This is actually broken into 2 parts; the first gives all the basic information regarding the crime, while the second contains the depositions in front of the magistrates regarding activities, etc. All the details in the second part are covered again in upcoming issues, as testimony is recorded for the ensuing trials, but they're interesting as they contain a great deal of details. ............................................................ WEST BRITON AND CORNWALL ADVERTISER APRIL 25 1851 MURDER AT SILVERWELL IN THIS COUNTY It has happily been some years since the frightful crime of murder has been perpetrated in Cornwall, but we are sorry that we have again to add to the catalogue of heinous guilt, a murder committed in this county on Saturday last. The locality where the deed was perpetrated is called Silverwell, near the Chiverton Arms, on the road between Truro and St. Agnes, and about five miles from the former place. The murdered man, WILLIAM KENDALL, occupied a small farm, and lived in the house with his wife alone. This was his second wife, to whom he had been married about four years. Her former name was TEAGUE, and she had a son by her first husband, called ELIJAH TEAGUE, and now about seventeen years of age. This son lived with his mother and Mr. Kendall until January last, when he went to lodge at a neighbouring house with HENRY GROSE; but he still occasionally worked on the farm for his father-in-law, who was about seventy-two years of age. His father-in-law had on Saturday last ridden to Chacewater; and the young man was on that day working on the farm, employed in threshing and boiling turnips. His father-in-law was never more seen alive; but was discovered on Sunday morning dead in his own house, sitting on a chair in the parlour. There was a large wound over the centre of his forehead, of an irregular oval figure, two inches and a half in length and two inches in width. The mortal blows appeared to have been given with dreadful force; the bones were broken in, and the surgeon who was called, inserted his finger on the right side to the depth of nearly an inch. Sixty-one pieces of bone were extracted, and the fissures were driven an inch and a quarter below the surface of the skull. A hammer was found on the garden hedge, and this hammer fitted into the wound in the man's forehead. A white hair was found attached to the end of the hammer, and the surgeon, on a microscopical examination, believes it to be a human hair, and that in all probability it was torn from the deceased's eye-brow. An inquest has been held on the body, before Mr. JOHN CARLYON, county coroner. The inquiry commenced on Monday at eleven o'clock, was continued on Tuesday, and did not terminate until late on Tuesday night. The result was, that a verdict of "wilful murder" was returned against the deceased's son-in-law, Elijah Teague, who was apprehended under the Coroner's warrant, and has been committed to the county gaol at Bodmin, to take his trial at the next assizes. The evidence on which the jury grounded their verdict was of a singular character, and wholly circumstantial. The son-in-law was examined at the inquest, as well as other witnesses. He states that he found deceased, who had returned from Chacewater, about eighty yards from his own house, lying on the ground insensible, with a large wound in his head caused by a kick from his horse; that he then lifted him up, and carried him into his own house, his heels dragging on the ground. There do not appear, however, to be any marks of the body having been thus dragged over the ground. Deceased's wife was absent at this time, having gone to Henry Grose's (Elijah Teague's lodgings). On her returning and asking for her husband, Teague said he was in the parlour, but he would not allow her to go in, saying the horse had "thrown" to him, and it would hurry her. She did not go in, but went back to Grose's house, who called one or two neighbours, and with them and his wife proceeded to deceased's dwelling. When they got there they found deceased's wife walking up and down before the house, she having left Grose's house in the interim, and gone there. The neighbours found the door locked, and could not find the key where it was usually placed when no one was at home. As they could not get in, deceased's wife proposed that the door should be lifted from its hinges, but this was not done, and strange to say, no entry was made into the place until the next morning, when the old man was found dead in the parlour, as before described. The surgeon, Mr. Moyle, does not conceive the wound in deceased's forehead could have been caused by the kick of a horse, as stated by Elijah Teague, but that the injury was inflicted by two or more blows from some heavy instrument. Another circumstance was the fact of Elijah Teague having been about three hours absent from the house to call a surgeon (according to his own statement), and an explanation of which he was called on to give in his