The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1886-08-07 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

STAKED SKELETON.  In excavating a trench in London (City) for the Commercial Gas Company, the workmen of Messrs. John Aird and Sons a few days ago made a "remarkable discovery. At a point where the Cannon-stteetroad and Cable-street, in St. George's-in-the-East, cross one another, and at a depth of six feet below the surface, they discovered the skeleton of a man with a stake driven through it, and some portions of a chain were lying in close proximity to the bones. The citizen says : "The presence of such an object naturally caused discussion in the neighbourhood, and with the aid of some of the oldest inhabitants, whose recollection carried them back three-quarters of a century, the person whose remains have thus so strangely been brought to light is, by common consent, declared to be the principal in some tragic occurrences which took place at the close of the year 1811, and of which we will endeavour to give our readers a brief outline. Shortly before twelve o'clock on Saturday night,Dec. 8, in that year, the servant of a Mr. Marr, a silk mercer, residing at 29, Ratcliff-highway, was sent out to purchase some oysters and to pay a bill. On her return, in a pout 20 minutes—it i,hen being Sunday morning—she was unable to gain admittance to the house, the shutters being closed, the door fastened, and all the lights being out. With the aid of Mr. Murray, who lived next door, an entrance was obtained through the back door, which was open, and it was then discovered that the whole of the inmates of the house had been murdered. They consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Marr, their infant child, aged 14 weeks, and an apprentice named James Gohen, aged 14 years. The two former had not been married two years, and were each under 25 years of age, and apparently nothing was takfm from the house, for cash to the amount of nearly £l6O was found in a tin box, or on the person of Mr. Marr. The murderers left behind a large shipwright's maul or mallet, the head weighing two or three pounds, and the handle being about three feet long, an iron chisel 18 inches long, and a wooden mallet about four inches square, with a handle of about 18 inches in length. These were the only traces left with which to unravel the mystery, the perpetrators having left the house by the back door on to a piece of waste ground belonging to the London Dock Company. So things remained until Thursday night, Dec. 19, between 11 and 12 o'clock, when the neighbourhood of New Gravel-lane was alarmed by a cry of ' Murder ' at No. 81, the King's Arms public-house, and a man quite naked was seen descending from a second floor window by the aid of some sheets kotted together. His name was Turner. He lodged in the house, and his evidence was to the effect that after having gone upstairs to bed he heard a cry, We shall all be murdered,' which induced him to cautiously go down again, and looking through the glass window of the tap-room he saw a powerful man, .6ft. high, dressed in a drab, shaggy bearskin coat, stooping over the body of Mrs. Williamson, the landlady, apparently rifling her pockets; he then returned to his bedroom and lethimself down from the window. The front door having been broken open, it was discovered that Mr. Williamson had been murdered in the cellar, and the servant girl was lying dead by the side of her mistress, the vacant piece of land belonging to the Dock Company having evidently again been used by the murderers to escape. Strong evidence induced the authorities to apprehend an Irish sailor named John Williams, alias Murphy, who lodged at a publichouse called the Pear Tree, kept by Mrs. Vermilloe, and at which house there had been left by John Paterson, a ship's carpenter, a chest of tools. The maul found in the house where the first murder was committed was identified as belonging to this set of tools, and a woman who had washed Mnrphy's linen stated that a shirt of his was bloody and torn when it came into her hands. There was other evidence pointing to him as the murderer, or, at all events, one of the murderers, supposing he had accomplices, and he was remanded to Coldbathfields Prison. On Dec. 27, upon his cell being opened, it was discovered he had hanged himself with his pocket-handkerchief, and it is believed the remains now discovered at the cross-roads are those of this unmitigated scoundrel. There were strong suspicions against two men, friends of the suicide, named Allblass and Hart, as being implicated with him in these murders, but we believe after several examinations they were discharged, the evidence against them being too weak for conviction. But as regards Williams, alias Murphy, there is rin doubt he was justly accused, the evidence against him being strong and overwhelming. The story is interesting from more points than one, combining, as it does, barbarous murders of unexampled atrocity, and a barbarous custom then in vogeey when a coroner's jury returned a verdict of fel° de se."