SCENE AT A WAKE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3482, 4 September 1882, Page 4

SCENE AT A WAKE.

A Homo paper says : —A horriblo scene occurred at a house in Bowycr's buildings, Whitechapel, a regular Irish colony. A young woman, named Norah Sullivan, died in one of the London hospitals, and hor body was taken home to the house of a married sister, a woman named Tucker, who lives at Bowyer's buildings. Arrangements wero made for holding a wake upon the corpse. The room in which tho body lay was accordingly decorated with flowers, &c, whilst large wax candles were placed about the apartment wherever room could be found for them. Some little time before the proceedings commenced Mrs Tucker's husband, who had objected to the body being at tho place, went home the worse for drink, and coinnwnued to make a diiturbance, saying that

he wa3 ' not going to have the corpse there, and that he meant to turn it on I :.' His wife and some of his friends and neighbours tried to persuade him to keep quiet; but he would not do so, and went towards the room where the body lay. On reaching the apartment he found the door locked, and at once demanded that his wife should open it so that he might go in and ' throw the thing out of the window.' On his wife refusing to do what he asked, ho smashed up a chair, and, with a portion of it, broke open the door and ran into the room. His wife and some others followed him, and were horrified to see him catch hold of the corpse with one hand, draw a knife he had secreted with the other, and declare that he meant to ' cut the corpse's throat.' He was proceeding to put his threat into execution, when those in the room clung round him and prevented him. In the struggle the body was upset. An alarm had meantime been raised, and Policeconstable Stranchan, 179 H., was called in, and he assisted to get Tucker out of the room. He was ultimately removed from the house. The wake then proceeded, and the body was subsequently taken away amidst considerable excitement.