A ROADSIDE TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

A ROADSIDE TRAGEDY.

REMARKABLE STORY TO POLICE. The terrible tragedy enacted on the highway near Otley, Yorkshire, when a South Shields man named James Jefferson was caught in the act of cutting off a woman's head, has created a painful feeling. It was subsequently discovered that the victim was a young married woman, named Elizabeth Todd, wife of a local shoemaker. She was on her way to visit her mother in Otley when she was attacked by Jefferson. Her husband heard the news of . her death in a startling manner. | After leaving work he was proceeding j with a companion in the direction of the ] scene of the tragedy when a constable met him and requested him to go to the mortuary, where he was horrified to find that his own wife had been the victim of the atrocious crime.

The accused was brought before the local magistrates. The old-fashioned market town was in a state of the wildest excitement, and large crowds assembled near the courthouse with a morbid desire to catch sight of the prisoner. Prisoner was charged with wilfully murdering Elizabeth Todd, aged 31, wife of Tom Todd, a shoemaker, of Poole, by cutting off her head with a butcher's knife.

Sergeant Cooke said that on a recent afternoon he received a telephone call to g) to Holbeck Wood, where, about a mile out of Otley, on the main road, Jefferson was being detained by two men. In a field near the road ho saw the body of a woman whoso clothing was torn off, with the exception of one stocking. The head was severed from the body, and lay some distance away. When arrested prisoner said, " I don't know what made me do it."

This was all the evidence produced, and the police asked for a remand for a week.

;'■■.. In answer to the magistrate, Jefferson ; replied, " I have nothing to say ; I did it on purpose." His manner in court was very strange. He gazed round listlessly, J and appeared indifferent to the proceed- )| ing- ■_ ' . y ■--' -■■- -' ' , _ At the^inciiassi.■■"oirthe' body of the vie- ' Vim, "£ nomas Todd, shoemaker, of Poole Bank, husband of the deceased woman, said he last saw his wife alive at a quaiter to eight on the Tuesday morning, when he left home for work. She was 31 years of age, and had three children. He identified the clothing and an umbrella found near tiie scene of the tragedy as belonging to his wife. . Arthur Coates Hellowoll, grocer, said h-i was driving in a trap to Otley at 4.30 in the afternoon, when he noticed a man cutting off the head of what appeared to hi the body of a man. The stranger looked up, and then proceeded with the work of mutilation. Witness drove to a house and telephoned for the police. Meanwhile, ho obtained the assistance of two workmen, and they went to the spot, but found the man had disappeared. Looking over the wall, they saw him cutting off the arm of a naked woman. The head was lying about twenty yards from the wall. The workmen threatened, the man with a crowbar and succeeded in making him drop tho knife, which was of the butcher's type. The man told his captors that he had come from North Shields, then asked for a light, and calmly smoked a cigarette until the arrival of the police. ! George Bowman, one of the workmen, gave similar evidence, adding that the assailant had a. pair of corsets, a hat, and umbrella under his arm when captured. ! Jefferson remarked that he could get 7s 6d for the umbrella, half-a-crown for the corsets, and a shilling for the hat. He seemed quite rational, and said he was going to Otley to "do a bit of burgling."

■ Police-sergeant Cooke stated that on the way to' the police-station the prisoner said, " I gave my brother away. We broke into a. house and robbed it. I told the police, and he was locked up. I have written to him, but I don't think he has forgiven me yet." When searched, a, purse and handkerchief belonging to the woman, as well as one of her stockings, were found upon Jefferson. As the purse wye being taken he said, " That is not my money. I took it.from the. woman's pocket. J met her on the road. She turned back once, and then came back again. I robbed her, cut her throat, and threw her over the wall." Prisoner was covered in blood. .On the way to the station he talked quite rationally. Medical evidence showed that Jefferson had hacked at the woman's head several times before, finally severing it from the body. Her hands were badly cut and mutilated, showing apparently that she had struggled to take the knife from her assailant. There were no rings on the finger, although the husband said she wore two regularly. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against James Jefferson.