HORRTBLE ATTEMPT OF A FATHER TO MURDER HIS OWN DAUGHTER.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 49, 28 April 1863, Page 3

HORRTBLE ATTEMPT OF A FATHER TO MURDER HIS OWN DAUGHTER.

The man Thompson, who for the heinous crime of wilfully roasting his child to death at the Straits, awaits his trial at the forth-coming Stafford Assizes, has again for the third time been at his murderous work with another of his children. In this case, although the child has very narrowly escaped immediate death, the particulars are no less revolting. We may say at the outset that its recovery is regarded by the medical men as impossible. On Sunday night Thompson returned home, having been carousing in a public house up to that hour -with his wife. Me appears not to have come home with her, for on his arrival he demanded to know of his daughter Hannah, a girl about nine years old. " where her mother was." Hannah is the eldest child but one. and all the other children were in bed up stairs. She replied that she did not know. He then directed her to search for her, and the child returned without finding her mother. He at once seized a poker, which is about eighteen inches long, and worn to a sharp point at the end, and thrust it into the head of the child to a depth of about three and a-half inches. The blow penetrated above the left ear, and bursting through the scalp to such a depth, it is questionable whether it did not go into the brain, She bled profusely, her clothes being completely saturated with the blood. Another daughter, Rachel, the eldest child, hearing the noise and the groans of her sister, rushed down stairs, and sought by her screams out of doors the assistance of their only neighbor, Mr s Sprudson, the house being detached and isolated from other houses. A number of people were attracted by the cries, and on arriving did all they could for the poor girlj and at once fetched the police. The prisoner maintained quite a cool and indifferent demeanour from the time of the transaction to the hour he was lodged in gaol. — Birmingham Gtizette.

heard the sister scream, and, on running up stairs, she saw the deceasd lady with her clothes entirely burnt from her 1 with the exception of her stays ; the lower part of heT body was in a state of nudity. Her sistei" was exerting herself to put out the fire. Witness placed deceased derail by: the side of the piano, and threw; a bear-; skin over her, dnd then sent for medical assistance. Deceased begged of her to cut her stays, and then related how the occurence took place. She said that she was standing with her back to the fire, watering a little bird that had escaped from its cage, when her clothes ignited. She wore crinoline, and an immense wadded petticoat over it. She said all^her under-cloth-ing was on fire before she was aware of it. Dr. Tulloch and Mr Martin promptly arrived and dressed the deceased lady's wounds. Certificates of death from the medical gentlemen, ascribing the death of the deceased to severe and extensive burns, were read by the coroner, who, in summing up, remarked strongly on the danger of wearing crinoline, ana the necessity for its abolition. It was he said well known that certain chemicals, i mixad with the starch, would render all kinds of linen uninflamable. If such a preventive had been adopted, they (the jury) would not then have been called upon to inquire into the cause of death of one of their countrywomen. The jury having conferred, the foreman (addressing the coroner) said he and his hrotherjuror3 fully concurred in the remarks which he had made, and deeply felt that, from the loss of life which had occurred, crinoline should be abandoned. Verdict : Accidental death. — Globe.

Extraordinary Recovery of a Dumb Person. — We have received the following singular account of the sudden recovery of a woman who had lost the power of speech for seven years, fi^oirl a person upon whose veracity we can reply : — " I beg to forward you the particulars of a remarkable circumstance that has come under my notice, and which, I think, may interest your numerous readers. Mrs Boyd, a married woman, living at Campbellfield, had heen deprived of her speech for the period of seven years and six months, and during the first three years applied for relief toa number of medical men in Melbourne (who will at once remember her four years and a-half ago). They entertertained no hope of her everspeaking again, she gave up all expectation herself. On the 11th February last, however, in the afternoon, she felt an unaccountable wish to speak, and at once found that she had the power to do so, and spoke with , her usual ease. The effect produced on herself, her husband, and children, were very astonishing. She is living only nine miles from town, and will be glad to furnish further particulars lo anyone who may wish to satisfy themselves of the truth of the above."— Melbourne Herald.