The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-09 00:00:00

THE BURNHAM MURDER.

VERDICT OF THE JURY.
Yesterday the inquiry was again resumed before Mr.
Chearsley. The removal of the prisoner Moses Hatto
occasioned considerable excitement in Eton' and the

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neighbourhood. He was conveyed handcuffed in a light
chaise-cart, between the superintendents of the Eton
and Slough police. The route through the village of
Burnham and past the Abbey Farm was purposely
avoided, owing to the excited state of the inhabitants of
the district, who, it is said, are so satisfied of Hatto's
guilt, that, if set down among them, he could not pos-
sibly escape "lynching." Hatto is a man of small sta-
ture, but of well-knit frame, with a countenance rather
pleasing than otherwise. On reaching the Mile-house,
he got out of the police cart with a light step, and held
his manacled hands aloft with an expression of bravado.
Mr. Goodwin, the occupier of the house, stated, in
answer to the coroner, that he had lost two white-
handled razors, one gold ring, two pencil cases, one
ivory-handled knife with several blades and instruments
n it, an ivory pocket tablet, two small keys, and a but-
ton-hook. He missed these articles from his bedroom

on Thursday morning.
The coroner asked Dr. Robarts whether he was aware
that Hatt() had an extensive bruise on the right side of

his forehead
Dr. Robarts was aware of the fact, but Hatto had
accounted for this by stating that it was caused by a
stick springing up and striking him on the forehead
while he was at work. He had examined certain marks
upon the prisoner's hat, commonly called a "wide-
awake." On the edge, where it turned up, he observed
two spots of about an eighth of an inch each, which
upon close inspection he had no doubt were blood. He
had also examined the outside of the hat, on the crown
of which he found six very minute spots, apparently of
blood.

Mr, Goodwin said that on his return home on the
night of the murder he found that Hatto's supper things
had not been put back into the larder. He saw the
meat on the dresser after the fire was extinguished.
That was a very unusual thing, as the deceased always
put them away.
John Bunce, the farm bailiff, was recalled. He said
that when he went round the farm with Hatto on the

night of the murder he told him to go to that part of the
yard -
next the granary, where there was a ladder. He
•told Hatto to stop outside the gate while he (Bunce)
went round the yard. Instead of doing what he had
been requested, Hatto came and guzzled into the water
somehow or another; it was water which came
directly from the dungheap, two or three yards
from the spot where he had been placed, and
where •he had been directed to remain. To get
at the water he had to go through a gate. He
said, " What a mess I have got into, Bunce,"
but witness did not at the time take much notice of him,
but said to him, "I don't like you any the better for
not stopping where I placed you." That was before
the return home of Mr. Goodwin. There was no fad on
the ground there, and he could not have tumbled into
the water accidentally. It was of no depth—not half-way
up his shoes. He was " messing his hands in the

