The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-20 00:00:00

Murderous Assault upon a Young Lady.

At a late hour on the evening of Saturday last
one of the most brutal assaults which have ever oc-
curred in this quarter was perpetrated on the person
of a young lady, at Broomieloan, or Sandyholes, a
piece of common lying at the back of Cessnock Nur-
sery, Govan-road, two miles from Glasgow. From
the information received, it appears that between 10
and 11 o'clock on the evening in question Miss Mar-
garet Addie, a young lady moving in most respec-
table society, and residing at Weymouth• terrace,
Paisley-road, was returning from Govan, whither
she had accompanied a friend. While passing the
common, she was met by an Irishman, who accosted
her ; she passed on, but the man endeavoured to
intercept, and tried to catch hold of her, she mean-
while, putting forth her utmost efforts to escape him.
Ultimately, however, the assailant succeeded in seiz-
ing her. She screams(' as loud as she could, and
endeavoured to force herself from h;s grasp, but
failed, and the ruffian, finding that she was deter-
mind to escape, struck her on the face and knocked
her to the ground, repeating the blows whenever she
screamed, and telling her to hold her tongue. Miss
Addie, as may be supposed, was not able to continue
the struggle with her brutal assailant, who at last
succeeded in dragging her into a field of corn on the
lands of Heatheryhall. Here the scoundrel at.
tempted to commit a criminal assault on the person
of his victim, who struggled fearfully with her in•
human assailant. Shortly afterwards, while Mr.
Thos. Learmouth, farmer;of Middleton, and another
gentleman, a friend of his from Edinburgh, were pro-
ceeding along East Loan-road, they met a woman and
a boy, who told them to go down the road as quickly
as possible and rescue a woman who was being abused
by a man. They hurried towards the place mentioned
when their attention was attracted to the field by
hearing groans. They rushed to the sput thus indi-
cated, and found a man,with his clothes disordered,
lying beside a prostrate woman. Mr Learmouth
immediately seized him, and held him fast, The
ruffian requested to be allowed to adjust his
clothes, which was permitted ; and while Mr Lear-
mouth was leading him down the road he attacked
that gentleman, struck at and kicked him, and en-
deavoured to make his escape. Mr Learmonth
struggled manfully with the fellow, and ultimately
threw him to the ground, and held him fast till
till the county police made their appearance, when
he was conveyed to the police-office. He gave his
name as Michael M‘Clinchey, a labourer, residing
at 12, Victoria-street, Govan. On his person being
examined, his clothes and linen were found to be
covered with blood. Meanwhile the injured lady
had been assisted to her residence by two gentle-
men from Ibroxholm, and was speedily attended by
Dr. Smith, who was followed by Dr. Frazer, of
171, West Regent-street. The doctors found that
Miss Addle had been subjected to the most cruel
treatment, her person having been violated in a
manner so brutal that we do not feel at liberty to
enter into details. Her face was a mass of wounds
and bruises, There was a cut upon the forehead,
in a line with the nose, three inches in length;
the bridge of her nose was fractured, and the
upper lip was cut through in two places. The
doctors dressed the wounds, but the unfortunate
lady was so weak that they were doubtful whether
or not she would survive, and recommended that
her deposition should be taken. Sergeant Gunn,
of the county police, accordingly lost no time in
informing the authorities of the matter, and on
Sunday morning Sheriff Bell and Mr. Gemmel,
Procurator-Fiscal, proceeded to the residence of
Miss Addie and took her deposition. We under-
stand that Miss Addle, although still conscious,
lies in a highly precarious condition.