Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-09 00:00:00

CHESTER ASSIZES.

BRAMHAILL MURDER.

TRIAL OF JAMES HENDERSON.

FROM OCR OWN REPORTER.

CHESTER, TuER) kir
1148, Morning, James Ferguson Henderson, aged 33,
moo' 1 cashier with Messrs. Saunders and Smith, corn
lXanchester, was placed in the dock, charged with
'ilfal murder of his father, Mr. James Henderson, a
Cere residing at Hardy's Farm, Bramhall. The charge
that on the night of the 30th of September last, he
tomt ell father whilst the deceased was asleep in his bed.
the respectable position of the deceased and his
kie, and the peculiar circumstances of the murder, the
ea calmed unusual interest, and the court was much
-eweed.
kielro:4 Weleby, Mr. Bevan, and Mr. Horatio Lloyd, con- ,
kthe case for the proemtion ; and Mr. Sergeant
taPecially retained), and Mr. Macintyre, appeared on
;Tr
bar,
of the prisoner.
r!prisoner, whe is rather a small diminutive parson,
jfight complexioned, on being placed at tese ,
ed not guilty. stated the
tsi'r• Weisby, in a very lengthened speth,
6,.; oh the part of the prosecution The had
jury
prisoner at the
' from the officer of the court 6.6 the
6- Was charged with the crene of murder. They
or 4,4180 heard that he we, charged with a murder
11,„_,14e most at r0ci,...1 and unnatural kind —the
e‘eeer of his ow, R.‘iner. He therefore need say no more
zoreer te e_zeg their most earnest attention to the state-
;Tie° ne was about to make to them, and still more, to the
%erica by which that statement would be followed,
keen which evidence alone they were to found their
te:tet- The case, like most, or all murders, was one of
Xetstantial evidence ; that was, a case dependieg upon
t4ein of circumstances, by which it was songht to bring the
, home to the prisoner at the bar, no human eye
tag actually seen the crime committed. It was obvious
eases of circumstantial evidence must differ widely in
%tee, some of them leading to no certain conclusion, and
'rg in suspicion only ; others, from the completeness
tee coherence of the chain of circumstances, amounting to
7qate and positive demonstration. It will be for you
of „41, when you come to pronounce belongs verdict, to which
ee!eese classes of cases this case , and whether,
474 you have heard all the circumstances which will be
4Ailed in evidence, the conclusion to which you must
,Lelstarily arrive is not, I may say, as certain as if you
e"agreelves had with your own eyes seen this crime
emitted.
tekt this point Mr. Sergeant Parry requested that all the
eases in the case, with the exception of the medical
igtlenta.n, should be ordered out of court, and the request
li'lLat once acceded to.J
Cr. Welsby then resumed : Gentlemen, he said, the
tp-48,„ ed, James Henderson, who was a native of Scotland,
ke° a farmer at a farm called Hardy's Fenn, in the town-
:1) of Bramhall, near Stockport, which he held under
tee_onel Davenport of Bramhall Hall He had occupied the
``m since the Christmas of 1853, and he was a farmer, I
ILMformed, of considerable skill. He had brought the
w• in the course of that time to a state of considerable
Ctivation, and at the time of his death he lad upon it
rd, stock, including, amongst other things, about 20
le'tag cows. At the time of his death, on the 3011
eaPtember last, be was about 60 years of age. His family
fie,
in all, I think, of eleven persons, himself, his
Jean Henderson, the prisoner at the bar, his eldest
e-'4„ , Who was employed at a corn factor's at Manchester,
bp" name home in tee evening to sleep; another gro en
'on, a younger son named Thomas, an unmarried
eetighter Jane, a married daughter, who also lived in the
E 1 -
elk) „, essy ar am , a farm servant of the name of Bleage,
lei:ler farm servant of the name of Wood, two Irish
ttrers, named Dillon and Malocknay ; and a female
;rant, named Nancy Malocknay, I believe the sister of
46°..0f the Irish labourers. Gentlemen, the model which
Ids before me is a correct representation of the farm-
s Ilee occie by the deceased. It was, as you observe.
'etacheupd farm-hope, havalg in front a girden and
ktiwn on the south side of the house -facing to a
called Hack-lane leading from Bramhall to
beadle.
There were on the ground floor a sitting-
refront and back
theis dairy a cellar, which ered
fight?l beneath the stairs ; and outside the pantry is a
eethe of r!teps leading thence to a door. within which is
r flight of steps leading to the granary, that not
four
g accessible
laefrom within. On the bed room floor are
two to the front and two to the
Ibk,
en with
a staircase the landing of which is be-
we the two back bed rooms. The door of the
"_use chiefly used was the back door, the front door being
Ny seldom need ; and going in at the' back &or, you went
bee short flight of stairs to the bedroom floor, and then
t? another flight of stairs to the attics. The front room to
isee right, on ascending the stairs, is the one in which the
