inquest was held on Monday at the Railway
Hotel, Parton station. The Inquiry failed to afford
any slusha to the perpetrator of the murder, the old
own having been Willed by blows from a bill-hook, a

meet formidable weapos, which was produced at the
inquest. It was proved that he was last seen alive on
Friday afternoon.i
Mr. Samuel Waldegrave, surgeon, stated that on
entering the cottage he forma the deceased lyiug Cs
Ms left aide in a pool of blood on the floor near the
fireplace. On examination he found the deceased had
received frightful wounds about the head. The jury
having heard the evidence the police were provided
with, which afforded no clue to the perpetrators, re.
turned • verdict of "Wilful murder against some
persons persen or person' unknown."
The police have been must active in their inquiries
but the fact of nothing being taken from the house—
the furniture remaining undisturbed, money (£3) being
f iund untouched in the bureau, cmpled with the fact
that there is not the slightest trace of ideistificotion by
means ef any article left behind by the murderer, the
billhook w.th which the murder was perpetroted
los-
longinc to the deceased, Tentless it next to impossible
to obtain any clue upon which to work. The deed being
committed with a weapon bolonging to the deceased
seems to point to the assumption that the murderer,
whoever he be, was no stranger, and that he was ac-
quainted with the premises. So far, tl'erefore, there
is an utter absence of motive. The old mina had an
annuity of Bs. jr week bequeathed him by a s+ster,
who had saved the money while in dOenefftle eeryiee, in
the fomily of a Wiltshire gentleman. Ho Aso hod
mist ey of his own, haring evoked I e fame, es in the
neighbourhood up to within the last three or font
years, sod hod never been married. Ile loot aiso
lived in the house the whole of his life, haying ben
born there. The crime has caused a strong feeling
In the district, inasmuch as deceased was an Mellen.
siveiman and.very much respected by the residents of
the parish generally.

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