"SHOCKING MURDER AT LEYBRIDGE.--The whole of this district has been
thrown into the greatest consternation by the discovery of a terrible
murder that has been committed in the pleasant meadows near the railway
station. On Thursday morning as John Dean, a laborer, was going to his
work, his attention was attracted by something lying under the hedge in
the field known as Lime Meadow. He found, on inspection, that it was the
body of a woman who had been most cruelly murdered. He hastened to the
police station and gave information to Inspector Henderson. The
inspector went at once to the spot with two of his men. The woman had
been dead, it was supposed, over two hours; there were signs of a
violent struggle; and she had evidently tried hard to defend herself. At
first no clew could be discovered as to her identity or that of her
murderer; but it was seen that she held a handkerchief tightly clinched
in her hands. With some difficulty it was taken away, and the name
'Claude Lennox' was found upon it. Further search brought to light a
folded paper, on which the address of Mr. Lennox was written in full.
The woman's clothes were marked, 'Anna Barratt.' She was quite a
stranger to the neighborhood, and no one remembers to have seen her
before. The police immediately began to make inquiries, the result of
which was the apprehension of Claude Lennox on the charge of wilful
murder. He has been brought before the magistrates at Ashton, and the
evidence given is very strong against him. Mr. Lennox is the nephew of
Colonel Lennox, of Ashton Park; and it appears that, much to the
colonel's anger and annoyance, the young gentleman was absent all
Wednesday night. A porter at Leybridge Station swears to having seen Mr.
Lennox in company with some woman--whose features he did not see--quite
early on Thursday morning. He noticed him particularly, because Mr.
Lennox seemed anxious that his companion should escape all observation.
He saw them walking toward the meadow, but not having seen the woman's
face, could not identify her. Thomas Hannan, a signalman, also swore to
the same facts. Robert Cliffe, a day-laborer, deposed that, as he was
going to work early on Thursday morning, he saw the accused walking
alone and hurriedly toward the park. He thought the gentleman looked
agitated. The prisoner admitted at once that the handkerchief and folded
paper containing the address were his, but refused to explain how they
came into the possession of the deceased. He swore that he was not
guilty of the murder, and that the woman was a stranger to him. When
asked to state where he had been during the night, he declined. When
asked to prove an _alibi_--if he could bring any witnesses to prove
where he had been--he replied abruptly that it was impossible--he could
not do it. The magistrates have committed him for trial at the Loadstone
assizes, and unless he can give some satisfactory information as to
where he passed the night of Wednesday, the weight of circumstantial
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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