X Cheshire Observer - Saturday 8 March 1873MURDER OF A POLICE OFFICER IN CHESHIRE.James Buckley, who is now in custody at Sandbach,charged with the wilful murder of James Green, apolice officer, is rather over the middle height,muscular, though not at all stout, and in ageabout 43 years. Although accustomed to work as alabourer, he is possessed of houses and land inSandbach Heath and Moston, valued at between £2000and £3000. His habits are said to be those of amiser, and in his cottage at Moss Green a largecollection of clothing and heterogeneous articlesfills every nook and corner. For a long time thepolice had suspected him, not only of purloiningfrom places where he called at on business, butalso of going out of the way to steal property,and in consequence Police-officer Green, who wasan active officer, closely watched him, the resultbeing that James Buckley was committed atKnutsford sessions, in November last, to hardlabour for one month, on a charge of stealing hay.On Monday the 24th ult. Green communicated to hisinspector that he had received certain informationrespecting Buckley, whom he intended to watch atdark that night. The remainder of thecircumstances connected with this sad affair willappear below.On Saturday, James Buckley was brought up atSandbach, before Mr. J. St. John Yates, Wellbank,charged with the murder of James Green, when thefollowing evidence was given : -Joseph Hulme, police inspector, stationed atSandbach, said that on the Monday morning previousthe deceased, who had been a police constable atBradwall for about five years, told him he hadsome private information respecting the prisoner,and said he would watch Buckley that night.Witness offered to send some men to assist Greenat nine o'clock at night, but the deceased saidthat would be too late and he would go himself assoon as it was dark. After Monday night thedeceased was not seen, and witness, on the nightof the 26th ultimo, communicated withSuperintendent Rowbottom respecting deceased'sdisappearance. On the morning of the 27th ultimowitness, with two constables, went to search forGreen. On Friday, from what was told him byRichard Phillips, witness went to Mr. Sutton'sfarm, where the prisoner was working. Witnessasked the prisoner if he had seen anything ofGreen, and the prisoner replied that he had notseen Green that week. Witness said that Green hadbeen missing since Monday night, and there wasreason to believe that he had met with foultreatment, to which the prisoner again said thathe had not seen Green. In answer to witness theprisoner said he was on the Monday working atHill's house, which was close to the prisoner'shouse, and that the clothes he wore on the day inquestion were at home. Witness noticed that theprisoner's face was discoloured, that his foreheadwas cut and his nose bruised on the left side,that his left hand was wrapped up with rags, and apiece of skin loose on the middle finger of thathand. (The prisoner's face and hands stillpresented somewhat of the marks referred to.)Witness asked the prisoner how he accounted forthese injuries, and he said that on Monday morninghe was pruning Hill's apple tree and fell out, andthat he had not called any one's attention to theinjuries, but wrapped his finger up, sayingnothing to anybody about it. Witness andSuperintendent Rowbottom went with the prisoner tohis home at Moss-green, Elton, and asked to seethe clothes worn by the prisoner on the Mondaynight. Witness produced the vest which had, uponthe right sleeve and right breast, stains whichwitness believed to be blood. Out of the trousers'pocket Superintendent Rowbottom took a knife uponwhich were stains which witness believed to beblood. Witness took the prisoner to the policestation and charged him with murdering Green. Theprisoner muttered some- thing, but witness did notunderstand what he said. Witness and theSuperintendent returned to the prisoner's house,and Superintendent Rowbottom went into thepiggery, from whence he brought out a piece ofsacking and a sack, both stained with blood. Inanother outhouse Mr. Rowbottom found an axe, apotato fork, and some stones, all stained withwhat was thought to be blood. "Witness saw Green'sbody immediately after it was got out of thecanal. It was found about a quarter of a mile fromthe prisoner's house. Witness saw Mr. Rowbottomtake the watch from the deceased's fob. During thegiving of the inspector's evidence, the prisonerseveral times essayed to explain certain points.He said the bruises on his face were from a