Alleged Wife Poisoning.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4308, 21 October 1882, Page 2

Alleged Wife Poisoning.

(Per Phbss Association.)

Auckland, Yesterday. In August, 1879, a man named John Cobb Hedges left London for Auckland,

accompanied by his wife,-four daughters,

and a son. The statement made by Amy

Charlotte Hedges, the eldest daughter,

who is 16 years of age, says that some time

before they left London her father sent

her out to purchase some arsenic, with

which he intended to poison rats and mice. She procured it at the shop of Mr Boothby, chemist. She did not see the bottle con*

taining ihe poison afterwards until the Sunday before her mother's death. Mrs Hedges died on Monday, June 20th,_18$1,. She had been ill for some time and almost entirely confined to bed during two ntfvlhs prior to her demise! "On the day prfvibus to the Monday in question she (the daughter) was in an excited state of mind concerning the state of her mother's health, and going to the -bedroom wiodofr and looking through from the verandah she saw her father at the bedside. -He was then feeding her mother, who was lying on the bed. The girl says she is positive that she saw "the bottle of arsenic in bis hand. The food being given" consisted of i egg and wine. She saw this bottle, and she cried out to her mother, " Mother, do not take any of that down your throat, or you will be dead." The girl says she then screamed out to some neighbors who lived nest door. She went into the house and

continued the performance of her house-"^ hold duties. Her father shortly afterwards came out of the bedroom*, and conversed with her next door neighbor, who had been attracted by her cries. ' Shej' however, did not hear what they, were talking about. Next day she went,to h'or work at service in Karangahape Road'as usual, and her father also went to his work, leaving before her. Her mother did at twenty minntes to 3 o'clock that afternoon. Mrs Lemon, the next door neighbor, bad her attention calledfdtiring the day to the bad state of Mrs Hedges, and when she went in and saw her low condition she went for Dr Bayntun without delay. He came to seethe sufferer, but he had said, that he was too late to do any good—that she was dying. Death took place immediately afterwards, and the doctor subsequently gave a certificate of death from appoplexy. A message was sent to Hedges at the same time as when Dr Bayntun called, but he did dot reach the house until two hours after death. The girl did not know till night. No doctor was called in during the illness but it appears Hedges was in the habit of treating his wife with homeopathic mcdi« cines, which he kept in the hou.se. The

funeral took place on June 22nd, 1881. Hedges, who was the husband of the deceased woman, is a tailor employed at

Murchie's. The girl strenuously asserts he is only her stepfather, but he is.pre* prepared to prove otherwise. He was Married to Mrs Hedges seventeen years ago, and the girl in question was born sixteen years ago. Amy Hedges adheres 4 strictly to her statement, and' mentions the manes of people who have told her that Hedges was only her stepfather. She also says her mother assured her on this point. In a further statement, the girl Amy Hedges said her mother had told her of a sister, a child of nine years, to' whom her father had given something which hastened her death. It is only fair to Hedges to say that the police in* terviewed the child in the presence of the headmanter of the school whic'i she attends, that she remembers the Sunday before the death of her mother, and the fact of her father administering the food referred to, but she did not' hear her sister call out, nor did she remember what her mother wag alleged to have" said. Amy Hedges has also made other charges of a most serious nature against her father or stepfather. Doubt is expressed concerning the truth of the allegations regarding the poisoning, and, pending the result of the analysis, the police do not consider it necessary to interfere with the liberty of Hedges. Arthur Wood, butcher, of Wellington

street, states: On the 30th September^ last Amy Hedges came into'my shop;' entered into conversation with another girl who happened to be present. I was startled to hear the words;" Poisoned my mother," and I resolved to inquire her; meaning. On the morning of October 12th last, the girl came iuto my shop again, and lat once said to.her '"I wishi to speak to you about statements njiJe by. you here the other Saturday "morning. You stated your father poisoned your mother." She then stated tliat what ahe had said was quite true; ; that she had... been sent for arsenic in Londoi, arid she gave the name of the chemist from, whom she obtained it, and the street^ in which he lived. Her mother told her, when she was living in England, that her father was going to take her to New Zealand to get rid of her there. After tht-y came out. here her mother became ill, and, the gii!| ? asked her mother if she knew where the botlle of arsenic was Her mother replied "Yes," and poiuted out the shelf where, it was standing. She then said, " Why don't you make away with it ? " and^ her mother replied, "I dare not t7U«h it, as my life miijht be made, shorter if I did." They therefore were afraid to.touch the bottle, and left it there. She said her mother then told her to watch her life and

that of her little sister, as they would be very narrow, and after her death they must not be separated. On the Sandajr' morning before her mother died she saw her father give her mother a spoonful of., something from the arsenic bottle. She 1 knew the bottle again, as the saw the label on it, and cried out and warned her mother. She did not say anything outside' about it, as she was afraid to do so. >. tf rr