The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-04 00:00:00

THE DIABOLICAL MURDER AT PEOVER

KNUTSTORD, MONDAY EVENING.—TWO miserable-look-
ing objects, a man and woman, who are in custody on suspi-
cion, were taken before the bench of magistrates this morn-
ing. The man represented himself to be a file-cutter, and to
have lived in Manchester. He said his name was John
Crossley, and to all appearance is from 25 to 30 year§ of age.
The yeoman states lierself to be the with of the other prisoner,
and that her name is Ann Crossley. This was alternately
admitted and 'denied by the man. He first said when ques-
tioned by the officers, that she was his wife, then that she was
not, next that he picked her up two days ago, and lastly that
they had been cohabiting together for the last two months.
She appears to be about the same age as the man. They were
both, to judge from the state of their clothing, in a state of
utter destitution. It appears that the officers had been for
some days, on the look-out for them. At three o'clock yes-
terday afternoon, they were found by Turton, the officer sta-
tigned at Altrinehain. 4 bundle of rags was all that was
found in their possession. They arrived at Altriechain on the
afternoon of Wednesday. On seeing the officer, the man
said, " I know what you want me foi., it is about the Peover
murder." He also, when in the lock-up, uttered some ra-
ther suspicious expressions, and gave but a very poor account
of himself. The principal witness who appeared against them
was Mr. L. Dumbell, the son of a respectable farmer at 01-
lerton, some two or three miles distant from Peover, who
said that after he heard of the murder, at half past 12 o'clock
on Tuesday morning, he went with his brother to fetch some
horses out of a field called " the Bottoms," at the lower part
of the farm, and full a quarter of a mile from the high road,
or 'arty path le .ding therefrom. He there met the man and
woman. The woman wtt; kohhing. He told the man it was
no road, and asked him where he wanted to go. He replied
to Mobberley. He (Mr. Dumbell) showed him. the best way,
and the man then got over a hedge in a contrary direction.
He and his brother -then tried to catch the horses, and left
the man and woman. Presently he heard the woman scream-
ing dreadfully. She was standing by herself. He asked her
where the man was, she told him he had gone over the hedge.
We asked next, who the man was, and she said he belonged
to her. He then asked where they had been all night, on
which the said, " CM, dear me ! it is a shocking thing ;" but
he could not get Ihlr to tell where they had slept. The man
then came back, and he asked him why he did not help the
woman over the hedge ; he said, " She was stupid and saucy."
lie afterwards said they had slept in Knutsford the previous
night. The prisoners, on being questioned by the magis-
trates, declared that they had slept at a lodging-house, kept
by Thomas Whitter, in the Market Place, Knutsford, on
Monday and Tuesday night. On this Whitter was sent for,
but was found not to be at home ; his wife, however, came
forward. She said she had no recollection of the prisoners
having slept at her husband's house on the nights they named,
but that they had been there once, about a fortnight ago.
The prisoners were remanded until to-morrow morning. It
is but an act of justice to them to state, that nothing more
than a few halfpence in the shape of money was found upon
them.