Glasgow Courier. — 1862-07-10 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

THE GLASGOW COURIER, THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1862.  MYSTERIOUS MURDER.  Between the morning of Saturday last and Monday a murder of unexampled ferocity was perpetrated in a house at 17, Sandyford Place, the circumstances of which are at present enveloped in obscurity. The name of the woman is Jessie Macpherson; she was about 40 years of age, unmarried, and employed as a domestic servant by Mr John Fleming, accountant. rhe occupants of the house are, besides other members of the family, Mr John Fleming, with his son, Mr John Fleming, and his father, Mr James Fleming. The family have a house at Dunoou, and it was the custom of Mr John Fleming, with his son, to go to the coast on Friday afternoons, remaining generally till Monday. On Friday last they proceeded thither as usual, leaving in the house Mr Jas. Fleming, who is 87 years of age, and who is also said to be somewhat deaf, and the deceased. About half-past 9in the evening Mr Fleming went to bed, at which tinie the servant was in the scullery; and about four o'clock on the following morning—as he learned by a casual reference to his watch —the old man states that he was aroused by hearing two or three screams, which seemed to proceed from the lower part of the house, in which the kitchen and the bedroom of deceased are situated. He paid no attention to the circumstance, thinking that she had perhaps brought in a female friend tosleep with her, as there were so few people in the house, and that the noise might have been occasioned in sonic trivial way. This opinion he still held when, on the following morning, he arose about 10 o'clock, and found her bedroom door shut, the idea then occurring to him that she might have gone out with her friend, as the front door was only on the check. After making and partaking of breakfast, he quitted the house; and in the evening he again retired to rest, her apparent absence from home still unaccounted for. On Sunday he went to church—the day and night passed, but still no tidings of the missing woman. His son and grandson came home about four o'clock on Monday afternoon to dinner, and to them her disappearance was made known. Finding something mysterious in the circumstances, and fearing that all was not well, they went down stairs to the sunk flat, but found the bed-room door locked, and the key amissing. The key of the pantry, however, secured ingress, and on entering the room the body of the murdered woman was found lying on the floor, face downwards, and in a state of almost nudity. Information was thereupon sent to the Western Police Office, and Dr Fleming, the district surgeon, immediately proceeded to the house, followed shortly after by Detectives Campbell and Jeffrey. They found deceased lying in the position described, with three fearful wounds in the head, which had seemingly been inflicted with a heavy and sharp instrument —one above the right ear, and so large as almost to admit of the finger being inserted, another across the forehead, and the third over the bridge of the nose, while one of the jaws was smashed in several places. The clothes of the murdered woman were scattered about the room covered with blood, and the bed sheet, also stained, was found wrapped up and placed behind the door. Leading from this room to the kitchen, blood was also descried, and on close examination the conclusion was come to that here the murder had been committed. The body had apparently been dragged through the lobby to the bedroom, there placed on the bed, undressed, and afterwards left on the floor in the position in which it was subsequently found. The kitchen appeared to have been partially washed after the murder was committed; and two wood-cleavers, with which the wounds might have been infficted, were found, but there were no blood-stains on them to indicate that they had been so used. Several steps of the stairs leading to the floor above were also stained. On Saturday morning the door opening on the back of the house was found locked, and the front door on the check. That it was not the work of a robber is placed beyond all doubt, for nothing was removed from the house, and the cool manner in which the kitchen had been cleaned, and the body removed and afterwards undressed in the bed-room, besides the absence of all interruption, destroys the probability that the murderer had been deten-e from securing the booty which his bloody deed was intended to secure. Meanwhile, the authorities are actively investigating the case.