The Poole Telegram. — 1880-06-25 (Poole, Dorset, England)

MURDER AT ERITH. The Leather Bottle Tea Gardens, a place of resort at Belvedere, in the parish of Erith, was the scene of a shocking occurrence on Tuesday. A carpenter named Thomas Berry having there fallen in with Caroline Adams, a young woman of his previous acquaintance, stabbed her to death with a chisel, which he is said to have whetted and carried about with him for the purpose. The afternoon was rainy, and the gardens were almost deserted, but the deceased was sitting in one of the arbours with her sister, when the occurrence took place. The man is a widower, with two children about ten years of age, and he lived in one of a row of houses at Belvedere, overlooking the railway and the river Thames. The sister of the deceased had for a short time resided in the same house and taken care of his children, and the deceased herself had formerly occupied the same dwelling. She is said to be a married woman, the wife of a sea captain, from whom she has been separated, and she is described as a well-favoured person of about 28 years. After the deed was committed Berry walked away along a footpath which leads through the Leather Bottle Gardens, past Abbey Wood, and seeing that he was pursued, he threw the chisel into the wood as he passed. He was ultimately stopped, and handed over to the police, by whom he was taken to Erith policestation and locked up. He was afterwards brought up for examination before Mr. Balguy, at Woolwich Policecourt. _  -Susan Dott, a sister of the deceased woman, stated : I was with my sister when the deed was done. We had been into the Leather Bottle Tavern, and took some bread and cheese to the summer-house under the walnut-tree. The prisoner was in the house when we were there, and had spoken to my sister, but she would not answer him, and we left the house to avoid him. My sister 1/ad been his housekeeper for about two years, but left him about seven weeks ago. When we were in the summer-house about two minutes the prisoner came up and said to her, "Will you do as I ask you ?" and she replied that she did not want to speak to him. He said, "You won't ?" and she answered, No." Then he took hold of her by the neck and dress and stabbed her repeatedly in the breast and heart. She has got nine stabs in the chest. I went to help her and laid hold of the prisoner's coat, but he said that he would serve me the same if I did not go away, and I then went to the tavern for assistance. When I got back to my sister she was lying in her blood on the green, quite dead, and the prisoner had gone away. The prisoner turning to witness angrily accused her of being the cause of his troubles, saying that if she had kl:pt away from hitt he would not have found himself in his present position. Mr. Balguy remanded him until after the opening of the inquest. - -  The -prisoner, who is about 37 years of age, looked pale and anxious. It will be stated in evidence that he had sharpened the chisel on the day previous to the occurrence and carried it about with him, vaguely hinting at intended vengeance, and it was well-known in the locality that he was exceedingly jealous of any attention being paid to the deceased woman by other men. After his arrest he was taken back to the Leather Bottle, and findng the body there hidden by a sack, he uncovered the ace, and said, "No one else will you have now."