The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-20 00:00:00

ATTEMPTED MURDER AT
UXBRIDGE.

Since Wednesday last the greatest excitement has
prevailed throughout the town and neighbourhood of
Uxbridge, in consequence of a most diabolical at-
tempt made by a young man, named Thomas Deck-
man, to murder his wife and child by means of poison.
From the inquiries made into the circumstances b♦
Inspector Cooke, T division, and other officers of the
metropolitan police, it appears that Thomas Deckman,
who is not yet twenty years of age, and is by trade a
journeyman baker, was married to his wife, Eliza-
beth Deckman, last October twelve months, and they
have one child six months old. For some time past
the husband has been out of work, in consequence
of which they had been compelled to remove from
their lodgings, and took up their abode at the house
of the wife's father. From the period of their mar-
riage they had not been a happy couple, and the hus-
band had often threatened to do for her, and had on
one occasion sharpened a razor, and placed it under
his pillow for that purpose. On the morning of Wed-
nesday last the husband got up before his wife, and
left the bed-room, saying he was going to enlist for a
soldier. Before, however, he left the house, and while
he was in the sitting-room, the wife heard a rattling
of crockery, and thought that her husband was get-
ting himself breakfast. She afterwards got up, and
made some coffee, and about nine o'clock sat down
with her sister to breakfast. On adding sugar
and milk to the coffee she noticed that
the milk immediately became curdled, not-
withstanding which, she, however, drank the
contents of the cup, and, in less than five
minutes afterwards, was seiaed with a feeling of sick-
ness. She then poured out another cup of coffee, and
again added sugar and milk, when the latter was again
curdled, when her suspicions became excited, and :the
poured some coffee into a basin, and added some milk,
and found that it did not curdle. She then tasted the
sugar in the sugar-basin, and finding that it had a
strange taste, she concluded that some poison had been
mixed with it, and sent her sister with the basin and
contents to the shop of Mr. Chave, chemist, in the
High-street, who, on tasting and examining the sugar,
declared it to be mixed with oxalic acid. The wife
was, during two hours after taking the coffee, exceed-
ingly ill, and it was only by administering emetics
that the poison was extracted from her stomach in
time to save her life.

Information of the occurrence was immediately
forwarded to the police station, when a search was
made after the husband, but he could nowhere be
found. A description of his person was then distri-
buted throughout the police districts, which re-
sulted in his apprehension in the course of the fol-
lowing night. On Friday he was brought up for
examination before Mr. T. T. Clark, a local magis-
trate sitting at the offices of Messrs. Riches and
Woodbridge, the clerks to the magistrates at Ux-
bridge, and, after a short examination, was remanded
until the result of the analysis of the sugar remaining
in the basin, which has been placed in the hands of
Mr. Rayner, surgeon, of Uxbridge, to analyse, can
be ascertained. The magistrates' room and the road
outside was crowded by hundreds of persons anxious
to hear the evidence, and to obtain a sight of the pri-
soner. On Saturday our reporter ascertained from .k. r.
Rayner that he had found in the portion he had al-
ready analysed a quantity of oxalic acid.

FIRE IN MARYLEBONE.—Saturday morning, be-
tweon two and three, a fire broke out in the premises of
h°aundt,h‘t)h^:l3',),t:e was got under
Mr. Ilusherbrook, a tailor, carrying on business at No.
19, High-street, Marylebone, nearly opposite the entrance
to the police-office. It appeared that, about two o'clock,
a policeman, on duty in High,treet, observed a bright
light, apparently in the back of the premises. Shortly
afterwards smoke issued from the crevices in the door,
when he gave an alarm, and the ininatesanh:da
plentifulsearcely
time to put on portions of clothing and proceed into the
first floor. In ...,, iew
street, when the flames burst forth with considerable
whole of the property
supply
fury,
tyeasn:lfif
five
eoaoetnne
graibsnceeeienn
being
dap
tr
`Yore
o tll a
°Ocfl°cthk.e. thepremises was destroyed, the
in shortlyth e lowerafter ti::::.:
up.- -.. f the house not being much damaged,
portion o
1 . •
rroopkouireedineinureadt. t hit windows.known
—. ueuirwred it to the officers. how the fire originated'
...ere was son; bexelcieePvte Mbyr.tßheushweartbe