The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-12 00:00:00

lIORRIBLg MURDER AAD SUICIDE.

This morning an inquest was held at the Wheatsheaf
Tavcrn, Thornton-heath, before the coroner for Surrey,
Mr. Canter, on the bodies of Mrs. Mary Smithers, a lady
of iodopendent property, arid her two sons, William, aged
33, and Charles, aged 18. The death of Mrs. Smithers and
her youngest Bon, Charles, had been caused by poison, ad-
ministered by William, who afterwards committed suicide
by the same means.
The facts of the melancholy and distressing affair were
as follows :—For some years past the deceased lady and hor
two sons o.cupie.l the house 49, Thornton-heath, rind the
family were remarkable for the love and affection which
seemel to subsist between them. Will'am Holton,
the elder son, has been a clerk in the Bank of England,
and Charles has been engaged in the factory of Mr.
Burnett, engineer, at Deptford. William had been remark-
able for his steadiness and general deportment, until vi ry
recently, when, unfortunately, a total change came over
him, and recently he had been known to drink brae dy to
excess. This change, there can be no doubt, has been oc-
casioned by his becoming a speculator on 'Change, and the
ill-luck which attended those speculations. His losses
were considerable, awl from scene papers found it app. weal
th rt, assignments were prepared for the dispo-al of some
life policies, and also a bill f:r five hundred pounds
for acceptances. It had been his (William's) custom
to sleep down stairs, but fur some cause or other, he
for several nights preceding the unfortunate occurrence,
slept with his brother on the first floor—a proceeding ob-
jected to by his mother, who insisted on his resting in his
own bed. On Wednesday night the unfortunate lady
called out to her younger son, and asked " if William had
g ne to his own room 2" and the answer, though not true,
was in the affirmative. Nothing, however, occurred on
that night to excite suspicion or alarm • the mother and
brothers wont to bed as usual, and on the following morn-
ing, about seven o'.lock, the female servant, having waited
some time beyond the usual period at which the family
came to breakfast., went to the bedroom of Charles, and
listened for a moment or so, but hearing no noise, she
pushed the door open, and the first thing:which caught her
view was' the face of her young master, with a dark froth
.about the mouth and nostrils. The sight so alarmed her
that she returned from the room, and at once ran to the
house next door for assistance. Returning with the servant
mail, they entered the bedroom, where they found both
the brothers perfectly lifeless, and a phial and a wire Blass
on the foot of tie bet'. The servant of Mrs. Smithers sum-
moned resolution and proceeded to her mistress's bed-700111
on the same doer, anl on entering it she found the unfor-
tunate lady quite dead. She lay on the bed with her head
resting on her right hand, the bed perfectly unruffled.
It also appeared from the evidence that Mrs. Smithers
had been ailing for s rme days, and that her son William
hal been in the habit of giving her the medicine preseribr d
for her illness, and by this means had been enabled to give
her the fatal dose which must in a moment have 'termin-
ated her existence, and that the fatal drug must Lave been
poure 1 into the month of the youth Charles while ho
ay on his back, and that the sudden shock to the circula-
tion had caused the froth about the month and nostrils.
The quantity of Prussic acid trken by the unfortunate
murderer himself wai so great that his death was imme-
diate. The inquiry had not terminated when our reporter
eft.