The Weekly Gazette for Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and Cleveland District. — 1880-02-07 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THE HARPUELEY MURDER.  EXTRAORDINARY OONFESSION.  The editor of the Ashton-under-Lyn. Reporter has received an extraordinary letter, containing a confession not only of the unfortunate girl Sarah Jane Roberts at Hat, pnrley, but of an alleged accomplice of the writer's in the crime. The handwriting is of a fine flowing style, and the letter reads as follows :  Harpurley, February 4th, 1880. " Stung with remorse for my evil deeds, and paralysed with terror lest the reward now offered, arousing the cupidity of reckless persons, may lead them to manufacture evidence against an innocent man, I am almost bereft of reason, and would willingly give myself up to the police were it not for the thought of the terrible end I should infalliblyencounter. This I dare not face, but I would gladly endure the hardship of a convict for the remainder of my life, as the bodily suffering I should experience might divert my thoughts from their present channeLand afford some relief to my overwhelmed conscience. "You will doubtless understand from the above that the crime lam guilty of is the perpetration of the Harpurley murder. To execute this foul deed, which r now deeply deplore, I taxed my ingenuity to the utmost, with what success you know- After planning every detail of the crime with almost diabolical cunning, I found immediately afar its commission that in one particular I had most thoughtlessly over-reached myself, and I foresaw that all the precautions taken for my safety would be unavailing if I allowed matters to stand as they were without proceeding further. To avoid detection by means of the handwriting, I employed an old man with whom I was slightly acquainted to write the now notorious letter. The thought now for the first time flashed across my mind—this letter will be made public, and this individual will then inform of me. Desperate and maddened, I resolved on the adoption of extreme meo,sures. I directed my steps at once to his lodgings, and met him on the way on Regant Bridge, Salford. I enticed him down to the river side, and there—with the same weapon which an hour before had sealed the doom of another victim—l stunned him and threw his body into the river. "Such is a portipn of the miserable recital I shall make in Oa dock if I am convinced that the extreme penalty of the law will not be put into effect against my wretched self, and I am confident that the crime will never be brought home to me without a voluntary confession on my part. " I have already written to the Home Secretary offering to surrender myself to justice if he will MIN an addition to be made to the notices offering a reward for the detection of the Harpurley murderer to the following effect : "In the event of the murderer now at large confessing and producing sufficient evidence to obtain his own conviction, the mercy of the Crown will be extended to him." _ _ _  "This petition has been disregarded so far, and I believe that if the police are left to themselves no such announcement will ever be made. I therefore addreas myself to your valuable paper in the hope that some of its influential readers will take the matter up, and set an agitation on foot in order to compel the police to adopt my very reasonable proposal. . .  . . 'Tie insertion of this letter in your columns will throw a ray of light over a darkened spirit, will offer a morsel of consolation to one whose sincere repentance and agonising reflections seek solace in the penanoe of a life's degradation, and will for ever secure to you the heartfelt gratitude of " A RiPENTANT