The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-04 00:00:00

THE ROAD MILD MURDER.

TROWBRIDGE, OCT. 3.
The examination of witnesses on the charge of
murder preferred against Elizabeth Gough, late
nursemaid in the service of Mr. Kent, Roadhill-
house, was resumed this morning at 11 o'clock.
Sir john W. Awdry, Chairman of the Quarter
Sessions, presided. The body of the court-room
was again crowded by the public, and a number of
ladies were accommodated with seats on the bench.
Mr. Saunders conducted the prosecution, as be-
fore • Mr. Ribton appeared for the prisoner ,• and
Mr, Edlin watched the case for Mr. Kent and his

family.
The prisoner paid the same close attention to the
evidence which she had done on the two previous
days, and maintained the same calm demeanour
which she has exhibited throughout the proceed-

jugs.
The Chairman said the magistrates had received
through the post two letters touching the subject
of the inquiry. The writers were not known to the
magistrates, bout he thought it right to submit the
communications to the inspection of counsel.
It transpired during the day that the letters re-
ferred to conveyed no information respecting the
murder, but merely suggested questions to be
put to the witnesses. They came from a distance,
and it is unnecessary to say that no attention was
paid to them.
William Saville Kent was the first witness exa.
ruined. Ile said—l am the son of Mr. Kent, of
On the
Roadhill-house, and am 15 years of age.
O 29th of June last I was at home for the holidays.
The little boy who was murdered was my younger
brother. I saw him last alive about 7 in the evening.
I went to bed at half-past 10. by myself in
I slept
a room on the second floor. I occupied the same
room on the following night. On the Friday night
I fell asleep very soon after I got into bed. I did not
hear any of my sisters come to the door of my room
after I went to bed. I awoke and got up about 7
o'clock. Nothing disturbed me during the night.
I am not aware that I awoke at all during the night.
Soon after I got up on Saturday morning I heard of
my little brother being missing. I searched about
for him. I was sent for Urch, the police officer.
After that I was sent to Mr. Parsons, our medical
adviser. Mr. Parsons lives at Beckington, two miles
from Road. I saw him, and he drove back with me.
Cross-examined by Mr. Ribton—The murdered
boy was my half-brother. My own mother is dead.
Daniel Oliver—l am a jobbing gardener, and live
at Beekington. I occasionally worked at Road-
hill-house for Mr. Kent. I was there on Friday
the 29th of June last. I left at a quarter past 7,
with Holcombe, who was examined yesterday.
Holcombe locked the garden gate, and Mr. Kent
got the key. I returned next morning about a
quarter past 6. I saw the boy Alloway as I entered
the yard, and afterwards saw Holcombe. About
half-past 7 I heard of the little boy being missing.
I did not see Mr. Kent drive off in a carriage. I as •
sisted in searching about the premises. I saw two
men with the body of the child in a blanket. The
body was taken into the house and I followed. I saw
the nurse in the kitchen. I asked her what time she
had seen the child last. She said " About 11 o'clock
last night." I asked her when she missed it. She
replied, " About 5 o'clock this morning." I asked
her what she did then. She replied "I went to sleep
again." The reason she did that, she said, was be-
cause she thought Mrs. Kent had heard the child
crying, and had come and taken it away to her own
room. I asked her whether Mrs. Kent was in the
habit of taking the child away. She answered
"No."

