The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-19 00:00:00

THE MURDER AT BACTON RECTORY.

The police have at length succeeded in apprehending
a man who is supposed to have been the perpetrator of
the horrible murder of Maria Steggles, the aged house-
keeper of the Rev. E. B. Barker, at Bacton Rectory, on
the morning of Sunday, the Bth instant. He is a
labourer, named Wm. Flatt, about twenty years of age,
and lived in the village of Bacton. His character is a
very indifferent one, and he appears to have been several
times summarily convicted by the magistrates—once for
stealing lead from the parish church. He generally
went about in a very reduced state, his clothes were
ragged, and he had the usual look of an idle tramp.
The circumstances which gave rise to his arrest are
these. During the latter part of last week Flatt was
found in Bury, regaling himself in rather a profuse
manner, at the Shoulder of Mutton beer-shop, Long
Brackland. He spent a considerable sum in drink, and
expended as much as 1/. ss. for some new clothes. In
the course of Thursday night he gave one of the men
who were carousing with him into custody for robbing
hini of a canvass bag containing Bs. 6d. The party was
detained, but Flatt did not appear on the following
morning to support the charge. He seems to have re-
turned to the neighbourhood of Bacton. The police
were subsequently apprised of his doings at Bury, and
the unusual circumstance of his having so much money
about him. His explanations were very vague and con-
tradictory as to how he became possessed of it, and how
he happened to go to Bury. In order to ascertain the
correctness or otherwise of his representations, the
police accompanied him to that town on Monday, and
inquiries were instituted as to his movements. His
story was not confirmed, and the police then deemed
it prudent to arrest him on suspicion of being concerned
in some way with the dreadful crime. He was re-
moved back to Bacton for examination before the magis-
trates, and more minute inquiries led to a greater clue
being obtained, which, it is thought, will connect him
more strongly with the crime. It will be remembered
that the old lady was left alone in the house at about
half-past ten, and circumstances have led to the belief
that the murder was committed shortly after eleven,
her reverend master and the servant girl having, doubt-
less, been watched out by the guilty party, in order
to accomplish his dreadful object. Flatt had a toler-
ably good knowledge of the character of the pre-
mises of the rectory, and it appears that only a few
days previous to the murder he had been there in-
quiring for employment. On the Sunday morning
the deed was committed Flatt was seen in the vici-
nity of the rectory at about half-past ten o'clock,
and between half-past eleven and twelve o'clock was
met some five fields off the rectory, in a direction from
the back of it towards the cottage where he lived. Some
footsteps were traced at the rear of the house, which
corresponded with the marks upon some soil which was
found on the floor of the kitchen neaa where the tragedy
was perpetrated. This gave rise to the supposition that
the murderer had taken flight from the back of the
rectory. The accused has undergone an examination
before the magistrates, the Rev. D. Day, Rev. G. E.
Frere, and the Rev. R. Alderson, but it was conducted
quite in private, nothing being allowed to transpire. It
is understood that Flatt was remanded, in order to allow
the police time to sift other suspicious facts against him,
when the whole matter will be gone into. As yet, all
search has failed in discovering the weapon which was
used in destroying the deceased. A number of labourers
are' engaged in dragging the moat which surrounds the
house, in the hope of finding it, it being thought very
probable that the murderer threw it in there on making
his escape.

COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT.--May 18.

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

ROYAL WET-NURSE.

Her Majesty has again honoured the Isle of Wight,
by having appointed a wet-nurse for her infant from this
town. It appears that. the young prince was in any-
thing but a thriving condition ; the milk of the first wet-
nurse not agreeing with it, it became necessary to try
another. Drs. Hoffmeister and Cass, her Majesty's
medical attendants here, were directed to procure one,
and they, on the 7th instant, selected Mrs. Francis, wife
of Mr. John Francis, shipwright, of this town, a fine
healthy young woman, in'her 22dryear, whose child was
about the same age as Primce George. From the evi-
dent improvement in the Royal infant's health, after a
few weeks' trial, she was duly appointed, and Mrs.
Mackintosh, the Highland nurse, left Cowes on Monday
last for Aberdeenshire, but not without some regret on
the part of the Royal household, as the young Scotch
female had conducted herself in a way to give general
satisfaction.