Star.
London, England, 1826-10-14 00:00:00

BARBAROUS MURDER.

Yestlrday morning the whole of the immediate coun-
try in the neighbourhood of Leatherhead was thrown
into a state of considerable excitation and horror, in
consequence of the barbarous murder of two aged indi-
viduals, a ho resided on the borders of Fetcham-common,
Within two miles of Leatherhead, and at a'short distance
off the high-road to Guildford. The names of the un-
happy persons are, Jahn Arkhurst, a helpless old man,
aged 93, and his housekeeper, Elizabeth Haines, aged
74. They inhabited a cottage in the midst of a .small
orchard, in a very solitary and lonely situation, being at
least a quarter of a mile from any other habitation. It
was generally rumoured in the neighbourhood, that the
old man was possessed of some property, as the house,
and seme acres of land adjoining ic,were in his possession,
and it is supposed that the miscreants were prompted to
the commission of the murder, in the expectation of find-
ing money, the produce of the fruit, which had been ex-
tremely plentiful this season in the grounds belongingto
the poor old man. The murder, which was perpetrated
either on Thursday night, or early on Friday morning,
was first discovered by a lad, named Brown, who re-
sided at one of the neighbouring cottages, and who, it
appeared, had been recently employed by the deceased
to gather in his crop of apples. This lad, it seems, left his
house on Friday morning at six o'clock, for the purpose
of commencing his daily work on the old man's pre-
mises. When he came near the cottage, he called out
the name of Elizabeth Haines, as was his custom, and
not receiving an answer, as he was accustomed, from
the old woman, he approached nearer the house, and
was astonished en ob.erving the door leading into the
house, as well as one of the windows on the ground-
floor, wide open. He at once suspected thdt something
dreadful had happened, having repeatedly called the
inmates by their names, and received no answer. The'
boy then hureied off with all the speed he could to in-
form his parents of the circumstance. His mother
accompanied him back to the cottage; and on her en.
trance observing no one below, she proceeded up stairs,
and at the head of the staircase, on looking where the
old man slept, the door being wide open, she was shocked
on beholding the lifeless corpse of Elizabeth Haines.—
Mrs. Brown was se much terrified, that she ran down
stairs, and immediately sent off to Mr. Gibbs, a Gentle-
man in whose employment her husband worked.- Mr.,
Gibbs lost no time in visiting the scene of murder, and
was horror struck on witnessing the bodies of the two
old people, which were mutilated in a shocking manner.
That Gentleman at once dispatched messengers to the
different county magistrates resident in the immediate
neighbourhood, and in less than an hour from the dis-
covery of the murder, the following Gentlemen in the,
commission of the peace were on the spot—viz. the Rev.
Mr. Bolland, the Rector of Fetcham ; Hankey, Esq.
and the Rev. Mr. Heberden ; all of whom testified their
horror on entering the dwelling and beholding the sad
spectacle that presented itself. Information was alio
dispatched to Union-hall Police-office, by the Reverend
Mr. Bolland, who communicated the fact of the snue.l
der in a letter addressed to the sitting magistrates,
and requesting two of the officers to be immediately'
sent down. Mr. Caldwell, after perusing the letter, in-
stantly complied with the request, when Mr. Hall, the
chief constable, together with Richard Pople, a zealous
and indefatigable officer of the establishment, proceeded
in a post chaise and four, and soon arrived at the cot-
tage where the inhuman murder was committed. The
abovenamed Magistrates were in waiting for the officers,
and bad given previous directions that neither of the
bodies of the murdered persons should be moved
from the positions in which they first appeared on the
discovery. The officers accordingly proceeded in their
examination of the premises ; they at once discovered
that the house had been entered by the murderers by
the expedient of taking a small pane of glass out of the
window that led into the washisouse, and removing a
very slight iron bar. None of the property below stairs
appeared to have been touched, for every thing was in
the same state as had been observed by some of the

neighbours a few days previously to the murder. The
officers then ascended into the rooms up stairs, one of
which, at the head of the staircase, the female slept in, at
the extreme end of which was a door leading into that
occupied by the old man. On entering this room, the
unfortunate woman was observed lying on the fiat of
her back, with her feet towards the door. There was a
pool of blood surrounding her head, the back part of
which was fractured in a shocking manner, apparently
by a blow of a heavy bludgeon, or some blunt instru-
ment. There were black marks on her neck, as if an
attempt had been made to strangle her ; and one of her
hands was bruised, apparently in consequence of holding
it up to avert the blows of her inhuman murderer.—
From the position in which the body was lying, it
would appear that the poor old creature was in her own
bedroom, immediately adjoining that in which her fel-
low sufferer lay ; and that, hearing a noise below stairs
of persons getting into the house, she arose, and in her
fright, was about to seek the protection of the old man,
and had just time to enter the door of his room, when
she received the Wow on the back part of the skull,
which fractured it, and laid her prostrate on the floor.
To the right of the door the body of the old man lay
extended on the bed, to which ite had been confined
for the last few years. It presinted a shocking spec-
tacle—both of the hands were raised up over his
head, as if defending it from the blows of the mur-
derer. The knuckles, and across the back part of the
hands, were dreadfully lacerated ; and on the right side
of his head, a little above the ear, appeared the wound
that had caused his death. The bed-clothes were stream-

ing with gore, and his night-cap, which was lying close
alongside the pillow, was saturated in blood. The hor-
rible sight was calculated to sicken the heart, and as
soon as the officers had minutely examined each of the
bodies, they proceeded to search the room, in order to
discover whether the murderers had left behind them any
clue by which it would be possible to trace them. No-
thing, however, was found, to throw the slightest pos-
sible light on the discovery of the perpetrators, although
every atom of the house was minutely examined from
top to bottom. The chests in the upper rooms occu-
pied by the deceased persons aei e found to have been
rummaged, but none of the property which they con-
tained, consisting of clothes, together with the will of
the old man, bequeathing bts title cr.:Page and spot of
ground to his daughter, were touched. Oa questioning
several of the persons who reside in the neighbourhood,
and who, it appears, were w ell acquainted with the
deceased, it did not seem that a vest►ge of property be-
longing to the old people had been taken off the pre-
mises. Indeed, there was nothing of any value in the
place th it could pos,ibly induce any person to have
committed such a crime in the expectau•m of acquiring
much plunder. N.)rwithstanding the vigilance of. the
Above named Magistrates, all of whom have been lode•

• t‘'4l,l.

fatigable in their exertions in procuring tot
the perpetrators of so atrocious a murder, nothing yet
has transpired to throw any light on this horrible affair.
We understand that about three years ago the old people
had been robbed by a man who was subsequently trieJ
and convicted for the offence. Since the murder, a ru-
mour has gone abroad that this individual was seen in
the neighbourhood of Epsom a few days prior to the
tragical event. In fact, theft are a thousand vague
reports flying about on the subject of the murder, but
as yet we can positively assert that the chief circum-
stances of the murder still remain a mystery. The Rev.
Mr. Bolland had handbills immediately printed and
distributed, offering a reward for the apprehension of
the perpetrators of this most diabolical murder.