Bridport, Beaminster, and Lyme Regis Telegram and Dorset, Somerset, and Devon Advertiser. — 1882-02-10 (Bridport, Dorset, England)

SHOCKING MURDER OF A LITTLE GIRL  IN KENT.  The mystery which envelopes the fate of the little girl G o gine Moore has only been partially dissipated by the revelations made at the examine' ion of Esther Pay, who is charged with havieg caused the child's death, at the inquest held at Yalding. From inquirie. made at the scene of the finding of the body, it would seem that the oonnecton of the accused wi• la the disapioearance of the child. much more apparent than the evidenoe adduced at those inqulr es ten led to show. Esther Pay, the accused, is one of right daughters of William Humphreys, bailiff to Mr. Alrred White, of Nettlestead, a village which adjoins the parish of Yalding, being divided from it by the tiger Medway, which at that point is on'y about twenty yards wide. She has recently been 'spare' ed from her husband, but for what reason is not apparent. For some time previous to their removal to their present address in Wincheeterettreet, the parents of the child Mors resided with the Pays in a n ighbouring street, and hate it would seem the father of the deceased child made the acquaintance of the accused. This acquaintance was of such a nature as to allow of Moore paying • edit to the accused at her father's house at Nettlestead during the hopping vs on. Since th.t time neither he nor the accused have been seen in the vidage until Saturday trait; but about three weeks ago a maw and • woman, the latter of whom answers to the dsacription of the accused, went into a public-house at Nettleatead, where thy were cloeted in a privets room for three hours. The identity of the man hes not been eateabished. At the point on the river's bank where the &Neuter, Alfred Tinhorn, found the body of the little girl, a pathway lead. up from the towma path over the railway, thence serves • hayfield and meadow, to the Maidstone-road, where it comes out by the side of the haute of the bailiff Humphrey.. It thus form. a direct line of communication between the spot where the body was found and the bailiff's. It was by an extraordinary inadvertenps that the body was discovered by Pinhorn. It app mars that Pinhorn was a stranger to the locality, and not knowing the bed of the river over well, he allowed hie bards to swing round ti the shallow portion of the stream near the bank, and it was here by the merest accident that he inserted his boom to pu.l the barge rff, and by doing so brought up en object whida proved to he the body of the missing child. From ' the careful manner in which the body was bound it is assumed that more than one person assisted in the accomplishment of the deed. Several turns of wire were made round the body, and two loops were male at the (set to hold bricks t ) sink the body. One had slipped out, and it is expected will be found in the bed of the river when the water is drawn off on Friday. It is also thought that the child was murdered b•ifore being thrown in, am the body was quite fresh when found. The solicit-re who conducted the defence of Lefroe. Mr. Dutton, has been engaged for the defence of Esther Pae, who is eharged with the Pimlico murder. The bed of the river Medway at 'ridding was searched on Friday, but nothing was disc rvered ca'culated to throw any light on the mysterious affair. It is now believed that the body was in the wa'er at any rate before the 12.11 of January, and this opinion is arrived at from the fact that on that day the river overflowed considerably, partly covering the field in which the hat of the deceased wee subsequently found. James Humphrey, of Kenward, an uncle of Mrs. Pay, picked the hat up on the 15th inat , and placed it on a hedge near, without thinking anything further of the discovery of the article, and it was again noticed there after the body had been taken from the water. Rain fell heavily on the night of Thursday, the 12th, causing the water he flow very fast, and it is believed that the hat of the skimmed we. by this mean. carried from ...bete the body bad been sunk in the river, er from the bank, to the spot where it was found by Mre. Pey's uncle.