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Elizabeth Ann Williams

Age: 44

Sex: female

Date: 22 Oct 1907

Place: Trelawney Road, Camborne

Elizabeth Ann Williams was found dead in a field near Trelawney Road in Camborne on the morning of 23 October 1907.

When she was found her face was blue and it was thought she had been suffocated.

A 24-year-old miner and wrestler was charged with her murder but the bill against him was thrown out after it was heard that it could not be proved that she had not died from a fit.

The field where she was found had been part of Weath Farm.

The miner had been seen in the company of Elizabeth Williams on the evening of 22 October 1907 and was later seen coming from the direction that her body was found.

Elizabeth Williams had been married and had lived with her husband, their son and daughter and her bed-ridden mother and six lodgers at Bartle's Row, East Hill, Tuckingmill in Camborne.

Her husband said that Elizabeth Williams left home whilst he was at work on the tin streams and that when she didn't return he thought she had gone to Redruth and stayed the night with her brother which she had done on a previous occasion.

He noted that she had only remained away from home on two occasions and that he had had no occasion to complain of her being addicted to drink.

The manager of Eastman's Ltd said that Elizabeth Williams called on him and bought some New Zealand mutton and hogs-pudding on the night before her death, which he later identified by the cut, the nature of the mutton and the kind of skin on the hogs-pudding. He also noted that she had been quite sober.

A woman said she had been in the Unicorn Hotel in Church Street when Elizabeth Williams came in with several parcels and had two glasses of porter. She said that Elizabeth Williams had been quite sober when she came in and that she remained there from about 7.30pm to 8.50pm.

She noted that Elizabeth Williams had been wearing spectacles, a hat and a dark jacket. She noted that it was raining slightly.

She said that on leaving they both went to the Miner's Arms at the bottom of Church Street where the miner and some other people were.

She said that Elizabeth Williams had had a glass of ale and paid for it and then had another that the miner paid for.

She said that when they entered the room, the miner had said to Elizabeth Williams, 'Hullo, old dear, you are in here too', to which Elizabeth Williams replied, 'Yes'.

The woman said that she left alone at about 10pm, noting that Elizabeth Williams had at that time seemed sober, whilst the miner seemed to have had enough to drink.

She noted that the miner had been very quiet and said little, but that when Elizabeth Williams looked at him with spectacles, he said to her, 'You would look much better if you had one dead eye looking at me through your glasses'. However, she said that she didn't know what he meant by that.

Another woman that had been in Mrs Berriman's Hotel with her little boy said that the miner left the room and went into the bar after which Elizabeth Williams asked her if she would go with her as far as the Vyvyan's Arms in Trelowarren Street, but said that she declined as it was late and that she then saw Elizabeth Williams leave the hotel by the side door about 10.15pm. She noted that she didn't see the miner again, although she remained in the house until 11pm.

It was later determined that at about 10.30pm Elizabeth Williams and the miner went to Tyack's hotel where the miner ordered two drinks which he said Elizabeth Williams drank. He said that after that he then walked her to the lane at the bottom of town where he left her.

He stated that he had known Elizabeth Williams by sight before that night, but not to talk to.

It was noted that he was later found with one of her parcels the following day, the one containing the mutton and hogs-pudding, but it was not clear what reason he gave for possessing that.

A police sergeant said that on the night of 22 October 1907 he met a police constable just by the Student's Club at the bottom of Wellington Street and that they walked together to the bottom of Trelawny Road and just past the opening of Gilly Lane.

He said that they stood in front of some houses for a minute or two in consequence of a dog barking at the back of the houses nearby. He said that after they then walked quietly back into Gilly Lane they found the dog which was in a yard at the back of a bungalow. He said that they then went down the lane and stopped by the back gates and stopped for a minute or two at the bottom of the field where Elizabeth Williams’s body was found the next morning.

The police sergeant said that everything appeared to be quiet and they returned to Tehidy Road and then at what was termed as the square at the bottom of Enys Road he heard footsteps coming from the direction of Gilly Lane and that he stepped out and saw someone crossing from the direction of Gilly Lane to Trelawny Road.

He said that as the person approached he got on the footpath at the bottom of Tehidy Road and that he saw that it was a man dressed in dark clothes. He said that he then stepped out to see who it was and noticed that the man had a parcel under his left arm.

