THE COBURG TRAGEDY.

Kumara Times, Issue 2901, 15 February 1886, Page 2

THE COBURG TRAGEDY.

The following particulars of the Coburg tragedy are to hand from the Melbourne Argus :

An extraordinary tragedy was perpetrated at Coburg on Monday night (25th January). It was discovered early on Tuesday morning that a girl named Ethel May Hampton, aged nine, had been murdered in the bedroom in which her mother and three elder sisters slept. Her head was almost severed from her body. The three sisters were suffering from severe cuts on the arms, and the mother was covered with blood. Subsequent inquiries showed that the child had been killed and the wounds inflicted on the others as the result of insanity, and that the turn it had taken was traceable in some degree to the so-called Pall Mall Gazette “ revelations ” and the Stead case. The girls, inheriting a taint of mania from their mother, became imbued with the belief that in an indefinite way there were designs upon their purity, and as the confession of one of them shows, (hey resolved to kill themselves rather than he compelled to lead bad lives.

The family, who kept very much to themselves and are described as hein" of a very taciturn disposition, lived in Louisa street, Coburg, near Victoria street. The father, Charles William Hampton, has been for the last 25 years employed in the Pentridge penal establishment as an armourer. The children were—Charles Edward, aged 27 ; Annie Eliza, 25; Frederick, 23; Eleanor Mary 21; Mary, 19 ; Arthur 16; and Ethel May, 9.' The two elder sons are carpenters. The elder daughters are skilled in drawing, for which Annie Eliza is said to have gained high honours at the Ballarat Exhibition. She and her next sister earn their living by teaching drawing. But although careful to give his children a good education, Hampton lived in a very humble way, and appears to have been to some degree estranged from his wife and daughters who clung closely together, and occupied the same room. Hampton knew that his wife and some of his wife’s relations were subject to aberrations of mind, hut, although advised to do so by Dr. Cook, whom he consulted some time ago. he did not place his wife under restraint, as she had never shown any tendency to be dangerous to herself or others. The youngest child usually slept by herself,

but on Monday night she was taken into the room with her mother and sisters: hnt as the girl was a great favourite with them all, this did* not arouse any suspicions. About halfpast 12 or I o’clock in the morning screams were heard in the front room, in which the women slept, and the father and sons, aroused hy the noise, went to the door and demanded admitance. The mother told them that one of the girls (who had fainted in the morning) had swooned j and, accepting this explanation, Hampton and the hi others were dissuaded from carrying out their intention of breaking in the door, and went again to hed.” About 6 o clock, Mrs Hampton, opening the door of her room, called her eldest son, and told him that he need not he surprised if Ethel was dead and if he should see his other sisters with their arms bleeding. The police were sent for, and Sergeant Bass found the little ghl lying on the floor of the bedroom with her throat cut, and the three elder girls bleeding profusely from wounds in the atm above rhe elbow, cutting right down to the hone dividing the muscles, but just missing the principal arteries. They were fully dressed, but the sleeves of their dress had been cut off to allow the penknife which was used, and which was picked up covered with blood, to cleave the arm freely. Annie Elliza was the most dangerously wounded, having two deep cuts on either arm, and her life is in some danger. She professes a wish to kill herself, and has to he kept under surveillance. Like the others, she resolutely refused to say anything about the tragedy.

After Mrs Hampton had been arrested on a charge of murder, and her sisters had been removed from the room, Mary was prevailed upon by Drs. Cutts and Elliott, who attended the injured girls, to make a confession, which is full of the strangest statements, and which has to be read in the light of the facts vouched for by one of the brothers, that the girls have been great readers of the “ Stead ” case and other literature of that kind. The confession, which was given in the presence of the two doctors, Sergeant Bass, and Plain-clothes Sergeants Walsh and Cawsey, is as follows; “ For some time past we have been under the influence of a secret society, which has endeavored to get us to go the bad. We felt that we were being much influenced, and that we had no option. At last we prayed that we might be delivered from the influence. One night we were talking about it with mother, and she asked us if we, rather than do wrong, would rather die. We decided to die, and yesterday evening we went into the front room and took the little girl with us, so as to prevent her being brought under the influence. When we got into the front room we thought the matter over and then knelt down and prayed. And as we prayed we felt that the spirit was gently leaving us. We heard a peal of rliunder, and we thought that it was a w u ning to strengthen our resolution, and we were confirmed in our wish to die. Then we prayed again, and felt an inspiration telling us we must die, and we decided that the first life to he taken was that of the little one. We then deliberated who was to do it, and it was settled that I and mother should kill the child, and then we. should kill each other, and mother should die last. I held the child and mother cut its throat. We then agreed to kill each other by cutting onr arms, and as the blood flew from the veins we felt the evil influence of the society was leaving us, and we knew that we were safe. Then a peal of thunder came, and we screamed. After cutting the first arm we, felt that we would not die, and we then cut the other.” The cuts were made across the arm from the inside to the outer side, showing that the wounds could not have been self-inflicted, but the girl who made the confession would not tell by whom the knife had been used.

On Wednesday an inquest was held on the body of the child, but it had to be postponed, as the sisters were unable to attend, and it was adjourned for a month. The eldest son of the family then showed signs of insanity. The doctor recommended his being locked up, and since then it has been with the gieateat difficulty that he has been persuaded to consume sufficient food to keep him alive, he being under the impression that there is a conspiracy to poison him.