Up to yesterday (Thursday) afternoon nothing fresh had occurred to throw any light on this most mysterious affair, either in the identification of the murdered man, or the discovery of the perpetrator of the foul crime.

There seemed, after the coroner's jury had returned their verdict, to be some grounds for hope that the poor victim of this deed of violence would be identified, so one witness we led to believe that the deceased had been engaged on the railway some years back, and another witness at the inquest thought that the deceased was a person who had been station-master at Balcombe a few years back. The railway company state that they cannot refer so far back to their books.

The police both at Cuckfield and in London are daily investigating the matter, but without any result, and letters from all parts are daily being received describing missing persons.

Morning Advertiser, 17 December 1869

Contributed by Malcolm Davison.