A useful lass... or a killer?

He replied that she was “a decent, useful lass”.

But some hours later he was bludgeoned to death with a heavy hammer – and she was charged with murdering him.

The victim, who was aged 25 and described as exceedingly handsome, was a well-known and popular figure around the dales, so the crime in 1880 caused widespread shock.

The accused woman, 27, was well-dressed and said to be from a respectable station in life. She was held in a cell at Stanhope police station, where a crowd gathered in the hope of catching a glimpse of her.

Robert Snowball ran Belmont Farm, a mile from Blanchland, Northumberland, with his frail father, John, 64. He made the remark about the housekeeper to a friend, Thomas Green, in the Angel Inn in the village. He then went home for a while before going out in the evening.

Later Jane Barron went to a byre to milk a cow. Back in the house, she told John that blood had dripped onto her from the byre loft. He stated that it must have come from a sheep which was butchered there earlier.

Next morning, she went back to milk again and saw more blood, so she went up to the loft and saw Robert lying dead, with his head and face severely wounded, apparently by a big blood-stained hammer which was nearby.

After a brief investigation by police, she was arrested.

They felt she was the only person there capable of the murder, as the old man was too weak. He had been in poor health since a horse he was riding died under him after being struck by lightning.

An inquest jury ruled that Robert – known to be amiable, inoffensive and of excellent disposition – had been murdered but did not name the culprit.

However, a magistrate decided the housekeeper, who had worked at the farm for six weeks, had a case to answer, so she was remanded in custody for trial at Durham Assizes.

She said little to the police apart from insisting that she did not do it. There was a large crowd to see her being escorted to Stanhope railway station next morning on her way to Durham prison – it was recorded that just about everyone in Stanhope turned out.

Many clustered round the police station, others lined the roads and hundreds squeezed into the railway station.

There were also crowds at each station the train stopped at on the way, with the biggest one at Bishop Auckland, where she had to walk from one carriage to another.

There was a big attendance around Durham station, where she was taken from the train and put into a horsedrawn cab for the last part of the trip.

Stanhope station in modern times – but it was crowded in 1880 when Jane Barron was taken to prison on a murder charge

She seemed amused by all the attention. Some people ran after the cab to get another look at her. There had never before been such a huge response to any crime in the area.

As she awaited trial there was intense speculation. One theory was that she made overtures to Robert but he resisted her. Another was that a thief may have gone to the loft to steal Robert’s joinery tools, which he had been using to make a circular table, and then attacked him when he suddenly appeared.

It was also suggested that a tramp might have gone there to sleep and lashed out when told to go. There was also a claim that a cap found beside the body was not Robert’s, and that a killer could have fled wearing Robert’s cap and left his own behind by mistake.

When the trial started in April the judge, Mr Justice Stephens, said the circumstances appeared very suspicious against the prisoner.

But after hearing the evidence, the jury retired for just a few minutes before returning a verdict of not guilty. But that still left a mystery about who murdered the handsome farmer.

CHARLES CARLINO said he was delighted and proud this week after yet another success for a historical novel written by his wife, Linda, who died more than three years ago at the age of 70.

After high sales in Brazil of her book That Other Juana, a second one, A Matter of Pride, has now been published there. It is the second of a trilogy she wrote, based on the tangled lives of Spanish royalty. The new publication has been given a title which means Carlos V: Pride, Power, Passion and Regrets. Mrs Carlino completed a fourth book shortly before her death and it was published after she passed away.

Her books have all been translated into Portuguese and are selling well in countries which speak that language.

She started writing them at her home in Barnard Castle after retiring following a long career in teaching. She was head of schools at East Harlsey, Mickleton, West Auckland and Darlington.

She became inspired by the colourful past of the Spanish royals after reading about them during a Costa holiday, and she learned Spanish so that she could study specialist books and ancient documents on the subject.

The books published in Brazil have been translated into Brazilian Portuguese, which is slightly different from that spoken in Portugal.

Mr Carlino, also a retired teacher, says he is thrilled by the success of his late wife’s work, and knows how utterly proud she would be to hear what has been happening to them.

CUTHBERT HILTON became notorious for conducting illicit marriages on Barnard Castle bridge around the 1750s.

He instucted couples to leap over a broomstick while he chanted: “My blessings on your pates and your groates in my purse. You are never the better and I am never the worse.”

Hilton had trained as a bible clerk before posing as a clergymen, though he never qualified.

But he was not the first man to carry out such weddings in the area.

Thomas Clark, whose qualifications were doubtful, was busy joining men and women in holy matrimony in 1587.

There was a complaint that the couples who sought his services were from outside the Barnard Castle parish.

One ceremony involved a 12-year-old girl and a tinker who travelled about mending pots, pans and other utensils.

They had already been turned down by the curate of Startforth.

The late Linda Carlino

Clark chose the time of 3am to marry another couple, William Wharton, of Eggleston, and Janet Sayer, of Startforth, who had been engaged to other people. They had horses ready, and rode away with their attendants before dawn. Strangely enough, the couple later asked for their banns to be read at Eggleston and Startforth, presumably to have their marriage made legal.

John Moresby, curate of Whorlton, was suspended in 1716 for conducting clandestine marriages and committing other misdemeanors. He was replaced by William Brockett, who had been curate of Wycliffe.

Cuthbert Hilton liked to choose good biblical names for his six sons, who were Abraham, Job, Solomon, David, Cuthbert and Alexander.

EMILY EASTON, the millionairess reported here last week to have given memorials and gifts to Hutton Magna parish church, always travelled there by pony and trap from her home, West Layton Manor, for Sunday services.

Marian Lewis told in Backward Glances, her booklet about the village published some years ago, that the elderly Miss Easton always put a gold sovereign in the collection plate.

But there was consternation one week when the money was counted and there was no sovereign. The church was searched but it was not found. Had it been stolen? A scandal loomed.

But the next Sunday, the wealthy woman put two sovereigns in the plate. She explained that she must have dropped one the previous week as she found it in her umbrella when she got home.