8 The T yntila murder November 1862

Nearly a hundred years ago there occurred on the mountainside below a lonely Rhondda mountain farm a tragedy which for months afterwards focused the attention of the outside world on the small mining village of Gellidawel and which even today is spoken of in many Rhondda homes as the “Mystery of Tyntila.” The mystery remains unsolved to this day Tyntila Farm Tyntila Farm is perched high on the steep slope of Penrhys mountain overlooking the Rhondda Fawr. The valley below used to be thickly wooded from the Tyntila Farm, 1862 banks of the river to a line well up the mountainside, but in 1862, with industrial development in full motion, sweetheart (also named Thomas Williams but known houses already sat where trees had been. A remnant of locally as Tom ‘Screens’) at the evening service. She left the woods still screened the farm from the growing the farm unaccompanied “shortly before six but just village of Gellidawel though. before it was dark” according to Mrs Williams, and said that Edmunds had left not more than half an hour earlier. There were two paths from the farm to the village. One was the direct route straight down the mountainside and David Morgan did not go to chapel, but played with a through the woods - a distance of 656 yards. friend in one of the farm fields until it was dark. The other route was more than twice as long, and was Thomas Williams returned home, via the longer route, used by wagons. It followed the much gentler slope between 8 and 9 o'clock, and told his wife that he had along the mountainside to the lane leading from the not seen Jane at the chapel. valley to Penrhys. Both ways led to the valley road near A little later, Jane's sweetheart Tom called at the farm to the Star Inn. enquire about Jane. He said that he was worried about her not having been at the chapel, as it might have meant The disappearance of Jane Lewis that she was “taking up with another sweetheart.” In the mid-afternoon of Sunday, 2nd November He had also travelled to the farm on the long route via 1862, Thomas Williams, the Tyntila farmer, set Penrhys Lane and went back the same way. off with his brother from Penrhys Uchaf to visit Initially, the farmer and his wife were not unduly worried Bodringallt Farm. about their niece, because a tea party was being held in The brothers were visiting the farm, situated further up the village and they thought she had probably gone there. the valley, before going to Nebo Chapel for the evening However, they did become anxious later. Having gone to service. Maria, Thomas’s wife, stayed behind to look bed at 10pm, Mrs Williams persuaded her husband to after their six children. Three servants also lived at the get up just after 11pm and search for Jane with a lantern. farm with the Williams family: 22-year-old Jane Lewis, the niece of Mrs Williams; 26-year-old Thomas The farmer and Edmunds went off together. First they Edmunds, and a 15-year-old lad named David Morgan. looked through the outhouses, then went along the short route to Gellidawel. Just beyond the stile at the Thomas Edmunds and Jane Lewis left later that afternoon end of the first field, 176 yards from the house and 50 for the same chapel. Jane had promised to meet her yards above the point where the path entered the

