The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-13 00:00:00

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[TWOPENCE

MURDER OF A WOMAN AT coicmiefivit.

Yesterday morning, at one o'clock, Mr. J. A.
Church, borough coroner, concluded an inquiry at Col-
chester, which had occupied no less than four sittings,
main the body of a woman found in the river Colne, in
the eastern part of the town. The body bad apparently
been in the water five or six weeks, and, although little
notice had been taken of the circumstance in the interval,
its discovery recalled to the recollection of the inhabitants
of the neighbourhood that on the evening of Saturday,
February It, screams and cries of distress, apparently
from a female, were heard in the direction of a garden ad-
joining the river. The cries were ouch as to nuggestithat
some foul deed was being perpetrated, but no immediate
assistance was attempted. One man, to whom a couple of
women appealed, refused to go lest his own life should be
endangered, and it was nearly half an hour before the
occupier of the garden, with some of his neigh-
bours, went with lanterns to the bank of the river. They
could find nothing ; and, indeed, it afterwards turned out
that they did not get so far as the spot from which, in the
.soon of persons who heard them, the cries proceeded.
The evidence taken at the inquiry was very voluminous ;
but the facts raising a presumption of violence towards the
woman, and casting grave suspicion upon the man who
was last seen in her company, lay in a compara-
tively small oompus. The deceased, whose name
wee Mary Ann Pettitt, 26 freers of age, was
the wife of • railway labourer, who had left her in
the Colchester union workhouse while be went in search
of employment ,• and having met with work at Kirby, in
Tendring Hundred, about 15 miles from Colchester, he
had written to her to meet him at the Tendring Hundted
railway station on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 23. The
woman got leave of absence on that afternoon, and went to
the station ; but as her husband did not arrive till the
evening train, she did not meet him as she expected. The
women had left her child in the wurkhouse' and was ex-
pected back at the expiration of her leave of absence ; but
she never returned. From between 4 and 5 o'clock (a
short time after her leaving the railway station) until
about half-past 7 in the evening, the deceased was shown
to have been in the company of • man named Henry Page
Draper, commonly known ea Draper Page, a somewhat
notorious character, especially in the eastern part of the
town, where be used to reside previously to separating
from his wife, since which time he has had no settled
dwelling. Draper and the deceased seem to have met by
accident at • public house near the High-street, where
they drank together, and in the course of conversation da-
mmed mentioned that she had just COMO out of the union-
house, and Draper told her he had • good home, and
asked her to be his housekeeper, to which she assented,
and they left together. They went away together, and
after taking more drink at another public-house, were seen
in each other's company near the place where the cries
were besrd. Later in the evening be returned to one of
the public-homes alone. The accused attended every
sitting, accompanied by his solicitor (Mr. Henry Goody).
Mr. Goody said he had advised his client not to say any-
thing, knowing that he had been suffering under great ex-
citement from domestic matters, and that he was subject
to occasional aberration of intellect, but he preferred to
act upon his own responsibility. Draper was then sworn,
and admitted that he was in company with the woman
during the afternoon and evening up to 7 o'clock or there-
abouts ; that after they left the Rifleman he made a pro-
posal to her which she would not allow, and he then left
her. He wished to state on his oath that he never bad
any improper intercourse with her at all ; and that he was
never connected with her in the shape of destroying her
life. The jury delivered a verdict, " Wilful murder
against Henry Page Draper." The accused on bearing the
enlict vehemently protested lus innocence. He was im-
mediately taken into custody, and the coroner committed
him for trial at the July manse at Chelmsford.