The Sun. — 1861-09-30 (London, England)

SHOCKING MURDER AND BURGLARY AT BILSTON.  BILSTON, SUNDAY.  A foul deed was committed this morning in Bilston. A tradesman in Church-street, named John Bagott, was deliberately murdered in his own house, and his premises were plundered and fired The victim was a Mr. Bagott, who carried on business as a tailor and clothier at the corner of Stafford-street. At about four in the morning the family of Mr. Beard, of that street, were disturbed by hearing voices in the side passage of their house, and thinking it was her brother returning home, Miss Beard went down with a light. In the passage she stumbled upon some bundles of cloth and men's new garments. Her brother happened to be coming down the street at the eame time, and saw three men carrying a bundle. Information was at once conveyed to the police-station, and it was soon discovered that Mr. Bagott's house, situate opposite to that of Mr. Beard, had been entered. The officers found a little gas burning in the small sitting-room on the ground floor, numerous bottles and drinkingglasses on the table, and the body of a man lying with his head on the fender, in front of the fire, with a poker across his throat. His face was discoloured with soot, and the policeman at first thought that the body was that of a burglar, but on turning on the light it was found that it was the proprietor of the house. He had been dragged to the ground and forcibly held down in the position in which he was found till life was extinct. Mr. Bagott was a bachelor, 45 years of age, and, though possessed of considerable property, lived alone. His habits were somewhat eccentric. He always carried the keys of his upper rooms and the day's receipts of the shop about with him. He kept a banking account both at Dudley and at Bilston, and the premises in which he lived and those adjoining belonged to him. He had been known to produce as large a sum as £2OO, which there was reason to believe had been secreted in out-of-the way places, like the sacking of a bed,. or beneath a quarry or stone of the floor. Of all this the murderers seem to have been aware, for the pockets of the dead man's trousers had been torn open with much violence. His keys were all laid upon the table, but the money was taken away. The burglars had forced open the doors of the upstairs rooms with a heavy c)al hammer. In a similar manner access had been had to the drawers and the cash box, and the bed had been tossed over. There is no means of ascertaining the amount of the booty the villains had found. A fire of paper and linen had been made in the grate, and the embers had fallen out upon the carpet, which had ignited. Happily the watchfulness of the police is likely to prevent this fearful crime from falling into the list of mysterious murders. Several burglaries have recently been committed in the district. The police believed they knew the offenders, and last night Superintendent M'Crea had taken steps to arrest one of the gang. Shortly after the three men spoken of were disturbed in Stafford-street, three men carrying a bundle were stopped near Bradley, which adjoins Bilston. When challenged by the policeman they threw down the bundle and decamped. The officer pursued them a short way,but wisely returned to the spot where the property fell. Whilst watching here a man named Wm. Jones, aged 20, of Canalstreet, Tipton, returned, and fell into the officer's clutches. The bundle contained property that had no doubt been stolen from the house of the murdered man. Knowing Jones's haunt the officers proceeded to a brothel in Bury-yard, kept by Samuel Bills,aged 25. Here they found Thomas Jukes, aged 28, who is well known to the police. He had just come in, had blood upon the front of his shirt, and seemed greatly agitated when the officers appeared. Bills was also apprehended, and so was Thomas Lil!ey, aged 24, a chapman, well known in Birmingham, for he too was in the house. The last two it is thought may be able to give evidence of a corroborative nature against the others, respecting whom the police entertain little doubt. Jukes is one of the three who ran from the constable at Bradley, and the third is supposed to be David Brandriek, a puddler, aged about 21.