Mary Jane Langley

WARWICKSHIRE.
A PUGILIST CHARGED WITH MURDER.

John Rennard, known locally as "Jack Renny," pugilist, was remanded at Hull on Tuesday for a week on a charge of murdering Mary Jane Langley in a lonely lane at Preston West end, near Hull, last week. Bloodstained trowsers were found in his possession, and evidence was forthcoming that he was seen in the vicinity at the supposed time of the murder. The prisoner admits that he was in the district, but protests his innocence.

Source: Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper, August 9, 1891, Page 3

A SERIES OF TRAGEDIES.
MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF A YOUNG LADY.

Particulars are reported of the shocking murder of a young woman named Langley, aged nineteen years, the daughter of a farmer occupying a homestead at Mayfleet, about five miles from Hull. The victim left home on Thursday afternoon, and on Saturday, whilst her father was going to the police-station to report her disappearance, he found her about half a mile from home lying dead in a ditch. Her throat had been cut, and her clothes were disarranged. Her watch and chain had been stolen. A medical man who examined the body expressed the opinion that the unfortunate girl had been dead for some time.

Source: The Middlesex Courier, August 7, 1891, Page 7

THE MURDER OF A FARMER'S DAUGHTER.

After an investigation lasting five days the Holderness coroner on Wednesday concluded his inquiry into the circumstances attending the murder of Mary Jane Langley, a farmer's daughter, at Preston, near Hull, on July 30. The only further evidence called had reference to the condition of the girl's clothes. Rain fell on the day of the murder and on the following night, but it was asserted that when the body was found the clothes were dry, suggesting that the body had been hidden in the ditch some time after the murder had taken place. The police now maintain that the clothes were wet when the body was discovered. The coroner said he did not attach much importance to the point. The circumstances gave a strong impression that Miss Langley had been murdered in the full light of day, as she was proceeding along a public road to her home, when workmen were about in the fields and not far off the scene of the murder. There was not evidence to fix the murder on any particular person at present, but the crime was one of very considerable mystery, and he hoped the police would pursue their inquiries. The jury returned an open verdict.

Source: Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper, August 23, 1891, Page 16

THE MURDER NEAR HULL.

Very little progress has been made towards clearing up the mystery that surrounds the murder of Mary Jane Langley, the farmer's daughter, whose dead body was found in a ditch at Preston, near Hull, a week ago. The Treasury ordered the prosecution of John Rennard, who was arrested on suspicion. Rennard was brought before three magistrates yesterday, and, after an investigation lasting several hours, was discharged. Blood-stains were found upon his clothes, but the analyst would not assert they were caused by blood from a human being, and as the evidence did not support the theory that Rennard was implicated in the crime, the accused was discharged. He received a tremendous ovation outside the Court. The horse was removed from the cab in which his friends had placed him, and the occupants drawn through the streets. The coroner's investigation has extended over four days, but little fresh light has been thrown on the case. No importance is attached to the confession of a man whose clothes bore blood-stains, and who asserted he was the murderer of Miss Langley. No trace has been obtained of a man with fresh blood-stains upon him who got into a tramcar in the suburbs of Hull on the evening of the murder.

Source: The Echo, Saturday August 15, 1891, Page 3

ANOTHER FIENDISH CRIME.

