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Elizabeth Emma Morrow

Age: 66

Sex: female

Date: 4 Sep 1934

Place: Thomas Street, Kearsley, Lancashire

Elizabeth Emma Morrow was found with head injuries in her kitchen.

She was found unconscious on the Monday night, 3 September 1934 by a milliner from Brackley Street who said that she had gone to Elizabeth Morrow's home on the 3 September 1934 and noticed that her door was slightly ajar. She said that she then called to a man that was nearby and they entered the house, in which there was no light. She said that they then heard Elizabeth Morrow groan and found her crouching on the kitchen floor.

Elizabeth Morrow died the following day.

Her injuries had been inflicted by some blunt instrument. A poker was found with human hairs adhering to it, but it was said that there appeared to be no fingerprints on it. The human hairs on the poker were said to correspond with those of Elizabeth Morrow.

A doctor said that her injuries could not have been caused accidently or have been self-inflicted.

The police said that there were no signs of a struggle or of any attempted robbery but said that they had discovered blood on the stairs and on the handle of a wringing machine beside which she had been lying.

The police said that they thought that whoever had been responsible for causing her injuries would have had a considerable amount of blood about them and they might themselves have been injured.

Local people said that they thought that Elizabeth Morrow had been attacked by someone that she knew.

Five people, four men and a woman, were interviewed at Macclesfield in connection with her murder but released.

She was a shopkeeper and had lived alone and had said that she had a dread of someone trying to get into her shop. It was also heard that Elizabeth Morrow had earlier expressed a fear that something would happen to her and had complained of being followed home from the shop.

She was described as rather eccentric and ran a small sweets and tobacco business on the main Bolton to Manchester road which was about 200 yards from her home.

Elizabeth Morrow's sister said that she thought that Elizabeth Morrow had been murdered for the sake of a fortune that she had pretended to have. She said, 'My sister was fond of giving people an entirely wrong impression that she had considerable means. I don't think she had any money in the house'.

During the investigation it was reported that a plumber who had been called out to attend to a cistern had found a man's sock in the cistern with stains that might have been bloodstains on it. The sock had become trapped in the cistern and had stopped it up. A careful search then revealed the fellow sock. The first sock found was noted for having been worn at both the heal and toe. The socks were then examined by the police. The hotel that the cistern was in was a few yards from Thomas Street.

The police said that they were interested in hearing any information from anyone that had seen any stranger, either a man or a woman, in the vicinity of Elizabeth Morrow's home between 10am and 9.30pm on 3 September 1934.


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

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail - Monday 10 December 1934

see Derby Daily Telegraph - Thursday 06 September 1934

see Belfast News-Letter - Thursday 13 September 1934

see Aberdeen Press and Journal - Thursday 13 September 1934

see Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette - Tuesday 04 September 1934

see Western Daily Press - Thursday 06 September 1934

see Illustrated Police News - Thursday 13 September 1934

see Illustrated Police News - Thursday 20 December 1934

see Dundee Evening Telegraph - Wednesday 05 September 1934