HORRID MURDER IN QUEEN'S COUNTY. [From the Atlas, Oct. 6.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 488, 6 April 1850, Page 3

HORRID MURDER IN QUEEN'S COUNTY. [From the Atlas, Oct. 6.]

A correspondent of the Leinster Express gives the following narrative of a frightful crime committed in that province. His letter is dated Tolerton, Saturday evening : — " I have ju<-t attended an inquest in case of murder, compared to which in atrocity that of the Mannings sinks into the shade. It is not usual to have to record such darkly deraonaic traits in the Irish character as that unfolded at this inquest, especially among the female portion of our peasant class, whose demeanour for modesty and womanly reserve has elicited warm eulogium fiom writers of every class and every country. The murdered in the present instance was husband, the murderess wife. She has not only been pronounced guilty by a coroner's jury, but bas fully confessed her participation iv the terrible tragedy." The incidents are as. follows : — Catherine Thompson, a peasant girl, was wedded some time ago to a person in her own class of life named Patrick Moore. The marriage was not a happy one ; the wife's prettiness had won her many admirers ; and the result was that a separation took place ; the husband went to live with a relative of his named Brennan, while the wife remained with her mother at Tulla, in the Ballickmoyler district. On Sunday, the 2nd of September, Mrs. Moore sent her husband a message, stating that she wished to see him that evening. He came accordingly. Between ten and eleven o'clock on that night he was seen near bis mother-in-law's house, in company with his wife, but after this night he was not seen or heard of in the neighbourhood. A rumour was set afloat that he had left for America ; and tha following Sunday Mrs. Moore left for the ostensible purpose of joining him at Liverpool, in order that they might proceed together to New York. After she left vague reports were circulated through the village,

and some inquiries were made, but everything was quieted again by the receipt of a letter from a brother of Mrs. Moore, purporting that the writer had seen his sister and her husband off from Dublin on their way to America. Thus matters remained until Wednesday evening, the 20th ult., when the body of a man was seen in a hole in the centre of the lonely bog of Rossmore. Mr. Warburton, a sub-inspec-tor at Ballickmoyler, forthwith proceeded to the place, and in the middle of the bog perceived a mangled arm protruding from the depths of the boghole. A stick being procured, the body was stirred, when a most revolting spectacle presented itself. A human head started out of the water. The nose and one of the cheeks had betn cut off, the eyes were gone, and the face otherwise fearfully mutilated. On examination tho limbs were found to be very much mangled by the dogs ; and the body in a state of putrescence and decomposition. Mr. Warburton then drove off to Tulla, it having struck him that the body must have been that of the missing Patrick Moore. When he reached the mother-in-law's house, he made inquiry as to where Mrs. Moore and her husband were. The confusion and prevarication that ensued confirmed him in his idea of there being foul play. He then secured the attendance of a person who knew Patrick Moore, and, returning to the Rossmore bog, they raised the body, which was immediately identified The mother, brother, and sister-in-law of the deceased man were immediaiely placed under arrest, and a jury being impanelled, the inquest was held on Saturday. Several witnesses were txamined, and from them were elicited the facts just staterl ; but the most remarkable part of this tragedy remains to be told. Never were the mysterious ways of Providence made more manifest in bringing retribution home to the heartless murderer than in this case. On the morning of the inquest, who should return home from Liverpool but Catherine Moore ! She had come with a pitiful tale of how her unnatural husband had deserted her on the quay of Liverpool, leaving her a Jonely and unfoitunate woman, to beg her way home. Her astonishment — -her horror on hearing of the discovery of the mutilated remains of her husband, operated so strongly en her feelings, that she confessed her guilt, and all the appalling circumstances connected with it. It seems Moore's brains were beaten out on the night he was last seen with his wife, an 1 that on the next day the wretched woman and her mother dislocated the limbs, so that they fitted on an ass car. Being concealed by straw, they then proceeded to Rossmore bog, which was seven miles distant, and in the loneliest part of 'hat unfrequented place they flung their burden into a hole. The jury, after some brief deliberation, found a verdict of " wilful murder against Catherine Moore and Bridget Thompson, the laughter and mother." The mother is a woman of forbidding aspect, and during the delivery of the testimony of her own children against her seemed unconcerned, not a muscle of her countenance being disturbed during the detail of the horrible narrative, with which she was so deeply connected, of the committal of the atrocious deed. The murderess, whose confession corrobarates the testimony of her brother and sister, is about twenty-three years of age, of prepossessing appearance, and of middle size. Her complexion is fair, with full expression of the eyes, fine teeth well set, and no indication of that terrible ferocity which she exhibited. The organ of destructiveness, according to the theory of phrenologists, is very prominent. She exhibited much intelligence and cunning after her arrest, and when watched at night manifested great restlessness and uneasiness of mind. Her victim is described as a fine athletic young man, about thirty years of age, about five feet eight inches in height. He was remarkably strong, active, and healthy. He was very intelligent for his class, and was remarkable in the district for his gentleness of disposition, and peaceable conduct.