The Murder at Jex Farm

The Murder at Jex Farm
by George Ira Brett
From Chapman's magazine, 1895

THE MURDER AT JEX FARM
The facts of the case were simple enough. A young woman had been
found lying at the orchard gate of the farm, 37 1/2 yards from the house,
dead, with a bullet in her head. Suicide was out of the question, for
there was no pistol about, and it was not in evidence that the girl had
any cause for despondency. There was no reason for her taking her life.
But then again, she was not known to have an enemy.
I like to put down my impressions on paper, pretty fully and quite
freely, as I go on. I am doing so now, not as a report for my chief, nor
for any sort of publication, but just as a help to myself. I am not exactly
a literary man, as my mates in the force will have it that I am, but I
have received a liberal education. I have been taught the use of my own
language, and I have always considered that in our profession, which is
a very complicated one, the more clearly an officer can put his thoughts
into words and his words on to paper the better chance he has of doing
good work in the detective line.
Crime detection is not a secret art; anybody can do it if he has the wits,
and the time, and patience to get at all the facts, and if he knows
enough of the ways of men and women. It sounds like boasting to say
so much, but it isn't; we all fail too often to be vain, and, when I fail, I
always say, "I couldn't get at the facts," or "I didn't know enough about
the sort of people concerned."
I don't seem like getting to the bottom of this Jex Farm crime yet; the
facts are too provokingly few and simple. I have been here two days

already and have learnt little more than I have written down above.
Here I paste in a paragraph from a county paper which pretty nearly
tells the story with all its circumstances so far as we have got at
present.
"MURDER IN SURREY.--Jex Farm, two miles from Bexton, in Surrey,
was the scene of a terrible and mysterious crime on the evening of
Wednesday last. A young unmarried lady of the name of Judson, a
niece of Mrs. Jex, the widowed owner of Jex Farm, was found
murdered late on Wednesday night just inside the orchard gate of the
farm, and within a stone's throw of the house. There were no signs of a
struggle, but Miss Judson's gold watch and chain were missing. The
crime must have been committed at late dusk on Wednesday evening,
17th inst. (October). It is singular that no sound of firearms was heard
by any inmate of the house; and the crime was not discovered till the
family were about to meet at supper, when Miss Judson's absence was
noticed.
"After waiting awhile and calling the name of the young lady in vain,
the night being very dark and gusty, young Mr. Jex and the
farm-labourers started out with lanterns. They almost immediately
came upon the dead body of the unfortunate young girl, which was
lying on the walk just inside the orchard gate, and it is stated that the
first discoverer of the tragedy was Mr. Jex himself. It adds one more
element of gloom to the fearful event when we add that it is rumoured
in the neighbourhood that Mr. Jex, the only son of the lady who owns
the farm, was engaged to be married to the victim of this terrible
tragedy.
"No clue has yet been obtained. It is clear that the motive of the crime
was robbery, and it is supposed in the neighbourhood that, as the high
road runs within twenty yards of the scene of the tragedy, the
perpetrator may have been one of a very rough set of bicyclists who
were drinking at the Red Lion' at Bexton in the afternoon, and who
were seen at nightfall to retrace their journey in the direction of Jex
Farm. We understand that Inspector Battle, the well-known London
detective, has been despatched from Scotland Yard to the scene of the

murder. Inspector Battle is the officer whose name has recently attained
considerable prominence in connection with the successful discovery
and conviction of the perpetrators of the great jewel robbery at Leonard
Court."
Rather penny-a-lining and wordy, but, barring the too flattering
allusion to myself, on the whole a fair enough account of the facts.
It was young Mr. Jex himself who supplied the information about the
bicyclists. He had been shooting rabbits at an outlying farm of