The Sun. — 1868-01-23 (London, England)

THE BIRMINGHAM MURDER.  Some further particulars have been made public with re.-pect to the murder of Miss Mary Mil:bourne, of If eneage-street, Birmingham. Shortly before six o'clock on Tuesday evening, a Mrs. Bullock, residing in a house close to that of the deceased, was in an outhouse, when she heard the sound of men's voices in Miss Millbourne's yard ; she looked through a crevice in the door, and saw three men, two of whom were about the same height, and one a trifle shorter, climbing over the wall. The men became aware of her presence, for one of them said, " There's a - woman, and she will ' blow' on us." Without waiting to look into the outhouse, the men ran up the entry into the street and disappeared. Mrs. Bullock told her husband of the occurrence, and said she hoped they had nut been to the old lady next door; After that she and a Mrs. Dickman, another neighbour, went to deceased's house door and called to her. Not receiving any reply, they feared some outrage had been committed, and their statements brought other people to the spot. The police having been sent for, they found the front door of the house locked ; they then went though the gates into the yard and found the hack door open. On the kitchen table a bonnet was found, and a shawl lay upon the floor. At first the officers saw no trace of the old lady, but between the kitchen and the front room stone steps led down to the cellar. At the top of these steps Brown, the policeman, discovered Miss Millbourne lying on her back, her head resting on the second step. She was quite warm, but lifeless. There was one mark of a blow on her nose, and finger-marks upon her throat, plainly showing that she had been strangled. The body was brought into the front room and laid upon a bed. Upon an examination of the house being made it was discovered that it had been completely ransacked. There were three rooms upstairs, and the contents of the boxes and beds in all of them were turned over and thrown on the floor. The bedroom which the deceased woman occupied had been subjected to a very minute examination ; every place, likely and unlikely, had been searched. Drawers were burst open and boxes rummaged, and a part of a pillow was torn open. The thieves had done their work cleverly and well, though whether it was remunerative cannot be told. Not a trace of them in any form was left behind, and they must have been but a very short time in the hou,e, as the old lady was but just dead when the policy:)fficers arrived. On the table in the back  kitchen was found a black bag, which, on Mr. Superintendent Sullivan searching, was found to contain a receipt on Lloyd's Banking Company for the sum of £615, deposited in January last. Whether placed there by the thieves or the deceased is not known. It is remarkable that nothing was seen to excite suspicion by the occupants of premises immediately adjoining those of the murdered woman, but at the very time the crime must have been committed a stranger kept the woman occupying the house next door for half an hour in conversation. The murdered woman was not married. The police have a clue which may lead to some discovery. That such a crime should have been perpetrated at such a time in the evening, and under such circumstances, is most extraordinary, to say the least. It may be added that a yard adjoining the murdered woman's house also led to a malt-house, in which three men usually worked, but they were absent at the time the crime is supposed to have been committed.