The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-16 00:00:00

THE SHEFFIELD CEMETERY RIOTS.

The magisterial investigation into the recent dis-
closures at St. Philip's burial-ground, Wardsend,
near Sheffield, was resumed on Friday at the police
court. The approaches to the Town Hall were
crowded to excess at noon; and long before 12
o'clock, the hour fixed the inquiry to commence,
the sessions court was densely crowded.
Isaac Howard, the sexton at the St. Philip's
burial-ground, who was apprehended on Monday
last, was placed in the dock, and formally charged
with disinterring the body of Edward Charles Sher-
man, aged two years and one month.
Mr. Charles Gould appeared as solicitor for the
prosecution ; Mr. Broadbent defended the prisoner ;
and Mr. Fretson watched the case on behalf of the
Rev. John Livesey, the incumbent of the district.
Mr. and Mrs. Sherman gave evidence as to the
discovery of the body of their child in a large hole
in the cemetery, and at a considerable distance from
the grave in which the child had been interred.
When they discovered the body of the child the
coffin was without lid. They were quite certain of
the identity of the child, as well as of the coffin.
Elizabeth Rotheray and Eliza Bennett gave con-
firmatory evidence as to the identity of the body,
after which

Robert Dixon, who a short time ago lived in the
cemetery, was called, and gave the following re-
volting evidence :—There is a stable adjoining the
house. One of the bedrooms goes over the stable
and partly over the vestry; no one sleeps in that
bedroom, There is no rack or manger in the stable
that I rontamher.. The coach-house also adjoins
the house, and forms part of the same building. The
stable and the coach-house were usually kept locked.
Howard had the key of the stable. The coach-house
key was left anywhere. Two or three weeks after
we entered the house I was annoyed by a smell.
I formed an opinion that the smell came out of
the chamber which was above the stable. I tried
to ascertain what was the cause of the smell. I
shoved three knots through one of the deal boards
of the floor of the bed-room. When I did that I
had lived in the house between two and three
weeks. I and my wife looked down these holes and
saw coffins in the stable. We thought there were
about 20 altogether. Some of the coffins appeared
to be very dirty, and some were not dirty. The lids
of all the coffins were on. The coffins appeared to
be those of young persons; none of them appeared
to be those of grown up persons. Some of the coffins
appeared to be those of persons 10 years of age,
others about 15, and some were those of still-born
children, which latter did net seem to have been in
the ground at all. Some of the coffins were piled
one upon another—some were reared up on end.
Previous to that I had made complaints to Howard
aboit the smell, and he said it would go away in
tine. (Laughter in court.) I told him twice, and
still the smell did not go, so I made an investigation
for myself. I had made the holes in the floor long
before I mentioned the bad smells to Howard. 1
did not like to make the matter public at that time.
At one end of the stable there is an open shed, and a
portion of it is recessed, and is dark. Some time about
the period of making these holes, in consequence of
something I heard from my wife, I went to that shed.
It was on the Thursday when I went. I found in that
shed a coffin. I had complained to Howard about the
smell before seeing that coffin. _When I first saw that
coffin in the shed it was dirty with earth, as if it
had been buried. It appeared to hold a body about
fifteen years of age. On the following Saturday
(Thursday being the day of the first visit) I went
again, with my wife, to the shed, and found the
same coffin there. I lifted the lid up with my toe,
and saw a body in the coffin. I could see the features,
and can say that it appeared to be the body of a boy
of about 15 years. My wife also saw the body. We
came away and left the coffin in the shed. On the
same Saturday at evening I came came home rather
sooner in order to go to Sheffield. I first saw
Howard that night as I was going into the
kitchen door ; he came out of the stable. He
coloured very much, and looked " queer in my
eye. He went to the back of the house, and
I went into the house. We did not speak.
I came out in about five minutes, and saw
him come out of the stable again, and go up
the burying ground. We did not speak that
time. I went into the chamber over the stable and
stopped there whilst I heard him come into the
stable again after an interval of about 10 minutes.
I heard him unlock the door, and I saw him come
inside and put to the door. I could see him through
the holes in the floor. He only closed the door,
and did not lock it. I saw him do something at the
body of a child that appeared to be about 10 years
of age. There were two bodies in the stable, one
seeming to be about 15 years of age. They were
exposed
least of the bodies. He appeared to be
cutting a leg off, but I could not exactly tell. It
ing
to upon
the
was a carving knife he was using. The
legs of the elder body were cut off. I saw him
put the bodies in a box, which appeared to be about
3ft. 4in. or 6in. long, and 18in. or 20in. deep.
The box was in the stable when I saw him be-
gin. He put the lid on the box, and then left the
stable and closed the door. He pulled the door to
for a minute, and then returned with a wheelbar-
row up to the door of the stable, and fetched the
dyke side towards Sheffield, That
outbawoxaybnh
andt placed it on the barrow, and went
e
would be between seven and eight o'clock. Between
ten and eleven I heard some person about the pre-
mises. I heard a barrow come in and the stable
door unlocked. The barrow was not taken into the
stable. I saw the barrow next morning. I heard
the stable door locked by some person. When
Howard went away towards Sheffield he forgot to
lock the stable door. On the Sunday morning I
went into the stable and saw the body of a man in
a box. The lock is a very bad one, and sometimes
the bolt misses. It was unlocked on Sunday morn-
ing when I went in. The box with thebody of a man
in it stayed in the stable about three weeks after-
wards, and war then taken into the coach-house, I
did not see by whom. It remained in the coach-
house seven or eight days. I next saw that box in
the hole in the burying ground. I have not seen
that box at the Town Hall.
Mr. Gould said Mr. Jackson had the box some-
where in the neighbourhood, and he should like the
witness to see it.

Mr. Dunn suggested that he might see it after
his examination.

Examination continued—When I went into the
stable I also saw coffin sides and plates. I took away
24 plates, and gave them to my master. Afterwards
they were given to Mr. Jackson. I first saw the pit
in the graveyard on the Monday following the
Saturday Howard went to Sheffield with the box. I
saw Howard put a coffin in it at four o'clock in the
morning. He brought the coffin out of the shed. It
appeared to be the size required for a person about
15 years of age. I am sure it was larger than would
be required for a still-born child. I had seen the
coffin before in the shed. I believe it to have
been the coffin with the corpse in it on the Satur-
day. I never saw Howard at the pit before that.
He did not get into the pit, but he pushed a plank
endway, and pushed the coffin in endways. He was
alone.
Mr. Smith—Could he carry it himself ? _ .

Witness—Yes. It was empty. It appeared to
be empty ; he carried !t under his arm. He did not
cover up the hole through which ho pushed the
coffin with earth ; he merely put the •plank back
again.
This being the close of the witness's examination
in chief, he was taken downstairs to see the box
which had been alluded to.

Examination resumed—l have seen the box
downstairs. It is that I saw in the stable, the
coach-house, and the pit, and the human remains it
contains appears to be the same I first saw. I have
never but once seen the prisoner go to the pit. It
was covered with planks, which were again covered
with shale and sun.

Examined ty Mr. Dunn—When I looked into
the hole and saw the 20 coffins in the stables I also

saw a box, but I could not swear that it is the same
I have seen downstairs.

Bertha Dixon confirmed her husband's evidence,
and ultimately the ease was adjourned for a week.
There was considerable feeling displayed
against the Rev. John Livesey, who was present
during the inquiry, and at the termination of the
proceedings it was deemed prudent that he should
remain under the protection of the police until the
mob had dispersed.