MURDER OF AN ENTIRE FAMILY.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 719, 27 August 1870, Page 1 (Supplement)

MURDER OF AN ENTIRE FAMILY.

On 24th May, information reached us from the small village of Denham, about two miles from Uxbridge, of an extraordinary and diabolical series of murders. A small cottage in this place was occupied by an engineer named Marshall and his family. The man was busy at work in his workship late on 21st May. Nothing, however, having been seen of the family next day, or even on the clay following, two men, who had some; work to do in the house, forced open the door, when a ghastly sight met the,ir gaze. Three children, with nothing on them but their night-gowns, and covered over with a cloth, were laying huddled up in a corner, covered with blood, their brains having been dashed out apparently with a sledgehammer, which was found near the spot. In the next room were discovered the bodies of two women, in their night-dress similarly treated — one of them being the wife, and the other her sister, who was to have been married on 23rd May. On proceeding to the workshop, Marshall himself was found in his working dress, with his head and face slashed and cut about in a fearful manner, and covered over with sacking. It was at first supposed that he had kiHed the family, and afterwards committed suicide ; but upon the arrival of Drs Ferris and Macnamara, they prouounced it to be impossible for him to have done it, from the position in which he was found ; and they are of opinion, moreover, that one man could not have committed so many murders without some assistance; but from the evidence adduced at the coroner's inquest there seems little doubt [ that the murderer has been captured, and the manner in which he had laid himself open to discovery is perfectly in harmony with the blind brutality of the crime \ itself. The captured man was only released from Coldbath Fields Prison on the 20th May. Next day he engaged a bed at the house of a bricklayer named Coombs, saying he should not be back until late at night. He did not return, however, till the following morning, when he was dressed in a different suit of clothes from that in which he went out. He lingered about Uxbridge for a day or two, and then went on by train to Reading. The exact adjustment of his movements to the known facts and times of the murder roused Coomba's suspicion, and oldclothe's found in Marshall's house are identified as those the man wore, and if, as is said, the murdered man's clothes were on the prisoner, the identification is complete. If so,, a more extraordinary exhibition of the stupidity often combined with brutality was never seen. The > murderer had left not a living being in the house to give a warning of the murder, and, in point of fact, he had at least a day and a half in which to make good his escape. That interval might have put such a distance between him and the scene of the crime that it would have been difficult to pursue or trace him.Above all, one would have thought it would have occurred to the lowest intelligence that a more effectual clue could not be given to his guilt than to return to his lodgings in the clothes of the murdered man, leaving his own behind him. Thero ?s.,.not one particle of remorse, nor one shadow of anxiety, to be observed in the' alleged conduct of the criminal after the murder. There is nothing in the crime but one stolid brutality from beginning to end. It is hard, perhaps, to say which spectacle is the more appaling — that of the infernal ingenuity of a skilled villain like Tropmann, or the bestial stupidity of such a criminal as the present. The names and ages of the victims are as follows . — Emauuel Marshall, the father, aged 35 ; Charlotte, his wife, 34 ; Mary Ann, his sister, 32; Mary, the eldest child, 8; Theresa, 6 ; Gertrude, 4 ; and Mary Marshall, the 'grandmother, 77. John Jenkins, alias John Jones — for thus the supposed murderer is called— was, on the 25th May, brought before the Magistrates at Slough, charged with wilful murder. The prisoner is described as a true type of the worst class of tramps, and a most repulsive looking character. The qoroner's inquest on the bodies was concluded on the 27th May, at Denham. The evidence Was very strong against Jones, the man in custody. As far back as January last he had stated his intention either to have Marshall's money, or to murder him. He was proved, as already stated, to have been out during the whole of the night iv question, and to have returned to his lodgings next day with a carpet bag, and wearing Marshall's clothes. Besides this, in Marshall's bedroom were articles which the prisoner had worn on the day previous to the murder, and with which he had not returned to the lodging-house. These, with other circumstances, induced the coroner's jury to return a verdict of "wilful murder" against the prisoner Jones. The deceased man leaves behind him two sisters, both of whom state as follows :— Our brother

went to Australia about 6fteen years ago. We used frequently to hear from him till about five years since, when he stopped, writing, and we have long ago come to the conclusion that the poor fellow is dead. The description of the prisoner is not at all like him, and such a statement as has appeared in the paper is very hurtful to our feelings, and we hope it will be contradicted." The prisoner was again brought before the magistrates on 31st May, at Aylesbury. He displayed the utmost nonchalance throughout the proceedings.