SHOCKING MURDER IN MELBOURNE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1275, 30 August 1872, Page 4

SHOCKING MURDER IN MELBOURNE.

At about 4 o'clock on Tuesday morning, August 20, a woman named Margaret O'Donoghue, aged 32 years, killed another woman named Mary O'Rourke, alias Hewston, in a house in Punch's-lane off Little Bonrke street east, under circumstances which, as far as cau be ascertained, seem to leave no doubt that the deed was a wilful and brutal murder. The crime was not discovered till about midnight on Tuesday, when O'Donoghue met va constabte in the street and told him that she had committed a murder. The officer, Constable E. Flannagan, was proceeding down Boorke street a tew minutes before midnight, aud when near the Garrick'a Head Hotel, between Russell and Stephen streets, was met by tho woman, who said, "Constable, I've murdered a Tvoman." Sho took him to a two-story brick house in Punch's lane, off Little Boutko street and between Stephen and Spring streets. She took a key from her pocket, opened the front door, struck a match, lit a candle, and took the constable into a room at the back, and showed him the corpse of tho woman O'Rourke, which was lying on the left side, stretched opt, aud covered with clothes. A man's shirt was wrapped round tho head and mouth of the body, but the articles were covered with blood, and there was blood on the floor, There were marks of blood having been splashed upon tho walls. The dead woman was dressed, but her clothes barely covered the knees, and she had no boots, on. The constable found that her head bad been smashed in several places, and the woman O'Donoghue. said that she had smashed her head with an axe. Flannagan found in a cupboard under the stairs in the front Toom an old tomahawk, the bla.de .of the old English make, and the handle straight an,d about a foot and a half in length. It had been washed, but there was a red stain of blood on the butt' of the handle which projected through the oyfl of the blade, and there was human hair, long, and like that of a woman, adhering to the blade, though evidently efforts had been made to remove signs of violence by washing. Flannagan noticed that . O'Donoghue wa3 alightly under the influence of drink and very much excited. She made a statement to the constable to the effect that on Monday at about midnight she went home with a bottle of rum and asked O'Rourke to have a drink, that O'Rourke said she would not drink with an adjective— 7-, and that she (O'Donoghue) then called down a young woman, named Ann Croaier, who was in the rqoin upstairs; that this woman had some* rum and returned upstairs to bed, and that she remained below drinking. The two were below, and then O'JRonrke began to abuse; her, calling her filthy names. O'Donoghue became excited, and " took up the — — axe, and smashed herakutl." o'Donoghu.e, after killing O'Rourke, heard the Post Office clock strike four. The young woman Crozier was upstairs, and knew nothing about the murder, and the murderess kept the murder from her knowlodge all day. O'Donoghue remained in the house all day till 8 o'clock in the evening, when, as she said, "she could stand it no longer," ond she went to Oollingwood. She came back between 9 and 10 o'clock, with a" woman who lived in Collingwood. This woman took a chemise and. a dish from the house, and left with O'Donoghue and Crozier. All three went to Collingwood, and O'JDonoghoe came away alone, Crozier deciding to stay at Collingwood, as she felt ill. Crosier asked ODonoghue to leave her the key of the house, in order that witen she returned to Melbourne she might let herself in, but O'Donoghne said, "No, I'm if I shall," and took the key with her. She probably then tveab to the houso where tho murdered woman lay, and being afraid to remain in the dark, wontmto the street, where she met the constable, and, acting on a sudden impulse, told him what she had done. After she had been, locked up, the other woman, Crozier, was searched for and found. Her statement tallied with that of O'Donoghue, though she knew nothing of the actual murder. O'Donoghue is 23 years of age) a nativo of County Cork Ireland, and came out about three years ago in the ship Lightning. The deceased was 32 years old, and a native of Ireland also.