The Rev. Hadlow, vicar of Everley in Wilshire, got a big surprise when a tramp started hurling stones at him. The aggressor, John Smith, was tried for attempting to murder the vicar and sentenced to seven years.
Worse was to follow for Smith. Police retraced his steps through fields and found the body of Eleanor Lawrence, a local down-and-out. Smith was questioned, and confessed to having kicked Eleanor to death. He rapidly withdrew that statement, but it was enough to condemn him at Wiltshire Assizes, and he was hanged on Tuesday, March 27th, 1849, outside Salisbury Prison.