The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-17 00:00:00

MORE MURDERING.

A horrible affair became known in Hanley, Stafford-
shire, on Saturday morning—the murder of an infant and
attempted murder of another child by their mother, and
the atempted suicide of the murderess. The scene of the
tragedy is Brownedge, a small namlet lying off the main
road from Hartley to Leek. One of the inhabitants is
James Goodwin, who with his wife, his daughter, aged
ten years, and an infant of ten months, on
Friday morning constituted an apparently happy family.
Towards night, however, the daughter ran screaming. out
of the house, bleeding from a wound in the throat. Some
of the neigbours went to the cottage door, which was
found to be fast. An entrance was effected, and on going
upstairs Mrs. Goodwin and her infant, both with their
throats cut, were seen lying on the bed. A surgeon was sent
for, and he attended to the wound, but the little-one's life
could not be save. The self-inflicted wound of the mother
was not so serious, and it is believed that the elder child will
also recover. From the latter it has been elicited, that
being asked by her mother to go upstairs, she did so, and
was closely followed by her mother, who immediately seized
her and cut her throat with a razor. She, however, man-
aged to struggle away, and ran out of the house, as stated
above. Goodwin was at once sent for from the colliery,
and was naturally much affected by the deplorable cir-
cumstances. Mrs. Goodwin was nine years ago mentally
affected to such an extent that she was placed
under proper care in the Leek workhouse, but there had
been no recent indication of aberration, and Goodwin
states that when he left her on Friday morning there was
no observable excitement or peculiarity of manner. The
razor was found under the bed, and proved to be Good-
win's. Mrs. Goodwin, as it was dangerous to remove her,
was placed under police charge in the cottage.

A countryman, who had never paid more than
25c. to see an exhibition, went to a New York theatre one
night to see " The Forty. Thieves." The ticket-seller
charged him 75c. for a ticket. Passing the pasteboard
back, he quietly remarked, "Keep it, mister; I don't
want to see the other thirty-nine," and out he marched.

BETTING BY MAciIiNERY.—An ingenious instru-
ment, of French manufacture, for the purpose of mutual
betting, was introduced for the first time on the Roodoe,
on Wednesday. The chief constable (Mr. Fenwick) saw
this in operation, and being of opinion that it combined
the features of a betting-list and sweepstake, he had it
seized, the proprietor undertaking to appear at the
police-court on Thursday morning. He did so, and pro-
duced handbills explanatory of W. Chase and Co.'s
" Parri-mutuel," or system of mutual betting. Fhe
chief constable asked him to explain to the magistrates
the principle upon which the instrument was worked, and
he did so, stating that he had had it in operation since
August last, and had not been interfered with. The
instrument was in a box about three feet by two and a
half, and seven or eight inches in thickness. When the
lid was taken off it disclosed a dial on which were three
rows of small levers, which correspond with the numbers of
the horses which run. Different numbers may therefore, be
backed at uniform shares of half-a-crown each, and the
total appears at the top of the dial. As soon as the flag is
up, indicating that the horses have started, the whole of the
handles or levers are locked until the result of the race is
known, when the total subscribed is divided among those
who have backed the winning number, less a commission of
10 per cent., which the proprietor charges to cover his own
expenses; for he keeps two clerks, and stated that the in-
strument cost over £5O in Paris. The magistrates, after
consulting together, determined to retain the instrument
till the following morning, and in the meantime would
consider what they should do. Accordingly, on Friday
morning Major French told the defendant it was very
clear that he came under the Gambling Act, and the
magistrates knew from information that he had been
trying this game in other places, till they got too hot to
hold him. As this was the first instrument of the kind
the magistrates had seen, they expressed their disappro-
bation of its use and fined the defendant 40s. and costs.
The money was paid, and as no order was made as to the
instrument, it was given up to the defendant.—Chester '
Chronicle.