The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-11 00:00:00

ANOTHER MURDER. BY A MANIAC.

A murder, closely resembling in its general aspect
the tragedy recently enacted on 1 udgate-hill, has
been committed in the neighbourhood of the City-
road. The scene of the murder was 18, Brunswick-
place, and the victim the son of the murderess. The
house has been for some years in the tenancy of
Mr. Coole, foreman in a large cabinet-making esta-
blishment. He was father of four children by Mrs.
Adelaide Coole, his wife, the youngest being Charles,
aged 15 months. For some time Mrs. Coole has
been subject to ill-health, her malady being, it is
stated, consumption of a malignant type, and a
nurse was brought in. On Thursday afternoon Mr.
Coole left home, leaving his wife, to all appearance,
in her ordinary state of health. About two hours
afterwards Mrs. Coole went down to the kitchen,
where her servant had charge of the little boy
Charles, and the nurse was also there. She made
no remark to either of the women, nor was it noticed
that there was anything peculiar in her manner;
but she took the child by the hand, and led it out
of the kitchen upstairs. It was subsequently remem-
bered that a large carving-knife, which had been
lying on the kitchen table was missing from the
spot immediately afterwards ; and there is no
doubt that the unhappy woman contrived to
take it out of the kitchen unperceived. Scarcely

ten minutes had elapsed when Mrs. Cook, again
made her appearance in the kitchen, looking
ghastly white, and in a state of convulsive trem-
bling. She did not utter a word, and appeared
unable to do so, and only with difficulty kept
on her feet. The sight of the palms of her hands,
which were completely eovered with blood, made
the servants run upstairs, half fainting with
terror, and upon going into the back room on the
first floor she saw the lifeless body of the little boy,
his throat severed from ear to ear by a fearful
wound, which nearly divided the head from the
trunk. Beside him lay the carving knife with
which the act had been committed, and the carpet
on which the warm and bleeding corpse lay was
saturated with blood. On going to the kitchen she
found that the mother had fainted, and then it was
discovered that she had also inflicted a wound in
her own throat, doubtless with the carving-knife
with which she had already destroyed her child.
The cut was not more than skin deep, and it is sup-
posed that failure of strength prevented her accom
plishing the crime of suicide. Dr. Rogers, who had
been in attendance on Mrs. Coole, was sent for,
and, after prescribing for the mother, he made an
examination of the murdered child. All the prin-
cipal arteries and vessels of the neck were severed,
and the knife had penetrated to the bone. Death
must have been instantaneous. The injuries which
had been inflicted by Mrs. Coole upon herself were
pronounced not to be in themselves dangerous, but
her condition was such as to render it impossible
to say whether death might not take place. In-
spector Webster was communicated with, and he
sent down constables to take Mrs. Coole into cus-
tody ; but upon the certificate of the medical man
that her removal would be highly dangerous, she
was not removed from the house, an officer remain-
ing with her until she can be transferred to prison.
No motive whatever has been assigned for the mur-
der of the child. Mrs. Coole is 39 years of age.

upstairs, and she wanted to go into the room where
deceased was, saying that he was crying. He was
net, of course, crying, being perfectly dead. There
were four children. One of them, Walter, was in
the room, witness thought, at the time; the others
were at school. Deceased had been reading the
Bible during the afternoon in a low tone.
' Dr. J. F. Rogers said that at four o'clock on the
day in question he was sent for to see the deceased.
Re was lying in a pool of blood on the floor, and
quite dead. There was a wound in the throat ex-
tending from the left to a little below the right ear.
All the principle arteries, the windpipe, and the
gullet were divided, and the knife had penetrated
to the bone. The carving knife lay on the chest
of drawers, and was covered with blood. Witness
had been attending Mrs. Coole since the beginning
of July, and she was at present quite unfit to attend
before the court.
The Coroner said that in a case so seriously af-
fecting Mrs_ Coole he would adjourn the inquest, to
give her an opportunity of being present before a
verdict should be returned.
Inspector Webster said that it would be impossi-
ble to remove the prisoner at present.
The Court then adjourned.