Mysterious Affair at Newnham.
A singular affair is just now engaging the attention of the police in the Newnham-on-Severn district. Near the Grange Court Junction Station of the Great Western Railway there is a beerhouse called the Junction Inn, kept by a man named Philip Woodman. On Monday evening a large volley of stones was thrown through the window into one of the rooms. A person sitting in the room was struck by one of the stones, and several articles of furniture were broken. The inmates immediately ran out and made a careful search, but without discovering anything to account for the stone throwing.
Next evening about seven o’clock stones were thrown through another window. A telegram was at once despatched to the Newnham Police Station for assistance, and P.S. Westaway and P.C. Baker immediately proceeded to the inn. They approached the place by different routes, and were in time to find that the stone-throwing had been repeated, and considerable damage done. Search was again made, but with no result.
The landlord now states that a few days since, in the early morning, he discovered two young colts of his lying side by side in a field, quite dead. He made no particular examination of them, and was in no way suspicious as to the cause of death, but these attacks on the house had led him to think that there was some foul play. The police have not yet succeeded in throwing any light on the affair.
Stroud News and Gloucestershire Advertise, 24th September 1886.
The Stone-Throwing Mystery at Grange Court.
The excitement occasioned by the throwing of stones at the Junction Inn, near Grange Court Station, still continues, and a solution of the mystery seems as far off as ever. The house has been closely watched, under the direction of P.S. Wastanay, and on Wednesday, even in the daytime, at about 2.30 p.m., the officers themselves heard stones thrown at the building, one going through a window that had been previously broken. That night about twenty persons watched the whole premises, and at intervals stones were heard falling on the roof and into the yard. No one could be seen, or anything discovered to account for it.
The stone throwing is, in some inexplicable way, associated with a boy of 12, named Alfred Davies, who is employed by the landlord (Mr Woodman), and lives on the premises. The watchers have observed that whenever Davies goes out and wherever he goes to, stones are thrown after him. The lad was sent into the yard to work a pump handle, and at the very first stroke a stone fell upon the roof of the house, and, rolling into the yard, was picked up by one of the party. The lad grew very excited, but no clue as to the thrower could be gained.
During Thursday night there were more showers of the stones, and the officers scoured the fields and buildings for a quarter of a mile round, but without any success. Superintendent Ford has now taken the matter in hand.
South Wales Daily News, 25th September 1886.
Mysterious Stone Throwing in Dean Forest.
It will be in the recollection of the inhabitants of the district that a few years ago no little commotion was caused in the neighbouring parish of Rochford by a mysterious case of stone-throwing at the New House. Past the discovery that the stones thrown were similar to those of an adjacent quarry, the police were unable to obtain any clue to the mysterious affair. It is somewhat remarkable that a similar affair is now engaging the attention of the Newnham-on-Severn police, and, as in the Rochford case, the affair seems to be connected with a boy, aged about 12, named Davis.
The place where the affair occurs is a public-house situated near the Grange Court station, Dean. On each evening last week volleys of stones have been thrown through the windows, doing much damage to the furniture. The place is carefully watched by the police, but as yet they have not been able to discover the perpetrators of the outrage. The watchers have observed that whenever this lad goes out stones are thrown apparently after him. He was sent into the yard to work a pump handle, and at the very first stroke a stone fell upon the roof and rolled into the yard. During Thursday night showers of stones were sent through the windows, causing the utmost consternation, but the police scoured the fields for a quarter of a mile round, and they could not discover anything to account for the mystery.
Tenbury Wells Advertiaser, 28th September 1886.
The Stone Throwing Mystery at Grange Court.
A great deal has been said about an unaccountable phenomenon of stone throwing at the Junction Inn, Grange Court, and considerable excitement and mystification have been caused thereby in the immediate neighbourhood. Some exaggerations have crept into the published reports, but inquiries made on the spot enable us to narrate the exact and complete facts of the case.
The affair commenced on Monday evening of last week, when several large stones were thrown at the back premises, one of which crashed through a bed-room window and did some damage in the room. The inn, which is kept by Mr. Woodman, stands about a couple of hundred yards from Grange Court Station. It is separated by a garden from the road; a field runs along one side, and at the back is an orchard, which extends some distance, and adjoins a wood which is some 400 yards away from the house.
There is a cottage near to the inn on one side, at the back of which is a large shed, and Mr Woodman, who farms a considerable amount of land, has one or two outbuildings on his back premises. Astonishment was naturally felt when the attack commenced, and a search was made outside, but no trace of anyone could be found, though volleys of stones continued to fall, and were followed up by a perfect shower of smooth round pebbles, which peppered the roofs, outhouses, and windows. This continued till after three in the morning, and the household were unable to go to bed till then.
During the next day there was a dropping fire of large sized stones, mostly at the back of the premises, coming no one knew whence, and shortly after dark the bombardment recommenced, and was continued without intermission till between three and four in the morning as before. This novel state of things was maintained throughout the week. Complaint was naturally made to the police, and the neighbours interested themselves in the matter, but no solution of the mystery presented itself, and no amount of search or watching led to any result. Several other windows were broken.
