SCENE AT A WAKE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1140, 6 September 1882, Page 2

SCENE AT A WAKE.

A Home paper says : —A horrible scene occured at a house in Bowyer’s buildings, Whitechapel, a regular Irish colony. A young woman named Norah Sullivan, died in one of the London hospitals, and her body was taken home to the house of a married sister, a woman named Tucker, who lives at Bowyer’s buildings. Arrangements were made for holding a wake upon the corpse. The room in which the body lay was accordingly decorated with flowers, &c., whilst large wax candles were placed about the apartment wherever room could be found for them. Some little time before the proceedings commenced Mrs Tucker’s husband, who had objected to the body being at the place, went home the worse for drink, and commenced to make a disturbance, saying that he was “ not going to have the corpes there, and that he meant to turn it out.” His wife and some of his friends and neighbours tried to persuade him to keep quiet; but he would not do so, and went towards the room where the body lay. On reaching the apartment he found the door locked, and at once demanded that his wife should open it so that he might go in and “ throw the thing out of the window.” On his wife refusing to do what he asked, he smashed up a chair, and, with a portion of it, broke open the door and ran into the room. His wife and some others followed him, and were horrified to see him catch hold of the corpse with one hand, draw a knife he had secreted with the other, and declare that he meant to “ cut the corpse’s throat.” He was proceeding to put his threat into execution, when tho>e in the room clung round him and prevented him. In the struggle the body was upset. An alarm had in the meantime been raised, and Police-constable Stranahan, 179 H., was called in, and he assisted to get Tucker out of the room. He was ultimately removed from the house. The wake then proceeded, and the body was subsequently taken away amidst considerable excitement.