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From the Kentish Express, 20 September, 1856.
CORONER’S INQUEST.
On Wednesday last, as two men named Jarvis and Peasley, were at work
on a farm at Barrow-hill, in the occupation of W. P. Burra, Esq.,
they discovered a bag in a pond near a footpath leading to the
Warren; upon opening it, it was found to contain the dead body of a
male child in a very decomposed state.
An Inquest was held on Thursday morning at twelve o'clock, at the
"Engineer Inn," before Thomas Thorpe Delasaux, Esq., coroner for
East Kent, and a respectable Jury; Mr. Geering, foreman.
The jury having been sworn, the Coroner said he hoped they would on
this occasion take more than the usual cursory survey of the body,
as they would not have the assistance of a medical gentleman unless
they should express a wish to that effect. He understood the body
was in an advanced stage of decomposition, and it would be
impossible
for any one to state the cause of death, or whether it ever had
existence, as the old test of the lungs floating was now exploded,
for if the child had once breathed and immediately expired, they
would still float, and the same effect would follow from
decomposition.
The jury then proceeded to view the body, which was lying in an
outhouse belonging to the farm where it was discovered. It was in a
frightful state of decomposition, and the coroner observed that if
he had seen the body previously, he should not have troubled the
jury to attend.
On their return, James Jarvis was sworn, and said:— I live at
Barrow-hill, Ashford, and am a labourer in the employment of Mr.
Burra. Yesterday morning I was at work about seven o’clock in the
Home-field, on that gentleman’s farm, and saw a bag lying on the mud
in a pond which is between the Home and Pond fields. I called Peasly,
and we opened the bag, which we found to contain the dead body of a
male child. The body was put in the bag head foremost, the legs were
doubled up, and a stone in the bag close to the head. It was very
much decomposed. Should say it had been dead many weeks. I have been
to the pond for some weeks to get water. The water has recently been
very much reduced. I never saw the bag before. I know nothing of the
cause of death. There was a footmark in the mud. I cannot give any
opinion as to whether it ever lived or what killed it, owing to the
state of the body. I do not suspect any one.
By a juror:— I have seen hundreds of people going that way. The bag
was tied up.
By the foreman:- I do not think any one had examined the bag before
me. It was sewed up very neat, and tied up very tight indeed at the
top.
George Peasly:— I am a labourer residing at Ashford. I have heard
the evidence of Jarvis, and it is all true. I know nothing
additional.
The Coroner said that there was no evidence what ever of the cause
of death; it might have been drowned or otherwise killed, or it
might not have ever breathed; he recommended the jury to return an
open verdict, for if any clue were obtained, their verdict would not
stop further enquiry.
The jury immediately returned a verdict of — "Found Dead."
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From the Maidstone Telegraph, Rochester and Chatham Gazette, 9 November 1861.
Leve Jupp, 11, pleaded guilty to stealing 7s. 9 1/2d. from the bar till
of the "Engineer Inn," Ashford, as the case was not pressed the
magistrates directed that he should be well whipped by his father in the
presence of a policeman.
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Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, 18 June 1870.
SHOCKING EVENT.
On Wednesday last Mr. Cooper Pope, a young man in business with his
father as a veterinary surgeon, was brought before W. P. Burra, Esq., on
an extraordinary charge of stealing oats from the stable of Mr. J. K.
Philpott. Mr. Philpott’s son and a younger lad swore positively that
they saw Mr. Pope come out from the stable about eleven o’clock the
preceding night, with a bag full of something under his arm. About a
gallon and a half of oats was missed from a sack full which had been
recently put into a corn bin, and about that quantity of similar oats
was found in the prisoner’s stable. Mr. Burra remanded the accused on
substantial bail, until the petty sessions. The unfortunate young man
seems to have brooded continually over the chance until Friday evening,
when he went into the washhouse of his father’s residence, and blew his
brains out in a most determined manner, with a gun which he had loaded
with shot for the purpose. An inquest was held on the body at the
"Engineer Inn," on Saturday evening, before T. T. Delasaux, Esq. The top
of the deceased's head was blown clean off. He had addressed a long
letter to his wife, in which he took an affectionate leave of her, and
of his father and mother and friends; but said he could not live under
such a stigma on his character, and he protested most solemnly his
entire innocence of the charge imputed to him. The jury returned a
verdict to the effect that the deceased committed suicide while
suffering under mental derangement. It seems difficult to understand how
he could have been guilty of a paltry theft like that imputed to him, as
he was in a good business, and there were plenty of oats in his own
stable. The melancholy event caused a painful sensation in the town. |
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