The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-01 00:00:00

THE MURDER iT KINGSTON.

This dreadful occurrence still continues to be tht
general topic of conversation and interest in tht
town and neighbourhood, and, notwithstanding
the strict inquiries that have been made by the
police, no motive has been discovered to account
for the commission of the dreadful crime. So flu
from the unhappy woman having been actuated by
a feeling of jealousy, it would appear, from alt
that has transpired, that she was very much
attached to the deceased, and that, hearing she
was out of place, having been employed for about
eighteen months in a gentleman's family.as nurse-
maid, and her services being no longer required,
the prisoner sent for her to come to Kingston, and
asked her to remain with her and her husband
until she could procure her another place. .She
had only been in the barracks with the prisoner
about a fortnight when the dreadful occurrence
took place, and during that period not the slightest
familiarity was observed to have taken place be
tween the deceased and the prisoner's husband, but.
on the contrary, the former was always considered
a remarkably modest, well-behaved young woman,
and the prisoner never seems to have uttered a
word that would create a belief that she was con
ducting herself improperly. The result of all the
inquiries that have been made up to the present
time is that the frightful deed was committed
under a sudden uncontrollable impulse of mania,
and that the wretched woman was at the tine
quite unconscious of the nature of the act she was
committing. It would seem that for several weeks
the prisoner has suffered most agonising pains in
her head, but it was considered that this arose from
natural causes incidental to women at her period
of life, and no medical advice was sought for fur-
ther than as she could not obtain any rest at night,
some medicine was obtained with the view of pro-
curing sleep. This, however, did not have the
desired effect, and it appears that the prisoner had
herself purchased small quantities of laudanum
which she took with the same object, but it was
of no avail, and there is no doubt that
the laudanum still further acted upon the brain
of the unhappy woman and aggravated her con-
dition. The result appears to have been that for a
short time before the dreadful occurrence she was in
such a condition that she was actually afraid to go
to bed, as she could not sleep, and if perchance she
did so for a short time the sleep was accompanied
by such horrible dreams and visions, as she de-
scribed them, that it was equally dreadful to her.
For some time before her sister came to the bar
racks to live with her she had been in the habit of
going to the quarters of the other sergeants, and
sitting up with the wives as late as she could at
night, and she repeatedly, in the course of cosver-
sation with them, made reference to her condition.
and stated that she dreaded to go to bed, and
would rather sit up all night than do so.
On Monday, the day previous to the dreadful
occurrence, the prisoner and her sister were on the
most friendly terms, and they had gone out for
walk in the afternoon, and the prisoner had placed
the name of the deceased in the book of a registrar
office for servants, and as they were going back the
prisoner ordered a small cask of ale for the family.
She and her husband and the deceased all had tea
together, and they sat up during the evening read
ing, and the prisoner parted with her sister on the
most friendly terms, and nothing at all unusual was
observed in her appearance. The paroxysm that
seized her in the morning must have been almost
momentary, for immediately after commi ting the
dreadful act, she appeared to be seized with the
most poignant remorse—and when she returned to
the room' where the body of the deceased was
lying, still quivering in the agonies of death, the
mental anguish she exhibited is stated to have been
of the most appalling kind. The wretched woman
has become much more calm and composed since
she has been in Horsemonge-lane gaol; but in order
to prevent the possibility of her doing any act of
violence to herself, a female warder is constantly
with her. As the town of Kingston, although
within the distance over which the Central Cri-
minal Court has jurisdiction, is not one of the places
named in the Central Criminal Act, the ease can-
not be disposed of in that Court, and the prisoner,
therefore, cannot take her trial until the Summer
Assizes, in August next.