A SEVENFOLD MURDER.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 701, 23 August 1870, Page 3

A SEVENFOLD MURDER.

The month has heen stained hy a crime almost unparallelled in its fierce bloodthirstiness. The little village of Denham, in Bucks, has been the scene of the murder of an entire family—a married man named Marshall, his wife, his three children, his mother, and his Bister-in-law. It was observed one Sunday that the shutters of the cottage where they lived had not been opened, and that the following day they remained closed; and as none of the family were seen, it was concluded they had gone out for a holiday. But late on Monday night a young woman from a neighbouring town went to the cottage with a new dress and some lining for Mrs Marshall's sister, whose wedding had been arranged for the next day. Keceiving no answer to her summons, she made inquiries, and on its becoming known what was her errand, a policeman came and forced the door of the cottage, and then a most horrible discovery was made. Marshall's wife and sister-in-law were lying in the front room, partly on each other, with their heads beaten in. His mother and three young children were lying in their night-clothes in a pool of blood, their heads also being all battered in. Marshall himself, with his smith's dress on, but without his shoes, was found in an outhouse with his head battered to pieces. At first it was thought he had first murdered his family and then committed suicide. But there is now no doubt that he was himself the first victim. His skull was so battered that the brain protruded from the base, his i'aw was broken in two places, his lands were scratched, and there was some slight but strong evidences of a Bhort violent struggle having taken place in the little forge which adjoined his house and communicated with it. The body, moreover, was concealed by sacks thrown over it, and even tucked, beneath, so that the idea of suicide was soon disposed of. It was not long before a clue was discovered by which the murder was traced to one John Jenkins alias John Owen, supposed to be a Staffordshire tramp, but recently liberated from prison. It was believed that he had a grudge against Marshall, as having given evidence by which he was convicted, but this is uncertain; and, improbable as it may at first appear, the real explanation seems to be that the man entered the house for the sake of some petty plunder, and being disturbed, struck down his victims one after the other in a paroxysm of murderouß rage. He is now known to have left TJxbridge, where he lodged on the Saturday night, and on the Sunday morning early he was seen to come from near the cottage with a carpet bag in his hand, by a woman who was searching for a key she bad lost over night in the road. He stopped and

talked with her, and even helped her to look for the key, and then went on his way back to Uxbridge. The Sunday night he spent in a brothel, when he behaved with great violence, drawing a loaded pistol and threatening the inmates with death. He made no effort to conceal the things which he had taken, and lingered about at Uxbridge till the noon of Monday, when he went on to Eeading by train; and then the next day, suspicion having been aroused, he was captured. He had changed his clothes before leaving Marshall's cottage, and left his own behind there. They were soon identified, and various other facts all tend to fasten on the prisoner the conviction of guilt.