The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-27 00:00:00

A singular charge of
Brecon Assizes. No fewer th- _en
suhpcenaed for and against the a ifeeria,matiinameel
William Protheroe. He was indicted for the wilful
murder of Martha Thomas, at Rhymney, on the 18th of
June, 1867. The deceased was a single young woman,
residing with her brother, Walter Thomas, at Tavarnau-
bach, a place on the borders of Breconshire, and imme-
diately adjacent to Rhymney, on the high-road from Mer-
thyr to Abergavenny. For a considerable period she had
kept company with the prisoner, who was also single,
and her senior by a great number of years, and ulti-
mately she had a child by him. This child appears to
have been the cause of contention between them,
both before and after its birth. Before the birth pH-
:ether met deeessed one day on the mountain between
ithymr.:,..y and Dowlais,. and an nit ;:i.tiou took place,
which ended in his committing a de3perate ai,sault upon
l!er, fur wll'eh lie was. smmuoned before the mag,i4rates
at
'Merthyr, aol sentence to a t,rru of imprisonment.
T)uring his imprisonment the child was born, and after
' is discharge, Caine unsuccoasful efforts having been made
the view of br:oging about a marriage between the par-
ties,. the doce.lszd summoned Protheroe before the Merthyr
magistrates, and obtained an order of aMliation against
him. The prisoner contented the summons, but at the con-
clusion of the young woman's case he admitted the pater-
nity. That took place on the Saturday previous to Tues-
day, the 18th June. On the last-mentioned day,
about seven o'clock in the evening, deceased told her
sister-in-law that she wanted to go down to.Rhymney,
but -the latter refused to allow her to go. Late in
the evening, about half-past ten, or between that
and eleven o'clock, while her sister-in-law was absent for a
few minutes, dedeased left the house, and was never after-
wards seen alive. Search was made for her in every place
around where it was supposed that she might have con-
cealed herself, but with no success. On the Saturday
following some workpeople were at dinner near an
abandoned shaft called Nantllesk Pit (in the county of
Glamorgan), and a girl in passing asked them why they
did not go somewhere else to take their food, as there
was a smell of horseflesh at that spot. This remark
induced one of the party to look about, and incidentally
be looked into the old shaft, and saw something at the
bottom, forty-two yards deep, which appeared to be a
human body. His discovery attracted others to the pit,
and a descent having been made in the presence of the
police, the body was discovered to be that of a woman.
It was carefully raised by ropes, and, having been recog-
nised by the clothing as that of the missing Martha
Thomas, was removed to the house of her brother in Bre-
conshire. Her face and head were smashed to pieces, her
arms and legs were also shattered, and the bead was
doubled up as though the body had. gone down the pit
head foremost. Foul play being suspected, the surgeon
who examined the body was requested to look carefully
for marks of violence, but the only marks which he could
find other than those which he would have expected on a
body which had fallen such a depth upon jagged stones at
the bottom, were two or three marks on the neck, which
appeared something like finger-marks, as though it
had been fastened in a tremendous grip. The head,
however, had been literally doubled up by the force
of the concussion, and that would leave marks on the
neck. There was no evidence of a struggle at the top of
the pit. Suspicion was at first attached to a gen-
tleman of position at Rhymney, but this having been
proved to be nothing more than a foul slander, the man
Protheroe was then suspected. Protheroe at that time
worked at the Rhymney Ironworks, and frequently walked
over to Cfncoedycymmr, near Merthyr, where he has a
brother residing. Knowing that he was suspected, he
volunteered a statement to the Glamorganshire police,
which was verified in almost every particular by Mr.
Superintendent Wren, and so satisfied that officer that he
was not near Rhymney at the time the woman was missed,
that be declined to arrest him. The coroner for Brecon.
shire, however, at the second sitting of the inquest, ordered
Protheroe into custody, and the Breconshire police arrested
him, and he was committed for trial. At the trial the
evidence was very conflicting. The summing up by the
judge was very much in favour of the prisoner, and the
jury returned a verdict of not guilty.— Cambria Dail
Leader.