The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-06-26 00:00:00

•JUNE 26, 1838.

ATROCIOUS MURDER Al' WITHINGTON.

The inhabitants of Wit hingtou were on Wednesday thrown
into a state of the greatest alarm and excitement, by the report
that a horrid murder bad been committed in that peaceful town-
ship. It appears that a female named Mary Moore, forty-eight
years of age, the wife of Joseph Moore, a labourer, had been
for some length of time employed by Mrs. Chorlton, nut,• as au
in-duor servant, but to attend the Mauchester Smithfield market,
and sell vegetables and other of the lighter articles of farm pro-
duce. In the spring of the year she usually took the journey
three times a week, but her other visits were made dependent
on the quantity of goods in readiness for sale. On Tuesday she
left her house about halt-past six o'clock in the morning, having
with her a small reticule basket, containing a can, and an um-
brella and having disposed of the articles which she received
from Thomas Hooley, a boy, fourteen years of age, employed
by Mrs. Choriton, to drive the cart to town, she delivered him
the empty baskets about eleven o'clock, told him that she was
going to Brook-street, Oxford-road, and that from thence she
would ride with him home. When he got there he could not
see her, and after waiting some time, be left the place, and ar-
rived at his mistress's house about two o'clock in the afternoon.
Mr. James Mea, afarmer,living in Withington, who had known
the deceased twenty years, was iu Moss-side-lane, leading fro
Manchester, through- nt
Withington and Didsbury into Hahne, at
ten minutes to two, when Mrs. Moore overtook him, and was
evidently going float Manchester to Mrs. Chorlton's, whither
she always went, before returning to her own house, to account
for her sales and surrender her money. Mr. Mea walked with
her down the lane, conversing with her about the state of the
market, and particularly the price of gooseberries. She told
him that she had a good market, and had sold her goose-berries
at threepence per quart. Mr. Mea was talking to
her
her about a
minute, and she would have been at Mrs. Chorlton's, or atl.
own house, in ten minutes from that time, had she gone on and
met with no misfortune. She bid him "good bye," and he lust
sight of her in consequence of a bend iu the lane. She was a
remarkably steady woman, not at all addicted to liquor, and
was at that time quite tree from intoxication, and carried wit h
her the reticule basket and umbrella, with which she had set
out in the morning. She, however, did not reach Mrs. Churl-
ton's that night, nor the next day, and much apprehension for
her safety was consequently excited amongst her friends. Mr.
Sohn Brundrett, her brother-in-law, having heard, on Wednes-
day evening, that she was missing, went with William Leigh, a
servant to Mrs. Chorlton, to search for her in the pits, lanes,•
fields, culverts, and ditches in the neighbourhood. Soon after
eight o'clock, Mr. Brundrett noticed that the grass in a field
about a hundred yards from Moss-side-lane, leading up
Chorltou's, had been trodden down. There was a pit in the
across which there was a private footpath to a farm-house occu-
pied by Thos. Eason, and as the grass had been much tramPled
around the pit, they suspected that the body might be tb.,,ere-
They tried the pit with grapnels, but without success, and.inrci
Brundrett, pursuing the track which the trodden grass plesenle,.'
shortly afterwards tound her in a ditch at the back part of tued
pit, covered with water, lying on her face, with her bed
towards one bank, and her feet to the bank opposite. tier
,is
bead appeared to be much cut on one side and ber bonnet and
cap were awry. They got her out, took her into the mid, and
sent for the constable but as he was from home, in attendance
upon an inquest, he (lid not receive the summons, and 00'
therefore, conveyed her to her house'. Leigh examined her
pockets. '!'hat in which she usually kept her market-money,
and which was tied round her waist under the apron, contained
nothing; but in a side-pocket, in which she kept her private
cash, he found a purse containing two half-crowns and four
shillings, and also twopence halfpenny. She generally carried
somewhere near to this sum about her for her personal conve;
nience: The path in the field in which the body was found
would neither lead to her own home nor to Mrs. Charlton's-
Neither the basket nor the umbrella were founds, Mr. Thomas
Oilier, The Manchester police surgeon, yestetday made an ex-
amination of the body, and found two lacerated wounds on the
scalp on the right side of the bead, above and behind the ear'
The bones of the scull were extensively fractured, and driven
into the brain; and he was of opinion that two blows bad been
inflicted by some blunt-pointed instrument, and that death till.
have been instantaneous. He did not find any appearances°
sexual violence. There was something like a bruise mark oa
the lower part of the abdomen, . but it was merely the cots;
mencement of putrefaction. There were no other marks o'.
violence on the body. Some strange men having been seen Oa
the morning and afternoon of Tuesday in the lane, playing at
pitch and toss, it was suspected that they were the murderers'
and the police instantly commenced an active search for thee,,,,
and instituted the necessary inquiries, with a view to their an'
