Inquest Report - Bucks Standard

THE HANSLOPE TRAGEDY

THE CORONER'S INQUEST

Verdicts of "Murder" and "Felo-de-se"

In the little sitting-room of the Greyhound Inn at Tathall End, which stands in close proximity to the murderer's cottage, Mr. E.T.Worley, the District Coroner, and a jury composed of the deceased revered squire's tenantry, inquired on Monday afternoon into the circumstances which led up to the fearful crime. Mr. Geo. Whitbread, was chosen foreman of the jury. Major Otway Mayne, the Chief Constable for Bucks, was in attendance, as also was Supt. Pearce. P.S. Stritton (Wolverton) was Coroner's officer. The jury were conveyed by motor car and other vehicles to Hanslope Park to view the body of the dead squire.

Addressing the jury after they had been sworn, the Coroner said it was a terrible tragedy which had necessitated their inquiring into and placing on record the circumstances attending the death of Mr.Watts, the squire of the village, who was well-known to all of them. He was quite sure the squire was universally liked and respected for his kindly nature and disposition. The other man, Farrow, the keeper, died from self-inflicted wounds. The horror of the tragedy was intensified when it was realised that Mrs. Watts was present when the attack was made upon her husband, and one could readily believe that at the present time she was suffering from shock and was unable to be present to give a correct account of what happened. Everyone must feel the deepest sympathy and pity for Mrs. Watts and the family of the deceased squire; that sympathy they would also feel for Mrs. Farrow and her children who could not be held responsible for the tragedy.

UNDER NOTICE TO LEAVE

Mr Herbert E. Bull, of Buckingham, nephew of the Mr. Watts, gave evidence of identification. He knew nothing of the circumstances of the occurrence, and Mrs. Watts was in such a state of prostration that she could give no account of the affair. He understood that Farrow was under notice to leave because Mr. Watts only intended keeping one gamekeeper. He was endeavouring to get the man another situation, and witness understood from members of the family that Mr.Watts was in communication with someone.

Mrs. Farrow was next called. As she was led into the room by Mrs. Harkness, wife of the Vicar of the parish, the poor woman wept bitterly. She was consoled by kindly and sympathetic words from the Coroner, and having taken a seat, she gave her evidence calmly and clearly. It was a sad story she had to relate. Her dead husband would have been 46 years of age on the morrow. She remembered Sunday morning well. He left home between 10 and 10.30, having said he wanted some cartridges for Mr. Whitbread. He did not take his gun with him. He did take the cartridges. He returned again shortly after 11 o'clock and took his game book from a drawer. In this she believed he made an entry.

The Coroner produced the game-book, and asked the witness if she identified the handwriting? The widow looked at it for a moment and then, with a sob, admitted the writing to be that of her husband. She did not suppose he would write very steadily in the state he was in at the time, she added.

The Coroner: Had he been drinking then? -- Witness: He had a jug full of primrose wine before he went out. I remonstrated with him. He had had nothing to eat the day before, and I thought he did not want the wine.

The Coroner: You knew your husband was under notice? -- Witness: No, I had no idea he was under notice until the constable told me last night.

Have you ever heard your husband say anything against Mr. Watts? -- No; he always spoke well of the Squire.

NO INSANITY

Witness added that her husband came from Lancashire. There was no insanity in the family. He had a sunstroke last August but since that time he had not complained of pains in his head. The witness could give no further evidence, and she concluded by saying "It is a mystery why he did it."

Mrs. Lily Green, wife of George Green, coachman to the dead Squire, said she lived in the lodge facing the road where the murder took place. She was getting dinner ready when she heard the report of a gun, and looking through the widow she saw the Squire lying on the ground, and Mrs. Watts in a state of collapse. She ran to the assistance of Mrs. Watts who said, "Fetch a doctor. Someone has shot my husband." She was going to fetch Mr. Beasley, one of the tenants who lived nearby, when she heard the second report from a gun. She saw no one and could not say where the second shot came from. There was a third shot about five minutes afterwards, and this came from the wood.

William Green, a farm labourer, and son of the last witness, said about 12.45 on Sunday morning he heard the report of a gun, followed by a shrill scream. Running out of the house, witness found the Squire lying on the ground with Mrs. Watts leaning over him. Mrs. Watts said, "Go for a doctor" and whilst running to get his cycle, witness heard another shot. He went for Dr. Rutherford, but did not see in which direction the shots came.

The Foreman: Did Mr. Watts say anything? -- Witness: No.

THE FINDING OF THE MURDERER'S BODY

Mr. George Green, the Squire's coachman, deposed that he was in the village when he first heard of the fearful tragedy. He returned at once, and looking over the stile of the north spinney, 20 yards from the lodge, he saw the undergrowth had been trampled down. He followed the tracks and came upon the body of Farrow lying on the ground with a gun pointing to his face. He saw the man had been shot through the head, and that his gun was lying partly on his stomach. He had never heard Farrow threaten to kill Mr. Watts. Farrow had but one gun, and that he was carrying on Friday morning. As soon as he saw the man he sprang for the gun, and then discovered that Farrow was dead. The witness described the finding of a second gun at a spot where it was believed the murderer had been in hiding.

