Dear all,

I have recently come across a Murderer in my family history. His name was John Hewitt and he was hung at Stafford Gaol on 15th August 1893. He was 19 years of age!

He shot William Masfen a farmer's son who caught him poaching in Norton Canes, Staffordshire.

I have found links to this on the internet but it does not really give many information other than what I have written above. It would be nice to find out a bit about it and why he perhaps shot him. I was wondering if it would have been in any newspapers or something and what to look for. Would this have been a big thing back in 1893.

I have never researched anything via newspaper articles before and to be honest don't know where to start.

Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks
Emma