The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-11 00:00:00

THE RECENT MURDERS.

Suicide of the Murderer,

The inquiries set on foot by the detective police on the
Surrey side of the Thames have led to the discovery of the
murderer of the woman and two children who were found
dead in a cab on Saturday evening last. The murderer, how-
ever, took poison as soon as he found the police had dis-
covered him, and died from its effects at the Camberwell
green Police-station shortly after his apprehension.
In consequence of the description published on Monday
morning of the three murdered persons, as well as of the
man who rode in the cab with them, and who was supposed
to be their murderer, the suspicions of a letter carrier named
Prescott were aroused as to a person named Hunt, residing
at Camberwell. He knew that Hunt's family led a most un-
happy life, and that he had threatened to do for his wife
and children. Ho had seen Hunt go in and out of his
house on Sunday, but had seen nothing of his wife and
children. On Monday evening, therefore, he went to the
police-stati )n near Camberwell-green and told the inspector
whom he found on duty what he thought of the matter,
Acting on this information, Inspectors Meloy and Smith
proceeded, about 20 minutes to 10 on Monday night, to the
house indicated by Prescott, which is situated in Welling-
ton-road, Coldharbour-lane, Camberwell. They knocked at
the door. All was quiet, and no light was to be seen in the
house. No answer being returned to their summons they
knocked again and again, but without obtaining any reply.
While thus engaged Inspector Dann arrived at the spot,
having received similar information from another source.
The knocking was again repeated, when Inspector Meloy
fancied he heard something moving in the house. They
then commened a vigorous kicking at the door, which after
some delay was opened on the chain. A man then asked
the inspectors who they were and what they wanted, when
Inspector Smith said they belonged to the police, and de-
manded admittance. The chain was then withdrawn, and
they entered the house. The man then said, " Wait a
minute; wait a minute; I'll get a light ;" and made a rusk
towards the stairs. They prevented his reaching them, In-
spector Smith replying, "Never mind, we've got a light."
They then all went up into a bedroom on the first floor,
when the man commenced retching, a circumstance which
aroused the suspicion of the inspectors, and induced Meloy
to question him as to whether he had not taken poison, to
which he replied, " No, I have not ; my heart is affected."
He then asked them what they wanted, and Inspector Smith
asked him if his wife and family were at home. He said,
" No, they are all in the country ; they have gone to South-
ampton." When asked the date of their departure he re-
plied that they went away on Friday night last. Inspector
Meloy said, " Have you not made a mistake, was it not on
Saturday night ?" The man replied "No ; I am positive it
was Friday night." At intervals dvring this conversation
the man retched violently. He wasthen asked as to his family
and he said he had two children, both girls, one eightand the
other four years of age. Inspector Smith asked him to de-
scribe the children, which he did, and his description tallied
exactly with that of the children found in the cab. He also
stated the age of his wife to be 27. Inspector Dann said to
him, "Have you read the account of the murder in the
papers ?" To which he replied, " I have read the account
of the murder ;" and immediately added rather sharply,
" But you don't suppose it's my family, do you ?" Inspector
Meloy asked the man how his wife and family were dressed,
to which he replied by asking how the deceased were dressed.
Meloy said they were dressed in black. On which he said,
"They cannot be mine, for mine were all light dressed,"
and added, "She has gone on a visit to her uncle, Mr.
Campbell, who lives at 29, Harmwood-street, Southampton.
Inspector Dann then requested him to go with them to the
police-station to hear the description of the deceased woman
and children read. He expressed his willingness to do so, and
then asked Inspector Meloy‘if he would take charge of £4O
in Bank of England notes, a request which he declined to
comply with. He then accompanied them to the station, and
on the way said, " My wife and myself have lived very un-
happily, and she was always very jealous, and, oh I she led
me a dreadful life, always accusing me wrongfully, and talk-
ing to that extent that I have frequently been obliged to
leave my bed and walk the streets. The children have told
me something which has aroused my suspicions of her.
They went out one day, and when they returned they said
they had met a gentleman who had taken them all in a cab,
and that he was kind, like me, and looked like me, only that
he had a moustache. I did not like this," When offering the
bank .notes to Mr Meloy, he said " I want you to take charge
of these to give to my wife and children if they are alive."
He afterwards said, "She used to drink, and her bottles
were always about the house; what I drank this evening was
a part of what she left behind in a bottle." Inspector Meloy
asked him if he knew what it was that he had drunk, and
he replied, "I have no doubt but that it was gin."
During the whole of the conversation at the house, and
on the way to the station, the man continued to retch and
vomit so violently that on arriving Mr. Puckle, surgeon, of
Coldharbour-lane, was immediately sent for. He at once
said that the man had taken poison, and, after much resist-
ance succeeded in forcing a strong emetic down his throat.
Mr. Massey, of Camberwell-green, shortly after arrived,
and Dr. Maule Sutton, a physician, late of the Queen's
Hospital, Birmingham, who was passing, also rendered his
assistance. Previous to the arrival of the medical men the
prisoner, being weak from excessive vomiting, sat down
while the description of the deceased woman and children
was read over to him, on hearing which he exclaimed seve-
ral times " That is them," as the inspector proceeded in
reading the account. He was then asked if his wife had a
sore foot, and ho said " Yes." Meloy then asked "Does she
use ointment ?" to which he replied " Yes, I have applied it
to the sore myself." The vomiting continuing to increase,
he said he thought he was dying, and asked to be allowed to
lie down. This was complied with, and the medical gentle-
men then questioned him as to what he had taken. He re-
plied, "I think it was something in the glass which was
not spirits." He continued, " I know what my wife died of
now—it is prussic acid, and it was in the house. I might
have taken aconite—l think I did." After this ho conti-
nued retching for nearly an hour, when he again referred to
his wife, and said her uncle had given them £5O, which
enabled him to live without drawing his salary, and ho had
not touched it for the last 18 months. Just previous to his
deathihe seemed to sleep, and suddenly awoke, when he said
—" I have had the most beautiful dreams. I want to write.
lam dying, and before I die I want to write." Writing
materials having been supplied, he was just able to write as
follows, but he could not sign the note :