A shocking murder has been committed in the parish of Preston-in-Holderness, about five miles from Hull. The tragedy seems to have occurred in Preston Long Lane, a railway or by-way leading to three farmsteads from the Marfleet Railway Station, on the Hull and Withersea line. In the second or central farmstead, known as Westfield Farm, there reside a farmer named Langley and his wife and children, the eldest of whom, Mary Jane, 19, is the victim of this outrage. She had been missing from home for several days, and all inquiries made by her parents to ascertain her whereabouts had no reassuring results. On Thursday morning Mr. and Mrs. Langley left home for Driffield to transact business, taking the train from Hull. The young woman, being left in charge, would not, it was understood, leave the farm in their absence. Mr. and Mrs. Langley returned at half-past six in the evening, and were astonished at finding their eldest daughter absent. She did not put in an appearance that night, and her parents concluded that she must have gone to Hull, to visit some friends they had in that place, or that she had crossed the river for Cleethorpes, to which resort she had expressed a wish to go several days before. She was known as a very steady, dutiful young woman. Her non-appearance on Friday, however, evoked much uneasiness in the minds of her parents, and later in the day Mr. Langley determined to go to Hull and make inquiries respecting his daughter's whereabouts. On his arrival he ascertained that she had been seen in a photographer's shop in Witham early on Thursday afternoon, and that she had had her photograph taken. He next discovered that she had left Hull to return home by the 4:51 p.m. train, and that she had alighted at Marfield station soon after five, and set out for home. The man who collected her ticket at the gate was the last to see her alive, and he did not notice any one else quit the station in her company. She crossed several fields in order to get back by a shorter cut, and she met her tragic end about a mile from the station and a little more than half a mile from home. On her father arriving at the farm again he found that she was still absent, and on Saturday he determined to go out and obtain a photograph of her and then inform the police of her disappearance. He set off on his journey to the station, and a little over half a mile from home he was passing along the side of a ditch which drains the agricultural land in the vicinity when he described the huddled-up body of what appeared to be a young woman in the bottom of the dyke. Approaching nearer to obtain a better view, he recognised, to his horror, the body of his lost daughter. Startled by the terrible discovery, he rushed off to Hendon and obtained the services of a medical man, who visited the spot, examined the body, and stated that life had been extinct for some time. The jugular on the left side had been severed. The gash in the neck appeared to have been with a large knife, which, however, could not be found.
There were footmarks in the ditch, and it appeared as if there had been an attempt to push the body under the archway which spans the dyke to connect two fields. All the circumstances pointed clearly to murder. When Miss Langley left home she was wearing a watch and gold albert guard. These articles were not on her when she was found, and it was believed that after her throat had been cut they were taken from her. It is hoped that her watch and chain will hereafter be important factors in bringing her murderer to justice. The police have no clue, but a theory, for which there appears to be no justifiable reason at present that someone in the eastern district of Hull, which is contiguous to this part of the country, is responsible for the death of the girl. The neighbourhood is undoubtedly much frequented by idlers and tramps, but at present no one is suspected. Mr. Marshall, a neighbouring farmer, and two men named Jackson and Taylor, removed the body to the parents' house several hours before the police appeared on the scene. The assumption is that the girl was outraged and then murdered. Mr. H. Birks, district coroner, opened the inquiry into the circumstances. Deceased's father was the first witness. He described the circumstances under which he found his daughter's body, and stated that all Friday and early on Saturday they were out making inquiries respecting her whereabouts. They found in the house a letter from her sweetheart, a young man living in lodgings in Hull. In this letter he said he should be glad to go to Cleethorpes with her, and promised to meet her on the following Sunday afternoon (August 2nd). From this letter they concluded that she had gone to Grimsby, for they had friends living there.
John Rennard, ship's carpenter, has been arrested on suspicion by the police. They found him at the Nag's Head public-house, Holderness Road. Detective Rutheford called him out of the dram-shop into the passage and proceeded to ask him questions. Sergeant Sales was examined and deposed: I asked prisoner if he could account for where he was on the preceding Thursday. He replied, "I'll tell you Jack," and he made a statement which Detective Rutheford took down in writing. I asked the prisoner where he lived, and he replied, "In Courtney-street." I then asked him to accompany us to his house. He did so. We had to go through another house to get into the back way of his. His wife was out at the time. In prisoner's back-way I saw a dog that had been described to me. Prisoner admitted it was his. I then asked him to show me the trousers he was wearing on Thursday last. He took me upstairs into the front bedroom, and handed me the trousers I now produce. They were moleskin trousers. I examined the trousers and found several stains of blood on them. I then cautioned prisoner in the usual way, and told him I should arrest him and charge him on suspicion of murdering Mary Jane Langley at Preston, on Thursday, 30th July. He made no reply, but appeared very nervous, I searched him, and found in his possession 2-1/2d., two pocket-knives, a pawn ticket, and two pencils. Witness said that accused stated he was in that neighbourhood at 10:36 on the morning in question, that he went round by Wyton and Bilton, and then went to Preston, calling at the Black Horse in that township. He left about 5:20 and proceeded down North Road to London Lane, and across the footpath to Marfleet. From Marfleet he went across the fields to Hull, where he arrived at 6:40. Superintendent Burniston: By going that road would he have to pass the place where the murder was committed? Sergeant Sales: If he left Preston at 5:20 he would get there at ten minutes to six o'clock. The prisoner was thereupon remanded.

