The Pontypridd District Herald and Rhondda Valley, Llantrisant, Caerphilly, and Mountain Ash News. — 1891-12-26 (Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

THE MURDER OF TWO GAMEKEEPERS NEAR AYLESBURY. The funeral of the two gamekeepers who were murdered near the village of Aldbury, in Hertfordshire, was the occasion of a great demonstration of sympathy. The police believe that they have tracked the murderers to a village near Wendover. They are believed to be hiding in the neighbourhood. The police have information which they think will be of great value in enabling them to bring the murderers to justice. The stook of a gun has been found in the canal at Bulborne. A man named Walter Smith has been already arrested. He, it is alleged by the police, belongs to a gang of notorious poachers, cf which the " wanted ' men are also, it is said, members. Smith, however, denies any knowledlof the I aftair. Some rather curious complications took place in connection with the inquest. The spot where the fatal assault was committed is a ploughed field about two miles from the village of Aldbury. The Ivinghoe and Pitstone hills, and the woode at the back, form an amphitheatre, and in this bleak spot on Saturday night, it is believed, these two poor men, far out of the reach of help, and beyond the possibility of raising an alarm, were foully done to death. The scene of the murder is about 150 yards within the county of Buckingham. Deputy Chief Constable Webb, of Aylesbury, Oti arriving assumed the superintendence of the police inquiries, but as the bodies were removed tq • public-house at Aldbury, which is just inside Hertfordshire, the duty of warning the coroner fell to the Herta police, and it was Mr. Lovel Sineathman, the coroner for that part of Hertfordshire' who conducted the inquest. Both the deceased men were married. Puddephatt leaves a wife and five children, and Crawley • wife and seven children. They were both Oddfellows. Pitstone is a village on the Herts. border, about seven miles in length and one mile in breadth. It is half a mile west from Ivinghoe, three miles south from Cheddington Station, and nine• miles east from Aylesbury. It is in the Linslade pretty passional division, and in the County Court district, of Aylesbury. OAPTURII OP TUX SIPPPOPED CIAPItyPS.  The two men Eggleston and Rayner, who ire suspected of the murder, have been apprehended, their capture being effected at Slough on Monday afternoon by Police-constable Payne, of the Bucks. County Constabulary. Superintendent Sutton was convinced that the men were in hiding somewhere in his district, and this belief was strengthened by information which Police-constable Payne received. Acting accordingly he sent out men to patrol the whole of the district, but notwithstanding this the two accused men managed to elude the vigilance of the police, and to get through the line. At Denham they went into a publichouse and sold a knife, purchasing with the proceeds a herring, which they cooked and ate in the house. Here they picked up a newspaper and reed an account of the murder and their own descriptions. Afterwards they proceeded to Long Farm, where they concealed themselves. When they emerged from their hiding place on Monday morning they were confronted by Police-constable Payne, who charged them with the murder and arrested them. Neither of them made on, reply. Payne then called to his assistance some other constables who were close at hand, and the accused were taken to Slough and afterwards removed to Aylesbury. It appears that they had been previously tad by the Oxford police, but had been allowed to go, as their heights did not tally with the first description hemmed. The constable who arrested them afterwards reported the matter to his chief, and was sent bach to the threshing machine upon which they wee working, with orders to re-arrest them, bat upon seeing him approaching they decamped. He followed them but they outran him. The constable caught a pony, mounted it, and went after them, but the pony broke down, and the men escaped.