Double Murder at Bolton on Dearne
5th December 1856Another of those terrible crimes which, unhappily, have become so common since the adoption of the ticket-to-leave system was this morning discovered to have been committed at the village of Bolton-upon-Dearne, about 8 miles north of Rotherham.
The victims are Luke White, aged 61, and Elizabeth, his wife, aged 60. The aged couple resided alone, White acting as Postmaster of the place, and carrying on the business of a druggist and grocer.
The house is in the village street, and consists of a shop with a parlour behind, and also a kitchen on the ground floor. The connection between the shop and the house is by an inner door in the right hand corner of the shop into a passage; that passage runs along the back of the shop, and then along the side of the parlour to the kitchen. Along one side at the end of the shop is a counter, with an opening in it at the angle opposite the door into the passage; the kitchen is the room in which White and his wife ordinarily lived.
White has for some years been a local preacher among the Wesleyans, and of late has been in the habit of sitting reading till 11 or 12 o'clock at night. He usually closed the shutters and his shop at dusk, leaving the door unfastened till about 10. During the evening a lamp burnt upon the counter, and when any customer came in he would go from the kitchen into the shop carrying a candle.
He was last seen alive a little before 10 o'clock on Thursday night by a girl named Swallow, who called to purchase some candles.
Raising the Alarm
On Friday morning the shop was not opened as usual, and a woman named Downing, who wanted to purchase some articles, tried the door and found it unfastened. On walking into the shop she was horrified to find White lying dead in a pool of blood at the opening of the counter, which communicates with the inner door. A candlestick stood upon the counter, with the candle burnt down to the socket. The old man's spectacles lay among the blood on the floor; and the oil lamp on the counter had burnt out.
Mrs. Downing raised an alarm, and Mr. John Davy and others came in. It was found that White had been struck about the head and face by some heavy instrument, which had inflicted some severe cuts. He appeared to have been struck down just as he reached the counter and set down the candle.
Passing into the house, the body of Mrs. White was found in the passage just outside the kitchen door. She lay with her head towards the shop. and a candle and candlestick lay separated, as if they had fallen from her hands. Her death had also been caused by frightful wounds on the head and face, which had bled profusely.
On examining the shop a cupboard was found to have been broken open, but whether anything had been taken from it was not apparent. White was in the habit of keeping his money in a canvass bag in his shop desk, which was found unlocked and the bag empty. There were no marks of violence about it. On examining the pockets of the old man, a sovereign in a leather purse was found in his right hand trousers pocket, and 16s. 2d. in the left hand pocket. There were no appearances in the upper rooms of the house of the drawers, etc. having been ransacked, but all were found unlocked. White's brother is not aware whether there was any considerable sum of money in the house.
The Constable, whose name happens to be the same as that of the deceased, though no relation, states that he called upon the old man during Thursday evening, and found him sitting on the sofa with a rug about his shoulders reading the bible; he complained of the cold. When the murders were discovered the bible was found open on the table and the rug thrown back over the sofa, as if the old man had arisen from the position in which the Constable saw him go into the shop. The surmise is that, on hearing some person enter the shop, the old man went there and was struck down by the assassin as soon as he had placed the candle on the counter.
His wife, alarmed by the noise, was no doubt going with another candle to the shop, when the murderer met her in the passage, and killed her with the same weapon which has destroyed her husband. No instrument likely to have been used by the murderer has been found about the premises.
So far as is yet known, no strange person had been seen the place. The County Coroner, Mr. Badger, will commence an inquest tomorrow.
Within 3 or 4 miles of the scene of this tragedy a cattle dealer, named Whittaker, was a few weeks ago waylaid, murdered, and robbed of about £200., and as yet no clue has been obtained to the perpetrator of the outrage.
The double murder committed at Dalton Brook, of which a telegraphic report appeared in The Times of Saturday, following so closely upon the murder of Mr. Whittaker and the outrage on the Birdwell Stationmaster, all in the same district of the West Riding, has created a great amount of excitement. The following supplies a more detailed narrative of the crime than could necessarily be given in the telegraphic despatch.
