The Sun. — 1855-03-13 (London, England)

EXTRAORDINARY MURDER.  On Saturday night last, Mrs. Sarah Maw, aged 45 years, residing with her husband at No. 4, Eden-place, Old Kent-road, left her home for the purpose of pur• chasing a blacklead brush, and not returning up to 12 o'clock her husband, who is at present but a labouring man, but who had formerly been in good circumstances, went in search of her ; but, though he walked about during the whole of the night, and made inquiries of every policeman he met, he could not obtain the slightest intelligence about her. On Sunday morning, about 7 o'clock, a labouring man, named John Biddle, residing at Perry-vale, Forest-hill, accompanied by his son, in crossing a large field on what is known as 'iTagg's Farm," was attracted by the violent barking of his dog, and, en going to the spot where the animal stood, the shocking spectacle of the body of a woman placed on her back, with her clothes turned over her head and part of her person and legs exposed, was presented to his view. The body lay in a deep furrow or watercourse, and, en examining it, Biddle found it perfectly cold and lifeless, with marks of severe violence on the countenance, one of the tkighs much scratched, and all the appearances indicating that she had been both abusedsand murdered. Biddle and his son went in quest of assistance, and meeting Police constable Jan Arthur, 981‘ P, they informed him of the discovery they had made, and Arthur, having procured the assistance of other constables, a stretcher was brought, and the body was removed to Camberwell Workhouse. There it was carefully examined by the parish, surgeon, and it was the decided opinion of that gentleman that death had been produced by violence. In the meantime information •was forwarded Lock's-fields pence station, and M-. Lund, the superintendent of the P Division, accompanied by Sergeant Quinnear, proceeded to Camberwell Workhouse, and subsequently set about making active inquiries respecting the deceased. Sergeant B 2 ▪P, was also enga;ed in the inquiry, and, from what all coul I learn, it appears that about one o'clock on Sunday morning the deceased was seen by Policeconstable • Charles Sparrow, 90 P, in the Queen's' road, Peckham, in company with a respectably-dressed man, and both were then proceeding towards New-cross gate. This is the last time she was seen alive; Quinnear also learnt that, on hearing of the discovery, two gentlemen, one a Mr. Gosling, and the other Mr. Baker, had traced the footsteps of a single person, and that evidently a man from a bridge on the Crystal Palace line of Railway, and not far from the Dartmouth Arms, public-house, to where the body lay, and traces of blood on the snow were then quite visible, but the traffic through has obliterated all trace of the footsteps as well as the blood. The description given by the husband to the police of the deceased left no doubt on the minds of the constables that she was the same person, and soon after the body was removed to the workhouse the hus• band was sent for. On seeing the body the poor man at once recognised it as that of his wife. He also informed the officers that the deceased bad for some time past complained of her head, and appeared to suffer much from anxiety from their altered circumstances, and more particularly since an execution had been levied on their goods ; but stili he could not think that she meditated suicide. He further said, that before leaving home on Saturday night he gave her ls. to purchase the blacklead brush with, and she might at the time have had 2s. or 3s. of her own, but he should think no more. He did not, he said, observe anything more than ordinary about her on the Saturday evening, nor had anything taken place between them to disturb her mind ; nor did he know any friend or acquaintance of hers who could be in her company at such an hour as that described by the constable 96 P.  Sergeant Quinnear mentioned one singular fact connected with the dreadful affair—that at the time the body was found it was stripped of both shoes and stockings. Yet there was lying on the bank by its side a drawn velvet bonnet, belonging to the deceased, not in the least degree soiled or injured, and this circumstance confirms that officer in his suspicions that the body must have been carried to where it had been found, for, had the deceased herself scrambled a distance of three miles and upwards, which she must have done through hedge and ditch, her bonnet must have been destroyed or torn to pieces. His impression is that the violence, which resulted in her death, must have been inflicted at the railway-bridge, and that the body had been carried by the person whose footsteps had bean noticed by Mr Gosling from there to where it had been found. Had it not been for the accidental circumstance of Biddle crossing the field and having a deg with hint, the body might have lain for many days where it has been found, as it is a secluded spot, and the body itstlf could not have been seen from any distance.