past and present
Murder of William Lilley
4th November, 1865
Seven men are in custody at Rotherham on the charge of committing the murder at Wickersley. A reward of £350. was offered for information, so deeply was the public feeling aroused against the poachers, and Government added £100. for the same purpose. The result has been the apprehension of seven men, and the statements which three of them have made leave but little doubt that the ends of justice will not be defeated.
It appears from the statement of the approver, Robert Woodhouse, that on the night of the murder a gang of seven
poachers, of whom he was one, left Masborough, near Rotherham, and proceeded to the neighbourhood of Wickersley, where
they began to fix their nets, close to a wood called Silverwood.
A party of keepers, led by William Lilley, had received information of the intended visit of the poachers, and were secreted on the border of the wood. Three of the poachers came from their concealment and began to stake their nets within three yards of the keepers, and Lilley, seeing only the three men, and thinking no doubt that the opportunity was favourable, jumped over the hedge and called upon his three companions to follow. He rushed forward at the three men, who retreated, keeping their faces towards him, and calling for aid. The approver says that another three of the gang were at the top of the field some distance away, but that the 7th man, John Teale, a forgeman, was lurking in the shadow of the hedge. This man was armed with a very long and heavy hedge stake, and seeing Lilley rushing upon his friends, he came out of the hedge behind the keeper and dealt him a tremendous blow on the back of the head, which felled him. Two other members of the gang, Henry Bone and William Sykes, joined their comrade, and beat the keeper until they left him upon the ground unconscious and covered with blood. Another keeper, named Butler, was also felled to the ground and very severely beaten on the head, but the approver, thinking he had had enough, dragged away a companion who was on the point of murdering the man. A third keeper, named Machin, was beaten and chased from the field; and the fourth, a man named Hawkin, remained quietly in the hedge and watched the poachers beat Lilley to death.
The unfortunate man died in a few hours, and the surgeon found that his skull had been beaten into the substance of the brain. Immediately after the affray the poachers separated; but the police obtained information which led to the arrests above noticed, and three of the men made statements which implicate themselves and the rest of the gang who are in custody.
The police are now in search of another man, and when he is apprehended the case will be completed.