The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-20 00:00:00

Murder in Durham.

Since the dreadful murder of old Mrs H&lii,ey, at
abbletrct, near Chester-le-street, the county of Dui
hsru
has happily been free from any crime approximating to
deliberate taking of life. A shocking event, however, has
Just occurred which has put an end to this impunity from
crimes of a capital nature. A_ dreadful wife murder has
taken place at a small colliery village of The Spey, near
Winlaton, county of Durham. This village is situated
about a couple of miles from Winlaton, and is on the bor-
ders of the Chopwell plantations. The Chopwell estate,
some few years ago, was brought under the attention of
Parliament, and some curious revelations as to its injudie
cious management came tint in the discussion on the sub-
ject. The estate on which the plantations are was for-
merly the property of the unfortunate Earl of Derwent-
water, and was confiscated to the Crown in 1715, and is
now under the charge of the Greenwich Hospital Commis-
sioners. The village of The Sporn and the colliery attached
to it, which bears the well-known name of the Garesfield
Colliery, is situated on the borders of these plantations.
The colliery is the property of the Marquis of Bute, and is
worked by his agents. It was Funk about 1800, and bee
continued working ever since. It produced a famous coking
coal, and the coke made from it is recognised as the host
made. The colliery is managed with much ability by the
viewer, Mr. Green. Amongst the pitmen employed at this
Colliery was a hewer named Matthew Atkinson, aged about
45. He had worked there for several years, lived in a small
cottage inThe Spen with his wife, Ellen Atkinson, a woman
aged 43. She was better known in the village and neigbe
bourhood as Nelly Atkinson. They had no family. Atkinion
appears, from all we can learn, to have been a quiet, decent,
orderly conducted man in his daily intercourse with those
around him. He was unfortunate in his wife. His life
was embittered, his comfort destroyed, his home rendered
miserable by the dissipated habits of his wife, the unhappy
murdered woman. We are informed that he had found
kindness and severity alike ineffectual for her reformation.
Uproar and disturbance, arising out of Mrs Atkieson's die
sipatod habits, became at length so frequent, that when the
neighbours heard them they ceased to regard there as of
any importance. Oa one occasion Atkinson was brought
up by his wife for assaulting her. This will account for
none of them interfering to prevent the perpetration of
this dreadful and afflicting- case of wife murder. We may
mention here as a most remarkable circumstance that the
pitman Smith, who was hanged at Durham about four years
ego for the murder of Batey, a slater, nearWinlaton, lodged
with Atkinson and his wife, who at that time lived at Blay-
don-on-Tyne. As in the present case Batey had been at a
shooting match, and was murdered by Smith on his return
from it. On Saturday Mathew Atkinson was present at a
shooting match held at Hopson, a small colliery village on
the other side of the river Derwent, and situated between
Tanfield and Burnopfield, the latter famous as the scene of
the mysterious murder -of the young surgeon, Mr Sterling.
Atkinson appears, unfortunately, to have taken too much
drink while at the match, and when he set out for home
was undoubtedly the worse for liquor. He reached his own
home between 10 and 11 o'clock. On getting inside he
found his wife in bed, and from what has since transpired
there is good reason for supposing she had been drinking.
The miserable man would seem to have lost command of
himself at the sight, and infuriated by this and the drink he
himself had taken, he commenced a furious and murderous
assault upon his wife, Shrill screams issued from the cot-
tage. At first the neighbours did not pay much attention to
this; but the uproar at length became so terrible and three,
the shouts of some ono within the cottage so agonising, that
the affrighted neighbours gathered round the door of the
unhappy couple to ascertain the cause. The sounds they
heard that some one was using the fireirons, and giving
fierce and deadly blows, while at frequent intervals groans
and cries were heard from some one within the room. Tho
nothbours were of course dreadfully alarmed at what they
heard, and-knocked at the door to ascertain the cause, and
finding no attention paid to the summons, they attempted to
open the door. Atkinson called out in tones of anger that he
would shoat the first that attempted to come in. They then
loft the neighbourhood of the door, and not long afterwards
Atkinson himself came out and walked about outside for
about a quarter of an hour, talking to some of the neigh-
bours. At the end of that time he said to one of them '• I'll
go beck and finieh the ---." No ono seemed to attach
any weight to the dreadful threat; or at* least if they dii,
their conduct would seem to have been shockingly callous
and indifferent in not preventing the miserable man from
completing the horrid tragedy. He returned to the house,
and recommenced his savage assault upon the unfortunate
womand; and continued it until he became alarmed at seeing
that his wife was really dying from his brutal treatment.
This appears to have somewhat sobered him, and he would
thus seem first to have in some degree realised the dreadful
position in which his blind and drunken fury had placed
him. He called the neighbours in. They found the poor
woman lying on the floor, a shocking mass of blood and
bruises. They lifted her upon the bed, but she only gave
two sighs and then expired. Information of the horrid crime
was immediately given to the police, and P.C. Harrison,
who is stationed at Winlaton, was soon on the spot, and
apprehended Atkinson for the murder of his wife. He was
afterwards conveyed to the Blaydon lock-up by Sergeant
Wood, where he now remains. When the police entered
the house the scene which presented itself was truly hor-
rible. The floor of the dwelling apartment where the mur-
der had been committed was literally covered with the blood
and hair of the murdered woman, as if she had been dragged
about when the tragedy was being enacted. The poker. the
tongs, and the ooalrake were bent in such a manner as to
render them useless as weapons, and they also were covered
with clotted blood and matted hair. The fire shovel too had
been used by the murderer, and sonie ghastly work must
have been done with it. Its handle was smashed and the blade
coated with blood; and net satisfied with the weapons he
had already used, the murderer had taken up the handle
of the house brush, and in striking his victim had broken it
twice. The body of the murdered woman when Dr Callender
arrived, a short time before the police got to the spot, pre-
sented a shocking appearance. It was one mass of bruises
and wounds. She was then dead. On the left temple was
a large wound two inches long and of the same width; her
left arm was broken, and four fingers on the right hand
were also fractured. Oa her legs were cuts and bruises, and
whether these had been inflicted by kicks or by the fire-
irons cannot be said. There was one large wound on the
right leg which it is a wonder did not fracture the limb—
as it was, it cut deeply into the flesh, leaving a hole as if a
piece had been hacked out.
Since the removal of the murderer to the Blaydon lock-

