The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-16 00:00:00

Murder and Mutilation near Uxbridge.

MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY IN A GENTLEMAN'S HOUSE.

UXBRIDGE, Saturday.

This morning, at ten o'clock, Mr. F. Charsley,
coroner for Bucks, resumed the inquiry at the
Crooked Billet, Langley-marsh, into the circum-
stances surrounding the death of the newly-born
male infant found barbarously murdered at Iver
Moor. Itwill be remembered that the corpse of the
child was discovered with its head severed from the
trunk, and lying in a stream of water in the grounds
of Mr. Ellis, a gentleman of property. That a cruel
murder has been committed there can be no doubt,
and had it not been for the ingenuity displayed by
the Bucks police the actual mother of the child
would never have been known. Susan Jarrott, a
young woman aged 22, has been accused by the po-
lice of the murder, and is now in custody of Super-
intendent llodgkinson, of the Bucks constabulary.
Mr. W. Gardiner, solicitor, of Uxbridge, ap-
peared for the prisoner.

Ann Jarrott, prisoner's mother, was examined,
and stated the families in which her daughter had
lived as servant, and also described a bag she had
made out of an old shirt to hold dirty linen.

Mr. Raynor, surgeon, of Uxbridge, examined pri-
soner with Mr. Bruce, another surgeon, and they
were convinced she had had a child, but she
denied it. She was examined a second time, and
the suspicions of the medical men were confirmed ;
but she still denied that she had been confined,
though they said she must have been, and that re-
cently. Her bedclothes were produced, and their
appearance seemed to justify the accusation. The
medical men said that the accused must have been
confined within a fortnight, but they would not say
whether the child's head had been severed from its
body before or after it had had a separate existence.
It might have died from suffocation.
The fellow-servants of the accused were called,
and stated that she lay in bed from eleven to five
on the day on which she is supposed to have given
birth to a child. She got up the next day and went
about her work as usual. One of them was in the
room with her for some time, and she groaned and
appeared to be in great pain.
Mrs. Susan Maria Ellis, of Iver Moor, mistress
of the accused, said the prisoner had been in her
service about four or five months. When she first
came witness remarked her size. She seemed very
large round and awkwardly built. It was explained
that her sprained foot prevented her getting about,
and made her get large. On Sunday, the 25th ult.,
she was told that Jarrott was in great pain, and
very ill. On the Monday, about half-past nine,
while witness was in the kitchen, Jarrott came to
the boiler for water. She appeared slighter. On
Monday she mentioned it to the nurse, as she almost
Bhe
a
fancied she had had a miscarriage.differentexplained
cause. tl
at
she knew the flooding was from

A verdict was returned that the deceased was the
child of Susan Jarrott, and that it had been mur-
dered by some person or persons, but by whom there
was not sufficient evidence to show.
A very affecting scene occurred at the inn where
the inquest took place when the mother of the pri-
soner, who had been brought from Norfolk to
identify the bag in which the murdered child was
found, learned the nature of the charge upon which
her daughter was arrested.
The prisoner was removed in the custody of Mr.
Superintendent Hodgkinson, and now awaits her
re-examination by the magistrates.

THE G OVE RNM ENT REFORM BILL—The hanky
borough petition in favour of the bill was despatched on
Wednesday night, after having been signed by 5,500 per-
sons. The petition from the neighbouring town of Stoke
was signed by 1,500 of the inhabitants. A petition,
signed by between 5,000 and 6,000 persons, has been for-
warded from Preston to Lord Hartington for presentation
to the House of Commons. Lymington, in Hampshire,
has also petitioned in favour of the bill, and a petition
with the same object was adopted at a public meeting at
Abingdon, in Berkshire. Ori Friday a public meeting was
held at Deptford, at which resolutions in favour of the
measure were mlopted.