The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-05 00:00:00

THE MURDER AND HIGIIWAY ROBBERY LA,

ESSEX.

HALSTEAD, WEDNESDAY.
The excitement occasioned by the robbery and
murder of Mr. Isaac Butcher, farmer and cattle
dealer, on Saturday evening, while on his way
from Colchester market to his home at Colne En-
gaine (e small village about three miles from this
town), has greatly increased by the result of the
post-mortem examination.
The inquest was held yesterday before William
C(idd, Esq., coroner for the northern division of
the county, and a jury of farmers from the neigh-
bourhood.
The most important witness, excepting the
medical testimony, was a young man named Butler
teerei
pt)s'aots‘
coOkoapfhtp;) :etiddwiatOonnt2dooo:
it'urhs
nt3reoni followed d
under gardener to Robert Hills, Esq., of Colne
o
dais
Park, the late high sheriff for the county. Butler
states that he lefc. work just after six o'clock, and
when within fifty yards of the lodge gate he heard
a noise as of persons scuffling in the road, and a
by several groans,ahwea y
again. a dA ab
heard
euu
autrn2ddof
yards
oak_
tresd
tsae
p ps e ri sn ena
esc
small
oeakrl
pac
running
sad '
as
faintticdnuaisgturte.
ieuncg;Holtyil
yaeto
hmqfh
elea‘ taigncrOald:tyl eln:
hndgewheihaosf
enro
he might b 3 himself at-
tacked
ntnhi,negrbut fearing further.on he
sp:ltantinsetrafutuinliie gave up the pursuit, and returned to the
deceased, who appeared at that moment to breath
his last. After the deceased bad "home, his cheque-book and pocket-book were
con
foundve y ed
o 6
r
surgeon, Earl
in his coat pocket, apparently undisturbed ; and
Halsteadcolne ,
whoßa n
the latter, with other papers, contained a receipt f..r
upwards
the previous day.
mr. .
Taylor,
ayl f 0
0, 0 1.
paid nthe Bank on
b-3e .n sent for when the deceased was first found,
made an immediate examination
of the body, but
could detect injuries
no beyond a contus on of the
nose and a cut on the inside of the 3 upper lip, " 1f
from pressure upon
a b ' roeeen tcoth. Of course
neither of . •
liese was sufficient to account for death,
and nut only report was in circulation that the de-
co .sed died frous a fit, but the coroner, upon the
statement of the circumstances made 1 •
to him, ar-..
rivel at the same conclusion, and consequently did
not give an order for a post-mortem examination
Until the morning of the inquest. This was most
minutely and carefully performed by Dr. Taylcr,
assisted by another gentleman of Halstead. They
foiled congestion of the brain, but without any
appearance of injury to the skull. The toilette was
neither protruding or swollen, which might be ex-
peceed from ordinary strangulation ; but here
were black patches on both arias above the elbow,
as if he hal beer pinioned from behind, and there
was an oval patch upon the angle of each jaw, re-
s:anblieg in shape a thumb and finger, one being
larger than the ocher. Both medicel gentlemen
were sai-fied that death arose &An aslayxia, the
result of violence, and as far as they could fOrrn an
opinion, it was that a band was Ares-ed over the
mouth and nose, so held as to cause suffocaticn.
The Jury, without hesitation, arrived at a verdict
of " Wilf ii Murder by sonic person or persons
unknown.
The, description obtained by the police of the two
men suspected, and who had been observed at
Halstead fair on the preceding day, corresponds
very closely with that of two men who committed
a highway robbery upon a farmer named Palmer,
who had been attending East Harding fair, in Nor-
folk, on the 24th ult. They are apparently rail-
road labourers on tramp. The Norfolk and Essex
police are acting in concert in the search for them,
but at present ro clue has been obtained as to the
route they have taken, beyond the fact that a man

resembling ono of the parties tock the train for
London on Sunday morning from the Kelvedon
station.

TIM GREAT P RTLA NO-ST 1:111ET ROB-
BERY.-GAPTURj OF THE _POLLUX AN
SAAKEY.

The papers contain accounts of the arrest of a
man calling himself Henry Williams and Matilda
Ross, charged with having committed the robbery
at 68, Great Portland-street, to the value of up-
wards of 1,0001. The following are the particulars
of the arrest :—On Saturday the head constable of
Cork received information that the prisoners had
got into the train at Lucan, and travelled by a
third-class as far as Kildare, whore they gut out,
and Williams stated there that he was going to
Killarney, and would wait for the mail train, but
when the usual train arrived he took a ticket for
Cork. The two parties put up- at the Wellington
Hotel, stating that they intended staying there for
the night, but they only remained until three or
! four o'clock, when they sent for a car, and directed
the ca, man to drive theirs to some village three or
four miles outside the city, where they could be ac-
commodated for the night. In the meantime the
inmates of the Wellington Hotel began to enter-
tain suspicions about the pair. The man presented
the appearance of a London policeman in plain
cloth-s, and the youthful a,rill interesting appear-
ance of the young lady induced the idea that an
elopement had taken place—that the femal;) was
some romantic boarding-house Miss who had run off
with him. Information of the circumstance was con-
veyed to head-constable Roe, who, on hearing a de-
scription of the parties, recognised it as answering to
that of the male and female who had committed the
robbery in Lond on ; and, having made out the carman
and ascertained from hits where ho had driven
them, he staved for Midleton about one o'clock at
night, in company with sub-constable M‘Manus,
and found the pair in bed in lodgings there. Dis-
turbing their soft repose, he desired them to dress
themselves, and questioned them separately as to
who they were. The female admitted at once that
she was the person described in the Police Gazette,
namely, Matilda Ross alias Duval ; but the male
prisoner, who was described as James Sankey, per-
sisted in stating that his name was Henry Williams.
There could be no doubt that they were the same
parties, for their dress and appearance were exactly
the same as described in the Gazette ; and though
none of the stolen property was found with thew,
yet a trunk and some luggage fully identified
Sankey. It appeared that the latter had been, up
to the time of the robbery, a London, policeman,
and that having been placed in charge of the house,
which belonged to a lady named Aitkin, he took
advantage of his position to abscond with the pro
perty mentioned. A sum of 501. was offered fur
the arrest of both parties, it having been ascer-
tained that the female prisoner had accompanied
him on his flight, but they Lad eluded all search
until head constable Roe got on their track. An-
other party I;as also been arrested in London, ou
charge of having been connected with the robbery.
rite magistrates decided on remanding the parties
for the purpose of having them sent back to Lon-
don, the mayor remarking that the head constable
deserved great credit for the activity and sharpness
he had displayed in the affair.