The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-24 00:00:00

MUBDBR- IN WILTSHIRE.

Yesterday Serafin Manzano, a Spaniard, was
brought before Mr. Graves and- a full bench of ma-
gistrates at the Hindon Petty Sessions, charged on
suspicion of being the murderer of A nastasiaTrow-
bridge, the wife of George Trowbridge, at Ashcombe-,
wood, in the parish of Tollard Royal, Wiltshire, on
Thursday-, the 3d inst. The prisoner,is rather over
5 feet 7 mches in height, of slender build, with
dark .complexion, and exhibiting a peculiar expres-
sion of cunning in his countenance. He declares
himself, in imperfect English, to be a Spaniard ;
that he has served for some years in the army -of
the Queen of Spain ' • that- he has been travelling
for some months in Wales; and that he obtained
the clothes found upon him of a Pole, who had just
come from Boulogne.
Mr. George Chitty, solicitor, of Cann, near Shaf-
tesbury, appeared to watch the case on behalf of
the prisoner.
A letter received from the Home Secretary an-
nounced that an interpreter would arrive on behalf
of the procecution at 11 o'cloCk, but, as he did not
make his appearance, the proceedings were deferred
until nearly 2 o'clock. Mr. W. R. Steel, from the
Spanish Consulate-General in London, was then
sworn as interpreter.
The voluminous evidence adduced was in detail
to the following effect :
The prisoner was observed loitering about the
locality in whiCh the murder was committed some
days previous to the commission of the dreadful
crime. "Alice Stingimore, the wife of Wm. Stingi-
more, of Alvedistone, was accosted by bim at half-
past-10 o'clock on the Sunday morning before the
murder ; her little boy and daughter could not
understand him, and when she went to the door he
asked in broken English for a " bit of bread." He
had with him a little bundle, which was tied up in
a dirty blue cloth. Mr. James Stracey, bailiff to
-Lord Rivers at Rushmore-lodge, saw him on
Monday morning, the 31st of, Octobear, wearing
a " wide-awake" hat. On the same day Caroline
Parsons, the wife of an under-keeper in the
employ of Mr. Grove; of Ashcombe-house, was
asked by him for relief. ' On Tuesday morning,
the ISt November, the prisoner was seen by George
Kelly, John Bugden, and John- Abbot, residing in
the neighbourhood of Berwick-St.-John. On each
occasion he carried a bundle in a blue wrapper;
Nothing appears to have been seen of him on Wed-
nesday, the day prior to the murder. Next day,
Thursday, the 3d inst., Samuel and George Bench,
father and son, observed a- man answering to the
description of anzano, still with the bundle in his-
hand, about 300 yards from the cottage occupied-by
Trowbridge ; he wore a " Jim Crow " or " wide-
awake" hat_ The cottage is in a lonely and-seques-
tered situation, on the borders. of Dorsetshire, but
just within the county of Wilts. On the morning
of Thursday Trowbridge breakfasted with his wife,
and at 7- o'clock proceeded to .his work, half a mile
distant. At 1 o'clock he returned to dinner; he
found the door apparently fastened, and on looking
through the window he saw his wife lying on the
floor, in the midst of a pool of blood, with her head
shockingly mutilated and resting against the wall.
He gave an alarm, and Mrs. Parsons, a neighbour,
was attracted to the spot. Entrance was gained
by means of the back window, and on Trowbridge
lifting up his wife he found that ,many dreadful
wounds had been inflicted upon her face-and- head;
and that " her mouth was all in pieces." The handle
o a razor was found near the 'threshold; and the
blade near the -front door. A saw was-also picked
up in the room. A large box by the side-of the
bed in the upstairs room -had been broken open,and
a great many articles were strewed about the room.
.There was no blood in the upstairs room. -Trow-
bridge discovered that two Coats, three waistcoats,
a-pair of leggings, a pair of boots, and an umbrella
had been stolen. Some of the articles had been
taken off the bed and others out of the box.
Mr. Foot, surgeon. of Ludwell, was called in,'
and subsequently Dr. Richard- Spittle, of Cann,
Shaftesbury, was requested by the police author
rities to inspect the mutilated body.- The prin-
cipal injuries appeared to have been inflicted
with the saw, which has an uniform thickness—
rather sharp—throughout ; and they led to the
supposition that the unfortunate woman had been
knocked down and rendered insensible, and that
the death wounds were then inflicted. Some
of the teeth were completely knocked out ; the bones
of the face were broken as -though they had. been
beaten in ; there were three cuts on the left side of
the face, and four or five on the right side. The
cranium was cut through by the saw, and-the dread-
ful wound extended -down -into the mouth. The
brain was smashed up into one mass, and the marks
of the teeth had penetrated the cranium through_
the interior table of the skull. he only wouri-
;T
which appeared to have been inflicted -by the razo
_ _

