TERRIBLE TRAGEDY AT CROSBY.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 786, 28 December 1876, Page 3

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY AT CROSBY.

(From the Liverpool Albion, Sept 30.) On Tuesday a lady named Morris shot two of her children dead in her house, No 1, Fairholme road, Great Crosby. After com mitting this dreadful deed the unhappy woman shot herself, but the wound has not yet had a fatal result. It is conjectured that Mrs Morris was suffering from temporary insanity. She is a widow, her husband, Mr James Morris, who for twenty years was cashier in the North-Western Bank, having died about twelve months ago. Since his death she had fallen into a state of despondency, but on Monday night, her former health having apparently returned,

she,‘along with her eldest daughter, whose age is thirteen, attended a concert given at Crosby in connection with a harvest home celebration. There she was in very good spirits, and this change from a desponding condition of mind was particularly observed. Nothing strange was noticed in her demeanor when she retired to rest late in the evening. At an early hour in the morning she rose, and, finding a 3’evolver in the house, sought her eldest daughter, whom she fired at, the shot having a fatal effect, [lmmediately afterwards she discharged the contents of another chamber at the second child, who was about eleven years old. A third shot was fired by Mrs Morris, the bullet wounding another of her children, and in firing the fourth shot she aimed at the youngest child of the family, but missed. She then directed the muzzle of the revolver towards her own head, and again pulled the trigger, the bullet entering the skull. That she will recover is very improbable, The governess of the children heard the sounds of the pistol shots, and witnessed the terrible results of Mrs Morris’s madness. The dejection under which the unfortunate lady laboured took the form of alarm on account of pecuniary embarrassments, to a great extent imaginary, Mrs Morris is in a state of mania, although she sometimes speaks of the terrible occurrence in a manner approaching to coherency. It has been ascertained that on the day when she purchased the revolver with which the murders were committed, Mrs Morris went to the shop of a druggist in Crosby and asked to be supplied with a quantity of prussic acid, which was refused. It is supposed that she proceeded by the next train to Liverpool, for the purpose of buying the revolver, which she procured at the shop of Mr Robert Jones, of Dale street, giving a saloon pistol, which she had previously bought, in exchange. Before Mr Driffield, coroner for this division of the county, an inquest was held at the George Hotel, Crosby, on Thursday, on the bodies of the children Anna Gertrude and Anna Catharine Morris. Dr May said—l was called at half-past 6 o’clock on Tuesday morning. Reached the house about 7 o'clock. Went upstairs, and on the landing found Ada, who was already dead. Next went into Miss liberty’s room, and saw Anna Catharina with her. She was just breathing, and died immediately. The boy Henry, who is now alive but injured, was in the bed with her. He was unconscious. In each of the three cases the wound was in the head, on the left side, and the hair was singed. After attending to the boy Henry, I went to see the mother, I found her seated in the nursery. She was bleeding from a wound over the right temple. The wound was of a similar character to those in the other cases, but larger, there evidently having been two shots close to each other. She was quite sensible. She expressed regret that in her own case the shots had not been effectual, and in regard to the others she said, “I did it,” She also said that she could not keep the children, and it was a pity to see them starving. I am still attending her and the boy. Her life is in no danger, Since this she has spoken rationally enough, but harks back to the delusion that she had not enough for herse’f and the children, I had seen no cause hitherto for putting her under restraint, Police-sergeant Nosworth, of Crosby, said that when he was called in on Tuesday morning, he told Mrs Morris that he had to take her into custody for killing her two children. She asked if they were dead, and he replied that they were. She then clasped her hands and said—" I am very glad, they are in heaven, I wish I was with them.” The coroner having summed up, the jury retired for a few minutes, and found the following verdict The jury is unanimously of opinion that these children died from gunshot wounds inflicted by the mother, and at the same time we think she was in a state of unsound mind when she did it.” The Coroner—And therefore you wi'l take my suggestion of appending to a formal verdict of wilful murder—which you have no choice about—an expression of opinion to that effect. The Foreman—Yes. A formal verdict of "Wilful murder” was then recorded, with the opinion of the jury that at the time Mrs Morris was in an unsound state of mind.