TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IN SCOTLAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1132, 29 January 1884, Page 3

TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IN SCOTLAND.

At the Village of Kirkfield Bank, near Lanark, on November 23, a young man named William Brown murdered two young women and then committed suicide. The names of the murdered women are Charlotte Spiers and Catherine Hamilton. The crime was committed between 10 and 11 o clock, when the villagers had for the most part retired to bed. The first intimation of the tragedy was from a postilion, named George Kay, of the Station Hotol, who had been at the Kirkfield Bank with a party, and he observed something like a person lying on the roadside. He stopped, and found it was the lifeless body of a *roman, with her throat cut. He raised an alarm and the neighbors turned out, when it waß found that the body was that of Mrs Spiers. At th« same time it was found that the servant girl, Catherine Hamilton, was lying in a dying state at the door of the house of George E'der, wheelwright, where she had been knocking for about half an hour. The inmates heard a faint tapping, but as no one spoke thev did not open the door. The postilion hastened to Newark and gave the police intimation of the sad affair. Catherine Hamilton on their arrival was found to be still alive, and was removed to Mr Elder's house. She was unable to speak, but wrote with a pencil the words, " Willie killed us both." The unfortunate girl died shortly after. On examining Brown's house, the body of the murderer was found on the lower flat, and a sharppointed new knife was discovered near. He was a medical student. A large pool of blood was seen inside the outer door of the house. The girl's hand was munh cut, as if in warding off the fatal thrusts. No motive whatever can be assigned for the deed. It is said Brown was suffering from insanity. He had been seen lately walking in the garden, speaking and laugbing to himself.