The 3rd August 1889 was to be a sad day for the people of Seaham. Seven year old
Caroline Winter was found in a rockpool on the beach near Featherbed
Rocks. She had been murdered and sexually assaulted with her head all
smashed in and her clothes torn, her hat, covered in blood was found in a
cave nearby. As the story of the murder reached the newspapers it started
to attract a large number of people to where Caroline had been murdered. A
report in the Echo said Nearly all were strangers to the town and
had journeyed thither for the express purpose of viewing the scene of the
tragedy. Not one went without a memento of some sort, either a chipping of
the rock, a pebble or a stone from the cave. Some went as far as to take
water from the pool where the dececed was found and take it away with them
in a bottle.
The night
before Caroline had been playing with seven year old Ann Cowell at half
past nine, in Black North Terrace. Ann told how a man in a shabby coat had
told Caroline he was a friend of her family and he would take her to buy
half a shillings worth of sweets, Caroline had been smiling as she walked
away hand in hand with the man. Ann followed but as it got darker she got
frightened and shouted to Caroline she was going home and that Caroline
should come with her.
The next
morning walking along the beach Henry Smith found Caroline's battered
body. A witness came forward and told police he had seen a man that
morning in the sea washing blood from his trousers and with his and Ann's
help the police hot a description of the man. He was in his thirties,
scruffy with a thick military moustache.
Caroline's funeral
took place at Christ Church where the street was lined from there to
Caroline's home with men, woman and children. Reverend William Scott told
the crowds An innocent, happy, intelligent, fair haired child had
been killed and mutilated to satisfy one man's fiendish lust. Her manner
of death was a painful one but we hope the child's anguish and torture
will be rewarded by her entry into the glory of Christ's Kingdom.
On the 12th
August washed ashore on the north side of Featherbed Rocks, was the body
of a man. Even though his head had been smashed against the rocks and he
was never identified the police said he bore a striking resemblance to the
description of the man wanted for the murder of Caroline. When the people
of Seaham heard they were thrilled because they thought he was the
murderer and he was dead. It is still not known who he was if he was the
murderer or how he actually died.
