The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-28 00:00:00

THE MURDER AT WALWO.RTH:

Yesterday William A. Moore, who has been in
custody for a week on a charge of stabbing his wife
Sophia in a fit of jealousy, and causing her death,
was brought before Mr. Elliott, at the Lambeth
Police-court, for final examination.

Mr. Solomon, as on the last examination, at-
,ended for the prisoner.
The first witness called was

Mrs. Rebecca Palmer, the mother of the deceased,
who said—l am the wife of George Palmer, of 2,
Townley Cottages, Brandon-street, Walworth,
and mother-in-law to the prisoner. The deceased
Sophia Moore was my daughter, and had been mar-
ried to the prisoner, as his second wife, in the month
of. November last. On the Monday before she
was injured I called, when the prisoner was at
home, and in the front parlour with two men, and
I went to the back room where my daughter was.
She complained of her husband calling her bad
names, and he at that time went out with the two
men. On the same evening my daughter came to
my house, and while there the prisoner came in,
and seeing his wife said, " Oh, you sow, you're out
again to-day," and took up a tea canister to throw
at her, but did not do so. My daughter said " I'm
most tired of it," and the prisoner replied, " I will
take the children away. I was always told I should
never die a natural death, and I will never die one,
for I'll die for you." He used very shameful lan-
guage to me, and lest the house, slamming the door
after him. I asked my daughter to stay a little
while with us that his temper might get over, and
went home with her. The prisoner was not at
home at the time, and her room being locked up I
left her with the landlady, who told me she would
attend to any noise her husband might make. The
next morning I was called up, and went to Guy's
Hospital. where I found my daughter, and she told
me how it happened, but said at the time she
thought she should get over it. About three weeks
before it happened the prisoner came to my house,
in consequence of some words between his wife and
her sister, and sent for a young man named " Teddy
York." Addressing York, the prisoner said, " What
is this about, this disturbance with my wife and
her sister," and York said, " Well, I'll tell you the
truth. I was at Hackney, and met Emma and
Sophia, and we had a drop of ale together, and I
did put my arms round her neck and kissed her,
but that was all I did, and I never took such a
liberty before." The prisoner said he was satisfied,
and it dropped as I thought, but he afterwards
abused his wife about York, and spoke of it down
to the time of the occurrence.

Mr. Elliott—Have you frequently heard the pri-
soner make use of abusive language to the deceased
in reference to this affair with York ?

Witness—Oh, yes; very many times. He has
abused her very much about it, and they were
scarcely three weeks married when he gave her a
pair of black eyes.
Elizabeth Palmer said—l am daughter to the
last witness, and sister to the deceased. On the Sa-
turday before my sister died she was at our house,
and I went home with her, and stopped there all
night. At two o'clock on Sunday morning the pri-
soner came home, much the worse for liquor, and
abused and threatened his wife, and I frequently
heard him do so. On the night before this (the
stabbing) happened I went to the prisoner's lodg-
ings, and saw him, and at the time he had two
brokers with him to value his goods. I begged of
him not to sell up his home, when he said he was
about to make some arrangements for his two chil-
dren ; thaG he did not value his life ; and that he
intended to do for his wife.
Mrs. Ann Gamble, a widow, and sister of the
Petersham ward, in Guy's Hospital, said the de-
ceased was under her care from the time of being
brought to the hospital until the time of her death,
and it was her (witness's) belief that the deceased
never thought from the first that she should recover.
When brought in, and put to bed, the deceased told
her she thought the knife must have touched her
heart, but she (witness) told her she thought not,
but that it might have penetrated the lung.
Mr. Elliott—Did she tell you how she received
the injury P
Witness—Yes, Sir. She told me her husband
took up a knife from the breakfast-table, and said
he would stab her ; that she felt the blow, but did
not know she was stabbed until she got to a neigh-
bour's house, when she felt great pain and the blood
trickling down her thigh.
Mr. Elliott—When did her death take place ?

Witness—Within three days.
Mr. Elliott here called the constable who had
been called on,' 250 V, who asked him if anything
had been stated before the coroner's jury about a
Bible being found in the prisoner's room ?
The constable replied that a Bible hadbeen found
open on the table on the morning the deceased was
stabbed, and opened at a particular chapter, but on
speaking to the deceased about it, she said she did
not know how' it came there, unless it was that one
of the prisoner's children might have been reading
it.

This terminated the evidence, and when asked
if he wished to make any observations in reference
to the charge,
Mr. Solomon said he had refrained from putting
a single' question to the witness in cross-examina-
tion, feeling, as he did, that the case was one of so
serious a nature, that it must undergo an investi-
gation elsewhere, where the cross-examination
would have more weight, and therefore he should
reserve any questions he had to put on that occa-
sion. It could not be denied that the prisoner had,
in a moment of great excitement, committed the
act, and inflicted the injury which unfortunately
led. to the death of his wife ; but on the trial he
should be able to show that the provocation which
led to the unhappy act was of a much more aggra-
vating character than hail already appeared.
The prisoner was then committed to take his
trial for the wilful murder of his wife, and the wit-
nesses bound over to give evidence on the trial.