The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-27 00:00:00

THE KINGSWOOD MURDER.

It was stated in the Mansion-house police report
which appeared in The Sun of Monday that a Ger-
man, who gave the name of Augustus Saltzemann,
had been taken into custody and remanded on a
charge of being found in a house with intent to
commit a felony, suspicions being entertained that
he is Johann Karl Franz, whose papers were found
in the room where Mrs. Halliday was murdered.
Mr. Superintendent Coward, of the Surrey con-
stabulary, in whose district the crime was com-
mitted, and Inspector Whicher, and Sergeant
Robinson were communicated with on the subject.
They had been actively engaged up to yesterday
afternoon, when they arrived at the conclusion that
the right man was in custody. It has been clearly
ascertained that on the Wednesday evening after
the committal of the murder on the Monday night,
two men went to the Commercial lodging-house, in
Wentworth-street, Whitechapel, and requested to
be accommodated with a bed for the night. As the
establishment is governed by the provisions of the
Common Lodging-house Act, Mr. Poole, the
manager, asked them their Lames. The younger
of the two, who, like the more youthful of the two
seen at Kingswood, was the only one able to speak
English, said, " Is that usual ?" Mr. Poole said,
" Yes, it is ; we always take the names of our
lodge's." The young man then said, " My name is
M‘Donald. Mr. Poole thought it strange that a
person who was evidently a foreigner should bear
such a name, and he regarded them with some
amount of suspicion. Turning then to the other
man he said, " What is your name and, appa-
rently taken off his guard, the man replied in very
broken English, " Franz." Upon this the one
speaking English pushed him aside and said, " He
don't understand your language—his name is Franz
Fosser." They remained in the lodging-house up
to the following Saturday morning, when the one
who could speak English, and is supposed to be
Adolph Krohn, whose signature appeared to the beg-
ging letter sent to Mdlle. Tietjens, went out at an
early hour to purchase, as he stated, something for
breakfast. He never returned, and it is supposed
that while he was out he saw an account of the in-
quest in that morning's papers, became frightened,
and at once decamped.
The police have reason to imagine that he went
away with a Jew named Morris, who hawks sponges
in the streets. It is but fair, however, to state that
no suspicion attaches to Morris that he is in any
way connected with the murder. He is described
as being about 35 years of age, having full black
whiskers. His companion—the man " wanted"—
appears to be about '2O years of age, short in stature,
with black curly hair, little or no whiskers; dressed,
when last seen, in black frock-coat, speckled
trousers, and coloured shirt. It is necessary to give
publicity to these descriptions, as they may lead to
the detection of the murderer.
When the police first supposed that the man in
custody, who gave the name of Saltzmann, was
really Franz, he was interrogated as to his previous
movements, ar.d he made some very startling ad-
missions. He was asked, through an interpreter,
where he had come from. He replied, " From the
country." His questioners next inquired with
whom. He said with a young man, N vhe had left
him. "Where had he gone?" He di d not know,
nor did he know what part of England he had been
travelling in. He was asked where he came from,
and some what startled the police by saying, "From
Konigstein "—the very place named in the book.
He also said he had been only a few weeks in this
country. Some one then asked him who had been
to Mademoiselle Tietjens, and he said he did not
go ; he only went with his companion, who showed
him a letter the lady had given him. He was next
asked what kind of letter it was, and he said it was
one giving his companion a passage to Hamburg,
the lady promising to pay all the expenses ; all this
corroborating, in a remarkable degree, the facts in
the possession of the police. Various persons who had
seen the two Germans in the neighbourhood of Rei-
gate were summoned to London. Among these was
a person named James Bashford, the parish constable
and a grocer, residing at Chipstead near Reigate.
He arrived in town yesterday afternoon, and stated
that about one o'clock on Monday, the 10th inst.,
he went into the Cricketers Inn, at Reigate (the
house where it is known the two Germans slept the
night prior to the murder). He saw two foreigners
in the taproom, one of whom could speak English,
and the other convemed in a foreign language
whenever he was addressed by his companion.
While Mr. Basliford was smoking his pipe- the
former went out and purchased some mutton, which
he brought in and placed in a pot to cook. He
was left alone with the other man for a consider-
able time, and had every opportunity of becoming
acquainted with his features and dress, and when
Sergeant Robinson asked him if he could identify
the man he said, "Yes, out of thousands?' Upon
Mr. Bashford's arrival at Newgate yesterday after-
noon the prisoner was placed in the yard with
about a dozen other nersians, Bashrord was
requested to look thVough an iron grating and pick
out any one he knew in the yard. The coarse
adopted was moot fair 3 no suggestion was made as

