SQUIRE SHOT BY GAMEKEEPER
Landlord Murdered on His Way Home from Church
- His Assailant's Suicide
In the quietude of a Sunday afternoon in the country a terrible double killing was enacted at Hanslope Park, a few miles from Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, Mr. Edward Hanslope Watts, the squire of the village, being murdered by his gamekeeper, William Farrow, who afterwards committed suicide.
The murder took place in a quiet country lane leading from Hanslope Church. With Mrs. Watts (who is sister-in-law to General Sir John French) Mr. Watts was walking home from church, when Farrow, who was hidden in the hedge, shot him dead.
Mrs. Watts, who at the moment was walking a few yards behind her husband, rushed to him on seeing him fall, and as she did so she caught sight of the murderer among the trees. His gun was still at his shoulder.
"He's firing again," she cried, and dropped by the side of her husband's body. In this way she probably escaped a similar fate, as at that moment another shot was fired.
The gamekeeper walked about thirty yards, and then shot himself.
It was at first thought that Farrow, who a twelvemonth ago had a bad sunstroke, had been affected by the recent heat, but evidence at the inquest on Monday disproved this.
Mrs. Watts was too prostrated to give evidence, but Mr. Herbert Bull, a nephew of Mr. Watts, identified his uncle's body. "I understand" said Mr. Bull, "that Farrow was under notice to leave, but that my uncle was trying to find another situation for him."
Mrs. Farrow described, between sobs, how her husband returned home on Sunday morning and took some cartridges from a drawer, stating that he wanted them for a neighbour. "He had eaten nothing the day before," she said, "and before he went out he drank a jugful of primrose wine. He always spoke well of the squire, and I did not know until last night that he was under notice to leave."
Mrs. Mary Beasley said that Farrow called at her house on Sunday morning and asked for a glass of beer. "I was horrified by the look of the man," she declared, "His eyes were glassy and he did not seem natural. My husband's gun stood inside the door, and he fiddled with it."
"After drinking the beer he said he wanted to borrow a razor before they came out of church. I said 'What!' The man horrified me. He said that his own razor had gone to be ground. He then turned away from my house, and I saw no more of him."
Mrs Lily Green, who lives in the lodge near where Mr. Watts was shot, said she heard the sound of firing on Sunday afternoon, and ran to the window. "I saw Mr. Watts lying on the ground," she said, "and Mrs. Watts was in a state of collapse. When I went out Mrs. Watts said, 'Someone has shot my husband; fetch a doctor.' No one else was near, but five minutes later I heard another shot.
Dr. Rutherford said Mr. Watts' death must have been instantaneous. "If Farrow had had a recurrence of sunstroke," he added, "it would have been in the nature of an apoplectic seizure, and he would not be able to shoot another man."
The jury found that Mr. Watts was wilfully murdered by Farrow, and in the case of the latter their verdict was "Felo-de-se."