The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-30 00:00:00

SUSPECTED MURDER NEAR

NORWICH.

A murder of a most atrocious description has been
discovered during the last week in the neighbourhood of
Norwich. The circumstances of the case are as fol-
low :—On Saturday forenoon last a young man named
Charles Johnson, son of a Primitive Methodist preacner,
residing at Trowse, accompanied by his dog, passed
down what is known as Mrs. Martinau's-lane. This
lane extends from Trowse-road to Lakenham, and is of
a sequestered character. About two hundred yards
within the lane, commencing from Trowse ends, stands
a small plantation on the left hand side, and when the
youth arrived opposite to this, his dog, which had been
running among the trees, sprung
.over the hedge to the
road with something in his mouth, which his master
thought was a bone or a piece of carrion. A stranger,
who was passing near, authoratively commanded the
dog to "drop it ;" but, instead of doing so,
the animal ran home to Trowse. Here it was
discovered that the object the dog had found was a hu-
man hand, and young Johnson, on his return shortly
after, was horrified to learn what the dog had brought.
lle detailed the circumstances under which the animal
had possessed itself of the hand, and it was then taken
to the station-house and deposited with the police. A
search was immediately instituted by the police, and a
number of labourers with dogs, and on Sunday morning
a human foot was found about 200 yards further down
the lane, in Mr. Jervis's plantation, by two young men,
named J. Spruce and T. Dent, and a dog. A portion of
the vertebras was also discovered in the same place by
Mr. Warner's coachman, and a second portion in a saw-
pit, not far distant, by Simon Finch.
On the same morning a dog with Spruce and Dent
found the pelvis. A black striped waistcoat was also
discovered concealed in the hedge near where the hand
was found, and a quantity of waste cotton, such as is
used by mechanics and others in cleansing machinery,
the latter being smeared with blood; also part of a roller
such as is used by weavers. On Monday the search was
continued—the police, assisted by labourers and dogs,
minutely examining the hedges and every portion of the
ground extending for a considerable distance round the
lane. Every heap of manure or rubbish likely to conceal
any portions of the body was turned over and inspected.
Nothing further, however, was discovered on that day.
The mayor and magistrates of the city examined those
parts of the remains that had been discovered on Mon-
day afternoon, The hand, which belonged to the right
arm, was firmly closed, the muscles appearing to be con-
tracted as in the case of a person who had suffered
great pain. From the appearance of the skin, it also
seemed as it it bad been placed in water. The toes of
the foot were likewise contracted. The foot is small and
delicate, with a high instep, and from the appearance of
it and the hand a person would imagine that they be-
longed to a girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age. Death,
whether natural or by violence, could not have taken
place above a fortnight, or three weeks at the utmost,
as
decomposition had not fully commenced. The ligaments
attached,to the joint of the pelvis were perfectly elastic,
which would not have been the case had they been
severed fur a long period. The. ribs appeared to have
been sawn from the right side of the vertebra with a
saw, in a rough and clumsy manner.
On Tuesday the tollowing were found :—A fibula, at
the lime-kiln, on the Hellesdon,road (distant about two
miles from the place where the hand, &c., were dis-
covered, on the opposite side of the city), by a man
named W. Noller ; a humerus, near Dir. Manning's
garden, Lakenham, by police-constable Wooller;
another fibula in a field near the Hellescion-
road, by police-constable Moore; three pieces of
human flesh, at the same place, ono of which would
probably weigh a potwd, awl the others probably less,