Cross-examined by Mr. Ribton—The dog was
kept chained up in the stable-yard during the day.
I do not know whether he was let loose at night. If
he is turned loose in the yard at night he cannot
get out of it unless he jumps over a wall eight or
ten feet in height. Supposing him to have been
turned loose in the yard, anybody might have
passed from the drawing-room window to the privy
without attracting his attention. The person would
be obliged to pass close to the gate of the yard, but
the dog is generally to be found at the other end of
the yard. When I went to Roadhill•house on Satur-
day morning I saw the boy Alloway, and Hol-
combe, the gardener. I think Alloway was in the
shoe-house when I saw him first. I did not notice
whether the lower part of the premises had been
opened.
By the Chairman—A man going from the draw-
ing-room window, or from the front door to the
water closet, would pass within three or four yards
of the yard gate. I first saw the nurse in the kitchen.
Afterwards I saw her in the flower garden. She
was then talking to Holcombe and Alloway. I dis-
covered some footmarks on the grass on tie lawn.
I pointed them out to the nurse. She said there was-
a policeman in the house. She brought him to me,
and I showed him the marks on the lawn. I did not
see Mr. Kent and theiprisoner together that morn-
ing. Mr. Kent came into the garden, but that was
after Gough had left it.
John Alloway—l am a day labourer, and reside
at Beckington. In June last I was in the service of
Mr. Kent as assistant gardener and knife cleaner.
I did not sleep at Roadhill-house, nor did I get my
meals there. I went about 6in the morning, and
left when I could. I was there on Friday, the 29th
of June. I left about 7in the evening. Holcombe
and I came out together. I saw Holcombe locking
the garden door. I went straight home. Next morn-
ing I returned at 6 o'clock. I saw Holcombe, and
he told me to go to the greenhouse. After I had
done my work there I got the knifebox from
the cook. This was about half-past 6. I got the
knifebox at its usual place. I turned out the knives
on a bench; I did not miss any of them. There was
no blood or anything to attract attention on any of
them. I did not count how many there were. There
were two carving knives. I did not clean the knives
that morning ; they were cleaned by Holcombe, in
my presence, while I cleaned the boots. During the
morning there were footmarks observed on the lawn
outside the drawing-room window. Oliver saw
them, and he said, " There has been some one here.
I explained to -him that they were marks which I
myself had made.
Cross-examined by Mr. Ribton—These footmarks
were not in a direction leading from the drawing-
room to the watercloset.
By the Chairman—Mr. Kent had a key to the
garden gate as well as Holcombe.
Mr. Parsons-1 am asurgeon,and reside at BCC ki-
ington. I have attended the family at the Roadhill-
house for the last four years. On Saturday, June
30th, I was asked by Master Wm. Kent to accom-
paay him to his father's house, at Road. He told
me what had occurred. I got to Roadhill-house
about 9 o'clock in the morning. I was taken round
the back way and shown into the library. I was
afterwards shown into the laundry. Mr. Kent gave
me the key and showed me the door, and I went in
by myself. I found the body of the child there
wrapped in a blanket. The blanket was covered
with stains of blood•and old soil. I did not think
there was any great quantity of blood on the blanket
itself, though the stains were considerable. There
were a nightgown and flannel shirt on the body,
They were much stained with blood and soil from
the privy. The throat was cut down to the bone.
It was a clean cut, and was made from the left to
the right. It must have been done in one cut
with a very sharp knife with a long blade. I
am unable to say from the wound whether it was
inflicted with a pointed knife. A considerable
quantity of blood had flowed from the wound in the
throat. It had flowed from the left angle of the
wound down the shoulder to the elbow. I observed
the mouth. The tongue was to be seen within the
lips, and was of a very dark colour. The lips were
also dark and livid. I afterwards found two small
incisions on the right hand. This was on my second
examination of the body, while waiting for the
order from the coroner. The wounds were on the
back of the right hand. One was on the back of
the first joint of the forefinger; the other was in a
line with it. I also found a stab in the left side.
It was made through the nightclothes, penetrating
the nightgown and shirt, and severing the cartil
ages of the sixth and seventh ribs. It penetrated
more than half through the chest, and was about
•an inch and a half in breadth. These were all the
marks of violence I observed. Afterwards I made
a Post mortem examination with Mr. Stapleton, of
Trowbridge. I found in the stomach slight remains
of some farinaceous article of diet, which I supposed
the child had eaten for supper the previous evening.
I ascertained as far as I could, by smelling the con-
tents of the stomach, that no laudanum, or other
narcotic drug, had been administered to the child.
I did not examine the lower part of the bowels. I
was told that a pill which I had prescribed had
been administered the evening before. I foundo
n
trace of it in the stomach ; would probably havc
passed into the bowels by that time. The pill con-
sisted of one grain of blue pill end three grains of
compound rhubarb. It was an aperient. I prepared
it myself. If the pill had been administered be-
tween 7 and 8 the previous evening I should not
expect it to operate under six hours, and very pro-
bably it might be more—eight or 12 hours. The
dark appearance of the mouth showed strong pres•
sure on that part for some considerable time—per-
'aPs five or 10 minutes—and with a soft substance.
The cut in the throat divided two large arteries.
At the time my impression was that the throat was
not cut-in the place where the body was found, be-
cause I saw no jchild. If the heart e
t
s
of blood on the person of the
was beating when the throat w
was cut the blood laid have come out from
the arteries in jets. It has since occurred to me
that probably circulation was. stopped by pres-
sure on the mouth before the cut was made.
In that case life might have been almost extin-
Tuished, but not quite, before the throat was cut.
he heart might tease to beat a few moments before