Jane Hatcher

Jane Hatcher was found dead on a railway line near St. Mary's Road Bridge.

Jane Hatcher and her husband had left home that morning to sell salt which they normally did. They later parted at 1.30pm but met up again later in the afternoon when they went to a pub in St. Mary's Road, Kingston.

Whilst there Jane Hatcher's husband said that Jane Hatcher gave him the key to their house and their purse of money saying that he had better look after them and that she was going out of the pub but would be back in a minute.

He said that he waited an hour for her to return but said that she didn't, and so he he then went home himself, and said that she didn't come home all night.

Jane Hatcher's husband said that they had been on the best of terms and that day had taken 1s. 6d. for salt although the purse had only had 2 and 1/4d. in it and he didn't know where the remainder had gone.

The railway line had been examined at 5.15pm when it was clear but at 6.15pm the driver saw a dark object on the down line which he reported with the signalman at Copner Crossing. The gatekeeper at Moneyfield Crossing then went down the line and discovered Jane Hatcher's mutilated body lying on the footway near St. Mary's Road Bridge, about 83 yards on the Copnor side.

It was noted that there was no way onto the line at that place other than climbing over a wall or fence. However, an attendant at the cemetery stated that he had seen a woman in the grounds at 5.15pm and police found indications of the grass having been trodden down at the junction of the cemetery wall and St Mary's Road Bridge.