The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-15 00:00:00

SUSPECTED MURDER AND SUICIDE.

A singular case, involving charges of murder and
suicide, occurred at Carlisle on Friday. On the
morning of that day a young man named William
Horsley, 23 years of age, a draper's assistant, was
found lying dead upon a " settle," or seat, in the
kitchen of a small inn called the Packhorse, in
Water-street, kept by a woman named Jane David•
son, about 40 or 50 years of age, whose husband
works as an agricultural labourer in the country.
Horsley had been married to a daughter of Jane
Davidson, but his wife had died about 18 months
ago. He used frequently to go to the Packhorse
after he left the shop in the evening, and often
stayed there all night, sleeping upon the settle in
the kitchen. The woman Davidson appears to
have become enamoured of her son-in-law. She
had, however, cause to suspect that he kept com-
pany with a young woman, and therefore induced
a neighbour, Esther Short, to watch him and see if
her suspicions were well founded and who was her
rival. Short did so, watched him to join a young
woman on Wednesday night last, after he had left
the shop, and she followed her to where she lived as
domestic servant. Following out Mrs. Davidson's
instructions, Short told the girl that the young man
she had been with was engaged, and subse-
quently, on behalf of Mrs. Davidson, Short wrote
to the girl's mistress, telling her that her servant was
keeping company with a married man. • In her evi-
dence at the inquest, which was held ou Friday
afternoon, Short' &tide some extraordinary revela-
tions. She said that on Thursday last the woman
Davidson had told her that she had been consulting
a fortuneteller, who had said that her husband would
soon die and she would be married again. She asked
Short to go to a druggist for her and get her some
"dragon's blood," which was to be burnt in the fire
as a charm to prevent her son-in-law from keeping
company with her rival. The " dragon's blood"
was procured on Wednesday. On Thursday night
the deceased Horsley went to the Packhorse Inn
and was left in the kitchen with his mother-in-law
and lover, Mrs. Davidson, when every one else had
gone to bed. The other inmates of the house were
another son-in-law of the landlady, named Robin-
son, gad his wife, and two children. No noise was
heard during the night, but about midnight Robin-
son heard Mrs. Davidson go to herbedroom. Next
morning, before going out to his work at 6 o'clock,
he saw the deceased lying on the 6' settle," but
thinking he was asleep, a's he had been many times
before, he did not notice that anything was the
matter. On his return to breakfast at 8 o'clock,
however, he found that he was dead. He had bled
at the nose considerably, and much blood was on
the floor; his head was on a pillow, and he was
partly covered with a sheet. There was a slight
blue mark round his neck, and a mark from the
tightness of his shirt collar. Meanwhile Mrs. David-
son was found to be very ill. She had frequent
vomitings during the night, and these continued at
intervals during Friday until the afternoon, when
she died, just as the jury were in the house viewing
the body of her son-in-law. At the inquest on the
young man the medical men gave their opinion that
there was no external mark to account for death,
and the inquiry was adjourned
bin order thaTtba
post mortem examination migh.t
ed 9the same
body of the woman was
jury, as the two cases al. so viewll constitute only one
will
made.e
was determined that her body also
isnhclouuilrdy'br odpeit ned.