The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-28 00:00:00

THE DOUBLE MURDER IN TrAZTVORTH.

FURTHER CONFESSION OF MRS. BACON.
On Monday Mrs. Bacon' made a. fuller confession of the
guilt of her husband, but it did. not differ widely from that
which she made, on Wednesday last, at Lambeth police court,
the reading of which had caused so extraordinary a sensation.
if, however, the addition which she now supplies is true, and
there is no reason at present to disbelieve it, the villany of her
husband seems to be of a deeper dye than tho dreadful offence
of cutting the throats of his poor infant children in cold blood
had made it. Mrs. Bacon now says, that after destroying the'
life of the younger child, it was thateher husband made al
attack on her, and not only attempted to cut her throat, but
inflicted several scars on it. She repeats that she got hold or
him by the wrist of the right hind, in which he held the knife,.
with both her hands, and thus prevented him from reaclting
her throat. She further state; that as soon as her husband
could release himself from her hold he drew a rope frcua his
pocket and put it round her neck, endeavouring to prevent
her making a noise, and forcing her on the bed, rushed out of
the room, and in confirmation of her asserCon on this point it,
is a positive fact that when taken to llorsemonger lane gaol
on the Tuesday evening (the following day),,the matron of that
prison distinctly noticed a livid mark round the neck, sejce as
would be produced by a rope or some hard ligature,
round it, and it struck her to be of so singular a to
"I,saracter as
induce her to call the attention of the [seise,
.. surgeon to it.
The first day of his confinement in Hots •'
lane Gaol,
Bacon appeared in so frantic and deieteeed a state of mind that
l'ied tightly
his fellow prisoners Were under tho
intended to confess or rather te strew, impression that he
next day he became more tvAapa,,,,d, and ha, since gained much
, make ;confession, but the
confidence. He takes te-dch pains to impress on all those about
hisi that 11° is junc9'ent of the charge alleged against him hY
wife, and eril'esses a strong hope and exPectation that at
the next exese.
,teation he will be set at liberty. Ttm wish
expressed, le- Mr.
1
y Elliott, at the last examination of the prisoner.
of ha°.-eg the body of Mrs. Bacon. senior, exhumed, that
, it. r...iight be submitted to a thorough medical and surgical
'examination, was forwarded to the authorities at Stamford,
but a difficulty appeared to present itself in carrying out the
magistrate's wishes in the matter. The deceased, it appears,
has been interred in the parish church of Great Casterton,
Rutlandshire, and, therefore, beyond the jurisdiction of the
authorities at Stamford. No positive information had up to
Monday reached Inspector Young or the magistrate, Mr.
Elliott, on the subject; but should any serious difficulty pre-
sent itself, it is the intention at once to apply to the Secretary
of State for the Home Department for an order for the
immediate exhumation and examination of the body. In a
paragraph which appeared on this subject in this paper,
it was sta'ed that five days before the illness of hie
mother, and which illness terminated in her death in seven
days, Bacon had purchased an ounce of arsenic at the shop of
Mr. Patterson, a druggist, in the town of Stamfor 1. In the
Stamford Mercury of last Saturday's date will be found the
following confirmation of the fact:—" It has been clearly
ascertained that a few days before his mother's death,
Bacon purchased half an ounce •of arsenic at the shop
of Mr. Patterson, druggist, Red Lion square, He had
previously made attempts to procure arsenic, on pretence that
he wanted it in his trade, but was unable to do so. When
Ise applied to Mr. Patterson, he was told the poison
could not be sold without a witness. He then went out, and
as Mr. William Clapton, plumber, was passing, he called hint
in. The arsenic was therefore delivered to him, and an entry
of the fact was Made in Mr. Patterson's book, which was signed
by Bacon, and attested by Mr. Clap'on. That was on the Bth
of May, 1855. On Sunday, the 13th, Bacon's mother dined
with him. On her return home she was taken ill, anal on the
Tuesday following she died, No suspicion as to the real cause
of her death was entertained at the time, but it is said that,
subsequently, Bacon's wife, during her insanity, let fall obser-
vations which gave rise to the accusation, Amongst the
articles found on Bacon at the time he was taken into custody
was a square morocco case, containing the photographic like-
nesses of his murdered children as they lay in their coffins, and
both being together they were in, the same case, and appeared:
remarkably well done. This mournful emblem he carried:
with him to Stamford, and it is said he made a very free use of'
is in exhibiting it to all his friendsi and acquaintances, always
taking care not only to affect but express great grief at their
loss, and the dreadful death they suffered.

A BRITISH SCHOONER PLUNDERED BY SPANISH
WRECKERS.—By a despatch, dated Oporto, Jan. 17, we
learn that the Impetuous schooner, of Cardiff, from London
to Seville, bad gone on shoie at Torreiro, on the 13th inst.•
Four of the hands were drowned ; the only persons saved.
of the crew being the master and a boy. The vessel was
twenty-four hours at the mercy of the wreckers, who•
plundered her of the whole of her cargo, and completely
stripped her, not leaving even a bit of copper on her bot—
tom, besides maltmating the master and robbing hint of
all his money and clothes. A Spanish vessel lade;) with
hides and soap, went on shore at the same place, and met a
similar fate.

THE ENCUMBERED ESTATES COURT IN AnREAR.._ThG
Weekly Telegraph draws a sad picture of the state to which
the, Encumbered Estates Court has been brought by the
removal of one of the commissioners. There are, it is stated, from fifty to sixty cases in the retired commissioner's office,.
lying in a dormant condition, in which they are likely to'
remain, if one can judge from appearances. Many parties,
who are entitled to money out of the court in some of these
cases, are obliged to wait indefinitely, and the two remaining
commissioners are, as it is, quite overwhelmed with the
amount of duties which they have to perform. To add to
the difficulty, one of the commissioners, Mr. Hargreave,
has been obliged to retire from the courtfor a few days,
owing Co delicate health, which has been impaired by exces-
sively hard work, so that in fact only one commissioner,
Mr. Longfield, remains to discharge an amount of duties,
for which, with all his well known z-al and ability, it is
quite. impossible that he could be adequate. It is, therefore,
pretty clear that government must interfere, and that the
economy which it was expected could be practised is incom•
patible with the rights and convenience of the public.