The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-22 00:00:00

TILE MURDER OF MR. LITTLE,

The city was somewhat startled by an announcement,
which circulated with great rapidity, yesterday evening,
to the elf et that a man hid been arrested on the charge
of being concerned in the murder. Certain significant
hints, previously thrown out, had, to some extent prepared
the public mind for the taking of some decisive step
by the police, but the fact which has occurred does not
by any means correspond with the anticipation formed
as to the party who would probably be taken into
custody. A person who did not, until within the last
two or three days, come within range of conjecture or
suspicion on the part of those engaged in the investiga-
tion of the crime, has been placed tinder arrest, charged
on suspicion of having murdered Mr. Little. The
prisoner's name is Michael George Harrington, and he
is described on the charge sheet es a rent collector,
residing at No. 6 Wellington street. He has been
brought under the notice of the authorities in, it must be
confessed, a strange and unsatisfactory way. but whatever
doubts may reasonably be entertained as to the proba-
bility of guilt, the authorities in the discharge of their
duty, must have felt it absolutely incumbent upon them
to arrest him, and have a legal enquiry instituted into
the ch urge preferred against him by their informants
The circumstances under which he is in custody are as
follow : —lt appears that a communication was made to
the direct ,rs of the railway by a man named Taylor,
informing them of a representation made by three per-
sons named John Feeney, a tailor, who resides in a street
off Thomas street, Catherine Feeney, ii;s wife, and Eliza
Fitzsimon, their servant. The statemeet conveyed to
them was to the effect that, on the night of the murder,
between eleven and twelve o'clock, the prisener, who
was in the habit of occasionally visiting them, came into
their room in a state of agita ion, and called for a drink
of water, which they gave him. While drinking it he
was observed to tremble excessively. He then gave the
servant a pocket handkerchief to wash, and asked for
water to clean his hands. The hen ]kerchief is alleged
to have been saturated with blond, which was also
remarked upon his hands, especially between his fingers
He also got a damp towel and carefully wiped the fronts
of his coat and trowsers, which were stained with blood.
On being interrogated by them he accounted for the
marks by a statemeet to the effect that there were two
persons quarrelling in the street, and that he interfered
to make peace between them, hut, as often happens
under such circumstances. he incurred the hostility of
both, and was made to suffer for his good nature. He
then pulled out a bottle containing spirits, which he
mixed with some water to drink, and they remarked on
the label the name of Mr. Currin, who keeps a public
house in the vicinity of the Broadstone Terminus.
An observation ries made as to the locality
from which the bottle was brought, and he then
observed that a dreadful thing had happened at the
railway terminus on that night—that a man had been
killed. After come time he wanted Feeney and the ser-
vant to accompany him to Broadstone, as he did not
like to go alone, in consequence of the row which had
occurred, but they refused to go. He had two coats on,
and left one with them, on the front of which they saw
the stains of bloody fingers, but they observed no marks
of blood upon the sleeves. Next day he called for the
coat, and they told him about the spots upon it. They
also allege that lie carried a sword cane, and that in the
course of conversation on that evening he represented
that he had acquired a sum of X3o'l by a policy of
insurance which fell in upon the death of his wife, and
observed that, atlhough he was badly off, lie had always
managed to pay the policy. The circumstances which
occurred on that evening —which they are enabled to al-
as that of the murder only by remembering that they
heard of the murder two days afterwards—did not, as
they state, attract any pa,ticular attention, or make any
impression on their minds, until a few days aeo when
Tayler, who is an acquaintance of their's, called in to
see them, and began to read in a newspaper the state-
ment made by O'D)wd, when they recollected the
transactions above represented, and it then struck them
that the prisoner was the murderer. They determined
to go down and examine the hammer and razor, which
are on view to the public in the Detective Office in
Exchange Court, and the servant, on seeing the razor,
shook her head aid observed that it resembled one
that she used to clean for the prisoner. Acting
upon the above information, the police went is
search of Mr. Harrington, who, it appears, hav-
ing been for some cousiderabie time inv Ived in
pecuniary difficulties. has been, for prudential rea-
sons, in the habit of shifting his residence
from Luik to Blanchardstown, and in other opposite
directions, so that it became a matter of some difficulty
to reach him. Yesterday afternoon, however, at three
o'clock, he happened to be on the platform, about to
take a ticket for Maynooth, when the p lice observed
him Pe was in'ormed of tee eh ;.r a;ainet him, and
emphatically denied the truth of etly statetto.nt made by
his accusers; but as they persist, d !nest positively
in their statements, the poiie. in the discharge of their
duty, took him into custody, and lie was charged by the
persons above named. He is a quiet, gentlemanly-
looking man, and has a son employed as a s oker on the
railway, who on the night of the murder left the ter-
minus by the mail train at seven o'clock. The woman,
Eliza Fitzsimon, who is now servant to the Feeney's,
was formerly in the prisoner's service, and seems to
entertain an ill feeling towards him, as she complains
that he did not pay her. It is also right to add that the
representations made now by the Feeneys are not, in some
particulars, perfectly consistent with their original
statements to faylor. The prisoner will be brought up
before the magistrates at Cable street Police Office, at
eleven o'clock this morning.—Deblin Express of Saturday.