Widnes Examiner. — 1881-07-02 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

MURDER 0 THE BRIGHTON RAILWAY. MYSTERIOUS AFFLTR.  The Brighton correspondent of the Standard, telegraphing on Monday, esys:-1 mysterious murder was committed on the Brighton railway this afternoon. On the arrival at Preston Park Station of the 2-0 p.m. express train from London Bridge, a ticket-collector found a man alone in a trst-class carriage with wounds on his head, and covered with blood from head to foot. He gave his name as Arthur Leroy, of 4, Cathcart-road, Wallington, and stated that when the train started there were in the carriage with him an old gentleman and .a man of about -fifty years of age, having the appearance of a countryman. After passing Croydon Station, and just as the train entered a tunnel, he says a shot was fired, and he felt a blow on the head, but remernbered nothing further until the arrival a the train at Preston Park. He bad no idea who fired the she,. After his wounds bad been attended to he returned to London, in company , with two police constables. About seven o'clock in the evening the dead body of a gentleman, about 00 years of age, was found lying in the six-foot way in Balcombe -tunnel, about 18 miles from Brighton. From an address found in a pocket-book, it is believed to be that of Mr. Gold, a retired corn merchant, of Claremont,terrace, Preston, near Brighton. The body had been stabbed in several places. Mr. Gold left his home on Monday morning for the purpose of collecting dividends in London, and was expected to return by the 2 p.m. express. it is believed that he had a large sum of money in his possession. The carriage in which Lefroy arrived at Preston was saturated with blood, and two bullets are embedded in the woodwork. The outside of the carriage door and the long wooden step were also covered with blood. A gentleman who travelled , by the train states that he heard the report of firearms near sCroydon.  Another correspondent states that Mr. Lefrov, who describes himself as "an anther and a journalist," stated to the Brighton police that he left London on Monday by the 2 o'clock express for Brighton, and his fellow passengers were an elderly gentleman and a person dressed as a countryman. After leaving Croydon be was fired at, and being struck with some instrument he was rendered insensible until be arrived at Preston, a suburb of Brighton. He was found to be considerably injured, and was attended at the County Hospital. Later in the day the body of Mr. J. Gold, an elderly gentleman, a steckkroker in London, and a season ticket holder on the Brighton line, who resides at Preston, was foundon the line in Balcombe tunnel. No tidings have been heard of the countryman. At the inquest, on Wednesday, the wife of a labourer living at Honey said that from her cottage, as the train passed, she saw two gentlemen struggling together. A bullet wound has been fond in the head of the deceased. A passenger by the sante train as the deceased on Monday, and who rode in the next compartment, deposed that he heard four reports as the train entered the tunnel. The inquest was adjourned till Saturday. Lefroy, the supposed murderer, is still at large. The utmost efforts of the police in the search for Lefror, the suspected murderer of Mr. Gould on the Brighton Railway, have been without avail. A tramp was detained at Qraveseud on Thursday on suspicion, but was released in the Course of the afternoon. Rumours of all kinds were current, but Lefroy had not, at the time of writing, been beard of since he absconded from Wallington.. A reward is offered for his apprehension.