2 the usual place on top of the cupboard at the farm, and it was almost certain that the razor had been in its proper place that Sunday morning. This reduced the possible ‘suspects’ to those who could have obtained possession of the instrument that day, making it a very short list indeed. The Post Mortem The Post Mortem was conducted by the local surgeon Mr Naunton Davies, and introduced a possible motive for both suicide and murder. Jane had been pregnant for about 10 weeks. In those days of Welsh Puritanism, no greater shame could be The Star Inn around the time of the murder brought by any girl on herself, her family or her chapel, than by such undeniable proof of “deadly sin.” woods, they found the body of Jane, “lying partially In the absence of any other conclusive evidence, this across the footpath about 22 yards from the stile”. factor would have been a strong pointer towards suicide. They ran at once to the village to summon help. However, the possibility of suicide was ruled out by the Someone went for a doctor and returned with Mr surgeon. He was “decidedly of the opinion” that the Evans, assistant to Mr Naunton Davies, surgeon of wounds could not have been self-inflicted, but had been Cymmer. It was Mr Evans who sent for the constable - inflicted with a sharp instrument, such as a razor, and PC Richard Wise, stationed at Gellidawel. from behind. PC Wise’s investigation PC Wise had not waited for the Post Mortem. Within a short time of leaving the crime scene, he examined every At the Inquest, PC Wise said: article of clothing belonging to Edmunds and did not find “She was lying on her right side across the a single trace of blood. Mrs Williams confirmed that footpath about 22 yards from the stile at the top Edmunds had produced all his clothing except a shirt of the wood. I found a razor with blood on it 2 front. She had a vague idea that Edmunds should have feet, 7 inches from the body. A brooch untouched produced another jacket as well, but she later admitted by her blood was 4 feet, 1 inch from the body. A that she was not at all sure about that. There was bonnet, ribbon and collar were 5 feet, 6 inches evidence to prove that Edmunds had given the missing from the body. There was blood on the bonnet and shirt front to Morgan weeks before. the ribbon. I noticed that the collar was cut in two PC Wise took statements from all at the farm about their and quite saturated with blood. The string of the movements that day. With suicide ruled out and a bonnet was cut through. I also found a razor case possible motive for murder established, the enquiry open 2 feet from the body and 7 feet, 6 inches continued. As far as the weapon was concerned, anyone from the body on the upper side. No blood was on at the farm could have taken it, but no one had the it. I had a candle and my lamp and examined the opportunity except Tom Screens. There was no evidence place near where the body lay but failed to that he had been near the place on Sunday before the perceive any kind of a struggle. I found an imprint crime though. PC Wise immediately ruled out the farmer, on the side of the path close to where the bonnet, his wife and the boy Morgan from the lost of suspects, as ribbon and collar lay and noticed an indication of a none of them had a motive or an opportunity. This left person having been kneeling on one knee. I saw the farmhand, Edmunds and Tom Screens. blood and dirt on the right knee of the deceased. The deceased's hair was not at all disarranged.” The Suspects People were suspicious of Tom Screens because At this stage, there is reason to believe that the surgeon he failed to give a logical explanation as to why entertained the possibility of suicide. He denied this later he took the longer route to and from the farm on, but whether this was so or not, PC Wise must have when he was looking for Jane, especially because felt that the case was not going to prove a difficult one. he said he had been in a hurry to find her. Wise had already succeeded in getting the razor It would have been natural to continue the search along identified as belonging to Edmunds. It was missing from the shorter route as he had already covered the other.

3 As the girl's sweetheart, he would also be suspect Ownership of the razor meant little. It was hardly number one as far as her condition was concerned. conceivable that the murderer would leave behind a The police put him at the top of their suspect list, but as weapon so easily traceable to himself unless he were there were many witnesses who proved Tom Screens panic stricken, and there was no evidence of panic in his had not left the village until after chapel that day, he was actions at the time. Edmunds possessed a pistol and eliminated from enquiries. Instead, Edmunds was ammunition; a far more suitable and less risky weapon arrested and charged with her murder, as he admitted for him to use if he intended to commit murder. Then owning the weapon and intimacy with the girl on one there was the absence of bloodstains, which the surgeon occasion a month before the crime. said the murderer could not have avoided. It was accepted that the crime had been committed The absence of a shirtfront from his wardrobe had also shortly after the girl had left the farm, at approximately been satisfactorily accounted for. Evidence from Keziah 5.45pm. Unfortunately Mrs Williams was vague about Williams stated that Edmunds had a scratch on his face the time, putting it as “shortly before six” but definitely on that Sunday afternoon when he called at her house, sure that it was not dark. and had borrowed a handkerchief to wipe away the dried blood. He said the scratch had been caused by one It is probable that Mrs Williams erred on this score. of the calves on Sunday afternoon. Morgan, his young The service at Nebo, a mile away, started at 6pm that friend, testified that this was true. day. It would certainly have been dark by 5.45pm, so it As for motive, there was evidence that far from seeking must have been nearer to 5.30pm when Jane left the to deny his relationship with Jane, Edmunds enquired farm. This would fit in better with Edmund's departure into the possibility of obtaining a special licence on that half an hour before Jane, as he was almost certainly in the very Sunday to marry her the following week. village at 5.15pm. Edmunds’s alibi was almost as sound as any of the As for the other potential suspects: others. He was with someone in the village just as the Thomas Williams: The farmer left Tyntila at about 3pm, afternoon train left Ystrad Station, which would be about and from that time until he returned after 8pm, he was 5.15pm. According to PC Wise, he was there at least a with his brother more than half a mile from the scene. quarter of an hour before Jane left the farm, if Mrs Mrs Williams: No question appears to have arisen of her Williams was right. complicity and it seems likely that the children could According to Keziah Williams, Edmunds called at her prove that she had not left the house. No one else was cottage at 5.10pm and stayed there for 20 minutes there after Jane left. Tom Screens: Tom may have had a before going on to chapel. Before visiting, he had been at motive and his decision to take the longer route was “The Star” when the train passed up the valley. The Star considered suspicious, but witnesses proved his Inn was 345 yards away from Keziah’s cottage. presence in the village at the time of the murder. Edmunds was certainly at chapel in good time and stayed After tea, at about 5pm, Tom Screens went for a walk throughout the service. The only period unaccounted along Pontypridd Road with a friend, then they both for the 5 to 15 minutes between Edmunds leaving The went to chapel and remained together until 8.00pm. Star (at 5.15pm) and arriving at Keziah's house between Screens then left his friend to go up to Penrhys Lane to 5.20pm and 5.30pm. the farm. It was hardly conceivable that Edmunds could have gone Thomas Edmunds 500 yards up a steep hill, commited a murder, and covered a further 800 yards to Keziah's cottage in that The case against Edmunds was woefully weak, short space of time. and it is believed he was arrested not so much on the evidence against him, but on the lack of The Inquest evidence against anyone else. The police must have respectfully begged leave to If the doctors said that it was murder, there must be a question the opinion of the surgeon Davies that murderer, and if no one else could have done it, it must this case was indeed a murder, as Dr Edwards have been Edmunds. The police must have felt more from Cardiff was called to assist on 5th November. and more inclined to doubt the surgeon's opinion as they Dr Edwards supported the opinion of his colleague, probed each piece of evidence which might have based on his knowledge and following research in books. convicted their prisoner, only to find that each one failed However, he confessed under cross-examination that he had when put to the test. been unable to find any case quite analogous to this one.