For any one to go outside the house after dark was the signal for a volley. Mrs Woodman went out to draw water from a well not two yards from the back door, and though she had no light a huge stone instantly crashed close to her. The maid servant had just been similarly treated. A party of police came one the premises one evening to watch, and they were immediately saluted with an almost ceaseless volley of stones, which fell all around them, and seemed to come from all points of the compass.
After dark the front of the house was occasionally attacked, but not to the extent of the back. As the week wore on larger parties of police, neighbours, labourers, and others assembled, but though they were freely stoned, scouring the neighbourhood failed to elicit the faintest trace of any assailants. The daily experience was almost unvaried. Each day stones fell at fitful intervals, and at dusk the regular volleying commenced, and was always kept up till about three in the morning. This went on till Saturday, when a large party assembled determined to make one more effort to solve the mystery. About seven o’clock two large stones were thrown at the back windows, but this was the final shot. The attack ceased with that throw, and has not since been renewed.
The authors of this singular and long-continued attack are believed to be a party of gipsies, who have been encamped in the wood referred to at the rear of the premises, and who left their encampment for Gloucester fair on Saturday. How they managed to keep up their constant fire of missiles undiscovered is marvellous, and their motive and object is equally enigmatic. The only guess that can be made at the latter is the fact that some five weeks ago there was a violent quarrel between a party of the gipsies and two carters in Mr Woodman’s employ, and this quarrel arose out of the former flinging stones at the latter. It is supposed that the gipsies organised this attack out of revenge, and it is conjectured that the bulk of the stones were thrown by means of catapults, or some similar contrivance, from the wood. The larger stones, and certainly those in front, must have been thrown by hand, and that with a dexterity and crafty concealment worthy the skill of a Red Indian. The hypothesis of the gipsies being the agents of the mischief seems a probable one, particularly as with their departure the attack has ceased. More than a wheelbarrowful of the small pebbles referred to were swept up from the back-yard, and it is stated that these are similar to pebbles found in a brook which runs through the wood.
The affair has created a great amount of interest in the neighbourhood and for some distance around, and on Sunday the inn was crowded with visitors from the Forest, who found themselves a day after the fair.
Gloucester Citizen, 28th September 1886.-
The Mystery at Grange Court.
The stone throwing at the Junction inn has diminished in proportion as the watch is strengthened, but the excitement in the neighbourhood is very great. On Saturday evening the lad’s father arrived and was loud in his protestations that there was nothing in it. He, however, had not been long in the house before a stone struck the waterspout along the edge of the tiles near him. A very careful search was again made, but notwithstanding the surveillance under which the district is guarded, nothing whatever was discovered.
The boy has been kept in the house as much as possible and in this circumstance only a few stones have fallen. At night, however, when the boy left the house to sleep in a cottage about 100 yards away, great alarm was occasioned when the father and two policemen who accompanied him heard a stone crash through the upstair window and into the bedroom where he was to sleep. The police officer picked up the stone, which possessed nothing in itself to lead to any solution of the strange affair.
On Sunday the place was visited by a great number of persons from daylight to dark. Vehicles of all description were continually discharging loads of people curious to see what they could. The trains from Gloucester and Hereford conveyed several passengers to the scene where the singular affair has been enacted. Nothing occurred on Sunday or Monday, and all the testimony on view is the broken windows.
At the same time a number of men, about 50, with the local police are keeping a strict watch day and night, in the hope of detecting the perpetrators of the joke or establish some theory as to its origin.
Gloucestershire Echo, 29th September 1886.
The Mystery of Grange Court.
The stone throwing at the Junction Inn has diminished in proportion as the watch has been strengthened, but the excitement in the neighbourhood is still very great. On Saturday evening the lad’s father arrived, and was loud in his protestations that there was nothing in it. He, however, had not long been in the house before a stone struck the waterspout near him. A very careful search was again made, but nothing whatever was discovered.
The boy has been kept in the house as much as possible, and, singularly enough, only a few stones have then fallen. On Saturday night, however, when he left the house to sleep in a cottage about 100 yards away, the father and two policemen who accompanied him heard a stone crash through the upstairs window.
The authors of this singular and long-continued attack are now believed to be a party of gipsies, who have been encamped in a wood at the rear of the premises. Some five weeks ago there was a violent quarrel between a party of the gipsies and two carters in Mr Woodman’s employ, and it is supposed that the gipsies organized this attack out of revenge. It is conjectured that the bulk of the stones have been thrown by means of catapults, or some similar contrivance, from the wood.
The larger stones, and certainly those in front, must have been thrown by hand, and that with a dexterity and crafty concealment worthy the skill of a Red Indian. More than a wheelbarrowful of small pebbles have been swept up from the back-yard, and it is stated that these are similar to pebbles found in a brook which runs through the wood. The gipsies left the neighbourhood on Saturday, and since then there has been no stone-throwing.
South Wales Daily News, 29th September 1886.