The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-01-06 00:00:00

REPORTED MURDER um the GLOUCESTER ROAD.

I

(From the Cheltenham Chronicle:l
. At the moment when we were putting our paper to pram last
sink we received intelligence of the death of old Brint ; sod the
eireumstances of his supposed murder were communicated to us
by a gentleman who had seen the body in its bruised condition,
aid the supposed parricide in manacles, at the Plough public-
home. We have now to cornet the unintentional error of our in.
, lotmant, In that put of the statement whkeh iinplicated the old
man's son.he-law; and to do that individual the justice to declare,
• 1.-eit cot the slightest imputation can attach itself to him, as he was
at the time some miles distant from the spot where the wmeted
/Stint breathed his last. Having made this made, we feel it due
to ourselves to show that there were facts connected with this ease
. sufficiently suspicious in themselves to justify our assertion that the
perpetrator of the atrocious deed was supposed to be the old man's
own son. In the order of detail we now lay before our reader, a
report of the exstpinatioo at our Police office, at eleven o'clock on
S hursday morning ; we shah subsequently notice the result of the
. Coroner's Inquest, held at half-peat two on the same day, and then
.'.Lets the ease to rest on its own merits, simply premising that the
verdict of the Jury was. under existing circumstances, not merely
lest and conscientious, bet the only one that could result horn the
. evidence adduced before them. Depositions taken in Cheltenham
. Leon R. Capper and J. egg, Esqrs.
Richard Yates, who lives close to the Plough public-house, de.
pried that he knew the prisoner perfectly well. He saw him be-
• swam 10 and II o'clock on Tuesday night. The old man, his
tither, was with him, on one noddy, and prisoner drove the other
before him. This was a mile from Cheltenham ; witness walked
ssith them "for hard upon three miles," till at about a quarter of
w mile on this side of the Plough, the old man fell off, whilst wit-
ness and prisoner were walking before him. Ile was quite tipsy,
and witness helped prisoner to rain him up, and they got him on
Its lop; he did not seem to be hurt, nor did he complain. If his
now had bled at that time. witness mum have seen tl.e blond. As
. they went along witness heard a dispute and a great deal of talk
between them about Is. 6d. Prisoner swore and d—tl the old man
. often. They cursed each other ; the son persisted in swearing he
harlpaid the Is. 6d. for runt and water, and the father as obstinately
dental it. The old man was sober enough all the time to know
what he was saying. Deponent only assisted to lift the father on
has legs again, and then left them there together. He proceeded
home. eat his supper, and was going to bed half an hour afterwards,
when lie heard them going peat the hotter. and he turned from the
door, which lie opened to see how they got on, and told his own
tither who they were. l'hey were not quarrelling then, and pri-
soner was lielpine the old than to walk along, and driving the ned-
dies before them. Witness saw the body next morning—it was
the body of the same old man.
Mr. Sadler, Chief of the Cheltenham Police, deposed, that he
. went to the Plough public-house, on the Gloucester-rove where he
found the prisoner, and took him into custody, on Wednesday. On
apprehending him, he asked him what occurred betweee him and
his father ? and he replied," Nothing particular." He than asked
whether they had not quarrelled about eighteen-pence ? He said
no. they did not quarrel at all. He raid he left his father on the
road about three o'clock. lie admitted that they had passed the
'Plough between eleven 'anti twelve o'clock ; and the body was
thond about a quarter of a mile from that public-house. When
asked at what timefie reached Gloucester ? he said it was about five
o'clock in the morning. Ile could not account for the way in which
. arty of the intervening hours had been passed; all he knew was,
that it was about three when he left the old man standing against
the rails—that h' had tried to get him on, but could not. Bk.
Sdler then deposed that he had seen the corpse--the hands were
truth cut and the body braised; the side of the head was much
catt ; foe five yards around the spot on which the old man was found,
the round was very much trampled, as by the working of feet in'
M struggle, and as if two bodies had been rolling about. The old
nrer.'s mouth and fare were all over mud, and a great deal of blood
Was sprinkled about the ground and on the tails. The, acket, coat,
''skedsecoat, and shirt of the deceased were much torn ; the right ride
fzif fink, immediately under the ear, was blac
..fieso Withers stated, that he lives within half a mile of the
.Plough public-house, on this aide of the road. The Regulator
"coach stopped at his cottage and called hint up at a quarter past
Me o'clock on li'ednewlay, and he was told a man lay dead on the
roadside, a quarter of a mile beyond the Plough. He went thither,
Sind found the body lying upon the back, with one arm under it,
anti the ether across the breast. It was not particularly cold nor
*jiff; the old man had not long been dead. Witness thought at
rst that he was dead drunk, or chilled by the weather. He felt
*a hood, neck, smite:own; they were not cold, but there was no
breath of bf•—no breathing. It appeared as if he had see been
POOP long dead : the mod on the face and hands was not frozen ;
ige was still warm • hut when witness raised one of his legs he knew
gall
was over, and that he was 6' dead enough." Deponent asked
home men to assist in removing the body to the public house, and
• they did so. It ws then freezing ; much blood had issued from
the nose and mouth, and from the hands, one of which had a
yery bad cut on it, as if inflicted by a wick or stale. The
shirt of the deceased wee torn from the COIIIII downwards, and
all the gathers were loosened ; there was a black mark on the
reek under the right ear; another mark on the left side, rind
math on the windpipe as if a knuckle had pressed it lightly.
..:a;rinkles of blood were on the ground to a distance, which he
ineseured, of tight feet and a hell around the corpse, which lay by
the road side- and not in she way ut any vehicle ; and the ground
was trampled a rent deal, as it by swo.persons in a scuffle. Wit.
-'s . .

I.lmincv a, R..... .•••••• ... ~ ' r -
s never knew prisoner's mother till she come with the prisoner's Booth he moot u
on Wednesday morning. to the public house to which they he
mot
tarried the old man's body. She said the old man was her
sd, Boot. Witness then recollected him, but front the A covered in
1 an wincia the body was h. had not before recognised him. is about to be 1
fe slid he had a good deal of money about his person and Market.
knew lie hid several sorweigna. She 1... id elie hail been told -
prisorter's wife, to go and look for the old man, as he, the
p At the East
tier. had left him or. the mad, Led site would find him near black man, its
pine, and he " feared he would be frozen to death." The old , brig William,
decisred she " should no: etre any thing about it. if the company With
ey had not bean ion." They searcbtAl the pockets but found ainigathttlit
win.asw_
,dualkriiii
moncy.
..........::. :I.lll.ll:Agbat the clam of this testimony the Magistrates felt perfertly
loaif'ed in binding over Mr. Keen to prosecute the prisoner almost amponn
into tiler, and the witnesses to appear and gin evidence on the vain his comp
At that moment the indifference and apathy of the prisoner danger, and p
wnMwent a vitibbe change, and for the first time daring the
safety. Ile ra
ceilings, he mentfeweal wane alarm at the attention In 'Ms..., • .
till his Voice w
wMiett proceedings,
plant Bit he never for a moment betrayed the
ailgtoteat Impinmn of mentor for his father's death—esmone at incautiously p
gasersiled with him so recently before be met his fate--or was procilye,t, I
sf or shame at being charged with so atrocious a aim,. He water heirs" lot
raw rg.arieTed en priehn, but soon afterwards sent off in custody !anuished"a ft
phacimbiare Wm Coroner held his inquest.. Atter a long in.
nuMMU the Jog brought in a verdict." Found dead." The Lisp Pot`comral
tsM woe tonaegucoU7 dixbargea• and the whole
o •
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