was a cut on one of the knuckles; .wheic the cart

lage was divided very clean.- The saw was produced
in court—it was a large handsaw, to which human
hair and blood adhered. There was no blood on the
blade of the razor. Mr. Foot was of opinion that
death had not taken place more than two or three
hours before he was called in—in fact, the body was
not quite cold. The outer door of the cottage was
splashed with blood, showing that at the time of
the murder the door was open ; the splashes -pro
ceeded from below and went upwards. There were
large quantities of blood extending several yards
from the door, and it appeared probable that the
injuries were perpetrated close to the door, and that
the body was dragged to the place where it was dis-
covered before life was quite extinct, as the poor
woman was found with her head leaning against
the wall and her arm resting upon a chair. After
the murder the police were immediately on the alert.
Superintendent -Harris, of Hindon ; Pilbeam, of
Lvndliurst ; Matthews, of Salisbury; Baynton, of
, Ntirinborne • Hare, of Shaftesbury ; Watts, of Bland-

ford; Brown, of Dorchester; and liales, of Ware-

ham, scoured the country night and day in search
of the murderer% The next that was seen, of

him was about one o'clock on the 3d inst., a couple
of hours after the commission of the dreadful act,
when Mr. Thomas Shears, while riding along the
turnpike-road, observed him going towards the
Blandford toll-gate, at a distance of four or five

miles from Ashcombe.. He appears to have pro-
ceeded thence to Wareham, across Dorsetshire, into
Hampshire, through the New Forest, and thence

to Ifythe, where— he was apprehended by Ser-
geant Cook, an active officer of the Hants constabu-
lary, on Friday morning, the 1 lth inst. The man

must have travelled in the night-time to elude the
vigilance of the police who had turned out to effect •
his capture. En route he disposed of a pocket
handkerchief to a labourer named Green, at Dole's
Ash, Piddletrenthide, Dorset, at 12 o'clock on -Fri-
clay, the day after the murder. A fustain w
tist-
coat he sold to another man, accounting for its wet
condition -by asserting that. he had slept under a
haystack during the rain. At Church Knowle,
the following Monday, he disposed of another
waistconst and a necktie to John Jefferys, who
gave him 2s. for them. All trace oP him was then
lo,it on the Tuesday. Wednesday, and Thursday.
Oa the Friday morninr, Police-sergeant Cook ob-
served him on board the steamer .r.tTI3 the, a vil-
lage on the south-westeu. bank of the Southampton
water. The officer crossed to Southampton with
Manzano in, the steamer, and when he attempted. to
land on the quay he detained him, and conveyed
him sack to the police-station at Hythe. The
clothes which Manzano was wearing, proved to be

. t
those which had been stolen from-r, rawbrido•e's
0_

cottage. The prisoner gave his name as Serafin
Slanzano, and in reply to the sergeant said he came
from Boulogne' pointing to a figure 4 in a boa
when asked the day. Information having been

forwqrded to Hiudon, Superintendent. Huis, and