The Sun. — 1853-11-16 (London, England)

MURDER AT DUNSTER.  The hitherto quiet neighbourhood of Dunster, in Somersetshire, was on Wednesday thrown into great excitement by the perpetration of a horrible murder, committed on a girl about twelve years old, named Cole. She resided with her mother (who is a widow) and brother, a lad about seventeen. On Tuesday the mother and brother went out to work, and left the girl at home in care of a lonely cottage, situated in the parish of Cutcombe, near Dunster, Somerset. There are two dwellings under the same roof, the other being occupied by an old woman more than eighty years of age, who on Tuesdaymorning about ten o'clobk saw a young man, named Bailey, in the house with the girl. He soon after  left the house, and did not again return. On the return of the mother and brother, they made a search for the girl, and at last found her in an old barn close by, with her throat cut, and quite dead. We extract the following particulars from the Somerset County Gazette :  " Information of the circumstances having been given to the constables, they immediately proceeded to the house of Bailey's father, who lives at a short distance from the cottages, but whose house is in the parish of Luxborough. They found the son in bed, and having stated that they were come to take him into custody on a charge of murder, the prisoner exclaimed, "I didn't murder her ;" but he admitted that he had been at the house on his way from work, and stated that on his leaving she accompanied him a short distance, and then returned.  " On examining the barn, blood was found on some ashes near the door, and also on part of a bucklestrap, which was identified as beloAging to the prisoner ; the other part was found upon him. Near the barn is a stream of water, and a little beyond this, froth the barn was discovered a foot print, which corresponded with one of the prisoner's boots. On examining the prisoner's clothes, blood was found on different parts, and there was a line of blood over them, from left to right, which had been partially washed out. On Friday Mr. Hole, surgeon, made an examination of the body of the deceased. Marks of two severe blows were found on the top of the head, and also a mark of a violent blow over the left eye. There were two stabs in the neck, one on each side,and these corresponded with the blade of the knife found on the prisoner. There was a horrid gash right across the neck, from left to right, which divided all the principal parts down to the bone, and at the bottom of this cut was the mark of another stab, between two of the vital vertebrae or neckbones. From the appearances there could be no doubt that the murderer first stunned his vie; tim by striking her on the head, and then dragged her to a darker part of the barn, where placing the back of her neck on one of the stone sleepers, he completed the horrid crime. "On Friday the prisoner was taken before the Rev. 0-. F. Luttrell and Mr. Hole, at Dunster, magistrates of the district, and an investigation into the circumstances took place, the result of which was that the prisoner was fully committed for trial on the charge of wilful murder. "The position in which the deceased was found in duced a suspicion that another crime had preceded that of the murder ; but we understand that the examination by the surgeon fully showed that no such crime had been committed. It is said that the prisoner has often taken indecent liberties with females, and that on their resistance he has evinced great anger, and on one occasion he went so far as to pursue a young woman whom he had thus treated with a pick-axe, threatening to take her life, because she refused to submit to his brutal desire. It is also said that he is somewhat unsound in intellect, and we understand that he has shown some peculiarities of disposition since his confinement in Wilton gaol, where he now is. To judge from his appearance one would not suppose him to be labouring under insanity, nor anything bordering upon it."  [