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

... ........... mem..., ..1•••..
THE ROAD CHILD MURDER.

TRO WBRID GE, OCT. 3.
The examination of witue3szs on the charge of
murder preferred against Elizabeth Gough, late
nursetnaid in the ~,,urvico of Mr. dent,
Ruadhiil-
house, was resumed this morning a t 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
11r, 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 tho same calm demeanour
which she has exhibited throughout the proceed-

ings.
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, but 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 eXiV
mined. He said—l am the son of Mr. Rent, of
Roadhill-house, and am 15 years of age-
On the
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. I slept by myself in
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.
SOOD after I got up on Saturday morning I heard of
ray 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 Beckington. 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 G. 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•
listed in searching about the premises. I saw two
men with the bodistf the child in a blanket. The
body was taken inathe 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 iump3 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 tention. 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 Allowav 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 the 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 net
see Mr. Kent and the. prisoner 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 iu 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, aril he said, "There has been some one here.
I explained to him that they were marks which I
myself had made.
Cross-examinedby Mr. Ribton—These footmarks
were not in a direction leading from the drawing-
room room to the watercloset.
By the Chairman—Mr. Kent had a key to the
garden gate as well as Holcombe.
11Ir. Parsons—l am asurgeon, and reside at Beck-
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-
pany him to his father's house, at Road. He told
ma 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 ins the doer, 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
'taw, and was of a very dark colour. The lips were
I! dirk and livid. I afterwards found two small
_incisions on the right hand. This was on my second
exraiiiination of the body, while waiting for the
o
der froin 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 mortein 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.
as I could, by
I ascertained as farsmelling the con-
tents of the stomach, thatnolaudanut laudanum, or other
narcotic drug, had been administered
the lower part of theobto ew
I did not examine
was told that a pill which I had prescribeed—l had
been administered the evening before. I found no(
trace of it in the stomach ; it would probably have
passed into the bowels by that time. The pill con-
sisted of one grain of blue pill and 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-
haps 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-
canoe I saw no jets of blood on the person of the
child. If the heart was beating when the throat
was cut the blood would have come out from
the arteries '
that probably jets. It has since occurred to me
circulation was stopped, by pres-
sure on
the y
mouth that case life meutthbefore the cut was made.
t have been almost extin-
guished, but not quite before the throat was cut.
The heart might cease to beat a few moments .before