The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1876-08-11 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

SII0C:  SING TRAGEDY NEAR WELLINGTON.  SUSPECTED MURDER AND SUICIDE OF THE MURDERER.  On Tuesday much excitement was caused in welington and neighbourhood by the report that a young farmer of Rushmoor, near Wellington, had first shot a servant girl named Ann Parton, aged about fifteen, whose pkrcnts reside in Wellington, and then shot himself. The shocking occurrence took place soon after eight o'clock in the morning. The young man .4 named James Winnall, and lived with his father, a well-to-do farmer, at Rushmoor. He had been out in the morning shooting birds with double barrelled gun, and returned to the house to breakfast and spoke to his sister, and prosently the report of a gun was heard, and on Miss Winnall going into the kitchen she was horrified at beholding the girl lying dead near the breakfast table, and her brother lying dead near the door, each with the side of the face blown away. It is conjectured that Winnall, in going into the kitchen with a loaded .double-barrelled gun, first shot the girl, who was sitting at breakfast, and then shot himself by placing the muzzle of the gun against the side of his face, and reaching down, and then pulling the trigger with his hand, blew his face partly away. It is singular that both received their wounds on the same side of the face, and death must have been instantaneous in bAh eases. The corpses presented a shecking spectacle, the kitchen being deluged with blood. There were no other persons in the house at the time, the sister being outside, and the father at some distance in the fields. On the evening of the same day an inquest was held upon the bodies, and the following evidence was given : Mary Winnall, sister of the deceased James Winnall, said Parton had lived with her father for ahout five months and her brother had always lived at home. She (the witness) got up shortly before six o'clock, on Tuesday morning, and her brother came down soon after. He went out to milk the cows, and then returned and took his breakfast. l'arton afterwards came down, and her (witness's) brother went out to shoot birds. Immediately after his return, between eight and nine o'clock, the report of a gun was heard, and she' (the witness) went into the house. She there saw her brother and Parton on the floor dead. A portion of head of each was blown away, the brains were scattered upon the walls and ceiling, and the floor was covered with blood. She (witness) had gone oqt of the kitchen to fetch coal, and was only absent a few minutes. She only heard one report. Her brother was on good terms with all the house, and she never saw him take liberties or act improperly in any way with Parton. Noah Charm mid he lived at Rushmore with Mr. Winnall, the father of the deceased, James Winnall. On Tuesday morning he was called up by the deceased about six o'clock, and he went to work in a field a short distance from the house. He heard Miss Winnall shouting, and he went to the house. He found the two deceased persons lying on the floor in the kitchen. The gun was pointing towards the window. The day before Winnall was at work in a field weeding turnips. Ile talked sensibly enough, but he could never speak very plain. John Jones, wagoner at Rushmoor, said he was at work, on the morning in question, in the orchard cutting grass. The deceased came to him and took some of the gross away. Some t.me after he heard Mifs Winnall give an alarm, and he ran to the house, when he saw what had occurred. Winnall, the deceased, was hard of hearing, and it was difficult for those who were not used to him to understand him when he spoke. Ile was very passionate, •and would throw anything he had in his hand at anyone who vexed him. Police-constable Langford, Wrockwardine, said he received information of what had occurred, and at once went to the house. The girl was lying near the fireplace, and the man at the other end of the kitchen. The gun was by the deceased man's feet. There was half a cup of tea on the table, and the girl appeared to have been getting her breakfast. There were shot marks and blood in the fire-place near the girl, and blood and brains on the ceiling near where the man lay, so that there must have been two distinct shots from the gun. Dr. Ryder said he was sent for to Rushmoor, but when he arrived the bodies had been removed from 'the kitchen. He found in the man a gunshot wound which went upwards, under the left ear. The woman was shot in the same part of the head. He attended Winnall some eighteen months ago, when he (Win. nail) was in a low state of mind in consequence of the death of his mother. He partially recovered, and had not been under him (the witness) since. The mental capacity of Winnall had always been of a low order, and such that he might at any time commit any act. A verdict was returned to the effect that Winnall committed suicide while in a state of temporary insanity, and that the girl was shot by him while he was in that state.