The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-16 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 16, 1866.

SHOCKING MURDER AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS.

A shocking murder has taken place at Tunbridge
Wells. The woman who is charged with the crime is
named Ann Lawrenoe, twenty-nine years of age, and lives
at 2, Ebury-cottages, London-road. She has been living
for some time with a man named Walter Higham, who
obtains a livelihood by hawking vegetables. On Saturday
morning the man and woman and two young children were
in bed together, and about five o'clock the woman got out
of bed, went down stairs, and got a billhook, with
which i she set upon the man, striking him over the
bead several times. He made his escape into an adjoining
house. The woman then seems to have got a razor and cut
the throat :of a boy about four years of age. Dr. Davy,
who was the house surgeon to the Infirmary, was
called in, and the man was removed to that institution.
He was found on examination to have four large wounds
on his head, and about a dozen ants on his back. His
right arm was quite cleft through, while on his left hand
there was a large wound, and his left wrist was dislocated.
When taken into custody the woman denied the charge,
and imputed it to the man Higham. It is said that the
man has a wife and the woman a husband, though they
have been living from them for a considerable time.
The prisoner was brought before the magistrates on
Saturday, and remanded till to-day. The first wit-
ness called was a woman named Mary Taylor, wife
of a bricklayer's labourer, living at No. 3, Ebury-cottages,
who said—At about half-past five o'clock this morning I
heard a noise of " tio..lling " in the bedroom of No. 2,
occupied by the prisoner and the man with whom she
was living. I don't know the man's name. There were
two children living in the house also—a baby and a
little boy. At about twenty minutes before 6 o'clock
I heard a great screaming of " Murder." There were two
voices screaming—a man's and a woman's. I took no
notice of the screaming for a minute or two, and then I
heard the man calling out, " Missus ! minus ! come in and
assist me. Go fora doctor, or I shall die." I then got up
and came downstairs, and went into the back yard. There
I saw the man at Mrs. Mowcumber's, of 1 Ebury Cot-
tages. I went to the front of the house, and saw prisoner
outside. When I went round the house she said, " I
want you to come in." When I went in there was a
policeman there.l There was blood all over the house.
The prisoner was covered with blood. Prisoner spoke to
me, and said, "Will you take my baby, Mrs. Taylor ? " I
took the child, and washed it and dressed it. The child
was spotted with blood. The prisoner said, "He has
killed my child ; it was not his, and be never
liked it." She said, "The man has killed my child."
I supposed she meant the man she was living
with when she said, " The man." I heard her say to some-
body. " You dirty I said I would do it, and you
have driven me to it. See what it has brought you too.
Live like this I won't." That was about half-past five
o'clock. This was said before I heard the cries, " Mims !
minus ! come in," and before the cries of " Murder." The
man was in Mrs. Mowcumber's wash-house when I went
into the prisoner's house. I think ho went out of the front
door of the prisoner's house into Mrs. Mowcumber's house,
but I did not see him. When I washed and dressed the
baby the prisoner was in the room, just going to wash and
dream herself. The baby was in her arms when I went into
the house, in its night-gown. During the time I was
doing this the prisoner was washing herself and taking off
her things, which were covered with blood. The pri-
soner had a dark staff dress and an apron on. Both
these things were saturated with blood. Her sleeves
were stripped up, and her arms and face were
covered with blood. I was in the house altogether about
an hour. Prisoner did not speak either to me or the pollee-
man. I did not see the child. I did not go up-stairs.
Police-constable May said he went to the prisoner's house,
at about 6 o'clock that morning, and in a bedroom he found
the body of a child with its throat cut, and the razor,
which he produced, remaining in the wound. Police-con-
stable Henley corroborated the evidence of the previous
witness, and produced a billhook, which he found behind
a portion of a faggot in the the
house. He asked the
prisoner if she had wounded the man Walter, and she said,
" Yes, I did." He showed her the billhook, and she said
" That is what I did it with. I meant to do for him, for
he has brought me into all this trouble." She said it was
all through another woman coining to see him who lived at
Mailing. Superintendent Emery, who took the pri-
soner into custody, deposed to the following state-
ment made by her. He said after he had been upstairs and
seen the dead body of the child he asked her the name of
it, and she said, His name is Jeremiah Lawrence, and he
was four years old last March. It is my husband's child."
He then went and saw theman Higham. On his return
he told the prisoner he must take her into custody for
the murder of her child,and attempting to murder Higham.
She said, " All the man got I gave to him ; I meant to
kill him, and am sorry that I did not. I did not kill the
child." Just before this a man named Holland came in,
and asked for a shirt forHigham, and prisoner said, "Don't
let that man come in here. He shan't come in. He has
been the cause of all this. He has gone with my husband
to the woman's house who has caused all this mischief."
After prisoner had been locked up for some hours she called
the superintendent, and asked him if she should have an
opportunity of saying anything before the magistrates,
and expressed her determination to tell the truth,
provided it was taken down in writing. He told her she
would be able to say what she pleased then, but advised
her to say nothing about the crime to him.

MR. HOBBS, OF READING.