THE BACTON MURDER

At the Ipswich Assizes, William Flack, aged 18, was indicted for the wilful murder of Maria Steg. gles, at Bacton, on Sunday, the 8th of May last.

The trial of this case, which had excited the greatest possible interest throughout the county of Suffolk, having been appointed to take place this morning, the court was crowded to excess at an early hour. When the court was opened, the prisoner was placed at the bar, and from first to last preserved an unmoved countenance, and a degree of self-possession quite irreconcilable with his extremely youthful appearance.

From the statement on behalf of the Crown, it appeared that Maria Steggles was the housekeeper of the Rev. Mr. Barker, the rector of Bacton, who was 85 years of age; and that she had filled the double office of housekeeper and mistress of his establishment for a very long period, being nearly as old as her master. The establishment was simple in its character, and primitive. There was but one female servant, and one outdoor labourer; and all took their meals together at midday on Sundays. The rectory was a lone moated building at the extremity of the village, and a mile and a half from the church, near to which the prisoner lived. The prisoner had formerly worked at the rectory, and knew the habits of the house; but he had not won the favour of the old housekeeper, who seemed to be anxious not to allow him to come there, on the very day of her death; for she had sent a message to him on Sunday, the 1st of May, to discharge him. On the 8th, Mr. Barker, as usual, quitted the rectory at a quarter-past 10, to go to church, on horseback, the girl having gone on foot before, leaving Mrs. Steggles to prepare their dinner. She usually sat, and did sit, on that day, in the kitchen, which was approached from the front of the house through a projecting glass door, which, on such occasions, she generally kept half fastened by a chain. Before the girl went to church, she drew a mug of beer for the horse-boy, but, as he did not call for it that day, she put it down within the glass door, near the cellar door. When the service was over, Mr. Barker and the girl, on their return, found the glass door open, and on the kitchen floor was stretched the body of Mrs. Steggles, almost dead, and deluged with blood, which had flowed from several severe and mortal blows on her head, and a dreadful gash across her throat, from the combined effects of which she died at half-past 1 o'clock. The legs of the table, on which were found an open prayer-book and her spectacles, were broken and spattered with blood, while the carpet bore the bloody prints of footmarks, as if the murderer had stepped into the blood of his victim in order to reach the window. The beer-mug was lying empty under the table, and there was beer sprinkled along the floor from the door to the mug. There was no trace of blood or dirt on the stairs which led to the bedrooms out of the kitchen, but an examination of those rooms showed that the murderer had ransacked them. The girl's work-box was broken open, and a red purse, with steel rings, containing three sovereigns, a loose coin of Queen Elizabeth, and a sixpence, was taken from it. From Mr. Barker's bed room a pistol was taken; and from a keeping-room below was taken a poker. In addition to these facts, the inspector of police, when called in, found some pieces of clay under the table, which had evidently fallen from the heel of the murderer. One of these was very perfect, and bore the deep impression of several round-headed nails. The house, on being further searched, did not present any marks of external violence, so that the murderer must have entered by the glass door; and it was equally clear that he must have taken off his boots either before or after the murder.

In order to connect the prisoner with the crime, a great body of evidence was given, which, though circumstantial, was most conclusive in its character, especially when taken in conjunction with, and in contradiction of, his own statements. There was no doubt that he was very poor; that he had some months before expressed an intention one day “to steal some of the old parson's mouldy sovereigns;" that on the 1st of May he was engaged in stealing some eggs at the rectory, and that he had asked a lad to go again on the 8th. On that morning he was “chiming" in the belfry till church time, when he left and walked along the road to within 100 yards of the rectory, beyond which he was not seen to go. From a gap into a plantation, and over a field leading to the rectory, some footmarks were discovered, which bore a general resemblance to those of the prisoner, who was last seen in that road at about 10 minutes to 11 o'clock. About 20 minutes past 11, he was seen running homewards across some fields by a footpath, at the back of the rectory, with his boots unlaced, which had before been tightly laced. He was next seen to go to a neighbour, and ask for a shirt and a pair of boots. Being told to call again on Monday, he went home and put on his brother's clean shirt, assigning, as a reason, that his own, which was not forthcoming, was too bad to wear. He was also seen about that time to fetch two pails of water from a pond. On Monday and Tuesday he was at work, and asked for his wages, which amounted to 3s., saying, he wanted to go to Bury next day to receive his militia pay. On Wednesday, he sold a red purse, with steel rings, to his sister for 1d., and then, having borrowed ls. from her, went to Bury, where he spent 1l. 5s. in clothes, and was seen in possession of about 1l.16s. more, and a large old silver coin, resembling that lost by the girl. While at Bury, he let fall various extraordinary expressions indicative of a malicious feeling towards the deceased. To some he said, “She was to have cooked him two hot dinners, but would not, and she was served right;" and to others, that “he meant killing her, but she was dead now, and that was all right." On his return home he stated he had been paid his militia money, which was false: and to one person in Bury he accounted for the possession of so much money by saying he had earnt it at Harwich, though he evidently did not know the road to that town, and had never been there; and to another he said, “It was lightly come by, and might lightly go.” To several persons at Bacton, when interrogated, he said he had gone to a Mr. Francis, and then home directly after chiming,” and had not gone out till after dinner. Under these circumstances, he was taken into custody, and his left boot being compared with the clay found under the kitchen table, was ascertained to correspond exactly. On his clothes and boots were no marks of blood; but the girl's coin was produced by a silversmith, who bought it from some man during the visit of the prisoner to Bury. A knife, which belonged to Mrs. Steggles, was found hidden in the privy of the prisoner's house; and a pin, also her property, was traced to his sister; while his little brother Charles produced to the police a pair of steel purse rings, which the rector's maid-servant identified as her property, and which the lad now said he found trodden under foot in his father's yard. The prisoner's sister proved that the purse sold by him to her had rings on it, and that it was thrown by accident with the rings into the fire by her elder brother on the day he went to Bury. Under these extraordinary circumstances the prisoner was, after many examinations  and remands, fully committed for trial; but, after a time, he requested an interview with the magistrates, to whom he made a statement to the effect that “a man named Robert Moore had asked him, on the 8th of May, to go to the rectory to do something; that they walked along the road to the turn down, where Moore went to the house, while the prisoner pursued his way; that they met afterwards on the same morning, when Moore told him he had been and done the thing he went to do, and that he had wrapped his hands and feet up in rags, which he had afterwards burnt.” Finally, he stated that “Moore had given him a sovereign and a sixpence not to say anything about it.”

In order to contradict this statement, Moore, and other witnesses in confirmation of his evidence, were today examined. Moore denied the whole transaction, and set up an alibi, which was amply supported by the other witnesses.

The jury found the prisoner “Guilty;” he was sentenced to death and executed, having first confessed his guilt.

The aged clergyman was so much affected by the horrible death of his old housekeeper, that he became insane.