The Sun. — 1846-08-12 (London, England)

SUPPOSED MURDERS.  OXFORD, AUGUST 10. —The neighbourhoods of Woodstock, Sturdy's Castle, and Jackley, have been thrown into a considerable state of alarm in consequence of the discovery of the skeletons of three human beings, in a pit on the right hand side of the Banbury turnpike-road, and within fifty yards of the Sturdy's Castle publichouse, and which there is every reason to fear are the remains of some unfortunate fellow-creatures who have been basely murdered and then buried there by a gang of gipsies who used to infest that part of Oxfordshire, three of whom are now in Oxford Castle, two under a conviction of murder, and the other of sheep-stealing. Our readers will at once know to whom we allude, viz., to James Biddle and Isaac Sheriff, who were condemned at the recent assizes for the murder of Mr. Mobbs, but whose sentence has since been commuted to that of transportation for life, and Skerry, who turned Queen's evidence, but was afterwards transported for fifteen years for sheepstealing. The discovery of the human skeletons arose under the following. circumstances :—When Mr. Walker, the governor of Banbury Gaol, and Morgan, the constable of King Sutton, were bringing Biddle, Skerry, and Sheriff to Oxford Castle, and on arriving within a short distance of the public-house called Sturdy's Castle, Biddle suddenly exclaimed (pointing to the side of the road as well as his handcuffs would let him), " There lays dead men's bones." Mr. Walker asked him what he meant—how dead men's bones came there ? Biddle appeared somewhat confused, but replied, in a jesting manner, " Oh, they were killed in the war," and said no more. The officers, on their return from Oxford, repeated the conversation to the landlady at Sturdy's Castle, who remembered that, about eight years ago, a person disappeared from that neighbourhood under very peculiar circumstances, and had never been seen or heard of by his friends since— the person's name was hick', the son of a small farmer residing at Jackley (a village about a mile and a half from Sturdy's Castle, and that he was the owner of some cottages and land at that place. He was a very eccentric character, and preferred a roaming life to that of a settled one. He at last took up a regular vagabond's life, wandering about the country with a gipsy tribe, of which Biddle and , Skerry formed a portion. Every half-year they were to be seen encamped in the neighbourhood of Sturdy's Castle, and it was on these occasions only Hicks used to pay his native village a visit, for the purpose of receiving his rents for the lands and cottages. Something like eight years ago he paid his half-yearly visit as usual, but since that time he has never been seen or heard of, and his brother has taken to the property. The circumstance under which he disappeared, and the company he was known to keep, coupled with Biddle's g declaration on his way to Oxford Castle, led to the opinion that he had been basely murdered for the sake of the rents he had been receiving. No steps were sto by Biddle, when, horrible to taken to ascertain the truth of fiddle's declaration until Fabroiduatythleasts,powt pointedhen °llng persons wt re employed to di relate, the skeletons of three human beings were discovered ia a hollow pia", which was many years ago used as a saw pit, on the side of the road, about a foot and a half under ground- Many of the bones are quite placed in a box, which is now under perfect. A medical gentleman residing in the neighbourhood has pronounced them to be those of a woman and two men, and from the state they were in they must have been there several years. They were carefully collected the issue of a coroner's be inquest, when, it is to hoped, that some further light d erloetkogue and der seal, cf and w a ti g will be thrown on the affair.