evidence. He also pointed out five spots of blood at the place where he says he found deceased's body before he took it into the house; but the surgeon gives his opinion that the spots are not blood that had flowed from a recent wound. The minute particulars of the case may, however, be fully ascertained on reading the annexed evidence. As may be imagined, the occurrence has excited a very painful sensation in the neighbourhood. On Sunday crowds of people were at the place from all parts of the district, and on the days on which the inquest was held, a great number of persons congregated about the house. The deceased was buried on Tuesday afternoon, in Chacewater church-yard, and a multitude of people followed the funeral. The following is the material part of the evidence given in the case, the first witness examined being the deceased's son-in-law: [everything onward from this place is repeating the above, and is also covered in the trial -am including it because details might prove interesting to some - jm] -ELIJAH TEAGUE deposed as follows: I am about 17 years of age, and have been keeping a school lately at Mount Oram in this parish. The deceased was my father-in-law. He was a small farmer, about 72 years of age, and married to my mother about four years ago. I resided with him and my mother up to about January last. I then went to live with Henry Grose and his family. I went there because my mother could not attend to two men, her husband and me; it was too much work for her. I had no quarrel with either of them at the time I parted from them. I have frequently gone to assist them in their work ever since, and I helped the deceased in putting in all his corn. I saw him in the croft last Friday or Thursday morning. He then told me he had several jobs to do and asked me to help him on last Saturday.. I went there accordingly on that day and thrashed for him and boiled some turnips. Deceased had gone to Chacewater. No one lived in the house with him besides his wife. After I had finished boiling the turnips, about eight o'clock, I started to go home and my mother went with me. After we had gone a little way, my mother told me to go back and drive some sheep out of the seedling grass. I went back to do so, and she went on to Henry Grose's by herself. I found four sheep in the seeds and drove them out. After I had driven out three of them, I heard some horses up at the gateway, screaming and making a noise the same as I had heard at other times, and I also heard a gate fall - one was an entire horse and the other was a mare. After I had driven out the other sheep, I went up to replace the gate for fear the horses might break it. I then saw three horses there near the gateway. The third was the one deceased had rode to Chacewater. I did not know till I saw it there, that deceased had returned from Chacewater. The saddle was on him and the bridle in his head,. I looked on one side and saw deceased lying on the ground. I was frightened at seeing him there, but I went forth to him and took hold of him by the collar of his coat and called to him, but could get no mouth-speech from him. There was no one else present. I saw he had a large wound in his forehead. The three horses were a short distance from him. One of them (the dark bay mare) we generally kept fettered, and I saw that she had one end of a fetter fastened to her fore leg, the other end was loose. I did not stop to fasten the other fetter, but got hold of deceased and carried him into his house as well as I could. I lifted him up with his back towards me, and put my arms under his and dragged him into the house. His head was resting on my breast near my shoulder. I could not lift him entirely off the ground, and his heels were dragging on the road. The distance was about eighty yards. When I got him in I placed him on a chair in the parlour, and was going out to see for some one to assist me, when I met my mother in the doorway. She was then returning from Henry Grose's. I told her she must go for a doctor or I must, and she stay there as deceased was very poorly. She asked what was the matter. I told her the mare threw to him. I supposed this to be the case from seeing the loose fetter. I would not allow her to see him because I was afraid it would hurry her. She called in to him, and I heard him say something but I don't know what. In about five or ten minutes she went away and left me there by myself. I thought she was gone to send in some one to assist me. After she was gone, I boiled some water, which I poured into a tub, and then put deceased's feet into it. After waiting for a long time, perhaps an hour or more, but I cannot say how long, no one came, and I lighted a piece of candle which I left burning in the parlour, and went out intending to go to Truro to bring out my brother and brother-in-law and a doctor. When I left the house, I locked the door and put the key over the stable door, where it was usually kept. When I got near Chevelah, in my way to Truro, I fell in with a woman who told me she was going to Truro, and I asked her to tell my brother and brother-in-law that deceased was very ill and that they must come out. I don't know who she was. I told her the horse had thrown to deceased. I did not say anything to her about a doctor because I thought I could get one from Chacewater sooner, and I went there for one and called on Mr. Moyle, and desired him to come out. I told him I believed the mare had thrown to deceased. He said he was waiting upon a patient, but that he would come out as soon as he could. He told me to put some wet cloths upon deceased's head. I then returned to deceased's house and found everything there as I had left it, except that the candle was burnt out. I took down the key from over the stable door, and went into the house and put a wet cloth over the deceased's head as Mr. Moyle had ordered. I thought I could perceive a little breath in him, but I cannot swear that I did. I remained about a minute or two, and then went down to Henry Grose's and got him to return with me. We both went into the room where deceased was. He was still in the same position. I don't know whether he was dead or alive. We remained in the house three or four hours. I did nothing more to deceased than put a wet cloth over his head, and his foot in warm water twice. In the morning about six or seven o'clock, my mother and MARY GROSE came to us, and I went again to Chacewater to fetch Mr. Moyle, and Henry Grose went to Truro with the pony to tell my brother and brother-in-law to come out. We left my mother and Mary Grose in the house. By the Jury - The deceased left the house to go to Chacewater between five and six o'clock on Saturday evening. There are two roads he might have taken. He generally came back by the But-lane. The trowsers produced are mine. I wore them all last week. The two shirts, neck-tie, coat, and pair of shoes also produced are mine. I don't know which of the shirts I wore last Saturday, but I wore one of them and the other clothes. The waistcoat I wore is at my mother's where the jury saw it. (We understand that there were a few spots of blood on the trousers; but none on any other part of the clothes.) From the time I parted with my mother, to drive out the sheep, until I discovered the deceased on the ground, might have been a quarter or half-an-hour. I can't say exactly how long it was. -ELIJAH TEAGUE, re-examined on Tuesday: I put the deceased's feet in warm water the second time after I returned from Mr. Moyle's. When I returned from Mr. Moyle's his feet were in the tub, but the water was nearly cold. I took some of the water with a little wooden dish, and washed his face with it, and then threw the water out of the dish into the court. The dish would hold a large tea-cup full of water. I then put my hand under deceased's legs to lift them up, and take away the tub, but I did not lift them high enough, and, in taking away the tub, I spilt some of the water about the room. I immediately after that added some warm water to what was left in the tub, and put deceased's feet into it again. I think he was alive at this time, but I am not certain. I could not perceive any life in him. I had put the wet cloth over his head the first thing after I had washed his face, and before I had attempted to remove the tub - at least, I believe so, I am not certain. I removed the wet cloth before I went to Henry Grose's. The other span was fastened to the hind leg of the horse on Sunday morning about six or seven o'clock. JOHN COCKING held the horse by the head whilst I did it, and R. Moyle was also present. I had the cramp in my legs four or five times in my way to Truro to fetch my relations and a doctor; and, on those occasions I was obliged to rest against a hedge. I fell in with a young woman going to Truro, in the valley between Capt. HAMLEY's new house and Chevelah. After I had spoken with her, and she had promised to tell my brother and brother-in-law what had happened, I turned to go to Chacewater. After I had gone a short way, a carriage drawn by two horses, overtook me, and I got up behind it. It went on the St. Agnes road. I got off near JOHN HORE's and walked from thence to Chacewater by the great road. Sometimes the deceased fettered the horse and sometimes I did. I have fettered it before now without any one holding its head, but not when the other horses were near. When I returned from Mr. Moyle's I lighted the candle with a Lucifer match. I think the fire had gone out, but I lighted it again. I don't know whether this was before or after I washed deceased's face. At the time my mother returned the first time from HENRY GROSE's, I saw no other person with her, nor did I hear any other person outside. My sister's child, ELIZABETH JANE KEAN DUNSTAN, slept at Henry Grose's on Saturday night. When I and my mother went out to go to Grose's on Saturday night, I don't recollect that my mother said she was going there to bring her back. I never left the deceased down after I took hold of him to get him in. When I got to the door I had him on my right arm, and opened the door with my left hand. The door was locked. I am not certain whether the key was in the door or on the corner of the hedge. I am sure it was not over the stable door. I locked the door when I went out to go to Grose's but whether I left the key in the door or put it in the corner of the hedge, I do not recollect. It was sometimes put in the corner of the hedge, and sometimes over the stable door. The deceased did not bleed much after I took him up from the ground. -JOHN MOYLE deposed as follows - I am a surgeon practicing at Chacewater, and have done so from fifteen to sixteen years. On Saturday last, about twelve o'clock at night, Elijah Teague came to my house and wished me to see Mr. Kendall, his father-in-law, who he said had received a kick from the old mare whilst he was in the act of fettering her. He then asked me if his mother had not been at my house. I told him I had not seen her myself, having been from home the whole of the day, neither had I heard of her having been there. He said, then I suppose she must have gone to Truro. I told him I had a previous engagement, but that I would go and see Mr. Kendall as soon as I could. He said, I hope you will, as he appears to be stunned by the blow, and has a small cut in his forehead. He then pointed out with his finger on my head where the cut was. I supposed from this it was over his right temple. Supposing it to be a slight case, I requested him to go back and apply a cold and wet cloth to the wound. He replied that he was afraid to go home, that he had locked the old man in, and I think he added that he had the key in his pocket, but I cannot be positive as to that. He asked me if Kendall died whether the old mare would be knocked in the head. I told him I did not know. He then told me that he kept a school at Mount Oram, and asked me if there had not been a voting for parish officers or guardians. I told him I believe there had been. He asked who had been elected. I told him I scarcely knew. He asked if my father was elected. I told him not for Kenwyn but for Kea parish. (He was a candidate for the office of guardian in both these parishes.) He then told me he had had a half a score of papers, meaning voting papers, brought to him and that he had filled up half a dozen for certain persons. He did not mention names, but my impression was that he meant me to believe that he put initials opposite the names of the candidates who resided in this neighbourhood. As the conversation was irrelevant, I did not ask him for an explanation. I heard nothing more about the deceased until a little before six on Sunday morning, when Elijah Teague again came to my house and told me Kendall or old Kendall, I forget which he said, was dead, and that he wished me to go over. He asked if I intended to ride or walk; if the latter, he said he expected that his brother's trap would be at Mr. Kendall's and that he would drive me down, meaning back. I rode over on horseback by the way of But Lane, and when I reached near the north-west end of the outer lane on deceased's premises I saw Elijah Teague and John Cocking standing there together. The latter drew my attention to sundry spots of blood on the roadway where the body was said to have been found. I did not then examine those spots minutely but rode on to the house, on entering which I saw Mrs. Kendall in the kitchen sitting at the east end of the table, and Mary Grose sitting in the large chimney or near it. I asked if Mr. Kendall was up stairs. I believe they both said no, he is in the parlour. I turned round and opened the parlour door and saw placed on a chair in the southwest corner of the room what appeared to be the body of a man covered with two coats, an old cloak, and an old water-proof over coat. On removing the latter coat I recognized the deceased to be William Kendall, who had been known to me for at least fifteen years. I looked at the wound in deceased's forehead, and was satisfied it was not caused by a kick from a horse, but that it had been inflicted by two or more blows from some heavy instrument. I stated this at the time to John Cocking and Elijah Teague. The room was rather in a disordered state. Near the feet of the deceased stood a tub containing water, not bloody. The floor under deceased's legs was very wet, and on the north side the wet spot had a shading of blood. There was a small spot of coagulated blood on the floor, near the back of the room. The deceased's shoes were near this spot; I examined them, and found on the outside of the left one a small spot of blood, which had fallen from above downwards. The right one was stained with blood on the inside near the heel, which appeared to have been mixed with sand. The only offensive weapons I could discover in the room, and which I examined in the presence of Cocking, were two pokers, a fire shovel, and a flat iron, but neither of them had been offensively used. I then went with Cocking and Elijah Teague to examine the spot where the latter told me he had found the deceased. I saw five small spots of very dark coagulated blood, perhaps together amounting from one to two table spoonfuls. They were isolated spots, having an average intervening space free from blood of from eight to ten inches. I expressed my surprise at seeing so little blood from so large a wound in the forehead. To this observation I received no reply. Elijah Teague told me that he pulled the old man, meaning the deceased, from that place to his house, but there were no appearances of a heavy body having trailed along the road. I requested Cocking to cover the spots of blood in the lane - first, with a gate and over it with a faggot of furze. This he did. To the best of my belief, there was no loose furze or browse in the lane immediately near the spots of blood. I was shown a hat, I believe by Elijah Teague, said to be the deceased's, and to have been lying in the road all night. It did not appear to be injured. After examining the place all round, to see if I could discover anything to throw a light on the case, I returned to the house and requested that deceased should not be removed from the chair on which he was till he had been seen by the coroner and jury. On Monday last, yesterday, I stripped the deceased in the presence of the jury. There were no marks of violence on any part of the body except the head. I had the hind shoes removed from the old mare, and one hind shoe from the colt. The latter, at the request of Elijah Teague's brother, WILLIAM. I applied these shoes to the wound on deceased's forehead, at the request of the jury, in a variety of ways, but neither of them corresponded in shape or size with the wound. I waited a considerable time whilst the premises were being searched for the purpose of endeavouring to find an instrument likely to have caused such a wound, and went out myself and again examined the place where deceased was said to have been found. In my way back to the house I took the hammer now produced from off the garden hedge. Attached to the small end of it I found a strong white hair, which I now produce. I then applied the hammer to the wound in the presence of the coroner and jury, and found that the small end of it accurately fitted the right side of the wound, and very nearly corresponded with the left side of it, which I believe was caused by a second blow. The wound was situated near the centre of the forehead, and was of an irregular oval figure, measuring two and a half inches in length, and two inches in length. The integuments were very much lacerated or jagged and torn, and so much depressed with the bone, that I readily inserted my finger on the right side, to the depth of nearly an inch. After removing the scalp I traced the size and shape of the opening in the frontal bone. I then removed sixty-one pieces of bone. The blows must have been given with great force, evidenced by the fact of there being no fissures radiating from the opening into the bone, and from the great depth to which they had been driven, viz., one inch and a quarter below the surface of the skull. The dura mater was not torn. The longitudinal sinus was not opened. This is a large blood vessel running from above the root of the nose over the head between the membranes of the brain. Perhaps this will account for so little blood having been seen. I am of opinion that the injury could not have been inflicted by a kick from the horse, and that either of the blows would have caused deceased's death; that the first blow must have rendered the deceased insensible and unconscious, and that the injury to the deceased's skull might have been caused by the hammer now produced. I do not think that he could have breathed for more than two hours after the blow had been inflicted, and perhaps for a much less time. I have made a microscopal examination of the hair found on the hammer, and am of opinion that it is a human hair form the eyebrows of an aged person. I have this day removed several hairs from the deceased's eyebrow, and have examined one with the aid of a microscope. The resemblance of it to the one I took from the hammer was so striking that I believe it to be a human hair, and that, in all probability, it was forcibly torn from deceased's eyebrow. By the Jury - From the appearance of the spots of blood on the ground near where deceased was said to have been found, and from their having so slightly stained the ground, I do not think it could have flowed from a recent wound. I saw no blood about the hammer when I took it into the house. -MARY GROSE, the wife of Henry Grose, deposed as follows: Elijah Teague has been living with me and my husband since the 8th of January last. I recollect his coming home last Saturday evening between twelve and one o'clock. He had not been home before the day after two or three o'clock. I believe he had the same clothes on in the evening when he came in as he had when I saw him about two or three o'clock. He shifted his clothes the Sunday morning, and left them in his bedroom. I saw them there. I observed nothing particular about them. On Saturday evening, Mrs. Kendall came to our house about seven o'clock, and stopped between half-an-hour and an hour. She then went home, but returned again a little before nine. I am sure it was not past nine. She was then very much frightened, and told us she believed that the mare had thrown the deceased, and she did not know whether he was not dead. She asked us to go up. I said we would call a neighbour and go there. We called William Sandoe and his wife, and we went up together. We had left Mrs. Kendall at our house, but when we got to Kendall's we found her outside the house. Finding we could not open the door, Mrs. Kendall went to see if the key was over the stable door. She could not find it there. I then searched in the same place for it, but could not find it. I never searched for it any where else, nor did she that I know of. After a time we all went back to my house. After stopping a short time, my husband and William Sandoe went to catch a pony for the former to ride to Truro. After they had gone, Mrs. Sandoe and myself went out to meet the two men. I had a saddle with me. Mrs. Kendall joined us after we got to the lane. Not seeing them we went up to the house. We saw no one there, and did not stop long nor go inside. In our way back the men heard us talking, and called to us. They had got the pony with them, but my husband did not ride it. He put it in the stable. William Sandoe and his wife went to their house in Butt-lane, and Mrs. Kendall came into our house with us. Soon afterwards, Elijah Teague came in. He said he was expecting the doctor every minute, and asked my husband to go back with him, which he did. After daybreak, Mrs. Kendall and myself went together to the house. This was about five o'clock. We met my husband near our house. He said deceased was no more, and that he was going to Truro. We went on and saw Elijah at the house. Mrs. Kendall went up stairs and I staid down below. I did not go into the room where the body was. There was no light when I went to the deceased's house the first time. The second time we thought before we reached the house there was one, but we could not see it when we got there. -HENRY GROSE deposed as follows: Elijah Teague has resided with me from about the middle of last January. He left our house last Saturday morning, and I did not see him again till about midnight. He then came to my house and asked if I had heard that the horse had thrown to Mr. Kendall and almost killed him. I told him we had heard it from his mother. He told us he had been to the doctor, who had promised to come. He and I went to William Sandoe's and told him that Elijah had been for the doctor and was returned. He, William Sandoe, and his wife were both gone to bed. Elijah and me then went to Kendall's house together. The door was locked. He went straight to the door and unlocked it. I don't know where he took the key from. As soon as we got to the house he unlocked the door, he did not go beyond the door before he unlocked it, that I am positive of. The stable is at the western end of the house. I am quite sure he did not pass the house door before he unlocked it. When we got inside I saw the deceased in the parlour sitting in a chair, his head lying back. He appeared quite stiff, and his arms were hanging down by his sides. I merely looked inside the parlour door. I did not go into the room. There was no light there at first. Elijah got one soon after we got in. In about three-quarters of an hour I went into the room. Elijah went with me. He had been lighting a fire, and neither of us had gone into the room before. Deceased was dead and stiff, and had a wound in his forehead. There was some blood about his face, but not a great quantity. His feet were in a tub of water. He was in the south-west corner of the room. I held the candle whilst Elijah wiped off some blood from deceased's face with a bit of wet cloth. The blood that was there was nearly dried up. Elijah Teague described to me the way in which he took the deceased to the house, and then showed me the spot where he found him. He did not appear to be much cast down about what had happened. It was after one o'clock when Elijah and me went to the house. -EDWARD MICHELL, of Tregavethan, deposed as follows: Elijah Teague came to my house last Sunday evening, between half-past-six and seven o'clock. Referring to what had happened to deceased, I asked him how he had not sent for me or some one, and why he stayed so long by himself. He said he did not know what to do. I asked him where he was when it happened. He said he was down the lower side of the field driving the sheep out over the hedge; and he heard a racket with the horses, and went up to see what was the matter, and when he got to the spot he saw three horses there, and deceased lying near them. I asked him how he got the corpse into the house from there. He described to me how he did it, in the same way as he did to the jury this morning. He told me he carried him into the kitchen, and put him in a chair near the fire-place; that he found he was slipping and therefore took him into the parlour and placed him in an elbow chair. I saw him again last evening, soon after the jury had separated. This was just outside the deceased's house. I was assisting him in putting his brother's horse into the gig. I said to him, "Elijah, how can you stand this?" meaning that I thought the inquiry was against him, and that I thought him guilty. He replied "What is the use to take fear before fear comes." I told him I would not be summoned on the jury, on any account, for my mind told me he was guilty. He made no reply to that. I asked him afterwards what he could have done with the blood. He said he dipped it up in a tub in the room where the corpse then was. I also asked him how he came to leave the hammer where it was. He replied that it was not concealed. I told him I heard there was hair found about it. He said that might be goat's hair. - MARY KENDALL deposed as follows - Deceased was my husband. He left home to go to Chacewater last Saturday evening, about six or seven o'clock. Elijah Teague boiled some turnips for the pigs after he went away. About eight o'clock he left to go to Henry Grose's were he lived. I had gone out just before him, intending to go there also. After I had .... the croft I looked behind and saw him coming. Before he came quite up to me, I saw there were some sheep in the seeds, and I told him to drive them out. He went back for that purpose. I went on to Mary Grose's, Henry Grose's wife. He had reached the croft, I believe, when I spoke to him. I had passed the place where deceased was found before I spoke to my son. I am sure he must have passed it as well. The deceased was not lying there then. I went to Grose's and remained there perhaps a half or three-quarters of an hour. I then returned home. On my return, my son Elijah was in the kitchen. I asked if deceased was come. He replied yes. I asked where he was. He said he was down in the parlour. I was going to open the door. He said I must not see him; he was hurted. The mare had thrown to him. He prevented me from opening the door. I called in to him, and I thought he spoke to me, but I could not distinguish what he said. I then went away and said I was going to Truro. I went as far at Butt-lane Gate through the Croft. There I began to think I could not go so far, and I again went to Mary Grose's. I told them what had happened, and asked them to go up. Mary Grose did not like to go by herself. She asked me to stay where I was, and she and her husband went over to WILLIAM SANDOE's to ask them to go with them. As soon as they went away I found I could not stop there, and returned home. I got to the house before any one had arrived. I walked up and down till the others, Henry Grose and his wife, and Sandoe and his wife arrived. We then found we could not open the door. I proposed we get a pick and have the door lifted off the hinges, but this was not approved of. I then went to look for the key, which was usually kept over the stable door. I could not find it there, but I put my hand on something; I don't know whether it was the key or not. I then proposed to take out a pane of glass, but nothing was done; and when we found that we could not get into the house, we all returned to Henry Grose's. After that, I asked Henry Grose to go to Truro, to bring out my son-in-law and my son. He did not appear very willing to do so, and I told him and Sandoe to go and get one of our horses to ride there. They both left to catch the horse, and told Mary Grose to bring the saddle out to the gate, and they would put on the saddle there. In the course of a short time I went out with Mary Grose, and she took the saddle with her. We stopped in Butt-lane a few minutes, and Henry Grose and Sandoe brought the horse there. After Henry Grose had put on the saddle, he said we had better leave it a little while, as no doubt Elijah would come soon. The horse was then put in Henry Grose's stable, and I and Mary Grose went in. Sandoe and his wife had gone to their house in Butt-lane. Henry Grose put the horse in the stable, and after that came in to us. In a short time Elijah came to us, and said he had been to the doctor's, who had been with or was going to a woman, but that he would come as soon as he could. I don't know what time this was, about eleven I should think. I told Elijah and Henry Grose to go back directly, and they went away together. I and Mary Grose followed them soon afterwards, perhaps an hour or an hour and half, or longer. In our way home, we met Henry Grose, who told us that he was going to Truro, and that deceased was dead. We went on home, and found Elijah there, but I can't say where. I went up stairs without seeing the deceased, and I believe Mary Grose came up after me. We went down stairs several times before Mr. Moyle arrived, but neither of us went into the parlour where the body was. My husband generally returned from Chacewater by way of Butt-lane. I observed nothing out of place in the house. I have seen the hammer produced. It was the deceased's hammer. We have had the horse we have been in the habit of fettering about two years. We have always kept it fettered to prevent it from going over hedges and kicking the other horses. I never heard deceased say he was afraid the horse would kick him. The Jury, after hearing the Coroner's summing up, and having had their attention drawn by him to the points of evidence principally bearing on the subject of inquiry, eventually agreed unanimously to a verdict of "Wilful Murder against Elijah Teague," who, as before stated, has been apprehended and conveyed to the county gaol, to await his trial at the next assizes. There does not appear in the above evidence anything to show a motive for the committal of the act, but it is stated in the neighbourhood that there were frequent disagreements between the deceased and his son-in-law. Julia Mosman, OPC for St.Austell,Charlestown, and Treverbyn Website at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~staustell W. Briton newspaper transcripts at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad Please visit the OPC website at http://cornwall-opc.org

He was acquitted http://books.google.com/books?id=NqC-b3TEJO0C&pg=PA729&lpg=PA729&dq=Elijah+Teague+murder&source=bl&ots=o9DGyYkZfc&sig=UobHY2EpAvE0a6WpATtSCI-ssoA&hl=en&ei=pPbKS76MH8K78gb84LHFBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CBQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Elijah%20Teague%20murder&f=false Peter ----- Original Message ----- From: <jwmos99@msn.com> To: <cornish-gen@rootsweb.com>; <cornish@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 5:02 PM Subject: [CORNISH-GEN] weekly news, 25 April 1851 - Murder at Silverwell (Teague, Kendall, and Grose) > > This is actually broken into 2 parts; the first gives all the basic > information regarding the crime, while the second contains the depositions > in front of the magistrates regarding activities, etc. All the details in > the second part are covered again in upcoming issues, as testimony is > recorded for the ensuing trials, but they're interesting as they contain a > great deal of details. > > ............................................................ > > WEST BRITON AND CORNWALL ADVERTISER > > > APRIL 25 1851 > > MURDER AT SILVERWELL IN THIS COUNTY > > It has happily been some years since the frightful crime of murder has > been perpetrated in Cornwall, but we are sorry that we have again to add > to the catalogue of heinous guilt, a murder committed in this county on > Saturday last. > > The locality where the deed was perpetrated is called Silverwell, near the > Chiverton Arms, on the road between Truro and St. Agnes, and about five > miles from the former place. The murdered man, WILLIAM KENDALL, occupied a > small farm, and lived in the house with his wife alone. This was his > second wife, to whom he had been married about four years. Her former name > was TEAGUE, and she had a son by her first husband, called ELIJAH TEAGUE, > and now about seventeen years of age. This son lived with his mother and > Mr. Kendall until January last, when he went to lodge at a neighbouring > house with HENRY GROSE; but he still occasionally worked on the farm for > his father-in-law, who was about seventy-two years of age.

Thank you, Julia, for including all the details, as the neighbour, William SANDOE, is very likely one of my family. I'm glad he didn't seem as helpless and vague as everyone else! Now I need some local knowledge. As I have stayed in Truro and St Agnes years ago, I know the general area, and have a modern OS map, but I'm wondering if Butt Lane, where the SANDOEs lived, is still there...my map does not have this information, and I have not been able to find it on Google maps or Multimaps. Thank you for any clues. Jan South Australia -----Original Message----- From: cornish-gen-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:cornish-gen-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of jwmos99@msn.com Sent: Sunday, 18 April 2010 6:33 AM To: cornish-gen@rootsweb.com; cornish@rootsweb.com Subject: [CORNISH-GEN] weekly news, 25 April 1851 - Murder at Silverwell (Teague, Kendall, and Grose) This is actually broken into 2 parts; the first gives all the basic information regarding the crime, while the second contains the depositions in front of the magistrates regarding activities, etc. All the details in the second part are covered again in upcoming issues, as testimony is recorded for the ensuing trials, but they're interesting as they contain a great deal of details. ............................................................