BURIED IN A WOOD.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 42, 25 June 1913, Page 5

BURIED IN A WOOD.

THE MURDERER HANGED,

SAD FATE OF VILLAGE BELLE

[By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] [Dhitrd Press Association.] (Received 9.35 a.m.) London, June 24. Burton was executed at Dorchester for the murder of Winifred Mitchell. He confessed to the crime.

In Stove Wood, near the village of Gussage, St. Michael, the body of a young woman was found buried under 2ft. of earth. Gunshot wounds in the bead and neck indicated the cause of death. The remains were identified as those of Winifred Mitchell, a domestic servant, who disappeared on March 31. A man named William Walter Burton was detained on suspicion. The events that led up to the disappearance of Winifred Mitchell are as follows :—■

A bright and attractive girl of 24, Winifred had a number of admirers, and her love affairs formed a theme for village gossips. She went to Manor Farm, Gussage St. Michael, last October. She began to show signs of restlessness in February, and told several people she was going abroad. It was recalled that a young man with whom she had kept com patiy bad gone to Canada. Her most intimate friend in the village was Mrs Burton, the assistant schoolmistress, and the wife of the man who is in custody. Mrs Burton states that Mitchell told her, during the last week of March, that she was going to leave the Manor, but should not give notice. —Last Day at Home.—

On Sunday, March 30, she spent tho afternoon at her mother's house, and told her also that she was leaving. According to Mrs Mitchell, the girl then went upstairs and gathered several ornaments together, to make hei bedroom look nice at the new place. She left the house just after tea, and on passing through the garden called one of her brothers aside and said:— "Captain (a pet name), I am going to Canada, hut I have not told mother, and T shall not write until V get there." Mrs Mitchell had a letter from Mrs Gaode, her daughter's mistress, to say she had gone, and the boy then recalled the conversation, and the description of" Mitchell was issued to all the ports. -{-The Discovery.— Two boys had been in the wood on March 30; and had been puzzled by a hole, which : seemed to suggest a grave. The discovery was made by n dairyman and his wife, who took shelter in the coppice during tho April shower. As they stood under the trees the man, named Gillingham. saw a piece of a mouthplate in the grass with three teeth attached. He pub it in his pocket, took it, home, and placed tho teeth on the mantelpiece. The teeth were forgotten for nearly a fortnight. Then the rector's wife called and the dental sufferings of a parishioner became a topic of conversation. Mrs Gillingliam W«IS reminded of the discovery in the wood, and the rector's wife, becoming alarmed, recalled that Winifred Mitchell had had a row of false teeth. The grave after this was soon opened ; an old tree trunk having to be removed, and tho remains were found Tho girl was buried still wearing her large hat, her ring, and her bangle: but' her watch has not been found.

—Doctor's Theory.—

The doctor's theory is that she was shot from behind by someone who must have been standing not more than three or four yards away. The accused man sent the following message to his wife:—"Don't worry; i can clear myself."