strapof a machine catching him there, and that theinjury to his finger was but a scratch. TheMagistrate advised the prisoner to say nothing atall.John Booth, a retired shopkeeper, living atBooth-lane, said that on Friday he and a coachmanwere dragging the canal at the Moss-bridge, whenthe drag which the boatman had brought up the bodyof the deceased. The deceased was in uniform,except his coat, which was replaced by a corduroyjacket. Witness and two others removed the body toMr. Pointon's stables.Charles Latham, surgeon, of Sandbach, said he sawthe dead body of Green, whom he had previouslyknown. Afterwards he made a post-mortemexamination of the body. Witness found the headone mass of bruises, both before and behind. Theface and head were literally covered with cuts andbruises. There were 23 cut wounds; cut, he shouldthink, with some sharp instrument about the headand face. Witness did not think any single woundsufficient to cause death, nor yet that thosecollective wounds would have been sufficient tocause immediate death without any other injuries.The man might have lived some time after thoseinjuries. There was no fracture of the skull.Witness believed the cause of death to be arupture of the bladder, the result of violence,combined with the other injuries. There werebruises at each side on the upper part of eachthigh. A rupture might be caused by violencewithout any external marks, considering the manhad his clothes on. There was no appearance ofdisease whatever. The deceased was a remarkablyhealthy man. The Magistrates said the face of thedeceased appeared still very fresh. Mr. Latham :My decided opinion is that the body has not beenunder water since Monday.Richard Phillips, a boy about 16 years of age,said he lived at John Woodhead's, of Elton. OnMonday night he had been to see his sister at JohnScragg's, and, about nine o'clock, called at hismother's house, which was under the same roof asthat of the prisoner, and delivered a message fromhis sister there. While out-side and about toreturn to his master's, he heard a noise as ofsome one walking about in front. He shouted"Hallo" twice, but no one answered. Afterwards heheard some one in the same direction making anoise as if they were rubbing a spade with a wispof straw. While standing there the prisoner's wifecame to the door and asked him about his sister'shealth.This being the whole of the evidence it wasconsidered necessary to call at that stage of theproceedings, the Magistrate remanded the prisoneruntil Saturday next, remarking that the prisonerwould be allowed every opportunity of consultingwith his lawyer. On the same day the inquest on'the body of the deceased was formally openedbefore Mr. Dunstan, one of the coroners forCheshire. Evidence of identification having beenreceived, the inquest was adjourned untilWednesday.THE INQUEST.On Wednesday, the adjourned inquest upon the bodyof James Green was held at the Wheat Sheaf Inn,Sandbach. Mr. T. Cooper, solicitor, Congleton,watched the inquest on behalf of James Buckley.Captain Arrowsmith, deputy chief constable of thecounty, was also present. The following evidencewas given :-Mary Burgess, wife of the landlord of the Fox Inn,Elton, said the deceased called at their housebetween seven and nine o'clock on Monday night,the 24th ult., and soon afterwards left, havinghad no drink there that she knew of. The deceasedappeared to be in his usual health, was sober, andthere were no marks of violence upon him.John Booth deposed to finding the body, by meansof a drag, in the Trent and Mersey Canal, nearMoss Bridge, on the 28th ult.Police-superintendent Rowbottom, of the countyforce, said that on Thursday the disappearance ofthe deceased was reported to him. On Friday,parties were sent to search for the deceased indifferent directions. On that morning witness,accompanied by Inspector Hulme and Police-officerJones, went to Sutton's farm Elton, where JamesBuckley, an agricultural labourer' was working.Buckley bad two blackened eyes, some skin off theside of his nose, and a bruise or wound on hisforehead, together with some injuries on hishands. In answer to Inspector Hulme, the prisonersaid he had been pruning an apple-tree at Hill'sgarden, which was close to the prisoner's house,and had fallen out of the tree. Witness examinedHill's trees, but could find no trace of pruningon the trees, and told Buckley so, upon which hepointed out a tree which he said he was getting upfor the purpose of pruning, but slipped down andhurt himself, consequently he did not