A CATALOGUE OF CRIMES.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 196, 24 February 1877, Page 2

A CATALOGUE OF CRIMES.

The Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Daily Time* writes;—“ Some shocking crimes have been brought under the notice of the public during the last few days. At Frankston, a man named Hastings has been committed fur trial for murdering his wife, the belief being that lie killed her by fracturing her skull with an axe. At Sandhurst, a baker named Miudrum, aged 49 years, with a family, is under cominitial i:or trial for murdering with an axo a woman named Outchlcy, aged 24 years, married, and with a family. It is believed that the two persons were improperly intimate, and that the crime was committed under the influence of jealousy. At Adelaide, a man named Dudley is under committal on the chagge of murdering his wife by stabbing her, and, in this case also, jealousy, or rather marital indignation for infidelity, seems to have been the instigating cause. An unpleasant incident rather disturbed the festivity of a fashionable hotel at Sorrento, the well-known watering place, on Christmas , Day, b}' the discovery of a body of a newly-born child, which had been put in a place for concealment. Traces directed search and inquiry to the room of a young lady named Daney, who at once admitted a that the child was hers. She declared that M it must have been prematurely born, and this seems to have been the case.” She was visiting town from Sandhurst, and was taking a trip with some relatives to Sorrento, at Christmas time, when the affair occurred. No one suspected her condition, and although she had before complained of illness, it is a remarkable circumstance that after the birth of the child she dressed as usual, went to the hotel table, ate a hearty breakfast, and was complimented on the progress she was making towards good health. She is under committal for trial on the charge of concealing the birth.