THE DORSET TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15375, 9 August 1913, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE DORSET TRAGEDY.

MURDERER'S CONFESSION.

The murder of Winifred Mitchell by William Burton, at a Dorset village, possessed some elements which made it rather a remarkable crime. Burton was found guilty and was executed about the end of June, and after steadily denying his guilt, he made a confession at the eleventh hour to the vicar of the village.

It was owing to the increasing strain of keeping his double life from becoming known that Burton was apparently driven to commit the crime, and his confession shows indications of the mental distress through which he lived as it became more and more difficult for him to keep his deception from his own wife. He thus describes the circumstances that led up to the murder,, and the crime itself, as well as his deliberate preparation for the disposal of the young woman's dead body— "I was proper led away (he wrote). She made me believe all. sorts, and begged me to go away with her to London, and then to Canada, a3 soon as we could. She was going to ask a brother up there to get us a place if he could for a time. She said she knew where to go to, so I promised to go with h*r to keep her quiet'. "She said if I didn't she would write a letter or else come down to see Lily (prisoner's wife) and tell her everything about me, what I had give her and everything. "Well, I knew what that would mean, if she did, and I hadn't any money to go away with her. I didn't want to go, she nearly drove me wild. . •■■■ "I dug the hole on Sunday morning'. It was all done between three and four. Killed and buried in that time. I got homo just about five o'clock, and .then went to the farm. The poor girl did not suffer any- j thing. She fell dead in an instant, and did not speak,"- ' j