The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-20 00:00:00

(FURTHER PARTICULARS.)

The inquiries instituted by Captain Bague and Mr.
France, wno were from about 11 o'clock assisted by
the arrival from North Cray (and not Crayford, as has
been stated) of Mr. Edell, into the particulars of the
above tragical deed of blood, have been most extensive
and minute. Froin them it appears that Mr., Mrs.,
and Miss Edgell lrft home earlier than was at first sup-
posed, viz., about half-past 12 o'clock, leaving particular
directions with the servants, especially the upper house-
maid, not to absent themselves from the house. She,
however, regardless of the injunction, proceeded at
three o'clock to visit her relations at Richmond, the
cook also going to visit her friends elsewhere, leaving
the unfortunate Elizabeth Paynton sitting at needle-
work
in her bed-rom up stairs, and the supposed mur-
derer, Merchant, in the lower part of the premises.
The
report that an intimacy of a tender nature subsisted be-
tween them cannot he traced to any authentic source, the
other servants denying such to be the fact, and it would
appear that the murder, from the coldness and rigidity of
the body whets found, must have been pepetrated within a
very short time after the cook and upper housemaid
left the premises. There appears no doubt that Mar-
chant, entertaining designs on the chastity of his vic-
tim, embraced the opportunity of the absence of the
family and of his fellow servants, to carry them into
effect, for which purpose, it is presumed, he proceeded
up to her room, and either by means of a subterfuge,
or by force, got her down into the drawing-room, which
opinion is strengthened by the fact, that during the
examination of the premises yesterday, the needle with
which she had been working was found lying on the
stairs. It would then appear that Merchant had at-
tempted to effect his purpose on a sofa which stood on
the right hand of the drawing-room, between the front
windows which face the west, and the door, the chintz
covering of which is declared by the upper house-maid
when she left the house to have been perfectly smooth
and in order, but which now appears in great dis-
order, and a footstool placed thereon which was not
there before. The ill fated woman being possessed of
strong muscular powers, it is supposed, however, over-
came her brutal assailant, and escaped from his grasp
towards the window, with the intention of raising an
alarm, and it appears she must have half raised the Ve-
netian blind for that purpose (the whole of the blinds
having been drawn down by the upper housemaid before
she left), when she was again seized by the murderer
and thrown down on the floor of the drawing-room, but
whether he then succeeded in effecting the object of his
wild desires has not been ascertained, no minute medi-
cal examination of the body having yet been made. The
position of the body would, however, lead to that sup-
position and that to prevent her cries alarming the
neighbourhood, the foul assassin imbrued his hands in
her blood. The following is a more accurate de-
scription of the state of the body when found. The
drawing-room is of considerable dimensions, having
folding doors communicating with a back drawing-
room, opposite to which stood a large round table.
Between the table and the sofa was found the body
of the deceased, reclining on the left side, the head
being towards the right-hand window and the feet to-
wards the folding doors. Her hair was quite dishe-
velled and lying loose in a pool of coagulated blood. Her
cap was off, and was found in another pool of blood a
few inches from her, as was also the thimble off her
finger, with which she had been working. There is no
doubt the struggle between the murdered woman and
her assassin must have been most fearful, her legs being
considerably
somewhat extended, one of her shoes and her apron off,
and, in addition to her dress being dis.
turbed, her stockings were found to have been drawn
half down her legs, while in her left hand was grasped a
quantity of human hair, supposed to be that of her mur-
derer, the right arm crossing her breast, and the hand
resting on her left shoulder.
The wounds are in the neck ; the first, which is a
superficial one, being in front of the throat, and the one
by which the deceased was deprived of life extending
from the right ear, round the back of the neck, dividing
the whole of the vessels on the left side, and occasioning
a most extensive haemorrhage. The villain, having
completed his crime, it is then conjectured proceeded
down stairs into the pantry, and, having wiped his
hands on a towel, which with a napkin have been found