The Sun. — 1842-06-16 (London, England)

REPORTED MURDER NEAR WORCESTER. -(Abridged from the Worcester Journal of' to-day.) (n Monday this city was thrown into a state of con-sid, excitement by a rumour which had got afloat that s, murder had been committed in or near the city, and th at the mutilated remains of the victim had been discover by some boys, concealed on the bank of the 'ed Severn E Pitchcroft Ham. The rumour as it was at first circNulated was very vague ; several versions of the affair And its circumstances being given, all of resolved themselves into this—that as which at i'a.vt two boys w ere walking up Pitchroft, they discovered the arms antA hands of a human body in' the grass near tA) the margin of the river, that they were conveying them to this city when they .were met by two men, who :snatched the nvitilated remains from the boys and ran elf. This fitory,baving come to the ears of the police, jinn:ciliate inquiries were instituted, • and the boys were eNamined. They persisted in the truth of their ,statemont ; and inconsequence of the information which wa,; 015tained from them, two young men, nained-Wali.k.r.)a end Barber, were yesterday. morning taken before r. Sidebottom; who made a preliminary investigation the matter. t one o'clock the two boys, whose names are Palmer and I:orris, the one aged about 14 and the other 8 years, t,)geth.o7 Ni:*ll Waldron and Barber, were taken before the aNI a full bench of Magistrates sitting at the politl3-office .4 flie Guildhall, when the case was thoroughly investiga.`ed. The office was crowded with respectable citizens, an,i the outer ball was besieged by numerous band of „oreln, who evidently. looked upon a to affair as a second edition Pf the Roehampton atrocity. Harris was the first of the wo boys examined. He ste..`ed that on the previous day o.,londay) about ten or elCv; ti U'elcck, he walked up I'ithero.l by the side of the ih.er with Palmer. When they had arrived at the Obit k\pposite to the Dog and Duck public-house, he obser.,ed lying in the grass, between the footpath and the river, and upon the river's bank, two human hands t..nd arms. He at once picked them up, and showing them to his companion, exclaiming, ...•Look, what I've' found !" Palmer took hold of one of the arms, observed that it smelt badly, and then returned it to Harr when both proceeded withis, the. remains down the side Of ,the river in the direction for Worcester. When they Wired at a short distance from the Grand Stand two ).rose came up, to whom titer showed the arms, upon which one of the men snatched them from his hand, saying, at the same time, that " he'd keep it for the sake of the ring ;" there being, as Palmer declared, a plain g0i;..1 ring upon a finger of one of the hands. The arms had been cut off the body near to the elbow, and there were marks of blood at that part, and also upon other parts of the arm. There were no other incisions in the arm. On being confronted with Barber he said jie thought he was one of di'm, but could not positively say. He did not appear to know Waldron at all. John Palmer, on his examination, corroborated Harris's statement, in its chief points. On being closely questioned as to the appearance of the limbs, he said that the extremi.ties, where they had been severed from the _main body, were "haggled" or ragged, as though they ht'd been separay.d with a blunt knife ; the bones were broken and splint•ered,' as though they had been c'noppmf through with a hatchet. There was a good deal of .coagulated blood upon the arms, and there was a ring upon a finger of one of 'the hands. The arms smelt. very badly, and there were holes in the hands, prod aced by putrefaction. The. boy spoke positively as to the identity of Barber, who lie affirmed was one of the men who snatched the arms from Harris. Ho had known Barber personally for some time. Waldron and Barber were then required ,to account for the manner in which they had spent the previous day, wi ieh they did satisfactorily. The inquiry occupied two hours, and at its close the a.;istrates., after a brief aonsultation,:decidcd that there irii,s•poevidence before them which would warrant them in detaining Waldron or Barber, and they were consequt tidy set at liberty with the boys. The police are still engaged in making further inquirica into this extraordinary affair.