The Sun. — 1845-12-04 (London, England)

SUPPOSED CASE OF MURDER. (From the Dublin Evening Mail.) ENNISKILLEN, Nov. 29.—A very shocking murder— happily, however, unconnected with the agrarian system—has just come to light in the vicinity of this town. " On Wednesday was a week, a Miss Irvine, sister to the clerk of the crown for the county of Fermanagh, was found dead under the feet of her horse in the stable attached to her house, which stands almost in the suburbs of Enniskillen. She was covered with wounds and bruises, particularly on the head ; one of her arms was broken, and the hand of it very much damaged. " It was supposed that Miss Irvine, who, though an elderly lady was of very active habits, had, upon this occasion, gone to fetch some apples from the loft above the stable, where they had been stored, and that in her descent either the step-ladder had slipped, or that she had fallen from it under the horse's feet, and had thus been kicked and trampled to death. This would have been the more extraordinary, as the animal was known to be very gentle, and, moreover, very familiar with and attached to his mistress, who frequently used to feed him. The death, however, was considered accidental, and the body was buried, without an inquest. " Things remained in this state until late yesterday (Friday) evening, when a lad about sixteen or seventeen years of age, who had recently been taken into Miss Irvine's service, came forward, under the direction of his father, and gave such information as induced the magistrate to arrest the woman servant who lived with Miss Irvine at the time of her death. This woman had been reared by her mistress from her childhood, and no suspicion had previously attached itself to her, nor, indeed, to anybody else. " The body was this day (Saturday) exhumed, and an inquest was held, but at so late an hour that the sitting was obliged to be adjourned to Monday morning. Two physicians, Drs. Ovenden and Nixon, deposed, I understand, that the injuries of which the lady died were not such as could have been produced by the hoofs of a horse, and that some, at least, of them were inflicted by a sharp instrument, such as a hatchet or cleaver (of the latter there had been one in the house, which cannot now be found.) " The boy deposed that a few evenings previous to the murder his fellow servant had said to him Now, if some stranger should come and murder the mistress, what would become of us?' He also stated, that on the day of the murder this woman had sent him out of the way on the pretext of fetching her an apron and other articles of clothing from some distant place, and that on his return she would not admit him by the shortest and most usual entrance, but sent him a long round. On her opening the door for him he observed blood upon her hands, but, supposing she had been killing a turkey, he took no further notice of it at the time. The woman said nothing about the murder, and he went about his business, until having occasion to go into the stable, he saw blood,, upon which water had been thrown, flowing from under the stable-door, and on entering it found his mistress dead as described. " This is the material part of the evidence, as far as I have heard it, and I have reason to think it is essentially correct. The woman and the lad are, of course, both held in custody until the result of the inquest shall be known. " The motive to this horrid deed is not yet ascertained. Some impute it to the desire of robbery, as the old lady was rich, and the woman has been observed to have more money than usual about her. Others think it arose from resentment and revenge for the mistress having recently discharged a man-servant, on the grounds of too great a familiarity having existed between him and the woman. 6. —.  *: