Walter Hulse

Walter Hulse was shot in bed.

He was the landlord of the Swan Hotel in Talke near Newcastle-under-Lyme.

His wife said that she heard Walter Hulse shout out 'Who's there?' and then heard a gun shot and then footsteps going down the stairs and the front door slamming.

Walter Hulse had been shot with his own sporting gun which was left in the kitchen overnight. After the shooting it was found at the bottom of the stairs and the window was found open.

A deaf labourer and cowman was tried for his murder at the Stafford Assizes but was found not guilty and discharged.

Walter Hulse's wife said that the cowman who was tried would sometimes get in through the window when the house was locked. Other people said that they had heard the cowman utter threats against Walter Hulse and a constable found two empty cartridges under a stone by a fence near to the cowman's house which were similar in make and number to three loaded cartridges which were found in Walter Hulse's kitchen drawer. The constable also said that he saw a bright light on in the cowman's house early that morning.

The cowman's neighbour said that two days before the murder the cowman had told her that he had no money, no food, no insurance card and that his work had stopped and that he seemed very worried but later that day was brighter.

Talke was an isolated mining village in North Staffordshire.