eased, James Henderson, slept. In one of the beck
came
slept the mother and the married daughter, Jessy
eitZleroand in the other slept the unmarried daughter,
t s'e• Then, ascending to the attic storey, there were
Ire beds in ne of the Attlee and in one of them slept the
other
kie eon, Themes, over the room in which his sister Jane
kir, and in the other bed slept the farm servant Blease
' the boy Wood. In the other attic, in a bed placid
ea.,
the floor, slept Nancy Malocknay, the Irish female
irant. In the granary slept the two Irish labourers,
their room being to them accessible only from
a: outside. On Tuesday night, the 29th of
tetreMber all these eleven persons were upon the
aises. James Henderson, the father, went to bed
t tne, °leen eight and nine o'clock. .About the same time the
so° Irishmen went to bed in the granary, and also
11;3IeNvhere about the same time, or perhaps a little earlier,
ease and the boy Wood went to bed. Nancy Malocknay
*
eqlt shortly after, and then there were left up only Mrs.
I,lderson, her daughter Jane, the prisoner James, and
e.`" brother Thomas. Thomas, however, was not
Nee
at home ; he had left home about seven o'clock in
file evening, and did not return until ab ;ut ten o'clock
t4nas went to bed at half-past eleven, then, therefore
ang up the mother, the unmarried daughter, and the
Boner. About twelve o'clock the mother and daughter,
Ilenderson and Jane, went to bed, having first
theilltlY Seen that all the doors were fast, and particularly
la! the back door which was secured not only by a
ie
out by a largo wodden bar placed across it and going
k staple—that that was secure, and that all
e Other doors and windows were also secure. They
eat
to bed together about twelve 'o'clock, leaving the
12soner the only person up, who was writing in the sitting-
- So, as far as we can tell, matters -remained until
bout two o'clock in the morning of the 30th, when most
els inmates of the house were alarmed y the report of
m arm And I believe they all of them agree that
ar •
a very short interval—some describe it as being
Patently abote half a minute—they heard a second dis-
0411'0 of fire-arms. They jumped from t'^eir beds; came
tilt; of their rooms, and at that time the prisoner at the
ki,roshed upon the landing on the floor of his bedroom,
tio" Called up the attic stairs to his brother Thomas to get
te for there were robbers in the house. Accordingly,
rztas, and Blease. the farm labourer, boils got up,
the a light, opened their door, and were going down
Btfeirs—Thornas first and the man-servant following
ee_When they waited on the stairs while the prisoner
akr loading a gun. And Thomas will tell you distinctly
a t he heard the prisoner load two barrels just inside
the bedroom door, and ramming the charge home.
epe_6 prisoner then had a candle- in his hand wh;ch
Lir,eartel as if had been not immediately lighted—it was
11`ging brightly, and the prisoner was in his night dress.
t4Proceeded down stairs—Thomas going first with the
h h'
e, wit im the prisoner, the man Blease, and the
gad Nancy, who had then got up and joined the
will-bea
,1 they observed—and about that I believe there
teeinubt—that the door of the deceased's bedroom was
th.'r shut a d latched. They went into the kitchen, and
ltiiierst thing they observed was the back door of the
len standing partly open—nearly wide open—with
eeete ear which had been placed across it removed, and
heated up against a shelf almost close to the door, obviously
V,:111? been deliberately placed there by somebody.
tlhle was no breakage—no injury to the bar—none to
leermenr—and the key and the lock were entirely as they
ittot.,.tlefore. The prisoner at the bar knocked up the
0,4 oish 'labourers through the kitchen wall, calling
itle,,,,,,tcrtthem to get up. They, however, having been
to teed were up and dressing, but he told them not
ettiljese but to come out at once. They did so. They
ith° into the kitchen, and the prisoner asked them
~they had heard anything. They replied that they had
The
and he rejoined, " There are robbers in the house."
by 'event towards the cellar, which is approached
)(ea stairs under the landing. and Thomas and
theer.keay went into the cellar, but found no ping at all
ateita• The prisoner at the bar then said, " Come up
1,1%4 and we will try the rooms." They went, and the pri-
nela4e°,l°,ened the doors of one of the bedrooms, just put
laerequie inside, and came out again, probably because
thr, Was nothing to induce him to go in further. Howe
toegt:o4oolo.int twenty minutes after the first alarm, he went
'etch e ‘4 man's room. They found the door shut and
tike ei
The prisoner was the first to enter. By this
144 there of the family had joined them—the mother
a ti
dot' and
I believe. The prisoner opened the
nof went is a little way. He went towards the
S4le bed and was followed by Th,mas and the two
t 11612. hThey found the old man lying with his head
hie .
r"."'W I the bed room quite smooth and ;India.