The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-12 00:00:00

THE DOUBLE MURDER. AND SUICIDE
IN BLACKFRIARS•ROAD.

The following are some further particulars rela-
tive to the melancholy affair in the Btackfriars-
road, reported in our yesterday's impression :
For the last four years, or nearly so, a married
man, named Joseph Mockford, has occupied apart-
ments at 189, Blackfriars-road, the other portions
of which are in the occupation of a gentleman named
Pearce, who entertained the highest respect for his
lodger, and who now speaks of him in the highest
terms of praise as a steady and respectable man, a
loving husband, and a doating father. He filled a
confidential situation in the service of Mr. Meredith
of the saw mills, Bankside, with wages and perqui-
sites averaging £2 ss. per week. He had three chil-
dren, two girls and a boy, an infant ; and he lived a
happy life enough until the end of April last, when
his wife died after a very brief illness, and he at
once became an altered man, moody, miserable, and
gloomy, and frequently, in vague terms, expressing
an intention of making away with himself. To
these threats, however, his friends attached no very
serious importance, supposing that time would re-
concile him to the loss of his wife, and that he
would gradually resume his former habits.
Upon the death of his wife, his sister resigned a
situation in the City, and at his desire went to keep
house for Mockford, and take care of his two elder
children. The youngest, an infant, about six weeks
old, he committed to the charge of its grandmother
by the father's side. This arrangement appears to
have worked to his entire satisfaction, and on Sun-
day last it was agreed that Mockford, with his two
eldest children, should take tea with the mother of
his late wife, that he should sleep at her house that
night, and that the children should be left there
for a day or two, while his sister was to go to her
mother's, and stay there for a similar period. The
sister accordingly went on her visit, and it was
supposed that Mockford and his children had gone
on theirs. According to this arrangement, he
shotild have returned home to sleep on Monday,
but did not do so, and as, when Tuesday came,
he still remained absent, Mr. Pearce thought
it only prudent to send to his sister to
ascertain when he would be likely to return. The
reply was that the sister had not seen him since she
left home onn. Sunday, but that she would imme-
diately go to his father-in-law's, to inquire there.
She went herself, and found, to her great surprise,
that Mockford had not been there at all. Upon this,
the whole family became greatly alarmed, and mak-
ing their way to the Blackfriars-road, the father
and mother, sister and sister-in-law, roused up Mr.
Pearce, who had gone to bed, and obtained admis,
sion to the house, with the result already repoeLed.
Upon a more minute inspection of the ar:atment
it became apparent that Mockford had acted with
full deliberation in taking the lives of his children
and himself. The children, it is kn.own, were rather
partial to castor oil as a medicine, and on the chair
before referred to as having a carving knife upon it
(there was also a fork) was a teacup, containing a
little castor oil, with some sediment at the bottom,
the remains, it is presumed, of poison, which had
been administered in the oil. There was also a phial
lying under the table, which it is presumed had
contained that poison before it was mixed with the
oil, although the exact nature of it has not yet been
discovered.
The two poor children were named respectively
Catherine and Emily—the former being seven and
the latter four years old. When their bodies were
discovered one was lying on her face and the other
on her left arm. The action of the poison seems to
have been rapid, and so great was the change from
their natural appearance, that Mr. Henderson at
first imagined them to have been dead for three or
four days. By the side of their bodies two pillows
were found lying—one with and the other with-
out a case, the latter being completely satu-
rated with blood; and this, together with the gene-
ral appearance of the room, leads to the supposi-
tion that Mockford was kneeling on the pillows,
looking at his children, when he inflicted the stabs
which brought about his death, and that he after-
wards dragged himself to the chair by the window,
and sat there till he bled to death. The stabs must
have been inflicted with the utmost coolness and.
deliberation. He had on only his trowsers, shirt,
and flannel shirt. The first were loose about him,
and the shirts—which have no perforation over the
stabs—must have been lifted and held up with one
hand, while he struck the knifeeinto his abdomen
five or six times with the other; so that every ap-
pearance warrants the conclusion that he had long
contemplated the terrible deed. It should be added
that under the table was found a chamber-utensil
containing apparently some vomit matter, and it is
thought probable that he in the first instance at-
tempted to poison himself, but that, throwing up
the poison, he then had recourse to the carving-
knife.Z.The vomit matter was at once sealed up by
the dizection of Mr. Henderson, who is engaged
with another medical man in making a postmortem
examination of the bodies. The inquest will, it is
expected, be held this day.
Mockford was 35 years old, and up to the death
of his wife, on the 27th of April last, a strong and
healthy rasp.
MARKETS---THIS DAY.