VICAR'S DRAMATIC ACCUSATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 13948, 2 January 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

VICAR'S DRAMATIC ACCUSATION.

MYSTERY OF A. FARM.

The interest in the strange fate of a Yorkshire farmer's daughter, already great, received a great impetus on a recent Sunday in the unexpected form of an accusation of murder from the pulpit. In a lonely house known as Lamb Farm, about six miles from Keighley and one from Cowling, lived a brother and sister named Whitakcr, the father living at another farm half-a-mile away. On November 11 Miss Elizabeth Whitaker, a strapping young woman of twenty-three, was seen alive and well by her brother. He retired to bed about 8.30, leaving his sister up, but with apparently nothing to do that would make it necessary for her to leave the house again that night. Next morning her bed was found to have remained unoccupied. A search being made, the dead body of the young woman was found only partially clothed, and badly charred by fire, with the tongue protruding and portions of the clothing scattered around, lying in a pigetye. The dead girl's skirt was found on a ledge. Between the. stye and the farmhouse lay a candlestick and sonic matches. Near the body other matches were found. The police were notified, and an inquest was held the same evening, at which an open verdict was returned. There the matter rested until the Vicar of Cowling, the Rev. J. N. Lee, aroused the whole countryside by an intensely dramatic reference to the tragedy and a demand for further investigation. There were, he remarked, three possible solutions of the mystery—accident, suicide, and murder. He did not pretend to be a Sherlock Holmes, but having consulted the best witnesses available, and examined the evidence, he was forced to the conelusion that the poor girl was murdered. For some reason or other she went outside the house, was stunned by a blow, probably where the candle was found, or was strangled or garotted, and was then carried to the pigstye, where her clothing was set on fire, and the body charred to destroy all outward evidence of violence except the protruding tongue. "There is work here for the police," the rev. gentleman concluded, solemnly and emphatically, "and I hope it will be undertaken with the zeal and fidelity we expect from the West Riding constabulary." The vicar's remarks have stirred the police to further investigations, but they cannot do much because the body has been buried, and the Home Office sanction will be required for exhumation and further examination. Mr. Lee declared that he would not have taken the unusual action of declaring the young woman had been murdered and demanding that the matter should be reopened unless he had felt it an absolutely imperative duty to do so. The inquest was held without sufficient time elapsing for inquiries. The whole surroundings point emphatically to foul play.

" I am convinced she was murdered," said Mr. Lee. " 1 was not at the inquest, but 1 am assured that no medical evidence was available as to the nature of the injuries. In addition 10 the burning, the man who first found the body says it was in such a condition that as a decent human being he sent for two women, who covered it before it was removed. Evidence of the most valuable kind has been swept up and destroyed, and cannot now be used. DISTRICT TEIUtOR-STRICKKX. The district is terror-stricken. People are afraid even to come to evening service from the outlying districts, and little girls dread going to bed. " Talk of suicide is ridiculous. She was a big, healthy-minded, and healthybodied young woman unlikely to do any Mich thing. If she had been seized, with a, sudden maniacal desire to take her own life she knew the way to the well without any light, and could have made sure of her purpose being accomplished. Accident is also impossible. There was nothing to cause accidental burning, but murder is indicated everywhere. " She would not leave the house except for tome quite unusual noise or reason. Any disturbing or unusual sound would bring her to the door, probably with a lighted candle. If she saw no one when she opened it she would probably step a few feet into the yard. " My belief is she was struck down as she did so, was then carried insensible to the pigstye, and whatever happened there, her clothing was tired to conceal injuries. There were no young stock requiring attention in the stye. There was no conceivable reason for her going there, and altogether I felt a solemn impulse to declare my convictions and ask for the help of the public and the police in discovering the truth of the whole matter.'" Mr. Lee added that from first to last no medical evidence was called, which in itself was an extreme!)' unusual circumstance. The coroner, Mr. Edgar Wood, gave the exact terms of the jury's verdict, which was as follows :—" The deceased woman was found burned to death in a pigstye, but there is no evidence as to how the lire originated." _ While declining to discuss points outside the evidence presented to the jury, Mr. Wood said :— "The case was reported to me as an ordinary death from burns. When 1 saw the body it appeared to me the clothing had been ignited at the bottom, and at the time when the woman was standing upright. I did not notice that the tongue was protruding, and even if it were that would be accounted for by smoke and asphyxiation. There was no evidence of violence and nothing to arouse suspicion, and beyond the fact that portions of tho dead woman's clothing had been burned after the body was found there was nothing of more than ordinary importance. "Of course the destruction of "the clothing was a great mistake, but people do not recognise the importance of leaving things as they find them. There did not seem to be any need of a doctor's evidence,, and I did not ask for it. Had there been the least suspicion of violence or desire expressed for adjournment I should have postponed taking a verdict." j One of the Wesleyan leadens, to which community the dead woman belonged, says she was hard-working, disinclined to levity, and unlikely to make any appointment with anyone at night, unless" it was a member of her own family. The, sensation aroused by the vicar's pulpit declaration was added to on the Tuesday when news of an attack on another woman was noised abroad. Mrs. Gardiner, who lives at Kildwick, some four miles from Keighley, states that she was sitting in her house on the Tuesday evening between five and six o'clock, when, having occasion to go to the back of the place, she was suddenly attacked and caught round tho throat by a man. She screamed for assistance, and her assailant at once made off. Shortly after Mrs. Gardiner says she was again attacked by the same man, who rushed at her with a knife in his hand, and threatened to murder her if she did not supply him with money. He snatched at a ring on her finger, and a struggle ensued. Mrs. Gardiner, however, managed to Release herself, and hammered at the wall, in response to which signal her next-door neighbour came to her assistance. The unknown man made off across the fields in the direction of Bingley. He is described as having the appearance of a navvy. He was wearing corduroy trousers and light boots. . The scene of this last attack is in the same district as Lamb Farm, where Miss Whitaker met her death.