The Cotton Factory Times. — 1902-07-04 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

MSL. He might have crossed the hill— Church Moors—and by that route he was not mach over a mile from home, yet by going to Itoadencl he made the journey one of five or six miles. Did he go direct home, or did he doable back to Bill's o' Jack's, and, in conjunction with others, attack the old man while his sou was away? Who. ever the murderers were, they had not time for the completion of their diabolical deed and the plunder of the house, if plunder was One of the objects ira view, before Tom arrived. But at what hour did he get back to his father's house? This point can be ascertained within a vary narrow limit, and thug the precise time at which the murder was perpe. trated is fixed.  On coming back from Roadend with his purchases be called at Sidebank, where he remained with his wife and family tip to between ten and eleven o'clock. In all probability Reuben Platt was well aware that he would call there. It was his usual custom, and he rarely left, except on occasions when there would be a probability of more than the usual amount of business, before 10 o'clock. Whether Reuben Platt had anything to do with the fearful tragedy or not, he would have ample time to go back home to Primrose and cross the hill to Bill's o' Jack's long before Tom would be likely to return. There cannot be the remotest doubt that half-past ten at the earliert, and eleven at the very latest, was the time when Tom was struck down.  It is generally believed that the old man had been attacked when he was alone, and tbat the murderers were engaged in their fiendish work when Tom arrived on the scene. He was evidently assailed as soon as he had opened the door, and before be had time to prepare for an attack, or even thoroughly divest himself of his load. The candles—at that period a very essential article of domestic economy, in outlying districts especially—were scattered and crushed on the floor. He appears to have been struck, probably with the shovel, as be entered the room, but even after that lie must have made a most desperate struggle for life, traces of which were found all over the place. Whether Reuben Platt was engaged in the crime or not will never be known. The suspicions against him, founded upon the old man's indistinct mutterings, could, of course, never reach a point that could be dealt with, but some people thought hardly of him as long as he lived, and as we have seen in our review of the evidence which he gave at the inquest, the stories told by him n were a tissue of inconsistency. The reader will now be able to understand from this review of the case how the circumstances favoured the screening of Jammie-o'-Bradshaw and his son Joe. By skilfully taking advantage of the loose gossip of the district, which ascribed the murder to these mysterious Irishmen, the letter that the hermit of Wessenden Head wrote to Mr. Lavender, the deputy constable, and that gentleman communicated to the press, set the police on the false scent, and Reuben Platt gave circumstantiality to the theory by his evidence at the inquest. But the real murderees did not escape suspicions as we shall now proceed to show.