Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-11-26 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE ALTHORP MYSTERY,  EXTRAORDINARY INCIDENT.  On Thursday, at the Northampton Assizes, Andrew George Macrae, grocer's assistant, was indicted for the wilful murder of a single woman, named Annie Pritchard, in the month of July last. It was alleged that the prisoner, who is a married man with a family, eloped from Birmingham to Northampton with the girl Pritchard, that she gave birth to a child while living with the prisoner, and that she and the infant disappeared. It was further alleged that mutilated remains subsequently discovered at East Haddon, near Althorp, were those of the missing woman, and that human bones were discovered in a provision warehouse which the prisoner, while in Northamptm, had taken charge of for his brother, who is a provision merchant. The intensity of public interest in the trial was manifested by the crowded condition of the precincts of the court. When Mr. Justice Kennedy took his seat the whole of the available space reserved for the public was filled. The counsel for the prosecution were Mr. Buszard, Q.C. and Mr. R. D. Adkins. The prisoner was defended by Mr. Attenborough and Mr. Hammond Chambers. On being placed in the dock Macrae pleaded not guilty. Mr. Buszard opened the case for the Crown. The learned counsel pointed out that the evidence on which the prosecution relied was of a purely circumstantial character. The prisoner and Annie Pritchard had been for some weeks before July 20th living in Northampton as husband and wife, and in June the woman gave birth to a child. On the night of July 20th the prisoner took the woman and child from their lodgings, and no mortal eye had seen them since. It would be proved that the accused spent the nights of July 20th and 21st in an unfurnished warehouse in Dychurch-lane, where, after his arrest, the bones of a human head, and light brown hair, unquestionably human, were discovered. The prisoner disposed of the woman's clothing and her purse. To prevent Annie Pritchard's relatives in Birmingham making inquiries as to her whereabouts a piece of deception was practised. It would be proved that a young woman went to Northampton Station and asked a commercial traveller to post a letter for her from Liverpool. That letter, bearing the Liverpool postmark, reached Birmingham' and the writer, Annie Pritchard, therein stated that she had been married by si ecial licence to a man named Ouy Anderson, and was accompanying him to New York. The suggestion of the prosecution was that Annie Pritchard was foully murdered by the prisoner in the Northampton warehouse. Evidence as to the discovery of the remains at East Haddon was first called, and Dr. John Franklin, Church House, gave a detailed description of the bones. .  The Court adjourned for luncheon at half-past 1, and the judge had not returned at 3 o'clock. The abnormal length of the adjournment was attributable to a singular incident, involving a question of law and procedure. When the Court rose at half-past 1, a juror became separated from his fellows, and this was stated to have been before the bailiff had been sworn to keep the jury in safe custody. The question consequently arose, "Can the trial proceed, or must it start de 77010 ?" During the long wait there was much private discussion between counsel and solicitors and a general consulting of statutebooks.—The trial was ultimately adjourned.  A