The Warrington Examiner. — 1871-03-25 (Warrington, Cheshire, England)

ANOTHER MURDER NEAR WARRINGTON. - TWO BODIES FOUND IN THE CANAL. On Thursday evening, Mr. H. B. White, deputy coroner, held an inquest at the Saracen's Head, Wilderspool, on the body of Louisa Priestnall, which had been found in the canal near Moore Bridge. It appears that the deceased, who was 28 years of age, and who was a loose character, left her home in Dial Court, Warrington, about half-past eight in the evening of Saturday, the 4th instant, with the intention, as her husband thought, of buying a sheep's head to make broth from. hhe did not return, and on the Tuesday following a description of the woman was given to the Chief Constable, as her husband imagined something must have happened to her. The deceased, however, 41 was seen by P.C. Walters in Sankey-street, at ten _7 A minutes past eleven on Saturday evening, in company 1 with some young men, one of whom she alleged had -;rt struck her, but she afterwards withdrew the allegation. At twenty minutes to twelve, a woman named Mary Piers observed the deceased, who appeared to be in drink, walking down Bold-street along with Peter Gregory, in the direction of Arpley Station ; and at twelve o'clock the attention of James Rigby, file cutter, was attracted by the sound of loud voices near his house, which is situate on the river side, off Wilderspool Causeway. He went to the door and saw the deceased and, to the best of his belief, Peter Gregory; the former was talking very hard, aad using foul language. Both were drunk, and were proceeding in the direction of Wilderspool. Nothing further was heard of the parties until Tuesday morning, when the body of Gregory was found floating in the old Quay canal, near to Twenty Step Bridge. Mr. C. N. Spinks made a post-mortem examination of the body, and found it free from wounds, but there was an extensive scalp wound on the head, and the left ear was nearly _ torn off. These injuries had, however, been inflicted since death, probably by a passing boat. An inquest was held on the body on Tuesday, when a verdict of "Found drowned" was returned. About half past ten on Thursday morning a flatman named Thomas Williams was proceeding along the canal with his flat, and when near Moore Bridge he saw a shawl floating in the water, which had been pulled up by the line of a preceding flat. On examination it was found that the shawl was wrapped round a human body, and a rope was got round it, and it was towed to Tom Payne's Bridge, where Edward Howard, a travelling earthenware dealer, took charge of it. The body turned out to be that of the missing woman. P.S. Morris afterwards searched the body, and whilst doing so found a small scArf tied very tightly round her neck— so tight that he had to burst it off by force, when blood and froth oozed out of the mouth. On Thursday morning Mr. C. N. Spinks made a post-mortem examination of the body, which was much decomposed and swollen. There were no external marks of violence. On removing the scalp he found a good deal of extravasated blood about the right ear, and extending down the neck, also on the left side of the head, over the temporal muscle, between the skin and the skull of the forehead, and at the back of the head. Those appearances were produced, he considered, by several distinct blows dining life. There were also extensive extravasations of blood on the neck, and upper part of the chest; the right collar bone and first rib were dis-united from the breast bone, and the second was fractured in two places; the third was also broken. The lungs were collapsed and highly congested, and the heart, although healthy, was perfectly empty of blood. From appearances Mr. Spinks stated that he believed the deceased had met with great violence, and had ceased to breathe before being thrown into the water, as all the fractures and injuries must have been occasioned before death. He was certain the deceased was not drowned, nor could she p gssibly have inflicted the injuries upon herself. TIN swelling of the neck referred to by Sergeant Morrisiwas the result of decomposition, and not of strangulation. If the ribs had been broken after death there would have been no extravasatious of blood. Death was occasioned by exhaustion, arising from the injuries sustained.—The jury returned a, verdict of "wilful murder against some person or persons unknown."