He said that the man said 'Good night' and they both replied, 'Good night'. He said that after the man walked on that he remarked to the other police constable, 'That's the miner, I wonder what he's doing down here?'.

He noted that before the miner came by that he had been muttering to himself and that he had in fact heard him muttering before he saw him. He noted that he appeared to be under the influence of drink, but capable of walking.

Elizabeth Williams was found the following morning by a mason. He had gone out to work at 7am and two hours later, whilst working on a garden wall a man drew his attention to a bundle in a neighbouring field lying near the hedge and ten feet from the gate. He said that he went into the field and found the body of Elizabeth Williams lying on her back, fully dressed and with her hat at her feet. He said that the underpart of her garments was tucked up under her shoulders and one leg was exposed to the knee.

He said that there were signs of a struggle, the ground being disturbed and that by her feet there were two parcels, one containing meat and the other containing hairpins, laces, wool and linen.

He said that he then sent information to the police.

A doctor was called out and he carried out a post mortem that afternoon and determined that her cause of death was asphyxia, noting that he had no doubt about it as her air passages were full of foam and there was nothing in the organs to account for suffocation.

He agreed that her death could have been caused by pressure on her mouth, particularly if she had been more or less helpless, indicating disability through drink.

When the police went to the home of the miner at Tolcarne, Beacon, Cambourne, they spoke to his mother who said that she had seen her son with  a parcel the night before and she went to the pantry and brought out a parcel that was found to contain a shoulder of mutton and some hogs pudding which was later identified by the butcher as that which he had sold Elizabeth Williams the day before.

When he was asked about Elizabeth Williams, he said that he met her in the Miner's arms and had a drink with her and that they later went to Tyack's Hotel and went into a side room and that he later left at 11pm and last saw her, 'In the lane at the bottom of the town'. When he was asked whether or not he knew that she had lived in Tuckingmill, he replied, 'No, she asked me to help to carry her parcel, and I helped her as far as the bottom of town'.

When he was told that she was dead, he said, 'I never done nothing to the woman. I never put a hand near her'.

The miners clothes were examine and his trousers were found to be dirty. One heel mark was found in the field, but it was found to be much larger than the heel of the miner, plus it was noted that a lot of people had been there so not much importance could be placed on it.

A man that lived at Parc Holly in Cambourne said that on the Tuesday night at 10.30pm that he saw the miner walking along with a woman just below the pork shop in Church Street, next to the Miner's Arms. He said that the woman had been carrying several parcels, but the miner had been carrying none. He said that he then saw them head off towards Tyack's Hotel.

Elizabeth Williams's funeral took place at Roskear Church on the Saturday afternoon, 26 October 1907. Her corpse, which was contained in a pitchpine coffin with the inscription, 'Elizabeth Ann Williams, died 22 October, 1907, aged 44 years', was conveyed by hearse from the residence at East Hill in Tuckingmill to the Roskear Church.

The inquest into Elizabeth Williams's death returned a verdict of murder against some person or persons unknown.

The miner was sent for trial at the Cornwall Assizes on 31 January 1908, but no true bill was found and the case was dismissed.

It was heard that the medical evidence showed that Elizabeth Williams's face had had a blueish tint, a fact that indicated death by suffocation, by violence, or otherwise. It was also heard that her husband had said that she had suffered from heart disease although no doctor had been called in and that Elizabeth Williams was probably of an epileptic tendency and that people of that tendency might walk about before they fell and that when they fell they had the appearance of a person who had been suffocated.

As such, it was asked whether on such evidence  they could find a true bill for murder on those facts and the bill was thrown out and the miner discharged.

When the judge discharged the miner he told him that it was beyond doubt that he had been drinking with Elizabeth Williams  on the night she died and that he had taken one of her parcels.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser - Friday 31 January 1908

see Cornubian and Redruth Times - Thursday 31 October 1907

see Commercial, Shipping & General Advertiser for West Cornwall - Friday 25 October 1907

see The Cornish Telegraph - Thursday 31 October 1907

see Cornishman - Thursday 31 October

see Croydon Times - Saturday 08 February 1908

see Cornish Echo and Falmouth & Penryn Times - Friday 31 January 1908