The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-07 00:00:00

SUICIDE OF THE MURDERER.

(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)

STOCKPORT, AUGUST 6.

On Sunday morning, between the hours of 2 and 3
o'clock, as the watchman was going his rounds in the
Higher Hillgate in this town, his attention was attracted
to a confused noise, and half-suppressed shriek', which
issued from the house of a fancy silk-weaver, named
Thomas Songe, situate in Small-street, a few doors from
the Hillgate. He immediately proceeded to the window-
shutters and listened ; he thought it was somebody beat-
ing a woman, and took but little notice of it ; but just
as he was going away, he heard a cry of " Murder," and
some one say that Songs bad cut his wife's throat. A
number of persons congregated about the house, and Mr.
Rayner, a surgeon, entered with others, when a scene pre-
sented itself shocking to behold. Mrs. Songe was ex-
tended on the bed, a lifeless corpse, completely inundated
with blood up to the shoulders, with her throat cut in so
horrible a manner, that, when lifted up, her head hung
from the trunk apparently by a piece of skin. By the
side of the murdered woman lay the cruel murderer,
Songe, with his throat also cut, and most ter-
ribly mutilated. Mrs. Songe was quite dead and
nearly cold, hut her wretched husband showed signs of
life, and attempted to rise in the bed, but he was held
down by the surgeon, who stopped the hemorrhage of the
blood, which was flowing frotn his mangled neck. His
eyes were fixed and glassy, he was not able to speak, and
died in the utmost agony in about an hour after the en-
trance of the surgeon. A bloody razor lay by the side
of the murderer in the bed, with which he, no doubt,
committed the revolting and cruel double murder. The
most shocking circumstance connected with the horrid
affair is, that there were six children of the unhappy
pair in the house at the time, one of whom, a little
girl about eleven years of age, was in the same room
and saw the murder committed, but was compelled to
be silent in consequence of a threat that Songe held out
to her, that if she spoke a word he would murder her
also. The room was dark, and, according to the account
of the child, it appears that the murderer knelt upon her
mother whilst be cut Iter throat, having previously got
up from the bed and fetched a razor from the cupboard.
The other children were asleep in an adjoining room.
The cause for the committal of the horrid deed assigned
is, that Songe was jealous of his wife and Ilia two ap-
prentices ; and the child states that soon after her
father and mother went to bed she heard a long
conversation between them, in the course of which they
quarrelled, and Songe taxed his wife with having cuff-red
the apprentices to take liberties with her, which she de-
nied, and spoke of the absurdity of such a charge, and
said, that he had no reasons for suspecting her of inconti-
nence. He told her he was confident that such was the
fact, and that if she confessed he would forgive her ; but if
she persisted in her innocence, he would murder her that
night. She replied that, not being guilty, she would not
confess to guilt ; upon which he jumped out of bed, and
ran to the cupboard for the razor. The child here screamed,
and begged of her father not to put his threat in execution;
but he said that if she did not hold her tongue, he would
cut her throat. The child got out of bed, and joined her
younger brothers and sisters in the next room, being afraid
to speak. It would appear from the statement of a person
for whom Songe worked, that the diabolical deed was pre-
meditated in the day time; fir on the Saturday this person
met the murderer on Ardwick Green, Manchester, going
towards Stockport, and they stopped and spoke. He asked
Songe whether he would weave him a piece of fancy
goods of a certain pattern, to which Songe replied that he
would neither work for burn nor any one else, as he did
not intend to work any more. Songe then walked on ;
he did not appear to be in liquor, nor in the least de•
ranged, but was just as he always seemed to be, thoughtful,
and from inquiries that have been made, it does not appear
that he was the least intoxicated when he went to bed ;
indeed, he was a remarkably sober man, but in his reli-
gious opinions he was an infidel, and a follower of the
Carlisle persuasion. The jugular vein anti the carotid ar-
tery of both were completely severed. The cut in his
wife's throat was a very clear one, but the gashes in his
own were jagged, for it appears that in inflicting the
wound upon his wife, the rivet of the razor handle came
off, and broke it, so that he would have to press upon the
back of the razor to effectually destroy himself. Both bo-
dies lay in the house where the murder was committed,
and an inquest will be held before Mr. Hollins, the coro-
ner, on Wednesday next. Songe being well known in
the town, the dreadful affair has created the most intense
interest, and today the house is surrounded by crowds of
the curious. He was considered to be one of the first
fancy silk-weavers throughout the whole of the manufac-
turing district, and did a considerable deal of business for
large manufacturers, who gave him the raw material to
manufacture into pieces. The poor woman, who has been
thus cruelly murdered through the influence of the
" green-eyed monster," was a steady, hard-working crea-
ture, and was much respected in the neighbourhood in
which she resided ; and there appears to have been no
cause to suspect her fidelity to her barbarous husband. Six
unhappy children are left Orphans upon the world, and it
is to be hoped that a feeling and generous public will sub.
scribe something !or their support. The age of Mrs.
Songs was 35, and that of ber husband 40. They bad
been united 15 years.