The Sun. — 1839-05-20 (London, England)

FURTHER PARTICULARS.)  The inquiries instituted by Captain Bague and Mr. France, wno were from about 11 o'clock assisted by the arrival from North Cray (and not Crayford, as has been stated) of Mr. Edell, into the particulars of the above tragical deed of blood, have been most extensive and minute. Froin them it appears that Mr., Mrs., and Miss Edgell lrft home earlier than was at first supposed, viz., about half-past 12 o'clock, leaving particular directions with the servants, especially the upper housemaid, not to absent themselves from the house. She, however, regardless of the injunction, proceeded at three o'clock to visit her relations at Richmond, the cook also going to visit her friends elsewhere, leaving the unfortunate Elizabeth Paynton sitting at needlework in her bed-rom up stairs, and the supposed murderer, Merchant, in the lower part of the premises. The report that an intimacy of a tender nature subsisted between them cannot he traced to any authentic source, the other servants denying such to be the fact, and it would appear that the murder, from the coldness and rigidity of the body whets found, must have been pepetrated within a very short time after the cook and upper housemaid left the premises. There appears no doubt that Marchant, entertaining designs on the chastity of his victim, embraced the opportunity of the absence of the family and of his fellow servants, to carry them into effect, for which purpose, it is presumed, he proceeded up to her room, and either by means of a subterfuge, or by force, got her down into the drawing-room, which opinion is strengthened by the fact, that during the examination of the premises yesterday, the needle with which she had been working was found lying on the stairs. It would then appear that Merchant had attempted to effect his purpose on a sofa which stood on the right hand of the drawing-room, between the front windows which face the west, and the door, the chintz covering of which is declared by the upper house-maid when she left the house to have been perfectly smooth and in order, but which now appears in great disorder, and a footstool placed thereon which was not there before. The ill fated woman being possessed of strong muscular powers, it is supposed, however, overcame her brutal assailant, and escaped from his grasp towards the window, with the intention of raising an alarm, and it appears she must have half raised the Venetian blind for that purpose (the whole of the blinds having been drawn down by the upper housemaid before she left), when she was again seized by the murderer and thrown down on the floor of the drawing-room, but whether he then succeeded in effecting the object of his wild desires has not been ascertained, no minute medical examination of the body having yet been made. The position of the body would, however, lead to that supposition and that to prevent her cries alarming the neighbourhood, the foul assassin imbrued his hands in her blood. The following is a more accurate description of the state of the body when found. The drawing-room is of considerable dimensions, having folding doors communicating with a back drawingroom, opposite to which stood a large round table. Between the table and the sofa was found the body of the deceased, reclining on the left side, the head being towards the right-hand window and the feet towards the folding doors. Her hair was quite dishevelled and lying loose in a pool of coagulated blood. Her cap was off, and was found in another pool of blood a few inches from her, as was also the thimble off her finger, with which she had been working. There is no doubt the struggle between the murdered woman and her assassin must have been most fearful, her legs being considerably somewhat extended, one of her shoes and her apron off, and, in addition to her dress being dis. turbed, her stockings were found to have been drawn half down her legs, while in her left hand was grasped a quantity of human hair, supposed to be that of her murderer, the right arm crossing her breast, and the hand resting on her left shoulder. The wounds are in the neck ; the first, which is a superficial one, being in front of the throat, and the one by which the deceased was deprived of life extending from the right ear, round the back of the neck, dividing the whole of the vessels on the left side, and occasioning a most extensive haemorrhage. The villain, having completed his crime, it is then conjectured proceeded down stairs into the pantry, and, having wiped his hands on a towel, which with a napkin have been found