The Sun. — 1826-10-23 (London, England)

JOHN HERAPATH."  THE MURDERS NEAR LEATHERHEAD.  On Wednesday last, it will be recollected that Hall, the chief constable, and Pople, set out for Maidstone, in consequence of information having been received,, that Mary Ayres, the grand-daughter of the old man Akehurst, and her paramour, had been seen in that part of the country immediately subsequent to the murders. On the officers' arrival at Eltham, they met with an encampment of Gipsies, from whom they learned some particulars respecting the parties of whom they were in pursuit. The Gipsies deseritred the person of Mary Ayres and her paramour very accurately; the latter,' they said, was a middle-sized man, very stout, and his face deeply scarred with the smallpox; the last time they had seen him he was dressed in a smockfrock and velveteen trousers. ,He went by the nickname of " Cobbler Bill;" was a shoemaker by trade; but his real name was Wm. Page. At the above encampment they also ascertained, that "Cobbler Bill" was wanted at Manchester, for horse-stealing. The officers -then cut across the country to Bromley, and from thence to.Beckenham, into Surrey ; visiting Croydon, ileddintorigershat, I ton, Salton, Cheam, and the whole extent of that county, without, however,. meeting with the parties whom they were in pursuit of. At Esher they came up with several trampers, all of whom said that they knew Mary Ayres and " Cobbler Bill," but that they had not seen them for 'some time before Leatherhead fair. In the course of their journey, on arriving at Ewell, a woman named Lucas, who resides in that town, communicated to them that she had seen Mary Ayres a few days prior to Leatherhead fair, but whither she was gone, or what direction she had taken, could not be ascertained, and on Saturday morning the officers returned to town, after an unsuccessful pursuit of I four days after the fugitives. Subsequent to the examination of the premises, after the perpetration of the murders, the police-officers, it will be remembered, did not discover any money secreted in the cottage. Since that search took place, however, 21 guineas have been found in a place of concealment that was little expected. Mr. Hankey, the magistrate, all along conceiving that the poor old man had hidden a little treasure in the house, did not feel satisfied with the search that had previously taken place, and accordingly commenced one himself on Thursday last, and succeeded in hunting out the above sum in gold. After having diligently rummaged all the crevices and places in the rooms above and below stairs, Mr. Hankey went into a small pantry, where the old people used to keep their stock of victuals. In thi3 place he observed an old churn, that had not, apparently been in use for years, and on taking off the top, and looking into it, lie perceived a part of an old silk stocking. On taking it up, the stocking was covered with cobwebs, and feeling heavy, on turning it inside out, the guineas, that in all probability had been there for years, rolled out. It is a curious circumstance, that when Pople, the officer, searched the pockets of Elizabeth Haines,the housekeeper, on the morning after the murders were perpetrated, he din' covered in one of them the remaining half of the silk stocking, which, it appeared, she actually kept her money in, but was, empty on that occasion.  The Rev. Mr. Bolland was at Union-hall yesterday, where he attended for the purpose of being present at an examination of a man named Jones, who was apprehended on Saturday last, on suspicion of having been implicated in the murders at Fetcham. It, however, turned out that lie was perfectly innocent of that charge ; but, in the course abis examination it was discovered that. he had robbed a man named Ball, at Leatherhead fair, part of the property having been found on his person. Yesterday, the charge. being fully proved, he was committed for trial.  Pl?RT11BR