The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-26 00:00:00

THE MURDER NEAR CARLISLE.

The inquest on the body of Jane Emmerson, aged
72, who was barbarously murdered at the Botcherby
level crossing of the Newcastle and Carlisle Rail-
way on Thursday night, was opened at Botcherby
on Saturday, by Mr. Carrick, the county coroner,
and a respectable jury, The jury having viewed
the body, the coroner proceeded to examine the fol-
lowing witnesses :
John Parker, station master at Carlisle station,
identified the body as that of Jane Emmerson, who
was gatekeeper at the level crossing of the line be-
tween Botcherby and Durran-hill, where the line
crosses the turnpike road.
Wm. Blaylock, a platelayer on the line, who dis-
covered the murder on his way to his work, and
who knew the deceased well, described thus the
state in which he found things at the crossing :
Ile found the first gates lying back against the road
fence, leaving both the railway and the road open;
one of the gates on the other side of the line was in
its proper position across the road, but the other
was wide open. Four iron pins, each about two feet
long, are used to keep the gates fast. Two of these
were in their places, one was lying on the railway,
and he did not see the fourth, as it was nearly dark.
There was a large cobble stone lying near the south
gates. The body of the woman was lying between
the gates and the cottage, a little way from the line.
She was lying with her head to the cottage, and a
great deal of blood had streamed from her mouth.
She was quite dead. Witness went and called upon
two men for assistance. They went to the porch
door, and found that a nail which the deceased used
to put above the sneck to fasten the door when she
went out, was nearly out. There were marks on
the door as if some heavy instrument had been
used to break it open, a pane was broken in
the porch window, and the window looking east in
the garden was also broken. Some of the drawers
in the room were pulled out, and letters and papers
were strewn upon the floor. The bed seemed as if
1 it had never been u,:ed, but the pillows were turned
I over, as if some one had been searching for some-
thing. In the garden they found, stained with
blood, a hedge slasher (a billhook used for trimming
hedges), lying in front of the window. They took
the body into the house. It was quite limber ; it
was not stiff. There is a wooden cabin near the
crossing gates, on the opposite side from the cot-
tage, into which the deceased usually went when
any trains were coming from Newcastle. She put
two lamps there after dark, one showing up the line
and the other down. After the last train from
Carlisle had passed she would take one of these
lamps away, and afterwards use it as a hand lamp
when she was moving about, and she went to the
cabin to remove the other lamp and close the gates
across the line when the last train had passed from
the east. Both these lamps were found under the
body of the deceased. There was a small socket
lamp found in the house which had not burnt out.
A pickaxe, the handle of which was stained with
blood, was found under the bed, and the marks upon
this corresponded with the marks on the drawers
and on the door.

George Hind, a workman on the line, said he had
been going through the gates to his work shortly
before midnight. The gates were disordered. He
saw no light, heard no noise, and passed down the
line without touching the gates or seeing anything
further.

• The Coroner said they could proceed no further
that day. The case was one of a very brutal cha-
racter, and involved in very great mystery at pre-
sent, therefore it was their duty to adjourn to allow
the police to inquire fully into the circumstances.
The inquest was adjourned till Monday week.
It has been ascertained that, in addition to the
money stolen from the drawers, some spoons and
linen were also taken away. The murderer is still
at large. The police deemed it necessary to inter-
rogate two men, one of whom is a tramp, as to their
whereabouts on the night of the murder, but their
answers being perfectly satisfactory they were not
detained.