Denton Examiner, Audenshaw, Hooley Hill and Dukinfield Advertiser. — 1877-10-27 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

DREADFUL DOUBLE MURDER. _ _  On Saturday a double murder would appear to have been committed at Wymondham, a market town within a few miles of Norwich, and but a short distance from the scene of the Stansfield Hall murders committed by the notorious Rush. The accused is a working blacksmith named Henry March. His victims were a fellow-workman named Henry Bidewell, and their employer, Thomas Mayes, a veterinary surgeon, who was well known and highly respected. March was in the morning sent a short distance into the country to shoe a horse, and it is believed he took more drink than was good for him, though he was perfectly sober when seen immediately after he committed the crime. About noon he had returned, and was at work at the forge with Bidewell, who was blowing the bellows while March was at the fire. Some wrangling arose between the men, and something which Bidewell said so annoyed March that he turned round, and, with his fist, knocked him down. A servant-girl named Sarah Ann Bailey, hearing the noise, looked out of a window of the house opposite the forge, and heard March say, "I may as well finish you; I can only be hung." He then seized a bar of iron about 2ft. 6in, long and tin. square, and with it struck Bidewell several heavy blows about the head while he lay on the ground. The girl, seeing this savage attack on a prostrate man, ran downstairs and informed her master of what she had seen; and Mr. Mayes, who was upwards of 70 years of age, ran out and remonstrated with March, who, without saying a word, knocked him down, and with the same iron bar battered his head in a frightful manner, leaving his victims lying in the ash-pit, the one across the other. March left the workshop and went down the lane to his home, about 100 yards distant. In the meantime the servant girl who had witnessed the occurrence ran and called her father' who passed March in the lane, and said to him, "What have you done?" To this he replied, "Nothing." Bailey went into the workshop and found the bodies of the two men as they had fallen, their beads lying in a pool of blood. Both men, who were breathing heavily, were removed to their homes, and surgical aid promptly obtained, but is was of no avail. Mr. Mayes's skull was found badly fractured, the brain protruding. Bidewell's jaw was broken and his head fearfully battered. Mayes died in about two hours, and Bides. ell in about four. March apparently told hiswife and daughter what he had done, for they were found in hysterics when the police officer went to arrest hips. A sergeant of the Norwich police, who was in the town on a holiday, hearing of the occurrence, lost no time in apprehending the murderer, and took him to the lock-up, where he was searched. March offered no resistance to his apprehension, but walked quietly by the side of the officer, followed by a crowd of his neighbours and friends. While on his way to the lock-up he said, , " I have been a soldier. He thought to get the better of me, but I was before his time." This is supposed to be an allusion to the fact that after thirty-seven years' service with Mr. Mayes, he was to leave his employ that night. He also said, "Thin has been a bad half-day's work for me." Bidewell leaves a widow and small family. Mr. Mayes' only relations are two nieces, who live in another part of the country. The Rev. C. B. Cooper, a county magistrate, happening to be in Wymondhans, the prisoner was taken before him on Saturday afternoon, and remanded till Monday, when an inquest was to be held on the bathes of Mr. Mayes and Bidewell. An inquest was held before the deputy-coroner for the county of Norfolk upon the bodies of Bidewell and Mayes. It was stated in evidence that March-the accused—was a passionate, bad-tempered man, and had expressed angry feelings against Mayes, his employer, because he sets about to discontinue business. After the investigation, which occupied eight hours, a verdict of "Wilful murder" was returned, and March was committed to Norwich Gaol.  Two