The Road murder : being a complete report and analysis of the various examinations and opinions of the press on this mysterious tragedy / by a Barrister-at-Law.

  • Barrister at law
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Road murder : being a complete report and analysis of the various examinations and opinions of the press on this mysterious tragedy / by a Barrister-at-Law. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    10/70 page 6
    up. When I discovered the door open in the morning, I informed Mr. Kent and he came down stairs. Elizabeth Gough said : I have lived with Mr. Kent, as nurse, for the last eight months. Ihe deceased child was a cheerful, happy boy, and slept in a child’s crib in the same room as myself. I put him to bed on Friday last at 8 o’clock; he was then well and happy. X went to bed at five minutes after 11, but previously looked at deceased, who was asleep. Mis. Kent came and kissed the children before I was in bed. I awoke at 5 o’clock in the morning • the nursery door was a little open, and I immediately missed the deceased from his crib. The impression of his body still remained, and the bedclothes were placed neatly, fVJ if I or his mother had done it. The nightshirt and flannel waistcoat I put the child to bed in were gone; the piece of flannel produced doe3 not belong to the house. On missing deceased^ I went to his mother’s room, expecting she had taken him when I was asleep. Not finding him there, I searched through the house and grounds. In the drawing-room I noticed impressions of foot-marks like a man’s boot with hobnails, but I could not discover any foot marks on the lawn outside. I am a light sleeper, and generally hear any movement of the children or cries Mr. and Mrs Keflt slept on the same floor as myself, and the deceased and a little girl in my room. On the second floor slept two elder girls in the same bed, and Constance, another girl, in a room by herself. The cook and housemaid also slept in one bed, and Wm, Saville, a boy fifteen years of age, in a room by himself. A watch dog is loose at night, and can roam round the back of the house ; I did not hear the dog bark on Friday night. By Captain Meredith : The dog appeared as well in the morning as he always is. I took a little bread and butter and water for my supper on Friday night. I had my tea up- stairs. I did take one cup of tea in the kitchen with the cook, standing, as I sometimes do ■yvhen she asks me. I slept very soundly on Friday. Thomas Bpnger, yeoman, of Road, said: On Saturday last I went with others to Mr. Kent’s premises, at 8 o’clock. I searched through the shrubbery for the deceased child. On passing the privy, I noticed some blood of a dark colour upon the floor, and went in ; I raised the lid of the privy and sent for a light; on passing my hand in the opening I felt a blanket, which I pulled out, and then discovered the body of the deceased, dressed in a nightshirt, and lying across the splash board on his side : the board prevented the body falling lower down. I observed a wound in deceased’s throat, and blood and soil over the body ; we wrapt the body in the blanket, and carried it into the kitchen. I and some other men emptied the fall of the privy, but found nothing uncommon in it. Stephen Milett, butcher, of Road, deposed : I am parish-constable of Road. Having heard of the murder of the deceased, I went on Saturday morning to the premises of Mr. Kent, and made a search with the view to find anything that the deed might have been effected with, but was not successful; outside the privy I found the bloody piece of paper produced; on the floor were about two tablespoonfuls and some spots of blood. The quantity of blood on the floor and blanket is as much as could come from a child of that description—the whole quantity, I should think, is three half-pints. By a juryman—I think it possible that the murder was committed in the closet. My impression is that the child was held with his legs upwards, and his head hanging down, and his throat cut while in that position. (Sensation.) Elizabeth Gough, recalled: I do not know these pieces of paper. Master takes in the Times, Qivil Service Gazette, and sometimes a Frome paper. [The pieces of paper produced were not portions of any of the above-named newspapers.] Mr. Joshua Parsons, surgeon, of Beckiugton, deposed : On examining the body of deceased I found two superficial cuts on the left hand. The throat was cut from ear to ear; every structure down to the spine was severed. I also found a stab made by a long and strong- pointed instrument, which passed through the cartilages of two ribs, the diaphragm, and wounded the external coat of the stomach. The wound must have been made by a dagger or pointed knife. (Sensation.) I am of opinion the throat was first cut, which would cause instaut death. I should say death had taken place, quite five horn's before I saw the body about 9 am on Saturday. I am also of opinion that sufficient blood has not been dis- covered to account for the mode of death. There was a blackened appearance round the mouth of the deceased, such as we do not usually see in dead bodies, as if something had been pressed tightly against it. A sufficient quantity of blood on the blanket, and the floor and wall of the water-closet, has not been accounted for, as would have flowed from the body if the throat were cut in the closet, as blood from the arterial vessels would have produced a greater quantity of sparkles on the wall than have been spoken of. If a quart of blooi ia been accounted for, it would not have been the whole of the blood in that child. 1 0 “o think the child had a blow in the head before its throat was cut; if it had I s ou Been the mark- , Mr. Superintendent Foley, of the Trowbridge police, said that he could reconcile tne apparent difference in the evidence respecting the quantity of blood found in the , he was the first who disturbed the soik-Whon I first examined the vault 1 foun da large quantity of paper, as much as would cover this table (about two yards in cn
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3