The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-03 00:00:00

AWFUL MURDER IN DEVO.NSHIK.S.

A most barbarous and shocking murder was committed
at the village of Milton, in the parish of Buckland Mo-
nachorum, on Friday night or Saturday morning last.
This hamlet is situated about four miles south-west of
Tavistock, and about ten miles from Plymouth, ae.d the
person murdered is a Mrs. Mary White, a widow, about
sixty years of age, who carried on a small hue kster't
business, selling tea, c,ff: e, candles, &c. The c,ld lady
bore an excellent character for frugality and 'nonesty.
She was last soon alive on Friday night abortt eleven
o'clock, at which hour she was sitting up for a man
named William Glanville, who had gone to 'Tavistock,
and from whom she expected to receive wee e lees. Ie
the course of the evening she hal called upon. several of
her neighbours to have a gossip, and abut) t half-past
ten she returned to her house. Shortly afterveards Glen-
ville brought her the lees, and after she bad received
them he saw her no more. She lived in the house alone,
occupying the lower room of a somewhat ntiserable cot-
tage as her shop, and the up-stairs room wa;f her sleeping
apartment. In this room she had a large box, about
three feet long, and in this she kept her money, which
was believed by all her neighbours to he ccin,iderable,
though no person has been as yet able to state the
amount. Mrs. White, the deceased, was a smart, active
woman, and althcugh about sixty years of aat,e, she wee
accustomed to milk one of her neigbour's cows, both
night and morning. Oa Saturday morning, therefore,
as she did not appear, about eight o'clock ono of her
neighbours began to speak of its being odd that M:'.ry
White had not come down; and shortly eftee nine one
or two of them tried the door. It was foua,3 that the
door was locked, and that the key was not ins ide, v. here-
upon one of them got a ladder, and ascended. to a win-
dow over the shop, about 12 feet high, and having cut
the fastening, opened it, and crept into that chamber.
He saw some one lying in the bed, the bed clothes up-.
perently undisturbed, and the person being to. :All appea-
rance in a calm sleep; but on coming close, aced slightly
moving the clothes, he found that there vras an im-
mense gash in the throat, and that the eerson had
either committed suicide or had been mureaered. ale
immediately returned to the window, and descended
into the street, but so horror-stricken was he with what
he saw that he thought it was a man, and not Mrs.
White, whom he had known when living, but who was
so disfigured by the blood that was about her face that
he was unable to recognise her. This person, immedi-
ately he had come down, ran over to Mr. White's, the
brother of the deceased, with whom also her e.on lived,
and there stated what he had seen. Young Wanite came
over, with others, to the house, and a shoeinalo a., named
Westlake, came along with White and one or two other
men, and Westlake broke open the door. Tho party
found all below undisturbed. They imme f lately pee-
ceeded up stairs, and one of the men went furward end
pulled down the bed-clothes, and then a most :awful sight
presented itself. The poor woman was floatil ig in a pool
of blood; her heed had been almost. literallyhe severed
from her body. Young White,
conwsacr.edisngdisc: r, said that
it was his mother.
money, with the except' Ducted that
taken,
the money-box had IbtFoeWnnAoiraoakfetewnr
lo)penence, ahnadd
btheaent
made for an instrument, but
and this fact, coupled with other eircumsta,eces, led to
that a most foul murder hs.idhbeeeinnuprtdherfa,..l,.
found with which
the conviction
inflicted. It it 3
r secreted himself in
thew hat hues Pe:
Penang,
immediately:bk.nee
gd , room,
tnphseettrhaintegdu.wdhearS:ebraeerearnhwaWs
behind the truckle bed, and that he had obtainedadmis-
sion
could have
the dinectoeatsheedcowtastageouint. thlencfoorumrsaetioofn,
a respectable jury at
was elevenim p
sent to the coroner, Mr. A. Bone, andwh e
on Monday morning
en o'clocke
e ,
and evidence taken, of which in the above we have stage'
the principal facts that were elicited.
deceased, a stolid person, se The son of the
seemed to regard the death of
his mother, under the circumstances, with, to say the
Mr least, great calmness. _ Bone questioned him very
closely as to the quarrels that had occurred between
himself and his mother. It is a singular fact thee the
son went to Tavistock
on Saturday for Merritt, and
asked
him to come ever to Milton, as a woman had been
murdered, end it was some time before Merritt learned
that this " woman" was his own mother. In the course
of the day a man named Corber was taken into custody
on suspicion, but was liberated, there being no evidence
to warrant his being detained. The investigation was
continued till seven in the evening, when, there being no
further evidence, the inquiry was adjourned till the 13t1
inst. An application will probably bo made to the Go-
vernment to offer a reward for the apprehension of the
murderer.

has been formed for
NEW RAILWAX.—A. company
making a railway from Darlington to Barnard Casqn.
It is to leave the Stockton and Darlington at a short
distance west of the Darlington station, and, passing
Pierce Bridge, Gainford, and Newshana, will terminate
in Galsgate-street, at Barnard Castle. The length will
be 16 miles.
NUMEROUS SUDDEN DEATHS.—OR Saturday Mr. Wm.
Baker held four inquests in various parts of his district
upon persons who died suddenly. The previous day as
many inquests were taken by him upon persons whose
deaths had oceurrcd momentarily; and in the course of
the week several similar cases came before the coroner,
They wore both old and young who met their deaths
under these circumstances. Some were found in beti,
and some on the floors of the rooms' they occupied,