The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-26 00:00:00

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE.

The quiet village of Ashford, a short distance from
Staines, has been the scene of a shocking affair,
which has created very great sensation in the neigh-
bourhood. So far as the facts have been ascertained
up to this time, it appears that a man named William
Oliver, and his wife and family, consisting of several
children, occupied a miserable cottage by the road-
side, near Ashford, for some time past. The woman
was in the habit of vending lucifer matches, and the
children were sent out to beg, the man being repre-
sented as an idle and dissolute character, and these
being the only means by which the family could eke
out a subsistence. The family had been in great dis-
trees, and were receiving relief fienii the parish of
Isle worth. On Tuesday morning NVilliam Oliver,
one of the sons, came to a neighbour's house in a
state of alarm, and said that his father and mother
were very ill, and the person to whom he applied
immediately went for Mr. Richardson, the overseer,
and accompanied him to the miserable hut occupied
by the family, where a dreadful scene presented itself
—the woman !Yin; upon the bel quite dead, and her
husband, in the agonies of death, by her side. A
messenger was immediately dispatched for Mr. Cur-
tis, the medical officer of the union, and he soon
attended, and did all that was possible to alleviate
the sufferings of the man, but without avail, as he
expired shin st immediately. The wife was undressed,
and lying nearly on her face in bed. The man, when
first found, was partly dressed, and lying on his
wife'e body, and the scene was altogether of a most
aw; ul character. The room presented an appearance
of the most wretched poverty; all the covering for the
wretched parents and their children was a few rags ;
there was not a chair in the apartment, and the only
article in the room was an old saucepan, that had ap-
parently contained coke to warm the room. The
actual cause of this double death at present remains a
mystery, but it is believed to be from the effect of
poison. The constable who was called in found a
piece of paper, whieh ,contained some white powder,
believed to be arsenic, which has been taken away for
medical examination, but the result has not yet
transpired. On a further search the constable found
one penny and a small quantity of bread and
bacon, which the little boy (William) says his
father wished him to eat in the night, and
awoke him for that purpose, but he would not do
so. There is some reason to believe that there was
an intention on the part of one or other of the
unhappy deceased persons to destroy the whole family;
for another child (Eliza) had evidently partaken of
some noxious ingredient, as she was very ill when the
surgeon was called in, and exhibited all the appearance
of having taken poison, although she is now out of
danger, and, with her brother, in the union-house,
under the care of the parochial authorities. The cot-
tage and the remains of the unhappy deceased are at
present in the charge of the police, and will remain so
until after the inquest. Dr. Curtis has expressed his
opinion that from the appearance's the deaths were
the result of poison; and it is supposed, from the posi-
tion in which the man was found, that he had got up
and partly dressed himself with the intention of
leaving the room, but had sunk down in the attempt.
Both of them had been dreadfully sick, and their
mouths and nostrils were covered with froth when
they were discovered. The time for the inquest is
nut yet fixed, but information of the melancholy oc-
currence has been forwarded to the proper authority.