4 Dr Edwards sought to strengthen his opinion by saying brought against our verdict by the Star of Gwent. I he had obtained support by writing to the “celebrated have not the least doubt that Jane Lewis Dr Taylor” of London. At the conclusion of the inquest, committed the awful and horrible deed upon which lasted five days, the jury astounded both the press herself. It was proved by the most positive evidence and public by returning a verdict of “Suicide committed that the servant man Thomas Edmunds was down under temporary insanity.” on the road in the village when the up-train went Scathing attacks were made on the jury by several local by at 5.09pm. This fact can be attested to by half papers in response to this verdict. the people in the place while the evidence produced before the jury was that the deceased One of them said: only left a little before six. That little was thought “The medical evidence was most clear and by the witnesses to be about a quarter of an hour, distinct. The only inference from it was that foul so that the prisoner was in the village half an hour play must have been used, that the injuries were before the deceased left the house, and the man not caused by the girl but by another. Mr Davies having been seen from that time until his return to and Mr Edwards unhesitatingly declared it was the house exonerated the prisoner from any utterly impossible for any person to have inflicted implication whatsoever. on himself or herself three such mortal cuts as “Having shown evidence perfectly exonerating were observed here. This was fortified by the Thomas Edmunds, the prisoner, we can also say the opinion of the well-known and celebrated Dr same thing as to Thomas Williams of Tyntila, the Taylor, of the faculty in London. Notwithstanding deceased's uncle, and of Thomas Williams, the all this, however, 12 of the 14 gentlemen deceased's sweetheart. The evidence clearly shows constituting the jury agreed to differ from the that they were not near the house from the time learned doctors, though all the medical and she left the house until she was found, so that all surgical evidence, from the days of Aesculapius who have been suspected proved to be as innocent down to their own, might be produced to confirm as you in Cardiff. the sworn statements of the Cardiff and Pontypridd doctors. Yet all was of no avail. They “Now all those who could be thought of having the could not see and would not be convinced...We least motive, and those that had any chance of have often thought but never had more reason to getting hold of the implement by which the wounds believe than now that Welsh Juries must be are thought to have been inflicted having been differently constituted from Juries of other parts of exonerated, the most natural conclusion is that the the British Empire. We have heard a jury in deceased, having easy access to the fatal Merioneth return a verdict of sheep stealing in a instrument and being in the condition she was, not case of manslaughter, and another Montgomery as the papers say no evidence as to despondency, it jury, in a case of arson, find the accused guilty of was proved in evidence she was crying and homocide to the second degree. Now we have this complaining of feeling unwell and threatened to senseless and unjustifiable finding of the 12 destroy herself, and if all this and the fact of her jurymen in the Rhondda Valley murder case.” never having been of a very cheerful spirit does not prove despondency, what does? For 12 weeks after the inquest conclusion was “Is it not the most natural conclusion that the girl announced, letters appeared in the press on this highly had determined to put an end to her own life, and controversial case. Perhaps the most interesting of them had carried the thought into act in the most all, are the following from members of the jury. determined manner? They reflect the point of view of the majority of the jury, but also provide a good illustration of the fundamental “Some readers may say you are going too fast my difference between a coroner's jury and the common dear man. What about the doctor's evidence? Well jury at a trial, with the former expected to apply legal that is what I was going to give you, Mr H N knowledge to their consideration of the case, as well as Davies of Cymmer was called to examine the body evidence. on the morning after she was found dead. He did so and took notes I dare say of what he saw after From “A Juror” - 6th December, 1862 examination had been made as minutely as “Being one of the jury on the inquest on the case possible or at least he should have done so, or how at Ystrad I think it my duty to offer a few remarks could he know that all was the same when he went in defence against the many and bitter accusations down there next as he found it the same time.