to which of the group was the suspected person,
and no one was with Mr. Bashford except Mr.
Jonas, the Governor of Newgate. At the first
glance Mr. Bashford pointed out the prisoner
as the man in whose company he had remained an
hour at the Cricketers. He said he could not pos-
sibly be mistaken ; he was positive the man he had
pointed out was the same person.
The next person introduced to look through the
grating was Mary Pitcher, who keeps a brush and
basket shop in High-street, Reigate. She stated
that between two and four o'clock on the day of
the murder two men came into the shop, and one
asked for some packing string. She showed him
several balls, and after a careful selection he paid
2d. for one, and they both left. When they spoke
together it was in a foreign language. The man in
the prison yard answered the description, she said,
I of the one who did not speak English.
Mary Elsey, her servant, was next produced.
Upon being questioned, she said she clearly recol-
lected two men coming into the shop for some
string. She said was in the parlour, and, hearing
a conversation going on in the shop, she came to
the door. She distinctly saw the men, and should
know them again. She was asked to look through
the grating, and at once identified the prisoner as
one of the men she had seen in the shop. She said
that she entertained not the slightest doubt upon
the subject.
Mrs. Sayers, the landlady of the Cricketers, also
looked at the group of men in the yard, but could
not recollect positively that any one of them was
one of the two men who slept at her house on the
night before the commission of the murder.
In all the above instances the identification was
established by the man's features. They were then
questioned as to his clothes. They described them,
and the description agreed in every particular with
those worn by the prisoner ; in fact, one of the per-
sons who had been brought up to identify him re-
marked that they were the very clothes he had on
on the day of the murder.
Although the man in custody rather answered
the description of the one who did not go to Made-
moiselle Tetjens, the police deemed it advisable to
procure the attendance of that lady at Newgate, in
the hope that she might have seen him from the
window waiting in the neighbourhood for his com-
panion. Mademoiselle Tietjens, who evinces the
greatest anxiety to assist the police in tracking the
murderers and bringing them to justice, at once
assented to the proposal that she should see the pri-
soner. She went to Newgate, but stated before
I seeing the man that he was not the person who
waited upon her in reference to his being sent baek
• to his native country. The police, therefore, believe

the prisoner's statement that he only accompanied
his companion to Mademoiselle Tietjens's residence.
The prisoner was asked the name of the person
with whom he had travelled about the country, and
he replied that he knew him by the name of
Samuel ; and upon being further asked what trade
he followed, he answered somewhat sharply, and
evidently without thought, " He is a bone turner"
—the trade by which the person writing to Made-
moiselle Tietjens described himself.
The police being thoroughly confident that
the man in custody is Johann Karl Franz, they
last evening laid the facts before the autho-
rities, and it has been arranged that the prisoner
shall be formally brought up this morning, and
dismissed from custody for the charge on which he
has been remanded, and he will be at once taken
into custody by an officer in attendance on the
charge of being concerned in the murder of Martha
Halliday,' and will be conveyed before the magi-
strates in whose jurisdiction the murder was perpe-
trated.
It is proposed, in order to establish the identity
of this parson as being the owner of the book found
near the head of the murdered woman, to send an
officer to Germany, for the purpose of bringing over
from Konigstein the official who gave the book, and
also M. Wilhelm Bieuer, in whose service he was
for 10 days in April last.
Yesterday afternoon Capt. Hastings, the Chief
Constable of Surrey, and Mr. Alcock, M.P., had an
interview with the authorities at Scotland-yard,
and being informed of the above important facts,
expressed their gratification that the perpetration
of this barbarous murder was at length likely to be
traced to its right source, and the guilty parties
brought to justice.

LA TV Ili TELLIGENCE.—June 26.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.

(Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Guildhall, before Mr,
Baron Martin and a Common Jury.)

HEATH V. SPENCER AND ANOTHER.-KISSING THE

MAID SERVANTS.

This was an action for an assault under peculiar
and extraordinary circumstances. The defendants
pleaded first, not guilty ; secondly, that the plain-
tiff was trespassing on one of the defendant's pre-
mises, and that no more force had been used than
was necessary to remove him.
Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., Mr. Murphy, and Mr.
Byron, were counsel for the plaintiff, Mr. Sergeant
Parry and another learned gentleman for the de-
fendants.