The police produced a double-barrelled gun, with silver mounts, and witness, with a glance at the weapon, said, "That is not the gun Farrow was carrying on Friday morning."

"THE MAN HORRIFIED ME"

Mrs. Mary Beasley, of Manor Farm, Hanslope, said her husband was a tenant of Mr. Watts. On Sunday morning Farrow called at her house and said: "Will you give me a glass of beer to quench my thirst, for I am parched?" She did not reply, but went and fetched the beer, about half a pint. I was horrified by the look of the man, added the witness; his eyes were glassy, and he did not seem natural. Inside the door there was my husband's gun. He fiddled about with it, and having drunk his beer he said he wanted to borrow a razor before they came out of church. Witness said "What!" The man horrified her. He said his own razor had gone to be ground. Farrow then turned away from her house, and she saw no more of him. Asked by the Coroner if Farrow, whom she knew well, was different on Sundays to what she had known him to be on other days, witness said she felt very nervous about him. She did not like the look of him; his eyes were like glass. Her daughter said, "Fancy that man coming here for a drink."

Miss Olive Beasley bore out her mother's statement. She never noticed the direction the man took when he left the house.

Henry Martin, a gamekeeper, employed by the Squire on the Pinden End portion of the estate, spoke to seeing Farrow on Saturday night week, when he appeared to be all right and quite rational. The Coroner produced a game-book, and witness admitted it was a book such as was kept by head keepers. Replying to the Coroner, witness said that Farrow complained last December that lies were being told about him.

"Mr. Watts was not brought into that, I suppose?" said the Coroner. 'No,' replied witness, emphatically.

"I'VE FOUND HIM."

Police-constable Cooper spoke to being called to the scene of the occurrence, and to finding the body of Mr. Watts. Simultaneously, he heard a voice from the spinney saying, "I've found him." He went into the wood and found Farrow lying on his back dead, with the barrel of his gun pointing in the direction of his face. In the pockets he found four cartridges. One spent cartridge was lying at the dead man's feet, while the second barrel of the gun was loaded. Farrow had a stick under his arm, at it was evident he was leaning on this when he shot himself. The spot where Farrow stood when he shot Mr. Watts, as shown by marks on the grass was 42ft., and from that spot to where Farrow shot himself was 112ft.

Two guns were produced by Superintendent Pearce, and Mrs. Farrow, re-called, identified one as belonging to her husband. The police said the other gun was borrowed from a neighbouring farmer, and was undoubtedly the one that killed Mr. Watts.

THE MEDICAL EVIDENCE

Dr. Rutherford, a medical practitioner, of Hanslope, said he stopped and spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Watts on their way home from church. When he left them he got on his cycle and rode away to the village. He was just entering his residence when someone came up and told him that the Squire had been shot. "I found the squire lying on his back, about 80 yards from the spot where I left them. He was quite dead, and, in my opinion, death must have been instantaneous. The left side of the face was nothing but shot wounds. I sent for a stretcher and then walked into the spinney. There I saw Farrow -- also quite dead -- with his head swollen twice its ordinary size."

Answering the Coroner, witness said he had never attended Farrow for sunstroke.

The Coroner: Assuming he had sunstroke once, and supposing there was a recurrence, what form would it take?

Witness: It would probably recur in the nature of an apoplectic seizure with violent pains in the head. It would have the same effect as the original sunstroke.

So that a man would not be able to go and shoot another man? Oh. No. The witness added that he found 120 pellets in the squire's back and head.

Mr. Thomas Whitbread spoke to having a cup of tea with Farrow on Saturday afternoon. He did not talk nor act strangely. Nothing was said about cartridges. He did not see Farrow on Sunday.

THE CORONER SUMS UP

In summing up to the jury, the Coroner said that the evidence was conclusive that Mr. Watts died from gunshot wounds, and he did not think that, having heard the evidence, the jury could have any doubt in their minds that this man Farrow killed the Squire. In plain words, it must have been wilful murder. In Farrow's case they must determine what state his mind was when he shot himself. It was said he had been drinking heavily. Well, assuming that he was under the influence of drink, drink was no excuse for crime, and unless they were quite convinced that the man's mind was really unhinged, the jury had no alternative in his case but to return a verdict of felo-de-se. There was no doubt that Farrow had had sunstroke two years ago, but if there had been a recurrence of the seizure the effect would have been similar to the first attack and would have produced insensibility.

After but a few minutes' deliberation, the jury unanimously returned a verdict of "Wilful Murder" against Farrow in Mr. Watts' case, and a verdict of "Felo-de-se" in the case of the gamekeeper.

The jury expressed the sympathy of themselves and the whole parish for Mrs. Watts and the relatives of the deceased Squire in their sudden and tragic bereavement, and a vote of condolence was also passed to Mrs. Farrow and her young family.