The Wheal Eliza Murder

A true story set on the moors of Exmoor in 1858. On July 25th 1858, Widower and father of five children, William Burgess, took his youngest child, six-year-old, Anna Marie Burgess, to Porlock in Somerset, to stay with her Auntie and Uncle, as the rent her father was paying at there recent lodgings, was costing too much. All of Burgess's other children had been put in service and was no longer staying with him, and after losing there cottage because he could not keep up the rent, Burgess moved about the area, with the only child he hadn't put in service. But instead of taking Anna to Porlock, he killed his child and buried her in a shallow grave and made his way to Porlock, where after breakfast, returned to his lodging telling everyone Anna was was in Porlock. In the evening, a couple of days later, Burgess burned all of Anna clothes and after hearing from a friend, that he had found a freshly dug 'dead' which the miners in that area called turned soil, and fearing that Anna's body would be discovered, dug her up and took her body to a disused mine, where Burgess had once worked and threw her body down the mine shaft and then left the area. Remnants of burnt clothing were found and the police informed. The remains of the burnt clothing were identified as belonging to Anna Burgess and when a despatch rider was sent to Porlock to see if she was there, confirmed, that she wasn't and that William Burgess had disappeared, started a hunt for Burgess and the supposed body of Anna. Burgess was found in Swansea, Wales and when he was brought back, he wouldn't tell where Anna's body was and begun the hunt for her body. Over the years, there has been many books telling the story, but they all depict the story, based on the memoirs of Reverend William H. Thornton, in his book called, 'Reminiscences and Reflections of an Old West Country Clergyman.' Thornton book was written in 1897, 39 years after the incident and although we all know that memories can play tricks, his memoirs recall's the incident as 'That of him taking charge of the investigation, and giving instructions on what to do.' By using the old records and the newspaper reports from North Devon Journals and The Taunton Courier, this story tells the in-depth look at not only Anna and William Burgess, but also Burgess's so-called nemesis, the Rev William Thornton, the investigation by Chief Superintendent Cresent Jeffs, the hunt for William Burgess after he absconded to Wales and the hunt for Anna's body, the trial, the sentencing and finally the execution of William Burgess.