The Sun. — 1842-06-17 (London, England)

REPORTED MURDER NEAR WORCESTER. (Abridged. from the Worcester* Jthirnal of Yesterday.) On MUnday this city was, thrown into a state of considerable excitement • by a rumour which had got afloat that a murder had been committed in or near the city, and that the mutilated remains of the victim had been discovered by some boys, concealed on the bank of the Severn at Pitchcroft Ham.- The rumour as it was at first circulated was very vague ; several versions of the affair and its circumstances being given, all of which at last resolved themselves into this—that as two boys were walking up Pitchroft, they discovered the arms and .hands of a human body in the grass near to the margin of the river, that they were conveying them to this city when they .were met by two men, who snatched the mutilated remains from the boys and ran off.. This story having come to the ears of the police, immediate inquiries were instituted, and the boys were closely examined. They persisted in the truth of their statement ; and in consequence of the information which was obtained from them, two young men, named Waldron and Barber, were yesterday morning taken before ldr. Sidebottom, who made a preliminary investigation into the matter. At one o'clock the two boys, whose names are Palmer and Harr:s, the one aged about 14 and the other 8 years, together with Waldron and Barber, were taken before the Mayor and a full bench of Magistrates sitting at the police-office in the Guildhall, when the case was thoroughly investigated. The office was crowded with respectable citizens, and the outer hall was besieged by a numerous band of women, who evidently looked upon the affair as a second edition of the Roehampton atrocity. Harris was the first of the two boys examined. He stated that on the previous day (Monday) about ten or eleven o'clock, he walked up Pithcroft by the side of the river with Palmer. When they had arrived at the point opposite to the Dog and Duck public-house, he observed lying in the grass, between the footpath and the river, and -upon the river's bank, two human hands and 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 Harris, when both proceeded with the remains down the side of the river in the direction for Worcester. When they arrived at a short distance from the Grand Stand two men came up, to whom they: 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 gold 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 he thought he was one of them, 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 extremities, where they had been severed from the main body, were "haggled' or ragged, as though theyhad been separated with a blunt knife ; the bones were broken and splintered, as though they had been chopped through with khatchet. 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, produced by putrefaction. The boy spoke positively as to the identity of Barber, who he affirmed was one of the men who snatched the arms from Harris. He 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, which they did satisfactorily. The inquiry occupied two hours, and at its close the Magistrates, after a brief consultation, decided that there was no evidence before them which would warrant them in detaining Waldron or Barber, and they were consequently set at liberty with the boys. The police are still engaged in making further inquiries into this extraordinary affair.