The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-27 00:00:00

The Wigan Murder.

Yesterday, at Wigan, the prisoner John Healey, who
stands charged on his own confession with being concerned
in the murder of James Barton, at the Button or Bawk-
house pit, Haigh, near Wigan, on the evening of the 2d or
morning of the 3d of January, 1863, was brought before Mr.
J. Lamb and the Rev. J. J. Dixon, at the Moot-hall. The
prisoner maintained an appearance of the greatest indif-
ference during the whole of the examination, and as each
witness concluded his evidence, in answer to the formal
demand whether he had any questions to put, he invariably
replied in the negative.
The confession having been read over, the Magistrate
asked the prisoner if it was correct. He said—" It is not
all correct, Sir. I own that I had liquor with the men, but
then I do not recollect where I went."
Mr. Lamb asked him what he had to say about the
murder.

Ilealey—l can recollect meeting the men, and afterwards
getting drunk, but Ido not know what occurred after. A
man may be in drink, and not know what he is doing.
Mr. Lamb—You were not in drink when you made the
statement?

Prisoner—No.
Mr. Lamb—Then how was it you made it?
The prisoner made no reply, and evidence as to the mur-
der was then taken.

William Wetherby stated that he saw the murdered man
at the pit at 9 o'clock on the night of the 2d, and that he
had a watch with him.

James Watmough, a 'pony driver, described the state of
the works when he came at' a quarter past 3 next morning.
Barton was missing; the engine was stopped. A fire which
should have been lighted on the bank was out, on the cabin
floor lumps of coal were scattered, and among them was a
piece of a burnt muffler. He began to light the fire on the
pit bank, and opened the door of the first furnace to get
some coals. He could not do so as the first was nearly out
and in the middle was a ridge as if it hail been filled with
wood.

John Barton, engine tenter with his father at the col-
liery, was called up about 5 o'clock to set the engines to
work, in order that tho men might descend the pit to look
if Barton had fallen down. He saw streams of blood on
the dead plate of the furnace door, and finger marks on the
wall near, as if there had been a struggle.
George Armstrong, fireman, said that there was a smell
when ho went into the fire-hole as of burnt engine grease,
and he found blood on the furnace door. •
Thamas Barton, a son of the murdered man, said that
between 12 and 1 o'clock on the night in question he was at
Betty Ditchfield's, and when returning home he heard
steam blowing off at the colliery. He came to the place
and fired up next morning. He found in the ash-hole a
cake of blood and grease. The piece of burnt muffler he
himself had bought for his father.
Police-sergeant Gardiner deposed that he found in the
furnace a strap buckle, a brace buckle, a fow shoe nails,
and some pieces of bone.

Mr. C. D. Shepherd, 31.1.C.5., proved that all the bones
were human, and might have formed part of a full-grown
skeleton. There was a portion of the arm bone, a piece
of the thigh bone, the lumbar vertebra, and a piece of the
skull.

Superintendent Ellison charged the prisoner with the
crime, when he made no reply.

The last, and so far as the confession of Healey is con-
cerned, by far the most important witness was Jane Little,
a collier girl. Her evidence, which has not previously been
beforo the public, was that on the morning of the murder she
was assisting to load a boat with coal at the Bridge or pigeon
pit, situated on the canal bank, between the Bawkhouse Col-
liery and Wigan. The towing path was on the opposite side
of the canal to the colliery, and it was lighted from the pit-
bank. About a quarter-past 2 she was in the boat, and a
man named Jordan was above lowering the coals. He was
approaching with a full tub, when she saw four men coming
from Haigh, and proceeding towards Wigan. Jordan was
just lowering a tub as they came near, and when they saw
him they stopped suddenly by a heap of ashes. While he
was fetching another tub they walked sharply past and
over the bridge, where they waited until Jordan had
lowered the next tub. The men had caps on.
This evidence, so far as it goes, is decidedly corroborative
of Healey's confession, and as it was never made public till
yesterday there is but little probability that this portion
of his story can have been invented from hearsay. The
facts just mentioned have certainly inclined many people to
believe that there is more in the prisoner's tale than they at
first imagined.

Having been charged in the usual way, the prisoner said
he had nothing to say, and he was committed for trial at
the next Liverpool assizes.

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