The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-27 00:00:00

THE TRAGICAL OCCURRENCE
AT ASHFORD.

This melancholy affair, some particulars of which
were given yesterday, appears to have created a very
great sensation in the whole neighbourhood, and,
trona what has since transpired, the suspicion which
was at first entertained that the unhappy man Oliver
intended to have destroyed his wife and all his family,
has been considerably strengthened. The following
additional facts have been ascertained by a corre-
spondent :
It seems that the deceased man belonged to Han-
well, but he had resided with his wife and family for
some time at Bedfont and the neighbourhood. He
was always considered an idle, disorderly fellow, and
his wife, who was a woman of violent temper, did not
bear a very good character. They frequently quar-
relled and fought, and Oliver has been heard by seve-
ral persons to say that he would do for her some day.
They took up their abode in the cottage at Ashford
about Michaelmas last, and since that time they appear
to have gained their subsistence by begging about the
neighbourhood. The family consisted of the father
and mother, a daughter named Eliza, a veryfatrtuy
little girl eight years old, and a son named W'
about eleven. The cottage in which the melancholy
occurrence took place consists of two rooms on the
ground floor, the one used as a keeping-room, and the
other as a bed-room, and in which all the family slept.
The bodies still remain in the same state as when they
were first found, the woman lying partly on her
stomach with her face buried in the straw mattress
which formed their bed, and the man lying across the
room with his head reclining upon the body of his
wife. At present, although there is a very strong
impression that it is the result of poison, the cause of
death remains a mystery. It was stated that some
white powder was found in a paper in the room, which
was believed to be arsenic. This has, however, Edna.;
been tested by the medical officer of the union, an d
turns out to be magnesia ; and up to th:
time no trace of any poisonous ingredient hi is
been discovered, and Dr. Curtis has expressed
an opinion that it is possible the parties were suffo-
cated by the fumes of the coke that was found partly
consumed in the saucepan in the bed-room. This
opinion does not, however, appear to be borne out in
any way by the facts that have transpired, and from
the circumstance of the deceased man being nearly
dressed, and having been heard walking about the
house, and seen in the garden during the night, it is
not very likely that the deaths could have arisen
from this cause, particularly as the two children were
in the room all the time ; and they state that they did
not feel any sensation of suffocation, the girl only ex-
periencing violent sickness, and the other symptoms of
having taken poison.
It has been stated that the children of the deceased
were conveyed to the Staines Union Workhouse imme-.
diately upon the discovery of the dreadful occurrence..
Remedies were administered to them both, and the
girl was very sick and ill for several hours. The boy
was not so bad, and they are at present considered
out of danger. On their being questioned relative to.
the melancholy transaction, the boy stated that on the
I'44,iida7y night his father and mother appeared quite
well, and about nine o'clock his father made
some tea, of which his sister, his mother, and his
father partook, and his mother complained at
the time that the tea had a strange taste. They soon
afterwards all went to bed, and about eleven o'clock
he was awoke by his sister crying, and complaining
of a pain in her stomach and being thirsty, and he
awoke his mother and father. The teapot had been
brought into the bed-room, and he said that his father
gave his sister some of the liquor that was in it. He
states that after this his mother asked his father for some
money to purchase some necessaries for the next day,
upon which he abused her a good deal, and eventually
struck her, and they fought together, but afterwards
laid down again, and in a short time his mother also
complained of pain in her stomach and thirst, and his
father asked her to drink out of the teapot, but she
refused, saying that it had such a nasty taste, and was
so different to anything she had ever before observed
in tea, that she could not drink it. lie further states
that after this they all went to sleep, and during the
night he heard his father and mother breathe very
hard, and towards morning his sister was again very
sick, and he tried to make his mother do something
for her, but could not, and he saw his father lying on
the ground very ill and foaming at the mouth ; and
finding he could not make either of them sensible
what he wanted, he ran out to the neighbours and
gave an alarm.
The teapot in question, and one or two saucepans
which contained liquids, have been carefully set asides
preparatory to their undergoing chemical examination..
Information of the occurrence was forwarded to Mr.
Wakley, the coroner for this district, on Wednesday,
and upon a representation of the circumstances being
made to him, he at once decided that no satisfactory
inquiry could be entered into, in a matter of so much
mystery, without a post mortem examination, and he
gave the necessary directions for that purpose, and
the inquest, therefore, is not expected to take Ow.:
for two or three days.

SALE or GUANO.—Our brethren of the press ought
to be on their guard against being made the medium of
communicating to the public erroneous information on
the subject of matters of trade, inserted solely with the
view of serving the purposes of interested parties. A
paragraph is now running the course of the press, to the
effect that when the last-arrived vessels left Ichaboe there
was only about four mouths' supply of guano left in the
island, and that nearly 200 vessels were waiting. We
need hardly suggest that this news has beets fabricated
solely with the view of giving an adventitious value to
that manure, which has of late fallen to a price which
can barely remunerate the shippers, in consequence of
the immense supply lately arrived or on the way home.
Far from the supply being nearly done, we are assured
that it will take years to exhaust it, even at the rate at
which it has been intromitted with during the present
year ; and Ichaboe is but one of a cluster of islands
loaded with a similar deposit. In the present state of
the grain markets, farmers have little need to have the
price of manure raised beyond its true value. —Perth
Courier.

HERTFORD,THURSDAY.—MORE INCBNDIABY FIRES.
—On Monday night a large stack, containing upwards of
12,000 fagots, the property of Mr. Barnard, maltster,
situate in a field on the react-side, between the towns of
Harlow and Sawbridgeworth, was burnt to the ground.
The loss is estimated at about 250/. The fire was sup-
posed to be the act of an incendiary. The stack was
tired at the windward side. This remark applies to all
the conflagrations that have occurred in this county. On
Wednesday night, the 18th instant, the inmates of the
dwelling-house at Lilly Hoe Farm, which has been twice
the scene of incendiary fires during the last few weeks
were alarmed at finding the house gradually filling with
smoke. A search was made, and it was soon discovered
that the apple room was on fire, and the whole premises,
or all that remained after the recent fires, were in a state
of great danger. The engine from Hitchia, which was
instantly sent, arrived with all possible haste, and the
fire was soon got under. Superintendent Wakenell, of
the rural police, the next morning instituted an inquiry,,
, and the result was the apprehension of Mary Anne Bi-
I grave, a servant at the farm-house. She was taken its
custody of the police before Dr. Bland, a county magis-
-1 trate, on Thursday, the 19th, and remanded until Monday
last, upon which day a very strong case (upon circum-
stantial evidence) was made out against her, and she was
committed for trial at the Herts Spring Assizes.
1 The Dowager Duchess of Cleveland left Newton
House on Tuesday, to join a large and distinguished
party at Itaby Castle. Previous to her departure her
Grace (according to her annual custom) distributed a
liberal supply of beef, clothing, blankets, coals, and.
money, to all the poor inhabitants of the villages of ,
Exelby, Leeming, and Newton.