,' Mr. John M'Culloch—Pay to my wife the money due
to me—namely, £l2O, due the 17th of September last, and
the remainder due to me."

He then said, " My employer owes me 18 months' salary.
We have had a good many rows about that, and I wish to
leave it to my children if they are alive." Shortly after this
he died.

The body was removed about half-past 12 to the house of
the deceased, when it was ascertained that his name was
Hunt, and that for some time past he had held the situation
of traveller to Messrs. Butler and M'Culloch, seedsmen,
herbalists, and druggists, Covent-garden. The body was
then again examined by Dr. Sutton as to the cause of death,
but he could find no signs of prussic acid. The expression
of the countenance was calm, although he had died from
exhaustion brought on from excessive retching and struggled
violently just before his death. On searching the body they
found his linen marked S. H. Hunt. He was well dressed
in a suit of mourning. The body was taken to the house
in Wellingtm-road, where it awaits the coroner's inquest.
After his death he was identified by the cabman Parker
as the man whom he had driven from the Great Eastern
Railway to Furnival's:lnn. Another cabman, named Peirce,
also identified him as the man whom he had driven from
Camberwell to Shoteditch station. It seems that on Satur-
day evening about 7 o'clock the second cabman was on his
stand at Camberwell-green when he was hailed by a lady in
black with two little girls. She told him to drive to Shore-
ditch station, and to take th 3 check-string in his hand, as
she would have to atop him on the road. When they had
proceeded about 200 or 300 yards down Camberwell-road a
man, who afterwards turned out to be the deceased, hailed
him, but the cabman said he was engaged. The man, how-
ever, said he had friends in the cab whom he wanted to join.

In his capacity of traveller for Messrs. Butler and
M'Culloch, Hunt seems to have obtained a knowledge of
herbs and chemistry, He had fitted up a small laboratory
in his house, where he resided with his wife and two
children. His neighbours say that he and his wife were
constantly quarrelling, and that at times they appeared to
be very wretched. He had been heard oa more than one
occasion to say he would "do for his wife and children
one of these days," and some persons who sympathised
with them remonstrated with Hunt on their account. The
house, though small, bore a very respectable appoar-
anoe, and some of the rooms were well and comfortably
furnished. The house was searched by the police, and a
small bottle of tincture of aconite, or monkshood, one of
the most deadly poisons known, was found,
It is a curious fact that although Parker, the cabman,
stated to the police and at the inquest that the man he
drove from Shoreditch station had a moustache, several
people in the neighbourhood unite in stating that for the
last two years Hunt had gone with his upper lip shaven.
The Mr. M'Culloch referred to above is not a "west-end
chym'st," as has been reported, but the present head of the
firm of Messrs. Butler and M'Culloch. Last evening we
were informed that Hunt had been in their employment for
about three years. His usual business was to make a round
of calls early in the day and arrive in Covent garden in the
afternoon, when he attended to customers in the shop, or
did whatever was required there.
On Friday last Hunt asked for leave of absence for Sa-
turday, "as he was going into the country, to Margate."
On Monday afternoon ho appeared at the shop at his usual
time, and without exhibiting any change in his appearance
or manner. In the course of the afternoon Mr. Youngman,
Mr. Mr. M'Culloch's foreman, asked him if he had rhea
particulars of the horrible affair in a cab. To this
no reply, and he conducted himself in a towards
persons persons who came into the shop during the rest oarthe after-
noon ; but in the evening he eat witht Mr. M'Culloch in
be in high spirits.
the counting-house, and appeared
He was laughing and joking more f?eoely than he usually
did when in a similar frame of mind. He parted with
Mr. M'Culloch on Monday evening as !ate as seven o'clock,
not the slightest suspicion being entertained by any one
14 Whose coopally he had been that be was the murderer,