The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-20 00:00:00

HORRIBLE MURDER BY A MANIAC.

On Saturday morning, about half-past nine o'clock,
the neighbourhood of Waterloo-street, St. Luke's, im-
mediately at the rear of St. Luke's Church, was thrown
into the greatest excitement in consequence of a report
that a most horrible murder had been perpetrated by
George Hennen, a stone-mason; upon his wife, 67 years
of age, at their residence, 39, in the above street.
Crowds of persons were soon drawn to the spot, and
Inspector Brennan, with Serjeant Harvey, 14 G,
speedily made their way to the scene of the awful mur-
der, and in the back parlour of the house they beheld
the deceased woman lying on a bed with her head
literally beaten flat, and her throat cut and haggled.
The person of the deceased and the bedclothes were
saturated with blood, and her brains were scattered
about the apartment, while a carpenter's hatchet, with
which the frightful deed was committed, was lying near
the person of the unfortunate woman. The officers took
possession of the weapon, and having prooeeded to
a further investigation of the awful tragedy, as-
certained that her husband, who was seen to
leave the house a short time previously, had for some
time past exhibited symptoms of a diseased mind,
although he had hied on the most amicable terms with
his wife. On Friday night they.went to bed together in
apparent affection, and when he was first seen the next
morning, he said, on being asked by his landlady how
his wife was, "Oh! very well," and muttering something
else, disappeared. The constables forthwith proceeded
in search of the wretched prisoner, and found him at the
residence of his mother, to whom, however, he had not
made any mention of the frightful offence he had been
guilty of. His clothes were very wet, and being asked
by the officer what he had being doing, he refused to say
anything beyond frequently repeating, "Oh ! my dear
wife." They also ascertained that he had been in ill
health, and utterly unable to work, which had preyed
very much on his mind. He was forthwith removed to
the police-station in Old-street, and at four o'clock in the
afternoon he was brought before Mr. Con ie, at Clerken-
well Police Court, and charged with the revolting murder.
The unhappy man is about 40 years of age, and has a
very careworn and sickly appearance. He stared va-
cantly about, and, several times, while the dreadful facts
were being deposed to, called out, "Oh she was a good
wife," and "She was the best of women."
Inspector Brennan was first sworn—He said that life
was quite gone when he first beheld the murdered
woman. There was a large hole in the left temple, and
the other portions of the skull were battered in and the
brains scattered about. There was also a frightful gash
iu her throat, and a hatchet (produced) covered with
hair, blood, and brains, was lying in the fire-place.
Witness discovered the accused in bed at his mother's
house. He first asked him, "Do you know me, Hen-
nen ?" when he replied, " No, I am very cold and wet."
Witness said, "I am Brennan, the policeman, don't
you know me now ?" and he made answer in precisely
the same language. Witness removed him to the sta-
tion, where he asked for bread, butter, and coffee,
seemingly all the time totally unconscious of what he
had done. He had known the prisoner for many years
as a steady and hard-working man, and believed he had
always lived on terms of affection with his wife.

M. Doubleday, surgeon, 13, Windsor-street, City-
road, said—The frightful injuries enumerated by Mr.
Brennan amply accounted for death, and were inflicted,
no doubt, while she was asleep.
Mr. Corrie (to the prisoner).—Do you wish to ask
the witness any question ?

Prisoner—What *hat 1 Who to ?
Mr. Corrie— Would you like to put any question to
either of the witnesses ?

Prisoner—No, no.

Mr. Corrie inquired if any noise was heard in the
prisoner's house during the night of Friday or on Satur-
day morning ?

Mr. Brennan said there was not, adding that it was 8
o'clock in the morning when the prisoner went out.
Prisoner (clasping his hands)—Ah, ah! She was a
good wife to me.

Mr. Corrie (to Mr. Doubleday)—Had you any know-
ledge of the deceased or the prisoner previous to this
unfortunate occurrence ?

Mr. Doubleday—A short time ago the prisoner's wife
brought him to me, when she said she was in want of
relief, and had been in Gray's-inn-lane Hospital, suffering
from hypochondriasis. She said he had frequently at-
tempted to make away with himself. He then certainly
had the appearance of a person suffering from a disordered
mind, and appeared altogether unfit for labour.
Mr. Corrie remanded the prisoner until a coroner's
inquest had been held.

The unhappy man, without making any observation,
was then silently removed from the bar.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

BOW-STREET.—Charles Thomas Jones, attorney, of
Long-acre, and formerly of Merthyr Tydvil, and John
Anthony Pull, his clerk, appeared to answer the charge
of having conspired to defraud the County Treasury, by
false pretences, of the sum of 2/. 58.
Mr. Bodkin attended to conduct the prosecution on
the part of the Crown.