prune it.Witness noticed on a branch on the tree inquestion a thin branch, about the thickness of hisfinger, which had been broken off. Witnessreceived a message saying the body of the deceasedbad been found, and went up to Pointon's stable,where the body had been taken. He there tookBuckley into custody on a charge of murdering thedeceased, to which charge the prisoner mutteredsomething which witness could not understand. Theprisoner was then removed to the lockup atSandbach. On searching the clothing around thebody, witness found a watch- which had stopped at39 minutes past three- a ring and Keys, an ivorytablet, a memorandum book, and a purse containing11/2 d. Witnesss and Inspector Hulme then went tothe prisoner's premises, to a pigstye, the upperpart of which was filled with straw - On removingthe straw he found a bag and a piece of sacking,on both which articles were stains believed to beblood An axe, a spade and a potato fork andanother piece of sacking and several stones andpieces of flags, from near the back door andwindow, showed stains as of blood. One stone(Produced ) near the back door was marked as if bya nailed boot slipping upon it The prisoner woresmall nails in his boots. When witness told MarthaBuckley, the wife of the man in custody that heshould remove the articles which were stained shesaid, "They have been used about killing the pig.In addition to the articles mentioned were apocket-knife, wheelbarrow, a pair of cordtrousers, and a striped waistcoat, which were alsostained with what witness believed to be bloodWitness took some of the articles to ProfessorCalvert, Manchester, for analysis. Other articleswere taken to Professor Williamson's residence,Fallow field, Manchester.On receiving the articles Professor Williamsonnoticed two hairs adhering to the stain believedto be blood, upon the bag. Dr. Williamson comparedthe hairs from the bag with some hair from thehead of the deceased, and also made a microscopicexamination of them. The two hairs were producedby witness, together with hair cut from thedeceased's head by Dr. Latham. (The two hairsproduced were of a dark colour The deceased haddark brown hair.) At the suggestion of Dr.Williamson, witness took the hair and a number ofthe articles mentioned to Dr. Taylor, professor ofchemistry, at the school of medicine RoyalInfirmary, Liverpool, on Tuesday. Dr. Taylordiscovered another hair in the sackingOn Saturday evening Mrs. Martha Buckley came tothe Sandbach police station with some food for herhusband. Witness told her he should arrest her forbeing concerned in the murder. She said, "I aminnocent. I did not do it. I know nothing aboutit. If you keep me I shall be of no use to you,and I cannot tell you any-thing about it. Let mego home to my child." She made use of similarlanguage many times, and once varied her statementby saying, "We are innocent." She afterwards, inthe corridor of the lock-up and in sight of herhusband, said, "I am innocent, and so is he." Themale prisoner afterwards stated that his littleboy was playing with the pocket-knife referred to,on the Tuesday, and cut himself and the blood theyhad seen on his waistcoat, and at the back door onthe stones, was from the boy's hand. The maleprisoner applied to Dr. Latham to see his littleboy and examine his hand.The Coroner, during the hearing of the lastwitness's evidence, complained that he had notbeen previously informed that the articlesreferred to were being analysed, or that the wifeof the prisoner had been taken into custody.The inquest was further adjourned until Mondaynext.His (Constable Green) remains were interred atElworth Church on Sunday afternoon. The body wasfollowed to the grave by a large number of Green'sfriends and the whole of the police from theneighbourhood. There was about 800 persons presentto witness the interment of an old and wellrespected officer. The deceased, who was 36 yearsof age, was a stonemason by trade, and a native ofNewport, Salop, but, he had resided for many yearsat Handbridge, Chester. He leaves a delicate wifeand three children, the eldest of whom is fiveyears old. Some of his friends have signifiedtheir intention of raising a subscription for thetwofold object of erecting a monument to hismemory and of assisting his widow in bringing upher fatherless children.Capt. Smith, the Chief Constable, has expressedhis sympathy for Mrs. Green, and directed a weeklysum of 12s. to be paid her until some otherarrangement can be made for her. Green joined theCheshire Constabulary in 1867.