5 Well, after this examination what did the doctor say? He told at least a dozen people to my knowledge that the deceased's death had been caused by her own hand - that is a fact that is substantiated. “I believe Dr Davies to be a man of delicate feelings and further that the odium of the deceased's miserable end should not darken with sorrow the hearts of her relations, may have had an effect on so tender a heart as the doctor's, but however that may be it is certain that the doctor has changed his story (I don't say his mind), and said it was improbable that the deceased could have inflicted such wounds upon herself, which I The Star Inn as it appears today presume to call the greater presumption, and I think it impossible for him or any other man to say This ended the story as far as the police were what is possible for a person in such a condition. I concerned, but a Pontypridd journalist, ‘Morien’, appears have heard more than one doctor say that to cut to have had the last word four years later. all the soft parts of the throat down to the spine In an article on what he calls ‘The Dinas Murder’, he will not affect power of the arm while blood is wrote: running from the heart.” “The murdered girl was buried on the western side (Signed) A. Juror of Ainon Baptist Chapel, Tonyrefail. A few months later, the writer found Tom Williams in lodgings at From “A Juror” - 13th December, 1862 Tonyrefail, within 100 yards of her grave. He was “Concerning the death of Jane Lewis and adverting looked upon as one half broken hearted. He was to the Ystrad Jury, it is curious to note the reaction strange in manner in the works, and appeared on of the feeling and opinion after some thought and the verge of insanity. He emigrated to some part of discussion on the part of the public in favour of the Australia.” truth of the verdict of the wise men of Ystrad, who it appears were nearly at the time the only wise Now comes a strange story… men in the country on this subject. As a juror, I am Mr Richard Packer, whilst living at Cylch yr extremely grateful that the subject had been kept Hedydd, Treforest, in 1902, made the following for so long before the public and sifted as it has statement: been done. In the first place the two medical men, “A year or two after the Tyntila murder, my father Edwards and Davies, were decidedly and of the and I were residing at a place 20 miles from same opinion that the three more imperfect cuts Ballarat, Australia. One Sunday afternoon, we on the throat of the deceased were each of them were both out in our shirt sleeves, standing outside mortal, and that after inflicting either the others our door. We observed, coming along the road, a could not have been inflicted by the hand of the man behaving strangely. He was picking up stones, deceased, but now the loud-mouthed science of and then throwing them at the doors of the houses one of these gentlemen being as it appears rather as he walked along. He stopped opposite to us and a fickle game had brought him right about face said, “You are Welshmen.” I replied, "Yes, we are. and say that only one of those three cuts was How come you to think so?" He answered, "I mortal, only the important cut. So much for the guessed it by the check of your flannel shirts." Then constancy of medical men.” he asked, "From where in Wales?" I replied, "From Llantrisant, Glamorgan." He then said, "I come The Aftermath from the Rhondda Valley. Did you hear of the A few days after the inquest, Edmunds was murder of Jane Lewis of Tyntyla?" I replied in the committed to the Assizes. The Grand Jury, on the affirmative. He then said, "It was I that killed her." advice of the Judge, threw out the bill of We never saw him after nor before, and I have no indictment for lack of evidence to be put to the idea who he was. Tom has never since been heard petty jury. of.”

6 Notes

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