Mr. lorry, barrister, said that he appeared for the
defendants. lie was placed in a most painful position,
because, after he had received instructions in the case
from Mr. Jones, he (Mr. lorry) was himself served
with a summons to attend as a witness. Now, all the
evidence be could give as a witness would be that he
had received a fee from Mr. Jones.

Mr. Henry—That would be very material evidence,
and I am surprised that you should not know the prac-
tice of counsel in such cases.

Mr. Bodkin said this was a case of great public im-
portance, and one in which other parties besides the de-
fendant would probably be called upon to appear at a
later stage of the inquiry and seeing that Mr. Horsy
had thought proper to appear as counsel for the parties
now before the magistrate, he .(Mr. Bodkin) felt it his
painful duty to state that Mr. 'lorry's conduct in the
matter, as he was instructed, had been so improper and
so unprofessional, that he certainly should not think of
examining him as a witness at present, although he had
been summoned to give evidence for the prosecution.
Mr. Horry rose to comment upon this statement; but
Mr. Henry considered that he ought to withdraw.
Mr. Horry—After those remarks of Mr. Bodkin, I
think it right to say that I shall retain my seat as coun-
sel for myself, in order that I may have an opportunity
of stating fully my own share in the transactions.
Mr. Henry—There will be ample opportunity afforded
you of doing so before the case is disposed of.
The defendant Jones—l can dispense with Mr.
Horry, if he likes.
_ _

Horry then withdrew to another part of the
court.

Mr. Bodkin then proceedeil with his statement of the
case, reserving all intimation as to persons to whom the
charge might ultimately extend. It, was well known
that a certain class of persons had long been in the
habit of attending the Criminal Courts of London, for
the purpose of getting employment from the friends of
prisoners and others in a legal capacity ; but latterly a
new species of conduct had arisen, for, in small cases of
larceny, where prosecutors had not thought it necessary
to employ counsel, they were now pestered by those
persons to authorise them to undertake the prose-
cution, a promise being given that no charge
should be made for expenses. By this means the
fees of the court were obtained, and equally divided ;
and, in the present case, he (Mr. Bodkin) should
be able to prove that the defendants had untruly repre-
sented themselves as having been employed by Mr.
Smith, the well-known lessee of Drury-lane Theatre, to
prosecute a man for stealing bills ; ind although the
prisoner pleaded guilty, and nothing was done for him,
the above representation was made the pretext for exact-
ing 2/. ss. from the ratepayers of the county for solici-
tor's and counsel's fees.

- Mr. C. Allen, jun., the assistant-clerk of the peace,
deposed that he remembered the prosecution of a man
named George Carter, for-stealing playbills, at the West-
minster Sessions, on the 27th February last. The pri-
soner pleaded guilty. No counsel appeared for the pro-
secution, and no expenses were applied for at the time.
An hour or two after the sentence was passed, the
defendant Pull came to witness with what appeared
to be a brief. The defendant asked him to mark
the brief in the usual way, the expenses having been
applied for and allowed. Witness said he had no re-
collection of such an application being made, and there
was no entry of it in the books of the court, consequently
he refused to mark the brief. As Mr. Horry's name was
on the back of it witness advised the defendants to take
back the brief to Mr. Horry, and leave him to make the
application. Mr. lorry then applied to the Assistant-
Judge, stating that he had done so before. Mr. Ser-
geant Adams looked through the depositions with the
view of refreshing his mind as to the case, and then al-
lowed the expenses. Witness accordingly marked the
brief, and it was taken away by Pall. Witness saw no-
thing of Jones on any occasion. He subsequently
signed the order for payment of 2/. 55., and the order
was retained by the treasurer.
John Harper, a clerk in the office of the Clerk of the
Peace, proved the payment of the money jointly to Pull
and Jones. The receipt was signed by Jones, who said
he was the solicitor for the prosecution.
Mr. E. T. Smith, the lessee of Drury-lane Theatre,
proved that he never gave either of the defendants, or
anybody else, authority to conduct the prosecution of
George Carter. He left. Carter to himself. He recol-
lected Mr. Wild, his acting manager, telling him one
day that a Mr. Pull wanted to prosecute the prisoner,
without charging anything for his expenses ; but he
(Mr. Smith) declined to have anything to do with Mr.
Pull..

Mr. T. S. Smith, secretary to the Free Trade Free-
hold Land Society, who prosecuted the same prisoner
for stealing the bills of the society, deposed that he
never authorised the defendants to prosecute, although
he saw Pull write down his name, and the title of the
society, when he (witness) was before the grand jury.
Mr. Henry remanded the defendants for a week, re‘
quiring bail for their attendance.

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