The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-05-29 00:00:00

DREADFUL MURDER AT WINTON.

CORONER'S INQUEST.
The Inquest on the body of Elizabeth Bate, the victim of the
crime which it lately fell to our lot to record, was held on Wednes-
day last. at the house where the murder was perpetrated.
Die first witness examined was Joseph Blear', the landlord of
the public-house, who deposed, that when he returned from Man-
chester on Monday last, about eight o'clock in the evening, he
found two Scotchmen et his house, one of whom he knew before.
He drank two glasses of whisky with them, which deprived him
entirely of his settees and his recollection. " I was first alarmed."
he continued, " about one o'clock, or from twelve to one, in the
morning, by shrieks and cries of murder. I got up from the sofa,
and saw my wife bloody, bet I did not then know that Betty was
murders!. I found that Alexander 31`Kean and the other man
had escaped. I set off with :llr. Thomas Milner towards Warring-
ton, in pursuit of them. I then learnt from Mr. 31ilner that Betty
was murdered; and on my return home I found it waist). I be-
lieve she was pregnant by a man in the neighbourhood, who was to
have married her. They had been asked to church on Sunday last.
The yellow stick now produced belonged to Alexander Miiesn,
and I saw it in his possession on Monday night.
Mary Andrew—l live at the next door to this house. I was
alarmed by a shriek and cry of murder, from my aunt Mrs. Blears.
It was not quite twelve o'clock. She cried to my husband, " Will
thou see me murdered, and a lance stuck in my head ? The house
Is full of thieves, and they're murdering us." I and my husband
got up, and came to the house as soon as we could. In coming
thither, I found my aunt, and saw knife sticking in her head, as
soon as I got out of the door. My master tried to pull the knife
out of her head, but could not. Nathan Miles and Andrew Wil-
cock tried, but they could not. Mr. Garthside, the surgeon, was
then sent for. On coming into the house, I found the yellow stick
now produced, under the sofa in the bar. I gave it to the constable
William Britton. I came up stairs anti found Betty lying on her
back in the club-room, with her head in the middle of the blood
that lies on the floor. There was a great quantity of blood in the
double-bedded room at the Iback of the house. There was also
traces of blood from the double.bedded room, all the way to the
room where she lay. I saw the boy William Higgins come out of
the slough, when I was shrieking murder out of the window, and he
Was on the door stones at the same time with my aunt.
William Higgins—l am fourteen years of age. On Monday
night I went to bed about nine o'clock. In the course of the night
I was awakened by somebody coming into the room. I saw Betty
and one of the men whom I had seen in the bar below. I saw hint
put his left arm round Betty's neck, bend her head back, and do
something with his right hand. At first she said, " Be quiet," and
then he flung her upon the floor, and did something more, and she
cried out " Murder. They kept fighting. end she !eot up, and
gut hold of his legs, and said, `• I'll mark thee, man. ' He flung
her to the floor again, and did something more at her, but I could
not see what. She never cried out again. I then saw that she was
very bloody about the breast. I did not say any thing. I was sat
up in bed, and the man came to me, and put his hand upon my
mouth, and pressed me down upon the bed. Whilst he had his
hand on my mouth Betty got up, and was staggering out of the
room. Ile left me and ran to her. He catched her at the door
cheek. I did not see what he did to her. I passed them at the door,
and the man made a grab at me and catched me by the shoulder,
and left a bloody mark upon the shirt. I jumped over the banis-
ters and ran down stairs; the man followed me through the lobby,
out of the back door, round the house to the front, then towards
Andrew's house. I then went through the hedge, and mid myself
in the ditch. As I went through the rails I saw them together at
the end of the house. I remained in the ditch until I saw my mis-
tress run down the lane, and I then went to her. When the man
Out his hand upon my face in bed he made my face bloody, and
me shirt is bloody where he catched me on the shoulder.
,the shirt was here produced by the constable, and appeared to
be maraca with blood in several places.
The Corot, =r and Jury then proceeded to the room where Mrs.
Blears lay. In ee„ler to avoid troubling her as much as possible,
an tyrotng was read over to her, anti she as
ted examination
- n taken s
it was to i; the to:.loreing effect :—About five or six
sen e
to inaittio
o'clock, on ;11onday evening, two Mei: 71Bed at our house ; they
sat in the bar together, and I kept going in at.. Out. When I was
present they did not appear to be in conversatio,: but when I
was in the kitchen I saw them seated on the squab, an.: "slyer'
Mg together. The one who came in last, as soon as he hart One
eating, asked if my husband was in? I told him that he was gone
to Manchester. My husband arrived about eight o'clock. When
my husband came into the bar, the man asked what he would
have to drink ? He replied, " Nothing at present." The
man, however, pressed him to have a glass of whisky, which
he took, and then went into the kitchen to get his tea, but
the man called him back, and said he must take another glass.
The other man was then drinking cider and wine by himself; but
they had afterwards a glass of cider each. After my husband had
drank the second glass, he lay down on the squab, and fell asleep.
lie then said, "is our bed ready ?" I said, " yes, any time," and
called to Betty to bring.a candle. I desired her to show them to
the room door, and point out which bed it was. She brought the
candle and they all went out of the bar together,and up stairs. After
they had been gone about two minutes, I heard a scream ; on which
I took the candle which stood upon the table, intending to go up
stairs with it; but an soon as I got to the bar door, the man I did
not know met me, laid hold of me, and struck at my throat with a
knife, which wounded me. I tried to scream out, but he laid fast
hold of my neck and throat, and prevented me. Ile then threw me
down, stabbed at me several times, and at last struck the knife
into my face, under the left eye. He then tried to pull it out
again, but could not ; he pulled several time*, until at last the
handle came off, and left the blade sticking in my face. 1 then
fell upon the floor, and he went to the back door and whistled ; on
which I got up, ran to the front door, opened it, and went to
Richard Andrews, calling out " Murder, murder !" I kicked at
Andrews' door, and several of the neighbours came about me.
Two or three of them tried to get the knife blade out of my cheek,
but could not. I then heard William Higgins, the boy who lived
at-our house, calling out, "Da come ; they have killed Betty !"
Ile then came to me in Ills shirt.
Thomas Millington—l live at Winton. On Monday
.night I
came to this house, about half-past eight, and stopped until about
ten. I saw in the bar two men, one of whom I had seen before : I
believe they were Scotchnien, from their accent. Joseph Blears
was in the bar when I went in ; he was called out, and I saw one
of the men empty his glass into Blear's glass; it was the bigger
man, he put some water ouoof a jug ; there were several persons in
the taproom at the time.
Jesse Jones.—One of the Scotehmen poured part of his liquor
into Blear's glass. Blears had turned his head another way at the
time. He then put water into his own glass, drank, and then said,
Bleary, drink up." ten Blears had drank up, he tk
a draught of water, and held his handkerchief to his mouth, asooit
the liquor had taken his breath. The other Scotchman pulled sonic
money out of his pocket, and said, " I have another dd., let us
have another glass, Meant." The conversationlwas about Blears'
selling his house. He said he would not take less than MW. for it.
The depositions of several other witnessea were taken in corrobo-
ration of these particulars.
'the Court was then cleared; and the Jury, after deliberating
about two minutes, returned a verdict ot--" IVilful Mulder against
Alexander and Michael itl'Kean.

. _
A duel was fought on Saturday at the back of the dog
kennel, Ascot-heath, between R. A. Os—b—n, Esq., and
M. M—, Esq. The' dispute originated respecting a bet
on the Durdon Sakes, at Epsom Races, and the conse-
quence was, that Mr. M-- was shot in the shoulder in
the first fire, but not seriously.