The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-11 00:00:00

THE ESSEX MURDER.

,foatTAit

We noticed in ?he Sun cf Wednesday last, the murder
of a woman named` Hempstead, which her husband was )„IfidiSi.
said to have perpetrated: A coroner's inquest has sine.;
been held, before whom several witnesses were examined, 4K.
and a verdict of wilful murder against her husband' was
found. The following is- the evidence of the principal
witnesses :7: . .

Thomas Hempstead, son of the prisoner, a lad about
14 years old, who deposed --My father is a Weaver.
I heard my father go down stairs, without his shoes,
about four o'clock on Saturday. I was awake at
the time, and I asked him what o'clock it was. He
told me five minutes to four. I then went to sleep,
but soon after I heard him go down again. My
sister then called to him about the .tune, and he
answered her that it was near six. A hammer that was
hung up the previous night in the kitchen we missed that
morning.. My sister went into mother's bed-reiona and
found my mother dead in the bed. She made an alarm,
and I went in, and I saw wounds on my mother's head.
They looked as if ,done by a hammer. My father and .
mother aid not live comfortable together. I have heard
him say esiveral times' he should like to wash his hands .
in my mother's blood. [The prisoner here rose and said
in a firm -voice, " I beg leave to correct that."] Wit-
ness proceeded—l have often seen him strike her, but I
did not beer them quarrel on Friday last. I went to
bed before them, about nine o'clock.
Mr. Shepherd here examined the witness, but elicited
nothing particular beyond the evidence given. -
Elizabeth Hempstead sworn---I am the daughter of
the deceased. I heard a knocking in my father and
mother's room ; it was a dull kind of sound. I heard
my father go down, and I asked him the time, and he
said it was six o'clock.
,I got up and dressed myself by
moonlight, and went down stairs and opened the door,
and by the moonlight I conid see whato'clockit was, and
.it was but twenty-five minutes past four. I went up to
nay mother's Led-room, and found the door ajar. I called
oat to my mother, but she did not answer. My brother
told me to shake her, but I said I would not disturb her.
My edeter got up and went into the room, and put her
ear te the pillow, and could not heartily mother breathe.
She then put her hand on her face and oil the pillow,
and foetid it bloody. She cried out, "My mother is
killed." We ran down to our neighbours and got a
light, acid entered the room and found our mother dead,
lying on her side in the bed. There was a quantity of
blood on her night-dress and under her hand. My
mother did not appear to have struggled. She looked
as if she were asleep. Ws could not find the hammer,
which hung up in the kitchen the night before. It was
a large claw hammer. I have often heard my father
and mother quarrelling, but I cannot say what it
was about. It was generally father's fault. I
have not seen him strike her for the last twelve
months, but before that frequently. I was with him
on Friday evening from a quarter-past six until
bedtimo. I went to bed just before nine. There had ,
been no quarrelling that evening, nor did I hear any-
thing during the night. They went to bed at the same
time as I did. We left my brother Isaac at his work in
the middle floor. I have heard my father say several
times " I should like to wash my hands in my wife's
blood." [Prisoner again interrupted, and said, " That
lis an incorrect statement ; if you give evidence, give it
correctly."] Witness proceeded—l have often heard.
my father say he would kill my mother—that he would
catch her when she was asleep.
Examined by Mr. Shepherd—l have often known my
father get up in the night and go out walking about. I
have thought him to appear strange in his manners. My
mother used to think it temper. Sometimes I have
known him to sit half an hour very quiet, but when
mother spoke to him to get him into a good temper he
would burst out in a rage.
By the Coroner—l thought his strangeness nasty
temper.
The Foreman—Did he take beer ?—No, not for the
last two months. ,
Mr. Shepherd—Did you ever hear your father say
anything about the youngest child ? Did you know him
to dislike it ? No.
Isaac Hempstead was next sworn. [This was another
son of the prisoner ; his whole air and manner was any-
thing but consistent with the position he occupied.)l My
father is a weaver ; my mother was about 49. was
with them both all day on Friday. They went to bed
about nine. I continued at my work, and went to bed
about eleven. My father had been working for Mr.
Burney, in his garden, the last three weeks. That's all
I have got to say to it.—On being further questioned
by the coroner, he (said—l sleep.in the adjoining room,
and heard my father go down about,a quarter past four
o'clock. My sister called out about the time. I heard
her call out to my mother. I heard my other sister
cry oat, " Oh, my mother is killed." I then got up and
got a light, and we went into my mother's room and
found her dead in, the bod. (The witness here repeated
what the former witness had said ; and then remarked
again, "That's all I have got to say about it.") On
being further examined by Mr. Shepherd, he said a Mr.
Forster had called on him to talk to his father on Friday
afternoon, and in the course el conversation he had ad-
vised his father that if he had those thoughts come on
again, to go to the doctor and take some medicine. That
he bad sudden changes come over him—sometimes be
woulal be very fond of his wife, and then again suddenly
show bad temper. He coaxed her down the face, and
said he would have her Asleep. They quarrelled about
two months ago, but he had never talked of having his
father confined, because unfit to be abroad. When his
father's " thoughts" came on he was kind to his wife,
but did not seem to know what he was about. Witneve
had never heard that any of his family were insane.
By a juror—Did you ever know your mother to find
a razor under the pillow I—No. But after quarrels
mother nsed to lock up the knives in the cupboard. She
was afraid of her life.
Mr. Robert Stedman, town-clerk of. Sudbury, exa-
.mined—l was summoned by the mayor to the Town-
'hall, on Saturday afternoon, at two o'clock, where I
found the prisoner. In the presence of the mayor, after
due caution, the prisoner made the following confession :
—" I believe myself to have been the murderer of my
wife, this morning, about four o'clock, at Halstead. She
is about 45 years of age. I have six children, the eldest
nineteen, the youngest three. I have often something
the matter with my head." He -would not say more or
sign the deposition.
The prisoner had gone from Halstead to Little Cor-
nerd, near Sudbury, where he met a person named
Rayner in the high road, and stopping him, asked who
was the constable of the parish, Rayner replying that he
was that person. The prisoner, lilting his hands, said,
"Then I am a murderer, and I wish you to take me in
charge." The constable was alarmed, but took him to
his house, and placed on the handcuffs ; took him and
delivered him up to Cross, the gaoler of Sudbury, who
searched him and found nothing upon him but two old
pipes. He was then conveyed to the Town-hall of Sud-
bury, where he made the above deposition, and was
afterwards lodged in the police-station at Halstead.
The Coroner summed up, and the jury came to the
unanimous verdict
,of wilful 'harder against the prisoner.
The following is an exact copy of the murderer's con-
fession before the Mayor of Sudbury :
" I believe myself to be the murderer of my wife this
morning, at four o'clock. I did not go back to see. My
wife was about 45 years of age. My eldest child is 19
years old, and my youngest 3 years. I have frequently
something the matter with my head. I confess to be the
murderer of my wife, but I do not wish to state any fur-
ther particulars for the present:"
Hempstead is about 50 years of age ; his figure is tall
and very attenuated, and with his grey hair and care-
worn countenance he might easily be supposed to have
reached three-score years. He appears to have been
educated rather above the generality of his class, if one
may judge from the few sentences uttered by him during
the trial, and which were strictly grammatical, and
spoken in a well-modulated voice. 'rife only successful
defence that can be pleaded on behalf of the prisoner, of
course, is that of mental derangement, but it does not
appear, until the commission of this crime, that he ever
complained of anything the matter-with his bead.
His manner since his apprehension, though sullen,
has been perfectly rational, and affords no evidence of a
deranged mind. When being taken from the police:sita-
tion to the cart which conveyed him to Braintree, one of
the crowd observed that he deserved hanging, and he
then exclaimed, "Oh ! I shall have it. I knout that. I
shall have. that !"
The bereaved children displayed, throughout the ex-
atnination at the inquest and at the committal, a re-
markable insensibility and want of feeling ti,straancgcueslyeras,
variance with their position as their father
and which it is difficult to ascribe to
edurication amidst
ether cause
than extreme ignorance or their faulty
te
as parents. The
the frequent broils of their tsfore
eldest sun, in particular, gave.
lealated to excite emo-
tions nonchalence as waslitti
hises tidence with such re-
'()
—....a-e•-•"""- ,--." .
tions of pity for ins. .unhappy situation.

