THE HOXTON MURDER.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 200, 23 April 1887, Page 3

THE HOXTON MURDER.

A crime that has created a great sensation in England,and which come to be known as " the Hoxton murder," was committed on the morning of Saturday, the ">th ult., when a single woman named Lydia Union was shot through the head in her bedroom in her mother's house at 8, Baches-street, Hoxton. The supposed murderer is a man named Thomas William Currell, with whom the deceased had " kepi, company " for 12 years, but \\ ith whom, it is stilted, she had wished to break, as Currell had been misbehaving- himself of late. It appears from the evidence of the mother of the deceased that early on the morning of the tragedy an unusual noise, something like the slamming of a door, was heard by funeral of the inmates of the house, and upon a search being made the dead body of the young woman, still warm, was found on the floor of her bedroom with a severe gasli on the forehead. A medical man was at once called in, and lie made what has since been shown to have been a most cursory examination of the body, for he <>uve it ac his opinion that the cause of Seath wa*. a heavy fall, through sudden faintness, against a chest of drawers. This unfortunate mistake gave the supposed murderer a cleai day's start, for it was not till the afternoon that some \ cry peculiar circumstance^ aroused the suspicion that a crime had been committed. It seems that Currell, early on Saturday morning, met a young man who lodged in the hous-e where the Green family lhed, and, saying that he wished to get some tiling that he had left there the previous evening, Currell asked him to lend him his latchkey, a* he did not wish to iouso the house. The young man complied w ith the request, and on returning from work in the evening, asked Mrs Green for his key, as Currell had promised to leave it with her. It then came out that Currell had not left anything theie the previous nighi, nor, so far as anyone knew, had he been there that morning.' The tact, howe\ei, that he had borrowed the key proved tli.it he had an object in getting quirt admission tD the house, and that, coupled with the deathof the young woman, eau-ed a fui t her examination of the body to be made, when it became apparent that a murder had been perpetrated, two bullet wounds- being found in the neck, the jaw being .shattered. Inquiries were at once instituted by the police, and, Cui-rell's lodgings being visited, it vas tound that he had disappeared. A search through hit- etlects- was rewarded by the discovery of several reTolver cait ridges, ha\ing bullet* similar to those which had been extracted fiom the deceased girl's- head. A hue and cry was at once raised, but for neaily a fortnight Currell eluded the police, although they had in their pos^e^ion photographs of him and frequently came upon clues as- to his- movements after the murder had been committed. It would, indeed, be difficult to *ay -when the police would have succeeded in ane-ting him had he not written to one ot tl.c dcttvtht-. making an appointment to meet at a ccit.un place the following mornino It is «caieely necessary to .s-iy ihe detectnc punctually kept the appointment, and soon Currell appeared and gave himself into custody. Currell sticnuou.-ly denies that he committed the. mm dci. and ?ay>. th.it no one could be moi c gi ie\ ed than lie ar the untimely and tiagic death of the girl to whom he was most " fondly attached, and no one would be more pleased than he to see the peip"tratoi of the deed brought to justice. He -a,v he was overwhelmed with -uipii-e and mental < onfu«ion when he -aw by the newspaper 5 ? that he was suspected of having committed the murder, and that after hiding for a day or two he went to the Criminal Investigation department in Scotland Yard, and inquired for the inspector who he unde'^tood had charge of the < a-c. He -pok" to r-everal of the constables on duty theie, but was infoimed that the inspector \\a^ out, and that he had bettei call a<_»ain. Currell expresses his enthe confidence in beinn able to pro\e his innocence of the terrible crime, and his eoun.-U has -t.it ed tliat the public may be piopared for soim -urpi it-es befoie the case is o-ver. So fai as eheumstances have been published the case looks black indeed for Cvi icll, and it w ill c \citc universal astonishment if lie j)ro\c his innocence.