water. It would have been impossible for him to have
seen whether Hatto fell in the water or not, on account
of the distance between them ; nor did he notice whether
his trousers were very wet or not, as he was a little
" runipy " with him. As nearly as he could say, his
his trousers were wetted nearly up to the knee. On
the morning after the murder lie assisted to move the
body of the deceased from her bed-room into the cow-
house. Hatto was there at the time. The body was
moved on an old sack, and witness was not aware that
he got any spots of blood on his clothes while assisting
in the removal. Hatto held the leg end, and witness
took the head end, which was the heaviest part, coming
down stairs first. The lower part of the body was
quite charred, and in pieces. Some portions of the
legs were left behind, and they were aftewards fetched
down on another sack. He saw no blood effused from
the body, nor did he think there was any blood on the
sacks. The sacks were left in the cow-house, and had
not since been locked up.
Mr. Ward, the magistrate, said it would be very im-
portant to ascertain whether Hatto wore the same trou-
sers on the Wednesday as he had worn on the night of
the murder. If he had not, and the trousers which he
wore on Tuesday night had blood upon them, it would
be very strong evidence, as it could not be said that it
had come there in conquence of his assisting in the re-
moval of the deceased.
Mr. Goodwin said he did not wear the trousers on
Wednesday which he wore on Tuesday. Those he wore
on Tuesday were put before the fire to dry.
The Coroner thought it might be important to ascer-
tain what portion of time it would take to consume the
body as found.
Dr. Robarts said it was so disputed a point that he
could not give any positive answer. He believed that
it would take from two and a half to three hours to con-
sume a body to the extent that of the deceased had
been when the jury visited it. But in other cases it
had been different. The body of Mr. Pass was burnt
by his murderer, Cooke, at Leicester, in a large fire,
and it took several hours to consume it.
Mrs. Bunce, the wife of the farm bailiff, was re-called
She stated, in addition to her former evidence, that Hatto
was of a very passionate disposition. She had some words
with him a short time since about a piece of wood, when
he shook his hand in her face. and said, "I wish you was a
man instead of a woman —wouldn't I." Deceased had told
her she had mentioned to Hatto that either he or she must
leave the place, for she could not live with him. These
were her very words. Witness said to Hatto next day,
" It is very strange that there was no robbery in the
house, to which he replied, " Oh, but there was." That
was on Thursday, about the middle of the day, when he
came to her house with some greens. When he came
in he said, " I suppose you will have to go up to Mile-
house where the inquest is held." Witness replied, "If
I have to go I will speak the truth as far as I know."
William Eggleston, a carter in the employ of Mr.
Goodwin, and lodging at Bunce's, was here recalled,
and was asked by a juror whether he saw Hatto when
he was removing the body after the fire was put out,
turn the body over, and take some keys from the pocket
of the decease ? Witness said he did, and a handker-
chief, .which Hatto pulled out at the same time, he
threw on the floor. There were keys on a little ring.
He searched about the bed for the purpose of ascertain.
ing whether there was any more fire. He (witness)
did not know what was done with the keys. A little
before ten o'clock on the Thursday night after the mur-
der, Hatto said he wanted to go to the Maidenhead
station, as he expected a parcel there for him, and he
said he would go at the same time to the Mile-house to
get some beer. He went out on his master's horse, and
was absent about an hour. Witness did not observe
whether he had a bundle under his arm or not when
he left the house, but he was in the stable a long time
before he started. He occupied a great deal of time in
going so short a distance. When he returned he said
he had not succeeded in getting any beer, as the people
at the Mile-house bad gone to bed.
Mr. Gough, the landlord of the Mile-house, said the
prisoner called at his house on the night in question
about 11 o'clock, but the house having been closed, and
recognising Hatto's voice he would not re-open it.
Inspector Langley said that from inquiries he had
made he had ascertained that the prisoner took his
master's horse from the stable, unknown to him, on
Thursday night, and went to the Maidenhead station to
inquire for a parcel. He had every reason to believe
that there was a shirt belonging to the prisoner missing,
and there might be some other articles not yet found.
The shirt might have been enclosed in a parcel and
thrown away. Every portion of Mr. Goodwia's pre-
Elise° had been searched ; but having been so king ab-
sent, he thought Hatto must have gone further than be
and thus disposed of the things. He (the in-
spector) saw the prisoner for the first time that morn-
ing. He took his clothes off in order. to ascertain whe-
ther there were 414 discolouratios of the arms, as there
must have been a fearfulcinst:sgle, the deceased being a
very strong woman.
of Mr. Saxton, constable ofn him in the presence
l'lljai7enhead, he distinctly
saw eight spots of bloodueonhandisno hat, two on the brim
material evidence to
and six on the crown.
offer. If the shirt could be found, it could be identified
by the washerwoman.
In reply to a juror,

Mr. Goodwin stated that he had not paid the deceased
any wages since she came into his service,
eight or ten
weeks ago. She had, he belived, money in the bank at
Maidenhead.
Mr. Symington, superintendent of the Burnham
dis-
trict police, said he took possession of Haas's trousers
on Friday morning, and now produced them. On the
Wednesday morning previous, prisoner admitted them
to be his, and added that they were the trousers he wore
on Tuesday evening—the night of the murder. Witness
asked him how it was they became so wet, and he re-
plied that he been carrying water up into the room were
the fire was found. He did not say he had wetted them
in the yard. By direction of the coroner, he took the
trousers to Dr. Taylor, in London, in order that he
might examine the spots on them, and state whether or
not they were blood. In his presence on Saturday, the
sth of Nov:mber, Dr. Taylor looked through a magni-
fying glass. The spots were so minute that he could