Of Tragedy and Valor
Harvey Rumbelow UK

MELANCHOLY AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A YOUNG MAN

Bury Free Press, Saturday July 13th 1861

About six o'clock on Friday morning, the 5th inst., the body of young man maned Harvey Rumbelow (16), in the employ of Mr. Scott, milkman, Castle Street, and the son of a labourer living upon the Madingley Road, was discovered in an upright position in the pit near to the Sluce Gate, Midsummer Common. The    having become known, rumour was soon afloat, and reports of various kinds were circulated. By some it was supposed that the young man committed suicide, he having become acquainted with some woman of ill-fame, and seeing his folly, terminated his life by drowning ; but by others it was said that death was caused by violence, inflicted by some persons of questionable character. No reliance, however, can be placed upon such reports, and in the absence of proof they remain without foundation.

At the same time, great mystery as to how deceased came into the water still remains; and, therefore, to set aside all rumours an inquest was held at the Spade and Picket, Thompson's lane, on Friday afternoon, at two o'clock, before the Borough coroner (E. Foster, Esq.) and a respectable jury. The greatest excitement prevailed in the neighbourhood, and in front of the stable: (where the body was lying.) adjoining the house where the inquiry took place, a large number of persons had assembled, anxiously waiting to know the particulars.

The body was said by those who viewed it to be an awful spectacle - it being decomposed, features distorted, and bruises on the head, supposed to have been inflicted just prior to, or immediately after, death. The parents of the deceased were in attendance, and their distress of mind was most affecting. The Jury not being able to come to a decision, adjourned til Tuesday, when they returned a verdict - "That the deceased came to his end by violence used by some persons of  whom no evidence was given." 

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

The Bedford Times & Bedfordshire Independent, Tuesday July 30, 1861

CAMBRIDGE.- THE CHARGE OF MURDER.- The inquiry into the circumstances attendant upon the death of Harvey Rumbelow was proceeded with on Tuesday, the prisoner Pilson retaining the calm and collected demeanor he displayed on the former examination. Mr. Carter, a surgeon, who was first examined, stated his belief that the deceased was alive when he fell into the water. Rosetta Rose, barmaid at the Duke of Sussex, deposed to a quarrel which took place on the night when deceased lost his life, between him and Polly Coe, a prostitute, about some money, of which she accused him of having robbed her. The landlady of the Dog and Duck deposed that Polly Coe and Pilson and the deceased were drinking in her house on the same evening. Polly Coe went out first. Pilson and another person followed at 20 minutes past 10. The deceased left last, at 20 minutes to 11. Robert Webb, a con-stable, saw Pilson, a young man, and a young woman, at 12 o'clock, proceeding towards the common. He was there when the clock struck a quarter past 12, the time when Mrs. Chapman avers that the prisoner was illusing the deceased on the common. He heard no noise, which he must have done had that been the case. 

Other witnesses made statements of a similar kind in opposition to Mrs. Chapman's evidence, after which the prisoner was again remanded to Tuesday.