unsolved-murders.co.uk
Unsolved Murders
Tags

William Allen

Age: 48

Sex: male

Date: 12 Feb 1915

Place: Macclesfield Road, Butley

William Allen was found injured in the road. He was taken to the infirmary where he later died.

It was thought that he had been knocked down by a car.

He was a farm labourer from Butley near Macclesfield.

A farmer that he had worked with said that he last saw William Allen on the farm at about noon and said that William Allen told him that he had a very bad cold and that he was going to go to the Butley Ash Inn and get something to cure it.

Later in the evening, at about 9pm, on the Sunday night a man said that he was driving along the Macclesfield Road when he saw a stationary motor car on the wrong side of the roadway with two men in it. He said that about 50 yards on he then saw a curious-looking object in the road but said that it was dark and that he couldn't make up his mind what it was.

A woman said that she was walking along the Macclesfield Road when she saw a man apparently kneeling or crouching in the middle of the road. She said that she became rather afraid as it was a very dark night and that she turned with her friend and went along the path through a field. She said that she then saw a car approach and stop.

A man said that he was driving his car from Macclesfield to Prestbury on the Sunday night when he came across an object that looked like a man's body. He said that he stopped and walked back to have a look and saw William Allen lying there in the roadway. He said that he had a large scar on his head. He said that he got the assistance of a man with a storm lamp and then put William Allen in his car and took him to the infirmary.

The police said that they had tried to trace the mysterious car that was seen earlier with the two men in it and found that a car containing two men had stopped at the Vernon Arms in Poynton on the Sunday night. They said that the men were described as sober, but wet through. Their car was described as dark, with either two cylinders, or four noisy cylinders, and that instead of a light at the back it had red-painted glass. No one took the cars number plate and it was said to have gone on towards Manchester.

The post-mortem stated that William Allen had numerous abrasions about his body and that he had a ruptured and crushed liver, and seven fractured ribs. It was said that some broken pieces of his ribs had also penetrated his lungs. The doctor concluded that William Allen had been run over by some heavy object.

An open verdict was returned.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Manchester Evening News - Friday 12 February 1915, p6