up he appears deeply to feel the awful nature of his posi-
tion, and exhibits signs of great contrition and prostration
of mind.—Newcastle Chronicle.

THE MAORI WAR.—If this war should unfor•
tunately once more break out, no blame can be
attached to the naval and military forces which were origi-
nally employed in bringing the rebels of New Zealand to a
proper sense of their duty. We fear, however, from the
accounts which we have received by the last mail, that
there will be more fighting before the island is reduced to a
peaceable condition; but come what may, we have the
satisfaction of knowing that perfect unanimity reigns be-
tween the members of the two services. There is a total
absence of jealousy on the part of soldiers and sailors, an i
all vie with each other in awarding honour to those who
deserve it. Asa proof of this, we may say that we have
seen an extract taken from a letter written by an officer
high up on the staff of the military Commander• in-Chief,
in which, after alluding generally to the fight at Tau-
range, the writer makes the following complimentary allu-
sion to Commodore Sir W. Wiseman :—" The Commodore
behaved like a • brick' at Tauranga, and went about amidst
a hail of bullets as unconcernedly as if he had been walking
about the streets of London." We do not insert this brief
but spirited statement merely to prove that bravery is not
an uncommon quality with naval officers of rank., but to
show that an amiable feeling to exalt their comrades of the
sister service reigns amongst the laud forces stationed in
New Zealand.—Ar;;zy and INTavy Gazqte.
BREAKFAST BEVERAGL.—liwl:os)pathie practitioners,
and the medical profeesion generally, recommend sews.as being themost healthful of all beverages.: When the doc-
trine of homeopathy was first introduced into this country,
there were to bo obt ined no preparations of cocoa either at-
tractive to the taste or acceptable to the stomach ; the nut
was either supplied ia the crude state, or so unskilfully
manufactured as to obtain little notice. J. Epfs, of London,
Iloniceopathic Chemist, was induced in the year 180 to turn
his sVentiert to this subject, and at ienAth succeeded, with
the assistance of elaborate machinery, in being. the first
to produce an article pure in its composition, and so refined
by the perfect filturaCon it receives in the process it passes
through, as to be moss acceptable to the delicate stomach.
For general use Epps's Cocoa is distinguished as an invig•o-
rating, grateful breakfast beverage, possessing a most deli,
oious aroma. Dr. Ifassall, in his week, "Food and its
Adulterations," says -" Cocoa contains a great variety of im-
rtgarnotwntihitr principles—everyand
ive
rsustenanee of the
body." A
ingre tit
gnacien: .A
essa,ryst:
the
nutritive, cocoa stands very much higher than either coffee
or tea." Directions—Two teaspoonfuls of the powder iu a
filled up with boiling water or milk. Secured
tin-linedibureakfast u c
klb., and llb. labelled packets, and sold by
all grocers, confectioners, and chemists,- [ADVT.]