The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-17 00:00:00

REPORTED MURDER NEAR
WORCESTER.
(Abridged. from the Worcester* Jthirnal of Yesterday.)
On MUnday this city was, thrown into a state of con-
siderable excitement • by a rumour which had got afloat
that a murder had been committed in or near the city,
and that the mutilated remains of the victim had been
discovered by some boys, concealed on the bank of the
Severn at Pitchcroft Ham.- The rumour as it was at
first circulated was very vague ; several versions of
the affair and its circumstances being given, all of
which at last resolved themselves into this—that as
two boys were walking up Pitchroft, they discovered
the arms and .hands of a human body in the grass near
to the margin of the river, that they were conveying
them to this city when they
.were met by two men, who
snatched the mutilated remains from the boys and ran
off.. This story having come to the ears of the police,
immediate inquiries were instituted, and the boys were
closely examined. They persisted in the truth of their
statement ; and in consequence of the information which
was obtained from them, two young men, named Wal-
dron and Barber, were yesterday morning taken before
ldr. Sidebottom, who made a preliminary investigation
into the matter.
At one o'clock the two boys, whose names are Palmer
and Harr:s, the one aged about 14 and the other 8 years,
together with Waldron and Barber, were taken before
the Mayor and a full bench of Magistrates sitting at
the police-office in the Guildhall, when the case was
thoroughly investigated. The office was crowded with
respectable citizens, and the outer hall was besieged by
a numerous band of women, who evidently looked upon
the affair as a second edition of the Roehampton atrocity.
Harris was the first of the two boys examined. He
stated that on the previous day (Monday) about ten or
eleven o'clock, he walked up Pithcroft by the side of the
river with Palmer. When they had arrived at the
point opposite to the Dog and Duck public-house,
he observed lying in the grass, between the footpath
and the river, and -upon the river's bank, two hu-
man hands and arms. He at once picked them up,
and showing them to his companion, exclaiming,
" Look, what. I've found !" Palmer took hold of one
of the arms, observed that it smelt badly, and
then returned it to Harris, when both proceeded with
the remains down the side of the river in the direction
for Worcester. When they arrived at a short distance
from the Grand Stand two men came up, to whom
they: showed the arms, upon which one of the men
snatched them from his hand, saying, at the same
time, that " he'd keep it for the sake of the ring ;"
-there being, as Palmer declared, a plain gold ring upon
a finger of one of the hands. The arms had been cut
off the body near to the elbow, and there were marks
of blood at that part, and also upon other parts of
the• arm. There were no other incisions in the arm.
On being confronted with Barber he said he thought he
was one of them, but could not positively say. He did
not appear to know Waldron at all.
John Palmer, on his examination, corroborated Har-
ris's statement in its chief points. On being closely
questioned as to the appearance of the limbs, he said
that the extremities, where they had been severed from
the main body, were "haggled' or ragged, as though
theyhad been separated with a blunt knife ; the bones
were broken and splintered, as though they had been
chopped through with khatchet. There was a good
deal of coagulated blood upon the arms, and there was
a ring upon a finger of one of the hands. The arms
smelt very badly, and there were holes in the hands,
produced by putrefaction. The boy spoke positively as
to the identity of Barber, who he affirmed was one of
the men who snatched the arms from Harris. He had
known Barber personally for some time.
Waldron and Barber were then required to account
for the manner in which they had spent the previous day,
which they did satisfactorily.
The inquiry occupied two hours, and at its close the
Magistrates, after a brief consultation, decided that there
was no evidence before them which would warrant them
in detaining Waldron or Barber, and they were conse-
quently set at liberty with the boys.
The police are still engaged in making further inqui-
ries into this extraordinary affair.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

ARRIVALS.
Captain George Cox, Mrs. Cox, and J. Prowd, Esq., at
Nelson's Hotel, Portland-place, from Wolverhampton ; J.
Savary, ,at ditto, from Bristol ; Deputy Assistant Com-
missary-General, at ditto, from Davenport; W. Hind, Esq.,
and Mrs. Hind, at ditto, from Madeira; the Dwarkunouth
Tagore, Chunder Mohun Chatterjay, and suite, at Stewart's
Hotel, Albemarle-street; his Excellency the Genera! Busta-
mente and suite, at ditto ; Admiral Sir John West, Lady West,
the A. issea West, and Alexander G. West, Esq., at the Han-
over Hotel, from Braywick Lodge, Berkshire • Mr. and Lady
Mary Corbet, at Markwell's London Family Hotel, Albemarle
streer ; Mr., Mrs., and Miss Cunningham, at ditto; Mr. and
Mrs. Wallis Grieve, at ditto, from the Continent; Mr., Mrs.,
and the Misses Fussell, at Long's Hotel, Bond-street, from
Doulton Vicarage; Mr. and Mrs. George Nelson, at ditto,
from Banbury ; Messrs. Ferguson, Dobede, Webster, Card-
well, and Rose, Esqrs., at ditto; Wm. Bagge, Esq., M.P., at
ditto, from Marham.