Bolton on Dearne
Bolton-upon-Dearne is a secluded village, about a mile and a half from Wath Station, on the North Midland Railway, and the scene of the atrocious deed is an oblong shaped house, one room in breadth, and consisting of shop, sitting room, and kitchen, on the ground floor, with three bedrooms above. The shop is at the end next the street, and has a door opening upon the street. It is so situated as to afford considerable facilities for the commission of the crime. Though there are several houses near, none of them exactly front the entrance to the shop. The garden wall projects into the street above a yard further than the end of the house, and the shop door is in the corner, and is thus sheltered from the observation of persons passing along the street until they come quite upon it. A garden extends along the side of the house, separating it from other buildings; and though there are several cottages adjoining the end of the building furthest from the street, the doors are some yards distant from the deceased's front door, which opens into the sitting room, which is a passage from the shop into the kitchen.
Respected Family
Mr. Luke White was very much respected and esteemed, not only in Bolton, but also in the neighbouring villages, where he was well known. He was a remarkable instance of the village factotum, being not only the village druggist, grocer, and postmaster, but also entrusted with the transaction of all the parochial business, including that of overseer, vestry clerk, etc., and being also, like most village druggists, to a great extent the village surgeon. His parochial trusts were not even confined to Bolton, but embraced several of the neighbouring villages, where he was held in great repute for his general knowledge, but more especially for his accurate acquaintance with all matters relating to parish business. He was also looked upon by the villagers, by whom he was almost universally respected, as an extremely pious person, and was an occasional preacher. He belonged to the Calvanistic Sect, and held its doctrines somewhat extremely. The temperance movement also owned in him an unwearied advocate, and he was ever trying to induce his poorer parishioners to take the abstinence pledge. He was well to do in the world, being the owner of the house he occupied, with several cottage houses adjacent, and also of about 8 acres of land. But, though his duties were multifarious, he performed them without assistance, and lived alone with his aged partner. It was the custom of the aged couple to sit up till midnight, the wife reading her Bible, and the husband writing notes of his sermons, writing out his parish documents, or reading, according to circumstances.
Village Meeting
On Thursday afternoon a meeting of the principal rate payers of the village was held at his house, for the purpose of petitioning, under the new police regulations coming into operation next month, that the village, which for some years past has had the advantage of a paid Constable, resident in the village, may still have the same protection. This meeting broke up about 5 o'clock, and neighbours and customers visited the house and shop up to about half 8 o'clock in the evening, when everything was satisfactory. It had been mainly through Mr. White's influence that the village had maintained a parish constable.
Between 9 and 10 o'clock on Friday morning the wife of a labourer named Luke Downing went to the shop for a quantity of salt and saltpetre to apply to a pig which they had been killing. She found the door closed and the window shutters up, but was not at all surprised at the circumstance, it being the habit of the aged couple to open at a rather late hour in the morning. She tried the door, and, finding that it was only latched, opened it so as to ring the bell, and, receiving no answer, she rang the bell a second time. Feeling surprised at hearing nothing of either of the inmates, or a little dog, which generally barked on the ringing of the bell, she pushed open an inner door recently put up for the sake of warmth, it is presumed, and looked into the shop. Perceiving something unusual, she advanced a little further, and saw the dead body of a man lying face downwards upon the floor, and weltering in blood. She retreated in a state of great trepidation, and, seeing a hawker, named W. Harvey, crossing the road from an adjacent house, called out "Oh! dear, there is a man lying on the floor with his head cut." Harvey ran into the shop and returned saying that he believed the man was dead. Mr. Day, who lives on the opposite side of the road at the distance of about 30 yards, was then called in, and found the body to be that of Mr. White. It was lying in the passage separating the two counters, with the head towards that door. The alarm spreading, numbers of people flocked to the place, and, proceeding into the house, found Mrs. White also lying dead and weltering in blood in the passage just opposite the front door. The little dog was found lying upon the body of its murdered master uninjured, but so cowed, and subdued that it had forgotten its habit of barking.
