The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-05 00:00:00

MURDER IN CORNWALL

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONMINT.)
TRURO, Fen. 2.—A horrible murder has been committed Pr el; be
past week at a small village named Trevarth, in the parish of eivsennaP'
near Redruth, on an old woman, aged 66, named Lovely Lean, the. Arts
of Jesse Lean, a miner and small farmer. In consequene of this, 2.1
well as several attempts at highway robbery that have been made 5n
the immediate district, the whole neighbourhood is now n a state of the
greatest excitement and alarm.
Old Lean is a hard-working, careful old man, and his wife Was,,,,
penurious woman, and acted as purser with respect to her husbalt;
earnings. In the course of the many years that they have been nasal':
the old people had, between them, contrived to amass a considerable
sum; and it is supposed that the well-known circumstance of its bel
in the house had excited the cupidity of some one intimately acquaings'
with the premises.
The old people, It is said, did not lire very happily, owing to the sting/
habits of the deceased, and on that ground the old man was taken into
custody the first day alter the circumstance became known, but event°,
soon transpired that removed all suspicion from him. It appears that
on Tuesday evening last, the old man, who had been attending
.b°
cattle, went in doors and found his wife and a neighbour with her tall
some tea. He sat down, but had not been there many minutes Wort
he heard the back door of the kitchen opened, and he called out
" Who's there ?" Some person replied in a low tone of voice, W thet
he could not tell whether it was a man or a boy, " Can you lend lae;
horse to-morrow ?" and the old man answered, " I don't know; Wm.')
are you ?" The person made no reply, and the old maw, in consequen:;
went into the kitchen, where he found the door open, but no 0"""
there. He went out into the farm-yard, and saw a man going before;
upon which Lean called to him, " Why did you not stop, and let melee
your face ?" The person ran directly off, and he saw no more of hi";
The old man then returned in, and agreed with his wife to rrn_ll
their money from the usual hiding place, after which they went to be;
On the following morning Lean got up about half-past five o'clock, t.!:
his breakfast, and went to work at the mine, leaving his wife in u`-ii
Between nine and ten o'clock a miner, named John Oxford, camel.,
informed him that his wife was very ill. The old man much;,immte
went home, and found his wife lying in the bed bleeding very o
and he said to her, "My dear, what is the matter with thee ?" and
said, " I am very bad." The old man, in his evidence before tee
Coroner, said that he asked her if she had any recollection how she nsAef
so ; and she said, " Yes ; I heard the back door open and creak,
heard the breath of some person, and soon after that the chamber d
opened, and I saw a man come in, who hid his face, and his back II
towards me. As soon as he came in," she said, "I received a ranr
tt
blow ; then he knocked me out of my senses. When I cane to Wl°
I was out upon the floor."
The poor woman was lying in a bed close by the room door,
opened towards the bed's head, so that the murderer must have baclLer
into the room, and struck her with a club a back-handed blow, as boo
check-bone was smashed. Ile must then have used some sharp sceood
instrument, as the lobe of her left ear was nearly cut off, and °°s,es
made across the face to the forehead. There were also several ~he,
in the lower part of the face and neck, so that the wonder is that.; of
was not killed instantaneously. As it was, she survived in a stab
perfect sensibility during the whole of Wednesday, when she died.
On Friday an inquest was held before T. Carlyon, Esq., and 37,
pectuble jury, at the Fox and Hounds, Gwennap, but the inquiry v"'"
adjourned till Tuesday next.