Source: Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 257, 29 October 1891, Page 4

MURDER REVELATIONS BY CLAIRVOYANCE.
(Hull Daily News.)

In connection with the mysterious murder of a farmer's daughter named Langley, at Preston, near Hull, a letter written by the Rev. G.H. Lock, a well-known Nonconformist minister, has been published at Hull, stating that a complete and detailed description of the tragedy has been obtained by means of clairvoyance, in the presence of eminently qualified witnesses. In order to elicit further information on the subject, a press representative waited upon Mr. Lock at his residence, All Saints'-street. He was very courteously received by the reverend gentleman, who, in the course of initiatory conversation, said that he had studied clairvoyance, or second sight, since his boyhood.
"I have," said Mr. Lock, "had a great deal to do with mesmeric influence - in fact, I have always patients under my care. It is, in a sense, a hobby of mine; I study it for the love of the thing and the sake of doing good. I think it is frequently a more powerful influence than the doctors have in their hands, especially in nervous cases."
The representative then inquired, "I suppose the statements contained in your letter were communicated to you through a medium?"
"Yes," answered Mr. Lock. "I had the subject under the influence of mesmerism, and I asked her, "Who was the murderer?"
"And what did she say?"
"That I am not at liberty to tell you. It is not my own secret."
"Well, the medium replied in such a way as to lead you to write the letter?" suggested our representative.
"Yes," Mr. Lock replied; "this information has been in the hands of myself and some others for about a fortnight, but I am not free to give you any details. For one reason, the secret is not my own, and, for another, if the details were published, the murderer, if he saw them in the paper, would be off at once, if he has not gone already."
"Have you any idea who the murderer really is?"
"Yes, certainly; but I cannot tell."
"Can nothing, then, be done by clairvoyance to bring the culprit to justice?"
"This is the difficulty - the law will take no cognisance of clairvoyance."
"Have you seen the murderer in the flesh?"
"I have, and I have not. I have seen him in the distance. This particular individual mentioned by the clairvoyant had been pointed out to me in the street."
"Are there any means of getting to know who the second person is - the one to whom the murderer is said to have confessed?"
"Yes, it is known."
"Do you know him?"
"Yes, I have seen him."
"In the flesh?"
"Yes; he is living in this world, but I cannot tell you who he is. You see, anything I might say incriminating anybody would render me liable."
"But, surely, the clairvoyant, if she can perceive these things, can tell you the other circumstances of the case, and furnish actual evidence against the murderer?"
"The question has been asked of the clairvoyant whether anyone else knows of the commission of the crime, and the answer is "No."
"Then what about the watch?"
"That, as I say in my letter, has been destroyed by the murderer burning it in a certain fire."
"Do you know where the fire is, and when this was done?"
"Yes, I know exactly where it is. It was done at dinner-time, but I am not sure of the day, whether it was last Thursday or Friday."
"Then, I understand you, Mr. Lock," continued the representative, "that, by means of the clairvoyant, you are aware of everything connected with the crime, when, where, how, by whom, and for what it was committed?"
"Yes, I am aware of it," confidently replied Mr. Lock, "I mean, so far as I can be aware of it through clairvoyance. By means of the medium I have been able to learn everything; I have been able to follow the murderer's movements day by day. For instance, if I were to put the clairvoyant under the influence I could tell you what the murderer is doing at this moment."
"Indeed?" exclaimed the representative. "It is wonderful. May I ask if the medium is aware of what is passing?"
"No; in the waking state she is absolutely ignorant of what has been said in the lethargic state."
"There are witnesses, I believe, of the remarkable revelations made by the clairvoyant. Who may they be?"
"Yes, there are; but I cannot tell you who they are."

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 10 November 1891, Page 7