The bodies were shortly afterwards removed and placed upon a table in the kitchen. The wounds, which appeared to be about the head, were of a most frightful character, and the bodies, as they lay together, presented a most sad and shocking spectacle. Mr. Burman, surgeon, of Wath, was called in to view the bodies.
Several circumstances which have come to light leave little doubt that the murder was committed between 10 and half past 10 o'clock. About that time the family of Mr. Day heard the little dog bark, and remarked upon it as an unusual circumstance at so late an hour. Another family, whose house is still nearer, heard a noise as of something falling heavily, and, though little thought of at the time, the circumstance is now looked upon as strong proof of the fact that it was at this time the murders were committed.
Mr. and Mrs. White generally used the kitchen as their sitting room, and after the discovery of the murder, an open Bible was found on one side of the table, and notes of a sermon on the other side, leading to the supposition that at the time they were disturbed, Mr. White was employed in the preparation of a sermon which he had engaged to preach in the Chapel at the neighbouring village of Billingley; and that Mrs. White was reading the Bible, as was her wont. The lid of the writing desk in the shop was found propped up, and upon it was a plate, as if Mr. White had just engaged in mixing some medicine. A calomel powder was found lying upon the counter, which is believed to have been only just prepared, as there was no memorandum of it in the shop book, which was open. From these circumstances it is believed that one or more of the murderers entered under the pretence of being customers and getting the medicine prepared, and watching their opportunity struck Mr. White down when he came to the angle of the counters, probably to reach the scales for the purpose of weighing something. It is only fair to say, however, that there is a great deal of uncertainty on this point. There is, however, little doubt as to the circumstances under which Mrs. White came to her death. It is evident that her attention had been attracted by the violence in the shop, and that she at once snatched up a candle to go to learn the cause, but was met as she emerged through the doorway from the kitchen into the passage, and at once felled to the ground. When after death she had the candlestick clasped firmly in her right hand, From the character of the wounds it is evident that the assassins had made short work of it. The wounds seem to have been caused by some sharp and heavy instrument, severely cutting the integuments, as well as fracturing the skull.
Various conjectures are made as to whether the murders had been prompted by malice or a desire for plunder. The former was the first supposition, but when it was found that the cupboard upstairs had been forced open it suggested the conclusion that the object was plunder. It is also remarked that no part of the premises was disturbed but the cupboard in which the deceased used to keep his money - an indication that the assassins knew where to look for booty. The till of the shop was found open and empty, but it is thought probable that Mr. White might himself have emptied it, especially as money was found in his pockets.
The only child of the deceased is Mr. Pearson White, a druggist at Pennistone, who arrived at Bolton in the course of the day. It is stated that Mr. White's shop was robbed about a year ago, and the thief escaped detection.
Great consternation has been created in Bolton and the neighbourhood by these dreadful crimes. The people crowded to the place anxious to see the scene of such a catastrophe, and were horror struck at the idea that a house could be entered and all the inmates killed without the neighbours being at all aware for a number of hours what tragedy had been perpetrated.
Mr. White is known to have been careful not to keep money in his house, and only a fortnight ago he wrote to his son cautioning him to adopt a similar precaution. His son's letter contained the assurance that it was his rule to deposit all his spare money in the bank.
In addition to the local Constable, Mr. Green, of Barnsley, is on the spot, assisting to endeavour to obtain some clue to the criminals. It is feared that this will be very difficult, as it is not at present known that any persons who can be suspected have been seen near the place, nor has any property been missed which could be identified.
Mr. White's notes seem to be meant for a sermon on Romans viii., 19, and contained references to several passages in the Evangelists and the Epistles. The text is, "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God;" on which it was noted that the Greek word rendered "creature" meant "human creature," and that the word rendered "earnest expectation" implied "looking out - looking with the neck stretched out and the head thrust forward." It had been the habit of the deceased to sing a hymn each night, accompanying himself on the piano. The nearest neighbour remarked on Thursday night that he did not hear from Mr. White's house his accustomed hymn of praise.
