The North Cumberland Reformer. — 1890-11-20 (Carlisle, Cumbria, England)

MURDER AND SITSPEOTEE  OUTRAGE NEAR BOLTON.  A great sensation has been cau-s;d. in Doßod (Lencavhire) and the neighbourhood by the die. emery on Saturday afternoon of the dead body 01 Mies Elizatoth Helt, who had been brutilly murdered. Miss bolt, who was 21 years of ago, was engaged as a teacher in a National school at Bo'moot, which is a town,hip in the Bolton 'mien, and left her home Drumm early on Monday morning last to fulfil her usual duties. To reach Belmont she had to pass along an unfrequented country road, and here it Feorne she was waylaid by hat murderer. She wee not sem after leaving her borne until Stv urday, when her b,dy was found in a raviue covered with leaves and rubbish. It then presented a shocking sight. The throat was deeply cut, the gash passing round to the back of the neck. The body was examined by Dr. Robinson, a local practitioner, who expressed the opinion that the unfortunate girl bad been outraged, but this fact is not yet established. The circumstances were such that her absence both from home and school occasioned no anxiety. The schoolmaster at Bel. mot, tinder whom Miss Holt worked, concluded th,rt she was ill, and therefore obliged tc stay at home, whilst her relatives were in no way uneasy, as she habitually stayed during the week at Belmont, returning home on Friday evening. Shortly after the discovery was made on Saturday the police arrested a notorious character named Thomas Macdonald, who was released in pril last from a term of 10 years' pool servitude for rape. Several persons state that they saw him following the deceased through the fields, towards Belmont, on Monday,and he himself admits being there, though he denies attacking Mies Holt. On that day he pawned a ring, which the police think they will be able to trace as belonging to the deceased, and he was subsequently arrested and fined for being drunk and disorderly. On Tuesday morning he was seen near the scene of the murder. Bloodstains have been found on his clothing, whilst his hands and face bear scratches which may have been caused by finger nails. A large pocket knife was found in his possession, the blade being stained, but whether with blood or not has not been decided. The police state that when charged with the crime the prisoner made no reply, and he maintains a cool and indifferent demeanour. Since his release from prison in the spring, Macdonald has been charged with murdering a companion, but the evidence against him was weak, and he was acquitted. An examination of the pleats where the body was found leads to the belief that the victim was knocked down in the roadwhy and dragged to a neighbouring hollow, where she was murdered. There is a well.defined track through the grass, as though the body had been dragged from the top of the ravine to the spot where it was foundoind at different places along this track buttons that belonged to the cloak and jacket worn by the deceased have been picked up. Ou Sunday afternoon hundreds of persons visited the ravine where the body was found. The schoolmaster at Belmont (Mr. Swaylev) did not hear of the murder until Sunday morning. Miss Hell's fellow- teaohers speak of her in most regretful terms.