The Sun. — 1860-04-11 (London, England)

THE EMBL ETON MURDER.  The mystery which for some time shrouded the horrible murder committed at Embleton a fortnight ago has now been dispelled by the confession o f George Cass, Mr. Fearon's husbandman, that he was guilty of the foul crime. Suspicion pointed to Cass from the first, as, according to his own account, confirmed in some of its material points by other witnesses, he was about the house near the very time when the murder was committed. So far, however, the case was only one of suspicion, there being no positive evidence to implicate him, for although the clothes which he wore on the day in question had been sent to Professor Taylor in order that certain suspicious looking spots might be analysed, this point had not yet been concluded. Cass was therefore kept under the most strict surveillance, day and night, until last Friday, when Mr. Dunne, the chief constable, deemed it his duty to direct his apprehension. As soon as it became known that Cass was to be apprehended the greatest excitement was manifested at Cockermouch and the neighbourhood. Mr. Dunne left Cockermouth, accompanied by some of his officers, at an early hour, and many persons had then gathered on the road to Embleton in order to see Cass as he was taken to the station. Cass was apprehended and brought to Cockermouth in a close conveyance. Crowds of people had by this time gathered along the route, and an occasional hoot as the carriage passed showed how great was the sympathy for the girl, and the detestation in which the people held the horrible crime which had been perpetrated. The prisoner was lodged in the lock-up. At about half-past 8 o'clock in the evening he expressed a desire to see the chief constable. Mr. Dunne went to him, when Cass told him that he wished to make a statement about the murder. Mr. Dunne sent immediately for Mr. Waugh, the magistrates clerk, and his assistant clerk, and in presence of these three gentlemen Cass confessed that he had murdered Ann Sewell. He said that when he returned from the field for his mare, the girl asked him I something about mending her clog for her. He would not comply with her request; she therefore called him names and threw the tableknife at him, the handle of which struck him on the face under the eye. He threw it back at her and it struck her throat and cut it. She then told him that since he had gone so far he had better finish it and murder her altogether. He seized the knife again, and setting upon her committed the foul deed withwhich he now stands charged. It also appears, from the prisoner's confession, that after he had murdered the girl he robbed her. A sovereign and a half-crown have been found along with the girl's purse, the two latter bearing marks like blood stains, The half-crown was obtained from Mrs. Johnston, the landlady at the publichouse at Eaglesfield, where the prisoner and his father spent a shilling of it on the Wednesday after the murder. The sovereign was found in the possession of the prisoner's mother, and the purse was discovered buried twelve inches below the ground at Sosgill, Bramley Moss, near Lowe's Water. From this it would seem that the murderer had rifled the box of his victim while his hands were still wet with her blood. On Saturday the prisoner was brought up before the Cockermouth magistrates :—General Sir H. Wyndham, Mr. T. A. Hoskins, the Rev. E. Fawcett, and Mr. John Steel, M.P. Mr. Dunne formally charged the prisoner with wilful murder, and applied for a remand. The prisoner was remanded until Thursday, by which time the coroner's inquest will probably be closed.