The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-29 00:00:00

THE TY.ADSTVORTH-MOOR MURDER.

The inquest on the body of Bethel Parkinson,
farmer, who was murdered on Wadsworth-moor,
near Halifax, on the 14th inst., was resumed before
Mr. Dyson, at the White lorse Inn, Hebden-
bridge, on Wednesday. Mr. Marsden, the solicitor
for the West Riding, was in attendance, and, with
the concurrence of the coroner, conducted the exa-
mination of the witnesses. Joseph Shepherd, the
person in custody on suspicion of being the mur-
derer, was also present, and cross-examined some
of the witnesses. He is a mild, intelligent-looking
man, of fair complexion and middle stature. The
evidence was voluminous. It was shown that on
Wednesday, the 13th, the deceased and the pri-
soner wore in company together, when the former
asked a brother-in-law, named Normanton, to lend
him some money, assigning as his reason for want-
ing to borrow it that Shepherd knew of a young
farmer who, his father having died without a will,
was going to sell off and pocket the proceeds. He
did not get the money, but the prisoner and the de-
ceased afterwards left the house of the latter toge-
ther, and were traced thence to the moor where the
murder was committed in company with each other.
About 7 o'clock the same night a man answering
the description was met on the road leading to Lud-
denden-fo t, coming from the direction of the scene
of the murder, and shortly afterwards evidently
the same man took a second-class ticket at Lud-
denden-f iot station for Halifax. On the arrival of
the train at Halifax the prisoner was seen at the
stition, and he called a cab, telling the driver,
whom he knew, to take him up the back streets to
the Swine-market. He then got off and went to a
house of ill-fame, kept by a Mrs. Eastwood, St.
James's-road. As to what occurred there, one of
the inmates, named Mary Gordon, said—" I re-
member Wednesday the 131 h, about half-past 8,
there was a knock at the door. I asked what was
wanted—whether it was anything ? A man came
in, and asked if he could wash himself. He cantle
into the passage and asked Sarah Hay for warm
water and a sponge. I heard him say, have lots
of money • here's a sovereign ; get a bottle of sherry.'
I said, dome in.' He said, 'No, I can't ; you don't
know how I am.' He came to the parlour door and
said, Come here, I want you.' I went into the
passage, and there I saw the prisoner, Joseph Shep-
herd. I showed him into a bedroom on the same
floor. I tried to light the gas, but did not succeed.
I took up a candle from the dressing-table. I noticed
blood on his trousers. In one part the blood ap-
peared to have been rubbed in, and in another it
was iu spots. I saw blood on the man's fingers and
nails also. I fetched him some warm water and a
scrubbing-brush. He looked agitated, and was very
pale. I asked him what he had been doing, and he
said he had been fighting with a swell down the
street. He said, "I am a blackguard, but I will
not hurt you." I came out of the room, and he fol-
lowed me into the passage. Sarah Hay told him he
had better take his sovereign. He took it back and
gave her ss. in silver. Shepherd went out, and
came back in about a quarter of an hour. He
knocked at the back door, and Mrs Eastwood let
him in. I noticed that the part of his trousers where
I had before seen the blood had been washed, but
I saw spots of blood still left on his trousers.
Sarah Hay fetched a bottle of sherry. Myself,
Sarah Hay, and Shepherd drank it. He then sent
for a second bottle, and while we were drinking it
he had some beef and bread. While eating the
meat and bread he said he would burn his trousers
and buy a new pair, if it was not so late in the
evening. I said, Why would you burn them—
they are a good pair ?" He said I don't care for the
price of a pair ; I have plenty of money.' Ho said
he had not so d—d long to live, but while he did
live he would enjoy himself. He asked if he could
have a bed for the night, He asked Sarah Hay and
myself to go to Huddersfield with him next morn-
ing, and he gave a cabman a sovereign for a cab.
He stayed all night. Hay and myself slept in the
same bed. In the morning the prisoner left about
half-past, six. Before leaving he took the scrubbing-
brush from the floor, and commenced brushing his
trousers where I had seen the blood, saying (D
—n
it, it's not all gone yet.' " Sarah Hay, also an " un-
fortunate," living at Mrs. Eastwood's, St. Jame i's-
road, Halifax, corroborated the evidence of the las.,
witness. The inquiry was then adjourned ti. 4 yes-
terday morning.