Emmeline Walter

Emmeline Walter was found dead in a well on the night of Saturday 8 March 1902.

She had been a single woman and had lived in Pink's Hill, Wood Street, Worplesdon.

When the Coroner summed up at the inquest 'he noted that the case was not at all satisfactory and that it was lucky for some people that there had been no evidence of a struggle or quarrel and no marks of violence about her body.

The jury returned a verdict of Found Drowned, noting that there was not sufficient evidence to show how Emmeline Walter got into the well.

Her son, who lived in Camberwell, said that he last saw Emmeline Walter alive on Christmas day and that he didn't know that she was ill until the Saturday afternoon when he received a letter from her stating that she had been very ill. He said that it was an unusual letter because it had been written in pencil and in a shaky hand.

He noted that there was nothing in it to lead him to think that she had been in any trouble, except monetary difficulties, beyond being ill. He noted that she had she had asked him to send her some money and that he had been in the habit of sending her money lately.

He said that her property was her own but that it was mortgaged and that there had been several law suits over it and that the previous two years had been one continual struggle in the law courts but that every difficulty regarding the property had been cleared up and that there was nothing to lead him to think that she might destroy her life.

He noted that her property was worth £1,700 and that the mortgage was £1,000.

He said that when he arrived at her home he found that she was dead.

A painter and sculptor that had lived with Emmeline Walter said that they had lived together for about twelve months or more and were to have been married in a fortnight's time.

He said that Emmeline Walter had been suffering from a very bad attack of influenza for the previous fortnight although in the former part of the previous week she had got better and had gone into Guildford on the Tuesday to see a solicitor from London. However, he said that she missed the trap back and had to walk back, arriving at about 8pm and very much worse and said that for the rest of the week she complained of the head.

He said that on the Saturday that she didn't come downstairs until about 6pm and that he left between 8.30pm and 8.40pm to meet a carrier that had gone into town for some things for Emmeline Walter at which time Emmeline Walter had been sitting by the fire, noting that she said that she would wait for him to return. 

However, he said that when he returned at 9.40pm she was not there. He said that when he returned he found the door leading into the room in which he had left her open and her cloak and cap in the chair.

He said that he thought that she had retired and proceeded to make her a warm beverage, but that when he went upstairs he found that she was not there.

He said that he looked everywhere for her, but failed to find her and that as it was getting late he thought he had better go and get somebody to help him and that as he was going out the well came into mind and so he threw the bucket down to satisfy himself that she was not down it and said that it certainly didn't strike water.

When the Coroner asked the painter why he should have that suspicion and felt in that way, the painter said, 'I suppose it was the outcome of wondering where she was after looking in every ordinary place'.

The Coroner then asked the painter whether there had been anything to lead him to think that the well had been a likely place where she might have been, and the painter said, 'The very opposite, nothing of the sort to suggest it. In a sane state the very last thing she would think of doing'.

The Coroner then said, 'That makes it all the more extraordinary why you should have pitched upon the well', to which the painter said, 'Quite so, it was the very last thought coming out of the door'.

When the Coroner asked the painter what sort of condition the well cover was in, the painter said, 'The wire work was off. That is another thing that made me think of the well'.

He said that he then went and got the help of a man who he told he thought Emmeline Walter was down the well.

It was noted that a man that had previously lived with Emmeline Walter had vanished. He was said to have vanished a couple of years earlier, about twelve months before the painter moved in. He said that he had known Emmeline Walter for about four years and that he had had a room with her whilst the other man was living there but that he had not used it as he lived elsewhere. the inquest heard that Emmeline Walter had taken out letters of administration on the presumption that the man was dead, but the painter said that the man had been eccentric and that it was possible that he might turn up again, noting that there were more improbable things.

The painter said that he and Emmeline Walter had started poultry farming but that there were difficulties financially and the interest she had been paying on her mortgage had gone up from 4% to 6% although that new arrangement had been made on the Tuesday and so had not taken effect on payments, which he noted were up to date.

When the Coroner asked the painter where Emmeline Walter got the money to pay the mortgage he said that Emmeline Walter had had property in North Street and Woodbridge Road, Guildford that she rented out as well as the poultry farming and the sale of young fowl and eggs which he said paid over its expenses.

The painter noted that he thought that Emmeline Walter had left her property to her son in her will.

A police inspector that came out to recover Emmeline Walter's body said that he found no marks or signs of anyone having gone through the opening and that they were obliged to get ladders to recover her body.

He said that the well was about 43 or 44 feet deep and had about 10 to 12 feet of water in it and that it took them about three hours to recover her body.

He said that Emmeline Walter had been dressed in a cloak and pair of bloomers but that she had no socks or boots on. He noted that she had been wearing her glasses and had 6d on her and three false teeth.

The police inspector then went on to the dirty and untidy state of the house and agreed that he would not have anticipated a wedding coming off and that there was no indication of the flourishing poultry business that they had heard all about.

He added that there were no marks of violence about Emmeline Walter's body.

A doctor that carried out the post mortem said that there were no marks of violence and that one of her lungs indicated pneumonia and pleurisy and that all her organs were more or less in a congested condition.

He said that her cause of death had been due to suffocation from drowning and noted that he was quite certain that she had taken nothing in the shape of poison.

When the Coroner summed up he said that the case was not at all a satisfactory one in many respects, noting that there were surroundings connected with the case that aroused suspicion, along with the disappearance of the other man that had previously stayed with Emmeline Walter. He added that the way that the painter and Emmeline Walter had been living together was most unsatisfactory as were the circumstances under which Emmeline Walter came to be down the well, which he said all naturally tended to arouse suspicion.

He then noted that the painter was exceedingly lucky that there was no evidence of a struggle or violence. However, he noted that there was no evidence that they were anything but happy together and that he would from the evidence conclude that the painter had nothing to do with her going down the well and instructed the jury that he did not think for one moment that they would be justified in saying that the painter had either acquiesced in her going down the well or that he had attempted to put her down the well.

The Coroner then noted that they might come to the conclusion that Emmeline Walter had during the temporary absence of the painter decided to jump down the well and take her life.

However, the jury returned a verdict of Found Drowned, stating that there was not sufficient evidence to show how she had got into the well.