The Inquest
At the inquest upon the bodies the following evidence was adduced:-
Wiliam White, Constable, identified the bodies, and stated that Mr. White was aged 61, and his wife 58 years. Besides his office of postmaster, Mr. White carried on the business of a grocer and druggist; He was also assistant overseer for Bolton, and vestry clerk for Bolton and the adjoining village of Wath. he was a local preacher, belonging to the Calvinist body, was a quiet, peaceable, and religious man, and witness believed had not an enemy in the world.
Jane, wife of Matthew Taylor, of Bolton, labourer, proved that she was washing at deceased's on Thursday. She left there at 8 o'clock at night. All the doors and windows were then secured, except that from the shop into the street. Did not see any strangers at deceased's house that day, but there was a parish meeting there in the afternoon to memorialize the County Magistrates to appoint Bolton as a station for one of the new rural police force.
Charles Marris, servant to the Rev. C.J. D. Marsden, said, - I went to Mr. White's shop at half past 8 o'clock on Thursday night to obtain change for a sovereign. The shutters of the house were up, and when I opened the door
Although the police have been incessantly engaged since Friday last in endeavouring to trace the person or persons by whom the foul murder of Mr. and Mrs. White, of Bolton-on-Dearne, was committed on the night of the 4th inst., up to yesterday (Thursday) no clue to the solution of the mystery in which the affair is involved had been obtained.
As the investigation proceeds, however, it becomes more doubtful whether the deed was committed from motives of plunder. It has not yet been ascertained that anything was taken from the house. The desk on the open shop counter had evidently not been searched, the lid being found propped up, and a calomel powder upon it; while the contents, consisting of a cash book, a small tin, canvas purse, and other articles, were all laid neatly and straight. The shop till was empty; but it is known that the deceased had not kept any cash in it since it was robbed, about two winters ago, and the young man who obtained change for a sovereign from Mr. White at 8 o'clock on the night of the murder saw him take the silver from his purse in his trousers' pocket, and saw him put the sovereign into that purse. The house was not ransacked in any sense of the word. In the bedroom over the shop was a chest of drawers, the bottom one of which was open, and a few articles of wearing apparel were placed on the top; but on the day of the murder Mrs. White had had a woman to wash, and had therefore probably removed the things from the drawer herself, for it is hardly likely that a thief in search of money would have tried that drawer in preference to the others, none of which had been disturbed. In the same room there is a cupboard, the door of which was found ajar, and in it an empty portemonnaie, but nothing was disarranged, and the purse was closed and clasped as it might have been left by the deceased himself. In the other two bedrooms nothing whatever was found displaced or disordered. There were no footmarks on the stairs or in the bedrooms, although there was a large quantity of blood found about the murdered couple, and traces of gore on the lower part of one of the shop counters. Mr. White had in his trousers' pocket a purse containing £1. 16s., which the murderer did not take.
The inference from those facts is, either that the object of the assassin was not plunder, or that he was prevented from accomplishing his purpose. The barking of the deceased's little dog, which some of the neighbours heard at about the time the murders are believed to have been committed, might have compelled the assassin to beat a hasty retreat before he could rifle the house, although a man had murdered two people for the sake of booty would scarcely be deterred by any trifling impediment from completing his object. On the other hand, the very extensive injuries inflicted on the heads of both the deceased seem to indicate that the person who caused those frightful wounds intended to do something more than merely stun the old people while he robbed them. If his intention was to murder them outright, he could not have adopted a more certain method of despatching them.
Both Mr. and Mrs. White were generally respected in the village and neighbourhood that nobody in the place would be suspected of entertaining any malignant feelings towards them, much less such a diabolical spirit of revenge as to prompt their deliberate and cold blooded murder.
