The Sun. — 1827-12-19 (London, England)

BIBICLE, NEAR. BURY.  irt A circumstance has occurred in. this neighbourhood, e7i rolni o o wherever ‘‘h dcuirarts havehingand' indignation become b . ic4 has ex the particulars known. A young mart, about 26 years of age, of the name of Richard Fletcher, a libourer, with his wife, has resided in the cottage where Benjamin Cass, and his aged partner, were mur-• dered by Diggle, about two years since.— Fletcher s conduct towards his wife has been knewn' to 'be extremely outrageous. He was married to her almost by compulsion, she having previously borne to him two children, which were becoming burdensome to the township. Since • the marriage, the poor woman has frequently complained of her husband's conduct; at one time she caused him to be taken under a warrant, but afterwards consented, on receiving a promise of kinder treatment, to return and-live with him. About five weeks since she suffered a premature delivery; being only seven months gone with child. No one was near -to assist her, her husband being away at his work, and the house being lonely ; she was discovered in a helpless state by one of her relations, -who.accidentally called to see her. Since then, the conduct of her husband is described as being most brutal; such as language can scarcely describe, and certainly such as ought not to . appear. in print. According to facts which she disclosed on her death-bed, a particular outrage was -committed upon her on the 29th of November, Since which time' she has teen ill, and died • on the morning of the 11th, at three o'clock. The body was examined on Wednesday, by four respectable surgeons, and an inquest was yesterday held at the Bircbin-Hand, Birkle, by Mr. Farrand, arnta Jury of sixteen. As usual, Mr. Farrand objected to the presence of a Reporter, who attended not even an outline of the proceedings can, therefore, be given ; nor, indeed, previouspbwl ai csa publication. :tato-Ip. pt let derfrih, sitting, tCi,nvogir;ol di:vie,e,rgn t andstiloe eJtNu,,i aywi,l was the evidence, so far as has.transpired,,i fit for and the leac bduorods uye t,. on a bed, exactly in that part of the chamber where old Cass and his wife lay after their fearful murder by Diggle. The countenance appeared distorted, one eye was par :open, the other closed, and the lips were sufficiently separated to show the teeth, as .if at. the :Moment it was suffering under a pang of acute pain, There was no furniture in the chamber, save the bed ; the little slide of the window, was propped up by are ,old fork, and the wind blew a chill and stiffening air into the room, and the premises altogether bore an -appearance of desertion. Below stalls a small fire was mouldering in sthe grate, as if. many hours had elapsed since any person was there. Opposite the. door was a couch-chair, probably, the identical one on which Diggle placed Mrs.. Cass, after having cloven her head, and where she was found-lining . with her arm resting en the shoulder. 'Of her aged partner, whose blood covered the floor, and whose grey hairs adhered to the instrument •of murder. Awful recollections ,seemed to occur to every one present, and_:the person who. writes this .could not dismiss from his mind the circumstance, that having lost his way iii crossing the moors?from Edenfield, came by chance to this very house, where the whole of Cass's tragedy was narrated and described by her-who now lay a corpse in the chamber. _  At the Inquest, four or five witnesses were examined, amongst • whom was Di. Parker, of Bury, who stated that he. was sent for to visit the deceased, who complained that she had been injured by her husband, described the injuries, and imputed to them her illness. On Tuesday. the body was opened by three surgeons, who, from what she had stated, were led to examine the parts alluded to, and found them free from injury, or morbid appearance. The head, and the membranes of the brain,. had suffered from recent inflammation, which sufficiently accounted for the symptoms under which the deceased had laboured, and had been the certain cause of her death. The Jury brought in a verdict of— " Died by the visitation of God, through natural causes."