. The plaintiff in this case was a clothier, carrying
on business at Bishop Stortford, and the defendants
were residents of the same town. The action arose
out of the remarkable and extraordinary circum-
stances as detailed in the following evidence.
Mr. Heath said—l am the plaintiff in this case,
and am a clothier at Bishop Stortford. On the
12th of February last, about half-past seven
o'clock in the evening, I called upon the defen-
dant Canning, for the purpose of receiving a small
account that was owing to my father. He was
smoking his pipe, and had a glass of grog before
him. He asked me to have one with him, and I did
so. The defendant said " I have got a very nice
young girl, I will have her down, and you mind and
be fast on ber." (Laughter.) He rang the bell
and accordingly the girl came into the room, upon
which the defendant told her to sweep up the
hearth. Whilst the girl was stooping down, the
defendant kept touching her with his toe, and said
" Here's a nice young girl who wants a husband,
don't you—(laughter)—and the girl replied " Yes,
but I can't get any one to have me." (Laughter.)
Canning said, " Here's a young man who would be
very glad to have you," and about two or three
minutes afterwards left the room, and I and the
girl remained in the kitchen. I gave her a kiss—
(roars of laughter)—and soon after Canning re-
turned, and said to the girl, " Hav'n't you got a
better fire up in the nursery; take Mr. Heath up
and show it to him." (Renewed laughter.) 1 went
upstairs with her, and after we got up into the
nursery she ran into another room and locked the
door on her side—(laughter)—and I bolted it on
mine. (Renewed laughter.) I returned down-
stairs and took my boots off to warm my feet, it
being a very cold night. Soon after Canning said,
" Listen, the girl is coming out, you go up and you
will catch her." About that time the defendant's
other servant came in, and also went upstairs to the
girl first spoken of. When they were both up
there Canning again told me to go up. I did so,
but did not find them. (Laughter.) I searched
under the bed, and everywhere, but could not find
her. (Laughter.)
Mr. Byron—So in fact you were sold. (Laughter.)
Examination continued—Yes. 1 came down and
found that Canning was gone. I looked for my
boots, and found that they had been removed from
where I had placed them, as also was my cap. I
made the girls get me a pair of Canning's boots,
and I was about to leave when the defendant
(Canning) returned to the house with three
men, named Spencer (one of the defen-
dants), Hayden, and Marshall. I was sitting
in a chair at the time. The defendant Spencer
ran forward, saying, " Here he is—here he is."
Hayden caught hold of me, and held me in the chair,
whilst Spencer besmeared my face and hair with
grease and soot. (Roars of laughter.) They then
struck me about the face and body with the handle
part of a horsewhip, knocked me off my chair, and
whilst I was down they most brutally punched me
with their fists and kicked me. In fact, they treated
me too bad for a beast, much less a human being;
and the defendant Canning stood looking on all the
time, and never interfered to stop them. I made
my escape into the Carden, where I was followed by
the defendant Spencer and Hayden, who threw me
twice, and I heard them say, " Let's get him under
the pump." (Laughter.) I then got into the street,
and was followed by them, flogging me with a
horse-whip. The next morning 1 was one mass of
bruises. I had two black eyes, a scar on the side of
my face, my ear was cut, and I was obliged to have
my hair cropped rather closer than usual in order
to get the grease and soot out of my hair—(laugh-
ter)—and the little whiskers and moustaches I ha
I was obliged to shave off before I could get my face
clean. (Roars of laughter.) Subsequently my
attorney wrote to the defendants for an apology,
but they returned no answer, and the defendant
Spencer, who is a photographer, photographed the
letter and exposed it in his window. (Laughter.)
My boots on the following day were stuck on a po!e,
they employed the public crier—(roars of laughter)
—and they were cried through the town. (Re.
ne wed laughter.)
Cross-examined by 'Arr. Sergeant Parry-1 am
Whilst the
ag a
against
their
e i 23 years of age. I never behaved any way different
towards the girls than to kiss or tickle them. I both of them.
defendant
r wa 3
out of the room I never behaved to the girls in any
indecent manner, put ade
e aat
epna pair of
dabootss o if t
to hgo e
y w home
od
bed-
room win;,',ok; dud threatened to smash it if they did
wn iottb
let but
u n I
c
did notg..iv et
haie r
come into their mem. They came down and gave
me a pair of Canning's boots. Mrs. Birwood (the
mother of one of the girls) did not threaten
to pp.,