vocife
rfreaegllluei
iretuent
pAlesTlNg•—nr:D:cißieTtezilifpoßruroßifisOein.cte.rT2chele..
resolved
sae
ons
ls v
hteoa
sd
wal Palestine,
reit dtjyti
o been
st h
teh former'" roGI nfenerrr 'n
German
aii
faet matured,
especially.that
tbhe
_EwlfutGaur:T
.informed- nt rTrnO ed . of a contemplated emigration in
sion with the Sublime Porte to grant a tract of land for
the above purpose. The origin of this idea of the great
gnicliunts.o decay to that extent that
exodus is the peculiar view of the present social relations
every
ictgth:einnssewitr4hai will of generally,
ttaGyonodhadna and
a
to disengage himself betimes from
position. As far as this degenerating
we can
laid before the. Dist has already loam, the petition to be
AND
sr oonui
le
r/
Ae
B.
of 300 families. This intelligencereceived the signatures
LONDON, TILBURY,
remark-
able, since the families thus resolved to leave their fa-
Ch Christian faith._
jewishrecinot of the Jewish but of the
re yetto whom
deareanr
WAT.—Yesterda special ND EXTENSION RAIL-
y a general meeting of the share-
holders of this company was heleat the London Tavern,
1 for the purpose of authorising the joint committee of the
Eastern Counties, the London and Blackwell, and the
London
, Tilbury, and Southend Extension Companies
to borrow money on mortgage, under the powers of their
act ; Mr. Daniels in the chair. A report was read ex-
plaining the position of the railway, and the object con-
templated by the proposed loan. The amount of the loan
was 75,000/. to be raised by mortgage, and the money
was to be expended in the construction of additional
works, stations, and sidings, in consequence of
the increased traffic on , the line. The Chaim; a
stated, in reply to a shareholder, that i
the nterest
of the proposed loan would be paid by the lessees,
and that the arrangement would not at all disturb
the guarantee of 6 per cent. to the shareholders. In
fact, their position would be bettered, as the works were
to meet the increased traffic, and the further traffic
which was expected to come on the line from Southend..
The resolution authorising the directors to take the pro.
posed loan was unanimously agreed to, and the meet,.
• Leg separated.