The Pontypridd District Herald and Rhondda Valley, Llantrisant, Caerphilly, and Mountain Ash News. — 1892-11-12 (Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

OUTRAGE AND MURDER AT BLACKBURN.  SHOCKING DETAILS. A horrible outrage, followed by murder, was rpetrated in the outskirts of Blackburn on Tuesiy, the victim being Alice Barnes, aged only in e years, the third child of Edward Barnes, farmer, of West View, Witton. The child, it appears, was in the habit of taking the cows to and from Wittou-Park, where they pastured. On Tuesday morning she and an elder sister took them as usual, and Alice was left behind to bring back a calf. Her murderer must have been watching her, as circumstances leave little doubt that, as soon as the elder girl had got out of sight, the man seized the child, gagged her by staffing • red handkerchief into her mouth, and then carried her behind the gates, and there accomplished his fiendish purpose. The child had evidently struggled courageously, and the murderer beat her with his fists and stick in a ferocious manner about the head and body until she became temporarily unconscious, and afterwards he no doubt left her for dead. Life was not extinct, however, for the little victim, regaining consciousness, crawled from behind the gateway into the middle of the road, where her remaining strength became exhausted, and she sank and died. Some time afterwards a widow named Margaret Hindle was passing the scene of the crime, when she saw the dead body of Alice Barnes lying right in the centre of the roadway. The entrance to the park is from an unfrequented lane, but the nearest house is not more than fifty yards from the actual spot where the outrage and murder were committed. The gagging, however, was so prompt and effectual that the unhappy little victim could not have given utterance to a single scream, otherwise she must have been heard and help would have been afforded. The police have received a description of a man from two persons who saw a stranger in the vicinity of the park entrance. He wasdressed in imitiao, wore a billycock hat, and was of slender build. A girl, named Dunbury, a mill worker, saw the deceased and her sister taking the cows through the gate. The man described above was intently watching the girls, and he also fixed his gaze upon the girl Dunbury as she passed close to bitn. A man answering this description was seen hurrying from the spot about the time the murder must have been committed.  I.cpiegety.ated  I nine  She  A telegram received from Blackburn late on Tuesday night says :—lmportant new evidence was oh. tamed by the police late this evening. A lad named Riding, son of Lieutenant-General Feilden's gamekeepers states that as he was running down the lane (referred to above), which is very steep, he came upon the murderer carrying his victim through the park wicket gate, but he was so terrified at the sight that he ran back to another park entrance, where he gave an alarm. Another youth, named Riley, living in a house overlooking the lane, saw a man running away, looking over his shoulder as he went, and remarked to his father, who was dining at the time, that he looked like a man who had committed a crime.