The Express.
London, England, 1864-08-12 00:00:00

DIOR WAIIII, AT LONDON DILIDOL

Tins DAT 7-wicebilb9b. 40,R.
To-319999w —Maila& 9b. .. kfteseass. 96. 6912.

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12.

It is an old saying that in the midst of life we
are in death, and it is equally true that in the
midst of civilization we are in barbarism. If any
one desires to know how little better we are than
our "painted" forefathers, or indeed than the
beasts that perish, let him diligently study the re-
velation' in the police courts—especially those of
the West-end—and the records of the Assizes. One
day a man of good family is brought before the
magistrate to answer a charge of half-murdering
the landlord of a stew in the Haymarket; another
day a highly-educated and refined young gentleman
is tried for assassinating the girt who jilted him ;
within the last few days the man PARKEte was
hung for shooting his own mother dead with a
loaded gun—a quiet old gentleman has his brains
knocked out in a first class railway carriage, in the
very midst of London—a well-to-do labourer in a
fit of jealousy cuts his wife's throat, in his own
house, in the presence of his two children—and
strangest of all, perhaps, Lawn; GOUGH has just
been convicted of murdering a blind widow, fifty
years old, because of his extreme love for her.
It seems that in the month of May there was a
certain MARY CURTHOYS living at Olverstone, in
Gloucestershire. She had been married to a
tailor, who died about a year ago. The remark-
able fact is that she had been blind for five years ;
but she was able to earn a living by making
baskets ; and she was at least fifty years of age.
The man Lewis Goron lived close by ;he was
exceedingly poor—he got his livelihood by break-
ing stones for the parish authorities in the
road. But he had formed an intimacy with
MARY CI:RTHOYA, and in fact paid her a visit
every evening. The poor woman lived alone,
but she had a small garden in front, with a gate
opening into the road. It was her habit to walk in
this garden, and "feel her flowers;" and after this
she would secure the gate with a padlock, and retire
to rest. On Monday, the 9thof May, Mrs. Ct'RTHOYS
had done as usual. On Tuesday morning she was
found in ber garden dead ; a hammer and stick
were by her side, and a razor and its sheath close
by. The padlock and key lay just by her side.
The door of the house was quite open, but nothing
was disturbed within. Her face was mutilated
and her throat was cut. She had obviously been
murdered by some one at the gate, and it was
tolerably clear that there was no attempt at bur-
glary. The murderer was not difficult to find, for
the hammer, the razor, and the sheath belonged
to Cocoa, and he had not slept in
his room on the night in question. He
was apprehended, and at once confessed
his crime. "It was not through me," he said to
the policeman, "it was another man's fault ;
"it was Major PEARS'S keeper's fault, Mr.
" PRITCHARD. I caught them on the 26th of
" August, 1839, and a great many times since.
" She was against me uncommonly. I loved her
"as I ►ove my life." On Monday afternoon he
admitted that he had taunted the blind woman
about the keeper. "At night," ho says, " I went
"to the door and knocked. She came out and
"said she would go and fetch the constable. She
" unlocked the door, and I went to go in. She
" took the key of the gate and a stick in her
" hand, and said she would hellos 'murder.' I said, 'I
"will give you murder,' and struck her on thehead
" with the hammer and stunned her. I then took
" out the razor"—as to which he said, with a touch
which a sensation novelist might envy, " it was
" one the poor old soul DIARY gave me two
" months ago ; it was her husband's "—and with
this razor he cut her throat. He then added
" I left the woman there, went back again to my
" lodgings, and sat before the fire till between
" two and three next morning. I then went back
"to the house to look at the woman. I saw she
" was dead, and then I made off."

After such • confession the verdict against
Corot' was inevitable. But what a picture of
selfishness and ferocity ! There is something almost
grotesque in a stone-breaker of fifty-five falling
desperately in love with a blind widow of fifty. But
the passion of love is proverbially capricious, and
the fact that be was captivated by the woman is
beyond a doubt. The probability is that he was.
determined to have possession of her ; and at all
events he was exceedingly jealous of another rival.;
But it did not seem likely that his desire would be
gratified, and when he became convinced of this
he let his deadly fury have full sway. It is ;
evident that this old Goeon had no idea of self-
restraint. The blind woman was to him
what • doll is to • child. If the
doll will not sit np or even speak, it
must be broken to pieces. As the blind woman
would not obey the man's behests, forswear an-
other min's society, or gratify his desires, she
must have her brains knocked out. The notion
that poor Mrs. Cuwrnovs might have feelings of
her own, and even rights of her own, never entered
the mind of the ruffian. Be coveted her and he
must have her. If, indeed, the poor woman had
been afflicted with no infirmity, and had been liv-
ing under some sort of protection, the dastardly
cowardice of the attack would have been
perhaps • shade less revolting. But the man
who deliberately arms himself with a hammer
and a razor—who selects an hour near
midnight to pay a visit thus armed to a lonely and
blind widow and who takes the opportunity
when the pocr woman is stooping over to wreak
his jealousy by taking her life, reveals a wild
brutishness and ferocity which it would be difficult
to parallel among the fiercest tribes of Central

Africa. There is, we may be sun, an army of
savages scattered throughout e society,
only to be kept down by the of po
Churches and schools are alimirsti• kaleunien
of civilization. But it is a melancholy reflec-
tion that, notwithstinding all the schools and
churches, if it were not for the police the streets of
London and Liverpool would be like Hounslow-
heath in the last century, or the streets of eccle-
siastical Rome in this.