South Wales Police

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.

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