prehension. Mr. Beswick, the head beadle, was deputed, svitti
Mr. Thomas, by the Boroughreeve and Constables, to this diffi-
cult service, adk besides eliciting touch of the foregoing infor-
mation, discovered that a Man named George Fisher was pass-
ing the corner of the Three-lanes on Tuesday morning, and
a field close by found a large stick, which there can be no doubt
is the instrument by which the murder was perpetrated.. This
weapon they secured, and it is now in their custody at the
Town-hall. They also ascertained that William Leigh saw the
men above-mentioned gambling early in the morning in
Moss Side-lane, nice or tea yards from the gate leading into`
the field where the body was discovered. One of them wore a
dark velveteen jacket, and used his left hand in pitching and
tossing. He was about five feet nine inches and a half high.
Another wore a blue coat, and was about five feet six or
seven inches high. The other two were sitting clown, so that as
he was in a field, he could see nothing but their hats. The last
time he noticed them there was about a quarter-past tvrelve,
when he went to his dinner, and did not go that way afterwards.
The same men were seen at half-past twelve, and a quarter-past
two o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, following the same
occupation, by Robert airtirell, a servant to Mrs. Churl--
ton. He again saw them after this standing together in
the road It appeared that on the same day, before dinner,
they went to Mr.
.Mea's farm to ask for some mowing, and
made a similar application on the next day to Mr. Ileni'y Jack-
son, of Hough's Etid, and other persons. Mr. Mea, about an
hour after they had been to him, saw a man get out of a plan-
tation on his land, and go across the fields. It is supposed that
all the murderers took, this route, as the police were uuable to
trace them from the place. The amount of money believed to
have been taken from the deceased, from the quantity of pro-
duce entrusted 'to her, and the prices obtained in the market
Morgan, by
other persons for similar articles, was £3 55.,
in her market pocket. Yesterday Aiming
_Mi• Beswick re-
._
organ, had
cerved information that a pel.‘,. Wtitian) which she carried
met four men on Tuesday, near to the place where the murder
was committed, and the description which he gave of them
answered to that of the men who were gambling in the lane.
He stated that he knew one of them, and that he lived in Riga-
street, Hulme. Beswick also heard that they had on Thuriday
applied for a job of mowing to a person name Holt. He there.,
fore obtained the assistance of Mr. Holt, and Mr. Morgan, and
sent them to the house in Riga-street, to tell the men they: bad
work for them. They were, however, not at home, but the:in-
quirers were informed that the men whom they sought were
employed in the tunnel constructing from the Irwell to- the
Rochdale Canal, near Water-street. On this Beswick, who
knew that it would be useless to attempt to seize them there,
took Green and Lipsett, two other officers, to the Commercial
Inn, in Liverpool-road, and directed Mr. Holt and Mr. Morgan.
to go to the tunnel, and tell the men that some gentlemen at'
the inn wanted to engage them. They short!'- afterwards re-
turned
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men into conversation, and drew them out ofthe II 11
tonne w
they were instantly pounced upon and secured. Their names
are Thomas Wilson and Charles Leach • the whole three an'
swered the descriptions given of
having been near to the scene of murder on Tuesday, but said
they were at home- by twelve o'clock. The other man, named
John Wilson, Beswick heard was at work at amain sewer, near
Moss-lane, and he despatched Green and Lipsett to apprehend
him, but he had absconded, and was not to be found. Leads
is a tall man, wears' black velveteen jacket, and is left handed;
and one of the Wilson's wears a blue coat. Mr. Beswick,
searched the house in Riga-street, Hulme, and found tic.°
baskets and an umbrella, but we have not heard whether either
have been identified as the property Of the murdered wornan•
In the trowsers' pocket of one of them, he also discovered a piece
of ribbon, which there is some probability, was a part of the
poor creature's cap string. The men are all natives of Tar'
porley, in Cheshire. The field where their victim was found, is
a very secluded spot. The grass was much trodden down ne:-r
the pit, as if the murderers had endeavoured to throw her
there, and near the place where the body lay, it was in a simi-
lar condition, as if several pe rsons.had been rolling there loge":
ther in a deadly struggle. fhe deceased had some grass similar'
to that which grew by the side of the pit, clutched in her ban°.
William Smalley Rutter, Esq.. and a jury, summoned fronV.
the townships of Dulsbury and Withington, held an inquest on'
the bode yesterday evening, at the Red Lion Inn, when mani
of the above particulars were detailed, and Mr. Mea and other
persons identified the prisoners, as three of the men whom they
had seen. The inquiry, after the examination of some of the
witnesses. were adjourned to Tuesday next. WI. J. Norreys•
Esq., of Davyhulme, a magistrate of the county, who has been
laudably active in his endeavours to bring the perpetrators of
this horrid crime to justice, was in attendance.

LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY —\Ve understand that
the remainder of this line between Denbigh Hall and RugbY,
will be completed by the end of August.

MR. ANGUS M`DONALD'S Boot FOUND.—On Friday vorn...
ing, between nine and ten o'clock, the deepening machine
below the Glasgow Bridge brought up the body of a man in s
state of very great decomposition, which was carried UP
the f for r
dress, some
which o fto tht
receiving house. Mr. M'lntvre, the keeper, suspecting that "
was the body of Mr. Angus SI 'Donald, jeweller. whose myste-
rious
M r
they. iNI
BD ue instantlynal do'
ta e friends
ornect
ea
og
rious disappearance about eight months ago created such a
sen-
sationthattheiyn wentmthigishtceitxya,nnne
nised as that of the unfortunate individual
with this, Dr. Corkindale was sent for, by .•
t,
n'
f Mr.
Salmon, the fiscal, and was requested
mark by which his friends could to look for a pi!nbeing
done the ideefity was rendered completehim. This
reconise f the
. The discovery of
body will give a new direction to the investigation of the ,
which the authorities have already instituted, and perhaps 'ead
murderers.
very soon to the discovery of the 'a
The body was
buried on Saturday.—Scottish Guardian.
THE GOIIGUN STEAM FRIGATE ' .
which is the
FRIGATE.—'Phis vessel
largest and most powerful steam-:shi 1 I ' to the British. 'I
service, is just completed, On Thursday'eonZeenlf the engines, -1
which have beenboard the
made
, completed, and fixed on 4l
vessel in little more than eight months, were set to work for the
i ..
first time, and acted in the most efficient and satisfactory man-
ner. The tonnage of the Gorgon, according to the old mode of ,t4l,
computation, 1150 tons; the length of deck, IS3 feet • breadth "'
between the paddle-wheels, 37 feet 6 inches; full breadth 0
deck, 45 feet. This vessel was built in the dock-yard at Petn-
broke, from the designs of Sir William Symonds, the surveyor-
general of the navy, and for the excellent pi opertie.s es a steam-
vessel of war, for her strength. symmetry, and durability, is
unrivalled by any vessel in the British or any other navy. She
combines also, in a most eminent degree, the necessary qualities
of a sailing-vessel with those of a steam-ship. The Gorgon will
befitted with sixteen 32 pounders, (long-guns,) of which twelve
will be on the gun deck and four on the upper deck. She will
also be provided with two of those newly-invented tremendous
engines of war, the 10-inch guns, intended to propel hollow
shot of 961bs weight : one of these guns will be placed forward,
th and the other aft, on- he upper deck, on sliding swivel beds,
which will range entirely round the horizon. The bulwarks all
round sae so eonstiucted that they can be thrown down in a
m moent to admit the guns being pointed in any direction. The
gun deck of the vessel is fitted up in the most commodious man-
ner
for the accommodation of the officers and crew, amounting
altogether, with engineers, in war time, to 190 men. The orlop_
deck, fore and aft, is appropriated entirely for the reception !.)r.
troops, with their stores and baggage; and the ample hold will :
receive abundance of water, provisions' and stores for a long
voyage.
The steam-cogines tor. propelling this . magnificent • , ,
vessel are of 320 horses, power—that is, two engines, each of
160 horses' power, 'They ar- made by Messrs. John Seaward .1 -
~,id co., of the Canal lion Wot ks, timehouse, and are of a
very novel cons' ruction, Ewing rental kettle for their compact nest:, -
strength, and lightness. There are tour copper boilers for sup-- ',
plying sitaiii to the engines. They are quite detached from'
Pao) tither, and can be used separately or its conjunction. OA
may he required. This is an iroputtaut criavenience, as it,:ad- ,
suits or rep,iirs being.made to one qr two boilers while the others
arc- in usc.
. • . ,