Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1881-05-28 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THE TRAGIC ELOPEMENT.  The burial of the two unhappy persons— James Shaw and Mary Ann Wagstalle—who committed suicide by drowning themselves in the dam attached to the Rowell Wheel,  situated in the Loxley Valley, near Slid. field, eatly on Thursday week, took place in the Stannington Parish Churchyard on Sunday afternoon in the presence of an enormous concourse, and was attenled by  scenes of an extraordinary description. As soon as possible after the bolding of the inquest, the bodies were placed in the coffins which had been constructed for their reception, and that containing illary Ann Wagstaffe was removed to the house of the unfortunate girl's parents at Storrs, while the corpse of Shaw was conveyed to his father's residence in Dykeshall Boa, Hillsborough. It was at first intended by the parents of the deceased that they should be buried in different graveyards, but for some reason this idea was abandoned, and Stan/ling  ton, where some of the relatives of both parties are interred, was fixed upon, and by a mutual exraneement it was determined that the funerals should take place at the same hour --viz., five o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday. The intelligence was soon bruited abroad, and caused the greatest excitement throughout the neighbourhood. A great crowd assembled. Shortly before half-past four o'clock the heerse containing the body of Shaw, ac companied by the mourners and bearers—the former being conveyed in a carriage which formed, part of the vehicle, and the latter walking by the Bide, started on its melancholy journey. The West Riding constables, who had been seut by Superintendent Gill at the request of the Vicar of Staunington (the Rev. S. Parkes) for the purpose of keeping order, at once exercised their authority, and by dint of pushing and shouting formed the excited people on either side of the pathway. On the arrival of the cortege at the church gates the coffie was re. moved, and the bearers bete it upon their shoulders, followed Ly the mourners, inside the ground, where they were met by the vicar, who preceded it, repeating the opening sentences of the burial service. The mourners, who comprised Shaw's father and mother and his five sisters and two brothers, took their seats in the high-back pews on the right hand side of the church, and there remained until the arrival of the other funeral party. The front pew was occupied by Shaw's wife and the elder children, all being attired in deep monrning. At ten minutes past five o'clock the hearse, conveying the remains of the girl Wagstaffs, followed by a waggonette and a trap cantaicing the mourners, was diei”rned app i °aching. The bell then began to toll, and continued to do so nutil the slowly advancing cortege carne within a short distanoe of the church. On the arrival at the gates the hearse discharged its ghastly load, the relatives and friends placed themselves oebind tlie coffin, and, headed by the vicar, repeating as before the opening lines of the burial service, a move was made up the pathway. Directly the last mourner bad passed the gateway the crowd from without pressed in, and, rendering futile the efferts of the constables to prevent it, dosed up iuta a solid mass, and, joined by those who until then had stood quietly by, pressed after the funeral party, so that when the coffin and its bearers had ()wised within the porch the entire space to front of the church was filled by an exalted asvembly. A rush was made to get into the sacred edifice; women shrieked, men sheeted and blasphemed, and one and all scrambled, pushed, and fought with the endeavour to secure an entrance and witness the service to be performed there. In the meantime the noise prevented the vicar, who had ascended the pulpit, from continuing the service, and he remained standing patiently waiting for the quietude necessary to enable him to proceed. While he did sa the people, who by dint of hard fighting bad got into the church, trooped into the galleries. and in so doing made a great clatter. When the noise created by the pattering of feet and the rustling of clethes had ceased, the vicar was about to resume the service, when the doors were again opened, and in rushed another lot of men and women, who ran quickly up the staircase, and soon filled the gallery. All the seats, including those for the choir and the organist, were occupied, and the space round the sides was crowded to excess. The vicar, dismayed by this unruly conduct, continued to stand in the pal pit waiting for the distarbere to settle down into something like quietness, but at half-past flee his patience became exhausted, and be ordered the doors to be closed. This having been done, and the excitement having cooled down the service over the body of Mary Ann Wagste.ffe was resumed. The mourners for the young woman were seated on the lefthand side of the church, and comprised her father (who carried a little girl clad in white in his arms), her mother, and some of her brothers and sister& At the conclusion of the service in the church the doors were thrown open, and the procession, reforming, proceeded to the young woman's grave in the north-east corner of the ground, where the coffin was lowered and the final words uttered. The Vicar, leaving the friends to take a farewell look at the remains of the unfortunate female, returned to the church, wore Shaw's friends had remained seated, and the service over the man's body was resumed. The coffin was then conveyed to the grave, which is situated in the sonth-west corner, almost in a line with that of the female whose death it is patent he was instrumental in causing. The service at both graves took place in the prervince of a large crowd, which rushed to the spot immediately on the white-robed minister appearing followed by the funeral parties, and which it is only fair to say conducted itself with the utmost decorum. At the conclusion of the services the assembly broke up in a very orderly fashion, but it was not until nightfall that all had dispersed to their homes.  The Cambridge Cnamour of Agriculture, after a lively discussion, on Saturday passed a resolution against the imposition of an import duty on foreign corn. At Guildford on Saturday William Steer, aged 12, was committed for trial for attempting to upset a train by placing a piece of iron on the rails.