Alston Herald, and East Cumberland Advertiser. — 1880-01-31 (Alston, Cumbria, England)

MYSTERIOUS MURDER  NEAR BLANCHLAND.  PROCEEDINGS AT STANHOPE POLICE COURT.  A special sitting of the Stanhope Police Coat commenced on Tuesday morning, to hear the charge preferred against Jane Barron (27), servant, of wilfully murdering her late master, Robert Snowball, at Belmount Farm, near Blanchland, on the Ist inst So great an interest has been excited in this case that the ordinary polite court was quite inadequate to meet the accommodation of those who sought admittance, and the court was consequently held in the Town Hall, which was filled to its most capacity. The case was heard before Mr Valentine Rippon of Rogerley Flail, Stanhope, who was the only magistrate present. The Chief Constable of the County (Lieut. Colonel White) occupied a seat upon the bench. Mr A. W. Granger of Durham, instructed by Superintendent Thubron and Inspector Liddle, appeared to prosecute, and Mr Isaac Baty jail., of Elexham, defended the prisoner. The prisoner on being brought in court changed colour a little, but quickly regained her composure on being seated. She was dressed in the same way as when before the coroner last week. She seemed to take the deepest interest in the details of the case, and knit her brows when the witnesses failed to give very clear answers. So far as outward appearances went, she did not seem to feel the serious position in which she is placed, and joined in the general smile evoked by some quaint answers given by old Mr SnowbalL Mr Granger said he appeared to prefer the serious charge of wilful murder against the prisoner Jane Barron, and before he closed he believed he would be able to show to the Bench that there was a prima facie. case for investigation be(nre a jury against the prisoner. The evidence be had to place before the Bench was very much of a circumstantial nature; and he asked his Worship to pay attention to the inferences and deductions which he (Mr Granger) would draw from the evidence. Belmount Farm was in a lonely situation, and it was occupied by the deceased, who had living with him his father, 64 years of age, and the prisoner as his housekeeper. He then give a sketch of the evidence, which he proposed to adduce, and said he wished to lay before the Bench a few remarks and deductions from it. lie would give no opinion on the evidence as it would appear before the Assizes, where the prisoner no doubt would have the benefit of my doubts that might arise in the case, but what he had clearly to make out was a prima facie case sufficient to justify his Worship in sending the prisoner for trial for this murder. Now, the first thing they had to look to was the nature of this murder, and it was obvious that it must have been either for robbery or it must have been a deliberate assassination conceived beforehand, and then carried out; or it may have been a chance assassination arising on the spur of the moment, either from anger or from blows struck, or from words. Now, with regard to any theory of this assassination occurring for the purpose of robbery, it seemed to be utterly impossible it could have occurred. In the first place, there was no valuable property in this farm homestead which had been taken away. In the next place—and this was really perhaps the strongest against the theory—the deceased man's money and watch were left in his podeessiou, and nothing whatever was taken by the murderer. Therefore, he thought they could put aside any theory of the assassination having oc curred from motives of robbery, and he put it aside altogether. Then they were left with the other two alternatives—a deliberate or a chance assassination. Now, if it had been s chance assassination—an assassination arising suddenly from anger or other motive, that wits to say, from some person outside the farm, who had come to expostulate with this man, and high words had occurred between them, and deadly blows been struck—there must have been some struggle, and there must have been evidence of of a struggle in that room. From the evidence which would be laid before his worship he would be clearly of opinion that the murder could not have arisen in that method at all. The deceased had been struck down without a moment's warning, and there was not the slightest evidence •of any struggle. If there had been a struggle some trace of it would have been left. Having , eliminated these two alternatives they were really