It is much to be regretted that, owing to the ignorance of the persons who took possession of the deceased's house on the discovery of the murder, the officers of justice have been baffled and impeded in their investigations into this shocking tragedy. People were allowed to go in and out of the house indiscriminately, trampling the blood into the village in all directions. The bodies were removed from the places where they were found, and the blood washed out before before either the Coroner's Jury or the police had had an opportunity of inspecting the place.
At the inquest these proceedings were severely censured by the Coroner, who said all constables ought to understand that it was their duty in cases of this description to prevent the least disturbance of the bodies of persons supposed to be murdered, except when they were found out of doors, when they must be taken to the nearest place where they could remain until after the inquest. In the present instance ha had been quite shocked to hear that the house had been made a sort of peep show of.
Reward
Mr. T. Badger, County Coroner, has communicated with Sir George Grey, the Secretary of State, and received from him authority to offer, on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government, a reward of £100. (in addition to any local reward) for such information as shall lead to the conviction of the murderers.
February 1860
Little more than three years ago the murder of an aged couple, attended with circumstances of great atrocity, was perpetrated in the rural and secluded village of Bolton-upon-Dearne.
On the night of the 4th of December, 1856, it will be remembered that Luke White, an aged person, who was the village postmaster, and kept a small druggist's shop, and was a local preacher, while apparently engaged in preparing his sermon for the following Sunday, heard someone come to his shop door, and on going to see what was wanted, was knocked down and ruthlessly murdered, his wife was also murdered, both bodies found in the afternoon of the following day. No traces of robbery having been committed were visible, and the affair was enshrouded in mystery.
Although every effort was made by Colonel Cobbe and the Superintendents of the neighbouring divisions of constabulary, and large rewards were offered, not the slightest clue could be found to the perpetrators of the horrid crime, and the Coroner's Inquest, after sitting for a considerable time, was obliged to return an open verdict.
The only person to whom the finger of suspicion pointed was White, the village Constable, but no object could be shown nor could the slightest evidence be adduced to in any way connect him with the dreadful deed; but, on the contrary, it was shown that the deceased had been one of his warmest supporters, and had that day been engaged in getting up a memorial to Colonel Cobbe in favour of White being permanently stationed in the village. However, nothing coming to light, White left the village, and has since been living to some extent as a suspected man in his native town of Barnsley, in anxious expectation that something would turn up to unravel the mystery, and restore him to the position he had formerly held in the estimation of the world.
New Evidence
Recently, however, we are glad to say, circumstances have transpired which are likely to throw some light upon the tragedy.
On the day the murder was committed a hawker was said have been in the village of Bolton, vending caps and small wares, but no clue could be obtained to him afterwards, nor could he in any way be connected with the commission of the deed. During the past week an Irish Hawker, who is said to be undergoing 6 years penal servitude at Portsmouth, has made certain statements to a companion relative to the affair. These were communicated to the Governor of the gaol in which he was undergoing his imprisonment, and information has since been forwarded to Mr. Astwood, Superintendent of the West Riding Constabulary at Doncaster, who has long exerted himself to obtain a clue to the tragedy.
Mr. Astwood, we understand, has been to Portsmouth, and had an interview with the hawker, who has pointed out the guilty parties, stating that, although he himself did not commit the murder, he was in the house when the murdered couple were lying dead on the floor.
The names of the perpetrators have not yet been made known, neither has the nature of the confession further than what has been stated, although we understand he completely exonerates White from any participation in the murder.
Active Enquiries
The most active inquiries have been made for some days, and information of the facts having been communicated to the Secretary of State, we are informed warrants have been issued for the removal of the prisoner from Portsmouth to York, and for the apprehension of the parties criminated. The hawker has given some particulars as to the articles he was selling in the village at the time, and the persons to whom he sold them; and the police are now making inquiries with a view to the affair being unravelled.
The matter is exciting the greatest interest in the district, and it is hoped that the mystery in which the tragedy has so long been enveloped will soon be cleared away.
